American Journal of Philology

Abstract:

Apollonius of Rhodes in his Argonautica engages contemporary philosophical debates on the nature of fate, such as whether fate implies necessity or is compatible with free choice, the relation of fate to moral praiseworthiness, and the relationship of divination and fate. This study advances on earlier attempts to relate Hellenistic philosophy to the Argonautica in that it focuses on the metaphysical issue of fate rather than ethics or epistemology, and in that it does not see Apollonius as committing to a philosophical school, but providing a poetic critique of philosophical claims of comprehensive knowledge, similar to Callimachus' reactions to Plato.