Poétiques de la chrèsmodie

Résumé Fr En

Par l’analyse de l’oracle de Glaukos tel qu’il apparaît au chapitre 86 du 6e livre d’Hérodote, cet article se propose d’illustrer la richesse du matériau oraculaire des périodes archaïque et classique, et l’intérêt de redonner au chrèsmos hexamétrique sa place dans le grand paysage des traditions poétiques de la Grèce archaïque et classique.

The oracular poetry of the archaic and classical periods is a vast corpus of texts united by the same conventions of language, the same family of images and ideas and a very specific register of authority. It is, in short, a clearly defined genre, within which many traditions can be identified and an impressive variety of literary tonalities recognised. With many scores of poems, quite a few of them clearly complete, the fragments of oracular poetry constitute one of the richest collections of early Greek literature without direct manuscript tradition. It is certainly the one that has been most neglected by philological research. Beyond the usual considerations on the formulaic diction of oral poetry, traditional gnomic wisdom, and the ambiguity and paradox of oracles, more work is necessary if we are to recover the place that belongs to the hexametric chrèsmos in the great literary landscape of archaic and classical Greece. This essay illustrates the richness of the material at hand with the close reading of one text, the oracle of Glaukos found in Herodotus 6.86.