Hecuba’s Metamorphosis into a Dog: Toponymic and Literary Dimensions
Hecuba’s Metamorphosis into a Dog: Toponymic and Literary Dimensions

Summary/Abstract: The aim of the article is to explore whether the name Κυνὸς σῆμα (of a place located on the Thracian Chersonessos) has derived from the legendary death of the Trojan queen Hecuba or the link between the toponym and the myth was merely fictional.The connection between the Trojan saga and the Thracian Chersonessos already existed before Euripides wrote the first attested evidence of Hecuba’s transformation. It is tempting to suggest that the metamorphosis myth was just a closing projection of the older myth of Protesilaus – the hero who symbolizes the beginning of the Trojan war. Linking the peninsula with the death of Hecuba Euripides practically related it once again to the Trojan saga – a connection preceded by the local cult of Protesilaus.

• Details
• Contents