• 1 Several art historians, among which Fraenger W., The Millennium of Hieronymus Bosch, Chicago, UCP, (...)

1At the turn of the sixteenth century the Netherlandish master Hieronymus Bosch painted a triptych known today under the title The Garden of Earthly Delights. In the central panel Bosch illustrates his idea of what an earthly paradise might look like. A green garden lush with grass and trees run by crystal-clear waters and replete with all kinds of real or imaginary animals, birds, fish, fruit and vegetables forms the background against which numerous nude human figures are given over to sensual pleasures. Innocence is juxtaposed with sexuality, religious symbolism with overt eroticism, childlike joy with unbridled lust in a Golden Age setting depicted with vibrant colours of green, blue and pink. Bosch portrays a Paradise Lost where men and animals live in harmony with nature and at the same time a dreamscape where various creatures and different species freely mingle with each other.1

• 2 Crump M. M., The Epyllion from Theocritus to Ovid, Oxford, B. Blackwell, 1931, still offers the bro (...)
• 3 Thus, for example, the editors of the latest Companion to Greek and Latin Epyllion do not vociferou (...)

3Before attempting to answer this question, we must ask ourselves whether the epyllion was sensed as such by Hellenistic poets. It is well known that the term is modern (it dates back to the nineteenth century), but the concept may have been already introduced into poetic practice by the Alexandrians and further refined by the Roman neoterics. Conclusive proof eludes us and the range of the poems that may be categorized as epyllia is hotly debated.2 Yet modern scholarship is reluctant to totally deny its existence as a literary genre; on the contrary it tacitly accepts a distinct narrative form which incorporates the very idea of Callimachean λεπτότης, through a combination of distinguishing features—brevity, preference for marginal myths, episodic narration, lightness of tone, emphasis on detail, aetiological framing, excessive sentimentality, psychological realism.3

• 4 Sistakou E., “‘Snapshots’ of Myth: The Notion of Time in Hellenistic Epyllion,” in Narratology and (...)
• 5 The term is introduced by Bakhtin M. M., The Dialogic Imagination, ed. by M. Holquist and transl. b (...)

4By and large, then, the epyllion remains a working hypothesis for a phantom genre; however we can substantially benefit from reviewing Hellenistic short narratives in the light of their common characteristics which we may consider as typical. As I have argued elsewhere, the epyllia—at least those widely recognized as the epitome of the genre, i.e. Callimachus’ Hecale, Theocritus’ Little Heracles and Moschus’ Europa—focus on a central episode, the snapshot, during which fabula-time almost freezes, thus allowing the dynamics of the «here and now» to emerge.4 The premise upon which the present paper is based is that space in the epyllion follows a similar pattern to that of time. To focus on a unique event presupposes a fixed space as setting which enhances the dynamics of the moment, of the single narrated episode. The idea that in the epyllion, at least in some representative samples of the genre, time and space have a supplementary function suggests the existence of a generically laden chronotope—to use Mikhail Bakhtin’s concept of the spatio-temporal interconnectedness inherent in each type of narrative.5

• 6 Cf. Sistakou E., “‘Snapshots’ of Myth,” op. cit., p. 318–9.
• 7 A detailed analysis of space in the Homeric epics in De Jong I. J. F. (ed.), Space in Ancient Greek (...)

5Time in the epyllion comes to a standstill as the narrative focuses on a minor event from the life of a god or a hero, which outshines his main epic achievement.6 In this sense the epyllion offers an alternative to the themes of epic. Is it plausible to suppose that the epyllic space provides alternatives to epic spaces too? The answer is definitely positive, if we consider the settings of numerous epyllia. In fact these fall into roughly three categories: the bucolic setting (pastoral in Theocritus’ Hylas and agricultural in Pseudo-Theocritus’ Heracles the Lionslayer), the domestic setting (bourgeois in Theocritus’ Little Heracles and Pseudo-Bion’s Epithalamium for Achilles and Deidameia, of the lower-class in Callimachus’ Hecale) and the exotic setting (the sea in Philetas’ Hermes, a far-off barbaric land in Theocritus’ Dioscuri). As a contrast, plot in the heroic epic is set on the battlefield, in front of a city’s walls, in the barracks, in the palace, or in divine kingdoms such as Olympus and Hades and, of course, in the imaginary places of Odysseus’ wanderings.7

• 8 The chronotope of the epyllion bears a striking resemblance with what Bakhtin terms “the idyllic ch (...)

