Public Interruptions and Acts of Silencing in Graeco-Roman Epic from Homer to Nonnus

Throughout the epic tradition, characters reach decisions in the course of more or less formal gatherings that generally take place at a moment of crisis or great significance in the epic plot. The conversational behavior during these multi-party conversations, however stylized, is highly indicative of the dynamics of power and influence within the respective groups. Acts of silencing and interruption are especially telling of the (hierarchical) relations between the characters who impose silence, who are silenced, or who are the first to break a prolonged silence. This chapter presents a survey of cases in point throughout the Graeco-Roman epic tradition. Attention is paid to changes within the genre over time. Homer provides both the most diverse spectrum of power relations and the most ‘realistic’ conversational behavior. In later epics, open discussions with multiple instances of turn taking become rarer and disappear almost entirely in the epics of Lucan and Nonnus.