Acknowledgments
This book has grown out of the research on the etymology of Homer and his Scholiasts, which Dr. H. Peraki-Kyriakidou and I have conducted. This collabora tion has yielded a vast amount of material from which derive some of the refer ences I make in this book. My teaching, especially my graduate course on Ety mology from Homer down to his scholiasts, has also brought me into contact with a wealth of corroborating diachronic material, and given me a strong stimulus for a closer examination of ancient poetic etymology. I have endeavored to adumbrate the specificities and the elusiveness of such a complex enterprise as the poetic etymologizing in a number of articles whose corollaries I briefly summarize in this book. My involvement with the Homeric epics and later poetry has cemented my belief that the repeated exploitation of certain patterns is not coincidental, but reflects practices and principles of a deep-rooted and embedded tradition; in spite of their individual differentiations, ancient poets draw from a common font. This insight has led me to the formulation of some theoretical points, no matter how fluid and question begging the term "theoretical" might be for such an early era. A great part of this book was prepared in London in the Winter Semester of 2003, during my sabbatical. So my gratitude goes first to Professor Christopher Carey, who kindly received me as a honorary research fellow and gave me the opportunity to benefit from the facilities of the DCL and ICS. My thanks also go to my colleagues Dr. Helen Peraki-Kyriakidou and Dr. Paraskevi Kotzia, who have read different parts of this work and have offered me encouragement and constructive criticism. I would also like to express my thanks to Professors Daniel Jakob, John Kazazis and Antonios Rengakos for reading my entire book and mak ing valuable comments. Of course, I assume responsibility for whatever mistakes may remain.
Introduction
The comprehensive title of the present study, "Ancient Poetic Etymology," pre supposes a close inspection and appreciation of all those ancient etymological concepts and patterns that promote not only a poem'.s linguistic lucidity and the matic structure but also affect its literary quality. Etymology emerges here as a tool of poetic furtherance and integration on the dictional and compositional lev els, and in sum as an instrumental literary parameter. The Homeric epics, as also archaic lyric poetry to a lesser extent, will provide ample evidential, even if selec tive, material for the present study. The insights into the workings of an ancient etymological tradition gained in the first half of the book will eventually be ap plied to the diachronic study of the names of Pelops and his kin in ancient litera ture and art. This myth is studied from the angle of poetic etymology. The inter pretive models proposed here for the reading of poetic names in a primary oral song-culture, rely on the documented ancient exploitation of sounds, words, themes and imagery. Focusing on the connotations of the poetic texts garnered here, their manipulation by ancient men of literature and their annotation by grammarians and scholiasts, the present study puts forward some conjectures as regards the ancient reception and comprehension of poetry. Pelops' myth is of exemplary value in this diachronic examination, which crosses the boundaries of orality into literacy and intertextuality. The particular design and objectives of this study presuppose the supremacy of proper names in the latter half of the book, and justify the attention paid to modem theories on name and namegiving. In detail: In the preamble of the present study (chapter I) there is a brief sur vey of a constellation of influential modem theories regarding the proper name, its nature and status: the proper name has been placed under the microscope not only of linguistics but also of philosophy and social science, thus becoming a logico semantic and anthropological problem. Some of the theoretical approaches de scribed here have dominated scholarship; their effect is still being felt as regards the workings of the proper name, poetic or otherwise. The contrasting tenets of denotation and connotation are paradigmatic: they have affected, if not arrested, the appreciation of poetic name, its motivation and constitution. The gap between modem and ancient etymology is often presented as un bridgeable; we are occasionally told that a rift separates modem scientific etymol ogy from ancient poetic or grammatical and scholiastic etymology. In principle this may be true, but the orthodoxy of the evaluation is susceptible to gradation and must be judged ad hoc: in many cases the proposals of these two branches of etymology are identical or overlap to a great extent; their boundaries are some what blurred. Scientific etymology naturally starts from different premises, pur sues different goals, and benefits from the corollaries of a wide spectrum of disci plines, such as historical and comparative linguistics and semantics. With a com bined centrifugal and centripetal motion, it sets out to trace and map the genea logical chart of words, searching for the remnants of the parent or Proto-Indo-
Introduction
6
European language in its various intercontinental "sister" languages and in wide spread comparative materiaL Ancient etymology, on the other hand, whether poetic, grammatical or scholi
astic, is mostly empirical and intuitive. It is characterized by a pervasive flexibil ity and freedom reflected in the occasional multiplicity and variability of the ety mological proposals it submits for onc and the same word. The scientific elucida tion of words is beyond the remit of ancient poetic etymology. Any search for philologically correct etymologies
would be anachronistic, since
the Indo
European mother tongue was unknown to the ancient people. Ancient etymology thus aims primarily at integrating words, myths, persons and things in a meaning ful manner, and provides an internal justification for their presence and function in the poetic canvas. On account of its unscientific methods and objectives, ancient etymology is sometimes discounted as rather bizarre and fanciful. It is often disregarded and labelled "paretymology" with quite unjustified condescension, although its contri bution is appreciated in instances where the linguistic norms are patently and in explicably bypassed. As a result of such reductionist views and misconceptions of the underlying poetic goals and methods, the explicit poetic etymologies, not to mention the implicit, are often dismissed as stylistic devices, grammatical or rhe torical figures, wordplays or examples of alliteration. Grammar books testify to this. However, the significance of alliteration and wordplays in the process of an cient signification and etymologizing is great: both imprint derivational associa tions more often than not. The etymological contributions of paronomasia, analy sis of compound words into their components, use of parallel and cquivalent or even antithetical phrases, clustering of cognates, and, finally, internal rearticula tion and rcsignification of names are of recognizable value. These techniques, in addition to their serviceability as mncmonic aids in an orally composed and per formed poetry, also allow poctic etymology to emerge as a narrative factor that pulls together the strings of the story and promotes its deployment. Etymology targets the lexical and thematic unification of the poetic work. Chapter 2 focuscs on such matters and the functionality of ancient Greek po etic etymologizing in the wider poetic matrix. For all practical purposes and better management of the vast material, I have adopted the taxonomic system and ty pologies that figure in older and accredited books on etymology, although I rec ognize that the boundaries of categories are not waterproof. Overlapping of classes and encroachment of limits is a frequent phenomenon. Any aspiration to construct clear-cut and unambiguous schematic patterns is therefore misleading. The boundaries of categories constantly intenningle and shift, defying our at tempts at classification. Earlier scholars have studied ancient etymology mostly for its philological and explicatory expedience in its immediate and narrow contexts. Their approach has been mostly descriptive and evaluative of external similarities. They are cred ited with pioneering work on a neglected and rather unpopular field and with dis closing the philological and exegetical aspect of Homer. They have a point, argu ing that etymolob'Y has a practical purpose: some outdated, antique and fossilized
Introduction
7
forms were preserved in the dialectal amalgam and the formulaic language of the Homeric poems during their long transmission. Such antique forms were no longer intelligible to the younger generations of Greeks, as the contemporary ver nacular evolved and modernized. The conservatism of oral poetry, underpinned by its metrical structure, protects the literary idiom from the intrusions of the natu rally evolving language. Out of consideration for their audience, therefore, Homer and the rhapsodes who followed attempted to improve their ability to com municate, inserting short etymological comments of an explicatory nature. Diels credits the creator of the epos with a high degree of philological feeling; Pfeiffer reaffirms this notion, Rank devotes a great section of his book to "Homerus als philoloog," while Ong argues "that oral art forms, such as epic, retain some words in archaic forms and senses, words that are recurrent in the special vocabulary of epic poetry; yet "memory has some durability, but not unlimited:" when these words lose their relevance with the present, lived experience, objects or in stitutions, then their meaning is altered or simply vanishes; this illustrates Ong's principle of homeostasis, which accomplishes an equilibrium "by sloughing off ) memories which no longer have present relevance." As our insight into the Homeric poetic art grows, such philological expla nations, despite their great merit, seem rather unilateral, since they overshadow Homer the poet. Which Homer should we be looking at after all? Homer the phi lologist, the educator, or the poet? And if the first half of this book's title is to be trusted, what is the meaning and the function of "poetic" as regards Homer? A brief survey of some influential theories, which have stamped contemporary Ho meric scholarship, will illustrate the problem and provide some hermeneutic guidelines. In the aftermath of M. Parry's ingenious and revolutionary formulaic theory and the reactions it provoked for stressing the rigidity of stereotyped epic lan guage, its repetitiveness, and the mechanistic function of its structural blocks, there was a surge of studies, which highlighted the literary character of the Ho meric epics and addressed important issues, such as performance, reception, com 2 position and narratology. Since the eighties, scholars have argued that Homeric Diels 1 9 10: 1 0; Pfeiffer 1 968: 3-4: Homer not only creates but also interprets "his own pow erful language;" his poetry included a sort of 'philological element, ' and "this is of signal im portance for the origin and development of scholarship . . . the epic poets "desire to make themselves clear, but no less to pleasure in playing on words, to delight in similarity of sound;" see ib. 140. See also Rank 195 1 : 74-1 00; Ong 2002/2006: 46-47. For the idea of "recomposition-in-performance," which derives from Lord (Singer of Tales [Cambridge, Mass. 1 960] 3-29, 99-1 23), see Nagy 1 989: 1 0 with n. 28; id. 1996a: passim and 1 997: 1 75-89. This notion implies the futility of looking for either an "original" or a "final" performance. Bakker 1 997: 1 1-36 (Intro. 5), focuses on the experience of performance: the Greek epic tradition betrays a complex, double vision of epic events as both now and not now, both near and far; the epic performance can be seen as the reexperience of an ever present original event, with "truth" emerging from the crucial difference in understanding be tween the performer of epos and the characters in the original event. Kahane l 997: 1 1 0-37 (In tro. 7-8), on the evidence of the Homeric meter, argues: "at the boundaries between coda and onset [of verses], there exist 'interstices of silence' . . . such an interstice . . . alters the balance
8
Introduction
poetry does not differ substantially from modem, fictional literature, even though it adheres to a genre of oral traditions. The "multiplicity" of the presentation of the story in the Iliad also suggests that "this narrative has more variety of presen ,,3 tation than many a modem novel. Defying the suggestions of the '50's, that a non-Aristotelian literary criticism and a new "oral poetics" be developed, Griffin and others have counterargued that the production of this "new poetics" does not contribute to our aesthetic understanding. Relying on Ruth Finnegan's view that "There is no clear-cut line between 'oral' and 'written' literature," Griffin pro poses that we "go on with aesthetic methods not essentially or radically new . . . approaching the epics in a manner not wholly different from the way in which the ,,4 Greeks themselves approached them. For the ancients "the name Homer evoked s the image of a single exceptionally authoritative bard." The oral and traditional nature of the Homeric epics, their indebtedness to anterior poetic forms, and their long passage through time, before their final crystallization, do not affect their "originality;" hence they are judged by the standards of modem literature. The richness, multiplicity, fictionality and literary value of the Homeric epics have attracted the attention not only of pure classicists but of scholars of related disciplines, who have fertilized Homeric scholarship with their specialized exper tise; concepts originating from political convictions (e.g. Marxism), feminist apbetween the narrative reality 'out there' and the time-present reality of the performance," pro ducing a "stitching together of fiction and reality." Martin 1 997: 1 3 8-66, studying the inter textual or rather metaperformative poetics ( 1 6 1 ) apropos the Homeric similes, notes that the scholiastic "miming a desire"(sch. T n. 1 6. 1 3 1 ) aptly describes "what we know happens in in teractive oral performances of epic, in which performers enact what audiences want" ( 1 4 1 ). So De Jong 1 987: xi, 227, who recognizes that her methods divide the Iliad into narrative situations and thus fracture the poem. But she says: (ib. x): "this study, too, will try to account for the Iliad as it is rather than to reconstruct how it came about." Griffin 1 980: xiii-xiv with nn. 1 , 2, where he cites Finnegan ( 1977: 2). She denies ( 1 977: 272 apud Shive 1 987: IS with n. 4 1 ) that there is "a clear-cut differentiation between oral and written literature," and argues that there is nothing "peculiar to 'oral poetry, ' which radically distinguishes it from written poetry in nature, composition, style, social context, or function." For the conflict of tradition and invention and M. Parry's theory see Shive 1 987: 3-20 and Willcock 1 997: 1 74-89. Minchin 200 1 : 72, argues: "the way is open to us again to think of Homer -as Aristotle did (Poet. 1459a-1460a)- as a creative poet who takes a traditional story and makes it his own." Discussing current trends, Peradotto 1 990: 3-3 1 and 1 997: 3 8 1 , notes: "there have been a number of studies which, without contesting the powerful influence of a traditional style, structure, and set of narratives, still portray a poet in control of that tradition, capable of originality and innovation, to counter the questionable image of a compliant repli cator and a frozen tradition." On this subject see also Scodel 2002: 1 -4 1 . Fowler 2004: 22829, also speaks of the innovations of Homer at the mythological level (cf. Phoenix in n. 9), adopts (228 with n. 3 1 ) and emphasizes the untraditional character of the Iliad and Odyssey (229 with n. 39): "they are astonishingly innovative in design and aim." For a divergent view on poetic originality see Ong 2002/2006: 4 1 -42, 59, 1 3 1 , 142-43. So Graziosi and Haubold 2005: 8-9, 33; capitalizing on the repetitiveness and resonace of the Homeric language, they remark: "the Homeric poems . . . derive much of their meaning from the interaction between the particular story they tell and its resonance within the overall de velopment of the cosmos . . . the traditional character of Homeric epic, far from being an im pediment to originality, makes the poems resonant with meaning."
Introduction
9
proaches, and modern literary theories are applied to Homer. His crystallized text and the growth of chirographic and print culture opened up new interpretive ven ues and gave rise to the intertextual approach. To summarize Ong (131), "intertex tuality refers to a literary and psychological commonplace: a text cannot be cre ated simply out of lived experience;" the writer is familiar with a "textual orgimi zation of experience;" the manuscript culture "deliberately created texts out of other texts', borrowing, adapting, sharing the common, originally oral, formulas and themes, even though it worked them up into fresh literary forms impossible without writing. " Working on similar lines to Kristeva, the inventress of the term Intertextuality,6 Barthes claims that the delivery of the epic poem to the Muse and "all such references to the rhetoric of filiation reinforce the illusion that the text has a unity which stems from the unified and original thought of its creator;" shift ing the point of gravity from the author to the reader, he finds the "text's unity not in its origin but its destination . . . the birth of the reader must be at the cost of the , death of the Author. , 7 Text and reader are thus liberated from the confines of the assumed authorial intentionality and monosemanticity. The shift of focus onto the modern reader and his response to literature calls for a new theoretical framework: the reception theory. Hans Robert JauB, one of its main exponents, approaches this subject in terms of reception-aesthetics. He uses the term "aesthetic distance" "to denote the difference between the contemporary view of a work of art (at the time of its first publication) and the present-day view;" "literary value is measured according to 'aesthetic distance,' the degree to which a work departs from the 'horizon of expectations' of its first readers. "g Foley pursues this further, ap plying the concepts of performance and reception to Homeric studies. Perceiving tradition as the vital process imaged in language, he argues that such a conception of tradition "would entrust the process of communication to the performer's and audience's negotiation of what remains unsaid . . . Such a notion of tradition redi rects attention toward the ongoing process that informs Homeric composition and reception." He disagrees with the urgency for a new, segregational poetics, and Julia Kristeva (Desire in Language: a Semiotic Approach to Literature and Art, New York, 1 980: 66, apud Allen 2000: 36). The career of intertextuality in modem theory is marked by considerable diversity (see Allen 2000). Kristeva argues that "any text is constructed as a mo saic of quotations; any text is the absorption and transformation of another . . . poetic language is read as at least double." On Intertextuality in Homeric scholarship see Peradotto 1 997: 39294. Fowler 2004: 229-30, associates the allusions of specific words with the assumption of fixity on the level of diction and the possible beginning of true intertexts. Barthes ("The Death of the Author," 1 977: 1 42-48, 1 59, 1 46, apud Allen 2000: 72-75): the text is "a tissue of quotations drawn from the innumerable centres of culture," Peradotto 1 997: 392-93 and 384, argues that the Homeric studies are "not uncomfortably at home in so called postmodem territory." On the reception theory see Cuddon 1 999: 387 (horizon of expectations) and 733 (reception theory and "aesthetic distance"): H. R. JauB uses the term "horizon of expectation" to denote the shared assumptions and the criteria by which readers judge literary texts in a trans subjective way. For a comprehensive and critical survey of the forms that this theory took in the hands of its major exponents (Gadamer, JauB, Iser) see Holub 1 995 [2004]: 445-82. For a brief critical note from the perspective of orality-literacy see Ong 2002/2006: 1 67-68.
10
Introduction
opts for an integrative approach by which we are called "to hear the resonance in Homer's 'words,' to contextualize the individual and immediate in the traditional ,,9 and recurrent . . . a new rediscovery awaits us: the linked technique of reception. With these major theoretical landmarks lingering in our mind (recomposition in-performance, reception, originality and fictionality of the Homeric epics), we may approach Homer as the ingenious poet he has always been and attempt to find 'out what he has done with etymology and what his diachronic audience or readers may have understood. His etymologies will be explored in an integrative and holistic manner, in strict relation to their immediate context or wider text; internal factors, such as thematic and structural relevance, will be taken into con sideration. A detailed and exhaustive exemplification of all the Homeric etymo logical techniques is well beyond the scope and the objectives of this study; a se lo lection of the most representative examples will illustrate the point. Homer will be naturally the starting point for our probings and comparisons as being the ulti mate authority against whom all subsequent etymological experimentations and practices are tested; later poetry and scholarship is engaged in discourse with him, giving a flavor of ancient reception and intertextuality. The predominant subject of the second part of this study (chapters 3 and 4) is the exploration of the etymology of Pelops and his relatives in ancient literature. Blood relation underpins the linguistic and semantic kinship of their names. This part capitalizes on the corollaries of the preceding chapters, with the ultimate pur pose of demonstrating the validity of an underlying consistent naming system, marked by verbal and semantic affiliations. Overpowering and overbearing fig ures in the much-sung Trojan epic, the offspring of this family are cultural heroes, who play a protagonistic role in the traditional stories that have shaped the ideals and values of antiquity; epic, lyric and tragic poetry focuses on their acts and fate, making their myth and names vehicles of religious and moral reflection. Ancient philosophico-linguistic theory has also exploited the potential of their names. It is not accidental or devoid of significance that in his theoretical treatise, the Craty Ius, Plato makes the names of the males of this family prime case studies, by which he illustrates the principles of ancient etymologizing and exemplifies the doctrine about the essential and natural relation between names and things. Plato's treatment of Tantalus, Pelops, Atreus, Agamemnon and Orestes testifies to the fact that these names are not chosen at random and simply for reasons of familiarity with a myth of wide circulation. We may plausibly argue that Plato consciously selected these names because they conform with and underpin the etymological practices and notions he is investigating; the mythical vita of these heroes is intri-
la
Foley 1 997a: 146- 1 73 . Foley, an oral theorist, restates the conflict between what is "seen on the page rather than heard in perfonnance," in a study about the semata in epic poetry ( 1997b: 63): "the art of traditional poetry is an immanent art, a process of composition and reception in which a simple concrete part stands for a complex, intangible reality. Pars pro toto, as it were." On perfonnance and reception see also Ford 1 997: 83- 1 09. Fine works have been written by Sulzberger, Woodhead, Stanford, Risch, Muhlestein, Nagy, Kraus, Peradotto, Calame, Salvadore, Higbie et al. on the Homeric etymology. For a collected bibliography see Tsitsibakou-Vasalos 2000: 1 nn. 3, 4, passim.
Introduction
11
cately and intimately interlocked with their names. Although not explicitly spelled out, this impressive gleaning of exemplary names from a single dynasty also in sinuates current preoccupations with ethographical and biological issues, which are transposed to the level of language. Fathers and sons are affiliated not only biologically, but linguistically and conceptually as well; they share behavioral specificities and attitudes, which are imprinted in the constitution of their names. The male members of this family bear names which are either synonymous or cognate, and mirror their striking, twofold, linguistic and ethical, inheritance that runs down the line: signifiers and signifieds manifest a perfect lexical and seman tic affinity. The essential nexus of name and thing is confirmed on the mythic plane by the deployment of the individual microstories of these figures. The majestic yet grim connotations of the "Tantalidae," "Pelopidae," "Atreidae," as dramatized in ancient literature, traverse the successive generations of this dynasty and yield ample scope for an inter- and intragenerational study of signifiers and signifieds. The intersecting axes of synchrony and diachrony are annuled within this lineage; the linguistic and characterological features of the forefathers are fused into and perpetuated by their progeny. The names of the males of this family signpost its unbroken course along a temporal continuum, in which past, present and future are biologically, linguistically and semantically informed and confirmed. The hierarchical preeminence of Pelops on the religious, social and familial plane justifies the priority he is given in the present study; as in Olympia, so also here, Pelops shines forth and imposes his dominant stature. But which "Pelops" shall we look for? The "Pelops" as viewed by modern scholarship and linguistics, or by the ancient Greek literary and scholarly tradition? Interestingly, the pre sumably hard-core distinctions between the two branches of etymology break down when it comes to Pelops (and his other kin as well): their proposals con verge to a great extent. In their vast majority, modern scholars seek the meaning and derivation of Pelops in the clues supplied by the ancient literary sources, and his religious and political connections. They thus respect the interests, methods and objectives of the ancient etymologizing, and bridge the gap that severs these two approaches. Pelops' functional and onomastic singularity assigns him a focal position. He is the mangled and sacrificed son, who receives and suffers the vices of his closest kin, but is miraculously restored and rehabilitated. His mediating position allows him to stand out as the archegete of the dynasty whose polarities he concentrates and transubstantiates in his vita, cult and name. Pelops embodies in his appellation the vices and blessings that permeate his mythical life: darkness as a human sacri ficial victim; lustre as a privileged erotic favorite and cult figure in a place with a siginificant name; renown as a secular potentate and worshipped hero. His poly semous and polyvalent proper name corresponds to his ambivalent mythic iden tity. Oscillating between the polarities of darkness, sheen, vision and kleos, which are heard and seen near and far, Pelops becomes the paradigmatic naturalized for eigner, who forces civilization upon the crude and cruel primal forces of Hellenic Pisa and abstracts in his chiaroscuro name the family vices and virtues.
12
Introduction
Paradoxically, Pe10ps is a dismembered barbarian from whose name and life springs the unity of Panhellenism. He has become the symbol of gathering and unison, of homonoia, of unity in multiplicity, a sema of centrality, indeed! The dismembered alien child, which emerged from the sacrificial cauldron, eventually assembles the Greeks in concord and common aspirations around his bothros and his blood offerings. Around his tomb the Greeks gather, seeking to reconfirm their common origin and revitalize their ethnic bonds and values. In Pelops' precinct, temenos, in the vicinity of the bright god's altar, the chthonic darkness blends with the Olympian radiance and the place acquires the status of a spiritual, cul tural and ethnic omphalos. Hence, with the mediating figure of Pelops, the secular Olympia "shines all," becoming the counterpart of the divine seat, Olympus, and actualizes its potential and etymological connections with OAO� and Aa{lJTW, with OAOAa{lJTii� (see n. 350, below). Olympia functions as the cauldron in which the disseminated tribes of mainland or colonial Greeks are baptized and reborn in Greekness. The cauldron of Pelops lurks in the background, emblematic of unity and spiritual rebirth.
CHAPTERl NAME THEORY AND ETYMOLOGY 1.
1. Status and Function of Name
The main subject of this section, that is, the status of the proper name and the rela tion between the name and its referent, has been painstakingly investigated by modem scholars of various interrelated specializations, such as theoretical linguis tics, learning theory, and the philosophy of language. Their research has yielded multifarious yet often contradictory results depending on the theoretical and ideo logical orientation and equipment of individual scholars. Comprehensive accounts of path-breaking theories on the subject of onomastics, etymology and semantics, as well as sketches of their intersecting courses and mutual influences, are sup II plied by a number of scholars. The proper name was, until recently, "un parent pauvre" of linguistics, notes Molino, but the birth of historical and comparative linguistics has led to the con stitution of a "limitotrophe and marginal discipline," a branch of semantics, which 12 is called "onomastics" and studies the origins of proper names. The field is im pregnated with contributions from various areas, ranging from logic and analytical philosophy to social and ethnic anthropology. With the pioneering work of Mill, Frege, Russell and many other outstanding scholars, the proper name became a logico-philosophical and semantic problem. With the work of Levi-Strauss the name became an anthropological problem studied from the angle of its pragmatics and its societal motivation and function. The growth of structuralism and semiot ics gave a further impetus to the study of the name and its meaning within its so cial, religious and literary context. The theory of signs, called "semiotics" or "semiology," and the technical terminology that originated with the philosopher C. S. Peirce and the linguist Ferdinand de Saussure respectively, have affected the 13 field. In Saussure's terminology, proper names belong not to the langue ("lan 14 guage-system": Lyons), but the parole ("language-behaviour": Lyons) ; his terms signifiant and signifie, or their English equivalents, signifier and signified, which evoke the ancient Greek o'Y/Jlslov, 0'Y/Jlalvov and O'Y/JlatVOf,lSVOV, have become effective tools in the study of the semantics and the relation of name and thing. 11 12 13
14
Molino 1 982: 5-20; Peradotto 1 990: 94- 1 70; Calame 1 995: 1 74-85. So Molino 1 982: 5 . Lyons 1 977, vol. I: 221-222, argues that in this branch of semantics, the "onomastics," we may trace the "etymological meaning of the name." For a critical appraisal of the semiotics of Peirce and the semiology of Saussure see Lyons 1 977, vol. 1 : 99-1 09 and 238-45, respectively. See also Granger 1 982: 23-25, 33-34, on Peirce's trichotomic classification of the sign and its relation with the object. See Lyons 1 977, yoU: 239; Granger 1 982: 36.
14
Name Theory and Etymology
The signifier and signified are the components of the sign, in Saussure's terminol ogy; the plane of the signifiers constitutes the plane of expression and that of the IS signifieds the plane of content. The characterization of the proper name as an "emic" category, that is, semi theoretical, born from the half-theoretical and half-practical reflection of the speaker, the grammarian-pedagogue and the linguist, 16 does justice to its nature but also inhibits its strict categorization. But what do we mean by "nature" of proper names? Are they short descriptions of their designatum? Do they have any meaning at all or only reference? These are only some oversimplified examples of the questions posed by modern scholars. The semantics of the proper name has been at the heart of scholarly interest, and the starting point for its theoretical attack is the definition of the proper name by the Stoic philosopher Diogenes Laertius (7.58), QVoJ,tu bE eo"tL J,tEQO£ AOYOU cST)AOUV icSCuv ltOLO"tT)"ta, olov L\WYEVT)£, "the [proper] name is a part of speech, which exhibits a proper quality of an individual as, for instance, Diogenes." In this definition the verb cST)AOW plays a key role by virtue of its semantic ambiguity; it is translated as "make visible, show, exhibit . . . explain, signifY, give sign, to be significant, possess a meaning" (LS.!). The equivocation of cST)AOW creates the dilemma: are we dealing here with mere denotation or connotation and significa tion? Is the proper name a label, which designates the individual and is the "qual ity" its distinguishing mark? Is the proper name meaningful or merely an etiquette void of meaning whose significance is exhausted in its phonic reality ("so und so Genanntsein": Funke and Marty)? Is it a word "qui est reconnu comme identifiant son objet en vertu de la distinctivite exclusive de sa constitution phonique" (Gar diner), a phenomenon known as sound-symbolism or phonaesthesia? 17 Or is it, in 15
16 17
Cf. Barthes 1 973: 35-48, esp. 35, 39, 42-43: "the signified is not 'a thing' but a mental repre sentation of the 'thing,' while Saussure "marked the mental nature of the signified by calling it a concept." Barthes prefers the analysis of the Stoics, who distinguished the CjJuv·taoCU AOYLXtj (mental representation), the tuyxuvov (the real thing) and the AExt6v (the utterable); in Barthes' opinion, the signified is neither the CjJUVtuoCu nor the tuyxuvov, but rather the AEXt6v. In Peirce's theory the term "interpetant" stands for "the mental effect produced by the sign" (apud Lyons 1 977, vol. I : 1 02). Molino 1 982: 7. The argument on the phonetic distinctiveness seems to echo the Platonic syllogism (PI. Cra. 432d-433b) as regards the parameters that affect the correctness of names. Socrates argues that as long as the pattern of a thing exists in its name, EW� av 0 tUltO� fvf] toil ltQuYl1uto� ltEQi. of) 0 A6yo£ (432e6-7), a name will be said well even if it does not have all the appropri ate letters, xav Ill] ltUVtU ta ltQootjXOVtU EXn, AESEtUC yE to ltQiiYl1u XUAW� (433a5). The ratio of appropriate letters and syllables determines the degree of the correctness of names and the quality of naming. In case Cratylus denies this argument, Socrates urges him to "search for another correctness of name, and do not concede that a name is a manifestation of the thing [accomplished] by means of letters and syllables," l] �tjtEL tLVa iiAAllV ov6l1atO� og86tlltU, xui. Ill] 0110AOYEL OtjAWI1U oUAAu�Ui:� xui. ygUl1l1Um ltguYI1UtO� DVOI1U dvm (433b2-3). The orthotes onomaton for Plato depends on the faithful reproduction of the rvno� and the proportion of the ltQootjXOVtU ygUl111UtU (432d-433c); the name is OtjAWI1U ltguYI1Uto� and this suggests not mere denotation but a composite mimetic activity, which
Status and Function of Name
15
the final analysis, "the most significant word of all as the most individual" (Breal, 18 Jespersen et ai.)? Of cardinal importance for the relation of name and thing, is, consequently, the deliberation of whether proper names have (a) no sense or (b) sense and refer 19 ence. John Stuart Mill, the exponent of (a), the "no-sense" theory, divides names into two basic categories: non-connotative and connotative. As regards the former category, Mill argues that "A non-connotative term is one which signifies a sub ject only" (e.g. John, London), "or an attribute only" (whiteness, length etc.). "None of these names '" are connotative" . . . "all concrete general names" (e.g. white, long, virtuous) "are connotative ... The word man, for example, denotes Peter, Jane, John, and an indefinite number of other individuals, of whom, taken as a class, it is the name" (31). The class of common nouns is connotative: "the word white, denotes all white things, as snow, paper, the foam of the sea, etc., and implies, or . . . connotes the attribute whiteness" (31). Hence, the common noun man would denote all men, and connote all those properties which would figure in a definition of the word man. Mill contends, consequently, that "proper names are not connotative; they denote the individuals who are called by them; but they do not indicate or imply any attributes as belonging to those individuals" (33). "We must have had some reason for giving those names," he continues, "but the name, once given, is independent of the reason" (e.g. the town named Dartmouth) ... "proper names are attached to the objects themselves, and are not dependent on the continuance of any attribute of the object." Mill speaks of giving "to an indi vidual a name utterly unmeaning, which we call a proper name, a word which answers the purpose of showing what thing it is we are talking about, but not of telling anything about it" (33). So proper names do not have sense; they are mean ingless marks and simply stand for the object; they denote the name-bearer but do not suggest any set of characteristics that could distinguish the name-bearer from other objects. Specialists have pointed out the limitations and the logical incongruities of 20 Mill's "no-sense" theory. Lyons, denouncing notions such as those of Jespersens and of others, who contend that the proper name is the most meaningful of words
18 19 20
takes into account the visual, acoustic and cognitive considerations involved in the recogni tion of a thing and the evaluation of the correctness of its name. Here I am indebted to Molino 1 982: 1 3 , in particular. See Lyons 1 977, vo!. 1 : 1 04, 219. Mill 1 949/ 1 974: 1: 3 1-24-45, esp. section 5. See Searle 1 958: 1 66-173; id. 1 970: 1 64-65; Kripke 1 972: 255-58, for a critical review of the theories of Mill (with the 'Dartmouth' example), Frege and Russell; see also ib. 283 with n. 29 for the refutation of Mill by W. Kneale. See also Peradotto 1 990: 96 with n. 1 .
16
Name Theory and Etymology
21
and "expresses the totality of its designatum, espouses the "no-sense" theory of 22 23 Mill, while making room for the etymological meaning of the proper name: "If we trace the etymology of institutionalized names of persons and places in various lan guages (in that branch of semantics that is known as onomastics), we will usually find that they had the same kind of origin. For example, 'John' comes through Greek and Latin, from a Hebrew name, which could be interpreted . . . as 'God has been gracious.' We will call this the etymological meaning of the name; and it would seem to be appropriate to extend the cover age of this term to include the synchronically motivated, as well as diachronically discover able, interpretation of names."
Although Lyons recognizes the etymological and the symbolic meanings of some names, making these meanings dependent upon cultural conventions and prac tices, as shown by the anthropological treatments of word-magic and taboo, he reasserts his basic thesis: "But they do not have sense, or some unique and special ,,24 kind of meaning which distinguishes them as a class from common nouns. 25 Gottlob Frege expounds the (b),"sense and reference," theory. Auxiliary to the comprehension of his theory is the definition of some basic concepts, such as "sign and name" by which he understands "any designation figuring as a proper name, which thus has as its meaning a definite object . . . but not a concept or rela tion . . . The designation of a single object can also consist of several words and other signs. For brevity, let every such designation be called a proper name" (57). Frege's definition of a proper name is quite loose and builds upon the postulate that knowledge is not affected by the presence of different designations for the same objects. The "point of intersection of a and b," and the "point of intersection of b and c" in a triangle, for instance, are the same things with different designa tions; these names "indicate the mode of presentation" (Art des Gegebenseins) (57). Frege formulates a distinction between the Sinn and Bedeutung, "sense and ,, 26 meaning" of the sign, "wherein the mode of presentation is contained. Frege makes some comments whose effect on ancient onomastics is far-reaching (58): 21
22
23 24 25 26
Lyons 1 977: vo\. 1 : 220: Jespersen's claim ( 1 924: 66), in deliberate contradiction to Mill, that proper names (as actually used) "connote the greatest number of attributes" is misleading; for it trades upon an equivocation between the philosophical and the more popular sense of 'con notation. ' See also Peradotto 1 990: 97; Molino 1982: 1 3 . Lyons 1 977: vo\. 1 : 2 1 9 : "The linguistic status o f names has long been a subject of contro versy, not only amongst philosophers, but also amongst linguists . . . One of the questions that has been most hotly disputed is whether names have a sense. What is probably the most widely accepted philosophical view nowadays is that they may have reference, but not sense, and that they cannot be used predicatively purely as names; and this is also the view that we shall adopt." Lyons 1 977: vo\. 1 : 221 -22. Lyons 1977; vo\. 1 : 222-23. Frege 1 980: 56-78. Frege 1 980: 57, clarifies his point using also the example of the evening or morning star: "the meaning [sc. Bedeutung] of the expressions 'the point of intersection of a and b,' and the 'point of intersection of band c' would be the same, but not their sense [sc. Sinn]. The mean ing of the 'evening star' would be the same as that of the 'morning star,' but not the sense."
I
L
Status and Function of Name
17
"The regular connexion between a sign [sc. proper name], its sense [sc. Sinn], and what it means [sc. Bedeutung] is of such a kind that to the sign there corresponds a definite sense and to that in turn a definite thing meant, while to a given thing meant (an object) there does not belong only a single sign. The same sense has different expressions in different languages or even in the same language . . . To every expression belonging to a complete totality of signs, there should certainly correspond a defmite sense; but natural languages often do not satisfY this condition, and one must be content if the same word has the same sense in the same con text. It may perhaps be granted that every grammatically well-formed expression figuring as a proper name always has a sense. But this is not to say that to the sense there also corresponds ,, a thing meant. 27
In other words, a sign corresponds to an object and has a definite sense, but not only one sign corresponds to an object; natural languages do not behave in this way, hence we should acquiesce with the compromising option of finding the same sense in the same context. Frege's theory, apart from the complexity and inconvenience of the two almost synonymous senses, postulates the existence of one definite description, and of course deals with natural languages and even "a perfect language" (58*). Frege's stance towards poetic or mythical names be comes transparent when he exemplifies the subject of the sense and meaning in assertoric sentences, in which Odysseus is a subject. "The sentence 'Odysseus was set ashore at Ithaca while sound asleep' obviously has a sense," he says, "But since it is doubtful whether the name 'Odysseus' . .. means anything, it is also doubtful whether the whole sentence does" (62). Whoever considers the sentence to be true or false "would ascribe to the name 'Odysseus' a meaning, not merely a sense" (62). I shall conclude my presentation of Frege with a significant passage (63): "But why do we want every proper name to have not only a sense, but also a meaning? Why is the thought not enough for us? Because, and to the extent that, we are concerned with its truth-value. This is not always the case. In hearing an epic poem, for instance, apart from the euphony of the language we are interested only in the sense of the sentences and the images and feelings thereby aroused. The question of truth would cause us to abandon aesthetic de light for an attitude of scientific investigation. Hence it is a matter of no concern to us whether the name 'Odysseus,' for instance, has meaning, so long as we accept the poem as a work of art. It is the striving for truth that drives us always to advance from the sense to the thing meant."
Frege fails to recognize the deeper and almost mystical value of the ancient proper names, their literary merit and their contribution for the production of this very
27
He also argues (58) that "the sense of a proper name is grasped by everybody who is suffi ciently familiar with the language or totality of designations to which it belongs" -here he ex amines the variations of sense as regards an actual name such as 'Aristotle' - and claims that "this serves to illuminate only a single aspect of the thing meant," but we never attain com prehensive knowledge ofthe thing meant (58). See also Frege 1 980: 6 1 : "A proper name (word, sign, combination, expression) expresses its sense, means or designates its meaning. By employing a sign we express its sense and desig nate its meaning."
18
Name Theory and Etymology
aesthetic pleasure he praises, and which in great part derives from the interchange of sounds as well as the lamination of the meanings of the name; proper names generate narrative, and this elusive yet fertile interaction transforms the story into a 'literature,' which is admired and fervently studied still today; centuries have not dimmed its lustre, and certainly not because one expects to find scientific truth in it. Ancient Greek poetry consciously fabricates multiple and exciting "truths," manipulating the potential of sounds and lexemes of proper names among others, and making names a compositional and narratological factor. The choice of Odys seus is rather infelicitous; this specific name and its bearer are notorious for their elusiveness, as shown in many learned and sensitive studies. Frege's theoretical proposals have met with a mixed response. Molino inter prets the term "sens" as the point of view in which the individual is presented, that is, through the definite description(s), which allow us to identify the individual, and argues that these definite descriptions do not give us the sense of the proper name; they only fix the reference?8 Searle observes that it is only in virtue of this Sinn of the proper name that the name refers to an object, and the sense contains a "mode of presentation," which identifies the referent.29 "Frege's instinct was sound," says Searle, "in inferring from the fact that we do make factually informa tive identity statements using proper names that they must have a sense, but he was wrong in supposing that this sense is straightforward as in a definite descrip tion." According to Searle, a proper name performs an identifying function, as long as the content of the name's identifying description is unobjectionable, true and recognized by the users of the name.30 Searle recognizes the difference of proper names as regards their "descriptive content," which depends on whether these names belong to living or historical persons; keeping in mind the essential fact "that we have the institution of proper names to perform the speech act of identifying reference," he admits: "we never get referring completely isolated from predication for to do so would be to violate the principle of identification, ,, without conformity to which we cannot refer at all. 3l 28
29
30
31
Molino 1 982: 1 5-16, summarizes the Fregean theory using the example of the mountain which is named "Alfa" by one explorer, who sees such and such properties, and "Ateh" by another, who sees different properties, and argues that the definite descriptions do not give us the sense of the proper name; they only fix the reference. Searle 1 970: 1 68. See also Peradotto 1990: 97, who cites Searle 1 967: 488. Cf. Kripke 1 972: 255: according to Frege, the definite description gives sense to the name; see also ib. 277: "Frege should be criticized for using the term 'sense' in two senses. For he takes the sense of a designator to be its meaning; and he also takes it the way its reference is determined. Identi fying the two, he supposes that both are given by definite descriptions." Searle 1 970: 1 7 1 : "Furthermore, we now see how an utterance of a proper name satisfies the principle of identification: if both the speaker and the hearer associate some identifying de scription with the name, then the utterance of the name is sufficient to satisfy the principle of the identification, for both the speaker and the hearer are able to substitute an identifying de scription. The utterance of the name communicates a proposition to the hearer. It is not neces sary that both should supply the same identifying description, provided only that their de scriptions are in fact true of the same object." Searle 1 970: 174.
Status and Function of Name
19
The theoretical debate also extends to proper names, which are drawn from extra-empirical and unreal territories such as the religious and mythical traditions. What happens when the proper names do not denote real, historical persons but figures such as Santa Claus and Pegasus? Do names have a sense in existential propositions of the type "Cerberus does not exist"? wonders Searle, and argues further that "here proper names cannot be said to refer for no such subject of an existential statement can refer ... if a proper name occurs in an existential state ,, ment it must have some conceptual or descriptive content. 32 The impulse for speculations of that sort was given by Russell, who postu lated that such proper names are abbreviated or disguised descriptions. There are logic proper names, which always denote an existing object, he argues, but there are some other names, such as "Romulus," which refers not to an existing person but "stands for a person who did such-and-such things, who killed Remus and founded Rome, and so on." According to Russell, "if it were really a name, the question of existence could not arise, because a name has got to name something or it is not a name, and if there is no such person as Romulus ... this single word 'Romulus' is really a sort of truncated or telescoped description, and if you think ,, of it as a name you will get into logical errors. 33 The doctrine of Russell "that such expressions are not really proper names," has been criticized by Kripke and Searle from a logical point of view.34 According to Searle, "the referent of a name is determined not by a single description but by ,, some cluster or family of descriptions. 35 "A proper name does not describe the object at all," in contrast to the definite description, which refers to an object de scribing some aspect of it.36 In his earlier article (1958), Searle argues that proper names "function not as descriptions, but as pegs on which to hang descriptions," and attempts to exhibit "the poverty of a rigid sense-reference, denotation connotation approach to the problems in the theory of meaning," by attacking the "paradox: does a proper name have a sense?" He answers: "If this asks whether or not proper names are used to describe or specify characteristics of the objects, the answer is 'no.' But if it asks whether or not proper names are logically connected with characteristics of the object to which they refer, the answer is 'yes, in a loose 32 33
34
35
36
Searle 1 970: 165. Russell: 1 956: 243. See also ib. 200-0 1 , "the names that we commonly use like 'Socrates,' are really abbreviations for descriptions; not only that, but what they describe are not particulars but complicated systems of classes or series." Cf. Kripke's objections, 1 972: 256, "names don't seem to be disguised descriptions . . . if there is not such a descriptive content to the name," then people determine the references of certain names ostensibly by pointing to some thing. "This was Russell's doctrine of acquaintance." Searle 1 970: 1 65 , "Attempts such as Russell's to evade this point have taken the form of saying that such expressions are not really proper names, a desperate maneuver which shows that something must be wrong with the assumptions which drive one to it." For a critical evaluation of the tenets of Russell (and Frege) see also Kripke 1 972: 255-56. Searle 1 958: 1 66-73; cited by Kripke ( 1 972: 258 with n. 8) who characterizes the article a locus classicus of this view, which "may seem to keep all the virtues and remove the defects of this theory." Searle 1 970: 1 63 .
20
Name Theory and Etymology
sort of way'.,,37 Searle takes here a critical and compromising stance vis-a-vis John Stuart Mill and Gottlob Frege. Saul A. Kripke takes a new approach to the issue of semantics with his theory of the rigidity of the proper name and its independence from the accompanying definite description. 38 Kripke uses the term "designator" to cover names and de scriptions (254), and the notion of the "identity across possible worlds," or "transworld identity," which he clarifies further: "possible worlds are stipulated, not discovered by powerful telescopes" (267, 269). On this notion he bases his theory of the rigid designator: we "call something a rigid designator if in any possible world it designates the same object, a non rigid or accidental designator if that is not the case (269-70) .. . When we think of a property as essential to an object we usually mean that it is true of that object in any case where it should have existed ... although someone other than the V.S. President in 1 970 might have been the V.S. President in 1 970 ... no one other than Nixon might have been Nixon. In the same way, a designator rigidly designates a certain object if it des ignates that object wherever the object exists" (270).39 According to Kripke, consequently, an essential property accompanies an in dividual under any circumstances and makes it identifiable. But an individual can undergo many changes in life, factual or contrafactual, that is, real or stipulated by the thinker. Stipulations can be modified at will and ad infinitum, but what re mains stable and unchanged is the proper name, Nixon is always Nixon in Kripke's examples, whatever are the real or fictive personal, temporal or spatial modifications undergone by the individual which this name designates. Kripke's theory targets the stability and the permanence of the proper name and the identity it designates. Of the current critical appraisals, I choose to quote that of Calame, who touches on Kripke's theories in a brief study of the ancient epic and lyric etymo logical techniques. Calame argues:40 "We have come a long way from the idea of the rigid designator developed by Kripke and from the idea of self-reference proposed by Gottlob Frege. In the case discussed here, the identity denoted by the name can vary according to the world of which the name is part. In its literary usage the Greek proper name becomes the equivalent of a rhetorical figure: in addi tion to its designating role, it performs an indisputable figurative and descriptive function, one deriving from the play on etymology. The name is a metaphor for the identity of its bearer."
37 38 39
40
Searle 1 958: 1 72, 1 73 . Kripke 1 972: 253-355. On Kripke's tenets see Molino 1 982: 1 4- 1 5 ; Peradotto 1 990: 98; Calame 1 995: 1 74, 1 79, 1 84. The rigid designator, the "notion of identity across possible worlds" and its corollary of "noms propres intermondains" have been critically reviewed by Granger 1 982: 3 1-32, who argues that the attribution of a proper name should not be confused with a simple "etiquetage," which corresponds only to one of the functions of the proper name, the designa tion of a unique object. Calame 1 995: 1 8 4-85.
l
Status and Function of Name
21
The significance of a proper name is studied further from the angle of an external parameter, the pragmatics. This investigates the use and the function of the proper name in its real "habitat," i.e. the external world and the specific communities in which it is nestled; the chosen name mirrors the particular societal interests, val ues and religious or civic institutions; social ambience and namegiving display a close interaction and reciprocity .41 Of the uses of proper names, the baptismal is the most widespread in all human communities, ancient Greek society and poetry being no exceptions. Baptism, in Molino's formulation, is an "acte social par excellence," gives birth to an anthroponym and is founded upon a performative action. It is precisely this baptismal ceremony that explains the arbitrary character of the proper names: ,, "ils sont arbitraires en ce qu' ils sont poses. 42 The performative nomination, usu ally introduced with a conventional formula of the type "I name you so and so," is not a mere description of a baptism, but the actual performance of it. In some cul tures people are renamed during their passage from one state of their life into an other, e.g. from childhood into adulthood, and graduate to a hierarchically higher status within the social matrix; so the "performative renomination" is an important element in the rites of passage. On such occasions, "The name of a person is ,, something that is held to be an essential part of him. 43 This acknowledgment should make us reconsider the notion of arbitrariness, and wonder if we have un dervalued the names given at birth. The baptismal attribution of proper names is part of the cultural and religious inheritance of the ancient and traditional commu nities as well; the extant poetic and mythic traditions evidence the distinctive ten dency of the ancients to explicate both the old and the new name, thus disqualify ing the modem assumption of arbitrariness.44 41
42 43 44
Molino 1 982: 1 6- 1 7. Granger 1 982: 23-24, by pragmatics understands everything that con cerns the rapport of the enunciated with the circumstances of the enunciation, not the empiri cal circumstances which derive from psycho-linguistics or socio-linguistics, but the general forms of these conditions, without which any communicable signification cannot be pro duced; cf. pp. 27-28, as regards the semantics of a word and the role of pragmatics: once the circumstances of the enunciation are sufficiently fixed, the description becomes possible: the semantic function of the word is governed and actualized by the pragmatic elements. Molino 1 982: 1 7. So Lyons 1 977, voU : 2 1 8 with n. 1 1 , discussing the performative nomination and re nomination (in rites of passage). Lack of arbitrariness and experiences of the namegiver as the motivational force behind namegiving are unmistakable in the famous baptismal scene of Odysseus (Od. 1 9): his mater nal grandfather, Autolycus, performs the baptism and gives the infant a name that commemo rates his own sufferings: the hatred, actively or passively, that marks the life of Autolycus, is ominously tranferred to his grandson, thus motivating his name and explicating his vita; the entire Odysssey provides a tableau on which is played and tested the meaning of this inauspi cious name. Hatred runs in the family, exemplifying the notion of family continuity and he redity. For similar fully motivated renominations or baptisms see Cleopatra-A1cyone (ll. 9. 556-94); Scamandrius-Astyanax (I/. 6. 400-03 - 22. 506-07); Telemachus, Neoptolemus, Eu rysakes, Megapenthes etc. This selective sampling of Greek baptism or renaming occurrences ties in well with the social function of name and the practices registered by Levi-Strauss.