6The authors of the Hellenistic epyllia clearly avoid the spatial grandeur of the epics. Space in the epyllion may be seen as a synthesis of the mythological and the everyday, the idealized and yet realistic, the imaginary but still familiar, situated somewhere between a non-existent neverland and our world. This assumption is reinforced by the fact that descriptive digressions, not only ecphraseis but also impressions of works of arts, acquire a key role in the spatio-temporal organization of the epyllic narrative. It is impossible to give a single characterization to the chronotope of the epyllion—all the more so since it is not a closed genre as compared, for example, to ancient Greek novel—and Bakhtinian taxonomy is only partly applicable to this hypothetical genre.8 Nevertheless we cannot deny the interdependency of time and space in the epyllic narrative nor ignore the thematic contrasts which form the basis of many epyllia. On a chronotopic level there is a constant conflict between what is static/achronical and what is shifting/developing, and the transition from one to the other is marked by the dynamic of the moment and the crossing of a threshold.

• 9 A great deal of literature about the Europa focuses on exactly this feature: see especially Schmiel (...)
• 10 The Phoenician origin of Europa is only indirectly suggested by reference to her father’s name Phoe (...)

8Any reader of the Europa, no matter how unsophisticated, is struck by its symmetrical composition and formalistic perfection; that Moschus intended to compose a mannered poem to a highly rhetorical effect is clearly visible.9 Even more visible is its constitution of three different tableaux which correspond to three distinct sites: Europa’s dream to the chamber (1–27), the flower gathering and the erotic encounter of Europa and Zeus to the meadow (28–36 and 63–113 respectively) and finally their journey towards Crete—a symbolic marriage-procession—to the sea (114–166). The heart of the poem is the ecphrasis of the basket (37–62), where spatiality acquires the original definition given by Gotthold Lessing in his legendary treatise on the confines of poetry and painting (Laokoon, 1766). Yet the reader also senses that the narrative about Europa and Zeus, which progresses linearly in time, corresponds to the voyage of Europa from her homeland (probably Phoenicia) to Crete, thus symbolizing her predestined transition from Asia to Europe (162–166, cf. ll. 7 and 9).10

• 11 Terms and definitions are introduced by Ryan M.‑L., “Space,” in The Living Handbook of Narratology, (...)

9Of the terminologies used to describe narrative space I have adopted here the terms spatial frames and story space, leaving aside the rather vague concept setting. By spatial frames the immediate surroundings of actual events in a narrative are implied, whereas story space covers the entire space which is relevant to the actual plot plus all the locations mentioned in the words or thoughts of the characters.11 What I will explore here are the three spatial frames where the action of the Europa takes place, namely the chamber, the meadow and the sea, whereas I will also discuss the function of spatial alibis such as Asia, Crete and even Egypt.

• 12 The fine distinction in Buchholz S. and Jahn M., “Space in Narrative,” in Routledge Encyclopedia of (...)
• 13 For Moschus’ Europa I have used the translation by Edmonds J. M., The Greek Bucolic Poets, The Loeb (...)

10An interesting point concerns the spatial organization of these frames. Are they contiguous, in the sense that the characters can freely move from one to the next, or are they discontinuous and distinct once characters can only enter into them under exceptional circumstances?12 My claim is that both are valid in Moschus’ text. Succession and continuity are presupposed, since, if we were asked to visualize the space of this narrative, we would probably conjure up an image of Europa’s house (6: ὑπωροφίοισιν δόμοισι) surrounded by a flowery meadow that is set right on the seashore (34–35: λειμῶνας ἀγχιάλους). The increased mobility of the characters allows them to move easily from one frame to the next: by making a flying leap (28: ἀνόρουσε) Europa jumps out of bed directly to the meadow and then again on the bull’s back (108: νώτοισιν ἐφίζανε), whereas Zeus is equally swift as he rushes into the sea (109: ἄφαρ δ᾽ ἀνεπήλατο ταῦρος, 110: ὠκὺς δ᾽ ἐπὶ πόντον ἵκανεν). There is a strong desire behind the movement of the characters between these sites—Europa longs for her fellow maidens (28: φίλας δ᾽ ἐπεδίζεθ᾽ ἑταίρας), she enjoys the idea of travelling with the bull (103: τερπώμεθα, 108: μειδιόωσα) and Zeus desires to seduce her (110: ἣν θέλεν ἁρπάξας). But, on the other hand, it is fate—and Cypris, of course—that activates the characters and, on a spatial level, sets them in motion (14: μόρσιμον εἷο, 72: οὐ μὲν δηρὸν ἔμελλεν, 162: καὶ τετέλεστο τά περ φάτο). As a result, the characters are both attracted by, and trapped in, the idyllic frames; once the borders are crossed there is no comeback, for Europa will never be able to take the reverse direction, i.e. from the sea via the meadow and into her chamber again (110–112):13

• 14 The irreversibility of Europa’s course is a basic feature of chronotopic concepts of narratives, as (...)

