Homer Redivivus? Rethinking the Transmigration of the Soul in Ennius's Annals

This paper reconsiders certain assumptions about Ennius's dream in the Annals. I argue that Ennius likely characterized transmigration as Pythagorean; that based on comparisons with Pythagorean texts, Ennius, not Homer, probably said "memini me fiere pavom" (frag. 1.9 .11); that Ennius may have remembered being Homer in a previous life rather than presenting himself as Homer reincarnate; and that Ennius may have claimed to possess not "Homer's soul" but "the soul that used to belong to Homer." At multiple points, I make innovative use of an epigram ascribed to Antipater (AP 7.75) that most critics consider relevant to the dream.