22
Name Theory and Etymology
In his pioneering anthropological study (La Pensee Sauvage), C laude Levi Strauss explores the second objective of pragmatics, namely, the social motivation and function of proper names in a number of exotic societies.45 He observes that these communities possess an impressive variety of names, which draw from a vast repository of social conventions and personal experiences. Levi-Strauss documents the strictness of rules of namegiving and the richness of name reperto ries: people are named after the totem animal of the clan or its habits and attrib utes (real or mythical), hence names are divided into the Bear clan, the Bison clan, the Wolf clan etc., and appertain to a fixed and conventional name repository. People form proper names by detotalizing species and by deducting a partial as pect of them (176). A vast variety of name formations is exhibited in various so cieties: not only the eponymous totemic animal, but also technical or economic activities, natural phenomena and celestial bodies, behavior of parents, recent or imminent death and stressful situations, social or material destitution and a great number of other social or personal factors determine the names given within these exotic societies. As Levi- Strauss argues, "what we have here are thus two extreme types of proper name between which there is a series of intermediate cases. At one extreme, the name is an identifying mark which ... establishes that the individual who is named is a member of a preordained class ... At the other extreme, the name is a free creation on the part of the individual who gives the name and ex presses a transitory and subjective state of his own by means of the person he names" (181). Levi-Strauss claims that this process is not really a naming, since one identifies an individual by assigning him to a class and also identifies onself through the named individual; "one therefore never names; one classes someone ,, else ... and one classes oneself. 46 Individuals are identified by means of personal names, tecnonyms ("father of so-and-so"), necronyms, that is, with "relational" terms, which signify kinship, brother or sister of ... etc. (192). Since "they derive from paradigmatic sets, proper names thus form the fringe of a general system of classification: they are both its extension and its limit ... proper names represent the quanta of signification below which one no longer does anything but point" (215). Levi- Strauss concludes that the passage from the act of signifying to that of pointing is discontinuous 47 although each culture fixes its thresholds differently ... 45
46
47
Levi-Strauss 1 972, ch. 6: "Universalization and Particularization" ( 1 6 1 - 1 90), and ch. 7: "The Individual as a Species" ( 1 9 1 -2 1 6). For a brief reference to anthropological and popular (folk) etymology as well as the motivation of "Weltverhilltnis und Weltverstandnis" in naming, see Herbermann 1 98 1 : 45 with n. 40. Cf., however, Granger 1 982: 28: In the second type of naming, the name giver does not clas sify himself; the fact that he expresses himself in naming is only accessory: "I' essentiel est que sa propre presence dans l' acte de nomination fasse de celui-ci une interpellation." The notion of interpellation, which borders on the vocative, occupies a preeminent place in Granger's theory about the proper name. Here Levi-Strauss ( 1 972: 2 1 5) objects to the definition of proper names as "indices" (Peirce) and the discovery of the logical model of proper names in the demonstrative pronouns (Rus sell), because both theories allow "that the act of naming belongs to a continuum in which there is an imperceptible passage from the act of signifying to that of pointing."
Status and Function of Name
23
So terms of different degrees of generality will be regarded each time as proper names (215). "From a formal point of view there is thus no fundamental differ ence between the zoologist or the botanist who allots a recently discovered plant to the position Elephantopus spicatus and the Omaha priest who defines the social paradigms of a new member of the group by conferring the available name Old-bison 's-worn-hoof on him. They know what they are doing in both cases" (215-16).48 The validity of some of Levi-Strauss ' arguments has been questioned on the level of function and significance.49 To start with function, the social character of namegiving is accepted, since in all cultures namegiving obeys some rules of code value, but two quite different perspectives of analysis are discerned here: the rules of production, the "poietique," of the proper name, and the result of the applica tion, which Molino calls "le niveau neutre de ce systeme symbolique." Molino challenges the consideration of multiple proper names within a culture as a classi fication or code, since this multiplicity is not in the service of a general strategy of cl�ssification and the principles of classification can go on indefinitely. Here lies, he argues, the fundamental difference between classification and nomination: the individual is not a species ; a species has a limited number of names and is defined by a unique hierarchical classification in contrast to the individual, who is the bearer of a virtual infinity of independent classifications. In the former case, the classifications classify; in the latter the individual sustains the multiple and inde pendent classifications which enrich his social definition. As for the significance, the name does indeed signify, but to whom, wonders Molino. 50 To the anthropologist, who often does not speak the native language, or to the giver or the bearer of the name? The exegesis of the ethnologist may be . . .
48
49 50
Some of Levi-Strauss' categories are canonical in ancient Greek namegiving, which is moti vated to a great extent by similar social considerations and stratifications: parental experi ences and features, vocational or guild names and properties required of specific societal groups. Seers bear names descriptive of their "knowledge" (7oalo�, IIo;"v"ioo�
r/Juo�
24
Name Theory and Etymology
different from the interpretation of the native speaker. It is important for Molino to distinguish the rules of reception, comprehension and production of the proper name. Molino, convinced that the name has significance, investigates the cogni tive role of the proper name and its relation to knowledge relying on the aspect of deixis. 51 Signifiers are thus the markers of unique individuals situated in specific time and place. Despite criticism, the theories of Levi- Strauss have left a permanent mark on cultural and linguistic studies and have become paradigmatic for theories, which build upon the social character of namegiving. Bromberger, for instance,52 sharing the view that names are means of social classification, documents this theory through an intercultural survey, arguing that the onomastic system appears as a double grill of reading the society and the culture of which it is part: on the one hand, it is a classificatory system which allows us to discern the principles ... on the basis of which the society regroups and distinguishes the individuals; and on the other, it is a system of symbols, the analysis of which reveals the values and the stakes which are grafted on the individual and collective identity. He con cludes with a siginificant comment, "Decidement, nommer, c' est beaucoup plus qu' identifier" ( 1 22). To recapitulate, the scientific approaches outlined above involve natural and modem languages, and investigate the status of the name from a wide range of perspectives (semantic, linguistic and philosophical status, use and function). They are only exceptionally concerned with the literary function of name in mod em or ancient literature. Molino appreciates the literary role of proper names, ar guing that they induce an indefinite series of interpretations, which are richer and more charged in comparison with common names, as proven by the function of proper names in the work of men such as Hugo and Proust.53 This comment is far reaching and takes us to Roland Barthes, who has studied the affectivity of the literary proper names, their elusiveness and semantic variegation, picking out Marcel Proust's Remembrance af Things Past as a case in point. 54 Examining this work of literature from the viewpoint of both its narrator and the novelist, Barthes seeks the poetic/linguistic element which has "the power to constitute the essence of novelistic objects," and discovers it in the class of proper name "which pos51
52 53 54
Molino 1 982: 19: Given that the proper names refer back to the three dimensions of deixis (i.e. the person, the space and time), in the cognitive system of each one the proper names constitute the fixed points of the symbolic organization, that is, of the mental organization and the structure of the world at the same time. People use the names as means of orienting themselves in the world. The proper name occupies an intermediate field between deixis (ego, here and now) and representation (words and verbs). Its morphological, syntactic, semantic and pragmatic function brings it close to the deictics (e.g. personal pronouns). The proper name, designating the individual in its identity and spatio-temporal continuity, uses the field of representation according to the functional modalities of the deictic field "en faisant d' un signifiant la marque propre d' une singularite." Bromberger 1 982: 1 03-24. Molino 1 982: 1 4, 16. Barthes 1 990: 55-68
Status and Function of Name
25
sesses to the highest degree this constitutive power;" "the proper name has the power of essentialization" (58). Barthes suggests that the Proustian narrator must interrogate the signs : "(the) signs emitted by the work of art, by the beloved, by the milieu frequented. The proper name is also a sign, and not of course a simple index which could designate without signify ing, according to the current conception from Peirce to Russell. As a sign, the proper name offers itself to an exploration, a decipherment: it is at once a milieu (in the biological sense of the term) into which one must plunge . . . and a precious object, compressed, embalmed, which must be opened like a flower. In other words, if the Name (as we shall henceforth call the proper name) is a sign, it is a voluminous sign, a sign always pregnant with a dense tex ture of meaning, which no amount of wear can reduce, can flatten, contrary to the common noun, which releases only one of its meanings by syntagm. The Proustian Name is in itself and in every case the equivalent of an entire dictionary column: the name Guermantes imme diately covers everything that memory, usage, culture can put into it; it knows no selective re striction, the syntagm in which it is placed is indifferent to it; it is, therefore, in a certain fash ion, a semantic monstrosity, for, provided with all the characteristics of the common noun, it can nonetheless exist and function outside of any projective rule. This is the price -or the ran som- of the phenomenon of 'hypersemanticity' of which it is the seat, and which closely re lates it, of course, to the poetic word" (59-60).
Barthes discerns a "semantic density", a "lamination" in the Proustian Name, which offers itself to a semic analysis (60). A short digression on the concept of "semes" might be appropriate here: for Barthes, 55 "the seme (or the signified of connotation) is a connotator of persons, places, aspects . . . the person is no more than a collection of semes." Barthes continues, "the proper name enables the per son to exist outside the semes, whose sum nonetheless constitutes it entirely. As soon as a Name exists (even a pronoun) to flow toward and fasten onto, the semes become predicates, inductors of truth, and the Name becomes a subject ... what is proper to narrative is not action but the character as Proper Name: the semic raw material . completes what is proper to being, fills the name with adjectives." The meaning of sem es and the conception of literary names is expounded further by Barthes in his Critical Essays (61) : 56 ..
"Each Name has its semic specter, variable in time, according to the chronology of its reader, who adds or subtracts elements exactly as language does in its diachrony. The name is, in ef fect, catalyzable; it can be filled, dilated, the interstices of its semic armature can be infinitely added to. This semic dilation of the proper name can be defined in another way: each Name contains several 'scenes' appearing at first in a discontinuous, erratic manner, but which ask only to be federated and to form thereby a little narrative, for to recount is never anything but to link together, by metonymic processes, a limited number of complete units."
Examining the motivation of the Proustian sign, Barthes presumes the encoding and decoding function of the writer and the narrator respectively, and the exis tence of "a motivated system, based on the relation of imitation between signifier and signified." This comment recalls Plato, and Barthes entertains, indeed, an 55 56
Barthes 1 974: 1 90-91 . Barthes 1 990: 6 1 .
26
Name Theory and Etymology
extended comparison between Plato and Proust as far as their principles and goals are concerned. He assumes that the Proustian encoder and decoder share the Cra tylean tenet that "The name 's property consists in representing the thing as it is," and consider "the proper name a simulation or, as Plato said ... a 'fantasmago ria'." Barthes claims that the Proustian name motivations are both natural and cultural; by the former he means the sound motivation, the "symbolic phonetics" or "imitative harmony;" by the latter he means the type that governs the invention of neologisms and proper names; the modem writer and the Platonic legislator are governed by the same rules: both desire to copy a thing or at least "the way in which language itself has created certain of its names" (64) ... it is culture which imposes upon the Name a natural motivation" (65). The onomastics is important, continues Barthes, since "to possess a system of names was for Proust -and for us- to hold the essential significations of the book, the armature of its signs, its profound syntax" (66). The proper name has an ecu menical function in Proust and its essence is revealed together with that of the work itself ... "between the referent and its signifier is interposed the signified: the Name is nothing . .. if we miss in it its nature as sign. The writer works . .. on the relation of signifier and signified, i.e., on a sign" (67). Barthes contends that the Proustian names have a Cratylean character on two grounds : firstly, Proust recognizes the motivated relation between signifier and signified, and secondly, "for Proust as for Cratylus, 'the virtue of names is to teach ': there is a pro paedeutics of names which leads .. . to the essence of things . .. no one is closer to the Cratylean Legislator, founder of the names (demiourgos onomaton) than the Proustian writer, not because he is free to invent the names he likes, but because he is obliged to invent them 'properly' " (67). Hence, Barthes urges the critic "to read literature in the mythic perspective which establishes its language and to de cipher the literary word (which is never the word in common usage), not as the dictionary explicates it, but as the writer constructs it" (68). A decisive step for the appreciation of the name and its function in ancient Greek poetry was taken when modem scholars applied to classics methodologies and experiences from different research areas; the cross-pollination of traditional, philological methods with modem theoretical reflections on semantics, pragmatics and semiotics, and the literary value of names underlies the trenchant hermeneu tics of Gregory Nagy, John Peradotto, Claude Calame and others. Their sensitive and insightful studies combine the solidity of modem theory with the sensitivity of metapoetic reflection. The proper name is viewed as a vector of rich meaning and connotation, which spring from the pragmatic conditions 57 and the name's linguistic constitution; poetic etymology has regained its place and vigor. Relying 57
For the relation of pragmatics and poetry, see also Granger 1 982: 34-35 with n. 1 1 , 36, who speaks of a "halo de connotations," whose two conjoint effects he posits, recognizing (a) the connotation "meta-symbolique," and (b) the "para-symbolique;" the play of these connota tions confers upon the proper name its exceptional poetic power; literature teems with exam ples of this usage. He concludes (36): "Le nom propre ne saurait etre completement determine ni par des traits syntaxiques, ni par des traits semantiques, mais par un trait pragmatique."
Scientific and Ancient Etymology
27
on an interdisciplinary background, the exploration of ancient proper names has become a central and integral component of reading poetry, a rewarding and use ful factor, both poetologically and compositionally, as I hope to document in the sequel. To conclude this section, the motivation of literary names, whether modem or ancient (Barthes makes no distinction between the two), should be sought in natu ral (phonetic simulation) and cultural parameters. The language of literature is "marked," a term with which Jakobson is credited, and as such is fraught with semantic nuances that escape ordinary and trite usages; proper names partake of this. The reader is summoned to bend upon literature, ancient or modem, and ex tract the messages encoded in names; to grasp the name's variability and poten tial, which emanate from factors such as its constitution and contextual integra tion, the aptitude of individual poets, the contemporary intellectual or social and aesthetic trends as well as genre conventions.
1. 2. Scientific and Ancient Etymology Comparisons and Contrasts
The branch of linguistics known as "etymology" is "an important part of historical and comparative linguistics;" it studies, according to Lyons, "the diachronic iden ,,58 tity of lexemes from different language-systems. The distinction of the dia chronic and synchronic dimension in language is important and "methodologi cally essential," argues Lyons, criticizing the practice of the old grammarians and lexicographers, who "have taken texts from widely separated periods and treated them as samples of the same language," as if in a continuum. The failure "to re spect the distinction of diachrony and synchrony in semantics" is manifested in "the etymological fallacy," by which is meant "the common belief that the mean ing of words can be determined by investigating their origins." Yet, Lyons ob jects, "the etymology of a lexeme is, in principle, synchronically irrelevant," as exemplified by the case of "curious" and "disinterested," which exhibit a semantic 59 development independent of their etymological origins. This diachronic examination of language along a temporal vertical axis and its impact on the semantics on a synchronic level, are crucial points of difference 6o between the two approaches, ancient versus modem. The ancient poets as well as the commentators of later ages view language in holistic terms; from the lin guistic amalgam of Homer down to the scholiasts of late antiquity a common and pervasive attitude informs linguistic reflection: behind the multiple morphological 58 59
Lyons 1 977, vol. 1 : 255. Lyons 1 977, vol. 1: 244; "curious"
60
=
28
Name Theory and Etymology
and phonological changes of the Greek language, and behind its dialectal peculi arities, there lies the unitary and common language of the pan-Hellenes ; diachrony and synchrony are complementary modules in the study of a unified language ; the question of their distinction and differentiation never occurs to the ancient schol ars, who speak indiscriminately of various forms and temporal phases. The con viction that language constitutes a unity is witnessed in the ancient scholiastic processes of elucidating antique and outdated poetic words that have grown ob scure and obsolete over the centuries. Grammarians and scholiasts clarify the con stitution and the semantics of antique words, using word formations and para pharases of their own times, and advance dialectal, phonological and etymological arguments oblivious of or irrespectively of date. As if thrown in the same melting pot, old, new and contemporary derivations coexist in the scholiastic corpora in perfect harmony; the origin of words is sought behind series of grammatical changes as easily and unscrupulously as behind etiological tales, or empirical and half-theoretical observations. The verbal units scrutinized are treated as parts of a common linguistic, cultural and religious source. The explanation of morphologi cal deviations by means of normative laws, such as analogy or anomaly, expedient tools in the hands of the Alexandrian and Pergamene philologists, fits the pre sumption of a homogeneous, centralized and prototypical Greek language, and neglects the temporal dichotomy of synchrony and diachrony. Just as the underlying premises of modem and ancient etymology differ, so, too, do their methods and objectives. Modem etymology primarily relies on a mostly diachronic and comparative study of words in the kindred Indo-European languages; it attempts to trace the common roots and origins behind the various morphological changes, applying solid linguistic laws. Centripetal as to the quest . of an original mother language and centrifugal as to its methods of retrieving the .. sundry rudimentary material scattered in many congeners, scientific etymology aims at gathering and mapping the Indo-European families of words, thus stand ing in the opposite camp from ancient etymology in terms of orientation and methodology. Yet these linguistic laws are not always applicable, so linguists are occasionally forced to have recourse to tools of a different order, folk stories and mythological narratives. In doing so, they yield a place in their scientific frame work to folk etymology, the so-called paretym% gia,61 even though this ignores the Indo-European origins of words and the principles of modem theoretical dis ciplines. It must be borne in mind that paretymology does not entail a wrong ety mology, at least for the ancient grammarians and scholiasts, who use the terms :rr:U QEtWOAOY{W and :rr:U QEtWOAOYCU to signpost authentic for them etymologi cal associations. This process is observed mostly in obscure words of unknown meaning and provenance, and in foreign words naturalized into Greek. A well known example is the Iranian axsaena-, a word signifying dark color, which was imported through folk etymology into Greek as E15;££ VO� (:rr:O VtO£), a euphemism of ;:<\;eVO�, whose original menacing connotations are preserved in its double name, Black Sea (MuuQl] 86.AuOOU); dark color insinuates peril, among other 61
For this argument I am indebted to Prof. C. Tzitzilis.
Scientific and Ancient Etymology
29
things.62 Folk etymology proves expedient, consequently, when modem linguistic laws fail to explain certain phenomena. Both Greek formations (Ev;£t VO�, � ;£vo�) exhibit close aural similarities with the Iranian original, and allude to the instrumental function of the sound patterns in ancient etymologizing. Scientific and folk or poetic etymologies occasionally coincide; Achilles, as we shall see below, and Zeus prove the case. Linguists associate the latter with the root *dei-("briller," Chantraine; LfgrE: idg. *dieu-/*diu- "TaglHimmel, Himmels gott"). The ancient scholars associate the name of Zeus with the clear and bright air or aether, UL8llQ, and explain it as
See Frisk s.v. Ei5�Et VOC;, "aus dem Iranischen (Skythischen?) durch Volksetymologie, vg!. axsaena- 'dunkelfarbig'." Diels 1 91 0: 1 7 with n. 9, argues that the names Dareios, Xerxes, Artaxerxes were received into Greek (Hdt. in particular) with a similar "Volks-etymologie." Aeschylus in his Persae gives these oriental names a cogent Greek etymology. Indeed, this
63
64 65
66
technique is well documented in all ancient poetry. For the connection of Zeus with aL6�Q see Scholia-D Il. 1 5 . 1 8; ib. 1 6. 365; sch. bT Il. 1 5 . 1 92-3; sch. b 11. 1 5 . 6 1 O-4b2 ; sch. b T Il. 1 6 . 233b; Or. 6 8 . 2 1 . Eust. Od. 1 : 1 1 . 29-3 1 , explains Zeus' epithet aW(01jJ . . . w� � naQu TO atew to AU�tJW). For the associations OfZEU� Llt6C; with (jioC; and Ev(j(a: sch. bT 11. 1 6. 365a; sch. T 11. 1 6. 365b; EM389. 35-38. Stanford 1 939/1 972: 40-4 1 . Stanford 1 939/1972: 35-36, 38. The passage (Eur. Troad. 424-25) reads as follows: (Cassan dra to Talthybius) tt not' EXOUGl to uvo�a Ix r/QVXEC;, EV cmEx6rwa nUY1{OLVOV �QOto1:�; app. cril. 425 sc. nomen xflQv� quod Laov cmi'x6EtaL XTjQ! �EAa(Vn. Maltby 1 993 : 259, and Cairns 1 996: 24 with n. 1, point out that the ancient poets could not establish "true" or "genuine," i.e. philologically correct, etymologies.
30
Name Theory and Etymology
suggested by the Platonic Cratylus, and the terms s€vo� and SEVLX6� often qualify non-Attic words, that is, words of Greek dialects other than the Attic. Ancient Greek etymologizing as practiced by thinkers, grammarians and scholiasts is, con sequently, Hellenocentric since its practitioners scan the entire Greek-speaking world, whether continental or colonial, in their quest for the pertinent evidential material -dialectal, grammatical or mythological. The Greek heritag e lies at the heart of their investigation. However, their approaches are occasionally marked by a cosmopolitan tendency, since they glean their testimonies from the margins of the Greek or non-Greek world, reaching out into the realm of fantasy or out landish folklore and embryonic anthropology.67 A most profound feature of gram matical and scholiastic etymology is its anchorage in the archaic poetic texts, whose embedded and implicit poetic messages it attempts to decode. The cryptic and convoluted poetic word is analyzed and disentangled, the poetic derivations are unveiled, and most importantly, new ones are imposed on the impetus of vari ous cultural, philosophical or didactic and exegetical factors.68 Language is viewed through the lens of narrative and mythology, and as time passes, of phi losophy, philology and other branches of knowledge. Etymology eventually be comes an ancilla to abstract and theoretical reflection whose sober or biased doc trines it serves. Mirroring the intimate affinity of name and thing, etymology as sumes an ontological character; the derivation of the term etymologia (of Stoic perhaps provenance) from fr6�, the verbal adjective of sill { (see at'rzrov, arzrov: n. 226, below), is in perfect correspondence with the function and nature of an cient etymologizing at least for early poets and thinkers such as Plato and his fol lowers. Yet Plato speaks OHTlJ!-ly)YOg(u and 6g86ty)� 6vo!-lat(J)v. The tactics of the ancient scholars was foreshadowed by the ancient poets, who were the first to appeal to the world of heroic myth and fiction, and to take the liberty of playing with language and its potential ; of alluding to new deriv ations; of re articulating the underlying sound sequences of words and resignifying them. Their explicit or implicit etymologies may fail the scrutiny of science, but this does not mean that they are not "true" in their own narrative ambience and purpose, in the very world whose integral part they form. Poets often stretch lan guage to its limits with daring collocations of words and manipulations of sounds ; 67
68
Etymology profits from considerations of the life style or behavior of foreign and Greek peo ple. Their enterprises, habits or professional interests motivate and sustain their names. Cul tural anthropology in embryonic form is placed at the service of etymology. The etymologies of UVLlt't6lto6E£ (sch. A (D) bT n. 1 6. 235); A�LOL (sch. AbT n. 1 3 . 6d); ultoa1{Ue�W (sch. bT n. 2. I Ib I ); aUEQuw-aufQuaav (sch. bT n. 1 . 459), for instance, take into account these particular customs and aspects of certain tribes or groups of men. The priestly duties of the aniptopodes Selloi, for example, their thanksgiving prayers to Zeus, their meteorological oc cupation and interests as a result of which they sit on the ground reflecting upon distant things, and their barbaric and nomadic origin, motivate their name. The hair-do of the Scythians or the sacrificial ethos of the Cymaeans also function as etymological signs. See Tsitsibakou-Vasalos 2000: 1 2 - 1 3 . On the etymological practices and the interests of the ancient grammarians and scholiasts see also Pfeiffer 1 968, passim; Lallot 1 99 1 : 1 35-147. Sluiter 1 999: 1 72-205; Peraki-Kyriakidou 2002: 482-93.
Scientific and Ancient Etymology
31
their metalinguistic touches on names handed down by tradition are intuitive, highly affective and effective within their framing narrative contexts. We should not expect to find genuine and philologically true etymologies in literary or scho liastic pieces of work. But what we invariably find is a name motivation, lucid and well articulated, or obscure and well veiled. Even proper names whose Greek provenance is disputable and equivocal are interwoven in the poetic canvas in manners that make sense to the attentive audience or reader, and illustrate the se mantics of the name in Greek ways. The acoustic dimensions of these names trig ger connections with other words of the Greek linguistic system, thus activating a process of familiarization and rapprochement that promotes their meaningful naturalization into the Greek language; these names fit the syntax and the context in which they are lodged. The names Odysseus, Nestor and Scamandrus, for in stance, are considered non-Greek by some linguists ; yet Homer inserts them in narrative capsules which sustain and justify their Greek etymology and function. The morphological analysis of a name gains conviction if the narrative allows the hero to act out the qualities emitted by his individual lexemes. The etymologizing is meaningful and effective if based on narrative verisimilitude. The resonance, the aural pattern of individual words and the mental images or impressions, which they create in the hearers ' mind, is a basic principle of ancient etymologizing, consequently, and triggers multifarious word connections.69 The vicinity of similarly sounding words is a decisive etymological factor for ancient poets and thinkers alike; it registers or even assumes a concurrence of meaning as well. Alliteration is connected organically and causally with ancient etymology when the similarity of sound corresponds with semantic similarity; cognates pre eminently exemplify the coincidence of sound and meaning. The function of allit eration in ancient Greek literature and its usefulness for ancient etymologizing has been noted, "From Homer, Hesiod, Euripides, and Plato down to Zonaras, the Greeks had but one principle of derivation, aural similarity of sound."70 Aural similarity is of course not always etymological; it may be a stylistic de vice of wide repercussions and purposes. Early poetry, especially the Homeric, abounds with such paradigms. Only a few representative examples suffice here to demonstrate the composite nature of the aurally interacting words : 'tOY bo; ano cp8CIl£VOV buvaL MIlOV 'A:Cbo; £'(000 (//. 3. 322) ; EAEV IlEVO;, 05; 'tE AEOV'tU (5. 136); £,bll£VaL (ibllv (5. 203); u'lot£v i6v'toov (10. 1 89) ; OUAnooQTJ XUL OUQou A£W't£Qov (10. 223); U«JQUbEro; btu 'tcl«JQOV (12. 62); £3tclAIl£VO�-£3tclA�LO� ( 1 2. 404-06); VEllX£OL vll'iov EtvaL (13. 39 1); �3tuQ U3tO 3tQU3t COooV ( 1 3. 4 1 2; 1 7. 349) ; £VJtJtEA(lJ; UJtEAlJOE (17. 9) ; XUOL XUQIlU (17. 272); £QUOaL xul xuoo� 69
70
On the significance of sound, euphony and even cacophony see Stanford 1 967 passim; Pack ard 1 974: 239-60; Richardson 1 980: 283- 87. Pfeiffer 1 968: 4, also speaks of the delight pro duced by the sound of the names of gods and heroes and of the reminiscence of similar sounds in familiar words; he concludes: "many assonances and even 'etymologies' were the result." On assonance and etymology see also Silk 1 974: 1 74-75 with n. 1 1 , 1 76-77 with n. 8, 1 84-85 with n. 4, 1 86 n. 9. So Allen, Halliday and Sikes 1 9361 1963: 99. See also Stanford 1 939!l972: 1 00; lrigoin 1 99 1 : 1 27-34; Louden 1 995: 27-46.
32
Name Theory and Etymology
clg£u8m ( 1 7 . 4 1 9); xtll�at' clxllQata xdt' fV't OtXql (Od. 17. 532) etc. The phrases fJ... w v HJ"COOE'tO (2 1 . 7 1 ) and I..a �wv HCOOE'tO (6. 45) occur in supplica tion scenes, in which the AELOV, the soft and supple ethos of the lamda sound ac commodates and complements the mollifying intentions of the suppliant. Sounds are carriers of a distinct ethos, as Plato in his Cratylus points out. With few excep tions, the above collocations do not prove secure etymological connections ; their parechesis involves merely external aural similarities, albeit not accidental or in consequential from a poetical point of view. Exploring the function of alliteration, Hermogenes suggests that the similarity of sound is a cosmetic element that pursues aesthetic pleasure (IIq)l SV{}£o. 4. 7. 1 -6): JtagllXl]OL� O€ fOtL xaAAo� 6�oCwv 6vo�atwv fV � na
Cognates are hereafter marked in italics; synonyms and explanations are underlined; ety mologies found under another etymology are marked by bold and so is also the technical ter minology which signposts etymology (na(!u to ... XEXA1]tat, btu to, ott etc.). Forms such as PelopslPelops, PoseidonlPoseidon denote the mythical individual or his proper name re spectively. A few pointers to the transliteration of Greek words into English: proper names ending in -0£ are transposed in -us (e.g. Menelaus), while common nouns keep their final -0£ (e.g. pelios, plagios, ios). Efforts are made to disambiguate the forms of words (e.g. Briare6s, Aegae6n: Alya(oov, cf. the neuter Aegaeon, sc. pelagos), and suggest their prosody and ac cent (e.g. ate, semata, sema, emmetros, orthos, thymoi). The Greek kappa is usually trans posed into -c- in proper names (e.g. Patroclus, Hector; cf., however, klitheis, katharmos), and the ypsilon into -y- (e.g. hybris). The diphthongs -EU- and -au- are transliterated as -eu- or au- (e.g. Eurypylus), while -UL- and -Ol- are invariably transposed into -ae- and -oe- (e.g. Achaeans, aegis, Aegean, Oenomaus); some of these words have found their way into English dictionaries. The majority of appellatives or verbs, whose morphology is significant for the promotion of an argument, is transliterated in ways that reproduce the ancient alphabet as closely as possible (e.g. archekakos, mainomai, oinos, korypha). Analyses of names (e.g. Alci-noos/A 1 cinous, A lca-thoos/A1cathous, Pel-ops, Oino-maus or nouns (e.g. JrAijg-!JrJl;O�) aim at individualizing their components and illustrating their etymologies. The Iliad, Odyssey and Orestes are abbreviated as Il., Od., Or., unless they derive from ancient quotations in which case they appear as n., 'OD., 'OQ. The above guidelines are ignored in quotations where I reprint the author's spelling; this explains variations such as color-colour. The quotations from the ancient grammarians and the etymological lexica are occasionally based on the TLG.
Scientific and Ancient Etymology
33
10-12; cf. EM 696. 48), :rtaQl1Xl1'tL)(ro� 6£ JtW� Tj £tuIlOAOyt)(ro� JtagaxELvtm 1] m5Al1 xat <'> noAvnwxo:;. IIaQu 'to nrvoon v yug U!-lCjJw, Lva n nOAvnwxo:; <'> noAvnvAo:;. Alliteration in ancient texts offers, consequently, a legitimate cause for suspi cion as regards its function. We should consider ourselves lucky and privileged if an ancient scholium or a poetic line corroborates our insights; this occurs in the collocations vija vl1l1oao8w (11. 9. 137; cf. 9. 279, 358: Vl1rlOa:; d, vija:;) and viw8m fv Vl1VO{ (11. 1 1 . 1 3-14; cf. 17. 4 1 5- 1 6), to mention only two interrelated examples. This alliteration is etymological: :rtaQ£'tulloAOY£'i t�V vavv a:rto 'tOU vijom, declare the Homeric scholia (sch. A ll. 9. 1 37a), while Orion ( 107. 1 1-12; 109. 26-29) combines both alternatives -vijom and veio8m- in his etymological conspectus of the word vav:;. In the majority of occurrences alliteration is natu rally created by paronomastic collocations, that is, juxtapositions of cognate words, which belong to the same linguistic and semantic family. Sound patterns and phonetic sequences more often than not constitute conclusive evidence for ancient etymologizing. This is clearly posited by Eustathius (11. 3: 82 1. 7-12) on 11. 16. 1 42-44 (�19. 389-91) : oga 6E xat on EX twV Evtau8a :rtaQl1XtlO£(J)v 6(6wOLV <'> JtOLllt�� aq>OQIlU� 'tQ£i� :rtQo� £tulloAoy(av tT)� IIl1ALaDo:; !-lEA(ll�' llYouv to nijAm ... to IIrlALOV og o � ... xat tOY Jtat£ga IIl1Ma. 72 Our journey into the specificities of alliteration has subtly ushered us to the subject of ancient poetic etymologizing, its techniques and function, in particular. Homer will continue to provide the evidential material and be the fount for later poets and scholars.
72
On parechesis: Eust. 11. 1 : 1 92.22-1 94.26, esp. apropos Aegaeon. Woodhead 1 928: 36, regards Il. 19. 3 89, "a step from such innocent word-collocation to paronomasia and etymologizing."
CHAPTER 2 ANCIENT POETIC ETYMOLOGY Homeric Poetry
The practices of Homeric etymologizing will be laid out in categories of varying degrees of complexity, which range from the simple and straightforward parono mastic collocations to the more demanding and elaborate categories of narrativ ized and resignified etymologies. The last two rely on the construction of broader units of persistent collocations and clusters of cognates; the narrative capsules produced build simultaneously upon the potential of resonance and the semantics, whose underlying intimate affinities they bring forth. 73 This practice accords with the early viewing of etymology as a medium by which the underlying unity be tween reality and phenomena is established and validated. Ancient poetic etymol ogy invites us to step behind the descriptive surface of words into their core and multiple qualities, into the very conceptual backdrop of early poetry. To appreci ate Homeric etymology in its entirety would exceed by far the circumscribed ob jectives of an introductory survey, which purports to provide the indispensable background material and thus smoothly usher us into later etymology and espe cially into Pindar and his Pelops. I shall adopt a hybrid method, evaluating some salient etymologies within hackneyed classifications that figure in older etymo logical studies as well, despite their often artificial and inadequate character : the boundaries between categories are elusive and hardly waterproof. Polymorphous and polyschematic like the pieces of a puzzle, etymology makes imaginative in roads into the neighboring narrative canvas, thwarting the schematic and philo logically minded pursuits of modem scholarship. The textual anchorage of poetic etymologizing and the recognition of its liter ary and philological function is not a modem achievement. The ancient students of poetry were the first to discuss the contextual relevance and suitability of ety mology. They gauged etymological and semantic appropriateness on the evidence of individual passages, which set a precedent against which all other usages were measured. It is worth mentioning here that the scholiasts also adopted the expres sive manners and the wording of ancient poets; they worked along the same lines, analyzing compounds, linking together cognates, synonyms, or phrasal units of
73
Tsitsibakou-Vasalos 2000: 1 - 1 7. For the appreciation of the Iliadic ring composition and its narrative pattern, which moves not in a linear but geometric structure, like boxes within boxes, see Whitman 1 958: 249-84; Ong 2002/2006: 27, 1 4 1 .
Paronomasia
35
the same semantic field. Poets, grammarians and scholiasts obviously shared an unbroken line of tradition as regards the treatment of language.74
2. 1. Paronomasia
The simplest and most frequent type of Homeric etymologizing is exemplified by the juxtaposition of cognate words, usually in the form of a verb accompanied by its internal object. This basic etymological nucleus is called nugovo llUOtU. The term is vague and includes the occurrence of minor formal and semantic changes as well as parechesis and wordplays, etymological or not. 75 Scholars often use for it the terms jigura etymologica or schema etymologicum, which stress the etymo logical function of the technique and, from this point of view, seem to be more accurate. Lausberg prefers the canonical Latin term annominatio.76 It is attested in countless examples and most frequently in stereotyped scenes and descriptions . Its typical form is observed in: aQEi ES fvaQwv (Il. 9. 188), {3ovMx� {30VAcVctV (10. 327), Ac6{3ll� ... Awf3fjaaa8c (13. 622-23), JtAoUa/lOV� {JtAc'gc (14. 176), savoy eaaaff (14. 178), �c6aaw �wvn (14. 181), /laXllv f/laxovw (15. 414); oaa aa/lcvot Oa(vvvr' ... Oalra (Od. 3. 66), aotMv actM/lCvm (8. 73), uQllTfiQa ucQaaaa/lcvo� (13. 50), and numerous others. The scholiasts are occasionally outspoken as regards the etymological value of these collocations. The Homeric scholia (sch. bT Il. 14. 176b) comment on JtAoUa/lOV� {JtAc'gc: nugo vollUO(U EtWOAOYLXij, thus acknowledging the etymological value of the collocation. This characterization is repeated apropos of the nexus savoy eaaaw : nugovo llUO(U
74 75
For a mapping of the Homeric etymological patterns see Tsitsibakou-Vasalos 1 997/98: 1 1 81 9 with nn. 5-9 for examples and bibliography; id. 2000: 13-17. Sch. T Il. 2. 235b [)\xmi'<'ie<; OUXEt' )\xmotl )\xmt<'ie<; ltugovoJ,luaCu, oLu «ou cPCAtnJW<;, ana cPtUnmov xExgatfJXEV DLC; 'EnaDOC;» . See Eust. Il. I : 322. 9- 1 1 ; sch. bT Il. 3. 39b. L'.ualtugL: ij8LXWC; to tTJC; ltugovoJ,luaCUC; ltgoaEggLtjJE ouaXEguCvwv to OVOJ,l Utt. Scholia D Il. 2. 1 2 1 : noAE{tC�EtV. nOAE{tEiv .. to toLOUtO aXTJJ,lu ltugovoJ,luaCu XUAELta t . Scholia-D Il. 2.758: IIgo800<; 806<;. tOUto to aXTJJ,lu, ltugovoJ,luaCu XUAELta t . Eust. Il. 1 : 527. 32528. 7, considers paronomasia a aXTJJ,lu EnuVUatgoqJTJC; in which the second word Enuvu atgEqJEtat XUL olov EnUVUXaJ,lntEL ng oc; t�V ngo UUtTJC;. WC; ya g Lu{tCa {tCa vuuc; . . . OUtW .
76
XUL IIgo800<; 806<; ... oi De QTjtogEC; XUL nugovoJ,luaCuv to tOLOUtOV aXTJJ,lu xUAouaLv, WC; ot 'OJ,lfJgLXOL LxoALUatUC qJum ... Anon. Rhet. De Figuris, 3: 1 85 . 1 0- 1 7, Spengel: IIugovoJ,luaCu yCVEtat, OtUV tL tWV AfJqJ8EVtWV ELC; OLavmuv ovoJ,latwv � QfJJ,latwv �guxu J,lEtunoLTjaUVtEC; EtEguv xLvTjaWJ,lEV EVVOLUV, olov oMe t�V uAuxTjv, ana t�V qJUAuxTjv, 0 XUL nugTjXfJaLC; OVOJ,laSEtat, olo v to nuga L'.fJJ,lOa8EVEL, o ux uLaxuvn ALaxCvfJ; XUL nuga IIAatwvL, IIwAE A0atE, XUL IIuuauvCou nUUaUJ,lEVou . ef. Hdn. Rhet. De Figuris, 95. 4-9. Alex. Rhet. De Figuris, 3 : 36. 1 3-25, Spengel. Lausberg 1 998: 285-88, §637-639: "The annominatio "paronomasia" is a (pseudo-) etymol
ogical play on the slightness of the phonetic change . . . and the interesting range of meaning ... which . . . can be raised to the level of paradox. The author expects the audience to see the etymology . . . thus created between the two words to be their own work."
36
Ancient Poetic Etymology
EL'U!tOA.OYLXr] (sch. TIl 11. 14. 1 78b). 77 With similar terminology Eustathius also characterizes a{JeT E� fvt:X{Jwv (II. 9. 1 88), and provides a definition of the etymo logical paronomasia (11. 3 : 607. 1 2 - 1 7): 'to Of «JtA.oxaf,lo'U� EJtA.E�I::» JtaQo vO!taoCav E't'U!tOA.0YLXllV xaA.oumv ol JtaA.awC, w� 'to 6vo!ta'tL O'UYXELf,lEVO'U Qr]!ta'tO� E'tlJ!tOA.OYLX6J�, a
77
78
Cf. Eust. Od. 1 : 77. 1 . s!f.la w faawvo�, TgOJto£ ETUf.l0/"OYCu£ faTCv. aJto TaU {fw yug TO srl-W yCVETat, aJto b' mhou TO tWinov. On the definition of paronomasia see also Eust. Il. 1 : 545. 30-32. Minchin 200 1 : 24 with n. 58, cites Rubin, Memory in Oral Traditions (New York, Oxford, 1 995). Ong 2002/2006: 3 1 -76, also studies the psychodynamics of orality in primary oral cul tures, and the mnemonic base of thought and expression. See also nn. 85, 86, below.
Epexegesis and Analysis of words
37
2. 2. Epexegesis and Analysis o f words Clustering of Cognates
A regular etymological practice in Homer is also the epexegesis of epithets and nouns, which are not necessarily and exclusively old-fashioned or unintelligible : the poet supplies the clues needed for their comprehension. Homer explains him self, as Porphyrius has noted, and this justifies the method proposed by him: "Oftl']Qov £� 'Oft�Qo'U aacpl']vctELv (Quaest. Horn. ad ll. 6. 201 1 : 297. 1 6- 1 7 S) ?9 Homer implements his technique in a wide variety of ways. Most frequently, he makes the adjectival attributes vehicles of semantic and etymological illustra tion: "the epithet which accompanies [the proper names] clarifies their meaning;" in some cases the epithet paraphrases the name.80 The epithets not only explain but also etymologize the noun they qualify. A most notable instance of this pattern is tAE08(JCJrrov at'AtVOV (11. 2. 776), "marsh-bred celery," in which the adjective etymologizes the noun. The ancient scholiast (sch. A 11. 2.776) points this out conclusively: l]TUlloAOyrpeEV OE btu TOV €AEo8(JEnrov "to at'At vov, "to £� lAOV� ac voflEvoV £V LOl£ lAEm yaQ LOiho w£ bt'l "to JtAELaLOv . In other words, the noun at'AtVOV « aEVOflat+lAO�) is qualified by a compound epithet, tAEO8(JEnrov, which shares the second component of at'At vov, namely lAO�, and paraphrases its first (aEVOflat� "tQEqJW). Similarly behaves AEWV YAa VXtOWv (11. 20. 1 64, 1 72; cf. xa(Jono�); both words derive from a verb signifying vision, Aaw YAavaaw (=AEvaaw, see EGud. y 3 1 2. 14 -3 1 3 . 2). II�Awv Elvoa{cpvAAoV be longs to the same category: here the notion of brandish, shake, which is contained in naUw that etymologizes II�Awv, is matched and sustained by the notion of shake, quake, which is contained also in lvom�-dvom�: noun and epithet are synonymous and underscored by a mutual motivation. In the same category fall avt'flow bvaat'o� (II. 5. 865) and aVEflo� Ca�� ( 1 2 . 1 5 7): both words are derived from aryu. Adjacent to the latter example is the collocation, vt'cpca aXtOEVra ( 1 2 . 1 57), in which the epithet aXtOEt� also shares the basic notion o f darkness, with which is imbued the noun it qualifies, vt'cpo� « Vl1-priv.+cpao�); explanation and etymology are strung together. Similar is the function of Cocpov izE(JoEvra (It. 1 2 . 240; 1 5 . 1 9 1), in which both words signify absence of vision and darkness; 8 1 highly instructive for this practice is the collocation £ X VECPt'WV E(JE{3EVVrz cpa{vE Tat a�(J (ll. 5 . 864), in which appearance and light are denied with a ham mering effect; darkness permeates the entire phrase. The nexus flE(Jonwv av8(Jwnwv also obeys this principle: articulation of voice (flE(J{CW+01jJ) is the =
79 80 81
Pfeiffer 1 968: 3-5, argues that this Homeric technique foreshadows later scholarly work on epic language. See Sulzberger 1 928: 383-85, 426. See sch. bTil 11. 1 5 . 1 9 1 : �ocpov �E(J6Evm: 'ta aqJ(lmo'ta 't'ii £ Y'ii £ !lEQ!'] xaL 'tOY JtEQL Y'ii v uYQov aE(Ja. Scholia-D 11. 23.5 1 : �ocpov OXOTOV, QV MY0!lEV �E(JWOI'/ aE(JwOI'/, OXO'tEIVOV [
38
Ancient Poetic Etymology
distinctive feature of human kind; the epithet etymologizes and explains the noun it qualifies. 82 The nexus If(io� IIauXv (Aes. Agam. 1 46), a meaningful modi fication of the Homeric ii�o� oif3o� (It. 1 5 . 365, 20. 1 52), obeys the same logic: laoflw and ram� are internally linked with na(w, navw with which IIwav/ IIw�wv is associated (see n. 9 1 , below): the epithet etymologizes the proper name in the collocation l*o� IIwav as also in tXr7/36AO� }tn6Uwv (
82
On /lEI}01jJ see sch. A(D) n. I . 250 /lEl}onwv av8goonwv: /lE/lEI}W/lEVrzV 'tl]V
83
=
Epexegesis and Analysis of words
39
The natural outcome of the above-mentioned analysis of compound words and the insistence on their individual components is the creation of a series of concatenated cognates. In parenthesis, it is worth noting here the typological and functional specificities of clustering. Eustathius observes the insistent use of forms of various families of words, e.g. AUW (Eust. 11. 1 : 39.34 - 40.9), xA6.�w ( 1 : 64. 1 1 - 1 6), XTjguoow ( 1 . 3 8 3 . 7-9), Ctrranxw (2: 726. 1 1 -2 1 ), and explains the practice, repeating the terms xaLgLOv and £m�EVEL. Commenting on the etymo logical repetition of ouv�o(.lm- UVVie(JOV, for instance, he says, xmgL<;t Of o iJon tn A€SEL £m�EVEL 6 rrOLTjttl�, eE�EVO� autl1V xaL �Et' oALya (2: 6 1 8 . 1 2-2 1 ). The function of clusters of cognates and their utility in marking off thematic and narra tive units will hopefully be exemplified with the following few instances. The pronounced recurrence of a J,Jooo(.lm cluster, for example, caps the narrative with a distinct aural and thematic echo, demarcating the central motif in Iliad 9; it even lends a title, "Litai," to the book : AWOO(.lEVOL, Jura(, ACooovraL, ACooeof)m (9. 501 -20), ACOOOViO (574), AtnXYWE (58 1 ), EAACoovf)' (585), ACooer' (59 1 ). Ajax, using words of the same family, urges the Greeks to show respect, shame and valor : alow, al&iof)e, alOO(.lEVWV ( 1 5. 561 -63) and (Uu1j, aA{;aof)m, aAUL(.lO� (564-65, 570). His encouragement is successful and the Greeks are aroused; their movement is described with a remarkable alliteration and clustered words of the same liguistic and semantic field; words that mean "run" and "jump": O(JOf)VVEV, £eo(Je, bro(JovoE, f)o(Jovra, f)o(J', f)EWV, f)oo� ( 1 5 . 572-73 , 579-80, 585; cf . 59596, 602). The success of "rousing" and "stirring" is validated in the simile that follows immediately thereafter; the endurance of the hard-pressed Greeks is ver balized ( 1 5 . 599-622) again with a series of "staying" and "withholding," words, which oscillate between the positive pole of (.lEVW or (.lEVO� and the negative of (.la v(a: (.lEVE, (.le(.laWia, (.la (vEiO, (.la(vl1im, (.leVea(vwv, (.lEVeL, (.lEVOV, aVE(.lOW; Zeus also (.lEVE ( 1 5 . 599) to see the baneful light, oEAa�, of the burning ships. He rouses Hector, who is already eager himself, f.1C(.lawra (604) and in a state of frenzy, (.la(VeiO (605), not unlike Ares or the destructive fire which rages, (.la(vl1im (606), on the mountains. There follows a vivid description of the physi cal symptoms of madness : foam around the mouth, fiery eyes and frightening shaking of the helmet (607- 1 0), but all these are of no avail. Hector cannot break the troops, densely thronged as they are and resemble the lofty rock, which surges above the sea and endures, (.lEveL (620), the rising waves and the shrill-voiced winds. The elements of nature serve as a sounding board of the Achaean unbend ing and unyielding stance, so the Danaans (.lEVOV (622), did not flee in terror (i(JEW), and thwarted the attacks of the T(Jwe�. The pattern of clustered cognates implements, consequently, the introduction of motifs and subjects of more or less central importance along the axis of the poem, and makes a compositional and narratological factor of first order.84 The significance of the repetition for the comprehension and reception of oral poetry 84
For the interaction of the lexical patterns and the thematic unity in Iliad 6, the book that dramatizes mental oscillation, see Tsitsibakou-Vasalos 2004: 2 1 -58.
40
Ancient Poetic Etymology
has been duly acknowledged,85 and clustering is one such form of repetition which transcends the narrow confines of the etymological and conceptual high lighting, and enters the wider field of narratology : the clusters of words etymol ogically akin or of synonyms mark off the limits of narrative capsules in definitive ways and suggest internal thematic links that often exceed the boundaries of book division. With this device, which consists of deploying consecutive and differenti ated clusters of cognates, the poet constructs smaller or larger units on whose lin guistic and thematic kinship he lingers. He makes the transition between individ ual themes possible, thus allowing his macroscopic narrative to roll down smoothly. In doing so, the poet constantly jogs the memory of his audience and imprints the material in its mind; etymology serves, consequently, as a literary, structural as well as a mnemonic too1.86 This evaluation of clustering, whether of phonetic or semantic units, ties in well with the psychological and connotative character of ancient etymology. To return to epexegesis, besides the patterns described above, it is also fre quently housed in main clauses introduced with yug, or subordinate clauses, rela tive or causal in their majority, in the compass of which words are explained in similar ways, that is, by being analyzed partly or fully into their individual com ponents or explicated with the help of synonyms. 8? The epexegeses can be shal low, centering on insignificant and inconsequential persons or things, but they can also be crucial for the uncoiling of the story. To the former belongs, for instance, the explanatory remark made of Bathycles, the son of Chalkon, who was con spicuous among the Myrmidons for his riches and happiness (ll. 16. 594-96); the obscure and fictive person thus acquires a pinch of individuality. The most re nowned instances of the latter category are located in the proems of the Iliad and the Odyssey, which supply the hypotheses or the programs of the two poems, in troducing the names and the fundamental features of their protagonists. The con cept of the essential and internal unity of name and thing is already validated in archaic poetry. The repercussions of these individual traits span the entire poem, be it the Iliad with the destructive, oulomene menis, which matches perfectly the nature of a hero with the significant name Achilles; or the Odyssey with a much wandering and shrewd hero whose naming is suppressed until the hatred of Posei don is mentioned (Od. 1. 21); "hatred" has been a notorious namegiving motiva tional force behind Odysseus (Od. 19). To the latter category also belongs the passage xuvae; x1/QwmcpoQ�rov;, / o ue; XTlQE; cpoQiovm (ll. 8. 527-28), in which the poet breaks the hapax com pound x1/QwmcpoQ1/ro; in its constituents, x�Q and cpiQw. The phrase forms part 85
86 87
See Silk 1 987: 1 7- 1 8 : "in conditions of oral performance, 'redundancy of information' facili tates on-the-spot comprehension;" Griffin, 1 998: 74, discussing n. 1 . 43-52, argues that repe tition of certain ideas is "a device of emphasis . . . The accumulation of words of similar sense . . . allows the poet to linger on important scene." Hainsworth 1 993: 3: 27-28, also sees a psy chological reason in clustering: "what the singer has sung remains for some time near the sur face of his mind." See Tsitsibakou-Vasalos 2000: 1 7 with nn. 82, 83; Ong 2002/2006: ch. 3. On this technique see Tsitsibakou-Vasalos 1 997/98: 1 1 7-32; id. 2000: 1 - 1 7. See Rank 1 95 1 : 74-95.