11This is a space of no return, within which each frame is ontologically distinct from the next—and the characters are only able to make the transition from one to the other through the agency of supernatural forces.14

• 15 In linguistics this type of description of a spatial network (for example an apartment with many ro (...)

12Spatial continuity corresponds to temporal sequence in Moschus’ narrative; on the whole the rule of linearity is observed. Moreover, the reader has the impression that the spatial frames are seen from a moving point of view, as if the imaginary viewer (the narrator or the characters/focalizers) takes a walk through the poem’s settings.15 Frames, on the other hand, once revealed, generate specific scenarios. Space is thus thematized; and it seems that desire is the ultimate guide to this peculiar walk through the spaces of Moschus’ Europa.

• 16 Campbell M. (ed.), Moschus. Europa, op. cit., on l. 6 aptly remarks that although the Homeric ὑπερώ (...)
• 17 Cf. Theocr. 14, 39, Call., frag. 202, 52 Pf. and Arat. 1, 970 for the same adjective in different c (...)

15ὑπωρόφιος, a variation of the Homeric ὑπερώϊον, is a spatial marker that evokes Moschus’ epic pretext: it is Penelope’s apartment that occupies the upper part of the palace where she retires to shed tears for Odysseus (Od. 19, 591–604).16 This typically Alexandrian adjective is also found in two similes from Apollonius’ Argonautica where again a woman’s loneliness in her apartment is portrayed (3, 293 and 4, 168).17 The atmosphere of loneliness is supplemented by another key phrase of Moschus’ text, namely Φοίνικος θυγάτηρ ἔτι παρθένος Εὐρώπεια (7). Both the patronymic periphrasis and ἔτι παρθένος are suggestive of the emotional and psychological dimensions of this space. The chamber is a literary laden space in which maidens are haunted by dreams motivated by their desire for marriage. Moschus’ Europa is clearly a reminiscence, or, better, a combination, of the Homeric Nausicaa and the Apollonian Medea, and reference to this specific space is crucial to recognizing the connection. Nausicaa sleeps in a θάλαμον πολυδαίδαλον in the scene of her dream (Od. 6, 15–51), while for Medea λέκτρον, θάλαμος and δόμος serve as a background to her nightmares (3, 616–655). Another literary model, that of the dream of Io from [Aeschylus’] Prometheus (645–657), clearly characterizes the chamber as a παρθενών (646: ἐς παρθενῶνας τοὺς ἐμοὺς).

• 18 Cf. Eur., Med. 41 and 380: σιγῆι δόμους ἐσβᾶσ᾽ ἵν᾽ ἔστρωται λέχος for the marital bed of Jason and (...)
• 19 Jumping out of bed is a common image in archaic and classical poetry, see the passages collected by (...)
• 20 There is one last detail that completes the spatial arrangement of this first scene: it is the actu (...)

16The narrative proceeds with the dream from which Europa wakes up in anguish (8–15). Moschus twice uses the phrase στρωτῶν λεχέων (16, 22) as a specified indication within the framing space of the chamber. στρωτόν λέχος, although generally denoting a bed covered with bedclothes, may also have sexual connotations. Thus Anchises and Aphrodite make love ἐς λέχος εὔστρωτον (Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite 157) and the same expression is used by Alcaeus for Helen and Menelaus’ bed (fr. 283, 8 L.‑P.: κἄνδρος εὔσ̣τρ̣ω̣τον̣ [λ]έχος).18 Not only lying in bed is a presupposition for a state of dreaming, but also jumping clear of it (16: ἀπὸ μὲν στρωτῶν λεχέων θόρε) is a sign of the emotional turmoil following a dream.19 For the narrator the motive behind this action is fear (16: δειμαίνουσα, 20: δειμαλέην αὐδήν); yet in Europa’s view it is rather sexual excitement (as expressed in her own words 23: ἡδὺ μάλα κνώσσουσαν and 25: ὥς μ’ ἔλαβε κραδίην κείνης πόθος).20 For a while Europa remains seated (on the bed?) to contemplate the meaning of the dream (18: ἑζομένη δ᾽ ἐπὶ δηρόν); eventually with a swift ἀνόρουσε (27) she literally leaps into the next tableau.

