Un unicismo teocriteo: Laerte perisplanchnio (-eoc. 16.56)

This paper investigates a hapax legomenon contained in Theocritus 16.56: the compound perisplanchnio, epithet of Odysseus' father Laertes. In the passage of the Id. 16 where the epithet is located, Theocritus emphasizes that many mythological characters have become famous solely thanks to the song of the ἀοιδοί, particularly of Homer. The examination of the passage suggests that Theocritus applies the epithet perísplanchnos to the character of Laertes modeled on Laertes' representation in Odyssey 24, where the father begins to feature prominently in the poem, and, as in Theocritus' idyll, is placed together with Eumaeus and Philoetius (if so, it may be assumed, inter alia, that Theocritus' Odyssey included the events after 23.296, where Aristophanes of Byzantium and Aristarchus placed the télos or péras of the poem).

This reconstruction and the semantic analysis of the compound, in particular of the second element splanchnos, suggest that it should be interpreted as “full of benevolence, of compassion” rather than generically as “magnanimous”, “great-hearted”. [Publisher's text]