Epexegesis and Analysis of words
41
of Hector' s wish that Zeus and the other gods drive out of Troy the Achaean dogs of fate, and forms the aftermath of the archekakon passage (see below). The an cient scholia ad lac. (Hrd. A ll. 8 . 527b) recognize the habitual or customary status of this Homeric technique, £90� yaQ all't4J JtOAA.aXL£ to. ouv8Eta ava AUELV, while modem scholars study the utility and the purpose of such explana tory cases, trying to find their raison d' etre. Stanford finds it in Homer' s "con stant striving for clarity," since this "is just the reverse of ambiguity, namely ep exegesis;" "hence the poet, afraid that the compound epithet (perhaps a neolo ,,88 gism) might be misunderstood, adds an explanatory clause. Rank considers these cases as "nader omschreven woorden," that is, as close paraphrases. 89 Scholars seem to be agreed: Homer analyzes compound adjectives, whether they are old-fashioned, obsolete and incomprehensible, or neological formations, into their components with the purpose of attaining clarity. Although these arguments are plausible and sustained by the analytical and paratactic style of oral poetry, indeed, they are content with the descriptive aspects of the technique and its short-run function in the immediate context. Yet the com ponents of the words involved here, even though hapax, are not so old or curious as to defy recognition and identification and so cause discomfort to the Greek poet or his audience. Homer insists on analyzing and explaining words, on juxtaposing clusters of cognates, and on breaking up their inherent condensed meaning and making them pivotal points in the story, on a micro- or macroscopic level. The epexegetical phrases often mark a new or decisive turn in the story, foreshadow events and supply their internal causative connections. I shall search for the un derlying motivation of these epexegetical clauses in the compass of their wider narratives, in the belief that poetic etymology is conditioned upon the require ments of context and the story making. An epexegetical example is furnished by Iliad 1 1 : Eurypylus begs Patroclus "to save" him, taking out of his leg the arrow and sprinkling the "soothing phar maka," which he learned from Achilles, who in his turn had learned them from Chiron (828-32). Patroclus obeys, and acting as a medicinal surrogate of his friend, fulfills the etymology of AXtUEV� and q)(i{}{taxa, and CPE{}Et axo� along with axo� (see sch. E Od. 4. 230) to Eurypylus: he cuts the bitter arrow (JtEQL JtEUXE£) out of the wound; he then rubs in it a bitter root, which "kills the pain:" EJt't 6E Q�av �aAE JtLxQllV / XEQO't 6LatQCljJa£, 6cSvvrjcpaTOv, f] 01, uJtaoa£ / fax' 6cSvva� ( 1 1 . 845-48). Homer disambiguates 6cSvvrjcpaTO� using a cognate ( 6cSvva�) and a synonym (fux'), and clarifies its second component, since cpaTO� can come either from CP1Jjl(, cpa(vo{tat, or 8dvw ( cpw, to kill; cf. A{}rz(cpaTO�, or 2 :n;{}6acpaTO� [origin. recently killed, Frisk s.v.], sch. DT Il. 24. 757 a i , a ). But the significance of this explanation is not exhausted with its linguistic elucidation and is not restricted in the immediate context: Patroclus will prove to be himself 6cSvvrjcpaTO�, since his death will function metaphorically as the "bitter root" that will heal (lit."kill") the xaxov and the axo� that the Greek Aa6� has experienced =
88 89
So Stanford 1 93911972: 98-99. Rank 1 95 1 : 77-78.
42
Ancient Poetic Etymology
ever since Achilles withdrew from the battle. The emotional pain, the axo� that AXLUEV� experiences for Patroclus' death, will "medicate" (cf. axo�) his wrath and the hero will return to the battlefield, proving an incurable axo� for the Tro 9o jan Aa6� this time. The poet foreshadows (:TtQOOLXOVOf,lEi:) this development in Nestor's plea ( 1 1 . 790-803) to Patroclus that he persuade Achilles either to return to the battlefield or dispatch him [Patroclus], dressed in Achilles' arms and lead ing his laos. Patroclus will become "a light of deliverance for the Danaans," a source of "breathing" and relief for them (aVa:TtVEVOWOL, aVa:TtVE'lJm�, 800-0 1 ). Offering respite to the hard-pressed Greeks, he will obey the advice of his father and fulfill the expectations of his name « Karr[[J+xAvW, 785-90), but most sig nificantly, with his death he will succeed in doing what the rich gifts and prayers of the Achaean leaders (11. 9) failed to do: Achilles will renounce his menis and reverse the sinister connotations of his name; becoming a doublet of his dead comrade, he will bring "light" and "breathing" to the Greeks ( 1 8 . 200-0 1 - 1 1 . 8000 1 ). With his death, Patroclus not only gained glory, kleos, but also killed the pain of the Greeks, and so proved oovvr[-cparo�, indeed! The adjective oovvr[cparo� explains and etymologizes cpa[J/.wxov in a con text in which the etymology of IIaLr[wv is also implied. Paieon, the doctor of gods, heals Hades (Il. 5. 40 1 -02) and is ordered to heal Ares as well (899-904): (Zeus) IIaLr[ova avwynv lr[oao8aL" / 't(j) 6' E:Tt"l IIaLr[wv oovvr[cpara cpa[Jl1axa Kaoowv UXEoa't' ... lr[oaro. Here IIaLr[wv heals Ares, sprinkling herbs "that kill the pain," thus acting out not only his etymology from Ka(w and Kavw, which is 91 canonical among later scholiasts and lexicographers, but also insinuating another alternative from Kaoow+laol1aL ( aXEoum) this time. Epexegetical phrases sometimes offer fertile ground for unusual and startling etymologies, which are closely related with the story and the personality of the characters. Ample scope for the exploration of this is provided by the treatment of arrZ. In his lingering wrath for the most dishonoring deprivation of his material and immaterial TLI1r[, Achilles, who had insulted Agamemnon (ha[Jrrz[Jol� E:TtE wmv (ll. 1 . 223), caps his wrath by submitting an etymology for arrz from a priv. +rCw , tailored to meet his grudge and demands: he will abstain from the bat tle so that Agamemnon may realize �v arrzv, 0 't' uQwwv AXmwv � erwEv ( 1 . 4 1 2). This etymology gains currency and conviction when Agamemnon refor mulates Nestor's reproach of dishonoring a man beloved of the gods (ov a8a vawL :TtEQ erEwav / izr(l1rzoa�,. 9. 1 1 0- 1 1 ) in terms of mental blindness: d) YEQOV, ov 'tL 1jJEv60� Ef,la� ara� xa'tEA.ESa�· / aaoal1rzv ( 1 1 5- 1 6) . . . ZEU� WVWV erEwE ( 1 1 8) ... aaoal1rzv ( 1 1 9). The combination of derivations is easily per ceived: dishonoring actions, such as aTLl1a'w and (ov) rCw, are intrinsically con nected with arrz in the heroic culture: insulting a Homeric aya86� is a manifesta tion of arrz. This forged and emotionally loaded derivation (ou r(w) complies with the pronounced geras and time motif figuring in Iliad 1 , and the overgrown -
'"
90 91
For the etymologies of Achilles see Tsitsibakou-Vasalos 2000: 1 1 - 1 2 with nn. 56-58 (modem scholarship) and 1 3 n. 60 (ancient scholarship). On Patroclus pharmakos: Austin 1 999: 32-42. <Jrauw, Jra{w: sch. E Od. 4. 232; Eust. Il. I : 2 12. 1 - 1 7; EM 657. 4-1 5; cf. sch. Ar. Plut. 636.
Epexegesis and Analysis of words
43
and choleric egoism of; it motivates the disaster and the achos that fell not just upon any of the Greek laos, but upon Patroclus, the most dear to Achilles' heart. The repetition of this verse right before Patroclus charges onwards to meet his death ( 1 . 4 1 2 16. 274) reveals its ominous and prophetic meaning and gears towards the fulfillment of Achilles ' name and essence. This etymology of a1,'rz « a-priv.+1,'[w) deviates from the canonical one from aaw, aw, as shown in phrases, such as A1,'rz, � Jtav'ta� aa1,'m (11. 1 9. 9 1 ; cf. 95, 1 29, 1 36-37), 'tf1<S' a1,'n aaoa� (11. 8. 237; cf. aJta1,'rzOEV, 1 9 . 97) or in synonymous and equivalent phrases such as f\'tT] ... 6A6.Jt'tOvoa (9. 505-07; 1 9. 94), and the poetic paraphrase of it:
92 93
On the connection of ate with aUios see sch. T n. 1 9. 9 1 c; bT n. 19. 1 26; bT n. 1 9 . 270. On r(vw and (1raa8aAOr; see Od. 3. 1 97-2 1 7 . On ate and teleutai5: sch. AbT n . 1 9. 90- 1 ; bT n . 1 9. 126 (anI
44
Ancient Poetic Etymology MllQLOVll� oE , EJr£! ov Tt Oswv EX OtacpaTU nOT/. TOV �EV M1l0LOYll� OTE Ol] XUT{UUQltt€ OtWxwy �E�AljX€t � XUTU O€SLOV . . .
"And Meriones slew Phereclus, son of Tecton, Harmon's son, whose hands were skilled in fashioning all manner of elaborate work; for Pallas Athene loved him especially. He it was who had also built for Alexander the shapely ships, source of ills, which became the bane of all the Trojans and of himself, since he did not at all know the oracles of the gods. Him Meriones pursued, and when he had caught up with him, struck him in the right buttock . . . " (Murray, rev. Wyatt, Loeb).
Applying his canonical pattern of clustered or laminated etymology, Homer in terweaves three etymologies in the compass of a wider passage, thus adding greater individuality and meaning to secondary figures or circumstances: Meriones, significantly the son of Malus (<{3Awaxw, f.lOAELV), fulfills his genea logical expectations of Jto6wxELa, and the derivation of his name from �, 94 � and 6vCVUlU-OVnQL�, acting accordingly: he runs after Phereclus, strikes him on the buttock (YAo'U't6�) and kills him, the son of TixTo)V, or of a TixTo)V, Harmon's son. In this narrative, which is studded with cognate words of the T£UXO) family (TixTOVO�, T£UXElV, T£XTllVUTO), and with a word of the same vocational and semantic field (f\QUOVC6EO») , is related the story of a great tekton, Phereclus, who had built for Alexander the ships that brought him to Greece; Phereclus' name is obviously but partly, as we shall see, derived from cp{Qw an4 xUo�. The ships were the beginning of evil and destruction for all the Tojans and also himself, VT]W; E'LQa� ! aQXExaxov�, a'L Jtam xaxDv Tgwwm ytvOV'l'O ! ot 't' aim'p. Eustathius (Il. 2: 22. 1 5) acknowledges the etymological value of the phrase, 'tg6Jto� E't'UfWAoyCa� EQ'tCV, and its function, claiming that herewith the poet clarifies an adjective not commonly used of ships. But what is Homer's motivation? Is his interest satisfied with the mere enun ciation of the epexegesis of aQXExalCov�, this presumably uncommon adjective? Are his intentions purely exegetical, thus anticipating the methods of later phi lologists, or rhetorical and in keeping with the redundancy and repetitiveness of the oral epic composition? It should be noted that the adjective is composed of common and productive Greek words; there is nothing extraordinary in their ori gin or meaning, which would justify the epexegesis. Therefore, we should seek the ulterior motives of the poet in the wider context of both Iliad 4 and 5, which 94
See Il. 1 3 . 249 (MllQLOVll, MOAOV viE, :n:6ou� TUXV); ib. 295 (MllQL6vll� 6oQ) cq:aAgvTO� 'A Qll·O. In 1 3 . 287 Idomeneus addresses him with a verbal form (OVOtTo), which means scom,findfault with, blame ( OVollat), but is also v. L for 6v{vT/Il!. On Meriones see EGud. � 392. 48-50; EM 586. 43-45. The name of the son is almost synonymous to that of the father: Sulzberger 1926 : 394; Palmer 1 980: 34-38. =
Epexegesis and Analysis of words
45
seem to constitute successive stages in the unravelling of a single event. Their internal relations are decisively marked by a pronounced ring composition, with Athena, most significantly in the capacity of Alalkomeneis, Pallas and A trytone, occupying their beginning and end. It is hardly accidental that Athena and the Argive Hera engage in a fierce opposition to Aphrodite. Both parties are flanked by their human (Diomedes) and divine (Ares, Apollo) allies respectively, and emerge in all their might, heavily attended by their principal and distinctive dy nameis. Diomedes in particular, undergoes an unprecedented internal transforma tion in the hands of Athena, becoming her surrogate figure. A brief survey of the most salient points of books 4 and 5 will bring out the functionality and the back ground of archekakos. In Iliad 4, Zeus taunts Argive Hera and Alalkomeneis Athena, the two assis tants of Menealus, OOLa( uQY)y6v£� (7), who have abandoned Menelaus and enjoy themselves, in contrast to Aphrodite, who wards the fates of death from her be loved Paris, autov xl'JQa� uJ,tUVEL ( 1 1). The language is allusive and engaging: the valorless goddess of love, who beguiles women, is portrayed in a sham mili tary imagery that is most unbecoming to her. She encroaches upon the preroga tives and the sphere of influence of Athena and Hera; the latter would rather trade her sacred cities for the destruction of Priam's city (50-67). The unrelenting ven detta of these three deities goes back to the famous apple of discord and the divine kallisteia; that blinded choice (aty)) of Paris was the original vice, the archeka kon. After a heated exchange of arguments and a show of power in the divine council, Hera's proposal that Athena incite a break of oaths and truce is accepted (50-67). Athena, ironically disguised as Lao-dokos ("receiver of men," or "Krieger aufnehmend:" Muhlestein), the son of Ant-enor ("enemy of- men"), vali dates the negative connotations of these names, causing the death of men. Exploit ing the constitution of IIavc5a(}o�, she persuades him to break the oaths, and as sures him of the boon of glory and gratitude that he will earn from all « lCCt�+a(}Vvf.1at) and especially from f\.Ugavc5(}o�: lCCtm ... ufjc5o� a(}ow / EX 1ClivTWV ... 1Clif.1lC(}WW (95-97). Aphron Pandarus is deceived and prepares to shoot Menelaus with a t6sov EUsoov ( 1 05), made of horn that a technician had smoothed and fitted together, x£Qas60� ii(}a(}t: rEUTWV / lCCtV c5' d, A.ELrjva� ( 1 1 01 2); the description echoes the name of IIavc5-a(}o� and attaches to it a new ety mology « lCCt�+a(}a(}(auw). Against this background we are called upon to evaluate the epexegesis of ar chekakos in Iliad 5 . The withdrawal of divine support and the notion of broken alliances embrace the a(}xtuauo� passage. Athena abandons her former protege, Phereclus, who, although her favorite qua an artisan (Eust. Il. 2: 20.6), presently suffers a piteous death for misusing his divine gifts and turning a demiourgic and civilizing techne, carpentry in his case, into a cause of death. Phereclus, though ignorant of the oracles and schemes of the gods (ou tL 8t:(i)v EX 8iacpaw nOy) , 64), is caught in the middle of this divine vendetta, fashioning, intentionally or not, the fateful ships that brought Paris and his foreign bride to Troy; those ships were the first uauov. In Homer "intentions are almost irrelevant," argues Adkins,
46
Ancient Poetic Etymology
while divine decrees and personal actions combine to destroy a man, along with ,, many others, thus instancing what Lesky calls "the double Homeric motivation. 95 Phereclus' name « cpi[Jw+uUo�) is twisted in the context so as to com plement the function of the a[Jxiuauot Viie�; later scholiasts read in it the turmoil and commotion of war raging amidst young men or ships (sch. bTi1 Il. 5. 59: ct>i[JeUAO� 6 CPEQWV UAOVOV ('Ha 'tWV viwv [vel VeWV, b]). 96 In a programmatic phrase, Athena sends off Diomedes in the middle of the fight, where most men uAovioVTO (5. 8). Hence, Phereclus becomes famous firstly as the artisan of the disastrous vehicles that made Helen's abduction possible, and secondly as the co author of this war. His sinister reputation matches that of Helen and Paris, who became subjects of song for posterity (ll. 6. 3 5 7 -5 8 ) . The emphatic reference to archekakos and the capital punishment entailed cannot but evoke the ultimate mo tivation, the apple of discord and the erotic arT/ induced by Aphrodite. Human responsibility and blame are relegated to the a[Jxiuauot Vize�, the in animate, physical object that manages to accomplish a double reversal of names and cast a negative light on the heroic qualities of f\Ugavo[Jo� « aUgw+avi/[J) and Phereclus « cpi[Jw+uUo�). The "defender of men," Alexandrus, fails to ac complish the expectations raised by his name (5. 62-3), subtly emerging as the original perpetrator behind a[Jxiuauo�. Phereclus, out of ignorance (015 ... ilOll), also belies the reputation he and his tektonic kin (Tix�ovo� vlo�, A[J/-lov(Ocw, UVXElV) have gained for their artistic and demiourgic craft. The passage dimly alludes to the malignant potential of techne and teuchein and the failure of har monia and harmozein. 97 Tectonic art proves of no avail to a 011!!LO'UQy6�, who "knew" how to piece together, assemble and "fashion all kinds of elaborate things," EJt(o'ta'tO oa(oaAa Jtav'tu / UVXElV (60-6 1 ), but did not know the di vine schemes. Phereclus' art makes him a double figure of the Cretan artisan, Daidalus (cf. oa(OaAa, 60), the architect of the labyrinth and destroyer of youth; in both cases a demiourgic art is inauspiciously associated with death and stealing (cf. Pi. Pyth. 4. 249-50).98 The intimate connection of daidala with learning and knowledge (sch. T Il. 5. 60c: Oa(oaAa: clltO T'il� omlOeW�), also bring the work of Phereclus into contact with intellectual activity, Athena's diacritical dynamis par excellence (ll. 1 5 . 4 1 0- 1 2 ; Pi. al. 7. 50-53). He shares the same semantic field with Athena (oa(OaAa, SOaT/v), but has gained a wicked reputation, uUo� for causing the UAOVO� of youth or ships (vio£" vav£,). With the a[Jxiuauo£, passage dawn the issues of divine justice and politics, since the doomed Phereclus is ex pressly Athena's protege. A bitter and ironic touch on the fate of men and cities (Il. 4), as well as the transfer of loyalty on the part of gods, accompanies a[Jxi95 96
97 98
Adkins 1 960: 46-47; Lesky 196 1 : I-52. Phereclus is named so for his reputation « q;i(}w+xAior:;): see Choer. Pro/ego 1 06a, 1 : 1 78 G; EGen. � 2 1 3 . 1-4; EGud. � 282. 2 1 -23; EM 209. 6-8. Cf. Or. 1 57. 34-35 and EM 790. 34-35: U(}EXAOr:; al!!16�oy /lYo!1a 't6('tOVL, olov q;E(}ixAOVOr:; 'tL£ mv ; cf. Eust. I/. 2: 22.5-6, XA(2 'tE q;E(}O/lEVa �UAa. See Miihlestein 1 987:36, "ein vielzitiertes Musterbeispiel redender Namen." On Harmonides and its derivation see sch. A Ariston. I/. 5. 60a. A(}/lov{l5ew: on lIYO!1a'to9UlXO; 6 nOLll'tTi£ ... OlXEtOY ya(} riXTOVOr:; TO a(}/lO�Et v; see also Eust. I/. 2: 22. 5-12. Is it accidental that Phereclus is killed by a Cretan, Meriones? Miihlestein 1 987: 36-37.
Epexegesis and Analysis of words
47
xaxo�, and has a programmatic value for books 4 and 5. Hera and Athena, driven by the rancour of the original culpa, the archekakos choice of Paris, come forward as authors of disaster, fatal unnamings and transfers of etymology: the alekso of Alexandrus again becomes a matter of dispute (cf. Il. 3 and 6), while the kleos and kloneo of Phereclus change hands in the action of Iliad 4 and 5 ; their ironic fun gibility and their implications are dramatized in Iliad 5 (passim, esp. 59-68). Iliad 5 builds further on what was machinated in Iliad 4, that is, the punish ment, which the original evildoers, whether human or divine, incur (at Hera's in stigation) at the hands of Athena and her proxy, Diomedes. The divinities come forward equipped with their clustered diacritical qualities. Athena manipulates Diomedes, whose heroic virtues she exaggerates and transforms beyond human measure and norms, infusing into him her own multiple capacities. Iliad 5 starts with a telling programmatic declaration ( 1 -8), thus giving the motto of the entire book. Pallas Athena breathes menos into Diomedes, and makes him fit for a su pernatural mission, on account of which he will earn a conspicuous kleos among the Argives and create awe (Dio�, Dic5w) among the Trojans. She transfers onto Diomedes her inherent etymological qualities (atew, v6o�), making him her mor tal effigy: 99 his helmet and shield blaze with fire and he resembles an autumn star rising from the waters of the Ocean; a halo of fire embraces his shoulders and head, the seat of the intellectual capacities over which Athena notably presides (see Achilles, below). Diomedes is then sent to the middle of the battlefield where :TtAflatoL xAovioVTO (8); there he will gain the kleos imprinted in the subtitle of the book, Diomedous aristeia. Athena also transfers onto him the combined quali ties concentrated in her epithets [JaAAa� and A'r(;'>VU;)V11, making his limbs light and agile « ;raAAw), and instilling in his heart stoutness, that is, absence of fleeing 00 and distress « a-priv.+r'QElv/t'()V£L v). 1 She reactivates in his heart the paternal l.tEVO� ... aiQo/.,tOV, which once aax€a;raAo� Tu6£u� had (5. 1 1 5- 1 26; cf. 256). The etymological semata of Athena Atrytone mark the death of Pandarus: the un bending bronze (xaAxo� a iEtQ1�, 292), among others, also cuts his boastful tongue, while his horses turn to flight (;raQiiQwaav bE OL t:Tt:TtOL, 295). Both iQiw and aAi;w recur when Athena and Hera come like timorous doves 01 (iQ1Qwv
100
101
This is an example of "transference of etymology:" see Tsitsibakou-Vasalos 2004: 44-45. The scholiasts treat such cases (/1.5.4; 1 8.206) as fantasia: Meijering 1 987: 94. Lifiares-Saconi 1995: I 04- 1 14, find the constituents of Diomedes' aristeia in the menos and sharpness of per ception and recognition, which are conferred upon him by Athena; ib. 1 06 n. 1 0 on the con nection of "vista c1ara" and IlEVO£;. Clarke 2004: 8 1 with n. 26, speaking of Diomedes' deriva tion, notes the etymological and semantic kinship ofmenos-mainomai (/1. 6. 1 00-01). EGud. a 230. 19-20 AT(JVTWV1! :!Ial/a tTJV T(JvTaV1!V; EM 1 67. 1 8-2 1 ; Eust. Od. 1: 191. 3840: AT(JVTWV1! oE A6l]Yu, f] aT(JvTo� (5 fanY aTEL(J��. w£; (1:110 toii T(Jiw T(JW, £s oii ltaL 'to
Td(Jw ltaL 'to T(JVW. alp' oii ltaL T(JvTaV1! ErrL �uyou, f] TEt(JOlliv1! 'tq) �aQfL 'tWY oyltWY. 6T(J1!(J6�: Or. 1 2 1 . 9- 1 5 ; 1 53 . 1 6- 1 8. See Philox. ff. 308; Hsch. 1 3 1 8; EGud. 't 534. 38-40. EM 637. 1 5-20; 764. 57-765. 2. Cf. Epim. Horn. 0 89, 0 1 09 (Dyck 1 995:"567, 577). Kirk 1 990: 139 ad 778, records the gloss of T(J�(JWV as "light" and "swift" (Hsch), and its con nection with 6T(J1!(J6�, but prefers T(Jiw. He finds the strutting or waddling of the goddesses,
48
Ancient Poetic Etymology
aOlV m!1u8' 0!10Lm, / avcQamv AQYE(OlmV aA£;f/l£Vm !1E!1UULm (778-79). Athena and Hera, in league against Aphrodite and Paris, secure their victory, im personating Aphrodite and embodying her timorous qualities, which are encapsu lated in the dove, peleias, her sacred bird. Book 5 closes in a ring composition that echoes the name of Alexandrus, the foil of Athena ;UUA){OWVrzt� (908,
Epexegesis and Analysis of words
49
glimpse of major techniques and practices whose particulars will be discussed further below. Book 5 offers us not a unique but a remarkable opportunity to ap preciate the sophisticated poetical treatment of divine names, powers and insignia, and to familiarize ourselves with a widespread technique, which affects our ety mological project, and therefore justifies the following brief digression. Why does Homer assign to Athena this specific task of controlling the vision and menos-mania of Diomedes? In which of her capacities does Athena operate now? Ancient evidence testifies to the connections of Athena not only with noos and phronesis but also with vision: i] A8rzva a:n:o tot; al'env EX tll� (51jJ£(o� (Ap. Soph. 5 5 . 7-1 1 , s.v. YAaVUWJTL�"): the epithet etymologizes the name of the deity. These combined capacities are also imprinted in the coined epithet A8Q�vrz, which is unattested in Homer and the LSJ and conferred upon her for being capa 2 ble of "mentally seeing everything: " :n:aQCl to a8Qelv, &avorznuiz yag i] 8£6�. 1 0 Hence, the goddess operating as Athrene, acts out the double qualities encapsu lated in her title (a8Qew+voo�), and affects Diomedes' intellect and vision, his voo�, vOelv and a8Qelv. But her dynameis exact a heavy toll: the positive quali ties of Diomedes are distorted, his mind goes astray, his menos yields its place to a state of frenzy, an uncontrollable mania, which replaces his positive and inher ent "divine counseling," « Olo�+/l�OO/lw). His etymology is subtly reconstructed, so as to express his newly acquired negative power of inducing fear as well as his madness (Mo�, Mow, /le/laa, /la{vo/lw). Book 5 refers to him and his relations in densely packed negative formations of the menos family (pe/laa, S/l/le/lau5�, S/l/le/lavla, S/l/le/lavlw, /laQya{vw, acpQwv etc.). At the instigation of Athena Athrene, Diomedes is endowed with a supernatural seeing and intellect, which renders him unable to process and digest the divine secrets opened to him, and to cpgOV£LV 8 VY)1:a , we may say, recapitulating the threats hurled upon him by t Apollo: cpga�£O, TucE'Cy), xu't xa�£O, fty)CE 8£OLmv la' E'8£A.£ cpgOVf£LV (5. 4404 1 ). Apollo 's role is minimal in this book, though crucial for Aeneas, whose life Phoebos Apollo saves, wrapping the hero in a dark cloud (344-45), thus reversing the connotations both of his epithet ("bright") and his proper name ("to kill;" n. 1 29, below). He wards off Diomedes, revealing his associations with twirling, oi sorvcpeAtse CPU£Lv�v uonec' AJl'oUwV (437), 103 and retires to his temple in Per gamum (446), leaving the terrain free for the divinities involved in the vendetta.
102
See Corn. Epidr. e. 20. p. 36. 1-3: uQX�v 'WU CPQOVfLV EOXfV. 'to oE Qvol!a 'tii£ A81lva� 1\\)(1fT\lJlOA.OY1JTOV OLU uQxm6'tl]'tu eou, 'tWV I!EV clltO Toii a8QEiv ltuv'ta olov A8Qllvav au't�v d:rt6v'twv c1vm; Herael. Allegoriae 19. 8. I; EGen. a 1 34. 1-6: A81lva OlOVft a8Qllva U£ ov oa , ltuQu TOV votiv a8QEiv. EGud. a 3 1 . 3-6: A8l]vcr ltuQU TO a8QEiv rov votiv, 11 ltUQU TO � 8fjoat l!a�6v ... ltUQU TO a8QEiv Otavolln"� YUQ f] 8106£; similarly Eust. n. I : 1 32. 1 3 - 1 7; EM 24. 44-45. See Philod. P. Here. 1428. 8 . 14-10.8 = SVF iii, Diogenes 3 3 in: D.Obbink, Philodemus On Piety. Part 1. Critical Text with Commentary (Oxford 1996, p. 1 9). On O'tUCPfA�W LSJ: strike hard, drive away, thrust from, etc., a synonym of aneAavvw; see sch. bT n. 2 1 . 380. O'tUCPEA�fLV: OXAl]QW£ 'tU:rt'tfLV xat �AU:rttfLV. Cf., however, sch. bT n. 7. 261 . Orvcpo.t/;E O€ I!LV I!fl!aw'ta : d£ tOUI!:rtQ008fV oQl!wv'ta EO'tl]Of xat ei:'A lloev. Eust. n. 1 :239. 1 1 - 1 3 , orvcpeA(�w
1 03
50
Ancient Poetic Etymology
In book 5 , Athena collaborates with Hera, a goddess associated with impart ing or obstructing vision as well, to extol the Greeks and humiliate the Trojans and their divine allies, Aphrodite and Ares. In a crucial part of the story, where secrecy is vital for the plans of Athena and Hera, the luminosity and visibility of the former is tempered by the darkness of the latter. Athena and Hera join forces and their innate and diacritical qualities in order to pass undetected; aUJrk.> and (111Q unite in a complementary manner that guarantees their invisibility. The two goddesses ride a chariot down to earth to rescue the Achaeans from the fury of Ares. Hera goads the horses, which fly between the earth and the starry sky, in midair (767-69), and become the recipients of her qualities: the derivation of l04
"as far as a man sees with his eyes into the haze of distance as he sits on a lookout point and gazes over the wine-dark deep" (Murray, rev. Wyatt).
In this context, which is replete with words of vision (underlined), the poet makes the horses carriers of Hera's associations with dimmed vision and darkness. It is 06 significant that ihlQ, which signifies absence of vision « aoQaa{a), 1 here is l compounded with -EtCS�� « *dow, cf. o oa, l<'>Elv) to produce �eQoeto��, an ad j ective whose contradictory components make almost an oxymoron, doubly en forcing the interplay of obcurity and restricted vision. The image of darkness re curs when Hera ensures the success of this clandestine mission, concealing her 07 horses in a mist,
104
EAEAEif� appellatur alto tOU t).{TTEo(}m ltEgl tljv yiiv, quod aeterno circa terram meatu ve luti volvi videtur ut ait Euripides,
Hera shouts aloud (11. 5. 785), disguised as Stentor who is renowned for his strong and loud voice; she also gives Xanthus, Achilles' horse, human voice ( 1 8. 407); hence c111(l becomes the medium of Hera's power and the key to her name, since a1!(l yag ltEltAl]Y[!EVO£ fOtLV f] a�(l lluate9€vto; yag wu a EugCoXEtm to ovo[!a; Eust. 11. 1 :74. 4-5, 1 5, OtL Of "H(la <'> a�(l, Ol]AOutm, <paoC, xaL El( tOU avaYQallllatUJllou ; EGud. l] 247. 38. See Rank 1 95 1 : 47-48. Kirk 1 990: 1 37-38 ad 5 . 770-72. See sch. E Od. 7 . 14; sch PQT Od. 7 . 1 5 ; sch H Od. 9. 144; sch Q Od. 1 3 . 352. See also �E(lO rpoLn�: sch. Nm 11. 9. 571b; sch. AbT 11. 9. 5 7 1 c; sch. A ll. 1 9. 87a. .
105 106
107
Athena, the goddess of bright air and clear vision, also exhibits her contrasting powers in the Odyssey, pouring or dissolving darkness, aera: she controls both darkness and luminosity,
Epexegesis and Analysis of words
51
The goddess of ooUAo� A{JI1� .
108 109 110
.
-
and protects Odysseus, pouring mist around him, ltoi.Af]V �E{}a J(EVE (Od. 7. 1 5); see also sch. PQT Od. 7. 1 5 . In the vicinity of uv'tQov *{}oHM� (Od. 1 3 . 347), the goddess dissolves the darkness, �E{}a, and there appears the earth (352); see sch. Q Od. 1 3 . 352: w£ ELltOVOa 8dl OltEOaO' �E{}a: ou yaQ E'tL ao{}aa{a� oiioT]£ e<paCvELo au't0 'ta un O{}W/-lEva. In Od. 9. 1 4245, aer is incorporated in a passage replete with words of negated vision, as the work of an unspecified divinity. On ;t\{}I!; and a{}7)Yw see Hsch. 7 1 59; EGen. a 1 165; EGud. a 1 92. 6-8 « a{}7), a{}at�, avaC (}eat�, a{}7)YHv); Eust. 11. I : 693. 1 9. On f/;EVa{}a;W-aVat{}EW see sch. A Ariston. 11. 5. 842. On ;t\{}1J� and e{}t� see EM 374. 4 1 -43; EM266. 32-35 S.V. oii{}t�. See Eust. 11. 2 : 1 38. 4-9: VUXLa Of 'tOV ltQo oACywv 0T]Aw8fv'ta ox6wv aE{}tOV MYEL. ELT] 0' av ti wLau'tT] vvs otlcEia 'to OELv0 ;t\{}H .. OltAOV xul uu'tf] ;t\QEO� . .. xul ui.Aw£ Of .
(J"J1�olov ti 'tmuu'tT] vvs 8uvuwu xul wu xm' uu'tov ox6wu, div 6 ;t\{}1J� atno;. Mother and son manifest a pronounced relation with a7){} in the sense of voice: Hera owes her name to the fact that a�{} yaQ ltEltAT]yltfVO£ eOLLY ti
Ancient Poetic Etymology
52
« aQ� fTh.@n OUAEOUm; cf. lttO� f\Ql']�: BA.antLx6�) . 1 1 1 Still using the fren zied Diomedes, as an instrument against Ares this time, Athena jumps on his char iot, putting on the helmet of Hades, which would allow her to pass undetected, /\(J�vrz I oil v' ;:Ubo� X'UVEl']V, /l� /lLV rbOL O�QL�O� f\Ql']� (844-45). The goddess, who exerts control over vision, evades visibility by means of an external symbolic object, the cap of invisibility, which belongs to the infernal embodiment of invisi bility, that is, �tbrz� « a-priv.+l&iv). The names and functions of �i'brz� and A8�vrz-A8Q�vrz are parallel: the goddess of the shiny and bright aetherial ex panses and of seeing « aUhiQ, arBw, a8QEw; cf. Corn. Epidr. c. 20, p. 36. 8, a18EQova(a), reverses her etymological and functional associations, and is tem porarily identified with the "Unseen," and "Dark" god of the underworld. The invisible goddess wounds Ares, catching him off guard and unsuspecting (85663). In the dramatization of this vendetta, which points back to the original cause of evil, the archekakon, Athena promotes her plans, distorting the vision and intel lect of Diomedes, and canceling his natural affinities with "divine counseling." Ares is therefore justified in complaining to Zeus for having given birth to a senseless, destructive, and maddening daughter, at! YUQ tEXE� aCf'Qovu xouQl']v, I oUl.oJiivTJv . .. natO' a·�bTJl.ov· / � vilv . . . unEQ
III
�
O n AQIJ£' and aQaottm, aQa ( 01lAEOllQL, fliil)lthi see sch. A I/. 18. 521b l ; Corn. Epidr. c. 2 1 , p. 40.20 - 4 1 . 1 ; Hsch. 7 145 aQij xaL fliillthi f] Ev "t 0 AQfL; EGen . a 1 1 60. 1-12; EGud. a 1 92. 6-7; EM 140. 1 7-19; ESym . 1 3 54-55; Eust. I/. 2: 14. 1 5-21
1 12
1 13 114
Epexegesis and Analysis of words
53
scends from Olympus to dissuade Achilles from fighting with Agamemnon. Her intervention is narrated with a cluster of cognates and synonyms. Upon seeing her, Achilles is stunned, but immediately understands and recognizes her ( 1 . 1 97-200): atf] 0' om8Ev, 1;uv8f]£ OE x,61-t'l]£ EAE IT'I]AE·L(!)VU OL<Jl qJaLVOIU;Ylr tWV 0' Un(!)V illi tL£ 6QfuQ. 8au�uqEv 0' AXLAEtJ£, I-tEtU 0' ftQaJtEt', UUt(X,U 0' � ITuAAao' :4.81jva{1jv OEIVi'o 6E 0\ oqm: waUy8EY" "She stood behind him [sc.Achilles], and caught the son of Peleus by his tawny hair, allowing herself to be seen by him alone, and of the rest no one saw her. And Achilles was struck with wonder, and turned round, and at once recognized Pallas Athene; and terribly did her eyes flash" (Murray, rev. Wyatt, Loeb).
Athena is significantly qualified in this passage as JIaUa� (200) and YAavuwm� (206), which anticipate the character of her operation. The ancient scholiasts comprehend the message emitted by the Homeric context, and contend that she is I IS As abstract intellect, she called Pal/as as the personification of agile reason. grabs Achilles by the hair because there resides the rational part of the soul. I 1 6 Besides her mental dynamis, this passage also narrativizes her associations with vision, even though exclusive and preferential (she is visible only to Achilles), and recapitulates the meaning of YAavuwm� and Athena-Athrene; these words belong to the same semantic field. In the verse 6ELVW bE ot OOOE cp6.av8Ev (200) the identity of ot is ambiguous: whose eyes terribly flash: hers or his? Ancient and modem scholars vacillate between the two options. 1 1 7 This dilemma is rather phony; the phrase YAavuwm� AfhZVI1 may concatenate two words that emphati cally point out the sight and brightness of Athena « YAavaaw [= to see]+ w1/J/oJrwJra, and atew/CdJQiw), ll8 but even if Athena's shiny eyes are meant here, and the context seems to favor this option, this is actually of little import: the epic technique of "transference of etymology" also implicates Achilles as her sur rogate figure; the etymological and functional semata of Athena are transferred onto her favorite, who becomes the recipient and sounding board of her power and attributes. Athena is virtually identified with her protege, who enjoys a privileged mode of communication with her. The tokens of her etymology and identity, her shiny eyes and proper name, implement the mediation and parallelism.
liS
116
117 118
Sch. bT 11. 1 . 1 99-200: JIaAACtc; oE JtuQu tU£ naAa/Ja�, � 15tL EUX,(V'I]to£ 6 vou£ «waEt JttEQOV ijE v6'1]l-tu» (11 3 6); the latter derivation, alluded to behind the disjuncted notion of agility (� EUX,(V'I]tO£), goes back to avanaAAo/Jw (sch. A (D) 11. 1 . 200). See sch. A(D) 11. 1 . 195: :4.81jva, 15 fatLy ij rpQ6v1jat� OEL YUQ ... XUt tf]£ x,61-t'l]£ UUtOV X,QU tELV X,Ut Oux, unol.l I-tEQOl.l£ toU awl-tuto£, an' Ev8u LOQl.ItaL to AOYLX,OV tf]£ tj!l.Ixf]£ I-tEQO£ . Similarly Corn. Epidr. c. 20, p. 35. 6- 15. See Robertson 1999: 1 -7. On YAavu6)m�, yOQy6)m�, YAavu6� see pp. 1 83-84, below. On the etymological and seman tic identification of YAavu6)m� and :4.81jv1j: Peraki-Kyriakidou 2004: 3 47 with nn. 20,2 1 .
54
Ancient Poetic Etymology
The choice of insignia underpins the etymology: it is not accidental that qJi/vrz, a bird associated with qJa{vw, is sacred to Athena (Ael. NA 1 2. 4). 1 19 Eustathius (Od. 1 : 1 32. 1 8 ad Od. 3. 346) entertains a wordplay on the etymology of qJi/vrz and the disappearance of Athena, speaking of tOY tft� A8l]va� O£ tEQaOtLOV aqJavwllov EV OXtlllan qJi/vrz�. The pertinent Odyssean passage is studded with clusters of cognates or synonyms that signify sight, awe and sur prise; here Athena flies off disguised as qJi/vrz (3. 372-73): w� aQa
This passage accumulates the essential qualities and capacities of YAavu6JJU� A8i/vrz; qJi/vn Elc50llfVrz also exemplifies the habitual collocation of words of the same semantic value, which are found in perfect semantic and/or etymological correlation with 8alA60c;. 8awaw>, lc5ovra�, t'&v, oqJ8aAIlolm v. This narrative capsule is marked by an emphatic diffusion of sight and appearance, which ety mologize A8i/vrz and qJi/vrz. Another bird, avonaw, behaves similarly. Athena also takes its form: a:rt€�l] YAavu6JJU� A8i/vrz, / OQVL� 0' w� avonala OL€:rttato (Od. 1 . 3 1 9-20). The derivations submitted by the ancient scholiasts for avonala are multiple. 1 20 but in their overwhelming majority they point out the connection of avonala with words of vision; hence, Athena-Athrene, the epithet YAavu6JJU�, and the names of animals whose form the goddess assumes (qJi/vrz, avonala), or are sacred to her such as YAat}� (unattested in Homer) and c5Qauwv, I 2 1 share a common semantic field. The emblematic presence of Gorgo on the aegis borne by Athena (11. 5. 741 -42) and the yOQy6JJU� (Soph. fr. 844 TrGF 4: 555 Radt), used 1 19
Sch. E Od. 3.372.
120
121
.
.
Epexegesis and Analysis of words
55
of Athena, significantly enough, when she affects the mental katastasis of Ajax (Soph. Aj. 450-52) find their significance in this framework. This phenomenon, first noted by Peraki-Kyriakidou, 1 22 is widespread in an tiquity. 1 23 It explains, for instance, why AaQo�, the sea gull, is the sacred bird of 'EQf1fl�, whose angelical duties are imprinted in his derivation both from dQw (LSJ B = speak, say), a synonym of AaAiw, and from dQw (LSJ A fasten to gether, string): the god is a "sweet talker" (AaQ6�, AaUw) and peacemaker, that is, the author of elQ1]vrz and an elQrzvoJrot6� (Corn. Epidr. c. 1 6, p. 23. 1 -4). An cient poetry and scholarship defies the modem lexicographical and often casuisti cal and unwarranted distinctions (e.g. dQw, LSJ A,B,C), and exhibits a holistic approach to the treatment of derivation and sound similarities; finally, as A rgei phontes, Hermes is also white like the sea gull. 124 =
This phenomenon also explains why xuxvo�, the swan, "the most musical and most white of the birds" (Corn. Epidr. c. 32, p. 68. 8- 1 1 ) is sacred, i!;g6�, to Apollo. The Greek sources are eloquent about it: the whiteness, Awu6Trz�, of the bird complements the nature of the god, 1 25 who is identified with the sun whose epithet, Lycios, is explained ano toU Awua{vea(}m mlv'ta cp(jyta;;O VtO� ijA.(ou (so Antip. SVF. iii. 36; cf. Macr. Sat. 1 . 1 7. 36-38 : AVUrzV. a3to 'tOll Awuoii); the adjective Aevu6� is also associated with Aevaaw, to see, a prominent capacity of the all-seeing Apollo the sun. 126 ..
1 22 1 23
1 24
1 25
1 26
Peraki-Kyriakidou 2004: 343-68. See Corn. Epidr. c. 6, pp. 5-6: people honor Rhea « QVat,;, o(Jo,;), the mother of Hera « aij(J, at(JolwL, QVat,;, QEW, ib. c. 3 , p. 3 . 1 6-20), abstaining from doves and fish O"CL "Ca l-lul.La"Ca 6T]l.ouVta "C�v tll£ ovoCa£ aL(JwLv arl(J xaL�; ib. c. 22, p. 42. 1 1 -20: bulls suit, JC(Joa ijXEtV, Poseidon I-lUXT]"Cu£ and xuavoxaC"CT]� on account of their thunderous bellowing and dark color. Aphrodite, who is etymologized from aphros, rejoices at the dove, a most pure and friendly bird (ib. c. 24, p. 46. 9-13); 6Quxwv is dedicated to Asclepius as a symbol of re juvenation and deliverance from diseases and also ltQoooXii£ ... OT]!!€LOV �£ ltonii£ 6EL ltQo£ 8EQaltECa£; �ux"CQov is also a similar symbol of support through medicine (ib. c. 33, p. 70. 71 6). For a detailed catalogue of the animals or objects sacred to individual gods and their etymological kinship see Eust. Il. 1 : 1 37-139. 8. Philox. fr. 538. 2 EGen. I. 37. 1. Aa(Jo� 6 aJCoAavanxov EXWV "Cov VOUV EM 557.4. Cf. sch. Ti1 Il. 17. 572a; sch. A' 11. 17.572b. On Hermes and Aa(Jo,; see Eust. 11. 1 : 1 38. 5-9: OiXELO£ 6€ ltW� xaL l.uQo£ 'EQI-lii ov !!OVOV w� J.\Qy(CqJOV"Cll I.EUXO�. ana xaL XaTa TO ltaQl!)vv/ldv "CQOltOV 'tLVa "Cii wu I.oyou yI.UXU"CT]"CL. 6 "CE yaQ l.6yo£ ltQay!!a Aa(Jov Tjyouv f]6u xaL cS Aa(Jo,; 6E ltaQa "Covov EXltE
�
56
Ancient Poetic Etymology
The pertinence of the swan as the symbol of Apollo is subtly insinuated by Plato, who explains the name of Apollo through his presiding over astronomical and musical matters (era. 405c6-e2): "To understand how his name accords with his musical powers, we have to understand that the letter 'a' [i.e. a-cop.] often signifies togetherness . . . In this case, it signifies moving together (r�v O/-lofJ JrOA rzm v), whether the moving together of the heavens around . . . the poles (JrOAOV�), or the harmonious moving together in music . . . (owcpwvLa); for, as those who are clever in astronomy and music say, all these things move together, simultaneously by a kind of harmony. Apollo is the god who directs the harmony ,, and makes all things move together, whether for gods or human beings, 1 27 W£
Apollo moves all things together (homopolon panta) through harmony, which is thus tied with the cosmos. The swan makes a perfect symbol of these celestial lastronomical and harmonious enterprises of Apollo both on account of its white ness and its voice. The Latin authors also insist on the notion of "whiteness" and the "totality," OAOV, of Apollo's powers, which they transfer to his symbol. Isi dorns, exploiting the sounds of Apollo, makes olor (xuxvo£) his sacred bird, on account of its being totus albus, adding that the Greek olon corresponds to the Latin totum; Fulgentius, making a loose paraphrase of the Greek oligoria into inuria, submits an implicit etymology of olor from apollymi, thus resuming a most common derivation of Apollo. 128 The notion of 0 A a r rz �, but with respect to Apollo's medical aptitude this time, recurs in Eustathius' comments on Iliad 16. 788-89: here Apollo appears as deinos Phoebos, covered by diffused darkness (ljEQL rcOAA n, 790). 129 This picture reverses the radiant connotations of his name « Phoebe) and anticipates phobos, rout, death and invisibility. As Eustathius observes (ll. 3 : 932. 1 5- 1 8), TQ> I1a TQaXAQl EJrEAaoEv 6 AJrOAAWV ... OVX w£ OVAW� o1�0£, �youv vYLaOtLXO\; xat 6 A a T 1'] T 0 £ rcOL1']tLXa£, ES oil xat OVAEL v TO VYLaLvELV, aAA' w£ ETEQOV TQarcov OVAW�, �youv 6U(JQw�. Crammed in this comment are found three partly contrasting derivations that correspond to three capacities of Apollo: he EJrEAavvEL ; affects health, making persons and things sound and whole (OVAO�, OAO�); or destroys them (OVAW�, 6U(JQw�
127
1 28
1 29
The translation is Reeve's; the underlining of the Greek terms is mine, See Matby 1 99 1 : 427 s,v, alar: Philarg, on Verg, Eel, 9. 36 (rec, I) alar . . . dictus, quod sit totus plumis albus; . " olon enim Graece totum dicitur (=Isid. Orig, 12, 7, 1 8). Fulg, Myth. 2. 1 3 p, 54, 18, alar dictus est quasi ab oligoria tractum, quod nos latine iniuriam dicimus, Phoebos Apollo also reverses the qualities imprinted in these two names in n. 5. 344-46: he saves Aeneas' life, shrouding him in a dark cloud.
Narrativization and Contextualization of Etymology
57
sacred to Apollo the Sun: it shares the swiftness of the god and his derivation, "on ,, account of the kinship of etymology; ]30 the sun term but also trzat his rays. Here we must close our digression into divine names, their derivations and symbols, and sum up our findings. Homer indulges in a great variety of explana tory processes, which range from simple analyses of adjectives into their individ ual components, to more demanding and elaborate epexegeses whose repercus sions are far-reaching, imaginative and suggestive of a carefully designed and executed programming. Homer pursues clarity, not necessarily on the strict and confined, microscopic level of the immediate context. The lexical individuation and semantic disambiguation of words, compound or not, spans the entire epic poetry and is interwoven into countless narrative capsules. The poet makes sure that his encoded messages are grasped, fully comprehended and not effaced or missed in single and fleeting references. He accomplishes this goal, by insisting on and reiterating his verbal units; repetition enhances comprehension. His dic tional and etymological highlighting is intricately linked with the performative circumstances and the oral dissemination of archaic poetry. By these practices the poet manages to promote the unobstructed comprehension and enjoyment of his poems; their reception is thus facilitated and most significantly, guided appropri ately. To sum up, the Homeric etymological patterns and their particular uses ra diate the sense of a purposeful and conscious composition on a macroscopic level. The examples of ate and archekakos have hopefully shown that Homer's outlook is holistic and integrating.
2.3. Narrativization and Contextualization of Etymology The foregoing section has given us a glimpse of a prominent feature of early po etry, the contextualization and narrativization of the etymology of proper names in particular, which, as the most meaningful of words, are highly susceptible for such manipulation. The archaic poets make etymology of theonyms and anthro ponyms an organic and nuclear part of their narrative; they disentangle the etymo logical semata of names and weave their narrative around them by means of clus tered cognates, synonyms and/or loose paraphrases of their meaning. With the narrativized etymology, a well-documented technique in archaic poetry, the quali ties evoked by the signifier or the signified are attributed to the heroic or divine figure in the compass of narrative and in verisimilitude with the bearer's mythical vita. Proper names contain their own microstory and generate narrative, as shown by a number of paradigmatic modem studies, centering primarily on the names of
130
Eust. 11. I: 1 3 7. 21-23: l{Qa� DE iEQWtm 'HMqJ An6nwVL /iU} t£ to 6�u t'ii£ XLV1]OfW£' ooxun€tT]£ YUQ {) i€Qu� XUL {) IjALO£ DE 6�ux (vT] to£ )tal /ita t1]V £s EtU"oAoy(a� <Juy yiv£wv. xu'l YUQ rn:at Q(iov {) flAw,;. EvT£U9£v liE )tat {) l{Qa� rovo"a<JTat.
58
Ancient Poetic Etymology
Achilles and Odysseus, among others. !3 as follows: 2
!3!