• 21 Further enhanced by the numerous iterative verb forms with ‑σκ‑ scattered in the poem (67: θαλέθεσκ (...)

17The narrator delays the reference to the meadow by focusing on Europa’s search for her female companions (28: φίλας δ᾽ ἐπεδίζεθ᾽ ἑταίρας). This carefree company triggers strong associations to her mind. Before entering the meadow in the present, the “here and now” of the epyllion, the heroine recalls past times and other places where she repeatedly has met with her friends. ἀεί suggests not only past activities but the “forever and ever” effect that dominates the poem.21 Spaces of memory become part of the present: places where dances are performed (30: ὅτ᾽ ἐς χορὸν ἐντύνοιτο), rivers where girls bathe (31: ὅτε φαιδρύνοιτο χρόα προχοῇσιν ἀναύρων) and meadows apt for flower-picking (32: ὁπότ᾽ ἐκ λειμῶνος ἐύπνοα λείρι᾽ ἀμέργοι).

• 22 I agree with Kuhlmann (Kuhlmann P., “The Motif of the Rape of Europa: Intertextuality and Absurdity (...)
• 23 The closest parallel is the παρακτίους λειμῶνας, a deserted space of the Trojan beach where Ajax re (...)
• 24 Perhaps a reminiscence of passages evoking eutopic landscapes, cf. Homeric Hymn to Hermes 71–72: ἔν (...)

18Flower-picking is an extremely dangerous activity—so the pretexts of the passage suggest. According to the model scene from the Homeric Hymn to Demeter (1–21), the λειμών represents the threat of abduction for a young maiden. Does Moschus live up to the expectations of his readers for an imminent Mädchentragödie? Definitely not.22 Instead pleasure pervades the epyllion’s core space (36: τερπόμεναι ῥοδέῃ τε φυῇ καὶ κύματος ἠχῇ, 64: ἄλλη ἐπ᾽ ἀλλοίοισι τότ᾽ ἄνθεσι θυμὸν ἔτερπον). What is novel in Moschus is its designation as λειμῶνας ἀγχιάλους (34–35).23 Unnaturally positioned right on the seashore, this meadow anticipates Europa and Zeus’ swift escape via the sea, i.e. the third spatial frame of the poem. Yet the plural, “the meadows,” repeated again in l. 63 λειμῶνας ἀνθεμόεντας, adds an achronic dimension to the dramatic space where the epyllic plot unfolds.24

• 25 The catalogue of flowers in Moschus’ epyllion is a reminiscence of both the Homeric Hymn to Demeter(...)
• 26 For a thorough discussion of Europa’s basket, also in the context of the poem’s main spaces, see Ma (...)
• 27 Cf. 39–40 (about Io): ὅτ’ ἐς λέχος Ἐννοσίγαιου / ἤιεν, 164 καί οἱ λέχος ἔντυον Ὧραι.

19Moschus’ meadow is a complex site that features a natural landscape, symbolic objects and an emblematic animal. Not simply a bucolic world in miniature, this meadow brings together traits from literary sites (the seashore where Nausicaa and Odysseus meet in the Odyssey 6 combined with the scene of Persephone’s abduction from the Homeric Hymn to Demeter), agricultural contexts (the everyday life digression on the oxen in ll. 80-83 may be read as a summary of Hesiod’s Works and Days) and idyllic settings (the flowery meadow is ideally represented as a locus amoenus of Theocritean origin in ll. 63-69).25 This pastiche of Homeric, Hesiodic and Theocritean spaces is juxtaposed with two autonomous sites within the confines of the meadow, namely the basket and the bull. The golden basket is obviously both a symbol of Europa’s royal origin—the princess carries a χρύσεον τάλαρον which is contrasted to the plain ἀνθοδόκον τάλαρον of her friends—and an object epitomizing the essence of the flowery meadow.26 Different is the function of the bull whose body serves as a space around, and upon, which the union of Europa and Zeus will take place—an anticipation of their future bridal λέχος.27

• 28 Apart from the impression that a work of art is echoed here, Moschus obviously reworks a simile abo (...)

