Cover not available

In:Crises We Live By: A transdisciplinary study of crisis and its metaphors in their cultural context
Edited by Irene Leonardis
[Cognitive Linguistic Studies in Cultural Contexts 20] 2026
► pp. 178–199

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload Book PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload Book EPUB
authorization required

Metaphors of ambiguity, uncertainty, and crisis in Early Greek poetry

 | LMU Munich
Published online: 5 February 2026
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/clscc.20.08hor
Abstract
Greek mythology and Early Greek history were full of crises, including familial and civic strife or war. This is reflected in our extant sources of Archaic Greek literature, where crises are recurring and dominant themes. Though the events and effects of war and strife can be narrated directly, uncertainty and crisis are also abstract concepts: as such, within the theoretical framework of conceptual metaphor theory (CMT), they can also be expected to be conceived of and expressed through metaphors. This paper focuses on two source domains of varying specificity and detail that are employed in Early Greek poetry to conceptualise critical situations concerning physical imbalance and the sea/seafaring, and discusses different instantiations and allegorical scenarios of the conceptual metaphors uncertainty is unbalance and danger is the sea.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Metaphors of uncertainty and ‘crisis’ in Archaic Greek
    • 2.1uncertainty is physical imbalance
    • 2.2Maritime imagery: danger is a storm and crisis is distress at sea
    • 2.3Extended maritime metaphors: The sea as an allegory
    • 2.4Further examples and elaborations of maritime imagery in Aeschylus
  • 3.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
References (38)
References
Beaulieu, M.-C. (2016). The Sea in the Greek Imagination. University of Pennsylvania Pr. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Beekes, R. S. P. (2010). Etymological Dictionary of Greek. 2 vols. Brill.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Blumenberg, H. (1979). Schiffbruch mit Zuschauer. Paradigma einer Daseinsmetapher. Suhrkamp.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Brock, R. (2013). Greek Political Imagery from Homer to Aristotle. Bloomsbury.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Campbell, D. A. (1990). Greek Lyric I: Sappho, Alcaeus. 2nd edition. Harvard University Pr.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chantraine, P. (1968–1980). Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque. 4 vols. Éditions Klincksieck.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Coffee, N. (2006). The ΦΟΡΤΗΓΟΙ of Theognis 667–82. Classical Quarterly, 56(1), 304–305. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Corvisier, J.-N. (2008). Les Grecs et la mer. Belles Lettres. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Frisk, H. (1960–1970). Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. 2 vols. Universitätsverlag Winter.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gerber, D. E. (1999a). Greek Iambic Poetry. Harvard University Pr.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1999b). Greek Elegiac Poetry. Harvard University Pr.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Horn, F. (2021). “On a Razor’s Edge” (Il. 10.173): Iliadic Images of Imbalance and Uncertainty. Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies, 61(4), 446–455.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Keith, A. L. (1914). Simile and Metaphor in Greek Poetry from Homer to Aeschylus. The Collegiate Pr.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kövecses, Z. (2020). Extended Conceptual Metaphor Theory. Cambridge University Pr. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1980). Metaphors We Live By. University of Chicago Pr.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lakoff, G., & Turner, M. (1989). More than Cool Reason: A Field Guide to Poetic Metaphor. University of Chicago Pr. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lakoff, G. (1993). The Contemporary Theory of Metaphor. In A. Ortony (Ed.), Metaphor and Thought. Second edition (pp. 202–251). Cambridge University Pr. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lesky, A. (1947). Thalatta. Der Weg der Griechen zum Meer. Rudolf M. Rohrer Verlag.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lindenlauf, A. (2003). The Sea as a Place of No Return in Ancient Greece. World Archaeology, 35(3), 416–433. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lobel, E., & Page, D. (edd.). (1955). Poetarum Lesbiorum Fragmenta. Clarendon Pr.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mielke, H. (1934). Die Bildersprache des Aischylos. Diss. Breslau.
Most, G. W. (2006–2007). Hesiod I: Theogony, Works and Days, Testimonia; II: The Shield, Catalogue of Women, Other Fragments. Harvard University Pr.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Murray, A. T., & Wyatt, W. F. (1999). Homer, Iliad. 2 vols. Harvard University Pr.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
van Nes, D. (1963). Die maritime Bildersprache des Aischylos. J. B. Wolters.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Page, D. L. (1955). Sappho and Alcaeus: An Introduction to the Study of Ancient Lesbian Poetry. Clarendon Pr.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Race, W. H. (1997). Pindar I: Olympian Odes, Pythian Odes. II: Nemean Odes, Isthmian Odes, Fragments. 2 vols. Harvard University Pr.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Raeburn, D. & Thomas, O. (2011). The Agamemnon of Aeschylus. A Commentary for Students. Oxford University P.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Russell, D. A., & Konstan, D. (2005). Heraclitus: Homeric Problems. Society of Biblical Literature.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Scott, W. C. (1966). Wind Imagery in the Oresteia. Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association, 97, 459–471. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Semino, E. (2008). Metaphor in Discourse. Cambridge University Pr.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sider, D. (2020). Simonides: Epigrams and Elegies. Edited with Introduction, Translation, and Commentary. Oxford University Pr.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Snell, B., & Maehler, H. (1997). Pindari Carmina cum fragmentis. Pars I: Epinicia. 8th edition. Teubner.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sommerstein, A. H. (2008). Aeschylus I: Persians, Seven Against Thebes, Suppliants, Prometheus Unbound; II: Oresteia, III: Fragments. 3 vols. Harvard University Pr.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2019). Aeschylus, Suppliants. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
van Thiel, H. (2010). Homeri Ilias. 2nd edition. Georg Olms Verlag.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
West, M. L. (1978). Hesiod, Works & Days. Edited with Prolegomena and Commentary. Clarendon Pr.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1998a). Aeschyli Tragoediae cum incerti poetae Prometheo. 2nd edition. Teubner.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(1998b). Iambi et Elegi Graeci ante Alexandrum cantati. 2nd edition. Oxford University Pr.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue