Catalogue of Women - Title and The ē' Hoiē-formula

Title and The ē' Hoiē-formula

Ancient authors most commonly referred to the poem as the Catalogue of Women, or simply the Catalogue, but several alternate titles were also employed. The tenth-century encyclopedia known as the Suda gives an expanded version, the Catalogue of Heroic Women (Γυναικῶν Ἡρωϊνῶν Κατάλογος), and another late source, Tzetzes, prefers to call the poem the Heroic Genealogy (Ἡρωϊκὴ Γενεαλογία). But the earliest and most popular alternate title was Ehoiai (Ἠοῖαι), after the feminine formula ē' hoiē (ἠ' οἵη, ), "or such as", which introduces new sections within the poem via the introduction of a heroine or heroines. This nickname also provided the standard title for a similar Hesiodic work, the Megalai Ehoiai or Great Ehoiai (Μεγάλαι Ἠοῖαι).

As is reflected by its use as an alternate title, the ē' hoiē-formula was one of the poem's most recognizable features. It may have belonged originally to a genre of poetry that simply listed notable heroines, but in the Catalogue the formula is used as a structuring tool that allows the poet to resume a broken branch of a family tree, or to jump horizontally across genealogies to a new figure and line of descent. A characteristic example is found in the introduction of the daughters of Porthaon at Cat. fr. 26.5–9:

The preceding section of the poem had dealt at some length with the extended family of Porthaon's sister Demodice, tracing her line down to the generation following the Trojan War. Here ē' hoiai (plural) is used to jump backwards in time as the poet completes his treatment of the descendants of Porthaon and Demodice's father Agenor by covering the son's family. Elsewhere the formula is used in transitions to more distant branches. The Ehoie of Mestra, for example, ultimately serves to reintroduce the family of Sisyphus, her great-granduncle who hoped to win her as bride for his son Glaucus. Although that marriage does not take place, the descendants of Sisyphus are soon presented.