21Europa as Aphrodite among the maidens/Graces is intended as a still where space and time freeze (cf. 72: οὐ μὲν δηρὸν ἔμελλεν ἐπ’ ἄνθεσι θυμὸν ἰαίνειν).28 Time becomes less and less significant since the reader is turned into a viewer—of Zeus described as a bull (79–88). Movement resumes once the bull enters the meadow (89: ἤλυθε δ᾽ ἐς λειμῶνα) in the same wondrous manner as the maidens had done before (89: φαανθείς).

• 29 Cf. 91–92 where the fragrance of the bull is more powerfully sensed than the odour of the entire fl (...)
• 30 The formulaic λέχος εἰσανέβαινεν or λέχος εἰσαναβᾶσα is a common euphemism for love-making in Hesio (...)

22In the last part of the scene the narrator monitors the desire of the maidens to approach the bull (90: πάσῃσι δ᾽ ἔρως ἐγένετ’ ἐγγὺς ἱκέσθαι); eventually only Europa succeeds. Literary and metaphorical closeness becomes the quintessence of the unfolding love story. Spatial markers (93: προπάροιθεν, 99: πρὸ ποδοῖν) and deictic indicators (100: δείκνυε, 102: δεῦθ᾽, 102: ἐπὶ τῷδε) highlight the approximation of the two lovers and enhance the sensuality of the scene. Climax is reached when the bull’s body becomes the dominant space,29 where Europa is symbolically seated as if entering the god’s bridal bed (103: ἑζόμεναι ταύρῳ τερπώμεθα, 108: νώτοισιν ἐφίζανε μειδιόωσα).30 At once the bull jumps into the sea (109: ἄφαρ δ᾽ ἀνεπήλατο ταῦρος), distance increases (112: ταὶ δ᾽ οὐκ ἐδύναντο κιχάνειν), and the gap between the meadow and the sea widens as Europa heads towards her destiny (113: πρόσσω θέεν).

• 31 Archil., frag. 122, 7–9 W.: μηδ᾽ ἐὰν δελφῖσι θῆρες ἀνταμείψωνται νομὸν / ἐνάλιον, καί σφιν θαλάσσης (...)
• 32 Especially of Hermes in Od. 5, 50–54 and Poseidon in Il. 13, 17–30, on which see Campbell M. (ed.), (...)

24Which scenarios are generated by this new spatial image? Undoubtedly the maritime course of Io the cow from Europe to Asia is evoked, as portrayed in the ecphrasis of the basket (46–47: φοιταλέη δὲ πόδεσσιν ἐφ᾽ ἁλμυρὰ βαῖνε κέλευθα / νηχομένῃ ἰκέλη, κυάνου δ᾽ ἐτέτυκτο θάλασσα). But also a popular topos, the reversal of natural order when incredible events occur. Not only does Moschus allude to the adunaton found in the programmatic idyll of the bucolic corpus (Theocr. 1, 132–136), but the passage has a striking resemblance with Archilochus’ famous paradox according to which dolphins and beasts mutually exchange their habitat.31 The miraculous transformation of the natural space is a manifestation of divine omnipotence; consequently the sea calms down (115: γαληνιάασκε θάλασσα) and the marine animals rejoice in the divine presence (116: κήτεα ἄταλλε, 117: κυβίστεε δελφίς). On the whole the scene is a light-hearted adaptation of sublime epic passages depicting the course of Olympian gods from heaven towards the sea.32

• 33 The artistic emphasis on every type of animal, fish or insect, collectively characterized as an aff (...)
• 34 On the spatial theography in the Iliad, see the excellent discussion in Tsagalis C., From Listeners (...)
• 35 ὑπεὶρ ἅλα in Apollonius suggests sea voyage for any purpose (1, 236; 1, 918; etc.), but in the Odys (...)

