A few short definitions of the categories and terms used in the tables on this website.
basic definitions
direct/indirect speech: in the main tables, only direct speech inserted at the level of the main narrator is taken into account. Speeches embedded in speeches are listed seperately. Instances of indirect speech or speech mention are not taken into account. In some cases a dialogue is only partially rendered in direct speech, partially in indirect speech or speech mention. Also in these cases, however, indirect speech or speech mention is not taken into account when I count the number of speeches in a dialogue.
reported speech: reported speech or “speech in speech” refers to directly rendered speech on a a secondary or tertiary level, quoted by a character as a secondary or tertiary narrator.
real speech: real speeches are those speeches that within the (fictional) world of the story, are supposed to have actually been uttered. The narrator supposedly knows what the heroes and heroines have actually said, and simply quotes their words. Secondary narrators (characters telling a story) are in this respect not different from primary narrators.
hypothetical speech: hypothetical speeches usually (Nonnus has a few exceptions) only occur on a secondary level, as a type of reported speech. They are not supposed to have ever been uttered. Irene de Jong describes them as cases in which “a speaking character only pretends to quote somebody else’s words, but, in fact, invents them” (Narrators and focalizers: the presentation of the story in the Iliad (1987), 176).
organization of the tables
nr., book., from line, to line: the first four columns of each table simply identify the speech.
speaker: name of the speaking character, or if anonymous, a short description. Characters which share the same name, are distinguished by adding a patronym or number.
speech/this speaker: this column indicates whether it is the first, second, third, etc. speech of a specific character in the epic poem (speeches on a secondary level not included). By sorting or searching this column, it is, for example, possible to see that Neoptolemus is the character who speaks most often in the Posthomerica, although he is only introduced late in the poem. For anonymous characters and groups of characters (see below), I have decided to mark every speech as “1 of 1” although in theory the same anonymous character or group of characters can speak twice.
mortal/god: deciding whether a speaker is a mortal or a god was at times surprisingly difficult (what about nymphs and satyrs?). Exceptional cases are labeled as “animal” “plant” “natural element”. A few doubtful cases are labeled “mortal/god” or “god/natural element”. Anonymous speakers introduced by the (secondary) narrator as “either a mortal or a god” are labeled as “unspecified”.
anonymous: although the absence of a proper name already indicates that the speaking character is left anonymous, it can be useful for sorting purposes to be able to group all speeches of anonymous characters. When a group of characters speaks with a single voice, the speaker is labeled as a “collective” in this column.
disguise: some characters (mainly gods) disguise themselve or take a mortal form before addressing their conversation partner. In that case the real name of the character is mentioned in the column “speaker” and the false name in the column “disguise”.
length: the length of the speech in lines. If a speech starts or ends mid-line, this line is counted as well.
dialogue: My classification of the speeches in this column distinguishes between “soliloquies”, “single speeches” and “first” “second” third” (etc.) speeches in a longer dialogue. I hereby define “soliloquy” as a speech spoken by a character all by himself, although absent or dead characters may be addressed in an apostrophe. Prayers to gods are generally also considered part of this category of speeches (although sometimes the gods that are addressed do hear the prayers and even sometimes grant wishes). “Single speech” is the term I use for speeches that are directed at an addressee who is supposedly present and listening. It is, however, not always clear who exactly is addressed and who actually hears the speech, or whether a new speech is a reaction on an earlier speech or rather the start of a new dialogue. My classification of many individual speeches may, therefore, be up for discussion, but taken as a whole, I think my labels do help to get a quite accurate general image of each author’s way of using speeches to organize their narrative. It allows us, for example, to see a marked difference between Nonnus, who rarely uses dialogues, and Homer, in whose poems long dialogues are very common.
addressee: the name of the (most important) addresssee(s) is mentioned in this column, although it is not always equally clear whether he/she is present and listening.
columns refering to specific chapters of my book
exhortations: this column (only in the tables of the Dionysiaca, Iliad and Posthomerica) refers to a category of speeches discussed in the second chapter of my book, namely battle exhortations. The different subtypes that are defined are: speeches by generals to their troops, speeches by gods to individuals, and by generals to individual members of their troops. The category “other” includes the few speeches which cannot be categorized under one of these three most frequently occurring types. Special or doubtful cases are marked with an “*” or a “?”
Specifically for the Iliad: speeches which by Fingerle (1939, Typik der homerischen Reden) are considered battle-exhortations (or in his terminology either “Feldhernreden” or “Kampfaurufe”), but not by me (for various reasons) are labeled “also in Fingerle’s Feldhernreden” and “also in Fingerle’s Kampfaurufe”)
ruse: this column (only in the table of the Dionysiaca) refers to a category of speeches discussed in the fourth chapter of my book. In this chapter, I look at the way the speech is introduced by the narrator. the speeches that receive a label in this column are all introduced by the narrator with a reference to the speaker’s intention to deceive.
text-internal observer: this column (only in the table of the Dionysiaca) refers to a category of speeches discussed in the fifth chapter of my book. The speeches that receive a label in this column are pronounced by a character who acts as a text-internal observer and comments on the events he/she witnesses, without participating in them. These characters are generally introduced only a few lines before they start speaking and disappear immediately afterwards. Their perspective can be that of an anonymous witness (whose perspective is defined by the type of character (a nymph, satyr, farmer, soldier, …) he/she is), that of a mythological character (whose background we are familiar with and who brings in a clear personal perspective) or that of a god (whose divine perspective warrants knowledge and understanding of what he/she sees and who in most cases looks at the events from a bird’s-eye view).