Classics Colloquium
This lecture examines the two most prominent embedded narratives in the Standard Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh and Homer’s Odyssey: Atrahasis, the legendary Utanapishti’s story of the dream that saved him from the Flood, and the Apologoi, Odysseus’ narration of the events following the Trojan War. Each story-within-the-story is told at a climactic moment of the primary narrative that determines whether the hero’s quest will be a success or a failure. By comparing the poetic strategies that the epic storytellers employ to facilitate audience engagement, this lecture aims to elucidate the narratological purpose of the embedded narratives as we consider the question, why do we tell stories?
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