Calame pithily describes this technique
"(the) play on the proper name is to some extent 'narrativized.' The historical and philologi cal truth contained in the etymology is of little importance since some of the compounds in Greek names make no sense; what is important is the syntactical and semantic associations made by the enunciator of the name. In the Greek epic, etymological play on a name is de pendent on narrative verisimilitude."
As Calame also notes, the person that manipulates "the name is unconcerned with the objective meaning of the etymology he proposes . .. it is enough for him that this etymology fits into the logic, the syntax, and particularly the seman tics of the narrative fiction where the name and its wearer are inserted."
This is not a cemented and fixed process; it is flexible and susceptible to ma nipulation in accordance with the fiction, the poetic design and the potential of the words themselves. Signifiers generate multiple narratives, depending on which part of them the poet decides to highlight at any time; in the following section we shall investigate the potential of the aural quality and constitution of words, and its exploitation by means of restructuring and resignifying. The narrativized ety mology is most profitable for major heroic or divine figures on a macroscopic level, although minor and obscure figures, whose role in the epic story is insig nificant, are also often endowed with a modicum of indivuality and identity through the attachment of comments that point to their etymology. An overlooked example involving Asteropaeus, the son of Pelegon, and Achilles, the son of Pe !33 leus, will suffice to give just a glimpse of this predominant practice. The fatal duel of these two divine descendants is described in Iliad 2 1 . Their encounter is embraced by a number of cognate words or synonyms, which bear mostly upon the names of their progenitors, and the combat ends up being an is sue about ancestry; the notion of 6L01{)ECP�<; is nodal. The recurrent words that bear upon "race" (YEvEa), "distance" (riiAe!Jr1ZAVl), "mud" (.iC11A 6�), or "brandish, shake" (naAAw), resume the components ofPele-gon, and ofPeleus to a certain extent (/1. 1 6 . 1 4 1 -44 � 1 9. 388-9 1 ). The genealogical badges and specificities of the two combatants are carefully adumbrated. To start with Achilles, he is the de scendant ofPeleus, who is associated with naAAW and nrzA6� ("wine"); he comes from Pelion, and wields the emblematic spear ofPelian ash tree, which induces murder and thus foreshadows the career of its bearer (cf. the achos in Achilles). Peleus lives "far away" (riiAE/n�AVl), and his son is prone to speaking of places as "far-away," such as Phthia and Hellespont. Asteropaeus, on the other hand, also comes from a distant country, IImovL1]<; ... rrzA68' £01501]<; (2 1 . 1 54), is the offl3l l32 I33
On the subject of narrativized etymology see Nagy 1 979 passim; Peradotto 1 990: 94- 1 70; Calame 1 995: 174-85; Tsitsibakou-Vasalos 1 997/98: 1 1 7-32; id. 2000: 1 -1 7. Calame 1 995: 178. On the narrativized etymology of Pelegon, Peleus, Achilles, Xanthus and Scamandrus see Tsitsibakou-Vasalos 2000: 1-17.
Narrativization and Contextualization of Etymology
59
spring of Pelegon and the river Axius, and so closely associated etymologically and pragmatically with "far," (ifiAc/JT�AVl) and "mud" (JTl1A6;), words shared by Peleus and Achilles. In the compass of an extensive passage (//. 2 1 . 1 3 9-208), the poet describes the deadly conflict of the two descendants of Pelegon and Peleus, and builds a narrative capsule in the interior of which he plays upon the resonance and the significance of their mutual associations with ifiAc/JT�Am, JTl1A6;, ycvca, subtly insinuating their association with JTaUw: Asteropaeus unsuccessfully tries to appropriate Achilles ' paternal lexemes along with his emblematic ash spear, which was stuck in the ground; 'tQ't� IlEV IltV [IlEA,LllV] JTcUp,l;cV ( 1 76), "made it quiver" (Murray rev. Wyatt); his death is thus pictured as imminent. The two he roes, who share common linguistic and functional properties, break this bond, parting in death. The divine lineage of Achilles proves superior, while the astral, shiny face of Asteropaeus is marred as he falls dead into the "mud" of another river, "far away" from his country, and is consumed, as if homeopathically, by fish and eels, iYXtAvc;, which are procreated by the mud « tAV;, JtnM�, sch. bT Il. 2 1 . 203b and Pap. XII col. IX. 27-3 8, col. X. 1 - 1 4). The river descendant ful fills his genealogical prescriptions in death. Interweaving etymological alternatives that belong to both heroes, Homer al most imperceptibly breaks the horizon of our expectation of one monosemantic and well-circumscribed alternative at a time. The two combatants have inherited the idiosyncrasies of their ancestors, including their medicinal associations. Achil les carries an emblematic spear presented to his father by Chiron, a hybrid crea ture renowned in antiquity as a foster father and educator with medical expertise, who corresponds to Akessamenos ( 1 42,
60
Ancient Poetic Etymology
2. 4. Transference of Etymology 134 This practice, whose etymological import is recognized of 01d, is conspicuous in ancient Greek poetry; it will be an indispensable tool in our illustration of Pelops. The etymological pointers and lexemes of names are sometimes trans ferred from the person they naturally etymologize to another, closely affiliated person, who is thus invested with dynameis and features that may or may not be long to him. This transference of powers involves persons and things, as in the case of A lci-noos and the intelligent Phaeacian ships: Alci-noos boasts that his ships do not have captains or rudders, but they know the thoughts and the minds of people as well as their cities and their fertile fields; they cross the sea at great speed safe and sound: au'taL toam v01}f1aw xaL WQEVa\; UV()gwv, xaL Jtuv'twv
toaoL JtoALas; xaL JtLovas; uygOUS; ... Ou()E JtO'tE OCPLV / OV'tE 'tL Jtwav8 uvm Em 6Eo\; oV't' UJtoAEo8m (Od. 8. 559-63). In a cluster of words signifying intellectual capacity, endurance and stoutness (underlined here), the etymological signs of AAX(-VOO� « (Ux1i+v6o�) are dispersed in the narrative capsule and are trans ferred onto the ships, which possess knowledge and strength, a sort of (Ux1i, by which they escape damage. The appropriation of (1AX1i and knowledge by the in animate ships promotes the poetic scheme of their personification; they function as an extension of valiant and sensible Alci-noos, whose derivation and capacities they espouse and project. The poet unifies here the physical world in all its forms; animate and inanimate beings exhibit an inner communication, accomplished through the confluence and exchange of qualities, language being their natural vector. A seemingly simple and straightforward example of this technique is attested in the etymologizing of Tle-polemus: when the Achaeans removed from the war (JroU{low) the dead son of 8gaouflEflvWV and 8 UflOAEWV Heracles (ll. 5. 639), then VOllOE 'O()UOOEUS; iA1}f10Va 8 UflOV EXwv (668-70). The two lexemes of Tle polemus « *iAaw+Jr6Ae{lO�) are broken up, and the complementary notions of 13 endurance and daring, which are inherent in his first component, 5 are transferred to Odysseus, who is also renowned for being JroAviAa�, JrOAVr:A1}f1WV and wAa JrdQw�. The connotations of Tlepolemus, "who endures or dares the war," are naturally taken over by Odysseus whose mythical vita demonstrates the dense and conscious equivocation of his proper name and his epithets; suffering, enduring as well as daring are complementary values, inextricably associated with *daw and 1 34
l3 5
Eust. Od. I : 1 1 8. 44-46 ad Od. 3. 1 55-56, Ev8u ogu 'to, /-lEVOV'tEr:; [fU.lCOEEC; AUOC] :n:ugu :4ya/-lE/-lVovL h"�OAOYlXO; YUQ n; tQo:rto; EutCV, WC; mu :4ya/-lE/-lVOvOr:; :rtaQu to /-lEVELV Et"�OAOYO"�€vo". Sulzberger 1 926: 385, 390-9 1 , explains Tlepolemus after the principle that: "certain Homeric personages bear a name that could be an epithet of their father, sometimes of their mother or grandfather;" in Il. 2. 657-62 "the poet, without specifYing the origin of this name, seems to desire to indicate it or evoke it . . . the verse 660 gives the key to Tlepolemus." Cf. ib. 410, Tlepolemus: "qui subit la guerre;" 4 1 0 n. 1 : "qui ose la guerre," mais cette interpretation est moins probable."
Transference of Etymology
61
the life of the hero who bears the significant name Odysseus, "the one who hates and is hated." Active and passive blend in the middle voice of 6ovaaof,1aL, 13 6 and Odysseus appears as the most natural recipient of Tie-po/emus' ambiguous half nature. Elaborate evidence of the transference of etymology occurs at critical mo ments of fighting, when the gods take an active part, defending their protege. Sim ile becomes an appropriate vehicle, consolidating the parallelism, whether posi tive or negative, between the anaphorical and deictic parts of the comparison. This technique creates pairs of surrogate or foil figures, forms alliances or enmities, most importantly of mortals and immortals, and creates a sense of cosmic friendly mingling or hostile disruption. 13 7 We had a glimpse of this process above, discuss ing the functional reciprocity between Athena and Diomedes in the Iliad (5. 1 143). A811va, fulfilling her derivation from ar8w and v6o�, instills menos and reckless daring (mania) in the heart of her beloved Diomedes, embraces him with fire, and circles his head, the seat of mental capacity, with a halo of fire (5. 1 -7). Listening to his prayer, she transfers onto him the qualities inherent in her epithets A trytone (5. 1 1 5) and Pal/as ( 1 2 1 ) and implicitly in Athrene, an appellation that either Homer suppresses or is a post-Homeric coinage. She makes him partaker of her own dynameis, also allowing him to act out the qualities embodied in his own name and lineage. 138 Diomedes becomes her surrogate figure even if in an exag gerated and distorted form. In a similar manner Athena affects Achilles, as he prepares to march out to the battlefield (l/. 1 8. 203- 1 4): alJ1:CtQ AXtt.J.EUC; tiiQ1:O L'.t'l qJLAOC; (xllqJ'l 6 ' A81jvlj WllotC; iqJ8LIlotm �aA' aiYL6a 8uoavoeaoav, (xllqJ'l 6E ol }(£(paAfl VEqJOC; fOtEqJE 6la 8Eawv XQuo£Ov, EX 6' au1:O'U 6alE wMya 1taltwavowoav. WC; 6' OtE xa1tVOC; ioov ES aOt£OC; a18iQ'rXllTm, tllA08EV EX Vt100U ................................................................ . alla 6' 1]EAL4J xata6uvtt 1tUQOOL tE WAEYE80umv E1tt1tQtllot, u1jIooE 6' � YLYVEtm (x'{ooouoa 1tEQtXttOveaotV i6Eo8m
"but Achilles, dear to Zeus, rose up, and around his mighty shoulders Athene flung her tasselled aegis, and around his head the fair goddess set thick a golden cloud, and from the man made blaze a gleaming flame. And as smoke goes up from a city and reaches to heaven from afar, from an island . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. and then at sunset flame out the beacon fires one after another, and high aloft darts their glare for dwellers round about to look on . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . so from the head of Achilles went up the gleam toward heaven" (Murray, rev. Wyatt). 136 137 138
On Odysseus see the paradigmatic study of Peradotto 1 990: 94-1 70. On the technique of transference of etymology see Tsitsibakou-Vasalos 2003: 1 1 0-29. See Tsitsibakou-Vasalos 2004: 5-6.
62
Ancient Poetic Etymology
A8r z v spicuous blaze, resembling the smoke that reaches the aether, alei{}a. As at night torches blaze and people in their distress kindle a bright light for the neighbors to see and offer help, so did the nocturnal light (oiAa�) from Achilles' head reach the aether, alei{}'LXaVE. Achilles' selas is ambiguous; it will prove a light of sal vation for the distressed Achaeans (
A most elaborate example of tranferred etymology is also detected in Iliad 1 9. 349-98: Zeus dispatches Athena with an injunction to trickle ambrosia and nectar into Achilles, and prevent him from starving. She obeys and acts in a way ex pected of IIaUa� and A8rzva: she leaps through the aether, Ua1:sJraA 1:0 Ot' al8i {}O� (35 1 ; cf. sch. A (D) 11. 1 . 200). The effect of her names and her contact with ale"z{}, aLew and JraAAw (uawJraUoj.lat) continues even after her departure, and is complemented with the collaboration of other friendly deities in the com pass of the simile. In a scene marked by a diffusion of dazzling light and bright ness, the shiny helmets, Aaj.lJr{}OV yav6woat (359), the shields, the corselets and spears of the Greeks gleam and resemble the thick, cold, 'lI''UXQa(, snowflakes that originate from Zeus (who is also associated with the aether and radiance), and the North wind "that is born in the bright sky" (ale{}rzysvio�, 358, Murray, rev. Wyatt). 1 39 The sheen of arms, a rYA rz, reaches the sky and "the earth laughed," yiAaoos, metaphorically, because of the flashing (OtEQOrtll) of the bronze (36263); the sheen becomes cosmic, connecting the polar extremities of the world. Achilles emerges as a central figure in this all-encompassing brightness: his eyes blaze as if flame of fire, tW M ol 00010 / Aa!1rtE081lv illS; Et tE rt'UQOS; oEAas; (36566), while he objectifies and "dons" his own sinister derivation, £v M ol � to Q / Ovv' axo� a tAll to V (366-67), before he dons his weapons (367-73 ): "intolerable 139
The poet plays here on the two meanings of a18Qllyevij; and ai8QllyevErll;, which are ety mologized from ai8Q(a ( €ucCa, ltuyoC;, 1j!VX0C;) and al8po; (ltuyoC;, 1j!vxoC;): sch. bT T Il. I S. 1 7 1b; sch. T Il. 1 9. 3S8a1; sch. bIl. 19. 3S8a2; sch. HPQ Od. 5. 294; sch. PQV Od. 5. 296. =
Transference of Etymology
63
achos" awaits the Trojans, indeed! The shield occupies a conspicuous place in this description, and its gleam, oO.. a�, permeates the passage: the blazing flame of the shield resembles that of the moon, 'tOU 6' aJtuvEu8E atAa� Y£VE't' M'tE !! tlVll� (374), and foretells salvation for the hard-pressed Greeks, who welcome it as sail ors, beaten by the storms and driven out in the sea, "far away" from their friends; they see the blazing fire on the mountains ow8!!<'i> EV OlOlrOAqJ (377) . Achilles shines as a remote lone light that indicates both salvation for the Greeks and de struction for the Trojans, w� aJt' f\XtAAf]o� OUxEO� O£Aa� aieir/ lxavE (379). The ambiguous o£Aa� radiates as high as the aether, delivering a double message to friends and foes; Zeus and Athena stand in the background. The poet shifts his focus to Achilles ' helmet, which also shines like a star; about it waves the golden mane that Hephaestus had set, ij 6' ao'tllQ w� aJt£ Aa!!JtEv ... JtEQtOOE(OV'tO 6' E'8EtQat / XQUOEat, a� "HqJato'to� lEt ( 1 9. 3 8 1 -83). With an impressive sensitivity the ancient scholia on verse 3 8 1 note that the poet f\XtAA£a 6E ijA(q> JtaQa�UAAEt. But Helios, the sun god who was from early iden tified with Apollo, is both beneficent and maleficent; life giver and taker. The latter is implied here: the ominous connotations of the helmet, which is compared ,, 4 to a "star, 1 0 and the fiery associations of its manufacturer mingle their sinister gleam to evoke the deadly aspects of Apollo the sun, Achilles' sworn enemy. Un der the influence of Athena, Achilles firstly "dons" the sinister selas of the shield, which resembles the moonlight, and secondly the starlike crested helmet, whose hair flings like sunbeams, thus embodying the threatening dynamis of Helios Apollo. A comparable picture is codified in the ancient derivation of Apollo: uno 'tOU £1lrOmXU£Lv 'ta� ax"iva�, id est a iactu radiorum (Macr. Sat. 1 . 1 7 . 7; Apol lod. of Athens FGrHist. 244. F95, 99a, 99r; Epim. Hom. a 94 [Dyck 1 995: 94]). At the preamble of his return to the battlefield and his encounter with Apollo and his protege (Hector), Achilles must establish his qualities and provide his in signia. His genealogical prescriptions as Aeacides and Peleides and the expecta tions arising from them are alluded to: he puts on his weapons, which, light as wings, lift him up. With a cluster of arlra sounds (EqJaQ!!OOOEtE, Jt'tEQa, aEtQE, 1 9 .385-86), the poet verbalizes and visualizes the upward movement and the flight that befits an eagle-descendant (Aiacus
The word aOTijg is often loaded with negative connotations: I/. 6. 295 (of the Sidonian peplos, that evokes the elopement of Helen and Paris); 6. 401 (of the ill-fated Astyanax); 5. 5 (of Diomedes in the martial heat and fury induced by Athena); 1 1 . 6 1 -63 (of destructive, oulios, Hector); 22. 3 1 7-2 1 (of the sharp point of the spear that will soon kill Hector). In I/. 4. 75, it is used of Athena, who swoops down, resembling a radiant star from which spring flashes of light; it is an ambiguous teras.
64
Ancient Poetic Etymology
and Achilles' killer, when he makes an impressive descent from Pergamum, 'tEUXEOL :rtUflqlU(VWV w£ 't' ijAf1.t'tWQ E�E�tlXEL (II. 6. 5 1 3), his hair waving in the air like sun rays. Paris returns to the battle, adorned with all his natural and super natural gifts, a faithful replica of Apollo the sun. This simile is significantly used only twice in the epos, exclusively of Achilles and Paris, the foil and surrogate of Apollo respectively, and insinuates the crucial and sinister entanglement of Apollo. 1 4 1 Achilles embodies the qualities of Apollo the sun (�U%7:wQ) and de stroyer (a.7TOAA V,lu), and prepares to kill and be killed, as prophesied by his horse ( 1 9. 404-23). The heliacal associations of Achilles are also discerned behind OlO.7TOAO�: the selas of his shield radiates as a selas on a mountainous station, O'tu8fl0 Ev olo .7TOAqJ ( 1 9. 377), offering comfort and hope. Achilles outshines all other stars and enjoys the bitter fruit of his supremacy: utter loneliness. The connotations and the etymology of OlO.7TOAO� gain in lucidity, when compared with Apollo the Sun: the god rides in absolute solitude (EQtlflU£ �lL' uL8€Qo£, Pi. 01. 1 . 5-6), and has earned the title "Exuw£ because he sends his rays from "afar," while people wish that the damage induced by Apollo and his sister may not come near, I!.h .7TQoa .7TeAai;etv ulJ'toL£ (a-priv. +.7TeAai;w). Apollo is engaged in a solitary rotation about the .7TOADt of the world (PI. era. 405c7-9; Timoth. PMG 800). The god and Achil les are lonely riders; both frequent solitary, lofty and remote places. To this lin guistic and semantic family of .7TeAai;w, .7ToUW, .7TEAOflaL, -w (cf. Latin cola) also belongs f30V-%OAO�, which evokes Apollo' s boukolein (tend cattle, LSJ) and the offense he took at Hermes' theft (HHerm.) as well as his theteia by Admetus (Eur. Ale. 8, E6o'UqJoQ6o'Uv ; c f. ib. 569-87). Apollo has been associated with a.7TEAAaL, which means "pens" or "folds," OTjxo( (Hsch. 5944) among other things. It seems that also in this case the proper name and its attribute share the same derivation: Apollo and bou-kolos are cognate and carry the same functional and etymological weight, while the epithet Nomios (see Call. In Ap. 2. 47-54) explains both. 1 42 To sum up, the entire passage ( 1 9. 349-98) exemplifies in multiple and com plex ways the technique of transferred etymology: Achilles goes out to war incor porating the ambiguous aetherial and fiery affiliations of Zeus and Athena; the fiery connections of Hephaestus, and finally and most significantly, the sinister 14 1 142
On the function of the ijMxrwg simile (Il. 6.513) and the Apolline and sinister associations of Paris of the flowing tresses see Tsitsibakou-Vasalos 2004: 55-56 with nn. 50-5 1 . In one of his seminars, Prof. C. Tzitzilis argued that Apollo was originally Nomios, a herds man; he derived Apollo's name from GtJl:i}J.at, Jri}J.a in the sense recorded by Hesychius, pointing to the Bulgarian dialectic form opela, "pen or fold for oxen and cattle." On Apollo as Hirtengott see Nilsson 1 967: 536-38; Solders apud Frisk s.v. )\Jro}J.wv. See Frisk s.v. JriJ..o /lat: "the thematic present JriJ..o/lat, -w corresponds to the Latin colo, -ere; both go back to the lE root *q"e!o, which means "move about, to become, wander about, take care of, attend, cultivate, build," etc. The old connections with "tending cattle" and "agriculture" survive in the Greek aipolos, boukolos, tripolos; ib. (p. 501): a/lrp{JroJ..o� anculus, JroJ..o� cf. colus, US, etc.; see id. s.v. theokolos. So Boisacq 1 9 1 6 : 764; Pokorny 1 959: 639, k"el-, k"ela-; Chan traine DELG s.v JriJ..o/lat; the LS] adopts the derivation from the same lE qUe!_ (s.v. f3ovxoJ..o�, cf. Lat. colo; s.v. JriJ..w, 'turn,' cf. Latin verto). =
Transference of Etymology
65
and deadly gleam of Apollo the sun; the dynameis and the etymological semata of Apollo are transferred to Achilles, his rival and foil, foreshadowing their final duel as Xanthus, the horse, predicts. Of paradigmatic value for the pattern of transferred etymology is also the ma nipulation of the name of Aphrodite (HAphr. 5), whose lexemes are transferred to her mortal lover Anchises. 1 43 In this hymn, which dramatizes a situation that bears the distinctive marks of initiatory myths, 1 44 the goddess is presented as controlling the erotic desires of gods and men alike; on their minds, phrenes, she exercises her power of deception, for which she has earned a proper appellation, IIacp{11 « ('macp{auw). She drives men mad with love, "subdues" their mind, and causes intolerable pain and shame, especially to her fellow gods, who are indignant for the illicit or unfit love affairs she forces upon them. She boasts for that, nuv"tac:; yug ff,l0V baf,lvaox£ voUUa (249-25 1 ), until Zeus decides to retaliate by instilling love for a mortal in her heart. The goddess, disguised as a virgin, seduces An chises, but after the disgraceful act of making love with a mortal, she divines the birth of a son, whose name, Aeneas, will commemorate her pain and grief -alvov axoc:;. She confesses to being the victim of the same delusion and blindness of mind « ('iT11, aaaal111v), the functional synonym of acpQoavv11, with which she af flicted the others (252-55), and she commands Anchises to keep secret the name of the goddess with whom he slept. Her words are meaningful as disclosing her essence, her dynamis and etymology (286-90): EL O€ XEV E1;ECltn� xaL EltElJ1;EaL acpQoy! 8w0 EV CPLAO'tl1tL [uYTivm Eiia'tEcpaVlp Kv8EQdn, ZElJ� aE XOA(J)aa!!EVO� �aAfEL tjJOAOEV1:L xE(lauv0 EL(lTj'taC am ltaV'ta au 6E cpQwl anaL v01jaa� taXED !!TjD' OV6�talVe, 8EWV D' EltOlt�ED !!TiVLV. "But if you tell all and foolishly boast that you lay with rich-crowned Aphrodite, Zeus will smite you in his anger with a smoking thunderbolt. Now I have told you all. Take heed: re frain and name me not, but have regard to the anger of the gods" (Evelyn-White).
143 144
On the narrativized and transferred etymology of Aphrodite see Tsitsibakou-Vasalos 2003: 1 19-29. The goddess, inflamed with love for Anchises, reaches Ida, where she instills love in the heart of the wild animals, before she is subdued in the arms of Anchises, in a sexual act consum mated on a couch strewn with skins of wild animals. She deceives him, pretending to be a parthenos, seized by Hermes, the god of passages and initiations, as she danced in a circular chorus to the honor of Artemis. She is allegedly forced to abandon the civic center and fly with Hermes over inhabited and uninhabited, cultured and uncultured regions. The choral vir ginal activities in ritual frameworks, the abduction by proxy, the mingling of culture and na ture, the transference to remote mountainous places, the erotic liaison with a male whose name contrastingly signifies "near" (A yx(arz�
66
Ancient Poetic Etymology
The goddess, in her capacity firstly of Cythereia, demands that Anchises hides their love (Kv8£(JEW
Hecuba declares, "rightly does the name of the goddess begin with folly," as Lee ,, translates, considering this "one of Euripides' cleverest pieces of etymology. 1 45 Its origin is found, however, in the Homeric epics and the homonymous hymn.
2. 5. Rearticulation and Resignification of Proper Names. Poetic etymology, mostly of proper names, reaches its conceptual limits, when the archaic poets segment the words at different points and junctures, adeptly exploit ing their sound pattern and its semantic potential. This implicit application of in ternal divisions yields new lexemes and phonetic sequences, whose varying se mantics the poets highlight as circumstances arise. Multiple etymologies come about as a result of this elusive habit; rearticulation and resignification of words enriches the gamut of derivations, and gives the impetus for the generation of the appropriate supporting narrative. Etymologies, issuing from the resegmentation of the underlying phonetic sequence, are accommodated within the matrix of the narrative capsule; the etymological and semantic disambiguation is imperative in an oral poetic composition, such as the ancient Greek, which relies heavily on
\45
Lee 1 976: 238. Euripides' etymological experimentations are also discerned in the rather explicit derivation of ;t\cpQoc5(r1j from ov cpoQ1jrOe;, and the implicit and narrativized deriva tion of KvnQ!e; from "vw+noQelv in his Hipp. 443 and 448-50, respectively.
Rearticulation and Resignification of Proper Names
67
motivation and clarity. This process obviously constitutes an advanced and more demanding type of narrativized etymology. Posing a challenge to the expectations of the average Greek and not hesitating even to contradict themselves, archaic epic and lyric poets copiously apply this technique, using certain words in new collocations and narrative combinations, subtly insinuating their lexical and semantic manipulation. The treatment of Theano's name, for instance, illustrates this pattern (/l. 6. 297-3 1 1 ): when she insolently modifies the content of the injunctions of Helenus (cf. 305-06), she behaves as The-ano in a "senseless" « avov£,) and "godless" « BEO£" BEa) way, thus reversing the derivation of ther name and her ties with Athena, the "goddess ,, of noos. 146 Achilles and Poseidon constitute paradigmatic case studies of this technique; their exploration will help us firstly outline the theoretical and practical aspects of this pattern, and secondly pave the way for Pelops, in whose mythic vita Poseidon plays a leading role. Through the Iliadic macrostory, Achilles' name becomes a prime model for the study of the above-posited elusive and allusive interaction of sounds, lexemes and signification. He starts his career in the Iliadic proem as an author of death: in a programmatic passage (I/. 1 . 1 -5), the epic poet urges the Muse to sing of Achil les' destructive wrath (JifjVLV .. ° VAOI1EV1/V) , "which brought countless sorrows (�) upon the Achaeans ()\XawL£,), sent down to Hades many valiant souls of warriors, and made the men spoils (EAWOw) for dogs and birds of all the kinds" (Murray, rev. Wyatt). In this passage the poet essentially narrativizes the etymol ogy of Achilles and the Achaeans, employing a number of cognates or synonyms; here alliteration, etymological or not, is conspicuous. The hero with the significant name )\XLAAEV£, deals axw � (H.YEa, whose recipients are the people and sol diers, the Aao£, indiscriminately, whether the )\Xaw{ or the IALEL£,. The allitera tion of )\XLAAEV£,-EAWOw adds a grim and deadly dimension to the proper name, particularizing the message delivered by OVAOI1EV1/V. It has been recognized that the ancient poetic and the modem scientific etymology of Achilles coincide in making of him the man "who brings distress to people;" it has been stressed by scholars that this programmatic etymologizing of Achilles encaspulates his nature and motivates his career in the narrative at a micro- as well as macroscopic level. 147 Not only the proem, but the whole of Iliad 1 provides a glimpse of the lexical and functional modulations of Achilles: the hero originally feels achos, in the sense of pain and compassion, in his heart for the hard-pressed laos of the A chaeans , who die at the hands of far-shooting Apollo. He attempts to find the causes of the plague and implicitly "heal" the Greek laos, thus subtly intimating his etymological associations with a�w£, and i'xuEOl1 a t , and his foil status vis-a-vis his antagonist, Apollo, the god who induces disease and death but also liberates from it « A6w; PI. era. 405b6-c l ); Apollo is the major force behind Iliad 1 , the A vToa. Achilles' enforced release of Briseis, his honorary gift, activates the .
146 147
See Tsitsibakou-Vasalos 2004: 44-45. See Tsitsibakou-Vasalos 2000: 1 1 - 1 3 with nn. 56-60.
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Ancient Poetic Etymology
transformation of his semantics: abstaining from war, he induces achos, grief and suffering, upon the same laos he had tried to "heal" before, and sets into motion the program of the proem ( 1 -5). From now on the Greek soldiers, the laos, pay a heavy death toll, under the impact of which they rearticulate and resignify the name of Achilles: with an etymological wordplay based on the exploitation of its LA Id lOA sounds, they stress Achilles' lack of compassion, {AW;, and his exces sive XOAO;, upon which he is said to have been nourished ( 1 6. 203-04), and sub mit new associations; later scholiasts are particularly attentive to them. Achilles' pitiless nature is compared with the wild nature, with the sea and the mountainous rocks; these gave birth to Achilles, YAU'Uxlj 6E O£ 'tex't£ 8aAuoou I nE'tQat 't' �Ae�U'tOL, on 'tOL v60� fO'tLV anT]v�� ( 1 6. 34-35). His dietary habits, described by Phoenix (9. 485-9 1 ), have also given the ancient scholiasts an impetus for a negative (privative) association of his name with yaAu and XLAO; or xelAo;. The epic narrative sees to it that Achilles is alienated from his beneficial associations with duo; and cpa(J!1aua (9. 247-5 1 ). His friend Patroclus takes on the etymo logical semata of Achilles, and functioning as his surrogate figure, applies sooth ing medicines, ijma cpa(J!1aua, and heals the sorely stricken Achaeans ( 1 1 . 83032; 1 5 . 393-94); he dies for the Greeks, wearing the armor of Achilles, thus reaf firming the equivocation of achos, akos 148 and laos in the person and etymology of Achilles. Most tragically, Achilles eventually falls victim to the power inherent in his appellation: his achos for the deceased friend made him renounce his menis and, fully aware and conscious, meet his death at the hands of healer-killer Apollo. Achilles tries to find an akos, a remedy, of the achos for the slain companion, by killing ruthlessly the inimical laos, the Ilieis. The internalized and passive achos of Achilles is now externalized and aggressive, targeting the Trojans. His medicinal attributes are also subjected to a grim manipulation, being transferred onto Hector, who, incorporating the essential features of Achilles in book 22, be comes his foil and dies. Hector waits for AXLAi}a Jrdw(Jtov in the likeness of a mountainous snake, which turns about in its nest and has devoured bad "medi cine," thus driven by terrible cholos: �£�Qwxw� xuxa cpa(J!1au', £6'U 6E 'tE IlLV XOAO; alvo; (22. 92-94), EAwaowvo; Jre(Jl xeLfj (95). The etymological signs which are concentrated in Achilles (cpa(J!1aua, XOAO;; cf. XEt fj), densely packed as they are and marked by a hammering alliterative effect, are transferred onto Hec tor, who functions as the faithful image of the pitiless, choleric, and bad medical practitioner, Achilles. 149 Eventually the identifying description of Achilles in Iliad 24, which focuses on his temporary and fragile rehabilitation and his linguistic 1 48 149
See sch. bT 1/. 22. 2d: aXEovw: )tVI1IIll; aXEta8m to axo� tiiaSm. Kyriakidou 2003: 1 3 1 - 1 4 1 , studies this scene ( 1 34-37) from the viewpoint of simile and its intertextual relation with Vergil; she intends to show that the etymological correspondences between tenor and vehicle in Homer strengthen the relation between the two parts, while fur ther correpondences are brought forth. "The etymologising has often the pattern of being or ganised mainly around a point, usually a name or noun, which concentrates elements of the tenor and/or the vehicle or suggests qualities a figure in the narrative has" ( 1 4 1 ).
Rearticulation and Resignification of Proper Names
69
connection with {AW�, the pity and mercy shown for old Priam, insinuates once more the resemanticization of his name and his new nature: Achilles is at least temporarily reformed and reintegrated into humanity; the positive value of pity in Iliad 24 contradicts Achilles' old self (cf. the vain intercessions of his comrades for an rAao� 8woS;, Il. 9. 639; 1 9 . 1 78), and the negative semantics embedded in his name. His story provides the impetus for an imaginative lexical and semantic modulation; narrative sees to it that the same name is transformed conceptually. The audio-visual aspects of Achilles, its morphological and phonetic identity, re main unchanged, but its semantics is subtly modified. The reshuffled sounds and newly issued lexemes of Achilles are endowed with new meanings, which are masterfully imprinted in the Iliadic narrative. The dramatic story of the central hero of the Iliad is ingrained in the metalinguistic experimentations of Homer and his Hellenistic students. The Achilles paradigm shows that in archaic poetry the modification of the definite description often corresponds to an implicit and unproclaimed mutation of the etymological and semantic load of the name. The poet rearticulates the lex ernes of his names in the compass of his narrative so as to accommodate and un derpin the semantic modifications he desires to submit; the names are recharged semantically as a result of their internal restructuring. It is the poet's job to bring out and validate this allusive rearticulation and resemanticization of names, and the audience's job to receive it properly under the poet's guidance. Ancient poetry had found marvellous ways to escape the limitations assumed and imposed by later theoreticians (ch. 1 . 1 ) : names are neither rigid designators nor purely deno tative; their meaning is subjected to a constant renegotiation and interaction. Poseidon's name poses a most challenging and demanding case study. isO The god makes a spectacular entrance in Iliad 1 3 , in "a lyrical passage" which is . . . introduced for relief from the battle." isi Poseidon mobilizes here a wide range of qualifications and powers; his traditional epithets, and the lexernes that derive from the alternate divisions of his name, complement his profile, which is, indeed, as polyprismatic and polymorphous as would be expected of a marine deity. Po seidon, qualified as Evoa{x8wv ( 1 3 . l O), sits on Samothrace, taking pity on the hard-pressed Greeks. He decides to take action and descends the rugged mountain in a significant manner, evoking the qualities, which are condensed in his epithet Evoa{x8wv and in his name, Poseidaon as well; he enacts the meaning of both ( 1 3 . 1 8- 1 9): XQaLltVU Jroal ltQoplpU£" � 6 'oiiQEa IlUXQU XUl VAT] Jroaalv im' <':t8UVUTOLOl rrOaEtOaWvo� i6vw£.
150
151
The impressive multiplicity of Poseidon's interpretations and etymologies in the Platonic Cratylus and its specific treatment by the EM has attracted Lallot's attention ( 1 99 1 : 140, 14647). So Richardson 1 980: 276, who also foregrounds the message of sch. bT 11. I. 48 1 a: the poet paints a fair picture of the sailing, xUAALYQmpEL, as he also does in the case of Poseidon (11. 1 3 . 1 7-3 1).
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Ancient Poetic Etymology "striding with swift footsteps, and the high mountains and the woodland trembled beneath the immortal feet of Poseidon as he went" (Murray, rev. Wyatt, Loeb).
The narrative is framed around the etymological semata of both ivoa{x8wv and IIoa£uSdwv: the mountains and the forests "tremble" under Poseidon's "feet." The "Earthshaker" moves fast with his "feet," and with four steps he reaches Aegae, his famous cult site. On the pattern of II�Atov clvoaCcpvAAoV, the epithet ivoa{x8wv explains and etymologizes the proper noun it qualifies: its compo nents, lvom� and X8w v, correspond to adw (cf. PI. Cra. 403a2) and 1reDOV, which make up the name Poseidon. The semantic interrelation of this proper name and its adj ectival attribute is clearly illustrated by the lexicographical tradition. 1 52 This Iliadic narrative ( 1 3 . 1 8- 1 9) conveys the correspondence through a synonym, tQEI-HO (� adw), and a cognate, 1rO V�, obviously related with 1reDov. The poet capitalizes here on Poseidon's customary "shaking" and "moving" activities, sup pressing his equally traditional but polar associations with shackles, inhibition and immobilization (<Jr£Daw, 1reDrj). Poseidon yokes his swift-flying (dnw1rira, 24) and golden-haired horses (24) uJt' OXwcp� (23), and dons golden clothes (25-26), thus contradicting both his connections with impeding and binding and with the darkness of xuavOxatta . The poet paves the way for a number of impressive, but not extraordinary or sur prising reversals and polarities; the god of the sea and the earth, who binds and obstructs movement, now flies in the air and changes his territorial specificities. The marine animals, x�T£a, recognize their master, uvaxta (28), and jump ,, from their hideouts, reversing their associations with the verb X£t(..t at, "to lie, 1 53 which pictures them as idle and sluggish. The sea also functions against its nature and does not impede the god; instead, it opens for him in joy, Yrj80avvn 6E 86.A,aaaa �lt(atato (29), while his horses fly swiftly (1reTOVTO Qfuma., 29-30), not touching the sea and consolidating their foregoing characterization, wxv1reTa. Plato (Cra. 402e1 -5) is obviously indebted to this Homeric scene ( 1 3 . 29), when he motivates the name of the god: Poseidon received his name for exerting control on the binding power of the sea, OtL autov �a6CSovta EJtEaXEv � tliS; 8aA.6.tty)S; CPUOLS; xaL OUXEtL d'aaEv JtQo EA,8Ei:v, an' waJtEQ &o(..tO� tW V 1roDill v aut0 EYE VEto. toy ovv UQxo vta tlis; 6 UV6.�EWS; tauty)S; 8EOV cbv6�aaEv «IIoO£tDill va» , WS; «Jtoa(6Ea�ov» ovta . 1 54 Poseidon's characterization as "master," uQXwv (cf. uvaxta, 1 3 . 28) of the foot-binding power, anticipates the concept of 1r6m�, 6 ( cf. potis), which modem scholars so often invoke for Poseidon. 155 The Homeric 152 153 154
155
EM 684. 28-29: IIooftowV, nuga "to odE! v "to nioov {) ailto; YUQ xat tvoo{X8wv. See sch. Opp. Hal. 48. 1 (in TLG); EM 5 12. 35-36: )liiro� <)lW, )lfilm!. PI. Cra. 402el -5: "(whoever first gave Poseidon his name, gave it to him because he saw that) the force of the waves stopped him from walking and prevented him from going any further, just like a shackle around his feet (desmos ton podon). So he called this god, who is the ruler of the sea's power, 'Poseidon,' because his 'feet were shackled' ('posi-desmon')" (Reeve). See also EM 684. 30: ltaQu to "tOu� n6oa� &iv, (5 fon OWflEVE!V Ol]J.luCVEL yag "tl]V 8aAuoouv· fXEioE yag aq:nX6J.lEVOL PUO�ELV ou ovvaJ.lE8u. See Frisk and Chantraine DELG sv. IIoOE!owv.
Rearticulation and Resignification of Proper Names
71
scholia also recognize in Poseidon the cause of binding and the aition of holding together the sea (Poseidon <Mw LSJ A � G'UVE)(OV). Poseidon is the master (Jr6at �, 6) of the sea and the cause of "drinking" (Jr6at �, � <Jr(vw); the evapora tion of the sea water produces the clouds, the rain, the rivers and the fresh drink 156 ing water. The sea rejoices (cf. yrz(Joavvn), thus partaking of the joy imprInted in one of the alternative etymologies of yaL110Xo�, "he who rejoices at horse-riding" « ya(w yrz(J{w+OXo�), in particular. The energeiai concentrated in ymll-0Xo� are itemized and radiated in the narrative in ways that illustrate the transference of etymology: the diacritical qualities of Poseidon in this specific capacity are trans lated onto his recalcitrant sphere of influence, which is depicted instead as rejoic ing and collaborating, thus reversing its normal obstructing power. Poseidon re trieves some of his traditional, customary dynameis, when he arrests his horses, unyokes them from the carriage, and places golden shackles about their feet ( 1 3 . 34-37): =
EVe' LltlWU£ � IIoaedjawv EVOOLX8wv AUOU£ Et; DXiwv ... ................. aJ.t
Here the god fulfills the expectations raised by his association with Jrov�, Jr£orz, m:oaw and EI1JrEOOV: the "god who shakes the earth" immobilizes his horses, placing unbreakable and secure shackles about their feet; the narrative corrobo rates and contextualizes the derivation of Poseidon. The presence of DX£WV (35) anticipates the alternative image of ym1l0Xo� (43), who functions as an antiphras tic doublet of the adjacent ivvoa(yaw�: the god, as "holder" and "shaker," exer cises two antithetical yet complementary powers over a common element, yaia. Poseidon, double as he is now, urges on the two A iantes, who are also double as to their distinctive qualities and derivations. The Locrian 'OO,:ii o s: TUXUS: Ara� (Il. 2. 527; 1 0. 1 1 0, 1 75) embodies celerity and loses the first prize in the footrace with Odysseus because of Athena's aid to the latter (23. 754-83); lexicographers codify his etymology accordingly « cti'aaw, EM 27. 1 5 - 1 9). Ajax the Telamonian, famous for his stature, endurance and unyielding persistence (cf. ovo� vw(Jll�, 1 l . 558-59), is duly associated with supernatural size (j3ov-), oxen (j3ofJ�), earth (yaia, ala), and ya(w-yaw;.uw through f3ov-yaro� ( 1 3. 824) . 1 57 The god, in the 156
157
See sch. bT 11. 1 5 . 1 92-93 : IIoae t owv Of to OUVE)(OV tljv 8UAUOOUV UttLOV xUL � UUtf]£ 8fLU OUVUJ.tL£, EltfL noaew; Utt LO£. OLTJ8oWEVTJ£ YUQ 8UAUOOTJ£ EXQEOUOL ltOtaJ.tOL, xUL VfTOL vUJ.tUtu alto 8UAUOOTJ£ EXOUOLV. On j3ovya;;o;
72
Ancient Poetic Etymology
company of his two thunderous epithets and in the guise of Calchas (IIoanoawv ym1oxo� £vvoa(yaw� ... £laall£vo� KaA.XUVtL, 1 3 . 43-45), speaks to the heroic couple, using the verbs o-do-w (49) and 7r£(Jto-do-w (52). Neither the choice of £laawvo� nor that of &(Ow is fortuitous: these verbs echo the name and diacriti cal qualities of the god: Pos-eid-on is a master of transformations and also induces "fear," such a natural thing of a god, who is causally linked with violent physical phenomena, and begets monstrous offspring. Poseidon as ym 1-oxo� and £vvoa(- yaw� (59), counsels the two Ajaxes, in a way that epitomizes his control over shaking as well as immobilizing and holding: he urges them to hold their ground, EOtaU!::VaL XgUtEgWS; (56), "strikes" them with his scepter, fills their heart with strength and stirs them, thus transferring his own qualities onto them. Thus, suppressing and reversing one of his traditional dynameis, that of binding, Poseidon makes their limbs, "feet" and hands, nimble and agile, yvi:u 6£ 8f)XEV £A.UWQa, 7r60a� XUL XELguS; {htEg8EV (6 1). The god, who binds and hinders movement, then rushes high up and flies away like a swift flying hawk. It is swift-footed Ajax the Locrian, who naturally comprehends Pos eido-n, when he appears in the guise of a seer, flaVtE·C £lo6-flEVOS; (69), and sig nificantly notices Pos-eidon' s "feet," rXVLU 7roOmv D6£ xVllflawv (7 1 ). The god affects their "feet" (7r6&�, 75; 7roaa(v, 7 8), and rehabilitates the Achaeans whose yui:u A.£A.UVtO (85), making their feet steadfast again. As ym1-oxos;, "who takes delight in chariots," Poseidon transfuses into the Greeks his diacritical qualities (� - ya(w, YllfJiw, yiYllfJa): they are :ci..mm. YllfJ6avvot, t�V OCPLV 8£c)S; Efl�UA.E 8uWD ... taUS; om8Ev ym1oxo� 6)gOEV AXaLOU S; (82-83). The £voa(xfJwv god turns the first part of his appellation (Evoat�) into action: aA./... ' £voa(xfJwv / QEi:u flEtEWaflEVos; XgUtEgUS; OtQUVE cpaA.uyyus; (89-90): the god arouses the Greek troops; their change of attitude is projected on the god "who shakes." With a simile centering on movement and resistance, the Achaeans espouse the Poseidonian qualities, hold their ground and fashion an impenetrable fence out of spears, shields, helmets and men, EklLl.tVOV WQa�UVtE� ( 1 29-30). The densely woven phalanx, the fence made of men, and the shaken, a£t61l£va, spears ( 1 35) evoke the contrasting but complementary qualities of the god who shakes and stirs, but also impedes and blocks, towering like a fence. The image of the unbroken Achaean ranks reflects the massive and blocking power of Poseidon; this is confirmed £x tOU avn8Etou in the paro moiosis that follows immediately thereafter. The Trojans rush onwards in crowds, and Hector surpasses his inherent restrictions « EXW) in the simile: he resembles a round (OAO� T(Joxo£to 1�) and destructive (£V t<j) T(JiX£tv oAo6�), OAOO(T(JOXO� :rt Et g U that knows no limits and has no holding, is aOt�gLXtaS; (sch. A AbT 11. 1 3 . 137b, c); i t hurtles downwards, after the EXlla ra :rtEtgllS; were broken by the force f3ovyai'ov� XUAOUaLV. Sch. HQBQ Od. 1 8.79. POUy(iCE: �EyaAm£ E1tmg6�EvE [i.e. ya{w], f30wv l{}ya lWLOOV. axOUOtEOV i11tEQHEYE8n [f3ov-] EXmv f30dav aOltLOU, Elt!, taU Aruvto£ ... 00£ EL EAEYEV, 6 ya{wv Elt!, tfl aOltLOL ... Elt!, OE tou YIgou ... btll TO �EYE8o£, 00£ l11tEg �EYE8l] [f3ov-] aVEXOVto£ aOltLou. Elt!, �Ev tou Aruvto£, Elt!, tfl f3oi' ya{wv . . . vuv OE Elt!, t yav{}uiJvn tfl aVm08l]OLC;X CPl]oc. On the name of Aias Telamonios: EM27. 19-23. •..
Rearticulation and Resignification of Proper Names
73
of a gushing river. Finally the precipitous rolling of the stone-Hector is held and checked by the fence of men ( 1 3 . 136-48), while the hero strives to hold his sol diers, and also recover and reinstate his own etymology and entity, naQ�EvE't' . 015 'tOt Ol]Qov £�£ axriaovmv AXmoC ( 1 5 1) . 158 In the sequel to the story, Poseidon takes on the form of Thoas, claaf.1cvo� ... 86avn ( 1 3 . 2 1 5- 1 6), a fictive figure in whose name are incorporated the celerity and hastiness « eo6�), which the god will soon ask the Greeks to display (23536). With Poseidon's assistance, the Greeks weave a cord of conflict, EQt6o� JrclQaQ, uQQl]x'tOv and UAU'tOV, unbreakable and tightly knotted/ 59 which loosed (UUOEV) the knees of many people (359-60). The poet lingers on Poseidon's es sence; the cluster of "bind-unbind" words reflects positively and negatively his traditional associations with Jrc6aw, Jri6rz. His disguise as "Swift" is conscious and meaningful: Thoas becomes the sounding board of Poseidon's reversed pow ers. 160 The repercussions of Thoas emerge later, when a foil figure of similar con stitution, the Trojan Alca-thoos, dies at the hands of Idomeneus, on the instigation of Pose idon ( 1 3 . 434-39): tOY toe' un' '!/)o/levfii IIoonMooy iM,WOOE 8E}J;a� O(J(JE ipa£tvli, JrEO tjOE DE cpafbLlw 'lJ.ful OUtE yaQ E�o n(aw !puyfELV buvar' OUt' aMaa8m, aAA' w� tE at1jAUv it bEvbQEOY lJ1!nnftUAoy <'uQfua\; EOtaOta atf]80� J!faov OUtaaE bOUQL fjQw� 'I/)O/l£V£U; ... "this [Alcathous1 did Poseidon then vanquish at the hands of Idomeneus, for he cast a spell on his gleaming eyes and ensnared his glorious limbs so that he might neither flee backwards nor avoid the spear; but as he stood fixed, like a pillar or a tree, high and leafy, the warrior Idomeneus struck him . . . on the chest" (Murray, rev. Wyatt).
In this passage Poseidon is the real instigator, who lurks in the background, while Idomeneus is the human agent through whom Poseidon kills Alcathous; the pat tern is repeated in the killing of Patroclus by Apollo and Euphorbus, and is mod elled on the collaboration of Apollo and Paris in killing Achilles. Through Idome neus, Poseidon acts out the dynameis comprised in his title !J.af.1alo� (Pi. 01. 1 3 . 69): he binds (Jri6rzac) and subdues (tMf.1aaac). The etymological identity of ] 58
] 59 ] 60
The ancient scholiasts see in this image the barbaric and irrational impulse (sch. AbT n. 1 3 . 1 37). O n this simile and its imaginative use b y Vergil see Schlunk 1974: 4 1 -43, 95-99, who argues that "we are dealing here with a 'continuity,' or at least a similarity of imagery," and the simile represents the outer, visual aspects of Hector as well as his inner, emotional state (43, see also 1 10). The notion of "binding" is embodied in the nexus {[I!OOr; JrEi[la[l: both are associated with £1[100, in the sense of to say and string together orfasten. On eris: EGud. E 282. 4; 5 1 8 . 9-12. The choice of Thoas is not accidental: Poseidon consorts with a woman, whose name signi fies celerity and sharpness, Thoosa (Od. I. 7 1 -73), and who bears Polyphemus by him. See Eust. Od. I : 22. 3-5: E>6oooa ... /)lon eODY MYEtm to 6�u E� ov xaL eowom to ano�uVat ... T\ xaL aUw� eODY J!EV to taxu. Ironically, her name foreshadows the "sharpened" stick by which Odysseus blinds the Cyclops.
74
Ancient Poetic Etymology
Idomenens, on the other hand, is also meaningfully encapsulated in the descrip tion of Alcathous' death: Poseidon kills the Trojan, appropriating the combined semata of Idomeneus, namely, "by enchanting his bright eyes," and his enduring, 161 unflinching spirit (<JtiV(J) ) The underlined verses allude to Poseidon as the author of JreDaw: Alcathous is "bound" and his Jr6&� are fixed; hence he suffers a fatal reversal of his name and essence, standing as a column (onlArz
.
