The episode in Beirut (books 41-43) does not play a central part in the long epic poem ofthe Dionysiaka, but it is notable because of its unexpected content and the peculiar contrastbetween its structural importance and its effect of being a mere narrative detour. Inthis article, a discussion of the Beirut episode as a whole is followed by a detailed analysisof the central book of this episode, containing a series of monologues of Dionysos,attempting to seduce Beroe (the nymph of Beirut). My analysis of book 42 focusses onthe monologues of Dionysos and the reactions of Beroe. Special attention is paid to elementsof genre and meta-literality, two central notions of my current PhD-research on theDionysiaka.
