Remarques sur le vocabulaire architectural chez Hésiode

Abstract

Studying the vocabulary of the home in the hesiodic corpus enables us to stress the continuity in the uses of terms with the homeric epics and the relative homogeneity of the corpus. Yet, certain instances constitute an inversion of the homeric uses and are an indication of the distance (often ironical) which Hesiod establishes with the homeric tradition. Habitat does not play a primary part either in the Theogony or in the Works but contributes to emphasize Zeus’s might. Last remarkable element, the absence in Hesiod of any singularity in the description of the human habitat. The description of the rooms and various spaces, the decoration, the general aspects, these are as many characteristics of the homes of Homer’s heroes, even of the more modest habitat like the klisiê of Eumeos the swineherd. In historical terms, that important difference of treatment might testify to a certain homogenizing of the habitat and the absence of homes characteristic of an elite.

Keywords

• Hesiod
• Homer
• architectural vocabulary
• Theogony
• Works and Days
• divine architecture