Il pianto di Achille e il digiuno di Penelope. Impieghi ‘formulari’ da Omero ai tragici

This paper focuses on two different epic themes, often intertwined: weeping and abstinence from food. Starting from the question τέκνον τί κλαίεις; (Thetis to Achilles), the first section explores the use of a specific ‘tragic formularity’ in scenes with veiled figures. Inspired to some extent by Parry’s analogie, in the second part of the essay we aim at highlighting the presence of epic hints in Ajax and Medea, where the prostrated characters are mad with grief and refrain from eating (and drinking). The models of these minute ‘type-scenes’ are epic – Homer and Homeric Hymns – yet relocated to a dramatic and performative context.