Contents of JHS 127 (2007)
Articles
Hans
Bernsdorff, ‘P.Oxy.
4711 and the poetry of Parthenius’
Zachary
Biles, ‘Celebrating poetic victory: representations of epinikia in
Classical Athens’
Robert J.
AND Vanessa B. Gorman, ‘The tryphê of the Sybarites:
a historiographical problem in Athenaeus’
F.S. Naiden, ‘The fallacy of the willing victim’
David D.
Phillips, ‘Trauma
ek pronoias in Athenian law’
Edward
Watts, ‘Creating
the Academy: historical discourse and the shape of
community in the Old Academy’
Shorter contributions
Geoffrey
Bakewell, ‘Agamemnon
437: Chrysamoibos Ares, Athens and empire’
Sviatoslav
Dmitriev, ‘Memnon
on the siege of Heraclea Pontica by Prusias I and the war between the kingdoms
of Bithynia and Pergamum’
Chad
Matthew Schroeder,
‘A new monograph by Aristarchus?’
Peter
Wilson, ‘Pronomos
and Potamon: two pipers and two epigrams’
Abstracts
Hans
Bernsdorff: (Institut
für Klassische Philologie der Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt)
‘P.Oxy. 4711 and the poetry of Parthenius’
P.Oxy. 4711 (from a papyrus codex of the sixth
century AD) contains elegiacs with at least three metamorphosis myths (Adonis,
Asterie, Narcisssus). In this article I argue against the suggestion by
(among others) the first editor of this papyrus that the verses might be by
Parthenius. I do so by examining the evidence for Parthenian authorship
(especially the presumed imitations by Ovid and Gregory of Nazianzus) and by comparing
the style of the new piece with what we actually possess of Parthenian poetry
(especially with fr. 28 Lightfoot, which might come from the Metamorphoseis).
Instead I suggest a late date of composition and would regard the fragments as
a collection of thematically arranged diêgêmata in verse which are
related to the production of progymnasmata in schools.
Zachary Biles: (Franklin & Marshall
College, Lancaster, PA)
‘Celebrating poetic victory: representations of epinikia in Classical Athens’
Although we are fairly well
informed about the general organization and important events of the dramatic
competitions in Athens, there remain significant gaps in our knowledge on many
points of detail. In no place is this more true than with regard to the
epinikian celebration honouring members of the victorious performance, about
which scarcely any unambiguous testimony has come down to us. This study
aims to provide new insights into the problem by demonstrating a connection
between the iconography preserved in several sculpted reliefs of the Roman
period commonly referred to as Dionysos’ visit to Ikarios and the
representation of a celebration for poetic victory in Plato’s Symposium.
Central to the combined testimony of these sources is the ideal of Dionysos’
epiphany to the poet in order to acknowledge and honour his victory in
person. So identified as an element of victory celebration, related
articulations of this imagined moment can then be detected in several
additional representations on vases and in Aristophanic comedy, in both of
which other independent elements likewise suggest the activation of an epinikian syntax. Practical matters about the
celebration still elude us; what we gain, however, is a clearer sense of the
religious ideals that were conveyed through these celebrations in connection
with the worship of Dionysos, which formed a nucleus for the dramatic
festivals.
Robert J. AND Vanessa B. Gorman:
(University of Nebraska-Lincoln)
‘The tryphê of the Sybarites: a historiographical problem in Athenaeus’
A large number of the most
informative fragments of the Hellenistic Greek historians are transmitted by
Athenaeus. Unlike the frequently jejune evidence provided by scholiasts,
lexicographers and the like, these texts allow us to draw historiographical
conclusions about lost writers: on this basis, scholars have posited, for
example, the place of a given author in the Hellenistic ‘schools’ of
history. The importance of Athenaeus as a source for history-writing
between Xenophon and Diodorus calls for detailed study of the Deipnosophist’s
method of citing these lost authors. The present article focuses on
Athenaeus’ testimony concerning the downfall of Archaic Sybaris through luxury
and excess in order to show that certain phrases, sentence patterns and even
trains of thought can be reliably identified as belonging to Athenaeus rather
than the cited authority. This discovery entails surprising results:
traditions ascribing the destruction of Sybaris to morally corrosive luxury are
late and of little historical value. More generally, the debilitating
effects of luxury cannot serve as an exemplum supporting the claim
that Hellenistic writers tended to explain historical events through moral
causes; apparent evidence for this causal nexus is better assigned to Athenaeus
than to the historians he names. In view of these conclusions, a cautious
reassessment of all Athenaeus’ testimony on fragmentary historians is
appropriate.