16 1
The constitution of Idomeneus is narrativized in Il. 1 3 . 434-35 and 23. 450-87: his enduring spirit (<J1ivllI) and his vision (O(1(J£
Rearticulation and Resignification of Proper Names
75
403a2): aV'tL 'tOU aLy�a Mo Aa�()a 'to JtQw'tOv EAEYE'tO, wc; JTOAAit £lo6ro� 'tOU eEau. Hence, the god emerges here as IIOAA-£loawv "who knows many things;" *oaw, ioarzv is plausibly associated with his name as belonging to the same fam 6 ily with o loa on account of its morphological and semantic make Up. 1 2 Whether Poseidon is "master of knowledge"« JT6Gl� + o loa), or "knows many things" (JToAv�+o loa), he bequeathes to his grandson Nestor the intellectual skills and the wisdom, which are ingrained in his name (NiarwQ
adaaro b' ELVL 8govljl, eMAt�£ bE I!uxgov YOf..UI!Jtov, xu( gu IIOa£tDaWva I!EYUV 8EOV aVT(ov !]ubu' «w JtOJtOL evvoa(yat' Eugua8EvE�, ouM vu ao ( JtEg Of..f..WEVWV L'1uvuwv of..oqnJgE'tUL EV cpgwL 8wo�. 01: M TOL Ei� 'EUx17v 'tE xUL Aiya; bwg' 6.vuyoual JtOf..f..U TE xUL XUg(EVTU' all M acplOl �OUf..EO V(X!]V ...» "and queenly Hera was indignant; she shuddered on her throne and made high Olympus quake, and to the mighty god Poseidon she spoke, saying: "Well, now, wide-ruling Shaker of the Earth, not even your heart in your breast has pity for the Danaans who are perishing. Yet in your honor do they bring to Helice and Aegae offerings many and gracious" (Murray, rev. Wyatt). Have the desire to give them victory.
Hera shakes (adaaro) in her throne, and imitating her mighty JT6Gl�, Zeus (11. 1 . 530), she quakes (iUAl;£) Olympus. The verbs convey the blended powers of Zeus and Poseidon, but echo mainly the proper name and the epithets of the latter: adw and f).£U,w naturally anticipate Hera's plea to Poseidon ivvoa{ ya w� (20 1 ) and ivoa{-xfJwv (208), the god worshipped at 'EUxrz. Hera, trespassing her gender boundaries, embodies the powers of Zeus and especially of Poseidon, whose alliance she seeks, accumulating in her plea his capacities and etymological -
1 62 163
Cf. Heubeck (IF 64, 225ff.): Poseidon <;rrovro;+DaijVat, apud Frisk s.v. IIoa£tMJV. On the etymology of Nestor see Frame 1 978: 8 1 - 1 17; Tsitsibakou-Vasalos 1997/98: 1 1 7-32.
76
Ancient Poetic Etymology
pointers; the traditional formula of prayer is observed also by the gods. Hera seeks the cooperation of Poseidon in the hope of ridding herself of £v(}vona Zf]v, who would then go to 'lDrz « lDEfV, 206-07) to exercise the powers comprised in his epithet « £V(}v�+o'IjJ, Jace, eyes, LSJ B). Hera, the goddess of darkness and invisi bility « a�(}), desires to affect the vision of wide-seeing Zeus, her divine Jt60l� and xao(yvT]to�. The ambiguous semantics of Andromache, "who fights for" and also "against her husband," and regards him also as father, mother, and brother (ll. 8. 1 86-90; cf. 6. 429-39), picture her as Hera's reduced human doublet in an inter nal, family conflict. Poseidon rejects the prospect of civil strife on the grounds that Zeus is the strongest; the notion of Jt60l� hovers in the frame of narrative. The refusal of Poseidon gives Hector free rein and allows him to assume the Po seidonian powers of elelizein (cf. Helice) and turn them against the Greeks, whom he encloses and pens up (£l),o{t£vwv, d)'£t, 2 1 5). Deities and mortals indulge here in a strenuous interchange of dynameis and derivations; powers and lexical se mata change hands, creating agonistic mirror images. The contrasting yet complementary pictures of creator and destroyer are fused in the person of Poseidon in the beginning of book 1 2, where the poet predicts that after the sack of Troy the gods will flood the wall, which was built by the Achaeans without due offerings to the gods. Three gods will collaborate in the abolition of the wall, mobilizing their essential and diacritical qualities. Apollo, echoing his contrasting associations with no),v� and an),ov�, will make the mouths of "many" rivers converge into "one;" l 64 Zeus, the master of {jet v, v£r6� ( c£ Muo�) and o{tf3(}O�, will send pouring rain in accordance with his authority over DEVW, DW(VW. 1 65 Poseidon cancels his function of e£{t£),tOVXO� and cpvuiAtO� ( 1 2 . 27-29): auto£ 0' Evvoa(ymo� EXWV XELgwm tgLmvav f]YElt', EX 0' aga ltuvta (JEIl-EO"La xUl-\am lt€l-\ltE qwr(,Jwv xal AUWV, to. 8€aav I-\Oy€ovtE£ AxmoL "And the Shaker of Earth, holding his trident in his hands, was himself the leader, and swept out on the waves all the foundations of beams and stones that the Acheans had toiled to set up" (Murray, rev. Wyatt).
164
165
See PI. Cra. 405c2-5, Xata oE tljv l-\avtLxijv ... xat to (hrAOilv ... « }\nAovv»yug cpaat ltUVtE£ 8EttaAOt toutOV tOY 8EOV. Chrys. S VF ii. 3 19: 00£ ouXt tWV noUwv xat cpauAwv oumwv tOU ltugo£ ovta ... Ti ott � Eatt xat ouXt noUo(. Speus. fr. 6 1 , Lang: dJ£ ana nOAAwv oumwv ltugo£ autou auvwtwtO£. Corn. Epidr. 32, p. 66.7-8: cmo tOU anAoilv xat AUHV to auvEato£ tf]£ ouaCa£. On Zeus
Rearticulation and Resignification of Proper Names
77
The god of earthquakes can equally well appear as themeliouchos and Aspha lioS. 1 66 In this narrative, which is studded with paronomastic collocations, 1 67 en nosigaios Poseidon reverses his power of {}E{tEAwfJXO�: he "uproots" the foun dation work of the Achaean wall and its wooden props. The noun cptrpo� signifies block of wood, trunk of tree, firebrand, but is also akin to cpvw, CPVat�, cpvrov, thus evoking the regeneration of nature only to denounce it. Hence Poseidon im plicitly destroys plant life, too, and reverses his capacity as cpv'T(Hw� (Corn. Epidr. c. 22, p. 4 1 .2 1 - 42. 1 ) : ltgwtOV !-lEv ovv cpvraAwv UVtOV EltWVO!-lUauv, EltEL6� tOU cpvw{}w ta EX yf]£ YfVO!-lEVU � EV uvtfl 6T]AOVOtL � ltugaLt(u EatL. Humidity and growth constitute indispensable accompaniments of Poseidon; his appellation cpvatMwv (Corn. Epidr. c. 4, p. 4. 14), reinstates his procreational capacity and the role of water in it « cpvat�+lMw, sweat, perspire). But Poseidon here deforms his growing and life-giving capacity by pouring together and fusing the rivers. He annihilates not only the products of masonry and carpentry, but also of the earth: water, the source of life, turns into an agent of death. Contrastingly, in book 1 5 Poseidon suppresses his natural impulses and qualities for the sake of peace in the divine realm and out of hierarchical con-siderations: the Evvoo{yaw� and yadoxo� ( 1 5 . 2 1 8, 222) Poseidon departs for the divine or terrible sea in order to avoid a conflict with Zeus, to the advantage of both, "for not without sweat would the issue have been completed," EltfL ov XfV aVtl5pwr{ yE tEAfa8T] (228). The adverb avtc5pwrC harks back to lMw (Corn. Epidr. c. 4, p. 4. 1 4) and occurs in a context marked by threats and danger. In book 14, at the aftermath of Zeus' deception by Hera, the poet opens up new etymological venues for Poseidaon. Zeus lies peacefully and "shaking-not," c'xtgf!-lU£ ( 1 4. 352), in the arms of his guileful wife, who :rcaprpracpEv him in love (359), while Sleep urges Poseidon gaie-ochos and ennosi-gaios, the god who is associated with ot:Cw (- � and UtQfUW;, 1 3 . 1 8, 438), to stir up the Greeks, fulfilling the expectations raised by his name and attributes. Poseidon complies and foregrounds his dreadful nature: �gXE 6' agu aepL IIooEtoawv EVOO{X{}wv, ! OEtVD v a o g tUVUT]Xf£ EXWV EV XELgL ltUXE(n ... to 6' OV 8f!-lL£ EatL !-lLyf]VaL ! EV oat: AE1JYUAfn, UAAa Mo� taxaVEL av6gu£ ( 14. 384-87), "Poseidon, the shaker of earth, led them, holding in his heavy hand a terrible sword, long of edge . . . and with him no men may mix in dreadful war, but terror holds them from it" (Murray, rev. Wyatt). His intervention culminates with the inspiration of awe and fear (&tVO� and MO�).1 68 Water, fire and wind become bearers of the Poseidonian 166
Sch. bT 11. 2 1 . 447b; Corn. Epidr. c. 22, p. 42. 2 1 -23; Plut. Thes. 36. 4 Apollod. of Athens 244 F95-99g. Not only Poseidon but also Apollo, Artemis and Heracles exhibit their contra dictory dynameis at times: see Faraone 1 992: 57-64. Iliad 12: 8wlat-8oa�, 6-7; naAL� lfnAEv, 1 1 ; nQoQiovat-'Pijao�, 'Po{j(o�, 1 9-20; Qaov ayaQQoov-Qaov, xa).).(QQoov, 25-33; lfxwv XdQWat, 27; 8E/ldAta-8iaav, 28-29; 1jJawi80WL-a/laAOVVa�, 3 1-32. The watery abode of Poseidon partakes of his terrifying qualities, although the scholiasts strangely confine them only to Zeus: when Zeus commands Poseidon to retire from the battle and go either among the gods or to the olav SUAaaaav ( 1 5. 1 6 1 ), that is, his very own sphere of influence, the scholiasts associate ota with Zeus: sch. Nn' Ariston. 11. 1 5 . l 6 1b. <£i� aAa �
167
168
78
Ancient Poetic Etymology
dynameis in a simile that stresses the volume of sound: neither the sea waves . . . roar so loud . . . driven from the blast of the North wind; nor so loud is the roar of the blazing fire . . . nor the wind cries aloud . . . as was the voice of the Trojans and the Achaeans, who cried terribly, deinon (401 ), as they rushed against each other (394-401 ). With clusters of oQ- cognates, that emphasize "rising" and "stirring up" (OQVV,uEVOV, OifQEO�, WQETO, oQovaav, 395, 397, 401 ); with clusters of f3o sounds, which suggest the loud and protracted roaring of the dry wind (f3oax;x, BOQew , 394, 395), or the loud noise of raging and blazing fire (f3Qo,uo�, f3Qe,ue rat, 396, 399), the poet demarcates thematic unities, which, significantly enough, illustrate the Poseidonian awe and translate it in terms of roar, noise and color (xuavoxaha, 390). The simile is permeated by loud noise and, catachrestically, by articulate human voice: :funl..u (399), q)(uvtj (400), aiiaavrwv (401 ). Sea, wind and fire collaborate to bring forth the terrifying power of Poseidon; the god induces oto� and is associated with DetVOV as well as with blasts of wind and loud voice or noise. The etymological associations of IIoan&iwv with "tam ing" and "wind" are restated and clarified in Odyssey 1 1 . 399-400 (� 406-07): l]E Of y' EV v1]cam IIoofL66.wv UJallaoofv ogau£ agyuMwv aVEllwv al-\EyugtOV ajj'll�v ; "Did Poseidon overcome you on board your ships, when he had roused a furious blast of cruel winds? " (Murray, rev. Dimock).
This picture subtly suggests the connection of IIoaEu5-awv with aifw (LSJ B, to cry out, shout, roar aiirew) and aw, ar/Ju (to blow): aiir,ufL and aVE,uO� are derived from them, 1 69 and evoke his epithet !1UXTp:a£ (Corn. Epidr. c. 22, p. 42.9). =
This etymology rests on the contextual hints and entails a rearticulation and resig nification of the god's name: the god behaves here as IlooELc-awv, in which case the ending -awv, as unpalatable and strange as this might appear to modem taste and scientific research, acquires a lexical and functional independence. The phe nomenon is not unprecedented: ancient theorists, such as Plato, or the Homeric scholiasts and lexicographers, often treat the endings -aAO£, -LWV, -LO£, -(>00£ as independent lexemes with their own derivations and meanings. The epic connections of IIoaEu5-awv with aw, ar/Ju and aifw are appreciated and reestablished by later sources. Comutus (Epidr. c. 22, p. 42. 1 - 1 0), for in stance, explains the titles of Pose idon (EVOOLX8wv, EvooLyaLO£, OELOLX8WV, tLva xtwQ), describing earthquakes in a telling manner: the water makes inroads into the earth and its channels, and blocks in it the blasts of air, tU EV autfJ JtvEu\-tata
169
Diav:> OtL acp' EUUtOU 6 ZfV� t�V 8ul.uaauv Diav ELgrptEv. Sch.bT ib. c. Mav t�V I-\EyUI.T]V, ot bE uyguv, ltaQU to DW{VfLV. ot Of
Rearticulation and Resignification of Proper Names
79
[aw, aryu) , which shake the earth in their effort to find a way out, and cause thunderous noise [a vw) ; hence Poseidon is called myketas. Apollo, on the other hand, destroys [apollynai) the diakosmesis by evaporating the water, oLa LoB OLaW(tELV aOtaAELrt,w� mlVL08Ev ai"fJ� ,0 VYQOV xa't ,0 ateEQL rtQOO xa,a,aLLELV (Epidr.c. 32, p. 66. 2-6). The interrelation of the two etymologies submitted above (a vw, aw/iiryu ), are implied by the Homeric scholiasts as well: contraposing Apollo and Artemis, the authors of plagues and epidemics, with Po seidon, the god presiding over health, they connect Poseid-aon with "blasts" and "breathings" (sch. bT T Il. 20. 68b): Lo,a,' A.rtOAAWV ol�o�: 1..0 t�(i)v aL,LOS; 6 A.rtOAAWV, LOU rtEQLYELO'U flEQO'U� OUV A.Q,EflLOL OWrtOnl� mv, uy£tU; Of IIoOEtOWV OLa ,
Poseidon' s associations with health are hinted at in 11. 1 5 . 2 17: he threatens Zeus that if he spares Troy against the will of the other gods, their rage will be incurable, vo)"iv uv1jXEQtO\; X6A.o� fOtm; the master of breezes and health, formulates his threat in medical terms.
80
Ancient Poetic Etymology
subduing him (Daf.-l iivat, aOtE'l(pEW� £XEflEV xaL flUAAOV tE JtLE�ELV, �(1l� Avom, 397-424). Both Menelaus and the old man of the sea speak and act in Poseidonian terms (4. 3 80-5 1 1): lU;Da(X, EDI10£, ol&, Daf.-l iivat , V7rODwjj�, M.f.-l£v, Daf.-lI1, tDf.-l£Vat, Daiivat, rroo£�()(iwv, 7r(£V UAft'UQOV 156wQ. This passage summarizes the dynameis of rrOO£�DwV; he is the master (7r6Ot�, 0) of earthquakes, subduing, knowledge, shackles and deadly draught (7r6Ot�, 11) of salty water. 1 7 1 The above selective treatment of only two names, Achilles and Poseidon, has hopefully shown Homer's superb agility and his talent for manipulating and ex ploiting the morphological, phonetic and semantic potential of names. The poet is fervently engaged in narrativizing the mUltiple and overlapping meanings of his names and exploiting the potential of their sounds and their etymological con stitution. He subjects the names to resignifications of varying degrees of trans parency, thus encoding different messages at a time, whose decipherment often constitutes a major challenge. The meaning of names is to be sought in the matrix of their framing context, since they often function as a potential self-fulfilling prophecy, and generate narrative, either matching or breaking the horizon of the audience's or reader' s expectations. This intricate procedure suggests that ancient poetic names are not only catalyzable but resynthesizeable as well. Synthesis and catalysis constitute the two complementary aspects of ancient etymologizing and the opposing forces with the interplay of which ancient poets impart meaning and generate narrative. Their literary work, even if oral and traditional, appears "as a ,, space in which a potentially vast number of relations coalesce. 1 72
2. 6. Reversal of Etymology or Unnaming The most significant function of naming is that it confers life and existence upon an object, and rescues it from the darkness of anonymity and death. Namegiving therefore possesses an existential power, which can be either affirmative and qualifying, or negative and disqualifying. The latter is implemented with the use of DVO-, %a%6� or the alpha privative, which reverse or denounce the etymology and the semantics of a name in a quasi-magical way. Paris-Dysparis is a notori ous example of reversed etymology or unnaming; 1 73 in the same category also belong: Ka%oo... wv oux OvoflaOt�V (Od. 19. 260, 597; 23. 1 9); f.-liit£(} £fl�, DVo f.-ll1t£(} (Od. 23. 97-99); ill flot £yw CELA�, ill flot cvoaQLOtotOXELa (Il. 1 8. 54-64). The deformation and reversal of etymology or unnaming is a poetic technique by which the essence of names and the expectations raised by their constitution 171
EM 684. 32-37: i'j :rt(l.Q(z to rizv nomv OW/lEiv. OUOEL£ yaQ EX TOU tli£ 8ul..aooT]£ nLV£! UOUtOc; UU8UlQEtWC;. �H :rt(l.Q(z to rizv nooLv to. ltaVt' cm' uutliC; EXELV . . �H :rt(l.Q(z to rizv nom v np oaE! ijyouv to fjl..LqJ UVUltEllltELv. So Alien 2000: 1 2, as a short definition of the "literary space." This phenomenon is called "reversal of etymology" (Stanford 1 93911972: 32, 102) and "de formation or unnaming" (Higbie 1995: 14-16; Louden 1 995: 3 1 -33). On Paris-Dysparis see Tsitsibakou-Vasalos 2001 : 24-27. .
J72 173
Reversal of Etymology or Unnaming
81
are reversed and belied. Narrativized etymological wordplays of deformational type, which entail the denial and rejection of the qualities imprinted in a man's name and essence, categorically discredit the viability of rigid designation for the ancient poetic namegiving. The narrativized deformation of IIaQt�-,1vOJraQt� 'AU;av(jQo� or IQo�-7\.;;Qo�, is tantamount to a surreptitious renaming. Alexan drus of Iliad 6 and 13, for instance, is no longer the unconditionally effeminate Alexandrus of Iliad 3. The paradigms of unnaming are not exhausted with this short list; w e have al ready mentioned some reversals in passing. The exploration of the reversed ety mology of Agamemnon and his patronymic Atreides is in order here in view of the preeminence of the Pelopids in this book and of the role of heredity. Upon the injunction of Athena in Iliad 1 , Achilles refrains from hurting Agamemnon physi cally, and indulges instead in verbal abuse ( 1 . 223-28): rrT]Af'{OT]� 0' Esuun� ara(>Trwo;;� EJtEwatV }\ T(>do'lv JtQoaEWtf, 'XUI, OU Jtw Ai']Yf XOAOW' « oivof3a(>i�, xvvb� o/1/1ar' exwv, 'XQuo(uv 0' EAUWOlO, OUTE JtOt' E� JtOAfJ,WV U[lU Au0 8wQT]X8i']vat OUTf A6xovo' LEVat auv uQLaTijWatV }\Xatiilv TirA'lxa� 8w0' to bE TOL 'Xl]Q frOfTat dvat ...» . "But the son of Peleus again addressed the son of Atreus with violent words, and did not yet cease from his wrath: "You heavy with wine, with the face of a dog but the heart of a deer. Never have you dared to arm yourself for battle with your troops, or to go into an ambush with the chief men of the Achaeans. That seems to you to be death" (Murray, rev. Wyatt).
In this emotionally charged speech, Achilles insults Agamemnon with offensive, araQTl1Qoi�, words, which pick up the motif of aTl1 that traverses the Iliad. Firstly, Achilles attacks his opponent with terms that point out his inherited ge nealogical features: he degrades Agamemnon as olvof3aQi�, the true offspring of Oenomaus, obviously interpreting the name of the maternal great-grandfather as "one who craves for wine" « orvo�+f.1if.1aa), a drunkard. In this narrative capsule Agamemnon is pictured disgracefully as "having the eyes (of.1f.1ara) of dog," and the heart of a fearful deer. Although xvwv, alone or in synthesis (xvvw.7ra, xvvwm�), figures as a stereotypical abuse in the epos, the former phrase echoes the name of Agamemnon' s adulterous mother, l\£Q-OJrl1, his son 'OQiaTl1� and his grandfather, IlEA-01jJ: Agamemnon belongs to a line in which "eyes" play a sig nificant role, and concentrate the dark and ominous or bright and flashing aspects of their bearers (a1]Q, m),tO�; cf. Ster-ope, n. 5 1 4, below). A subtle reminiscence of the paternal ancestor, Tantalus, is moreover implemented through TiTAl1xa�, whose repercussions are belied and contextualized: Agamemnon, with the heart of a deer, "dares not" enter the battle or lie in ambush with the bravest of the Achaeans; this would be like death to him. Achilles draws an abusive portrait of Agamemnon as weak and cowardly, combining elements from different quarters, mostly genealogical. In this frame work, the connotations of the proper name Agamemnon and of the patronymic Atreides are deformed or reversed. Agamemnon is verbally deprived of all the
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positive qualities, personal or genealogical, which make up his name and essence. He is wounded at the core of his being, and is bereft of his inherent qualities, which are epitomized in ayav and J-lEVW. The verbal attack on him is capped by the derogatory correlation of his patronymic, Atreides. Plucked of his heroic plumage, Agamemnon turns into an unworthy offspring of Atreus, whose name is associated as early as Plato with a1:EtQov, a1:QEGLOV, airlQov (PI. era. 395b-c). In the Achillean version, Agamemnon does not "stay" but rather "flees (1:QEW), implicitly in contrast to his father Atreus, who was "stubborn and unyielding" (a1:EtQo�) and did not take flight (a1:QEGLO�), but instead committed things that damaged virtue (�lUHW()'Il xa'L a1:rzQfx :rtgo£ UgEttlV). Atreus, "who flees not" and is blind mentally and ethically, begets a son who is superficially "excessively steadfast," but in Achilles' deformed portrayal of him, is prone to delusion, is as timid as the deer, and lacks the daring of his grandfather. Agamemnon has inher ited all the negative and distorted aspects of his family in Achilles' biased portrait. In anticipation of the second part of our study, we may note that a strong link between father and son is detected in their partaking of a1:rz, a mental blindness bordering on punishment and destruction. This word belongs as much to Atreus « arrzQo�) as to Agamemnon: Achilles introduces his insult accordingly, with the word aLaQ1:rzQoi�, a derivative of a1:rz, which means "subjected to a1:rz" (sch. ad lac.). The concept of a1:rz plays a significant role in the Iliad: as an erotic blind ness and infatuation incited by Aphrodite, it inflicts Paris and Helen and causes the framing Trojan war as well as the framed conflict of the two prime Greek leaders; its erotic undercurrents are disguised in heroic honorary prescriptions. 1 74 With the word arrz, even though it is redefined etymologically, Achilles caps his plea to his mother to intervene, "so that Atreides . . . recognizes his ate, because he did not honor at all the best of the Achaeans" ( l . 4 1 1 - 1 2). It is a sign of ate not to honor (a-priv.+1:{w) a fighter of the caliber of Achilles. The motif of ate recurs in the aborted presbeia to Achilles (9. 1 8, 1 1 5, 1 1 9) and the final reconciliation in book 1 9, in which Achilles and Agamemnon repent their delusion and its conse quences (86-97, 1 29-37). Blinded over the geras of a woman, they have caused massive destruction and failed qua leaders of the Greek laos. To recapitulate, in the emotionally charged speech of Achilles, the inherited qualities of the Atreids are calumniated and distorted. The names of father and son, which belong to the same semantic field, are reversed from an etymological point of view. By this technique, the raging anger of Achilles is transformed into a contest of words, hence depressurized and neutralized. To the category of deformed or reversed and unnamed names belongs most notably that o('"lgo£ 'A:Lgo£ (Od. 1 8 . 73-74), which is paradigmatic of a complex and multi-dimensional manipulation with far-reaching compositional repercus sions. The Odyssean episode ( 1 8. 1 - 1 1 6) is framed by a marked interplay of posi1 74
On the role of ate and Aphrodite in these two wars see Tsitsibakou-Vasalos 2003: 1 19-29. Wohrle 1 999: 70-7 1 , passim, evaluates this conflict from a socio-historical and anthropo logical perspective, that is, with respect to the observance and fulfillment of the basileus ' norms and the separation of father and son.
Reversal of Etymology or Unnaming
83
tive and negative qualities of mental and physical nature. The broad passage serves as an omen (XAEllMvL, 1 1 7), which anticipates the final triumph of mind, ft1'jtL�, over body; of OOAOqJQOVEWV and JtoAUftlltL� Odysseus over the suitors, whose death was caused by their own atasthaliai and the Maira. Odysseus sub dues Irus-Arnaeus, a beggar who functions as a reduced doublet of the suitors, and bears an ambiguous name, in which are concentrated some of the major motifs of the Odyssey. Etymology and narrative are intricately connected in conscious ten sion and reciprocity. The conflict between Irus and Odysseus is emphatically stated to be over food and its appropriation, a motif that runs through the entire Odyssey and is epito mized in gaster. 175 When Irus compares Odysseus to a lloAo{3{}6� (26) and a swine, which devours corn, a'Uo� w� A17}{30Td{}rJ� (29), he uses two words associ ated with {30{}6. and {3t{3{}wauw (Or. 1 03 . 3 3 ; Hsch. 1 5 69). Most importantly, the swine simile traps Irus in a broader network of connections, since its wording evokes the famous boar hunt on Parnassus in which the ephebe Odysseus proved victorious, although not unscathed. The phrase xuo' 0' EJtW' £V XOVLnm ftUXWV ( 1 8. 98 and 1 9 . 4 5 4) serves as a link between the two trials of Odysseus, and fore shadows not only the immediate outcome (as the boar before, so now Arnaeus will collapse bellowing), but also his ultimate and life-threatening encounter with the suitors. Two wandering beggars, one real of greedy belly and unsatiable drink ing, and one disguised, but the authoritative and legitimate master of this house, come to grips with each other in the very halls that will soon flood with the suit ors' blood. The conflict takes place ouooD Em (33), "at the threshold," a liminal place, which has a symbolic value for the disguised hero, who seeks to reinstate 17 his authority in the house and reintegrate himself. 6 The real beggar is described as follows ( 1 8 . 3-7): ill1.M oi �v r� illl& {3(rz, doo£ OE Il6.Au IlEYu£ �v og6.uo6m. AQvaio� 0' ovo,,' EOltE to yug 9EtO ltOtVLU IlTitfl g ex YEV£'tfJ�· 7Qov DE VEO L X(XAll(JXOV altUVtE£,
OUVEX' cmuYYEAWltE ltLWV atE ltOV tL� aVWYfI . "No strength had he nor might, but in bulk was big indeed to look upon. Arnaeus was his name, for this name his honoured mother had given him at birth; but Irus all the young men called him, because he used to run on errands when anyone bade him" (Murray, Loeb).
175
176
Peter Rose (Sons of the Gods, Children of Earth: Ideology and Literary Form in Ancient Greece, Ithaca, New York 1 992, ch. 2, apud Doherty 2001 : 1 62) explains the dangers that Odysseus, a 'threatened male,' faces, placing them "in the specific historical and social con text of late eighth-century Greece, where growing social inequalities might well spawn the complementary fantasies of unlimited feasting and deprivation or engulfment. Thus the 'sex ual ambivalence towards women' in the Odyssey . . . is 'subordinated to or combined with an overriding oral anxiety' (Rose 1 30) expressed in the alternating dangers of eating too much . . . and of being eaten.' " See Russo 1 992, vo!. 3: 48-49.
Ancient Poetic Etymology
84
This beggar was not strong but of large build. His mother gave him at birth the name Arnaeus, but he earned the appellation Irus because he went and delivered messages whenever someone begged him. The passage teems with etymological pointers, either confirmed or negated. The quality of "strength," even though de nounced, enters the etymological map of Irus with double force on account of its tautological formulation, OUCE ot �v r� 0110£ {3{11, since r� and {3{11 are cognate. Besides the alternative 'l{!O�-r�, (3{11, the beggar is also connected with l(Jt�, whose function and derivation he has appropriated as lrus. The poet expands the etymo logical horizon of Irus and supplies the motivation for his name with the explica tive phrase OUV£)(' CtJtUyyEI.WXE XW)V; here are compressed the overlapping ety mologies of Irus from €l{lt or r£{laHd(Jw (say, LSJ B; cf. EGud. E 430. 3-4: Irus
177
See Sulzberger 1 926: 399, "sobriquet" as with the name of Korynetes. Stanford 1 94811996: 302, suggests to "translate 'Irus no longer fit for errands' or alter the meaning 'Irus, irate'." Cf. Stanford 1 93911972: 102 n. 2, lrus "was probably derived from ieQ6� and taken strong." See also Rank 195 1 : 48-49, 90-9 1 . Russo 1 992. 3 : 47, discerns IQ!!; or *lQo� ( "strong" or "quick"), along with Lel1at behind lrus, which he interprets as perhaps "Striver" or "Hustler." Nagy 1 979: 228-30 with §8n3 and §9n4, notes that the name and function of Irus is parallel to that of Iris and his name also signifies "he who has no force," and "this form serves as a comic correction for . . . the ironically misapplied meaning of lrus as *uiros "he who has force *uis." Maronitis 2002: 99-1 1 3 , agrees with the parodic and ironic name of lrus, and exam ines the relation between mythos and ploke in the episode "Irou pygme." Sch. BQ Od. 1 8.5, AQvaio<;: II on J1Qo�m:w6Tl�, II :1IIlQa to t1Qvva8at, 0 EatL AUf.L�
=
=
1 78
1 79
Reversal of Etymology or Unnaming
85
Kraus does not spell out the etymology of Arnaeus, but gives sufficient clues. He obviously associates Arnaeus with aQQrzv, when he argues: "Der unpassend erscheinende Name AQvalo� ( ' der Miinnliche') wird in der Praxis ersetzt durch den 'richtigeren, ' weil seine Tatigkeit beschreibenden Namen '1Qo� (zu '1Q L�, also wohl: 'der Bote')." The derivation that Kraus considers unsuitable is implicitly yet transparently narrativized by Homer. The motivation of AQvalo� lies in the infant's big stature; his mother perceives him as the personification of manliness, and gives him this name with the hope that, when grown to manhood, he will justify the lexeme of his name and the message encoded in it, proving quite an aQQrzv, indeed! The etymology of Arnaeus promotes the story narrated in our broader passage, and fits nicely in a poem full of equivocations and surprising turns; in a poem governed by the domineering figure of an arch-trickster of Autolycean or Sisyphean blood, by a cunning 'Nobody,' Oifn�, who utilizes his l1iln� to denounce the implications of lrus-Arnaeus. The poet artfully constructs a foil for Odysseus out of Irus, to which he attaches a programmatic value. The etymological semata grow thicker in a context marked by the emphatic presence of strength and valor, which is expressed with cognates or synonyms (lEQr1 r�, (3Crz, [cpL, lEQOV �); the connections of lEQ6� and r� are well estab lished. Odysseus nOA:u�ll'tL� shuns EQL� and EQC'EtV with '1Qo� ( 1 3, 38), as putting his disguise in jeopardy. Irus' name communicates with eris, into which he plunges even deeper when bragging that he can devise evils for Odysseus, QV av xuxu �ll'tLau(� llV (27). He appropriates a language that belongs to Odysseus and oversteps into a semantic and intellectual field in which only the unrivalled master of deception, of verbal dexterity and ambiguity, that is, the Oifn�-I1r1n�, Dva110QO�, oDvQ6I1EVO� and oDva6.I1Evo� 'ODvaaEv�, the JTOAVI1r1xaVo� husband of JTEQCcpQWV Penelope, can step. At this point there interferes Anti-noos, a suitor whose name signifies a person of "inimical mind." His periphrastic characterization, lEQOV �EVO� l\V'tLVOOLO (34), is used again in the Odyssey of Alci-noos, a prudent and valiant friend, whose name and etymology it matches perfectly. Contrastingly, in the case of Anti-noos the phrase signifies an anti-nomy and malappropriation of properties. Antinous and Irus function as hybristic doublets and, sharing the same cluster of cognates and/or synonyms, they join forces (r�, (3Crz, lEQOV UEVOC;). Odysseus, characterized here as 60AOCPQOVEWV and nOAU�ll'tL� (5 1 ), will eliminate the pos sibility of their coalition by eliciting an oath from the suitors; the oath binds (oQxo� <Et'QYw, EGud. 0 435 . 9). Evoking the sounds of lrus, Odysseus entertains a significant wordplay on friendship (�Qa CPEQWV) and might (lcpL), qualities that both Antinous and Irus lack. Odysseus binds the suitors with the following oath (56-57): [nl tLC; Ert' YIQqJ wa CfJEQWV E[.lE XELQt �UQE(n rtAi\1;n atua8aHwv, toUt!Jl M [.lE lep! c'iu[.luaan. "[swear] that no man, doing favour to Irus, may deal me a foul blow with heavy hand, and so by violence subdue me to this fellow" (Murray, Loeb).
86
Ancient Poetic Etymology
The motif of atasthalia and the pair of "might" words recur, but auspicious and well-minded this time, in the person of Telemachus, iegh r� TllAEI.U1xoLO (60), who will soon graduate from the class of minor adolescents and prove his worth and valor, offering martial assistance to his father. Telemachus encourages his disguised father to fight and have no fear of foul play. Not unlike Iliad 23. 7 10, Odysseus girds himself for the fight, but this time he makes it a symbolic gesture: he "girds" and protects his corporeal Il �OEa (LSJ B), his private parts (67), exactly as he does with his schemes and mental Il�OEa (LSJ A); his cunning and guile was programmatically mentioned a little earlier. Odysseus shows his Il11QOU� (67), shoulders, breast and arms (68-69) and his Emyouv(oa (74); he displays every thing but his genitals. The danger of castration is imminent in this duel: the loser will be deprived of his genitals and virility, and be prefaced with an alpha priva tive; this is the lot of lrus-A-irus. Athena gives Odysseus a "bodylift," IlEAe' ijAbave JtoLIl£VL Aamv (69-70). Ironic at first glimpse, the phrase "shepherd of people" gains its deeper meaning in the sequel. The dative (noLIl£vL) in the vicin ity of agvalo� forms part of a diffused equivocation: Odysseus is engaged in a fight with Arnaeus, who drifts between masculinity and sheepishness, between aggrzv and ugtiv. The language is convoluted and obscure, anticipating the lan guage used at the closure of the episode. The phrase IlEAW ijAbave, in particular, is pregnant on account of the double associations of IlEAbw with {bw and aAbw; hence the phrase can be interpreted in two ways: "eating" (i.e. wearing out the ,, limbs) or "nourishing the "limbs. 18o This verse anticipates the threat addressed by the suitors to Irus a few lines later, Ilti&a t' ESEQuSa� Mm XUOLv Wllu &iaa aBm, "[king Echetus] will draw forth thy vitals and give them raw to dogs to rend" (87). In the vicinity of similar sounds, words acquire new connections: the noun Ilti&a reaches out to &iaaaBm with transparent etymological results; hence the connotations of Ilti&a as "the parts whose consumption is forbidden" (<J1ti+{bw, ba{vvllm, barEollm) correspond to those imposed by IlEAbw (<J1EArz {&�V/IlEArz aA&�v). In this nexus the words are interlocked in a common and redoubled etymology, which complements the contextual requirements, since cas tration and consumption of the human reproductive organs is a ritual taboo and a token of utter annihilation of the individual and his line. The allusion thickens as the poet manipulates the sound patterns of the underlying words to submit an equivocation that embraces the "sheepishness" or "masculinity" of Arnaeus, and the Ilti&a and IlEAea: the conflict centers around mental faculties and corporeal members, especially the genitals; these constitute the indispensable preconditions 180
This duality is illustrated in the Homeric exegetical scholia and Porph. (sch. T bT Il. 2 1 . 3 63 c) : xVLan fJ,cAo6wvoC;: ... fJ,iAOELV bE XUQllJl<; 'to 'ta. fJ,iAT/ EOcLV . . . WAo6wvoc; ant 'tOil 'ta. fJ,iAT/ CtA06wvoc;, 00£ anaxo il « fJ,iAw f/Aoavc lt0Ll.lEVL AaGlV» (a 70). Cf. Porph. 1 . 2 5 1 5 2 . 1 6ff. S. Erbse 5 : 2 10, test. ad loc.): ... OlUmLVEL ya.g XUgLW£ 't o fJ,iAOcLV 't o 't a. fJ,iAT/ EOcLV ... fJ,cA06wvoC; to t1lXWV oNi' £yxEltal ... 'to EOcLV, ana. 'to aAOELv. 5 oiiv I..E A.UJ1£VIJl<; EcpTj, «fJ,iAc' f/Aoavc ltOLI!EVL AaGlv» (a 70) T]tOL E'lJtgacpf] xat ALltaga. EltOLn Euguvouaa ta. fJ,iAT/, t oil 'tO (JUVEI..OJ V « WAo6wvQ£» ctltE xa'tlz J1uacpoQlzv ta. I!EgTj toil AE�Tj'tOc:; AEYWV I!EATj, a ALltaLvca6m 'tTjXOI!EVn tfl 1tLI!EAfl XgLOI!Eva . =
Reversal of Etymology or Unnaming
87
for one's survival and success; yet corporeal flrlDt:a and r!; are significantly re placed by intellectual fl,zDt:a. The word fliAW refers not only to the "limbs" of Odysseus, which grow stronger, but also to those of Irus: OELOLO'tU' (JaQxE� oE JrE(H1{JOflioVTO fliAEom v (77). Yet the word is ambiguous: did the flesh of Irus tremble "on his limbs," fliAwm v (Murray, Loeb), or "because of his grave concerns" and his fear? Both options are viable in this context; hence the semantic and syntactical ambiguity of fliAEom v makes the word a peg for an imaginative equivocation of psychoso matic import; the body suffers and manifests the effects of concerns and cares. The latter matches the disquieting thoughts of the suitors, who say in astonish ment and disconcert (73-74): « � taXa i{}o� ;1\t{}O� f1t(oJtaotoV l{al{OV ESEL, OLlJV El{ gal{EWV 6 YEQWV EJtLyouv(oa <pa(vEL». "Right soon shall lrus, un-lrused, have a bane of his own bringing, such a thigh does yon old man show from beneath his rags" (Murray, Loeb).
The context suggests the privative association of Irus with "might" (a-lQO!;): he shivers in fear, as he realizes the physical superiority of Odysseus; l Sl his overt image of "strong" (lrus
Doherty 1 995: 171 with n. 31, observes that: "he [Odysseus] is physically superior to the 'real' beggar and morally superior to the aristocratic suitors." See Levine 1 982: 20 1 .
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Ancient Poetic Etymology
"masculinity" (a{J{Jrzv) ironically rejected and reversed, but through an allusive and imaginative twist of images and sounds, he is further humiliated being com pared to a lamb « a{J�v), the most harmless and valorless domestic animal. Arnaeus, treated as a sacrificial lamb in a yet inchoate sacrifice, JtQo 't EA E La , foreshadows the end of the suitors: they are killed during a ritual ceremony, an EOQ't� to the honor of Apollo (sch. V Od. 20 . 1 55), the far-shooting author of "de struction," whose help Odysseus implores in the preamble of the murder (22. 7). Arnaeus' punishment by the returning master of the house prefigures the fate of the suitors as a body. I 83 This parallelism is confirmed by the participle Amnct;wv, which is attested only in this form and only twice in the epos: here ( 1 8. 99) and in the scene of murder (22. 88). On both occasions it describes the convulsions of a man nearly killed (the beggar Irus), or killed (the suitor Eurymachus). A minor variation occurs in the description of Antinous' death: stricken in the throat -a reminiscence of the central motif of gluttony and offensive food misappropriation he kicked, Jtob), JtA �sa<;, and pushed the table, throwing down and defiling food (22. 1 9-2 1 ; cf. 84-86); this gesture recurs in similar rotten sacrificial settings. 1 84 The programmatic value of the Irus episode is also revealed by the laughter and the prayer of the suitors: they "laugh to death" (35, 1 00, I l l ; cf. 20 . 3455 8), 1 85 and pray that Zeus and the other immortal gods give "the stranger" what is dear to him for having "made this insatiate fellow to cease from begging in the land" ( 1 8. 1 14- 1 5 , Murray), oS; LOihov 'tov avaArov aArzrEVEtV cmEJtauoas; / EV b�!!ql . The ambiguity of the phrase is unmistakable and depends greatly on the adjective avaA ro�, which emerges as a carrier of thick equivocation: the epithet is susceptible to at least three interpretations. The LSJ distinguishes two adjectives (A, B) and prefers to connect our Odyssean attestation with avaA ro� (A) which comes from a-priv.+aAr6�, Lat. ala [i.e.< aA(jw] and means not to bejilled, insa tiate. In a kind of ring composition this reading takes us back to TlAbaV£ (70) and the intervention of Athena, who empowered Odysseus and bestowed victory upon him. However, in the vicinity of aArzrEVEtV, the epithet avaAro� also seems to echo the wandering beggar, the aA�rrz� to whose career Odysseus put an end. But these two interpretations of avaA ro� together with the third, which signifies the absence of "salt" (LSJ B), mirror the status of Odysseus as well. Evincing from his house the wandering and insatiate beggar, the miniature image of the suitors, Odysseus activates all three meanings of avaA ro� at once and turns them to his own benefit: he puts an end to his own "hunger," his "wanderings" and torments in the "salty" water, on whose expanses he has toiled for so long. The admirable multi-levelled equivocation of this episode depends on the multiplicity and con currence of etymological alternatives and their cryptic nuances. The passage is 183 184
185
On this see Levine 1982: 200-04; so also Felson 1994: 1 82 n. 42, 183 n. 46. Zeus overturns the table of Lycaon that was laden with impious human sacrifice (Hes. fr. 1 63); so does Thyestes on the XQEOUQYOV ��aQ (Aes. Agam. 1 592); tables laden with food are also overturned in the Delphic heorte of the Septerion: Burkert 1 983 : 1 28-29. Levine 1 982: 200-04, has pointed out that lrus mirrors the character and fate of the suitors whose nescience is shown further by their laughter.
tnrovuJ.lOV or OlWVUJ.lla.
Divine and Human language.
89
sealed with the telling phrase, XaiQEV Of XAEllMvt OioC; 'OOuaaElJC; ( 1 1 7), "and goodly Odysseus was glad at the word of omen." Odysseus, the crafty and wan dering beggar of the poem, the master of counsels and disguised identities, deci phers the secret and overlapping messages, which are imprinted in words and proper names, and has every reason to rejoice: the episode with lrus-Airus Amaeus is an omen of his impending revenge and reinstatement.
2. 7. A1COVl>J10V or ()lwVl>J1ia. Divine and Human language A subject of particular interest in the ancient onomastics is the existence of double names of persons or things, names distributed between the divine and human speech, respectively. The terminology, c5wJvvf.10v-c5twvvp'cu , points to their dual ity « c5vo+ov0f.1u), or their divine origin « c5lo£,+oV0f.1U). 1 86 This phenomenal naming practice is attested as early as Homer and offers good grounds for theo retical speculations. Plato, for instance, argues (era. 3 9 I d4-6), that when Homer speaks about such double names of double provenance, he does say something great and admirable as regards the correctness of names; hence, "Surely, the gods call things by their naturally correct names" (Reeve). Knowledge of correct lan guage is, consequently, a divine prerogative, which Hermogenes conditionally affirms: "if they call them by any names at all, it's by the correct ones" (Reeve), and asks for validation of the phenomenon. Plato cites a few such examples, 3uv8oC; and LXUJ.lavOQoc; (11. 20. 73-74; 11. 2 1 passim), Ba tCEta and MUQCVll (//. 2. 8 1 3- 1 4), XUJ.ltvOtC; and Xat.x CC; (II. 14. 290-9 1 ), with the explicit objective of finding their correctness, whether they are used oQ8w C; or OQ80tEQOV; gods speak the correct language and call things after their physis, am,Q fan cpum:t ovoJ.lata . Socrates, recognizing the futility of the project, moves on to names whose explo ration is more within the human power. Modem speculations as regards the origin and function of double names are numerous. It is argued that: the divine language has preserved old and fossilized expressions of priestly or magical language and popular thoughts; it is Greek and Indo-European, in contrast to the human language, which is pre-Greek and be longs to the Mediterranean substratum; some names are Greek or pre-Greek, while others (3uv8oc;, XaAxCC;) are certainly foreign but fully naturalized into Greek. 1 87 The idea that the gods spoke a language different from that of common 1 86
1 87
The double etymology of oU[JVV/lOV from OVO, oLrroC;. OL-. and from MoC; (cf. ZE1j�. L\LOC;. L\{a) is posited in ancient sources. See sch. bT n. 6. 4c (on Xanthus and Scamandrus): the poet juxtaposes oLTra ovo/lara, what the gods (Beat) and the men (iivoQcC;) use. Cf. Dion. Thrax (Ars Gramm. G. G. 1 . 3. 327: 23-24): L\u:6vV/lOV EO'U 'to f.I(av ouo(av oval v OVo/laaL DT]AOUV. EGud. D 3 7 1 . 18-19: L\u:6vV/lov nUQa 'tTJV OLa 1tQ08WlV xaL 'to ovo/la �lLa OVUf.lo v xaL o UOVV/lOv. Eau DE ovo/la EXo v OVO ovo/lara xUQLa. Eust. Il. 1 : 1 9 1 .37- 1 92.3 : there are many dionyma in Homer, wu'tEau oval v OVO/laaL xaAOUf.lEva. On the human and divine name of Ino-Leukothea see sch. BEPQT Od. 5. 334. On the divine and human lan guage see Rank 1 95 1 : 1 1 3 - 1 29; Kraus 1 987: 28; Heubeck 1949/1984: 94-1 1 5 . See Heubeck 194911984: 94-95 .
90
Ancient Poetic Etymology
people is of course relegated to the domain of myth and popular belief; the epic examples constitute inventions of Homer, created on the basis of alliteration, of external or internal and contextual parallelisms; the poet himself transfers the double names into different spheres and assumes the separation of the two lan guages. 1 88 Kraus finds it interesting that double names are tolerated and actually ex plained; this constitutes one step beyond pure mythical thought, although the fact that these double names involve mostly proper names betrays influence of the myth; even XUAXL£ and XUIlLVOL£ next to OQVL� seem to be proper names. 1 89 Kraus assumes that the double names were pre-Hellenic, circulating before Homer, hence not invented by him. It is impressive that the divine names are etymolo gized as Greek, for instance, BQHiQew�
1 88
1 89
1 90
Heubeck 1 949/1984: 1 14 Kraus, 1 987: 27-29. Salvadore 1 987: 44.
=
217.
lHWVU�OV or Otrovu�ia. Divine and Human language.
91
ernes in a masterful way. 1 9 1 The essence of Xanthus, "the golden or yellow one," is intrically connected with �av86�, �av8('w, av8o�, �a(vw, because bathing in his water has a beautifying effect; it makes hair golden, a token of divinity, wealth and irresistible virginal beauty. But Xanthus' nature is illustrated best EX tOU avtL8€tov, when the river experiences a gloomy and suffocating atmosphere, severely pressed by the corpses of slain warriors, whom Achilles dumps into his originally golden streams, thus obstructing the flow of the river (2 1 . 1 -22 1 ). Con trary to the semantic and etymological expectations raised by the lexeme of his name, which evokes his golden color and the radiance of his stream, Xanthus is marred by the diffused darkness of blood and death. During Achilles' murderous spree, the river suffers a brutal reversal of his original brightness and natural at tributes; his derivation from �av86� and the expectations raised by his natural beauty and sheen, are cancelled. Xanthus pleads with Achilles to refrain from kill ing and causing him such intense discomfort, but is met with an obstinate refusal. Xanthus takes action, transforming himself into Scamandrus. The divine Xanthus yields hereafter his place to the human Scamandrus, not without imaginative justification and narrativization. The poet alludes to the omi nous connotations of the human name in the compass of a narrative capsule, in which Scam-andros acts out the individual lexemes of his name: he pushes the dead out on the shores, saves the living in his eddies, bellowing like a bull (23 5239), and attempts to kill Achilles. Xanthus would have succeded, had the gods not intervened to save Achilles, listening to his desperate prayer (240-383). Sum moning Simoeis, Xanthus deploys his plan against Achilles and subtly narra tivizes the etymology of his new name -Scamandros (2 1 . 3 1 6-23): «qJl]�\ yaQ OVtE �Cl]V XQma�l]aE�EV OVtE tL d6o£, OVtE ta tEUXEa xaAa, ta n:ou �aAa vna8L AL�Vl]£ XELaE8' un:' LAUO£ xExaAu��Eva' xab M � LV autOV ELAuaw 1j!UlJa80LOLV iiAL\; J(tQa6o� n:EQLJ(Eua� � OUbE ol OatE' Emat�aOvtm Axmo\ uAAEsar taaouy ol aOLV xa8un:EQ8E xaAu1j!w. autou ol xa\ ali�a tEtEUsEtm, ouM tC �LV XQEW fatm tw,f\oJ(QU\;, atE �LV 8an:tWOLV AxmOL.» "For I say that neither his strength will rescue him, nor his beauty, nor yet that fair armor, which somewhere deep beneath the water will lie covered over with slime; and himself will I wrap in sands and pour shingle over him past all measuring; nor will the Achaeans know where to collect his bones, with such a depth of silt will I cover him over. Here too will his sepulcher be prepared, nor will he have need of a heaped-up mound when the Achaeans per form his funeral rites" (Murray, rev. Wyatt).
