R.’s book explores the presence of scary or horrific elements in archaic Greek epic poetry and the way in which those elements are used by poets to convey theological messages. R. focuses her inquiry primarily on the narrative Homeric hymns (Hymn to Apollo, to Demeter, to Aphrodite, to Dionysos, to Hermes and to Pan) and on Hesiod’s Theogony and Works and Days. A last chapter, entitled ‘Epilogue’, deals with the Homeric poems in a comparative perspective. The book conducts literary analysis of classical sources, adopting concepts and methodologies from both religious studies and literary studies of supernatural horror fiction, illustrated in the introduction. R. pursues a distinctive and engaging approach, taking horror-related elements seriously – an initiative that, to date, has only been undertaken sporadically in classical studies – and analysing how those elements are exploited by poets to convey theological messages. A crucial premise is thus that poets should be considered theological thinkers, inclined to articulate and communicate theological claims to their audience. Although the terms ‘theology’ and ‘theological’ are never explicitly defined, it is evident that R. uses them to refer to discourse on the divine and on the complex relationship between mortals and gods.
The book is structured so as to explore first how fear is stimulated by poets and then how it is managed and mitigated. Chapter 1, ‘“Stupid … and thoughtless to foresee their lot”: the horror of epiphany’, focuses on the longer Homeric hymns, arguing that direct divine–mortal interactions, or epiphanies, are frequently terrifying and disorienting for mortal characters. Examples from Hymns to Dionysus, to Aphrodite, to Demeter and to Apollo demonstrate that these negative emotional responses often precede any divine blessing or benefit. The Hymn to Demeter introduces nuances, depicting an unintentionally terrifying epiphany triggered by a mortal’s actions, which results in a diminished blessing. Chapter 2, ‘“Evil for men”: (dis)orienting the cosmos in Hesiod’, is devoted to Hesiod’s Theogony and Works and Days. Relying on the concept of ‘cosmic horror’, R. argues that Hesiod aims to induce fear of the universe’s fundamental structure, which is presented as not organised for human benefit. The myths of human origin in Works and Days, such as the tale of Pandora and the Ages of Mankind, are portrayed as having an anti-human orientation. Descriptions of divine battles (Titanomachy, Typhonomachy) in the Theogony show Zeus acting in terrifying ways, demonstrating his power through violence and involvement with chaotic forces, despite his role of justice-oriented king.
The next three chapters investigate the strategies that poets use to alleviate the fear they generate and highlight the poet’s unique position. Chapter 3, ‘“Blessed is he whom they love”: past and present in the Homeric Hymns’, revisits the Homeric Hymns, showing how poets use a temporal frame to distance the audience from the frightening experiences of the mythical characters. This frame is sometimes made ‘semipermeable’ to allow exclusively positive divine experiences (like those of initiates in the Hymn to Demeter or worshippers in the Hymn to Apollo). Chapter 4, ‘“Few men know”: advice for the cosmically horrified’, explores Hesiod’s strategy to cope with the horrifying elements he disseminates in the narrative. According to R. the fear generated by those myths lends urgency and credibility to Hesiod’s counsel, encouraging the audience to heed his warnings. This advice includes cultivating positive relationships with the divine through appropriate actions, sacrifices and ethical behaviour, even towards more abstract divine entities such as Justice.
Chapter 5, ‘“In whom do you most delight?”: the privilege of the poet’, examines the poet’s own representation and authority. Hesiod, within the narration of his poetic initiation in the Theogony, depicts himself experiencing an epiphany from the Muses without fear, contrasting sharply with the mortals in the Hymns and aligning more with Homeric heroic interactions with divinity. This description establishes his special status as a mediator of fearful myths. As for the Homeric Hymns, the anonymous poets also demonstrate their mastery implicitly through the use of irony, where the audience knows more than the divine characters, often leading to amusement at the deity’s expense. Some hymns, like those to Hermes and to Pan, play humorously with the conventional tropes of frightening epiphany, further highlighting the poet’s skill and control over the poetic codes.
Finally, the book briefly extends the analysis to Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey in the epilogue, focusing in particular on epiphany scenes, which are compared to the ones in the Hymns and in the Theogony.
R.’s book succeeds in demonstrating that fearful elements and fear-associated emotions are an important part of the way in which the Greeks conceived and imagined the divine and their relationship with gods. It is also convincing in showing that these elements are central in many stories and can be managed in different ways by different poets and traditions to obtain different aims. The procedure of considering some scenes together through the lens of fear proves fruitful and yields several insightful readings. Notably, R.’s analysis of the divine exhortation θάρσει in the Homeric Hymns – extended to the Iliadic episode of Iris’ encounter with Priam in Book 24 – illuminates the complex interplay between divine reassurance and mortal dread (pp. 198–9). Equally stimulating is the parallel reading of the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite and the Iliadic scene in which Helen confronts the goddess with striking verbal aggression, initially devoid of fear (pp. 196–8). The comparative treatment of Hesiod’s encounter with the Muses in the Theogony and other epiphanies in Homer and the Hymns, whether terrifying or not, is also worth noting (pp. 152–60), although the analysis would benefit from a more explicit engagement with the epic convention of invoking the Muse(s), which constitutes a crucial interpretative framework for the Hesiodic scene.
Despite the frequent use of terms such as ‘horror’ and ‘horrific’, readers may find their expectations only partially fulfilled. R. clarifies early that she does not argue for an ancient equivalent to modern horror genres, but rather employs these terms to describe elements designed to evoke fear in the audience ‘listening to these vivid poems’ (p. 6). However, the analysis of the Homeric Hymns tends to concentrate on characters’ reactions – assuming that their fear translates directly to the audience (e.g. p. 52) – rather than on the poetic strategies that might generate and intensify a horror effect for listeners. As for R.’s thought-provoking reading of the Theogony, the episode of Zeus’s battle with Typhoeus (pp. 73–5) could have gained from an exploration of phonic and rhythmic devices enhancing its impact in oral performance. Similarly, a more thorough examination of the terminology used to convey Typhoeus’ monstrosity would have underlined the ‘horrific’ potential effect on the audience (useful insights could be drawn from I. Baglioni, Echidna e i suoi discendenti. Studio sulle entità mostruose della Teogonia esiodea [2017], esp. pp. 80–5). More broadly, a detailed analysis of the poets’ lexical choices – particularly terms such as πέλωρ and θαῦμα – could have further justified the use of ‘horror’ and ‘horrific’ as interpretative categories.
A final observation concerns the bibliography. While R. engages thoroughly with Anglophone scholarship, the near-total absence of non-English sources is striking. This leads to a lack of engagement with some significant contributions, such as the first two volumes of Les Dieux d’Homère (G. Pironti and C. Bonnet [edd.], Les dieux d’Homère. Polythéisme et poésie en Grèce ancienne [2017]; R. Gagné and M. Herrero de Jáuregui [edd.], Les dieux d’Homère II. Anthropomorphismes [2019]), which offer in-depth discussions on anthropomorphism and epiphanic appearances of Homeric gods. Particularly relevant is M. Bettini’s essay (‘Visibilité, invisibilité et identité des dieux’, in: G. Pironti and C. Bonnet [2017], pp. 21–41), which could have enriched the analysis by providing anthropological perspectives on divine representation and perception.
Despite this reservation, R.’s book is a commendable invitation to reconsider many well-known and long-commented passages from a different and somewhat unexpected perspective, demonstrating that by placing them in dialogue through the lens of fear and frightening effects it is possible to gain new insights.
