ABSTRACT
The most substantial remains of Heraclides’ Homeric scholarship are the six fragments of his two books of Homeric Solutions, preserved by Porphyry. The first part of this paper sets out the background to this work by giving a brief overview of the diverse motivations and methods of ancient “problem and solution” scholarship, and identifying the problems that arise from its largely indirect and fragmentary transmission. In the second part I examine the extant fragments of Heraclides’ contribution to the genre, elucidating his solutions and comparing them with other ancient treatments of the same problems. I pay particular attention to the relationship between Heraclides and Aristotle in the three cases in which we are able to compare their respective solutions to the same problem; in two cases, I argue that Aristotle’s treatment is best understood as a response to Heraclides. Some other references to Homer in Heraclides are discussed in the final part of the pape .
