THOUGHT FOR FOOD: ON NIOBE’S ETERNAL BROODING

This article analyses the Niobe allusion of Iliad 24 (599–620), providing solutions to grammatical, structural, and narratological problems therein. I show how attention to an often-overlooked and universally misinterpreted occurrence of τε in line 602 paves the way to a new understanding of the passage as a whole. In addition, a supposed problem with the ring structure of the passage is resolved without the need of editorial intervention.