25In a flash the open space of the sea becomes a huge playground for the gods, the lesser divinities of the water and the creatures (cf. 116: ἄταλλε, 117: κυβίστεε). Apart from Zeus-the-bull with Europa on his back, Nereids (118–119) and Tritons (122–124), followed by mammals and dolphins, are lead by Poseidon in this imaginary wedding procession (120–122); the graphic detail of the seashells (124: κόχλοισιν ταναοῖς) against this colourful background conjures up artistic representations that reflect the aesthetics of the Hellenistic era.33 In contrast to Homer who places Zeus on the outmost height (the peak of Olympus) and Poseidon in the outmost depth (the bottom of the sea) of the universe,34 Moschus modifies the spatial coordinates of epic by referring to a miraculous interspace in which these same gods move: that existing right on the crest of the waves. The depths of the sea are abandoned as the Nereids rise to the surface of the water (118: Νηρεΐδες δ᾽ ἀνέδυσαν ὑπὲξ ἁλός), a passage strongly evoking the ascending of Thetis and her sisters from their underwater palace in Iliad 18 (35–69). The entire scene is set on this unattainable space, the very top of the waters, as it is repeatedly said (114: ἐπ᾽ εὐρέα κύματα βαίνων, 117: ὑπὲρ οἶδμα, 118: ὑπὲξ ἁλός, 120: ὑπεὶρ ἅλα). Gradually the fantasy realms of the gods, the epic spaces underlying Moschus’ passage, are deconstructed, and the denouement of the scene conjures up the image of a ship sailing across the sea.35

• 36 Especially by denying the natural adunaton of bulls and dolphins shifting between sea and land (14– (...)

27The moment of self-realization coincides with an emotional take on the poem’s topography. Europa’s gaze is for the first time directed towards the deserted fatherland; in agony she longs for its shores and mountains only to view the huge openness of the sky over the ocean. Now in total isolation from the idyllic sites—the nicely covered bed, the blossoming meadow, the blissful sea—Europa gains an illuminating insight into her experience. Eventually grasping the truth about the divine identity of the bull, she refuses to accept fairytale scenarios and instead seeks rational explanations.36 At this point an existing place, Crete, emerges as the only realistic telos of her adventure.

• 37 Also on a textual level in echoing the famous passage on Zeus’ arrival at Crete from the Theogony ( (...)
• 38 In effect Moschus reverses Hesiodic narratives about divine couplings by overemphasizing their sexu (...)

29Under the spell of heavenly powers Europa is, as already said, destined to depart from her homeland towards a target space, namely Crete. In contrast to Phoenicia which is hardly ever mentioned in the text, Crete incarnates the promised land (158: Κρήτη δέ σε δέξεται ἤδη), which however is not actually reached by the characters (162–163: φαίνετο μὲν δὴ / Κρήτη). From a generic viewpoint Crete represents the Hesiodic perspective of Moschus’ narrative.37 It is there that the teleological union between a god and a heroine will take place, it is there that the patterns of genealogical epic will be reproduced (162–166).38 This site contextualizes the epyllion in the tradition of theogonic poetry without ever becoming a vital part of the plot.

• 39 On the mirroring relationship between the main narrative and the description, see Cusset C., “Le je (...)
• 40 On the conflict between the sequence of events in the myth of Io and the spatial arrangement of the (...)
• 41 Cf. Kuhlmann P., “Moschos’ Europa,” op. cit., p. 276–293, at p. 284–5. Manakidou F., Beschreibung, (...)

30Through the ecphrasis of the basket, a mirror of the main narrative,39 new, exotic spaces come into view. The name of Libya, grandmother of Europa, mentioned in l. 39, alludes to a similar genealogical story concluding with an onomastic aition of the African continent. With the first vignette representing the passage of Bosporus by the bovine Io the reader (or rather viewer) is transferred to an unnamed site where sea imagery dominates (46–49); similarly undefined in space and time is the third vignette showing the slaying of Argus by Hermes (55–61).40 Only the centerpiece is clearly situated in Egypt: the union between Zeus and the cow, as also the metamorphosis of the latter into a woman again, is set beside the stream of the Nile (as twice expressly said 51: ἑπταπόρῳ παρὰ Νείλῳ, 53: ἀργύρεος Νείλου ῥόος). Moschus explicitly refers to a defined geographical site here—also by use of the almost scientific term ἑπτάπορος—obviously alluding to the scene from [Aeschylus’] Prometheus (846–852) where the birth of Epaphus by the stream of the Nile is foretold.41 But the silvery Nile on Europa’s basket becomes a symbolic site of sexuality and magic, one that exists in the interspace between life and art.

• 42 Which, of course, does not have the dramatic dimensions of Medea’s inner conflict in the Argonautic (...)

