The Bronze Mouse of Maresha

Stern, Ian

doi:10.1086/715344

Cited by 1 publication

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“…appropriate god to associate with the mice. To begin with, mice are never mentioned in conjunction with Apollon Smintheus in the Iliad; although it may be tempting to see a link between Apollon Smintheus' cult association with mice and the fact that he sends a plague in 207 Some of the further-afield examples include a mouse found at a temple primarily dedicated to the Syro-Phoenician god Baalshamin in Kedesh (Mucznik and Ovadiah 2001); a mouse found in Oberstimm, Germany (Böhme 1978: 185;Mucznik and Ovadiah 2001: 135-136); and a mouse from the city of Maresha (Stern 2021). Stern (2021: 203) notes, though, that there is no solid evidence linking the mouse from Maresha with Apollon Smintheus, and both Mucznik and Ovadiah (2001: 136-137) and Stern (2021: 202-203) note that the evidence for the connection between the Kedesh mouse and Apollon Smintheus is quite thin.…”

Section: Hermes God Of Micementioning

confidence: 99%

Studies in the Galeomyomachia: Reconstructing the War of the Weasel and Mice

Letteri

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<p><strong>In antiquity, there was a tradition of mock-epic which, as far as we can tell, mimicked the language, style, and type-scenes of Homeric epic, but took as its subject-matter conflicts between animals. Only two examples of this sub-genre have survived: the near-complete Batrachomyomachia, upon which most scholarship on animal mock-epic has focused, and 41 lines of an epic which once recounted the story of a war between a weasel and an army of mice (P.Mich.Inv. 6946). The surviving fragments of the Galeomyomachia, as it has now been dubbed, were published in 1983 by Hermann Schibli with an introduction and notes, but it has garnered little attention in scholarship since. The overarching claim of this thesis is, however, that the Galeomyomachia is a valuable addition to our understanding of mock-epic and, as such, worth more thorough examination than it has previously received. The majority of the Galeomyomachia’s narrative is lost to us, but the narrative preserved in its surviving fragments is remarkably clear. Accordingly, Studies in the Galeomyomachia: Reconstructing the War of the Weasel and Mice concerns the two scenes wherein the fragmentary nature of our text renders the narrative uncertain. In the first of these two ‘studies’, I argue that Hermes, who appears briefly in our surviving text, acts as a patron deity to the mice; in the second, I explore a scene in which a messenger, whose identity is not preserved, reports the death of a mouse-hero to his widow. Within each of these studies, I will also investigate how the Galeomyomachia draws on, invokes, and parodies Homeric epic and other mytho-poetic referents, as well as how it compares to other examples of animal literature and epic parody. In doing so, I will go some way towards both reconstructing the Galeomyomachia’s narrative and, in turn, demonstrating its place and significance within its literary tradition.</strong></p>

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Section: Hermes God Of Micementioning

confidence: 99%

Studies in the Galeomyomachia: Reconstructing the War of the Weasel and Mice

Letteri

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The Bronze Mouse of Maresha

Cited by 1 publication

References 2 publications

Studies in the Galeomyomachia: Reconstructing the War of the Weasel and Mice

Studies in the Galeomyomachia: Reconstructing the War of the Weasel and Mice

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