The river describes his imminent capacity as Scamandros: he intends to kill Achil les, bury his armor deep down, gather so much sand around him that the Achaeans could not even collect his bones. With so much dirt the river will cover Achilles so that the Achaeans will need no tomb for him. In other words Scam-andros will 191
On this dionymon see Tsitsibakou-Vasalos 2000: 7-10, nn. 38-43, 46-48.
92
Ancient Poetic Etymology
function as an undertaker, and "dig" a grave for the "man" (aIGt1JrTw+av1jQ). In this extensive narrative capsule Homer lingers on the description of the river in his new and constrasting identity, and suggests for him the pertinent etymology. Exploiting the sounds of Scam-andros and adeptly utilizing the Greek linguistic treasury, Homer matches sounds and activities in perfectly Greek terms. Hence, the poet moulds and tailors his narrative so as to accommodate both the divine and human names and their essence; he supplies the contextual allusions that would render his innovation and poetic imagery comprehensible to a Greek audience. Another set of double names, Briareos-Aegaeon, has also drawn the attention of scholars, who seek their provenance and meaning in multiple and distinct ways. But as Heubeck warns, the observation that Briareos is genuine Indo-European, while Aegaeon goes back to a pre-Greek substratum no longer helps; Aegaeon belongs with a[yc£, (waves, LSJ IV), alywAO£" Alyaiov (Jrf).ayo£,) and Alya(, the famous cult site of Pose idon (//. 8. 203 ; 1 3 . 2 1 ), and with Aegaeon or Aegaeos, Briareos' father; the epithet of the father has become the proper name of the son. 1 92 This principle of namegiving has been fully documented by Sulzberger: children are surnamed after the qualities of their closest kin, be it fathers, grandfa thers or mothers. l 93 The relation of these divinities is significant for the history of religion and language as well, 1 94 and deserves a closer look. Who is this creature? Hesiod (Theog. 1 47-53) makes Briareos one of the Hundred-handed sons of Gaia and Ouranus. Eumelus in his Titanomachia consid ers Aegaion the son of Gaia and Pontus and a resident of the sea, while Ion in one of his dithyrambs makes him son of Thalassa, the sea. Arrianus traces the lineage of this figure back to Cronus or Ouranus; 1 95 others see in him a marine beast, the son of Gaia and Pontus (sch. Ap. Rh. Arg. 1 . 1 1 65c, 1 05- 1 06 W). Allegorical in terpretation assumes a physikos logos, viewing the Hundred-handed Briareos as a hypostasis of Apollo the Sun, in which case the Homeric comment "better than his father" (see below) implicates Zeus as the putative progenitor of Briareos Apollo. l 96 Aristonicus argues that Aegaeon is not a Titan but a marine daemon, hence his comparison with Poseidon will be plausible O.6yov E�EL, sch. A Il. 1 . 404a). The Scholia-D on Iliad 1 . 399, also consider Aegaeon a marine deity: �v of: 8uAaomo£ OUlltWV oDtO£ xu'l tOY :rtUtEgu IIoOELOWVU XUtE�ga�EuEv ... 1 92
1 93
1 94
1 95 196
Heubeck 1 949/59: 1 1 1 (2 1 4). The Aegean sea was named after Aegaeon (Eust. 1 : 1 90. 3940). Elsewhere Eustathius (Comm. Dion. Per. 135. 16-19) argues that the Aegean sea was named after Aegae, a city in Boeotia where Poseidon used to rest his horses, or after Aegaeon. Sulzberger 1 926: 383-84. Heubeck 1 949/1984: 1 1 1 - 1 2 (2 1 4- 1 5), is agreed with Giinter (Aegaeon may have been an old water daemon later merged into and assimilated with Poseidon, to whom he transferred his name), and adds: perhaps two daemons of originally different powers have merged together in the figure of the Homeric monster; these were later superseded by Poseidon, but the two names still remained in currency for this monster, and, as Heubeck argues further, Homer ex plained the double naming with the phenomenon of the divine language. Cronus: Arrian Bithyn. Fragm. Fr. 35. 1 - 1 8 = Eust. I/. 1 : 1 9 1 . 1 3 - 1 5 = FGrHist. F26, 156, ff. 92. Ouranus: Eust. I/. 1 : 1 90. 36-40. Sch. bT I/. 1 . 399-406 cum test.; Eust. I/. 1 : 1 89.37 - 190. 1 1 .
L1tO)vu�ov or ot(ovu�ia.
Divine and Human language.
93
iO'tOQEL L1 (ou �OC; : he is fathered by Poseidon, whom he opposes, acting out a verb that means give judgement against one, deprive one of his prize, deprive one 's right (LSJ); the relation between father and son is hostile. The Homeric scholia also preserve a piece of Stoic lore as regards this creature: "O!! l]QOC; WC; L'tW'CXDC; IIoonowvoc; av'tDv ELVaL cpl]oc. 197 The above survey suggests that fixing the pa ternity of Briareos-Aegaeon is an ambitious enterprise. Yet I opt for his Poseido nian fatherhood for the following reasons: (a) the mythical sphere of influence of Thetis and her accomplice is marine; he is an outsider summoned to Olympus to assist Zeus during an internecine feud; (b) the name Aegaeon points to his marine contacts in general and with Poseidon Aegaeos-Aegaeon, in particular; and (c) Homer introduces Briareos-Aegaeon as "better than his father," in a narrative that bears out the diacritical functional and linguistic qualities of Poseidon. This fa ther-and-son conflict is formulated in terms that point to Poseidon. The assump tion that the Homeric Briareos-Aegaeon is the unfilial progeny of Poseidon gains ground, therefore, in the framing context of Iliad 1 . The Homeric poetic canvas is studded with etymological pointers, which pro vide a transparent etymology for both names, the divine Briareos and the human Aegaeon. The story goes as follows: the gods, among whom Poseidon, desired to put Zeus in bonds, avw5fjam ( 1 . 399), but Thetis loosened him from his fetters, vm:Avaao Dt:al1wv (40 1 ), with the assistance of the Hundred-handed ( 1 . 403-05): QV BQtaQEWY XUA£O\)(1l 6eo(, livoqe; OE Te mlvw:;
Aiya{wy' Q yaQ aBTe f3�'1 DV lrar:Qb� <WeLvwy O£ ga rcaga KgOV(WVL xa8E�fTo xuOe"L ya{wy -
"whom the gods call Briareus, but all men Aegaeon; for he is mightier than his father. He sat down by the side of the son of Cronus, exulting in his glory" (Murray, revised Wyatt).
The narrative capsule concludes in a ring composition (406), "and the blessed gods were seized with fear of him -uJtEOnoav- and did not bind -l!c5rzaav- Zeus," thus producing an impressive parechesis (see also n. 72, above). The feelings (c5dc5w, Mc5w) or actions (Mw) are shared by the gods who take part in the sedi tion, yet they etymologize only Poseidon: his etymological semata are dispersed in the narrative capsule, but his own son, who is "better than his father," prohibits the god from actualizing their signifieds. The Olympian conflict is decided by the dynamics in a smaller family nucleus. The identity of the father is not spelled out, but inferred from the concurrence of the afore-mentioned factors. The monstrous creature thwarts the bondage and fettering of Zeus, and puts an end to the divine stasis, thus assisting Zeus in consolidating his new order. He succeeds in this venture because he is "strong," {3{Jw{J6�, "teeming with strength," {3{J{8w, or, as Homer himself puts it, {3{n clItE(VWV in comparison to his father. Homer partly reconstructs the divine name Briareos, using a cognate and a syno nym, {3{n clItE(VWV, which stand for the underlying lexemes {3{Jt- and Ct{Jdwv. The poet builds the name of Briareos on an underlying hostile comparison, which is 197
Sch. AT Il. 1 . 404c cum test.: S VF. iii. 770 (p. 1 92).
94
Ancient Poetic Etymology
1 conveyed by c1Qdwv and its semantic equivalent a!!Elvwv . 98 The story resumes a well-established mythical pattern; Zeus was also a rebellious son, who superseded his father Cronus, and most significantly appropriated his power of uQa(v€t v. The human name, A egaeon , is subjected to a similar process of motivation and contextual integration. Homer manipulates its sounds and individuates its latter part in the form of a verb, ya(w (exult, delight, take pleasure), which effec tively conveys the delight and pride of Alya(wv in the aftermath of his victory: he sits XU()E'( ya (w v, in delight and glory, next to Croni6n Zeus. The noun uvc5ei: underlines the martial capacity of Bri-areos in the vicinity of c1Qdwv and on the evidence of the Iliad 5. 906: it is }\Qll!;, who ironically sits XU()E'( ya(wv next to Croni6n Zeus, after his recent humiliation at the hands of Diomedes and Athena, and emits a clear message that involves Poseidon as well: the Olympians may suffer setbacks but not disasters. The two names of the Hundred-handed are linked in a sequential order: the divine name Briareos points out his supernatural physical and martial strength, on which his excellence (cf. c1Qdwv a!!Elvwv) is founded; the human Aegaeon epitomizes his elation for his kydos and reward. 1 99 Both are tailored to meet the distinct situations. The monster as Briareos inspires awe and unfetters Zeus, thus annuling the corresponding powers of his father, Poseidon « c5e(bw, Mw). The overlapping sounds of Alya(wv/ya(wv produce a composite picture in which Poseidon plays a key role in many of his capacities : as Aegaeon the Hundred-handed identifies with Poseidon Aegaeos or Aegaeon, and subtly appropriates the paternal capaci ties of yat�-OXos;, in which the lexicographers saw the element of "rejoicing" « ya(w) besides "earth" « yaia/a[a); the noun XU()(( disambiguates the meaning of the participle ya(wv. The Homeric narrative capsule transposes the physical war to the level of diction: in a capsule studded with clusters of cognates, such as c5eOIl6!;" Mw and its opposite, AVW, which etymologize Poseidon, the monster supersedes his progenitor, appropriating and acting out his derivation, and drama tizing his lexical and functional specificities. The qualities embedded and crystal lized in Poseidon Aegaeos pass over to Briareos-Aegaeon; he strikes his father right at the heart of his time and dynamis; he not only "unbinds" Zeus, thus defy-
1 98
1 99
Sch. AT ll. 1 . 404c. «naugoL oe tE natgo£ aQdovr;.» See also Sulzberger 1 926: 383-84; Rank 195 1 : 84 with nn. 3 4, 35; 1 1 3 with n. 2 6: Buttman translates the name as "Starkwucht" (cf. {3QwQar; and (3Q{(Jw), and compares it with Alya{ (ll. 13. 21) and aiysr; (Artemid. 2. 1 2). Heubeck 1 949/1 984: 1 12 n. I, also considers ,B(n OV lWtQOr; aw{vwv an etymological expla nation of Briareos, and the phrase ,,15&[ ya{wv a verbal reminiscence of Alya{wv. Comutus draws heavily upon the allegorical identification of Briareos with Apollo the Sun; he views Briareos through the lens of Stoic doctrine and derives his name accordingly (Epidr. c. 1 7, p. 27. 12- 1 7): nUQa to arQEtV tTzV woav {3oQav toov tOU xoaj.tov j.tEgOOV wvoj.taatUL BQ!aQswr;. Parallel etymologies and functions he discerns in Aigaion (Corn. ib. p. 27. 1 7- 1 8): Alya{wv j.tEV yug EatLv 6 asL tS(JI1AWr; xaL ya{wv. Cf. EM 28. 2-6: Alya{wv: 6 ijALO£. nUQa to aryAI1 ... 1) ano tou tai:£ autlatv alooEtv. 1) ano tOU yw to yavQ!w, ya{wv xaL j.tEta tOU EltLtatLxou a, aya{wv. Cf. Eust. ll. 1 : 1 90. 25-27, Aegaeon stands allegorically for alwv. Long 1992: 55, discusses this episode and the association of divine powers as pre sented by Comutus, and concludes: "Thus he [sc. Corn.] finds germs of Stoic cosmogony in Homer's story, but he does not suggest that Homer himself did so." ' "
�tO)VUIlOV
or ()lWVUllta.
Divine and Human language.
95
ing and undoing his father's essence, but also takes over his connections with earth, water and rejoicing (Alyaiov, yaCw, yaia). The monster operates as an improved and exalted linguistic and functional foil of his father. In this passage Thetis and the Hundred-handed impose order on a divine scale and put an end to the divine stasis by violence. In these circumstances we are enti tled to assume that the names of both Thetis and Briareos belong to the same se mantic field: both share the notion of "putting in good order," and "tidying up." If in her physico-allegorical capacity as authoress of "good order," Thetis acts out the meaning of her name « rC8r/Ju), we may suppose the same for Briareos, ana lyzing his name into {3(JL-+a(J- (cf. a(Ja(JCaxw, Ct(J1l6,w; Eust. 1 : 1 90.9- 1 1 , 202 1 ). In this case he would stand for "he who powerfully fits or joins things," he who puts things to good order even with a mighty hand, thus proving stronger and more warlike than his father Poseidon, who is renowned for his overwhelming oo physical strength and his monstrous and overbearing offspring. 2 Briareos would thus emerge as an agent of forceful excellence and arrangement; the overlapping lexemes {3(JL-, {3(Jw(J6�, a(Jdwv and a(Ja(JCaxw would itemize and validate the diacritical qualities as well as the linguistic constitution of his divine name. If so, then Thetis and Briareos would cooperate as figures of complementary marine dynameis, who play an instrumental role in the orderly disposition of the cosmos under the authority of its Olympian ruler; sheer brutal might would yield its posi tion to a forceful and dynamic 'tastS; or eiat� and Ct(JIlOYr/, respectively. In this Iliadic episode we witness the collaboration of two rebellious sons, Zeus and Briareos. This episode is of central significance for the Iliad because it establishes the power of Zeus and motivates his reciprocity towards Thetis, setting in motion the vindication of Achilles. In a ring composition coextensive with Iliad 1 , the story that had started with the programmatic �tOS; 0' E'tEAELE'tO �OUA� ( 1 . 5) concludes now with Zeus K(Jov(wv bowing in assent ( 1 . 528); Zeus expresses his intention to x(JaCv£Lv the plea of Thetis and reciprocate the past favor by "honor ing" her son in his terms. We should remember that Achilles had interpreted anZ in honorific terms, as a deprivation of honor (a-priv.+ rCw, nwxw). Zeus will re ciprocate and grant the wish, fulfilling the etymology of Achilles, and making the Achaeans the recipients of pain (axo�) and destruction (OAAVIlL) that are inherent in his name and nature.20 1 The Briareos story is nodal, consequently, as providing the inner justification and the impetus for the events that span the greater part of the Iliad; this episode holds the narrative together until Achilles returns to the battlefield. Besides its thematic and compositional relevance, the above paradigm also has a demonstrative value as regards Homeric onomastics and the treatment of 200
20 1
Corn. Epidr. e. 22, p. 44. 1 1 -1 5, (Ha. OE 't�v 8EWQOWEVTjV �(av ltEQL 't�v 8aAa't'tav xaL ltav'ta£ TO\!£ �taLOU£ xaL IlEyaAEltL�OUAOU£ YEVOIlEVOU£, 00£ 'tOY KUXAWlta xaL 'to\!£ AaL(HQuy6va£ xaL TO\!£ AAwELoa£, IToonoiii vo£ EIlUSEuoav Exy6vou£ dVaL.
1. 502- 10; Kpovtwva, )lp1jrzvov, rt/lrzaov, Tzrt/lrzaEv, rEiaov, rdawOLv, Tt/lfj; ef. 1 . 55859, where Hera addresses Zeus, 'tfj 0' Mw Xa'taVEUOaL £ttjt1JIlOV 00£ AxtAija 'tLIl�On£, 6M an� OE ltoMa£ EltL VTjUOLV Axmwv. See also 2. 3-4; 1 3 . 347-50.
n.
/
96
Ancient Poetic Etymology
double names: Homer endows the vast majority of his divine and human names with implicit or explicit Greek derivations, which are validated in the course of narrative. As Xanthus and Scamandrus before, so now Briareos and Aegaeon are meaningfully integrated into the Greek linguistic system and the story, whose ends they serve on a micro- or macroscopic level. Homer qua poet and mediating figure takes over the task of demystifying the motivation of the divine and the human namegivings as well. At the closure of our selective treatment of Homeric etymologies, we can summarize and consolidate our initial basic assumptions as regards the techniques and presumptions of ancient etymologizing. The ancient poets have a keen ear for sound similarities. Acoustics is a fundamental principle of association. Words are linked etymologically as soon as the aural similarities surpass the level of mere alliteration and spill over to the level of semantics. This makes a demanding po etic technique, which often tests the alertness and even the tolerance of the audi ence or reader, since the boundaries between alliteration and etymology in ancient poetry are not waterproof and clearly demarcated; they frequently fuse into each other and make mutual inroads. Despite the attested blurring of categories, the epic etymologizing falls into rather lucid templates. It may annotate its inherited linguistic conglomerate, glossing obscure and outdated words, but is not necessar ily reduced to a mere exegetical tool, whose raison d' etre is exhausted with the elucidation of antique and no longer comprehensible words. Its scope is much broader and ambitious: it serves compositional and artistic purposes. Etymology interlocks people and things into a congruent yet multiple and polyprismatic sys tem, and creates a coherent and unified cultural product; etymology is the atempo ral and unfading legacy of the pan-Hellenes. The above sampling of etymologies from the Homeric poetry has hopefully established the conditioning of poetic etymology upon the contextual require ments and the poetical design. The linguistic units are not treated as self-sufficient entities of a certain crystallized phonetico-semantic load, but as pliable and resil ient matrices, which are susceptible to imaginative modulations. The technique of rearticulation and resemanticization of words points this out, and accounts for the wealth of concurring, even if contradictory, etymological variants. Early poets challenge the expectations of their audience, creating new collocations and unex pected or astonishing nexuses of words, which assume the submission and work ing of new supporting derivations. Ancient poetry, and inevitably its exegetical corpus, abounds with such manipulations: the etymological alternatives are as multiple as the poetic and mythological narratives on which they depend or which they generate. In later eras the alternatives are as many as the philosophical tenets, which they mean to illustrate and support. Plato addresses this phenomenon when he speaks of Artemis' multiple derivations (era. 406b5-6): "it is for some of these reasons or for all of them that the one who gave this name to the goddess gave it to her" (Reeve). In other words, more than one motivation and etymology underlie the same phonetic sequence and affect its meaning depending on the occasion and the framing context; the name functions as a nutshell in which various meanings are consciously housed and elicited at will.
Iambic Poetry - Archilochus
97
Lyric Poetry The growth of the Greek city states and the contemporary social, political and religious circumstances have affected the function of poetry, its content and the choice of its expressive media; new gemes and new conventions establish them selves. The extended mythical narratives and the heroic epic stories yield their place to pieces of limited compass and pragmatic character, composed for a great variety of occasions, either institutionalized ceremonies of religious and political significance or secular gatherings whose putative religious roots lie in the mist of time and are rather forgotten. Greeks, as a civic body, assemble in temples and holy grounds for their religious observances, or in the symposiastic dining halls for an entertainment whose ritualistic aspects have been effaced. Poetry becomes a medium that serves all these disparate yet interrelated occasions; its form, con tent and performance are adjusted to the demands of new times and circum stances. Etymology continues to play a significant role, accommodating and pro moting the conventions and objectives of the new gemes, even though still deeply rooted in the epic tradition. Quincey recognizes this, although he also argues that "being unsystematic and fanciful, it produced many absurdities, but to designate it 'word-play' instead of 'etymology' is to obscure the vital fact that the early poets believed that names might conceal the character or action or destiny of the bearer . . . and that in interpreting them they were exercising a species of insight not ,, granted to the layman. 202 Yet this continued exercise of etymology is dependent on the particular demands of the time, the geme and the individual calling of the poets. To launch a detailed research of the etymology in Lyric poetry at large is beyond the objective of this study. It will suffice to briefly outline the overall trends and tedencies vis-a-vis Homer and the new geme reqirements; this will turn up from a few exemplary cases.
2.8. Iambic Poetry - Archilochus Archilochus, the master of invective and scornful blame, makes etymology an instrument fit to serve his poetic program. 203 He enjoys sneering at people and social values; he dares break boundaries, norms and expectations, modulating his proper names accordingly. His mother's name, EV�Jrc6 « ev�Jrf[, eV{JrTw), embod ies the very poetical program of iambic composition, and is perhaps as fictitious as his Nw-f3oVArz and her mother, 54..!1cp�-!1EDc6. The former name appears to sig-
202 203
Quincey 1 963: 142. See Ferrante 1 965: 46 1 , 464; Bonanno 1 980: 65-88.
98
Ancient Poetic Etymology
,, nify "the girl that changes her marriage plans 204 and her mind, presenting a vea f3oVAll, a new decision or thought. The latter belongs to a similar semantic field as it embodies intellectual dexterity and cunning (cqtcp{+/1lloop,m). His A VXa/1f311� either "steps or moves/walks like a wolf « Avxo�+f3a{vw)."205 This name suits a character that surreptitiously violates oaths and promises like the Odyssean Auto lycus of Parnassus, although it has been also associated with "presumably pre Greek" words such as dithyrambos, ithymbos and iambos. 206 Archilochus, if he is the persona loquens behind the lyric "I" of the Q{'ljJaa:rrt � story (fr. 5, West), per haps makes himself a stock character, liable to iambic invective, ridiculing the ,, semantic load of his name Archi-Iochus, the "leader of a martial contigent. 207
Mutatis mutandis, the old Homeric bard reveals his presumable identity, speaking of himself as the blind singer who dwells on Chios (HAp. 1 69-73); he subtly plays upon <0/111QO� 0 /1h oQwv. Iambic poetry develops further into two branches, the mythological burlesque of Epicharrnus and the political comedy of Aristophanes. In the latter, proper names and their meanings are viewed through the distorting lens of scorn, criti cism and parody, and are manipulated as the genre prescriptions and conventions dictate;208 this is an area which we choose not to examine. We shall return to lyric poetry, in which mythical traditions and epic etymological patterns survive even though their conceptual load and utility have been adapted to the conventional requirements and perspectives of the genre; the essential nexus of name and thing continues to have a core value, but is governed by different motivations and ob jectives. Post-Homeric poetry entertains a discourse with the Master, adopting, but also readjusting, his material and techniques to new purposes. Choral lyric etymology manifests affiliations with as well as deviations from the epic.
2. 9. Choral Lyric - Alcman, Stesichorus Choral lyric is intimately connected with the religious calendar of the ancient Greeks and their civic institutions and customs. Alcman exemplifies best this function of poetry, composing mostly partheneia for seasonally recurring festivals and rituals, which celebrate the coming-of-age of maidens (PMGF 1 , 3) and their
204
205
206 207
208
See van Sickle 1 975: 1 52, who also argues that the poet "shared the archaic alertness to the etymological fitness of names" ( 1 52, cf. 135 n. 1 3). Sulzberger 1 926: 4 1 6 : this a kind of so briquet inspired by the "changement d' avis" of her father Lycambes. Pickard-Cambridge 1 927/1966: 8, translates this -amb- syllable (cf. also ithymbos, iambos) as "step" or "movement." Nagy 1 976: 1 98 with n. 46, refers to Pickard-Cambridge's translation of Lycambes as "wolf's gait," and argues further that the notion inherent in the name Lycam bes is that of an EX6go<; f..u xo<; (Pi. Pyth. 2. 83-85). West 1 974: 25-28. Carey 1 986: 63 with nn. 1 7- 1 8, disputes the etymological significance and the association with iambos, thriambos, dithyrambos, ithymbos. See Rankin ( 1 978) 1 6- 1 8. See Ferrante 1 965: 483-89.
Choral Lyric - Alcman, Stesichorus
99
rites of passage?09 The mythical narrative continues to be an indispensable con stituent of choral songs, although its extent shrinks and its focus becomes more narrow and sharply defined: thickly-woven mythical nuclei are meaningfully inte grated in the choral poems; epichoric and obscure versions gain currency and the names of gods, accompanied by new titles, powers and affiliations, are couched in new contexts and foundation myths. The mythic narrative is not an end in itself, but an episode or paradigm, which often illustrates the occasion and the purpose of the poem (Alcman), or constructs surrogate and foil figures for the athlete and the poet, relying on a positive or ne�ative analogy; in the epinician poems it is is introduced as a "framed digression." 10 The mythical exempla are often the habitat of etiological stories and etymologies. Despite the urgency and the push of periphery and its local tales, the epic tra ditions and Homer still hover in the background and offer opportunities for a fer tile and challenging discourse; etymology is one of the areas around which centers this dialogue. The works of Alcman, Pindar and Bacchylides bear witness to their centripetal and centrifugal motion with respect to the epic tradition and the great master; these poets serve and promote the contemporary social and religious occa sions as well as the conventions of their genres and the interests of their clientele. Select local traditions supplant the Panhellenic vision of Homer without loosing sight of it. Alcman adopts many of the Homeric etymological patterns: paronomastic nexuses, such as cp(jj�-cpa{v'Y/v (PMGF 1 . 40-43), s[J(jj-s[JaTfi� (88-9 1 ), ScivOw !;avOfit xOI1{axat (100-01 ), fleetingly arrest the moment of religious and secular radiance and virginal eroticism. The comparison of Hagesichora, the enchanting choral leader, to a a'Y/[Jacp6[Jo� LJtJtOC; (92) in the vicinity of the L'Y/[J'Y/V{&� (96), evokes the Homeric etymologizing image of the "cord" and tugging (Lft[J�V
209 210
See Nagy 1 990a: 345-49. Calame 1 997, passim. The exact nature and purpose of these rites is controversial; for details see Tsitsibakou-Vasalos 200 1 : 22 n. 26. See Greengard 1980: 5 1 -89.
1 00
Ancient Poetic Etymology
Alcman takes the liberty of clinging to the epic tradition and also of breaking from it in the case of Paris-Dysparis: he deforms and reverses the etymology of the Trojan hero on the Homeric model, but puts his personal stamp as well, accen tuating the negativity attached to the name and adding new qualifications. Most significantly, he shifts his focus, picturing the hero from the viewpoint of the Greeks (PMGF 77): Paris is judged and condemned in the eyes of the pan Hellenes. Alcman's treatment of the names of his choral leaders in PMGF 1 and 3 is revealing: he is engaged in contextualizing and narrativizing their etymology on the evidence of their linguistic constitution and of their status and function; yet pragmatic and extra-linguistic information validates their names as well. The names of the archegetic choral figures in Alcman function as indices of social, functional and hierarchical ranking within contemporary Spartan society and the chorus, its paradigmatic miniature. 2 l l Alcman draws his etymologizing techniques from a common fount of inspiration, but adapts them to the requirements of the genre he composes and the religious and social conditions of contemporary Sparta. Stesichorus, the poet of the Western colonial diaspora, is exceptional. His ex tant work contains "dramatizations" of local, Homeric, Hesiodic and cyclic mythical versions, whose gamut spans the entire Greek world, whether colonial or mainland. Although emulating the Homeric style and language, as early literary critics argue, Stesichorus was most renowned in antiquity for his thematic innova tions and the influence he exerted upon posterity, the Attic tragedians, in particu lar. It is not verbal pyrotechnics and wordplays, but mythical novelties, which form the salient points of his poetry and have earned him an everlasting reputa tion. Only a few specimens of wordplay and etymologizing figure in his poetic corpus and mark significant moments of crisis. Callirhoa, having failed to dis suade her son Geryon from fighting with Heracles, kneels before him, r]aguova ywval;o!AaL (S 1 3 . 4) and addresses him with a heavily emotional and alliterative phrase (ib. 2-3), aAaa-lr:or:oxo� )G] at (U[aa]r:a na80'laa, which forebodes his death and her unforgettably wretched motherhood. She is as ()UaagLOtOto)GELa as Thetis (/l. 24. 1 05 ; cf. 1 8. 54) and as desperate as Hecuba (Il. 22. 79-89). The so phisticated mother of the P. Lille poem, on the other hand, makes a judicious and dignified use of etymology in a crucial phase, when the existence of her sons or the city is at stake. She initially prays that Apollo may not fulfill all the prophecies of Teiresias (PMGF 222b. 209- 1 0), !Aavtoauvas: ()E tEas: ... AnoA).wv I !AT] naaas: n:Aiaam, but a few verses later she appropriates a quasi-mantic language and status, and utters (2 1 9): tih()E yag U!AtV EYWV r:iAO� ngocpa(vw. As if imper sonating the prophetic god AnoUwv, and taking over his well-known etymologi cal association with the verb AVW, this mother "divines" a salutary division of the royal property, a A V T11Q to V of the evil destiny (226). The supplement TEtQ[E]a(a� y[EQaano1Ao� (234) gains conviction through etymology; the derivation of this professional name was analyzed above (n. 48). 211
For a detailed study of the Alcmanic etymology see Tsitsibakou-Vasalos 200 1 : 1 5-38.
Pindar
101
Unlike Hesiod and Alcman, in his extant work Stesichorus does not identify his Muses, but only alludes to their names and functions in a vague and indirect manner, as for instance, when he invites the Muse to celebrate (xAc{owa) the weddings of gods and the feasts of men and the merriment (8aUa�) of the blessed ones (PMGF 2 1 0): Cleio and Thaleia subtly emerge behind the lines. In a similar subtle antonomasia, he insinuates the etymological connection of Calli-opeia with voice through her attribute ligeia (PMGF 240). The strangely small sample of etymologies in the extant Stesichorean corpus suggests that the poet does not pur sue impressive wordplays; despite his Homerizing style, pleasing the ear with sounds and verbal repetitions is is not within his primary goals.2 l 2
2. 10. Pindar Pindar is a connoisseur of ancient etymology and an adept practitioner.2 i 3 His poetic work is studded with etymologies of varying degrees of complexity, so phistication and contextual integration, which materialize his professional, enco miastic and poetic program. A brief overview should be enough to to indicate his proficiency. The poet is aware of the potential of etymology and usually does not indulge in trivialities; his derivations and wordplays are integral constituents of the mes sages encoded in his poetry. They take various forms sanctioned by tradition and range from short paronomastic nexuses, whose import, significantly enough, is only rarely coextensive with the lexical boundaries, to most elaborate and com plex narrativizations of etymology, the aspects of which are only gradually and mystically disclosed and verified. Practices, such as substitutions of cognates by synonyms, for instance, 'EJ'tL!.ta8E'lJ�-61f!(voo�, (Pyth. 5 . 27-28), or the use of ad jectives which explain and etymologize the nouns they qualify, such as cpa£vvov f� al8£Qa (01. 7. 67), suggest Pindar's adherence to traditional epic patterns. Paronomastic patterns impress a natural, internal affiliation, such as Molaa tJ,£tJ,vaa8at (Nem. 1 . 12), which fleetingly establishes the essence and function of MofJaa, pointing out her kinship with tJ,ttJ,vriaxw. The natural connections of Medea with counseling and mental schemes, MriOt:w, tJ,riDt:mv, M'YJDc{a� tJ,ilnv (Pyth. 4. 9, 27, 57-58), embrace her prophecy, clearly demarcating its beginning, middle and closure, thus adding force, cogency and finality to her intervention. An etymological phrase, JU:1AAOvr(o), EV IIaUcp, II'YJUa (Nem. 5. 2 1 -22, 26), modelled on Homer (ll. 1 6 . 1 41 -44), introduces the myth of Peleus and especially his erotic experience, patterned on the "Potiphar' s wife motif:" he is harassed by Hippolyta, who desires to "bind," Jr£Daaat (26), in an erotic sense the man who combines shaking and versa 'lity with mountainous obstinacy in his name and es-
212 213
See Tsitsibakou-Vasalos 1 993: 27-45. ; Stanford 1939/1972: 1 29-36; For the etymology in Pindar see Woodhead I 8: 2 1 , 39, Rank 195 1 , passim; Quincey 1963 : 142-48; Kraus -140; Barkhuizen 1 975.
1 02
Ancient Poetic Etymology
sence « JuxUW, IIJiAwv; c£ 11. 1 6. 34-35). She desires to fulfill the equestrian and metaphorical sexual connotations of her name « rJrJrO�+AVW). The nexus of Aaxo�-AaXem� (01. 7. 58-65), along with an implicit etymol ogy of the island 'Pooo�, which rises out of the sea like the homonymous plant, {jooov, and is sea-girt (ultqJL8uAUOOOV, 33), hence {jOWOT/� (schoOl. 7.24f), frame the myth of the divine lottery, which determines the sphere of influence of the gods, and the religious preeminence of Helios on Rhodes. Trying the alertness and receptivity of his audience and reader with a clear example of antonomasia, Pin dar suppresses the noun {ja1pqJoo�, but supplies its derivation in the phrase {ju JrTWV btEWV 'tu Jton' (W�oo{ (Nem. 2. 2). Pindar does not hesitate to entertain a double etymological wordplay on oQCUiv yE IIt:I.. £Lab{J)v/ .... l) 'tT)l..o 9£v 'QuQ{wva vELo8m (Nem. 2. 1 1 - 1 2). This relies on the chiastic exchange of epithets: OQe�av, an attribute of II£I.. £ Lab{J)v, etymologizes Oarion, and vice versa, the phrase ....l) 'tT)1..69 £v, i.e., Jt{I.. U �, which etymologizes Peleiades, is transferred to Oarion and his celestica1 abode. Lingering on the sounds on 2aQ{wv-OQe�av and II £I.. £ La�-11h 'tT)l..o 9£v, "not far," which is a litotes of 't " I.. £ / :rtlll..\l L, the poet evokes the ety mology of Peleiades from :rt{I.. U � or its synonym, JtAUq(Oy ? 14 This manipulation of the adverbs JriAa�, TfiAe/JrJiAV� will prove useful and instructive for the forth coming imaginative and allusive etymologizing of Pelops in Olympian 1 . Pindar's adherence to a tradition that goes at least as far back as Homer is es tablished by his treatment of the divine and human language. Speaking of Diony sus, he juxtaposes two of the god's appellations, which are almost synonymous, but specifies the human origin of the latter: 'tOY Bg0ItLOV, 'tOY EQ�f3oav Te PQO'tOl xuUo .... £v (fr. 75 . 1 0 Mae). Delos is referred to by both her divine and human names (fr. 33c4-6), Pan by his divine name, which is also etymologized, av 'tE ItEYUAUI; / 8EOV XUVU JravrooaJrov /XU UOL OL V ·OI.. " .... :rtLOL (fr. 96). Pindar makes etymology an instrumental part of his professional and encomi astic commitment. He applies the traditional etymological patterns and terminol ogy to his patrons, that is, to contemporary, historical persons. The case of Hieron is telling: Pindar connects his name with "holiness" (tU8EWV), thus elevating and dignifying his patron by technical means and concepts sanctioned of old and re served for heroic mythical figures. With language that evokes religious founda tion stories, Pindar compares his patron to heroes of the remote past (fr. 105a): 2 1 5 LUVf� (5 't o t "J..Eyw, �U8EWV le()(1Jv EnolvuJlE ml'tfQ, x'tCowQ Ar'tVu�
2 14
215
Sch. Res. Op. 383b-383c: [V.eui&� "J..Eyov'tm 11 ano rrA.T/t6vT/� 11 uno tou JwUol� elvm XQfLwbfL� 11 ano tou fi� neAe{a� IlftU 8fjvm ... 11 ano tou nOAeiv EX ltfQLObou XUt OWltt.. T]Qouv tOY EVLUUtOV, t� fuv X L nActWV 6 EVLuu'tO�' 11 Ott nAe{ov� fiat ... 11 nUQa to nAT/O{ov xfLa8m nAT/atac5e� nVf� ?jam. Cf. also sch. Ap. Rh. 3. 225-27a, 225 W; sch. in Arat. 254-255. 6-1 1 .; EM675 . 34-5 . Griffith 1 989: 1 72, argues: "Rieron as a priest of Demeter and Kore (01. 6. 94-5) and his name is probably short for 'ie[)(.6vvfl �."
Pindar
103
"Understand what I tell you, you whose name means holy temples, father, founder of Aitna" (Race, Loeb).
In an encomium entitled 'AAd;avoQC)) A.lluV'ta, the poet stretches this license to its limits, as he attaches the trappings of the lofty mythological past to a contem porary man of aristocratic descent and convenient name; homonymy triggers here and sustains the mingling of qualities and personalities. Pindar manipulates the martial connotations and near synonymy of Alexandrus and Amyntas, bringing into the foreground the mythical Trojan Alexandrus. Past and present mingle in tricately, and the poet submits a paradoxical comparison of his client with the ho monymous Trojan Alexandrus-Paris (fr. 1 20): 'OA�(WV OpcIJVVPE �aQoavLoav, / naL 8QaoullTJOfS; A.lluvta, "Namesake of the blessed Trojans, bold-counseling son of Amyntas" (Race, Loeb). Pindar consciously employs a traditional etymo logical pointer (£:rtroV\lJl£) in a wording that ironically challenges mythological expectations and verisimilitude of character: the Dardanidae were not eventually prosperous and happy (OA{3(WV) nor was Alexandrus-Paris a stout-minded fighter (()[Jaav-{tl1&�): his name has been a stock example of deformation or unnaming ever since Homer. Pindar' s intentions escape us. Did he perhaps desire to play upon the pompous martial air of his clients' names, since Alexandrus « aU';w +av�[J) complements the notion of �pvvra� « a{tvvw)? We cannot tell whether his intentions were parodical and playful, motivated by the hammering warlike virtues of father and son;216 the fragmentary state of the text makes such questions and aspirations hopeless. In this bold use of homonymy, the distinctions of dia chrony and synchrony disappear; mythical and historical specificities are fused together and treated indiscriminately as if along a continuum, to the degree this promotes the duties and the strategy of a commissioned, encomiastic poet. The most demanding and elaborate patterns of etymology are attested in the Pindaric mythical exempla; this is the locus for imaginative and novel approaches and thoughts, for most significant, though elusive and implicit, derivations. Pindar singles out mythical moments and episodes, which he impregnates with ingen iously contrived meanings, and makes them ancillary to his programming and pro fessional commitment; along with his myths, Pindar also tailors the attending etymologies to fit new contexts. The name of Pelops, to which we shall soon turn, is a challenging and prime case study.
216
Sulzberger 1 926: 4 1 9 classes Alexandrus and Amyntas in the fourth category of his all inclusive patronymic system, that is, the name of the child is almost a synonym of that of his father (408).
1 04
Ancient Poetic Etymology
Conclusions Ancient poetic etymology and its fonnulation and function have been the overall theme of the second chapter. Homer and Pindar, to a lesser degree, have supplied the evidential material for the fonnation of representative etymological templates and patterns. The comprehensive overview of paradigmatic examples, garnered primarily from Homer and secondarily from lyric poetry, has shown the complex ity and variety of the etymological patterns and the expertise of the ancient poets as well as their unrivalled grasp of language and soaring imagination. In their hands, sounds and words become conceptual semata, signs that point to individual and collective ideology and values, whether these are traditional or novel and heu ristic, fashioned ad hoc by poets in compliance with the conventions of their genre and the demands of oral communication. The pieces from which we gleaned our examples and on which we based the fonnulation of our principles, are literary and as such they pose their own require ments. Poets, as artists, enjoy playing with words, negotiating and challenging their semantic cargo along with the expectations of their audience/reader. They consciously break loose from the bonds of the lexical monosemanticity, and probe the potential of sounds and lexemes, illustrating their inherent plasticity and pli ability, their concealed potential and polyvalence. In a caleidoscopic manner, they pick out fragments of the underlying possibilities, and stress what is relevant to their designs and to the contextual requirements at any particular time, thus mak ing up their fiction. Aspiring to unveil the mutability behind the superficial fixed ness of words and sounds, poets expand their literary space. For ancient theorists and philosophers, on the other hand, etymology becomes a way of making sense out of plurality and multifonnity; it emerges as a principle of tidying up and categorizing the disparate empirical or metaphysical world. Hel lenistic grammarians and scholiasts, fascinated by the conceptual, semantic and etymological ambiguity that penneates archaic and classical poetry, engage in prolific activity, which is devoted to the study of usually rare words and their ori gins, along with sundry issues of pragmatical, grammatical and literary nature. They single out and codify the explicit or implicit etymological hints they find, or think they find, scattered in the vast body of ancient literature, and trace words back to their putative original fonns, spanning a great number of Greek dialects; only exceptionally do they appeal to foreign languages. The etymological patterns attested in the work of ancient poets recur in the corpus of the ancient scholia and testify to the continuity of a well-established and cemented etymological tradition. Under the spur and the impulse of their contemporary intellectual and philosophi cal movements, scholars often accommodate their particular interests, submitting new and divergent etymologies to old words. The growth of science and philoso phy affects etymology, which thus becomes a mirror of ideological and literary advances.
Conclusions
1 05
Yet a danger lurks here: the fact that centuries have elapsed between the original production and the scholarly exegetical enterprise, which reflects the in terests of contemporary intellectual, philosophical and philological cycles, makes for the risk of circular argumentation; anachronistic and modem assumptions may intrude into the interpretation of old poems and situations. The risk is real: early poets are often viewed through the lens of later and diverging philosophical doc trines; disputes and speculations, alien to the original poetry and its audience, gain currency and authority as they are imported into the archaic poetry, whose origi nal meaning and encoded messages they distort, professing new truths. Etymo logical manipulation, registered in the corpora of philosophers, scholiasts and grammarians, becomes an ancilla in propagating new outlooks and bears witness to the "modernization" of archaic thought. Derivation becomes the arena in which the past wrestles with the present. The names of gods constitute a prime example of this philosophical fermentation and negotiation. As a result of this, Homer, in particular, is transformed into a proto-allegorist or a Stoic philosopher, who ap pears to espouse tenets of schools that flourished centuries after him. 217 Even though threads of different eras and provenance merge in an intricate manner, scholarly etymology remains a valuable and authoritative instrument by which the mentality and culture of bygone generations and people are telescoped and penen trated. With its bifocal vision, etymology points to the past and present, and emerges as a medium of differentiation and unification as well; unity of language emerges behind the disparity and multiplicity of its uses. The student of Greek poetic etymology over time is expected, therefore, to heed the ancient methods; divested of rigid epistemological accoutrements, he/she is invited to listen to the ancient poetic voice behind the lines. To dismiss ancient etymologies as bizarre and fanciful fabrications may be an orthodox scientific re action, but unilateral and misguided in view of the idiosyncratic nature of ancient derivation and the conceptual and cultural background on which it rests. Apart from its narratological expediency, poetic etymology performs a significant com municative and intertextual role as well. Archaic and classical poets thereby enter a dialectic discourse with the literary, linguistic and religious traditions of their community. Etymology becomes a matrix of fermentation, in which past and pre sent collapse into something new. Comprehension and appreciation of the methods and functions of poetic ety mology from as early as antiquity suggests the existence of an audience that is well versed in the traditional intricacies of etymological wordplay, and is recep tive to its various forms and applications. The reception of demanding practices, such as the implicit restructuring and resignification of words, presupposes the availability of well-trained and sensitive listeners or readers, who are capable of comprehending new and challenging verbal associations and mental images. It suggests the presence of people who are either imbued with a common oral and 21 7
Long 1992: 4 1 -66, sets out to refute the notion that the Stoics made Homer a crypto-Stoic. He emphasizes the use of etymology by the Stoics, who showed how to give cosmoiogical read ings to certain myths by etymologizing the names of their divine agents.
1 06
Ancient Poetic Etymology
song-culture, or have registered its techniques and practices in their collective memory; people who somehow share a uniform code of communication. This mental process assumes an unbroken line of communication between the creator and the recipients of his work. This contact is feasible and meaningful if both drink from a common spring, despite the manifold diachronic and synchronic changes in the domain of language, thought and technical media. A most significant function of etymology, which it shares with grammar, is that it assists in gauging linguistic correctness, thus becoming a test of Hellenism (SAArjVw(.16;) against f3aQf3aQw(.16;. The term Hellenism involves orthoepeia, that is, correct pronunciation, the use of correct aspiration, lengthenings and shortenings; in sum SAArjVC'£lV means to speak or write pure or correct Greek.218 Alexandrian etymologizing, which sought the origin and the explanation of rare words through the application of correct grammatical rules, reveals the points of contact between etymology and grammar; the above-mentioned t�'CoS;/t�'Cos;-lfCos; prove the case: aspiration is bound to the underlying divine dynameis and the etymology that supports them. Etymology turns into a means of establishing not only a linguistic but also an ethnic identity: taking theonyms, anthroponyms, toponyms, customs and institutions, for instance, back to Greek divine and heroic figures and Greek etiological stories of the remote past, etymology serves the cause of Hellenism, whose unalloyed character and continuity it purports to show in a period of expeditions and expansion. Philosophy, philology and exegetical tradition investigate language and etymology, thereby serving Greek interests and proving the Greekness of the Greeks and their traditions. The ancient scholarly tradition studies language in a holistic and global manner. Ancient etymology, whether poetic or scholarly, exhibits a permanent feature: it remoulds the same underlying linguistic material so as to sustain new concepts; words and sounds inherited from the past are infused with novel and polyvalent meanings. This process resembles a "rewriting over:" words are treated as a pal impsest,219 on which poets are licensed to imprint new mental images and seman tic alternatives, exploiting their underlying sound sequences. Strongly mimetic, ancient Greek language and culture profit from the aural qualities of words and broaden the cycle of the associable words, enriching their fundamental lexical and 218
2 19
See Arist. Rhet. 1407a5. The technical terms eAATlVLO!!OC;, aVEAAtlVLaTOV and �aQ� aQo v occur in etymological (e.g. sch. A Ariston. 11. 14. 37a1 and sch. T ib. a2 : ()\j!ELOVtEC;) and grammatical contexts: see in: Grammatici Graeci (hereafter G.G.), ed. Uhlig, rec. Hi1gard, Scholia in Dionysii Thracis artem Grammaticam (Lipsiae 1 90 1 ), 1 . 3: 1 1 3 . 1 5-26, At"tLOV ov v tTic; YQa!!!!auxTic; f] aoaqJELa" xal YUQ ol c'iVOQWltOL EVtuyxavOVtEC; ltOLtl!!am xal ltE�oiC; oUYYQa!!!!am, tljv aQxaLav xal altE<�e>vLO!!EVTlV qJwvljv o ux alto 00 �OVtEC;, EltE�tltTlOav tEXVTlV tljv oaqJTlVLOm tautTlv 1iuVa!!EVTlv ... o ih wC; xal ol ltEQLltWOVtEC; YQaqJaic; aoaqJEm oaqJTlVELac; XaQlV tljv YQa!!!!auxljv EltEVOTlOaV . . . )(al. yaQ to t€lo; a"tf!; ton to /ita tOV t lll1VtOI.lOV ta aoacpf! oaCPl1v(oat, aAAu xal at"uov autTic; f] oaqJtlvELa. See G.G. l . 3: 1 60. 1 -5 : grammar AUOltEAEL t<jJ eAATlVLa!!<jJ . See Stanford 1 967: 140-45. Lallot 1 99 1 : 145, recognizes the contribution of etymology for the establishment of the "norme linguistique (eAATlVlO!!OC;)." For the viewing of literature as palimpsest see Genette 1 982: passim and 45 1 with n. 1 .
Conclusions
1 07
semantic categories. Sound is potent, indeed, and etymology serves the soaring and swelling imagination of poets, providing them with raw material susceptible to change. Herein lies, in my opinion, the greatest contribution of etymological manipulation: it provides a unique way of expanding the conceptual space of lan guage and literature. Antiquity recognizes the obscurity of first names, the remotest of words, and Plato (Cra. 4 14c4-7) describes the evolution of words with a geological metaphor, which builds upon the imagery of dough or clay, since the first names were buried and covered with dust as it were, TU JlQ
223
G. Murray, Greek Studies, pp. 66-67, apud Dodds 1 95 1 : 1 78. Sch. Lond. in Dion. Thrax, G.G. 1 . 3: 454. 2 1 -23. On cm600OL£ in the sense of<'mo Ao y(u see G. G. I . 3: 1 69 . 1 6. For the meaning ofEmoru.wo(u see Atherton 1 993: 97-8 n. 63. Sch. Marc. in Dion. Thrax, G.G. 1 . 3: 309. 12-14: TC EOttV Er:Vf.lOAoy{a; i\v(iltt1Jst£ tOOV M;EWV ag�6so1Jou tfj cpwvfj, Ot' �£ xUL to aAu6E� oUCPTlVtSEtUL. n66EV ETwoAoy{a; IIUQU TO ETVf.lW� MYEt v ijY01JV aAu6oo�, ES OV XUL XUtU aVUOtn:AUOLUO�OV ET�t'Vf.lOV. See also ib. 303. 6-9, 1 7- 1 8 . The study of dialects -qxov�- is indirectly though clearly introduced in the etymological re search: G.G. 303. 12- 1 8 : tire pupil leams how to read a word, e.g. f.lfiVtV, with the correct ac centuation, then he inquires tljv ES�YTlotV , 0 Eon tljv Eg�TlVE(UV �u6wv oE on ogyTjv brtf.l0VOV OTl�u(VEt, an:ULtEL tljv OUiAEXtOV, t(VE£ AEY01JOt f.lfiVtV tTjv ogy�v, xUL axouH ott ot Y!OOVE£. Mu6wv Of xUL tTjv OtaAExTOv STltEL xUL tljv tf]£ EtwoAoy(u£ Ei5gEatv; see ib. 1 69. 1 1 - 1 5 .
1 08
Ancient Poetic Etymology
account for namegiving, whose investigation constitutes nonetheless a subjective business: the individuals proceed with the ultimate goal of touching and grasping the meaning of words as best they can. Hence, as Heliodorus claims, one may say that etymology is finding the truth, that is, UAl]8LVOAOYCU (speaking truth, LSJ). 224 Etymologia sets out to search the causative, hence natural relation between signi fier and signified, that is, why things have such and such names. 225 Its derivation from fi6�, 6 UAl]8�C; .. , £'1< toil {iO� {iVp,O�, 6 unagxwv XUL UAl]8�C;, EX La'lJLOU XUL tau A6yo� yCV£taL ervp,oAoy(a, OLOV£L UAl]8LVOAOYCU tLC; o vau (EM 388. 1 8), gives etymologia an ontological dimension, since fi6� i s the verbal adjective 22 of elp, c, 6 With a few notable exceptions, Hellenism, from Homer down to the grammarians, the scholiasts and the later lexicographers, is imbued with a com mon tradition and shares the fundamental notion of the natural association of names and things. But although ancient grammatical and scholiastic etymology ,,227 professes to find "the truth," it ends up offering multiple "truths, depending not only on the theoretical equipment, the ax£u�, and the tools of those who are engaged in its pursuit, but also on the understanding of the original poetic context: etymology is conditioned upon context, as the phraseology of the Homeric scholi asts suggests: to Emcp£g6fl£vov, xu80 Emcp£gEL, EX tWV aUflCPgul;0fl£vWV, ugfl6l;ov LaIC; unoXELfl£VOLC;, etc. The investigation of etymology is a composite enterprise depending on the computation of many parameters, whether grammati cal, dialectal, technical and/or literary; we get a flavor of this complex business from Proclus' commentary on the Platonic Cratylus; he outlines the requirements in a section of eleven entries, which would deserve a subtitle like the 'EYXELgC (HOV LaU XUAOU EtUfloA6you (85, pp. 39-4 1 , Pasq.).
