Abstract

The Homeric verbs μύκε “moo,” λάκε “screech,” and μακών, “bleat(ing)” describe animal sounds but can also apply to inanimate subjects in certain contexts. This paper considers the morphology, semantics, and poetics of these verbs within two frameworks: media theory and animacy studies. Through these verbs, the poet creates a complex nonhuman soundworld of objects, animals, bodies, and material media that challenges the limits of human perception. Close analyses of the passages in which these verbs appear reveal the medial and animate complexities of well-known epic objects, such as Achilles’ shield, Hector’s body, or the cloud-gates of Olympus. The sounds of these and other things are embedded but not wholly translated into human sensory understanding; the scenes in question also challenge easy distinctions between humans and nonhumans, animals and objects, and living and dead bodies.