CATULLUS 68 - Scuola Normale Superiore

APPENDIX II: CATULLUS’ SOURCES FOR THE MYTH OF PROTESILAUS AND LAODAMIA
Several key passages in poem 68b describe Laodamia’s love for Protesilaus. She was burning with love for
him when they got married (73f.) but their house had been begun in vain, as no sacrifice had been made to
the gods (75f.) and as a result of this she had to part with her husband soon (81-84): he had to leave for Troy,
where he was fated to die (85f., 105-107). Later on in the poem Catullus may refer to her wedding rather
than her re-union with her husband when he came back from the dead (129f.).
Catullus’ version of the myth of Protesilaus and Laodamia is unusual in two respects. First of all, he tells the
story from the point of view of Laodamia. Male voices and perspectives tend to dominate in ancient
literature, and also in the literary versions of this myth, but here the poet emphatizes with the heroine and not
with her husband. Secondly, there is the puzzling element that Protesilaus’ house has been begun in vain, as
a crucial sacrifice to the gods has been omitted. Is this an innovative version of the myth, or is Catullus
simply recounting a version that has not survived in any other literary account? What are his sources for the
story, and how is he using them? 198
Let us start with a survey of the known sources for the myth that pre-date Catullus. The earliest of all is the
Iliad, where Protesilaus is mentioned as the former leader of a contingent of ships from Phthiothis (Il. 2.698-
702). He is no longer alive – he was killed by a Trojan as he jumped off his ship, the first of the Achaeans to
do so – and in his home town there remain his wife in mourning and a half-completed house. Later, the
Cypria described the hero’s death at the hands of Hector (EGF p. 32 = PEG 1, p. 42 = Proclus, Chrestom. 80
Severyns) and identified his wife as Polydora, the daughter of Meleager (Cypria frg. 18 EGF = 26 PEG =
Paus. 4.2.7). Sophocles’ lost tragedy Poimenes described the very first events of the Trojan War, including
the death of Protesilaus at the hands of Hector (TGF 2.497 Radt). Euripides devoted an entire tragedy to the
myth, the Protesilaus (TGF 5.2.646a-657 Kannicht). There survives a summary of its plot by Aristides (Or.
3.365 = TGF 5.2 p. 633, testim. ii), who tells that Protesilaus had been married just for one day when he had
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On the various versions of the myth see the entries s.v. ‘Protesilaos’ in RE by Gerhard Radke (detailed but slightly
dated), in LIMC by Fulvio Canciani (a thorough account of the iconographical evidence with a brief but useful survey
of the literary sources) and in Neue Pauly by Johannes Scherf, as well as Buonamici (1902), Herzog-Hauser (1937),
Séchan (1953) and the comments on the myth by Burkert (1972: 269-273). On Euripides’ Protesilaus see Mayer (1885)
and Jouan (1966: 317-366), and note the useful selection of testimonia printed by Kannicht along with the fragments in
TGF 5.2.633-640.
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