ABSTRACT
Thucydides introduces what would be common “knowledge” about places, but does not invoke Homer’s name, for he does not need the authority of Homer’s Odyssey to demonstrate anything. In the Archaeology, by contrast, Thucydides cites Homer by name because he needs the authority of Homer to himself be persuasive. This chapter demonstrates that Thucydides’ references to Homer in the Archaeology assume a Homer in performance (rather than in a text) and that his specific “citations” of what Homer says can best be understood as references to this performance tradition. The chapter discusses how the reference “in the handing down of the scepter” suggests performance. It argues that the structure of the indirect statement in which Thucydides has embedded this line represents them as spoken words, rather than as written lines of poetry.