F.S. Naiden: (Tulane University, New Orleans)
‘The fallacy of the willing victim’
Following the lead of Walter
Burkert, scholars have believed that the ancient Greeks required that
sacrificial animals assent to being killed, or at least appear to assent.
The literary evidence for this view, however, is weak, being confined mostly to
dramatic scholia and Pythagorean sources, and ample visual evidence suggests an
alternate view: the Greeks required that sacrificial animals make some display
of vitality that would show that they were fit to present to a god. The
Greek practice of inspecting sacrificial animals supports this alternate view.
David D. Phillips: (University of California,
Los Angeles)
‘Trauma ek pronoias in Athenian law’
This article presents a
comprehensive study of the offence of trauma ek pronoias (intentional
wounding) in Athenian law. Part I catalogues
every occurrence of the words traËma and titr≈skv in the Attic orators
and concludes that the requisite physical element of trauma ek pronoias
was the use of a weapon. Part II analyses all attested trauma
lawsuits and concludes that the requisite mental element of the offence was a
bare intent to wound. Part III addresses the procedural evidence for trauma
ek pronoias and concludes that the action for trauma was a graphê,
not a dikê. Two appendices discuss the use of the terms trauma
and pronoia in Plato’s Laws and Aristotle’s Rhetoric
and a reference to trauma ek pronoias in Lucian’s Timon.
Edward Watts: (Indiana University)
‘Creating the Academy: historical discourse and the shape of community in the
Old Academy’
The Old Academy developed in an
unplanned fashion and, as its structure evolved, changes in leadership and
institutional culture were mirrored by shifting Academic historical traditions.
As the Old Academy became an institution that presented a systematized
philosophy, its leadership placed increased emphasis upon traditions about
Plato and other Academic leaders that illustrated the power and practical
application of this Academic teaching. This suggests a conscious attempt
by the scholarchs of the Old Academy to craft a distinctive institutional
identity centred as much upon the character and exemplary lifestyle of its
leadership as upon its specific doctrinal teaching.
Shorter Contributions
Geoffrey Bakewell:
(Creighton University, Omaha)
‘Agamemnon 437: Chrysamoibos Ares, Athens and empire’
The chorus’ depiction of Ares as a
‘gold-changer of bodies’ and trader in precious metals underscores the
increased intersection of finances and war in fifth-century Athens. The
metaphor’s details point to three contemporary developments (in addition to the
patrios nomos allusion noted by Fraenkel): the increased
conscription of citizens, the institution of pay for military service, and the
payment of financial support for war orphans.
And as leader of the Delian League, Athens itself resembled the war-god,
establishing equivalents between men and money, and profiting from its
acceptance of tribute payments in a variety of currencies. Taken
together, the metaphor’s contemporary dimensions probably had an unsettling
effect on the Athenian audience.
Sviatoslav Dmitriev: (Ball State University,
Muncie, IN)
‘Memnon on the siege of Heraclea Pontica by Prusias I and the war between the
kingdoms of Bithynia and Pergamum’
This article argues against the
traditional dating of the attack of Prusias I of Bithynia on Heraclea
Pontica to the 190s, that is to the time before the
Apamean settlement (188). The following re-examination of the only
surviving literary source to refer directly to this event (Photius’ excerpts of
the history of Heraclea Pontica by Memnon), together with relevant information
from several other literary and inscriptional texts, allows us to connect the
attack of Prusias with the war between the Bithynian and Pergamene kingdoms,
which would then be dated to c. 184-183. The other major
conclusion presented is that this war had no direct relation to the outcome of
the Apamean settlement, as has been the majority opinion.
Chad Matthew Schroeder: (University of
Michigan)
‘A new monograph by Aristarchus?’
This article argues that the
Homeric scholia preserve the title of a lost monograph by the second-century BC
Alexandrian scholar Aristarchus on the date of Hesiod’s life. Apparent
references to the contents of this monograph occur in the Homeric as well as the
Hesiodic scholia, and demonstrate that Aristarchus compared the works of the
two poets and concluded that Hesiod had lived sometime near 700 BC.
Peter Wilson: (University of Sydney)
‘Pronomos and Potamon: two pipers and two epigrams’
Although he was one of the most
famous musicians of classical antiquity, the pipe-player (auletes)
Pronomos of Thebes has never attracted serious scholarly attention in his own
right. This contribution seeks to address this neglect by attempting to
establish a basic chronological framework for his life. In doing so, it
introduces a new item of evidence, the inscribed funerary monument of one
Potamon of Thebes, a contemporary and colleague of Pronomos in the art of auletike.
A close relationship is shown to exist between the epigram on this funerary
monument, found in Athens, and that which accompanied the statue on the Theban akropolis,
erected in honour of Pronomos.