Le bestiaire de Lycophron : entre chien et loup

The obscurity of Lycophron's poem is especially caused by the great presence of animals. The poet is first interessed in animals because of his proper name, and particularly because he is rewriting Æschylus'Agamemnon. This tragic pattern is crucial to the manner in which characters in the Alexandra are designated. Here are discussed the great diversity and complexity of these designations which are based on polysemy and instability of metaphor. The examples of wolf and dog are especially discussed here.