224
225
226
227
Heliod. C.C. I . 3: 470.29 - 47 1 . 10, fTVj.lOAoy{a E01:L A6yo� MI;EWV EvvOlav El;r]Y01J I-\EvO<;, � OVOI-\(l1;WV EI;�YTjOl<;, xae' \lv a('t(av 'tl]V ltgw'tTjV EOXOV ltgooTjyog(av' oiov on uv8gwlto<; MyE'tm naQu to ... I-\ovo<; YUQ .. . �Ei: oE fTVj.lOAOYEiv ros av £xaotos xatu ib(av enlpoll A,1]V XlVOUJlEVOS ult'tTj'tm 'tOU xa'ta MI;LV oTjl-\mVOI-\EVoU. KaL Eonv E'tUI-\OAoy(a 00<; av ELltOl 'tu; uATj8lVoAoy(a' ov yag 00<; E'tUXEV El; ugXfi<; ut 'EAATjVlXU'l MI;El<; EltE'tE8Tjouv £xuo'tqJ ltgu yl-\U n, 0lov ... Or. 173. 1-5 : 'ETVj.lOAoy{a Eo'tL 'to El; uv'tfi<; 'tfi<; 'tOU ltguYl-\u'to<; Ovol-\uo(a<; EUg(OXElV 'tl]V uv'tou £gI-\TjVE(UV' xaL 'to Ola 't( o{5,;w<; Ovol-\u�E'tm' oiov lE Myw (}EO� o ti v AEyE'tm blU to (}EW(>Eiv ltUna ... Sch. bT n. 1 8. 4 1 0c. 10 OE at'rrro v 'H gw o la vo<; (2. 108. 14) OXTjI-\a't �E l naQu to £lj.l{, h:ov arz1:ov at'rz1:ov, 1:0 I-\EYU xu'l uY1JltaQXtov xu'l ltuQa Ulj<SEY'l DV; sch. A n. 1 8 . 410d. al:rz wv: '" l-\�ltOlE o ti v 0cpE(AOI-\EV ltEC8w8m 'to lAOI;EV!])' CPTjOL yag ulno ouv8E'tov clvm naQu to f1:6� ... 0 OTjl-\u(VEl tl]V Ultagl;LV, El; o D to UATj8E<;, 0 xUL y(vE'tm frE6�. Lallot 1 99 1 : 138, speaking of poetic eponymy, notes that this, amplified by etymological figures, tends to proliferate freely; thus the image of the truth of a name is "celle d' une verite plurielle." In his conclusion ( 146), he describes "the global result," which comes about from the accumulation of multiple etymologies, correct or incorrect, others being added to others without refutation of the former.
CHAPTER 3 PELOPS AND HIS NAME
Literary Tradition Pelops is not only the most distinguished figure, the archegete and the eponymous hero of "the Isle of Pelops," but also the most recalcitrant to linguistic investiga tion; he possesses an elusive and ambiguous name on an intergenerational scale. His name defies the application of a unidimensional analysis and categorization, in contrast to the names of the other members of his dynastic family. Pelops is the only name of this extended line that is so pronouncedly multi-dimensional and multi-levelled. In the skilful hands of ancient poets and men of literature, it ac quires an impressive evasiveness and flexibility of almost Proteic nature. Its pel Ipol- and pl- sounds are imaginatively manipulated and interwoven in multiple ways so as to allude to various semantic and functional aspects. Pelops has a pe culiar and idiosyncratic nature, which sets it apart from the lucid and predictable names of the other male members of this dynasty; this name is sui generis. For these reasons Pelops merits our attention and priority. The pivotal question "What's In a Name?" can find multiple answers, depending on the premises. I shall endeavor to draw a holistic picture of "who' and "what" Pelops was for both the modem and the ancient people.
3. 1. Modern Scientific Etymology Modem scholars consider Pelops a Greek name. 228 With a rare unanimity, they associate it with the root *pel-Ipol-, which is attested in a broad family of Greek words such as: Jr£}.na, m;At6�, JroAt6�, Jr£Adjv6�, Jr£Uo� and Jr£AA6�. The vast majority of scholars derive Pelops from JroAt6� or m:At6� in the meaning of "dark,' and consider the ending -01/1 either a derivational suffix or a noun in the sense of 01/1t�, 0 1/1 (LSJ B), the "eye" or "face." Wilamowitz-Moellendorff associ ates Pelops with the ethnic name II£}.,om;� and the black-and-white ['die schwarzweissen'] Pelasgoi; "II£}.,oJre� sind JreAw(," dark-colored, as also Pelops, who shares with them the same racial and linguistic root (Jr£At6�).229 Pelops' con nection with the Pelasgoi opens up an interesting alternative, since the ancient 228 229
Scherling 1 940: 849-850, 854-56; Degani-Burzacchini 1 977:336. Cf. Chantraine 1 968: 25960. Wilamowitz-MoeIlendorff 1 895, 1 : 2 n. 2. Scherling 1940: 849, summarizes Wilamowitz's proposal for Pelops as "ITEAO'tj! = JteAL6�, der dunkelfarbige." On the Pelasgoi see Pokorny 1 959: 832 and Frisk 1 970 s.v.
1 10
PeJops and his Name - Literary Tradition
scholars derived the Pelasgoi from pelas, "near." Apollodorus of Athens testifies 30 to this: JIEAaaytXOv oE O'tL 'tT]S; Yii� JriAa� E()"ttV ? The double etymology of the Pelasgoi and PelasgikoslPelastikos from pelios and pelas has an immediate bear ing on the etymology of Pelops; it echoes its Platonic derivation, as we shall see, Continuing on the same track, Kretschmer focuses on the chromatic aspects of Pelops , considering it (along with Pelias) "ein redender Name," in which is im printed the type of the old, dark-haired Peloponnesian population which came from Asia Minor, Pindar (01. I , 68), says Kretschmer, must have been aware of this meaning of Pelops when describing the hero as "schwartzbiirtige," black ,,231 bearded, Pelops and Pelias are evidently derived from JreAt6�. Ancient au thorities are explicit as regards Pelias: a horse stepped on infant Pelias' face, and caused him a blue-black bruise (JreALwf1.a); on account of ouvogO!!y), i.e., the con currence or determination of blood (Arist. Probl. 889b30, LSJ), Pelias earned a fitting name.232 This name is descriptive of Pelias' physical mishap as an infant, and of his wickedness as an adult, I would add. In a later study Kretschmer speci fies further the constitution of JIiA01jJ: he connects it with the words JreAt6�, JreAt7:V6�, JreAa(}y6� and the root *JrEA-, and considers the suffix -OJr a weak pro 233 Von ductive suffix. Unfortunately, he failed to convince Chantraine and Frisk. Kamptz also connects Pelops with JIiAOJre�, a name used by the Balkan newcom ers from the northwest for the dark-haired pre-Hellenic peoples. 234 The dark chromatic connections reemerge in the treatments of Pelops by 235 Bechtel-Fick, Pokorny, and also Hofrnann, who associates it with JreAt7:V6� and
230
23 1
232
233
Apollod. of Athens apud Steph. Byz. s.v. ,1wOWV1J: Jacoby FGrHist. 244 F88. The same derivation is posited for m'Aaanx6�, an epithet of Zeus: IIfAaanxi, ov JriAa� earLY 0 a�f.J (sch. bT Il. 1 6. 233b). Kretschmer 1939: 5 : "der Name IIiAoljJ . . . auf eine dunkelhaarige Urbev61kerung des Pe1o ponnes hinzuweisen scheint;" so id. 1 940: 236-37. The characterization of Pelops as "der schwarzbartige" comes from the summary of Kretschmer's views by Scherling 1 940: 849. Gruppe 1 906/1975: 145, considers IIf).{a� a diminutive of IIiAoljJ. See sch. A(D) n. 10. 334 Scholia-D ad loc.: JroAwlo l..1l x.ow. AEUx.oii AUX.OU, Otll 1:'*Iv 1:,,; XQoa; lOlO1:T)1:a' x.u'L yaQ IIf).{av Ev'tt'ilOliv CPU<JLV IilvollaaOal. TUQ w yaQ i] LUAllwvew£ YEvvljauau Ouo ltuTOu£ ... x.m:eALltE. TOV IlEv oD v lhEQov x.uwv ... ETQECPE' TOV Of ETEQOV LltltO£ x.UTa TO lleTWltOV EmlTl]aEV' EltEA80VTE£ oD v OL LltltOCPOQj3o'L aVEAoIlEVO( TE Ta ltaL O(u, ETQECPOV, x.u'L Iilvollaaav , TOV Ilev, but EX. auvoQollTJ£ ULIlUTO£ eJrfALW81J, IIf).{av, TOV Of ETEQOV , £ltt't x.uwv xar1JMrlOf, N1JMa. Kretschmer 1940: 236-37 (as also Thramer 1 888: 83): "In IItAOIV scheint das fast zum Suffix verblasste -01t- die Stelle einer suffixalen Ableitung einzunehmen," on which see Frisk 1 970 s.v. JrfAL(jv6�, Pelops: "ganz unsicher." Chantraine DELG, s.v. JrfALov6�, is skeptical about Kretschmer's view (Pelops belongs to the same family of words) and wonders, "in what sense?" See also Chantraine 1 968: 257-60: the ending op- is either attached to the root *oqW "voir," or a pre-Hellenic suffix, although contamination between the two systems is pro duced; Pelops belongs to the latter category (259-60). See von Kamptz 1 982: § 1 5a2, pp. 45-46, §50a3, pp. 1 39-140, § 8 1 , pp. 330-3 1 : IIiAoljJ is connected with the root *JrfA- ("farblos, dunkel") attested in: JrfAL6�, JrfALov6� and JrfU6�. Bechtel-Fick 1 894: 405, "IIiA- vielleicht 'grau', IIiA-oljJ urspriinglich auf Pisa beschrankt." Pokomy 1959: 804. 6. pel-: IIiAoljJ <JrfAL6� (,'farblos, bleich, grauschwarz, schwarzblau"). �
=
234 235
Modem Scientific Etymology
111
, renders it as "(der) Schwarzgesichtige., 236 Burkert adopts this interpretation and, recognizing the initiatory character of the Pindaric myth, incorporates the hero as "dark-face" into the double ritual of the Olympian games. The blood offerings poured in Pelops' bothros reflect the chthonic and dark character of Pelops and his cult in contrast to the sacrifices performed in the neighboring altar of bright and celestial Zeus; the hero and the Olympian god are bound in a polar opposi 3? tion? N. Robertson also explains the name Pelops as "dark-face," in the frame work of another ritual, similar to the Carneia, which involves running for the grapes: "Pelops is pursued by Oenomaus, 'Dark-face' by 'Wine-seeker, ' mythical , ,,238 projections of the ' garlanded ram' and the 'grape-runners . Ramat excludes Pelops from the typical totemic names, exemplified best by Aeropes and Dryopes, on the grounds that Pelops is a name of pure Indo-European formation; it signifies "dall' aspetto scuro" (1[EAt6� "scuro"), and has etymological clarity due to the lack of any totemic associations; it is a later formation created with the purpose of underlining an ethnic difference and is "un nome 'razionale' ne! quale non vi e ,,239 posto per implicanze di ordine magico-religioso. In a study that discredits not only the ancient but also the modem etymo logies of Aethiopes, Beekes lists Pelops among other 011' formations, but without 40 any further analysis ? Summarily, Beekes finds fault with the etymology and interpretation of the Aethiopes as "(with) burnt-faces" because one would expect to find -w'ljJ and not -01[-, if the word were connected with a verb to see. He ar gues that possibly "Greek adopted a few adjectives in -01[- from a non-lE lan guage; -01[- in these forms was then considered a form of 01[-, 'to see ' ; after ,,241 which new adjectives were formed with the suffix in its new meaning. Whether or not Pelops belongs to this category, its explicit association with the verb to see is Greek and goes as far back as Plato. The currency of polioslpelios remains undiminished, but its chromatic range is modified in the proposal of Pape and Benseler: although they still derive Pelops from 1rt:A6�, 1[iAo� = 1rt;At6�+6'ljJ, they discard its dark hues and, following a soli tary and unique path, they translate the adjectives as "pale" or "white," on the grounds that Pelops and his line exhibit close ancestral connections with the ivory -
236
237
238
23 9
240
24 1
Hofmann 1 949: 260, s. v. ;rrsAtTv6c;, "Hierher viell. II€Ao'ljl als der Schwarzgesichtige (von der dunkelhaarigen Rasse der Urbevolkerung)." Cf. Paley 3 n. 2 (apud Gerber 1982: 58): "the name Pelops means ' dark-faced,' and the tale may easily be explained by some swarthy sun burnt stranger having shown a whiter skin on removing his mantle from his shoulder." Burkert 1983: 93-103, esp. 97: "dark-face." So also Steiner 200 1 : 284. Robertson 1 988: 250 with n. 138. Ramat 1 962: 1 76-77. Beekes 1 995/6: 1 9, claims that neither vWQo'ljl (22, 25) nor �VO'ljl (22) have an etymology, thus gainsaying the ancient evidence; he considers names, such as Cyclops ( 19-20 n. 4) and Atlas ( 1 2 n. l ), pre-Greek and non-lE formations, and discounts the ancient Greek etymolo gies in general as folk etymologies (25-26, 28), hence "wrong" and on one occasion (aether) "mere phantasy"(1 7). Beekes 1 995/6: 25.
1 12
Pelops and his Name - Literary Tradition
shoulder and its color, as evidenced by Pindar's "revised myth" and Tzetzes ' quasi-medical explanation (sch. Lyc. Alex. 1 52, 70-7 1 Scheer). Veering away from the chromatic words of the pelios family, H. D. Muller discerns the word JrOA£� and the proper names IItAAa, IIeAArlV1l, IItA£vva, IIe AOJr1l in the root *pel- that underlies Pelops?42 The new element here is polis, while Pella or Pellene are linked with the dark color that has permeated the pelios family since antiquity. Thramer advances a new combination: he derives Pelops from the noun JrtAAa ( M{)o�) and/or JrOA£� and -OJr, in the sense of the Latin opus, thus viewing Pelops as the "Burgbauer oder Burgbewohner." Thramer's indebtedness to Curtius in this treatment of the ending -o'IjJ is unquestionable?43 We must note here that Pelops did, indeed, found a few cities (Strabo 8. 4. 4, C 360), CilIa being the most renowned, while Pelopeion, his temenos at Olympia, is surrounded by a stone-fence (A(9wv 'tE 8QLYX(j), Paus. 5. l 3 . 1 ) . This alternative is not necessarily mere circumstantial evidence, though it sounds rather generic; it does not convey any essential, individual features of Pelops. Kramer follows a different track, continuing the assumption of Voelcker that IItAo'IjJ does not differ from "EAAO'IjJ or ;EtAAO'IjJ, which is the same with (a) "EAO�, "EAO�, ;EtAAo�, and (b) that eAo� and lAV� signify the marshy and humid land, properly called IIeAOJrla or 'EAAoJrla. Kramer attempts an allegorical read ing of the conflict between Pelops and Oenomaus, considering the latter a savage and malignant enemy of Pelopia. This land was saved from the precipitous onrush of the waves and winds that were directed against it by sinister Oenomaus, and was also fortified by its assiduous residents, who dedicated the land to the hero Pelops?44 The connections of Pelops with eAo� and Jr1lAO�, "mud," seem to also underlie the alternative posited by Robert Graves: "Pelops' position as Poseidon's minion, his name, 'muddy face,' and the legend of his ivory shoulder, point rather ,, to a porpoise cult on the Isthmus. 245 Scheid and Svenbro, adopting the proposal of Peter J. Wilson, who "points ,, out that Pelops is an anagram of peplos, 246 connect the name of Pelops with the peplos woven by his bride, Hippodameia, and the ritual of the peplophoria insti=
242
243
244 245 246
So H. D. Muller 1 857: 1 99. See also Kramer 1 886: 40 with n. 4; cf. the objections ofThramer 1 888: 83 with n. 1 . Graf 1996: 24 with nn. 22, 23, in a diachronic survey of scholarly ap proaches of myth, compares H. D. Muller and K. O. Muller: the former sees the Pe lops myth as an outgrowth of ritual. As for the latter, Graf argues: "the notion that the form of myth is determined by the form of language is absent in his thought. He was willing to concede only that misunderstandings of language could give rise to myths, as in the case of the myth of Pelops, which he explained as a fabrication resulting from a misunderstanding of the lauda tory epithet 'ivory-shouldered' applied to the historical Pelops." Thramer 1 888: 83 n. 2: nEUa = U801; (Hsch., sch. Demosth. 19. 1 55); n6}.,t�. As regards opus, he follows Curtius 1 886, 2: 1 3 6-37, who speaks of the homonyms produced by the loss of the three spirantsj, D, s. and the concomitant etymological confusion, using the final -DIp as an illustrative example: this "might equally well represent any one of the original roots ak (c'51po/lw), 'see,' vak (olJl) 'speak,' ap (on, Lat. opus) 'work,' vap (Fen) 'to be busy.' " Kramer 1 886: 41 with n. 2, 42. Graves 1992: 392, 774. See Scheid and Svenbro 1 996: 1 76 n. 23.
Modem Scientific Etymology
1 13
tuted by her as a thanksgiving to Hera, the goddess of marriage. The weaving of this peplos is not merely of matrimonial importance, commemorating her union with Pelops, they argue, but has a political significance a well, serving as a sym bol of unification and social cohesion.247 The career of this etymology continues in Hamilton, who speaks of "a peplophoria that, at least anagrammatically, sug ,, gests that Pelops himself was the figure of that offering. 248 The proposal is imaginative and anagram plays a significant role in ancient Greek etymology, Hera-aer being a typical paradigm (n. 1 04, above). Plato ac knowledges its function in contrast to the author of the Dissoi Logoi. This tech nique usually presupposes an essential and causal connection between name and thing; air etymologizes Hera, for instance, reckoning her essential power. Yet in this imaginative proposal for the etymological value of peplos, which primarily depends on the craft of women and symbolizes matrimonial and political unity, Pelops shares his onomastic and functional supremacy with Hippodameia and the women of Elis. To sum up our survey, the majority of scholars draw their evidential material predominantly from Pindar's Olympian 1 and the scholiastic and lexicographical tradition, thus revealing their deep appreciation of ancient etymological practices and principles. Plato and Tzetzes are mentioned only exceptionally. Modem ety mologists also enrich their study of Pelops with interdisciplinary evidence, origi nating from history, religious studies, social anthropology and comparative lin guistics. They trace the origins of Pelops in JU:A�6�, 7roA�6� or a variety of other pel-/pol- words, and o'ljJ (= face); in these words are seated the essential and inti mate characteristics of Pelops, be it his oriental origin and his presumably sun tanned complexion; the brightness of his shoulder; his darkening beard and his prayer by the polia sea at night as well as his chthonic cult connections; his asso ciations with mud, and finally his city founding and fortifying activities. I shall conclude this brief conspectus of modem etymologies with a most ag nostic or nihilistic view to the effect that we know nothing of Pelops' derivation. This goes back to Bloch, who claims: "Eine emstgemeinte Etymologie des Na ,, mens aus dem Altertume wird nirgends uberliefert. 249 The limitations of this comment will emerge in the course of our study of Pelops ' name.
7
24
248
249
Scheid and Svenbro 1 996: 9-34. Hamilton 2003: 9 1 , 94-96, argues that since Poseidon's love was aroused by the "boy's na kedness . . . who at this point in the myth . . . is indeed uncovered -apeplos," and since the hero was linked with the Heraean festival and the peplophoria, then Pelops was the figure of that offering and his name derived from peplos by way of anagrammatism or metathesis. Bloch ( l 902-1 909/repr. 1965: 1 866). Reviewing the proposals of MUller and Thramer, Bloch argues that neither the relation with the root 71:E).- nor with the secondary meaning of 71:6)'u; can be confirmed.
1 14
Pelops and his Name - Literary Tradition
3. 2. Polios in Homer The adjectives JroAt6�/m'At6� constitute the cornerstone of most modem etymo logical theories on Pelops; hence our project will greatly profit from a brief sur vey of its ancient uses and meanings. In its diachronic literary course, the adjec tive polios qualifies a great number of things, such as the sea, the hide of the wolf, the temples of the head and the hair of old people, the belly, the fishing line, wa ter, the beard, the aether, wine, milk and many other things. In Homer, pelios is unattested, while polios invariably qualifies the sea, hair and wolf hide. It is a conventional attribute of the sea in formulaic phrases such as JrOAt 1v (iAa or 8aAaaaav, (XAO� JroAwio, JrOAt fi� (U6�. The exact meaning of the adjective es capes us but the conditions under which it appears are significant; its meaning is conditioned upon the context. Polia sea is a topographical term; it marks a mediating place, stretching be tween the deep oinops pontos and the seashore, the aktai. Its visual effect depends on a number of factors, such as location, depth, distance from the dry land, direc tion of the sunbeams that fall into it and smoothnesss or roughness of its surface; polios is thus an elusive chromatic term,250 and emotionally charged, as I hope to show. Homer mentions polia sea on diverse occasions and for various purposes. It anticipates felicitous and hope-inducing situations, as when Menelaus and his men prepare for the final lap of their nostos and salvation. They start rowing with a will, beating the polia sea with their oars (Od. 4. 579_80): 25 1 aV OE xaL ai),[OL �UV1:E£ btL XA11lOL xa81�ov· E�l1 £ 0' E�Of.lEVOL nOA!TzV aAa nhnov EQE1:f.lo1£
250
25 1
Ps.-Arist. De Calor. 791 a20-24: <'>f.l0LW£ 010 xaL 1:0 uowQ, omv 1:QaxuvOfl, xaOureEQ � 1:11£ OaMnTj£ wv ent orvona nov1:ov: oiueiov Tfi lJ,V'i TO JfOAIOV, rep Oe novnp ro OlV01p. See sch. min. on Homer, col. IX, 13 (Henrichs ZPE 7 [1971] 1 64) nOAt fi� uAo£: [t11£] areo wu a reOLTjt�£ WUtEOtlV orvov o1/!tV ExoVta xa9' bf.lOlot1]ta wu «ale01/! olvo�» aVtL tOU f.lEAa£ ... El 010 xaL nOAlllv aAa MYEL aVtL taU AEUX1]V, aUa WUtO 11 wu ltIoQL tOY aiYLaAov f.lEQOU£ t11£ OaAuooTj£ XUta W\1£ reuAmou£ EOtLV EreLOEwv <0£ aEL t11£ reaQmYluALtLOO£ AEUXOt£lIa; OUOTj£ toU reovwu, o£ EOtl to 1:11£ OaAuooTj£ �aOu, [11 1:�V £ltalJllI(�ou(Jav OTjAo1 xaL outW AEuxav9(�ou(Jav. OlO XUL MtAaveo� IIoan06Jv reaQa AUX0f.l0LW£ ou reaou, � reQo£ to aiYLaA0 OE. f.lEAU£ M yE reovto£ <'> aXQutw£ towuw£. to f.lEVtOL reoQ
Polios in Homer
1 15
The ancient scholiasts point out the visual aspects of the sea surface, as men beat the water with fervor and energy, speeding up for their long-due nostos: "they ,, whitened the water. 252 The sea is rendered navigable and "white," thus mirroring their emotional state, their hopes and elation at the prospect of salvation. Contrast ingly, nostos is endangered when the fatal enchantresses, the Sirens, cause a lethal calmness, binding sailors and ships alike. Polia sea, beaten white, is potentially a locus of salvation. Thick murk enfolds polia sea in Iliad 1 : Achilles, deeply vexed, sits by SLY' £cp' aAo� JroAtfi� (350), while from it rises Thetis to give him comfort, av€6u JroAtfi� (Ho� fjiJ't' O!-teXAT] (359), as a mist, 011 {XA'f/" a thick humid air.253 The darkness of Achilles' mood and name « aXAv�)254 matches the darkness of his misty marine mother (011 {XA 'f/,); mother and son are shrouded by a gloom that penetrates their nature and particular condition as well. Polia sea is made an inte gral part of the narrative, a sounding board of the emotional state of the persons involved. When Elpenor asks that a tomb "be poured' for him at the shore of the polia sea, he satisfies both the current religious scruples and his foiled hopes for a nostos; even dead, he nostalgically faces the thwarted way of return (Od. 1 1 .75). A mixture of gloomy feelings and relief at the salvation underlie the scene in which Penelope and Odysseus reunited weep as shipwrecked sailors, who have escaped death swimming out ofpolia sea (Od. 23. 23 1 -38) and out of Pose idon' s deadly grip. Polia sea is viewed as an ambiguous locus of transition and many potentialities, a force that one must challenge and brave; this is the central motif throughout the Odyssey after all. A most picturesque paradigm of the ambiguity of polia sea, in which the metaphorical and physical whiteness blends with the ferocious gloom, occurs in Odyssey 22. 383-86: lying dead, the suitors resemble the fish, which the fishermen removed from the many-eyed (or -holed) net and spread on the seashore out of the polia thalassa. In one breath, polia sea is connected with nourishment, life and death. The fish imagery evokes not only death, but also a twist of the motif of food that runs through the Odyssey; fish is an unpopular food, which Odysseus must eat before his is reinstated in his halls which abound with the meat of cattle and swine. The polia sea, consequently, is a mediating ground, bordering on life and death. In this capacity and as pure, venerable and holy, the sea witnesses the prayer of Telemachus to Athena (Od. 2. 260-6 1 ). I shall conclude my brief survey with two passages, in which Homer seems to foreshadow connections that have enjoyed a long-lasting career among later scho liasts and lexicographers. Achilles is surprised that Lycaon has returned from 2 52 25 3
254
sch. P Od. 4. 580: OT]�ELOvV'taC ttvE£, on 6�oCw£ bGECVq:l Ariston. De signis Odysseae ELQT]tm E�6�EVot A£VX,Ut vov U[lIlIQ (� 1 72). Sch. bT ll. 1. 359. xaQJtat.L�w£ 0' UVEOV nOA!ij<; (UD<; ijUt' O�LXt.T] .. . q;uVTuoiu liE JtEQL XELtm tfl 6Eiji OLCt tii£ 6�LXt.T]£. 11 otL 6at.aooCa EOtLV f] 6E6£. tljv oE 'B(}av tiji M()! £ix,a�£t · t.E1ttO�EQlj£ YCtQ 6 ah(} 00£ JtQo£ OUYXQWLV tWV uMtwv. See also Scholia-D ll. 1 . 359, « 6�CXt.T]» OE 6 Jtaxu£ xaL uYQ6tato£ UtlQ. Risch 1 947: 86, argues that Achilles has a pre-Greek name, which the poet (ll. 20. 320ff.) associates with aXAv<;, "Finstemis." =
1 16
Pe10ps and his Name - Literary Tradition
Lemnos and escaped death (11. 2 1 . 58-59), ouM !UV £OXE IJt6vto� (tAo<; JtOAtfj<;, 0 :rwMa<; aExovta� EQUXEt, "nor has the deep of the gray sea stayed him, that holds back many against their will" (Murray, rev. Wyatt). Entertaining an alliteration, which sounds a rather conscious etymological wordplay on nOAt6<; and nOAv<;, Homer speaks here of salvation, binding nOAt6<; and nOAv<; in a context of thwarted death, thus insinuating the contrasting potentialities of noAt6<;. The sea in general and the polion part of it in particular, subtly emerges as a cosmic element in a simile in which the Achaeans resemble thick snow flakes and rain that originate from Zeus. The snow covers the dry land but is excluded from the sea: the waves of the polia sea resist and flush it out (ll. 1 2 . 284-85), xaL t' ECP' aAo� nOAtfj<; X£XUtUL ALf,l£OLV tE xaL aXta1�, I xVf,l a M f,l LV nQoonAaCov EQU XEtUL, "and over the harbors and shores of the gray sea is the snow strewn, but the wave as it beats against it keeps it off' (Murray, rev. Wyatt). With the exception of the sea, everything is wrapped in snow. The polia sea, recalcitrant as it is, nmc tions here as the doublet of Poseidon, who plays a significant pro-Achaean role in books 1 2 and 1 3 . In this simile, the fight of the Greeks and Trojans is disguised as a battle of divine order: the two brothers contrapose their powers and weapons; Zeus' XTJAa (280) are rendered ineffective in Poseidon's sphere of influence. The divine conflict is carried out with a significant wordplay on nOAt6<; and nQoo nAaCw. Aristonicus (sch. A Il. 1 2. 285a) interprets nQoonAaCov with the cognate nQoon£AaCov, in contrast to the exegetika scholia (Til ll. l 2.285c), which explain the form as JtQooxQOtoVV, thus identifying the participle as a form of nA1]Oow. Our ancient authorities are divided between ncAaCw and nA1]OOW, and exemplify a debate of wide ramifications and effects. Suffice it to say that here we witness the ancient fusion of nQoo-nAaCw, n£AaCw and nA1]Oaw. To sum up, the polia sea in Homer is a mediating, liminal locus extending be tween the darkness of the apeiron pantos and the whiteness of the seashore. Metaphorically, it is an ambiguous, grey expanse, in which contrasting potentiali ties are hosted and measured; happiness and sorrow, life and death are imagisti cally insinuated through the chromatic and functional aspects ofpolios.
3.3. Polios / Pelios in the Scholiasts and Lexicographers The adjectives pelios and polios belong to a wide family of pel-Ipol- formations, in which are also included: nEA£w, n£AuSv6<; (-rv6<;), n£AAULXQ6<;, nEUo<;, ncAA6<;, nEUrz, nEUa, n£Atw{ta etc. Ancient authorities discuss the meaning of these words speaking explicitly of their "color," their XQw{ta or XQota, undoubt edly treating them as chromatic. The chart of polios comprises mostly white (A£vu6<;, A£vuaVe{cwv) or grey (i£cpQWt)rz<;, vn6i£cpQo<;) hues and brilliance (Aa{tnQ6<;). Under the influence of cosmological speculations and new political or social circumstances, the chart of polios is enriched with concepts such as
Polios / Pelios in the Scholiasts and Lexicographers
1 17
lrUAatOt;, lrokut;, lrAdwv, lrAEiowt;, lrOAt Tlxot;. 255 This accommodation of new etymological associations is witnessed, for instance, in the scholia on the signifi cant Pindaric passage which modem scholars utilize in order to etymologize Pelops from polios (sch. rec. Pi. 01. 1 . 1 1 5, Boeckh 2 :40): To lrOAtat; aAOt; 1) aV'tt
t01) YfQaLa� von, btu to ElVaL ltQOYEVfOtEQOV to vowQ tWV aAAwv OtoL XElWV, w� EcpaflEv· 1) aVtt t01) AEVXf/C;' AEVXU(VETat yaQ 'tTI tWV XWUtwv ltEQL cpoQ(t xat ()LV1l0n. Behind the scholiastic yq�aLa�, which interprets lrOAtat; and conveys the cosmological concept of the priority of the water, we are tempted to ,, see the synonym lrUAatOt;, "old, ancient. 256 Judging from the pronounced alli teration of lrUAatOt;-lrOAtOt;, the Pindaric scholiast entertains a combined inter petation and etymologizing whose poetic career will be outlined in the sequel of our survey. The adjective lrEAtOt; is a functional synonym and cognate of lrOAtOt;; both share a common root (pel-/pol-) and are interchangeable, as Herodian pithily sug gests: lrEAtOt; 0 lrOAtOt;.257 The chromatic chart of pelios includes all possible shades from dark blue black to livid, dusky or dark, orange-tawny, reddish, pale and colorless,258 and is often adumbrated in medical writings, tracing the consecu tive stages in the progress of septic diseases (mostly gangrene): each color (lrEAt DVOt;, f1 rzMi;wv, lrEAtOW, XAW(JOt;, AEVXOt;, e(Jv8(Jot;, lrEAtOt;) corresponds to a certain degree of severity and pelios marks the antepenult stage, before the af fected area turns black and putrifies.259 Aristotle argues that polia is a putrifaction of the hair and prescribes the conditions of its formation.260 For ancient scholars,
255
256 257
258
On JroAt6� see sch. bT Il. 10. 334; sch. A(D) Il. 1 0. 334; sch. bT Il. 19. 267a; sch. Pi. Pyth. 4. 1 74b; sch. Ap. Rh. Arg. 2. 123-1 29a, 1 34 W; sch. Theocr. 1. 44 [a] 1-3; sch. Soph. OT 182; sch. Ar. PI. 1 042. 22-26, ib. 1043; Epim. Hom. It 128 (Dyck 1 995 : 623); Hsch. 2776, 278 1 and 2782. EM 680. 14-17, 2 1 -4 1 ; Eust. Il. 3: 83. 3-22. The catalogue supplied by the LSJ comprises: grey, grizzled, grisly, grey haired, hoary, venerable, bright, clear, serene. Or. 129. 1 1 : IIoAui, olov JraAata xaL JroAui, although it is not clear whether he refers to the sea or the hair. Hdn. De pros. cathol., 3. 1 : 123. 1 6, Lentz. On m;At6� and its cognates see EGud. It 46 1 . 9-12: IIEA(wl1a, TO f-tEAaVOV XQiii J' ll, xaL yaQ JriArjV MYOf-tEV �ouv, to TOWUTOV XQiiiJ'1l EXOVta ' xaL IIiAArj lt6At� MaxEoovCa�, on �OU� mhljv diQE' JriAArj to XQiii J' ll, xaL 6 JrfAta� aveQWltO�. Similarly EM 659. 30-39; Hsch. 1 328: JrfAW(. f-tEAmVm; id. 1 329: [JrEAwv6v· f-tOAU�OqJ £mxo� Xlltu t1]V XQOIlV]; id. 1335: JrfAU'.i v6v· f-tEAaV w� f-t6AU�OO�' � u
259
260
.
1 18
Pelops and his Name - Literary Tradition
therefore, pelios leans towards the darker chromatic hues, polios towards the brighter and lighter.26 1 The adjective JrOAL6� is predominantly but not exclusively a chromatic char ter. The scholia (bTil 11. 1 9 . 267b): <JrOALil�:> AEVXTjS; � JrAoil-tTj�, for example, transmit one of its conventional meanings, "white," while adding a new parame ter, JrAoil-tTj, navigable. Is JrAotflTj « JrAEW, JrAW) a novel etymological alternative or merely a gloss ofpolios? Both options are viable and underpinned by the pres ence of alliteration and of the transposition of sounds (pol-Iplo-), which are genu ine and customary practices in ancient etymology?62 The nexus between JrOALa JrAoil-tTj is strengthened further by their pragmatical or cause-and-effect relation: the sea, whitened by fervent rowing, is rendered navigable; the latter (JrAoil-tTj) is the natural corollary of the former (JrOALa). On the above combined evidence, therefore, the etymological connection of JrOALa and JrAotflTj can be advocated with a high degree of plausibility. The foregoing survey has hopefully demonstrated that as in Homer so also in the grammatical and scholiastic tradition, vicinity and similarity of sound are es sential criteria for multiple word associations; kinship of meaning is the natural outcome of these two. The Homeric nexus of JrOAL6�-Jr(}OOJrAaCW (ll. 1 2. 284-85: JrEAaCW and JrA"zOOW) and the scholiastic treatment of JrAotflTj « JrAEW, JrAW) and JrOALa are by no means isolated instances of an ancient process. The flexibility of this technique and its contribution to a global viewing of language is corroborated by an entry of the Epimerismi Homerici 1t 1 27 JtATj'tO (Dyck 1 995: 623): JrAfp;o goo£ XEAUOWV (<1> 1 6) .
. . . fan XUL JtgW'tO'tUlWV 8E{U}IlU JrAro, £; oil JrAlfw JrM) XUL JrAWW XUL JrAWiO£, (cf. K 3)' XUL JrAro 'to JrArzo!(i�w, utm£ 0' E�oJtCaw JrAf/w X80vC (3 438), 'to £JrArzo(aoE' 'to Of JrAf/iO goo£ XfAUOWV (<1> 1 6) aV'tL mu £JrA1jo8rz. £)1
An interesting, though by no means unprecedented, phenomenon is posited here: a single verbal form -JrAilro- is shared by three different verbs with three different but complementary meanings, JrAW, JrAEW (to sail), JrAW, JrATjmaCW (to ap261
262
Summarily, the semantic map of the two adjectives includes for m;ALo� IlEAU£, IlfAUVO£, aX01:fLvo£, IlOAU�OqJ EO LXW£, IlOAU�OOfLO�£, ooXgo£, UqJmIlO£, qJmo£, JtogqJugou£. For JrOALO� AfUXO£, VJtOAfUXO£, Afuxuv8�wv, AaIlJtgo£, Aa�mguv8fl£, agyaCvouaa 8uAaa aa, 'tEqJgwoll£, VJtO'tfqJgO£, JtuAmo£, JtOAU£, JtAflWV, JtAfLam£. The transposition of sounds (metathesis, hyperthesis, anagrammatismos) is often mentioned by ancient grammarians and scholiasts. Plato (Cra. 395b-e) apropos Tantalus and Atreus, ar gues that the exchange or transposition of sounds does not affect the meaning of words and their identity; see Sedley 2003: 80-8 1 . Cf. the Dissoi Logoi 5. 8-13 (Robinson 1 979: 128-29): things are altered when (a) an accent is altered, "agllovCu£ oLUAAaYElaa£" e.g. TAafJuo£, YAavuo£, etc.; (b) when the prosody is changed e.g. TV(Jo£,-'!'V(Jo£" oauo£,-oauo£,; (c) when the order of letters is changed, e.g. ua(Jw£,- u(Jaio£" DVO£,-voo£,. See ib. 12, p. 206 ygullllata OLUAAU�UV'tU .
Pelops in Plato
1 19
proach) and lrAW, lr{lllrAr/Ju (to jill). As a result of this phonetic and semantic fungibility, the circle of interacting words is broadened so as to include lrAoi/l'f/ and lrOAUX sea, too, which can be both sailable, navigable and approachable, al lowing also that the distance between places be jilled. This ancient interaction of words has a bearing on the etymology of Pelops. As we shall see below, Pindar and Plato have founded their images of him on fto).t6�, fti).Ollat, fti).a� and ftda�w [cf. 1IAUQ(OY, 1IAUOLatw], while Plato subtly plays on lr{llftArlJu, no matter how eccentric this alternative may appear at first sight. To recapitulate: The ancient scholars have codified the semantic variations of pelioslpolios: with pelios the balance tips over to the darker side, while its partner, polios, slides up the color scale, showing preference for its upper and lighter de marcations. Their vision of the polia sea is also rich and multi-dimensional: it illustrates the semantics and connotations that polia has acquired through time; contemporary grammatical, intellectual and scientific preocccupations are re flected in its interpretation. The above outline constitutes the first step towards the appreciation of Pelops' ambiguous and elusive nature and polysemous name, which is associated with pelios, polios, pelas, pelazo, etc. These words give us a glimpse of the kind of person we should expect to find in Pelops. Is this verbal similarity and juxtaposition accidental, reflecting at best the alliterative fancy of the ancient Greeks, or does it constitute a conscious etymological wordplay, by which the meaning of Pelops accrues? The following sections will hopefully pro vide some thoughts.
3. 4. Pelops in Plato At the turn of the nineteenth century of our era, scholars took offence at such a "far-fetched" or "impossible" etymology as that proposed for Pelops by Plato in his Cratylus. The notion of intertext, the role of language as organizer of experi ence and giver of meaning, and the realization that meaning is never fixed or monolithic had not yet dawned on the scholarship of the nineteenth century. 263 In the light of a renewed perspective, we are invited to study the name of Pelops and his essential qualities as illustrated in ancient literary evidence, starting, anachro nistically, with the Platonic Cratylus instead of the Pindaric Olympian 1 , for two reasons: firstly Plato is the only ancient author to submit an explicit and un equivocal derivation of Pelops' name, even though from a moral or utilitarian point of view; and secondly he inserts his etymology in a clearly structured theo retical framework. Plato exemplifies the fundamental natural relation between signifier and signified, using Pelops and his family as case studies. The passage reads as follows (Cra. 395c2-d3): rro.oJrt to QVO!lU EJl.I.lIitQ(J)s xfla8m· <Jl1J1.aivEt yo.g toiito to QVO!lU tOY to. � o(JWVta [a�wv dvm tUUtT]� tf]� fJt(J)vw(u�l. EPM. rrw� 1\1];
LQ. 1\oxfl M !lOt XUL tiji
263
See Doherty: 200 1 : 140-44.
1 20
Pelops and his Name - Literary Tradition LQ. otov nou xaL Xal;' EXE(VOU MYETat TOU CtvoQo£ EV T0 TOU MUQTO.OU CPOVql ouOlov o'(ou TE YEv€o8at nQovoTj8flvat ouo'f; lI{JOi'Dciv TOlV nOQQw TWV EL£ TO nav y€vo£, OOTj£ aUTO OUOTux(a£ EVEn(/ln).71, TO EYYV� !!OVOV OQcVV xal TO naQaXQuua -TOUTO 0' EOTL «n{).ar:;»- f)v(xa nQoE8WE1TO Aaj3Elv naVTL TQonql TOV Tfl£ 'InnOOa!!E(a£ yU!!ov.
"I think Pelops also has a fitting name; for 'Pelops' signifies he who sees only what is near at hand [he deserves this appellation]. Because, according to legend, he didn't think about or foresee what the long-term consequences of murdering Myrtilus would be for his entire fam ily, or all the misery that would overwhelm them. In his eagerness to win Hippodameia by any available means, he saw only what was ready to hand and on the spot -that is to say, what was nearby (pelas) [trans!. by Reeve], when he showed an eagerness to marry Hippodameia at all costs.
According to Plato, "Pelops has a fitting name" (Reeve). It signifies "he who sees only what is near at hand." Plato employs here a key word of semantic import, OTJJl(lt'V£t, to exhibit an etymological pattern that is amply attested in the Homeric scholia: in the formula which anticipates the interpretation of a word, one discov ers the very etymology of this word. "Pelops received this name," continues Plato, because he did not "foresee what the long-term consequences of murdering Myrti Ius would be for his entire family" (OU&E Jr:(,)o'iDElv LW" nOQQw). Pelops' intellec ,, tual vision was "shortsighted, 264 and his lack of insight and perspicacity naturally supplies the motivation for his name?65 The methodology and the argument of Plato are well articulated and lucid: firstly he gives the meaning of the proper name and then its etymology, as Proclus has observed apropos of Orestes and Agamemnon (In Plat. Cra. Comm. 89, p. 45. 1 4-22 Pasq.). Plato rearticulates the phonemes of the proper name, Pelops in this case, and narrativizes the newly elicited lexemes in ways that underpin his theory of the natural relation between name and thing and his censure for this myth. Ex ploiting the sounds of Pel-ops, he produces two distinct lexemes, the adverb pelas and forms of the verb ogaw. With this manoeuver, he provides Pelops' name with a motivation that bears out the micro story of its bearer, as moulded by generations of poets and mythographers. Manipulating the morphology and etymology of Pelops, Plato promotes his moralizing and linguistic interests. But Plato also dis plays his adherence to the traditional practices of ancient etymologizing: firstly, when he replaces :mD.a�, the first component of Pel-ops by two synonyms that signify either local proximity, £yyu�, or temporal, La naQaXQIHw; and secondly, when he substitutes � for JT:o..a�, thus employing the technique of etymolo gizing kata antiphrasin. However, the underlying linguistic network is more com plicated, since nOQQw is also the synonym of rrzAE and its Aeolic form JT:11A Vt; all three are associated with JT:o..a� in an antiphrastic sense. Yet the Platonic picture and its goals are not complete unless we compute the dire consequences of Pelops' actions for his entire genos; the phrase 001le; aULa 264 265
So also Sedley 2003 : 80. On this Platonic passage see Tsitsibakou-Vasalos 2003: 440-4 1 . The name of Pelops is in serted in a passage that seeks to demonstrate that name-motivation is founded in mythical "bi ography." For a comprehensive survey of the Pelops myth see Gantz 1 993: 2: 5 3 1 -45.
Pelops in Plato
121
bUatuXLUI:; Evm{lllrArz forms an indispensable part of Pelops' vita. In a deft and allusive manner, Plato submits with it a complementary etymology, which nmc tions as the corner stone of his structure of Pelops. Reeve' s translation, "all the misery that would overwhelm them" [sc. his genos] does not do justice to the Pla tonic passage, which actually stresses, "with how great a calamity he would fill it" (so Burges). The Lydian Pelops broke his oath to Myrtilus and drowned him, thus incurring the wrath of Hermes. Hence both Pelops and his family had their fill of suffering. This sentence and the verb Elllr{lllrArzJ1L convey a message intimately and organically connected with Pelops' mythical "biography" and Plato's moral preoccupations. Therefore, the etymological value of Pelops comes out unforced. Plato does not content himself merely with an alliterative play on the pel-/ple sounds of Pelops, but caps his moral lesson, describing the intergenerational mis ery that emanated from the vices of Pel-ops, who did not act with forethought and did not see beyond his nose. To sum up, Plato builds his explicit derivation of Pe/ops around the polarities firstly of "near" and "far," and secondly of "seeing" and its opposite. Pelops' na ture and name are vividly depicted and associated with lrEAa� or its opposites, rijA£/miAvL, with 6{}awj(hjJL� and, to top it all, with Elllr{lllrArzJ1L, which rounds off the image of the hero. Pelops is visualized as intellectually blind, and his lack of foresight draws misery to its full upon himself and his family. Plato builds the etymological map of Pelops manipulating the individual lexemes of his name. This demanding process, based on similarity of sound and semantic verisimili tude, is copiously attested in ancient poetry and scholarship, as we noted above. Modem scholars also acknowledge the deeper relation of lrEAa� and lr{lllrArzJ1L on the level of homonymy. Chantraine (DELG s.v. lrEAa�) points out: "On note que sous la forme lrArz-, la racine se trouve en ionien homonymique de la famille de lr{lllrArzJ1L, etc." The nexus is logical: what draws "near" (lrEAa�) contributes to the creation of "multitude" (lrAijeO�) and "filling" (lr{lllrArzJ1L). The ancient poets and scholars have capitalized on the aural and semantic potential of words, sub mitting daring and imaginative associations. Plato advocates the pertinence and plausibility of this namegiving, capping it with the formula tltlt€tQw� x£La8m. The adverb tltlt€tQw� is a hapax in the Cra tylus and used exclusively of Pelops. Reeve, relying on the interpretation ''jitting, suitable" (LSJ 2 .), renders the passage accordingly: "Pelops also has a fitting name, for Pelops signifies he who sees only what is near at hand (pelas, opsis)." Burges translates: "proper name." In all other cases in this dialogue Plato advo cates the pertinence of namegiving, employing conventional expressions, such as XUta CPUOLV to OVOItU, 6Q8& � £XEL or x£ltm, 6Q8& � XUt XUta CPUOLV t£8l'jvm, nQ6tEL ttVL, bLXULW� XUA£Ltm, etc. Why does he make this exception in the case of Pelops, insisting on metron? Is the introductory formula tltlt€tQw� x£La8m merely a synonym of all the above,266 or a conscious and meaningful diversion 266
Quincey 1 963 : 145, discussing the meaning of �U��E1:QOV EJtO� (Aes. Eum. 5 3 1 ), disagrees with interpretations that see in it the notion of meter, and submits instead: " 'a word to square with the thought,' �U��EtQO� being used here as the converse of oU�qJ(j)vo� tqi 6v6�atL"(PI.
1 22
Pelops and his Name - Literary Tradition
anticipating the notion of metron that underlies the mythical vita of this family and the spatio-temporal dimensions of Pelops that he intends to posit? The latter seems to be the case, judging from the unique presence of E!1!1EtQ(O� in the entire dialogue. The adverb E!1!1EtQ(O� may be merely a synonym of orthos, dikaios, and may suggest conformity with the theoretical framework provided in the foregoing section of the dialogue (LSJ), but it may also carry deeper connotations. The story and the emphatic spatio-temporal antinomies inherent in Pelops, point to the lat ter. In all probability, emmetros in the sense of "according to measure," or "in due measurement," is congruous with the Platonic conception of Pelops in terms of a negative metron; the hero with the speaking name Pelops defies due measure.267 The particular features of this dynasty also motivate the adverb: the male members of this family have an adverse relationship with metron; excess and lack of measure mark their lives and cause their vices and mishaps. Lack of provision and due measure characterize not only Pelops but also his kin, who are prone to excess and violation of the metron, and have encroached into the territory of hy bris by killing their own blood (children, brothers, nephews). Tantalus is nega tively associated with scale, talanteia, a cognate of talanton and a means of meas uring, a metron itself. Atreus trespasses the divine decrees and human religious scruples, and commits a sacrifice of kin, thus perpetuating the internecine crime that has marred the genos ever since Tantalus. Excess -agan- is embodied also in Agamemnon' s nature and name. A true scion of "shortsighted" Pelops, he also fails to foresee the consequences of sacrificing a child, and indulging in excessive carnage and destruction at Troy. In his masterful teras of the twin hare-devouring eagles of contrasting colors, Aeschylus (Agam. 1 09-20) draws a compelling pic ture of the hybristic behavior, measureless revenge and criminality of his ho monymous hero. Only Menelaus, Zeus' son-in-law, escapes the stamp of the fam ily. His compassionate and gentle character, known of old (11. 6. 37-65; 1 7. 588), is conveyed through the same teras and its color imagery: black and white portray the ethos of the two brothers?68 The name of Orestes (PI. era. 394e8- 1 1 ) also reveals the beastly, mountainous and wild features of his physis and race. Over-
267
268
era. 395e used of Tantalus), which he had interpreted above as "harmonious" and "concor dant with the name." The function of emmetros, metron and the metretike [techne], for the art of weaving is dis cussed by Plato (Pol. 282e-285c) in connection with the art of metretike, which usually meas ures contrasting qualities, such as �iixo<;, �gaxutT]<;, lmEgoxTj, and n.t.. ELljn<; (PI. Pol. 283c d), or comparisons of degree, such as greater and smaller. Whatever surpasses the metrion (283e) is the object of the metretike, while the art of politics and weaving accomplishes all good things by pursuing metron (284b-d). The art of measuring is divided into two moria or categories: the one encompasses all the arts that measure number, length, depth, width and speed against their opposite, while the other encompasses the arts that measure whatever per tains to the metrion, the prepon, the kairos and what is binding or needfol, in sum what shuns the extremities (284e); everything that partakes of art partakes also of metresis (285a). From this point onwards Aeschylus abandons his favorite (j!- compound epithets (cf. oCOXT] lttgo<;, oC8govo<;), and makes the two eagles-Atreides t..Tj�aoL OLOOOU<; ( 1 22); the initial una nimity and emphatic dual action of the two brothers yields its place to the recital of Agame mnon's vanity and criminality.
