DOI: 10.53084/2220-9050.2025.31.1.006

I.M. Nikolsky
Augur de gente Melampi: Who was an unnamed seer from Dracontius’ Abduction of Helen

Abstract: The paper deals with the scene from the poem “The Abduction of Helen” by Dracontius with the participation of an uncertain prophet “of the Melampus family” (Rom. 8. 459). The seer interprets the flight of birds that appeared at the moment of acquaintance of Paris and Helen; swans, doves, a hawk and a kite, and promises the heroes an ambiguous future, at the same time marriage and war. The episode is central in terms of not only the plot but also the composition of the poem, as prophecies can be considered its constant motif. Thus, the interpretation of the entire work depends on understanding the literary origins of the scene and the references found in it. Part of this work has been done in existing studies, but the question of who was meant by the unnamed “augur” has not yet been answered. I suggest that Dracontius may have transferred into his narrative the prophet Theoclymenus from Homer’s “Odyssey”, famous for predicting the death of suitors of Penelope.

Keywords: Dracontius, Paris, Helen, prophecy, Theoclymenus, Homer, Odyssey

To cite this article: Nikolsky I.M. Augur de gente Melampi: Who was an unnamed seer from Dracontius’ Abduction of Helen. Aristeas XXXI (2025): 115–122.

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Author:

Ivan M. Nikolsky