Sirens, lions, and wrestlers in ring composition in Lycophron’s Alexandra

Abstract

Obscure language raises difficulties for the interpretation of Lycophron’s Alexandra. The poem takes the form of an extended dramatic messenger speech in which presumably the guard of Alexandra, or Cassandra, the daughter of Priam, relates to her father an oracle he had heard her pronounce about the Fall of Troy. Yet even the identity of these three characters is not immediately clear from the outset because Lycophron usually only provides names for secondary characters and avoids providing the proper names of major characters.