32This space fantasy representing allegorically the struggle between an ἐνδαπίη (11) and a ξείνη (10) continent mirrors Europa’s divided self between the security offered by the homeland and her desire for an amorous adventure in an uncharted territory. In other words Moschus plays with the idea of a mother/space (12: φάσκεν δ᾽ ὥς μιν ἔτικτε καὶ ὡς ἀτίτηλέ μιν αὐτή) vs. a lover/space (25: ὥς μ᾽ ἔλαβε κραδίην κείνης πόθος), as if space is a metaphor for the heroine’s conflicting emotions.42

• 43 On the thematization of space in narrative, see Ryan M.‑L., “Space,” op. cit., par. 31–35.

33The Europa is a highly rhetorical, almost artificial, poem in that it systematically reworks famous scenes and passages from archaic, classical, even Hellenistic literature; space is no exception to this rule and its literary subtexts are easily recognizable. Nevertheless Moschus achieves an original synthesis out of these traditional elements by thematizing the spaces wherein Europa moves.43

• 44 Similarly ‘Romantic’ is Medea’s bedchamber from Apollonius’ Argonautica, a space where the heroine (...)
• 45 Cf. Gutzwiller K., Studies, op. cit., p. 66, who notes: “But the dream has a much more important fu (...)

34The poem’s plot is structured around a symbolic movement from an inside, closed and confining space that through a space of exploration and experimentation leads to an open, liberating space. The chamber is for Europa, as it is for any maiden tormented by nightly visions, the space of patriarchy, one that renders Moschus’ piece Romantic in tone.44 Europa has to choose between alternative, mutually excluding worlds. Indeed, the surprise of the narrative strategy is that Europa refrains from visiting her family in the palace to report her dream, as her models Nausicaa, Io and Medea had done– she is instead immediately attracted by the space where her erotic dream may be realized, namely the meadow and subsequently the sea. Here Moschus contradicts his reader’s expectations by having Europa move towards spaces that produce an alternative scenario, that of the liberation of the maiden from the father’s authority (cf. 146–147: δῶμα / πατρὸς ἀποπρολιποῦσα). In this sense these spaces thematize the rite de passage, the transformation of Europa from an adolescent into a woman through a sexual experience.45

• 46 The idea is succinctly described by Bridgeman T., “Time and Space,” in The Cambridge Companion to N (...)

35Any plot, especially one involving a stroll or a journey like the one considered here, may be metaphorically designated as a path46– an image that wonderfully captures the concept behind the spatial structuring of the Europa as well as of several other poems classified as epyllia. To be more precise the macrospace of the poem represents epic teleology (Europa’s destiny is to travel from Asia to Europe), whereas the microspace epyllic linearity (the snapshot of the erotic encounter with Zeus) presupposes the spatial sequence of chamber/meadow/sea. In this respect the spatial arrangement of Moschus’ Europa has a striking resemblance with that of Theocritus’ Hylas and Callimachus’ Hecale. In the first Hylas’ rape in the locus amoenus of Propontis occurs within the macrospace to be traversed, namely the voyage of the Argonauts from Iolcus to Colchis; in the latter Theseus’ travel from Troezen to Marathon to kill the bull is the macrospace within which his course in Attica towards Hecale’s hut represents the microspace of the poem. In each case the moment of suspension of the overarching epic plot brings to the fore the spatio-temporal dynamics of the “here and now.” Thus magnified the immediate frame of the snapshot becomes the nucleus of the epyllic plot.

• 47 Yet it should pointed out that the quest for pleasure is also the motive behind the secondary focal (...)
• 48 A hypothesis further supported by the reading of the poem as a ring composition evolving around a c (...)

36Europa may be considered the main focalizer in the poem for it seems that events are filtered through her own eyes. Pleasure, or rather an all-encompassing hedonism, characterizes her throughout the poem (23: ἡδύ, 25: πόθος, 72: θυμόν ἰαίνειν, 103: τερπώμεθα),47 and it is through the power of hedone that the surrounding world is substantially transformed. Space is virtually created by, and existent in, Europa’s consciousness solely: affected by a dream, the heroine senses the spatial reality of her world as a utopian continuum where fantasy, magic and wonder converge. The lightness, easiness, naiveté of the girl’s psyche (features reflecting the bucolic ethics dominant in the Theocritean corpus) secure her entrance into a wonderland; access is also granted to the other hedonists of the poem, the girls and Zeus. Thus, if we forget for a moment the opening and closing spaces, those marking the divine plan devised for Europa and its teleologies (i.e. marriage and procreation), the very center of the poem appears to be the garden.48