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The Fragments of Euripides’ Oedipus: A Reconsideration
- Transactions of the American Philological Association
- Johns Hopkins University Press
- Volume 144, Number 2, Autumn 2014
- pp. 307-370
- 10.1353/apa.2014.0015
- Article
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summary:
This paper provides a thorough reexamination of the surviving fragments of Euripides’ Oedipus (TrGF 5.1, 539a–557) with a view to establishing which are authentic. The use of linguistic, stylistic and metrical criteria shows that only the papyrus fragments, together with a handful of quotations in later authors, can be held authentic. Quotation-fragments (mainly in Stobaeus and Clement) are shown to be spurious. The paper puts forth and discusses the hypothesis that the spurious fragments come not from a full-fledged play but from a rhetorical exercise.