Pelops in Plato
1 23
weening and insolent figures, the Tantalids have no contact with metron. Hence Pelops, in whose name is embedded the defiance of metron (near/far) is ironically and meaningfully linked with emmetros. Apart from its "biographical" congruence, the Platonic emmetros, I suspect, also has a particular literary addressee: it points to Sophocles, who had envisioned his enamored Pelops (fr. 474) as faov /1£T{}WV ocpf3aA/16v "measuring his eye equal to Hippodameia." The philosopher, who is renowned for his aversion to im moral poetic myths and the mimetic arts, tears aside the veil of romanticism and idealized love, criticizing the wicked premises and consequences of that original erotic gaze and visual "measurement" on equal terms, !!f'tQav;rao�. Plato targets the second part of Pel-ops and his gaze, emphasizing the utility not of "equal" but of "far-seeing." If in political life and handicraft emmetros implies seeking the mean, avoiding 2 the extremes and doing things at the right time (kairos), 69 then the pertinence of this adverb for Pelops is obvious: politics and the imagery of weaving are inti mately connected with him, the political leader who wove plots and the groom for whose sake Hippodameia instituted the weaving of the peplos (peplophoria). We may assume, consequently, that the curious and hapax adverb emmetros reflects on the political and private status of Pelops, and the measureless (ametros) incli nations of his genos. Interestingly, modem scholars have failed to see the implicit value of E/1Jr{J1JrATIIU , and even make light of the explicit derivation of Pelops from mfAa�+ O{}cXw. 2 70 Pape and Benseler criticize this derivation as "zu gesucht, urn wahr scheinlich zu sein," while Scherling argues that "die Erklarung (Plato und Euseb. Praep. Ev. XI 6, 2 1 ) 0 Ta EYYV� O{}WV ist unmoglich." Finally, Bloch makes a wholesale attack: no "Emstgemeinte Etymologie" has been handed down to us from antiquity. The theoretical differences between modem and ancient people as regards the origin of language, the function of etymology and its expressive modes, emerge with tenacity and poignancy in the end of the nineteenth and the first decades of the twentieth century. For a long time scholars have considered the Platonic etymologies rather playful and of parodic intent. Recently, with D. Sedley, have the Platonic derivations been viewed in appreciative ways. To sum up: the etymology of Pelops should be judged in the light of the com prehensive Platonic thesis about language and etymology: the name is artE(xaa!!a and mimesis of the thing; that name and thing are bound in an intrinsic and natural relation and motivation, hence the former renders the essence, the dynamis and energeia of the latter. In fact, Pelops' name is located at the center of a critical passage in which the philosopher applies his theory, drawing exclusively from the mythical "life" of the Tantalids. Pelops conforms to the Platonic prerequisites and passes the test of motivation and verisimilitude. So do his kin: their names have 2 69
270
The metron is associated with due measure and Iwiros: J1EtQa cp'UA.aoowBm lealQo; 6' Eret reumv agtow£ (Hes. Gp. 694), "observe due measure: and proportion is best in all things" (Evelyn-White). Pape-Benseler 1 863: 1 1 00. Scherling 1 940: 849. Bloch ( 1902-1 909/1965: 1 866).
1 24
Pelops and his Name - Literary Tradition
been given oQ8wS; xa't xata cpUOLV. Socrates utters a significant comment: the name formation may slightly deviate so as to hide the real meaning of the name; only the experts in linguistic matters, o\' EJ-ta'LOVtES;, have access to the reality be hind the phenomena and the key to the valuation of the underlying etymologies. On the evidence of the explicit Platonic derivation of Pelops we may now at tempt a fresh, though digressive, approach to Herodian and his list of m;- words (part. 1 05 . 9- 1 06. 2): .. . lTEAW, to vltaQX
271
272
Paus. 5. 1 3 . 4-6: as the Trojan war prolonged, the soothsayers prophesied to the Greeks that they should fetch the weapons of Heracles and the bone of Pe lops, xul oatouv enuyaywvtm rro.ono� ... axSiivm oE xu'l tWV oatwv W[1onAatT]V acp(mv ex rr(aT]� tWV rrEAono�; the ship carrying the bone of Pelops was wrecked, and many years later the bone was found by a fisherman, who wondered at its size, Suu[1aauvtu OE UUtoU to [1€YESO�, and kept it hidden in the sand. He inquired at the Delphian oracle when an Elean embassy also happened to be there, seeking deliverance from a pestilence, enuvogSw[1U uhouvtwv voaou AOl[1w60u�. Pythia advised the Eleans to recover the bones of Pelops, avuawauaSm rr€Aono� ta oat&.. Pausanias says that Pelops' shoulder blade did not survive up to his time and gives some ra tionalistic reasons for it. Parke 1 933: 1 62, uses natural history to explain the superhuman di mensions of the shoulder blade. Boedecker 1998: 1 64-77, discusses the political repercussions of the motif of bone translation in moments of crisis, natural catastrophe etc. In the archaic and classical periods . . . at least a dozen heroes were recovered -always by or for the palis not an individual family; Pe lops and Hippodameia were transported to Olympia ( 1 7 1 with n. 57). Ap.Soph. 129. 26. nfAwQ!O� [1EYU�, ano tou nQoaneA.d�ELv r0 DQ{wV!. EGud. n 458. 3948, nEAwQa
.
...
Pelops in Homer
1 25
3. 5. Pelops in Homer
Homer mentions Pe10ps only once (11. 2. 1 04), in the framework of a significant passage, which links the ancestral emblematic scepter with the distinctive features of this genos and of Agamernnon, in particular ( 1 04-4 1 ). The scepter was fash ioned by Hephaestus, who gave it to Zeus, who gave it to Hermes, who in his turn, Owx£v JIO.oJU JCAT/�CmrqJ ( 1 04), who gave it to Atreus, "the shepherd of people" (nOL!'u�vL Aawv), who gave it to Thyestes of many sheep (noAVaQvL), who then gave it to Agamernnon to be his royal symbol. Pelops and Agamernnon share a symbol, by which the latter would wield his power over many islands and Argos, and prove his dynastic name true (A.yaf.1Ef.1VWV
Tradition furnishes two motivations for the gift: the scepter was either a gift of love since Pelops was Hermes' son by Calyce (sch. T Il. 2. 1 04b), or, along with the golden ram, an am biguous and ominous gift meant to arouse deadly strife between Atreus and Thyestes. Cf., however, sch. T Il. 2. 104b: JtEJtAaatm OVv tol� VEWtEQOL� ta JtEQL Oiv0l-WOV xal tl]V XQuaiiv IiQva. For the brotherly love see also sch. A 11. 2 106a, bT 106b, A 1 07a. Wohrle 1999: 55-56, sees in the alliance between the supreme father Zeus and the leader of the army and his ancestors "den vaterlichen Machtanspmch."
1 26
Pelops and his Name - Literary Tradition
Pelops steers the chariot after the death of Cillas, his charioteer, and (b) as the story of ol naAaLOl goes, o� [sc. Pelops] 'tOY M UQ'tlAOV aVEAwv xat tau't0 llvL OXtloa� ltA1]SLltltO� uno '011 tlQou XEXA'rj'taL w� 't�v llvLOXE(a v mhouQytloa�. 274 In both versions the acquisition of this epithet marks an important and consequen tial phase in Pelops' mythical "life." In one representation of the race on a red figure amphora (now at the museum of Arezzo), which is described by Lacroix, our hero "courbe sur les renes" drives his chariot in the race with Oenomaus.275 "He smites his horses" himself, hence Pelops is ltA@LltltO�. Smiting the horse presupposes coming "close" and bending over it; such a posture is confirmed for Pelops by the aforementioned vase. His stance suggests the internal relation between IIiAO'ljJ, ltiAa�/JTf;Aa!;w and ltA1]OOW: the fighter draws near, ltiAa�, to wield a successful stroke. Proximity is a prerequisite for a successsful ltA1]ooeLv, in contrast to olJ'tuv and �aAAELv. We may assume, conse quently, that the epithet ltA1]SLltltO� explains and etymologizes IIiAO'ljJ at the same time; the ancient Greek poets, empirically and intuitively, submitted associations long before scientific etymology confirmed them.276 Horsemanship is an integral part of Pelops' personality and a constituent of his name. It takes a ltA1]SLltltO� to overcome Oenomaus and subdue a girl, who is his linguistic double, 1ltltD ,, ba{lew. The "singular resonance 277 of these two names makes their bearers a couple whose horse-breaking skills match. The etymological links of IIiAo'ljJ with ltA1]OOW will be gradually confirmed, as information about Pelops accrues. The other three attestations of ltA@LltltO� reveal an intimate connection with the Pelopids. In Iliad 4. 327, Aga-memnon, the offspring of ltA1]SLltltO� Pelops and Hippodameia, reproaches Odysseus and Mene-stheus ltA1]SLltltO�, for with drawing from the battle and "waiting" for the others (ft({lVeTe 6' aAAou�, 340) to deal the first blow. The passage (4. 325-63) is studded with words that signify sitting idle and afar from the group as well as crouching in fear and refusing to mingle in close combat in the front rank. Agamemnon addresses a fighter who is his linguistic and functional doublet: besides sharing ltA1]SLltltO�, Aga-memnon and Mene-stheus also share part of their etymology, suggesting the expectations raised of ltA1]OOetv and {liVeL v.
274 27 5
276
On izvwXtx6<; see Eust. Il. 1 : 28 1 . 1 1 - 282.32 and Kramer 1 886: 4 (with nn. 3, 4), 9-10. Lacroix 1 976: 336 with nn.88, 89, 90. Curtius 1 886, 2: 333. 367, associates root plag- with nA1jaaw, nAal;w, Lat. plang-o; nfA-> nA7/G{Ov, ntAa<;, TftXfatnA1jTrz<;. Pokomy 1 959: 80 1 . 2a. pel-, pela-, plii-, refers to pello, "stoBend oder schlagend in Bewegung setzen, treiben," and a particular Greek semantic de velopment from "anstoBen" "sich nahem, nahe:" niAa<;, nfAal;w . . . EllnArzv. So also Walde -Hofmann 1 954: 276-77 s.v. pello; Hofmann 1 949: 259 s.v. niAa<; (nfAal;w, dal;w, n{A vallat, anAaTO<;, pello, anfUa). Frisk and Chantraine (DEL G) include Tftxwt-dijra, <'5aa-nAijn<; s.v. niAa<;. If nA1jaaw-niAa<;-naUw-pello are related as regards their semantics and origin, then one may seriously consider the etymological value of Pelops
277
PeJops in Homer
1 27
In Iliad 1 1 . 93, the epithet nA@urnov qualifies 'Oi'Aiia, one of the men slain by Agamemnon during his Ct(}wrda. A pair of men of matching, "horse smiting," capacities is contraposed here in a deadly conflict, which is partly lin guistic. The offspring of the "dark-faced" and "horse-smiting" Pelops and the "re lentless" A-treus, subdues a soft and ileos opponent, who ironically shares nA�; LnJro� with him. Iliad 5 offers a unique opportunity to reflect upon Homeric onomastics and its use. Here Hector kills a number of warriors with curious names, which resonate those of the Pelopid family; among them is Orestes, a man homonymous to the son of Agamemnon, who is, moreover, qualified as nA��Lnno�. This passage, imbued with bitter irony, narrativizes the wishful thinking of Hector, who kills surrogate figures of his great Argive foes, kills men homonymous to the members of the older (Oenomaus) and younger (Orestes) generation. Hector fancies to ex tinguish the entire race (5. 703-09): "Ev8u T(VU ltQiinov, T(VU 0' U0TUTOV E�EVUQL�UV "EXTWQ TE IlQLu!!OLO ltU'L£ xUL XUAxEO£ AQl]£; aVTCSEOV TEU8QuVT', Eltl oe lfAri;IJr7rOV 'OQiOTtjV, TQl1X6v T' Uix!!l]Tl]V At"tWALOV Oi VO/laOV TE, OiVOlf(OtjV 8' "EAEVOV XUl 'OQio{3wv UiOAO!!(TQl]V, o£ Q' EV
This passage is an ironic game of masked identities: the persons mentioned here duplicate each other and construct parallelisms irrespectively of their generational plausibility; Orestes is parallel to Oresbius, and Oenomaus to Oenopides, but on an intergenerational level, the three temporal dimensions (past, present and future) mingle in a nebulous and curious manner, since Oenomaus and Orestes embrace the outer frame of their genos. As these doublets inextricably blend in the passage, proper names and attributes acquire a new and strange power: the epithet nA��Ln no� qualifies a man homonymous to the Pelopid Orestes, while 'TAll, which is said to be a lake, also evokes the woods ({fAll) and the mountain (O(}O�) that make up the wild nature of both Orestes and Ores-bius, whose second component is not attached to /3L6w but to /3(o� (livelihood) as alluded to by J.tfya JtAO'l.ltOLO. Hector fancies to wield a fatal stroke against his enemies with the double names: Orestes � Oresbius, Oenomaus � Oenopides, in a passage whose riddling and allusive character and misleading potential because of the consecutive homonyms, has been recognized by Eustathius.278 278
Eust. n. 2: 1 75 . 14 - 1 76.2: . .. OUTW XUl EVTuu8u ltOLxCAo£ 6 ltOLl]Tl]£ XUl ltOAUcpWVO£. "OQu oe Tl]V fJQW'LXl]V XUl EV TOUTOL£ bJ1rovvJliav, TOV Oivo/laov bJ1rovvJ1oiivta T0 TOU IlEAolto£ ltEv8EQ0, TOV 'OQiOTtjV bJ1rovvJloV T0 f\YU!!E!!VOV(On, XUl TOV "EAEVOV, o£ T0
1 28
Pelops and his Name - Literary Tradition
To conclude, the epithet 1[),�;£1[1[O� is confined to Pelops, his descendants and their doublets. It figures in passages (II. 2 and 4) where the most distinguished member of the Pelopids, Agamemnon, wielding the scepter, tests his regal and commanding authority, and acts out the features of his inherited insignia, by which he proves his name and status as genuine offspring of 1[),�;£1[1[O� [JamI'. Interestingly, this scepter was found near Pan-opeus and was worshipped in Chaeroneia (Paus. 9. 40. 1 1 - 1 2).
3. 6. Pelops in Pindar
The complexity and ambiguity thicken as we enter the sphere of lyric poetry. Pin dar hands down to us (01. 1 ) an eccentric version of this myth along with a rich and opaque etymologizing of Pelops. Here the poet, in his customarily cryptic and inimitable manner/79 dramatizes the semantic and etymological nuances of this elusive name, refusing to signpost his etymologies in traditional ways canonized since Homer and Hesiod (ouv£)(a, on, naQu 'to, uno 'toil, etc.).280 The narrativ ized etymology, sanctioned by Homer, is more to Pindar's taste, although some times it is too simple for him; Pindar rivals Loxias in obscurity and obliqueness. He disguises Pelops, making it an organic part of his diction and imagery; he con ceals it behind artful ambiguities and allusions, wordplays, cognates or synonyms and even antonyms, imposing a great demand on his audience and reader. We must recall that this specific ode gave the impetus for the association of Pelops with pelioslpolios. Despite the difficulties, we shall attempt to disentangle the name from its baggage, and winkle out its multiple derivations, in the hope of bringing forth the polysemy and polyvalence it has acquired in the hands of a poet of such caliber. As the Olympian 1 functions as the prototypical or model ode, in which the poetic program and the rhetorical devises of the genre are introduced,28 J so Pelops, the founder of the Olympic games, appears as an emblematic figure for the agones, the pursuits and values of the games. In his name and vita he epito mizes the core values and merits of the athletic events and of epinician poetry as well. Even the most gruesome and dark aspects of his mythical life, his dismem-
279 280
28 1
MfAqJcjJ TOU "Extogo£ O�Ill V\!�£i. "08fV xwgu OLOOtUL tOL£ �OUAOf.lEVOL£ lta�fLV EV utv( yf.l U OL. AtVCSULtO yag av tL£ Et<; tOY "ExtOgu 00£ oi'j8fV aOEAqJoxt6vov OLa toutOV tOY "EAfVOV . Of.lO(W<; OE OLa utvCyf.lUTO£ EXltA�SfL axo�v, ygutjJu£ 'OQsorrzv � Div6/laov aVULgf8i'jvUL 1mo "EXTOgO<;, 00£ tou axgoarou OUVUf.lEVOU ltuguvoi'jau( tL /)L!I tTtV O�Ill v\!�(av. On Pindar's etymological techniques see Quincey 1 963: 143, and Barkhuizen 1 975, although Pelops is absent from their studies. Quincey 1963: 143, observes: "In Pindar . . . etymologies are regularly introduced by implica tion, i.e. without any assertion that the subject is 'properly' or 'truly' named." Bremer 1 976: 23 1-33, begins his study on light and darkness in the epinician poetry of Pindar and Bacchylides (23 1 - 3 14) with 01. 1 , whose value is paradigmatic; this contrast is a typical part of the odes and their messages.
Pelops in Pindar
1 29
berment and sacrifice at the paternal hands, are eventually transformed by the il lustrious blood offerings poured down into his bothros at the center of all-shining, OAOAallJr1Z<;, Olympia; the cannibalistic feast is transubstantiated into a feast of chthonic libations offered in his honor, while the darkness of child sacrifice and consumption becomes the matrix for heroization, regeneration and brightness. As I hope to prove, Pelops' ambiguous name incorporates the antitheses which are endemic to the athletic events, religious experiences, and his family. His name is made of polarities, such as brightness and darkness, vision and hearing, vicinity and remoteness, of polarities, which eventually collapse to suggest the fusion and interchangeability of symbols and the circularity and continuity of life and poetry. Pelops functions as an emblem of epinician poetry. Our first contact with the contrasting imagery of light and darkness is made in the proem of the Olympian 1 : water is best, gold shines like fire blazing in the night, while the Olympic games are compared with the sun (3-9): et 0' iiellAU yuguev EAoem, cpQ..o v �'tOg, !! rpuh' aeA.{ov aXOltfL iiAAO 8aAJrVOTEPOV EV Ct.!!€gq. cpaEVVDV iiatgov Eg�!!UC; OL' ai8eQo!;, !!1']0' 'OAWlt(UC; ayoovu cp€gtegov uuoaao!!eV' allev 6 JroAvcpaW!; V/lVO!; a!!cpL�anftm aocp oo v /ll1T{Eaat . . . "But if you wish to sing / of athletic games, my heart, / look no further than the sun / for an other star shining more warmly by day through the empty sky, / nor let us proclaim a contest greater than the Olympia. / From there comes the famous hymn that encompasses / the thoughts of wise men" (Race, Loeb).
Here the poet makes a comment of poetological import: he sets the supreme mod els by which his victory song and illustrious athletic games are gauged: they can be compared only to the sun and Olympia. The sun is the celestial body which surpasses all other stars in radiance and in "fostering or vitalizing warmth" (Ger ber), 8aAlrVOrfQOv and cpaEvvDv, thus disclosing its derivation from aAta (= 8EQ!!ao(a and an:ocpuytl ; sch. QVP Od. 1 7. 23; EGen. a 432. 24-30). The sun reigns in an empty aether, as if in the solitude of supreme despotism, so any other comparison is futile and meaningless. Against this picture of the absolute celestial brightness and warmth, and of the desolate and barren aether, Olympia and its games are contraposed in terms of quantity and multitude: the "much-said," "much-reputed" or "much-woven" hymn,282 which is thrown like a woven cloth about the thoughts of skilled men, the poets. Against the cosmic background, Olympia, whose name evokes OAOAalllrlZ<; 'OAVlllrO<;, will eventually emerge as 282
See Renehan 1 969: 2 1 9-2 1 , "Pindar intended simultaneously a second division, JroA-vcpaW!;, as if from vcpa{vw. Cf., however, the objections of Gerber 1982: 26: the relation of V/lVOr; and vcpa{vw (Bacch. 5. 9-10) is "simple alliteration rather thanfigura etymologica,"although the Greeks were . . . fond of etymological word-play and Pindar . . . shows an interest in this."
1 30
Pelops and his Name - Literary Tradition
the mundane place of superlative athletic lustre, renown, and sociability, the place whose fame reaches far and wide matching that of her heroic model figure, Pelops. These qualities frame the narrative web, the lfoAv-vcpaTO� {jI1VO�, from which we shall attempt to disentangle and unravel the skein of Pelops' name. Pelops makes his debut as a figure parallel to Hieron, the victor (01. 1 . 22-24). The passage teems with terms that signify mixture, radiance, fame and local speci fications. Bearing a nomen omen, Pherenicus, Hieron's victorious horse, ran near Alpheus, giving his O€!lU£ aXEVtlltOV in the race, and "mixed" his master with power (22-24): XQUTEL bE ltQoIJ£Il£t!;£ bW1toTav, LUQaxomov l1t1toxuQJ.lav �amAfta · � bE ot � EV EUUVOQL Avbov rra,QJto\; fLltOLx(a "and joined to victorious power his master, / Syracuse's horse-loving / king. Fame shines for him / in the colony of brave men founded by the Lydian Pelops" (Race).
The theme of radiance continues, as Hieron partakes of the Aal11/JL� (Aal1lfeL, 23) that is diffused over Olympia of the significant name, and is also embodied in Pelops, as I shall argue below. In the compass of our poem, contrasting themes such as praise, blame and envy, which naturally belong to the genre of epinician poetry and its kleos ideology, as well as unlawful and abominable actions, are visualized with polarities of brightness and darkness. The passage (23-24) con structs a capsule of brightness, in which are enfolded both the victor and Pelops, the exemplary hero who presides over the games. This contrast of light and dark ness will continue to accompany Pelops through his mythical exemplum, becom ing his distinct attribute and the motivating power behind his name. The local and temporal contrast ("near" and "far") also traverses the ode, framing the exemplary long-term excellences and values. But here also opens a thematic cycle epitomized in the verb 3tQOOEJl£ts£ : from this point onwards the poet will deal with analogies and mingling categories of a great variety: gods, heroes and men consort with each other, not without problems. The symposium with its central feature, namely, the crater for mixing wine, is an emblem of the situation of mixed and equivocal categories with which human life is intricately interwoven. The motifs of light, distance, and mingling, whether transcendental or mundane, which started in verse 22, will close in 90-95, having registered a number of key, though antipodal, themes in their course, whether visual or acoustic, local or temporal. The ode will close with impressive synaesthetic imagery, in which these polarities will be reconciled. We shall search for the etymological markers of Pelops in the interior of this cyclical lyric narra z tive, bearing in mind the programmatic "mingling." 83 2 83
Gerber 1 982: 47-48, thinks that "Why Pindar should have been so fond of this [mixing] metaphor is unclear." Gainsaying T. Hoey's interpretation ("Fusion in Pindar," HSCP 70 [ 1 965] 235-62), Gerber claims that "there is nothing in the context to suggest either divinity
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Our first contact with "mixture" occurs when a horse, Pherenicus, true to its name, "brought victory" to its master, literally "mingled Hieron with power" (kra tos), and enabled him to fulfill the expectations raised by his name: Hieron is as sociated with holy « [E(}6�) as well as with strength or power « r�, Fl�), whose semantic reduplication is witnessed in kratos. The beast materializes the aspira tions of its master for "mingling" with power and glory. The second paradigm of "mixture" is observed in the phrase Au60u IIO o:rw� unotx(<;x, in which blend the polarities of "the near and the far." Here the horse-loving Syracusan athlete "min gles" with the "horse-smiting" Lydian Pelops, who is renowned for his equestrian prowess (cf. n),@17rn:o�, Jl. 2. 1 04): two strangers, both exemplary exponents of athletic kleos, meet in an apoikia, far from their homelands and outside their terri torial boundaries. Pelops, a mediating heroic figure, hovers between "far" (Lydia and Olympus, 42) and "near" (Olympia), but eventually settles in his new home, receiving heroic cult honors and sanctioning the merits and rewards for pursuing excellence. Pelops cancels the polarity of "near and far" (.7rE),a�-iii),E or .7r�),Vl), which is embodied in his vita and name, when he is naturalized in the Greek region and becomes the archegete of a glorious dynasty and the eponymous hero of the entire Peloponnese. To make a programmatic statement, Pindar foreshadowed the con nections of Pelops with distance and vision a long time before Plato made it a distinct part of his ethical and reflective etymologizing. The intrinsic connection of Pelops and his name with light and brightness be comes evident in the revised myth narrated by Pindar with the purpose of explain ing the disappearance of Pelops and his absence: Poseidon falls in love with the ,, boy "as soon as" or "because 284 he is taken out of the pure cauldron, distin guished by a shining shoulder (25-27): ..
'toD j.tEyao8EVl]� EQaooU'to rULaoJ(o� I1ooEtoav, EltEL VLV xa8aQoD }..f�1'] 'tO� �EI..E Kl..w8w, E I..EWaY1L wa Lowov t1j.tov xExaoj.tEvov "With whom mighty Eartholder Poseidon / fell in love after Klotho pulled him / from the pure cauldron, / distinguished by his shoulder gleaming with ivory" (Race).
284
or intercourse," although the verbs JtQOOfj.tEL;E and JtEl..a�W (78) can be often used of sexual intercourse (p. 48). Gerber (pp. 1 42-44» opts for the sympotic allusions of the verb in view of "reclining by the stream of Alpheus" (92) and the neighboring j.tfj.tLX'tUL (91 ) , since j.tELYVUj.tL is used of mixing wine and Aglaia is the personification of sympotic festivity. Slater 1 989: 49 1 n. 29, 494, explains this verb as OUVELVUL, which describes festive communion and keep ing company; Pelops communicates with men in death as in life. The meaning of EJtEL is disputable and depends on the reconstruction of the myth. Scholars oscillate between a temporal EJtEL (Gerber 1 982: 55-56; Verdenius 1 988: 17; Nagy 1 16- 1 7, 132 n. 89, 1 34 n. 94), or causal (Kakridis 1 930: 1 88-90; K6hnken 1 983 : 70, nn. 20, 22, 72-3).
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Pelops and his Name - Literary Tradition
Emerging from the pure or purifying cauldron with a bright ivory shoulder, the Pindaric Pelops arouses the eros of Poseidon,285 and gives some hints at the mean ing of his proper name, recalling the associations which ancient scholars have gleaned for nOAt6�: Aal1nQ6�, A£vu6�, vn6AEvxo�, A£vuav8CCwv, etc. The se mantics of nOAt6� is perfectly matched and complemented by the etymology of fUcpa� and cpaCOtl1o�: the former derives from A£vu6� (cf. AE'l5aaw),286 and the latter from cp6.o�, cpaCvol1at, while both play upon brightness, whiteness, appear ance and vision. Hence, fUcpa� and cpaCDtl10� belong to the same semantic field and exemplify an etymological pattern attested already in Homer: the epithet in terprets and etymologizes the noun at the same time. It is worth noting that the Pindaric scholia invariably speak of Pelops' ivory shoulder in terms of A£V 7 U 6T'rz� 28 Pindar uses this etymological collocation again in a context of concerted divine action: the Muses string white ivory, A£vu6v fUcpav8', together with gold and lilies of the sea (Nem. 7. 77-79). The effect of this duplication is visual: it promulgates and floods the scene with divine radiance,288 and its pertinence to Pelops and polios is unequivocal in this context, permeated as it is by the tran scendental light and brightness of the pure cauldron and the white ivory. The name of Pelops partakes of the divine radiance of the katharos lehes, and also emits its inherent luminosity that originates from nOAt6� and the phaidimos ivory shoulder; the semantic ambiguity of polios is cleared by the context itself. The long-standing conflict among modem critics as regards the primacy of color or lustre in polios has been given a definitive answer by Duchemin, who argues con vincingly that the concepts of color and sheen are interconnected in Pindar?89 The ancient authorities are thus justified again. But fUcpa� and fAEcpa{Qw are also associated with deceiving dreams and cheating in the Odyssey (19. 563-65); ivory is a symbol of apate and myths also achieve the same effect, as Pindar says. .
285
286
287
288
289
Steiner 200 I: 1 96-97, observes that ivory is used in ancient poetry as an eros-inspiring object, as an erotic allure; phaidimos "draws attention to the special quality of the artificial element" and it is "the source of the youth's seductive radiance or gleam." She adopts (200 1 : 284) the "dark-face" Pelops, but incorporates him in an argument about the parti-colored or poikilos quality of lies, which harks back to the creation of a multi-hued and heterogeneous object [Pelops with the ivory prosthetic] and the sheen of the shoulder; poikilos generates a play of light and matches the sheen issuing from the shining shoulder piece. Sch. bT Il. 5. 583: �vCa AEVX' eUcpavn: ... LV' n Awxa w£ eUcpm;. oi Of Es eAEcpavr(vwv AEAEVXaO/-leva OOtoov. EGud. E 455. 1 5 - 1 8: 'EUcpac; . .. i) 1taQu to AEVXOC; yiVEtat ... rtuv'U YUQ AWXOV to OOtoUV autou. i) Iz1tO toil t}.. (oow ... i) 1taQu to eAEcpa(Qw, to �I.urttw. See EM328.57 - 329.12. On the deceiving and illusory use of ivory see also Duigan 2004: 8 1 . Sch. Pi. 01. I. 40c (replacement of the consumed shoulder by an eAEcpavn voC; cliIlO£) . . toUto'U cpaoL xaL ,m6Ilvl]lla toU£ IIdon(oac; CPfQELV Awxorrzra tLva XUtu tOY cliIlOV. to ErtL toU ilillO'U toU IIeAonoc; oi IlEv AWXOV Tt ros litu tOY eUcpavra E'cpaoav. Hence, the adjective leukos is not only synonymous but also cognate with the noun elephas. For the use of this material, along with bronze, amber and silver, see Od. 4. 70-75; Bacch. fr. 20B. 1 3 : it is by gold and ivory that the houses shine, llaQllaCQo'UOLv OhOl. Gold and ivory is used for construing divine images, most notably in the Olympic Altis. Duchemin 1 955: 1 93-228. .
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In this passage the poetic imagination i s captured by the lustre o f the boy's shoulder, although the katharos lebes subtly evokes the traditional cannibalistic story, which Pindar intends to revise and correct. The cauldron and the immersion o into water may figure in stories of baby immortalization,29 but the Pindaric ver sion transposes this detail to the ephebic life of the hero and makes it a motivation for Poseidon's infatuation, thus rendering the role of Clotho rather troublesome. One of the Moirae, she has been been associated with spinning one's lot, EJU UAW()tW ExaaTq:J TO t:[,WQ/tivov (sch. 01. 1 . 4 1 ) as well as with apportioning (meiresthai); moira (share or portion of meat) and ammoros (84) subtly allude to Clotho's associations with birth or rebirth as well as to the imagery of eating. 29 1 At this point Pindar breaks his revised mythical version with a gnome about the human crafty and deceiving tales, which are embellished with lies (28-29), thus paving the ground for the traditional cannibalistic version. Pindar caps his novel love story about Poseidon and Pelops, thrusting aside the guile and wile of men, which he pertinently describes with the verb DatDaAOw, DatDaUw (Dt:Dat DaA/tivot, 29) . Although in Homer this verb "describes the adornment or embel ,, lishment, 292 here it is used metaphorically and subtly evokes Daidalus, the great artisan of the Cretan labyrinth, in which another abominable sacrificial "feasting" took place, before Ariadne's love put an end to it; the cannibalistic verson, which the poet intends to disprove offering his own specimen of daidallein (cf. 1 05), keeps resurfacing. With a poetological reflection wrapped in mythical terms, Pin dar makes Charis the divine authority who fashions all the meilicha, honey-sweet, for mortals, and devises ways (E!!r]au'tO, 3 1 ) to lend credibility to incredible things (3 0 3 2) ; future will be a true "witness" (33-33). 293 Pindar gives a pro grammatic overview of the objectives of epinician and encomiastic poetry, and -
290
291
292
293
The ivory shoulder of Pelops and the katharos, pure or purifYing, cauldron have been con nected with rites of regeneration: see Cook 1 9 1 4 : 224-25 with n. 3; Duchemin 1 955: 1 58-62, esp. 1 60 with n. 3, interprets katharos as active, purifYing, since immersion in boiling water serves as a "rite de passage." Gerber 1 982: 57, cautiously suggests that here "Pindar wishes to convey . . . the general idea of ritual purity," which "is necessary for an act of revivification." For Slater 1 989: 497-98, the lebes is "the place of both dismembering and reintegration, of death and rebirth . . . at which myth and ritual meet." Brillante 1 99 1 : 1 7-24, argues that Pindar innovates by transferring to Pelops' youth the motif of the acpavw/16�; which occurs in sto ries of immortalizations mainly of infants. Cf. Donaldson 1 868: 6 ad v. 26: " 'the purifYing vessel' was the urn in which the new-born infant was bathed. See Nagy 1 990a: 132 nn. 88, 89. Hamilton 2003: 9 1 , 94-96, viewing choral lyric as apoikilon weaving, visualizes Clotho as one who "pulls the boy out of the boiling water as a dyer might pull a wollen thread out of pot." So Gerber 1 982: 63-64 (ad 11. 18. 479; Od. 23. 200), noting its metaphorical use in Pindar. Most 1 985: 1 77, notes: "when Pindar refers to bearing witness to events of which he does not have personal acquaintance . . . he is careful to provide witnesses other than himself." Pindar's novelty is challenged by Hansen 2000: 26-30, passim; he takes the Pelops' myth back to an "International story," which the folktale scholars classifY as "The Bride Won in a Tourna ment," and argues (35-36) that the Poseidon version "is certainly a development of the Inter national tale rather than a sheer invention ofPindar for the convenience of his ode to Hieron."
1 34
Pelops and his Name - Literary Tradition
accounts for his mythical arts and wiles, which he cautiously clads in the garb of piety and reverence. Immediate result of this hybris-less poetry is Pindar's clean break with impi ous and lying traditional stories. The poet intends to refrain from such tales and speak instead about god-revering Tantalus, who invited the gods LOV d,vo f,lw LULOV E� EQUVOV and af,lO L�ULU ()EL:n:VU (37-39). The feast gathering on Mount Sipylus is a law-abiding concourse and an act of reciprocity of charis, that is, gratitude and return of favors. During this pious commensality of gods and men, the lord of the Splendid Trident (AYAaorQ(mva, 40) sees the ephebe Pelops. From this moment onwards the mind of the subduing and taming father (cf. ,1al1a(cp :n:uLQC, Pi. 01. 1 3 . 69) is itself subdued and tamed (oal1ivra qJQ£vu� if,l£Q
295
6 29 2 97
Verdenius 1 988: 24, considers phrenes the seat of emotions after Onians 1 95 1 : 13-16, 23-40 82-83, who elaborates on the unity of mind in which perception or cognition is associated with emotion and a tendency to act. Dodds 1 95 1 : 2-8, renders phresi, thymoi as "understand ing, mind." So also Cairns 1 993: 1 30. Padel 1 992: 20-23, 44-48, adopting the "unity in multi plicity" (Austin 1 975), argues for the "Homeric insight into disunity of mental and emotional experience; a unified vision of an inconsistent thing" (46, 47). For this unified vision see al ready sch. A (D) n. 1 1 . 579. Barrett 1 964: 374 ad Hipp. 1 1 3 1 -34; 388 ad 1228-29, and 403 ad 1 353-54, argues that "mount the horses" means "mount the chariot," and "conversely ' chariot' [can stand] for the horses." Gerber 1982: 77-78 ad 01. 1 . 4 1 , and 1 2 1 ad 77, is cautious, correctly in my opinion: Pindar mentions the horses (4 1 ) and the chariots (77) individually, but in 86b-88 he mentions both probably "thinking of the chariot and its team." Hence, it is rather unwarranted to as sume that Pindar adopts the Homeric fungibility of chariotlhorses in all cases. Kakridis 1 930: 464-66, compares Ganymedes with Pelops, arguing that the same chreos re fers to the pederastic motif (paidika) and the duty of cup bearing (oinochoein). Poseidon mingles in love with Tyro, ij'w; btn t1jv AEVXOT1/W xaL 't�v 1:OU aw[!a'toc; IillMl: lill.mm tautl1� tfJ� ltQO(Jl1'YoQ(a� EtvX£v ( Diod. Sic. 6. 6. 5; 6. 7. 2); Tyro is derived from TVQ6<; (cf. 6 XW[!LXOC; . . . MAEt ' " 't�v oE TVQw, rQocpaAA.{Da, Eust. Od. I : 216. 3-4 ad Od. 5. 274. Neleus and Pelias, both dark figures, were the fruit of this union. Poseidon also mar ries Celaino; he is xvavoxa{rrz� and worshipped as Melanthius, and his lot is :rtOV1:OC; (piAa�, xEAmvo�, JWQCPvQw�, iOELD!J� and o[vo!J1); JtaftfttAavE� bulls are sacrificed to him, btn t1jv XQOtav 1:OU :rtEAayouc; (Corn. Epidr. c. 22, p. 42. 1 1 -14). See Hsch. S.v. rrEAAav!O�. Gruppe 1906: 145 argues that Pelops is a hypostasis of Poseidon, whose epithet ElJQvftiDWV recalls Pelops' mothers, EVQvavaaaa, EVQv8Eft{arrz.
Pelops in Pindar
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shining shoulder and the ambiguous name are imbued with the lustre of eros and Olympus (25-27, 40-45), as also are Zeus and Ganymedes. Pelops is ushered into a liaison, which is embraced with light: the individual names of the two couples testify to this. Both pairs of lovers bear corresponding names and the youths, the £(}WIlSVOt, embody characteristics of their mature di vine £(}aara{, thus emerging as their doublets, in both the erotic and linguistico semantic field. Pelops, whose semantics oscillates between dark and white (po lioslpelios), evokes the comparable qualities of Poseidon who is almost invariably dark, despite his present exceptional brightness as A.yAao-'tQCmvu (40) and his exceptional residence on all-shiny Olympus instead of the depths of the dark sea. Ganymedes, whose name has been narrativized in the Homeric hymn to Aphrodite (5. 202-05), also mirrors in his name the brightness (yavo�) and counseling (/l�oOllat) of his own 10ver,298 since Zeus is the god of bright sky « *dei-, Chan traine DELG) and of many counsels (/lrl1;{sra Zsv�). With the construction of these parallel figures, the poet suggests that only brightness and splendor reign on the divine celestial space, a wide-spread aYAata, indeed, which embraces the victor Hieron (aYAatCSTat, 1 4) and Pelops, who is worshipped aYAaalat ulJlu xouQCms; (9 1 ); they are enveloped in a god-given radiance (cf. Pi. Pyth. 8. 96, arYAa 6Loa60ws;). We come down to earth with a bump, when we return to the sphere of mortals and its contrasting imagery. The ignorance, envy (cp8ovoS;) , deception, and ru mors, which typify cannibalistic accounts, reign among people.299 Pindar, true to his revisionist program, dramatizes, only to denounce eventually, the disappear ance of Pe lops and the agonizing search for him by men (JlmOJlEVoL) at the behest of his mother. The vain search has triggered the fabrication of the cannibalistic story (46-5 1 ) of the envious neighbors, 'tLS; cp80VEQWV YEL'tOVillV (47), namely, those who live "near by" and so belong to the same semantic field as Pelops (YECWVE\; ot JrtAa�, ol JrArza{OV).300 The traditional tale to be revised begins as follows (46-53): -
w� b' uqJUv'Wc; {:rr:t:Af�, oUbE �atQt no A Aa \lmO\lEYOL wG)'n:� uyayov, £VVErtE xQ\)(Jl(i tL� aUtLXa 1Jl90VEQiii v yEttOyWV, 298
299
300
HAphr. 5. 202-05, �av80v ravW1110w {I1IT{n:a ZEU� ijQnaoEv OV /ita xaHo; . 8av�a tbEi:v. Xen. Symp. 8. 30 (�aQtuQEi: bE xat to ovo�a autov ... yavvTm ... Illj&a fiow�); EGud. x 3 1 3 . 52
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Pelops and his Name - Literary Tradition UOUTOe; on TE n1JQL �EoLouv de; aX!-Luv !-LUXULQ\1 TU!-LOV xmu !-LEAI'], TQunE�aLoL T' a!-LCPL OE1J-rUTU XQEOOV oE8EV otf/5aaavw XUL cpuyov. E!-LOL 0' anoQu YUOTQL!-LUQYOV !-LuxuQwv nv' dnEiV acpLoTU!-LaL' aXEQOnu AEAOYXEV 8U!-LLVU xuxuyoQ01Je;. "But when you disappeared, and despite much searching / no men returned you to your mother,! one of the envious neighbors immediately said in secret / that into water boiling rap idly on the fire they cut up your limbs with a knife, / and for the final course distributed your flesh / around the tables and ate it. But for my part, I cannot call any of the blessed gods / a glutton -I stand back: / impoverishment is often the lot of slanderers" (Race).
The false cannibalistic story is visualized in images of darkness and distorted light, that is, the fire of human sacrifice. The state of envy (cp8ovo£), secrecy (xQvCP(i), guile and other disturbing emotional conditions are often described in Greek literature in terms of darkness. 301 But this chromatic contrast is also corre lated with the program of the encomiastic epinician poetry. 302 In the Pindaric story, the occurrence of !1ULO!1m (!1mO!1EVO L CPW'tE£, 46) coexists with phthonos, with the fabrication of lies by males, and kakagoria (53). The participle !1mo !1EVOL also contributes to the creation of this dark climate, since it belongs to a family of words whose semantics hovers between menos and mania. The Pelopids are intimately linked with this linguistic family. The old but persistent cannibalistic tale as regards Pelops, which Pindar overtly claims to renounce and revise, manages nonetheless to float and reverber ate behind the forms YU01:QL!1UQYOV (52), xm:unEtjlm (55) and e'ljJo L ( 8 3 ). 3 03 Di301
302
303
On the connection of phthonos and gloom see Pi. Isth. 3/4. 66: c1l'uvl1iilOUt TOV EX8Qov; Nem. 4. 39-4 1 : X1JALVOEL I XU!-LUL nEToLouv. Blame, \jJoyo;, is dark (skoteinos) in Nem. 7. 6 1 . On the darkness of pthonos see Irwin 1 974: 135-56; Bulman 1 992: 62-65. Kohnken 1 97 1 : 33-34 with n. 59 (about dark foils), observes apropos of Nem. 8. 2 1 -23 and 32-34, that the envious speech and its bad consequences is the dark background from which rises the praise song all the more brighter. Griffith 1 989: 1 73, speaks "of the customary Pin daric chiaroscuro that plays the light of victory off against the darkness of human mortality." See Hamilton 2003: 77-79: "Pindar's is an art of chiaroscuro, for the light of praise . . . has its ground of possibility in the darkness of non-praise. He regards the "Pindaric poikilia as the poetic practice of tempering the light of praise by means of the darkness . . . In weaving to gether the lightness of praise and the darkness of its detraction, the poet 'plaits a woven hymn' (nAExwv I nOLxLAoV U!-LVOV al. 6. 86-87)." Poikilia is hence "protective" as intending to avert envy. Gildersleeve 1 890: 128, notes: "To make the myth resplendent as his themes, he [Pindar] must remove the foulness of envious tongues." Cf. 10hnston 1 995: 1 89 with n. 26. Gerber 1982: 93, argues that the choice of xuTunE\j!aL is "influenced by the preceding refer ences to Tantalus' banquet," and "is simply one element in a broader theme that permeates much of the ode, namely the contrast between proper and improper behaviour at symposia;" Hieron and the revised version of the Tantalic dinner "serve as a model for the former," while the rejected version of Tantalus' banquet and theft "serve as a model for the latter." On the echoes of the cannibalistic dinner see also Nagy 1986: 85-86; Hamilton 2003 : 91 -92 et al.
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gestion of human flesh is translated in images of darkness, thus matching the am biguous chromatic name of Pelops. The ambiguity continues with the ancient scholia, which derive the adjective &vrara either from & vrC(!o� or from &vw : � 'ta �£�g£YItEVa 'to UtJLUtt (sch. Pi. 01. 1 . 80a, b), thus evoking the image of bloody gore along with its chromatic connotations. The expression w� {j ' awav'tO� breA£� (46)304 in the vicinity of phthonos and the tale of dismembering, boiling and feasting upon a child, condenses in itself a convoluted network of two etymo logical alternatives for Pel-ops: (a) an antiphrastic rendition of his o'ljJ (LSJ B = o'ljJ��, oQav), by which Pelops ' presence and visibility is denied, and (b) an anti phrastic rendition of his nEAa�, by which his vicinity is denied. Thus Pelops' ety mological associations resurface here: he was neither "visible" nor "near;" so he was absent and far away, rijA£/n�AvL The picture is clarified further with the copulative verb niAOllat, nEAw, which echoes the first part of his name. How ever, the phrase awav'tO� {n£A£� is also tantamount to "you were dead": negating the component o'ljJ O'ljJt� in Pel-ops, it subtly correlates the hero with the world beneath and Hades, who is linked with invisibility and darkness « a-priv.+l&iv; cf. �£Q6£t�, dIQ05£t�, aOQa a{a ). The implicit connection with Hades ties in with the diffused darkness of the context and the presumed death of the hero. Pelops, invisible and distanced, is said to have disappeared (awav'tO� (neA£�) in death from the point of view of envious and ignorant mortals. The inspired and veridical poet, abstaining from blasphemous tales, translates Pelops to illustrious and radiant Olympus, while the envious, laymen imagine him engulfed in the darkness of divine stomachs. A verbal network of cognates, syno nyms or antonyms is woven around Pelops' figure in the Pindaric passage cited above: the pel- and -ops sounds of his name are made integral parts of a complex and elusive dramatization of his myth. With this imaginative and intricate word play, Pindar offers us a glimpse of the sheer power that is inherent in Pelops' name, and his own JtoLXLA.La (a word used also of trickery), aocpLa and Itll 't L£. 305 Pindar does not mention the traditional element, that is, the consumption of the shoulder, which is "a prominent part of the victim in sacrificial ritual and ,, maenadic sparagmos (Eur. Ba. 1 1 27). 306 Pindar abstains from this impious ver sion, and of course does not spell out the name of the supposedly flesh-devouring and/or restoring god. This information is provided by the Pindaric scholia (sch. Pi. 01. 1 . 40a, c, d) and the mythographic tradition: Demeter, a mother robbed of her daughter, or Themis, the goddess of justice, sorely needed in this impious story (cf. £uvobluha'tOv Egavov, 37-38), are said to have tasted Pelops' shoulder. The task of restoring the mangled child is undertaken either by Hermes, the mediating god who presides over initiation, kleptosyne, broken oaths and transgression of boundaries, or by Rhea, a mother also brutally denied the opportunity to raise =
304 305 306
This phrase incorporates the dimensions of "far"/"absent" in Young 1968: 1 1 7. On poetiC!.lijTL�: Pi. al. 1 . 9; Nem. 3. 9. On itOLX(AO� for mental capacity: Hes. Theog. 5 1 1 , of Prometheus; Pi. 01. 1 . 29 ; Nem. 5. 28 ; Pyth. 9. 77-78, itOLXLAAELV aocpoT�. On the significance of dJJ1aoto� and the shoulder blade see Henrichs 1 980: 222 n. 5; Burker! 1 983: 100 with llll . 35, 36. •••
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Pe10ps and his Name - Literary Tradition
children; her cave during the Lycaean games serves as the gathering place for grieving mothers, who seek to reintegrate and save their family.307 Pelops is out of sight at this point, and reputedly in the stomach of a divinity. Pindar emphasizes the greediness or, to be etymologically correct, the "madness of the belly" (JuiQYo� <{la{vOl1m+ya01:�Q) of this deity whom most of our later sources identify with Gaia-Gii Meter. Her role is variously motivated: Henrichs sees a cultural development, "Demeter, the inventress of the tame cereal food . . . ,, put an end to cannibalism. 308 Griffith, capitalizing on the multiple structural similarities between the myths of Pelops and Persephone, convincingly argues that Pindar ''used the Demeter-myth as a 'hypogram' for his version of the Pelops ,, story. 309 The key to her presence should be found in lne&iaavr:o (5 1 ) and ya01p({laQYov (52). The Pindaric diction sustains the imagery of dismemberment and feasting in ways that subtly allude to the name of the anonymous deity: the verb lhecSaaavr:o describes the division of the unholy meat and the dining proc ess, and evokes the congeners cSa(�, cSa(vV{lL, which tie in nicely with Demeter in her capacity as L111W: she is associated with the eating and the distribution of food as well as with seeking and discovering things « cSarela8m, cSa(vva8m, cS�eLV).3lO The search for Pelops conducted by {lmo{levOt or cp80VfQO( men and liars at the request of his grieving biological mother seems to be undertaken on the pattern of the search of Demeter, who dressed in black and {lmO{lEVl1, wandered about the earth, while no one wanted to tell her the truth, E'tlltwa '"t'U8�(Ja(J8aL (HDem. 39-46). This archetypal mother figure, clouded by grief for her loss, inad vertently tastes the shoulder of a dismembered and cooked son. Yet, repulsed by the gory deeds of males, she restores human life in the person of Pelops. The sto-
307
308
309
310
On the female rites and the cult of the divine child in Rhea's cave in Arcadia as well as its counterpart on the Cronion in the cave of Zeus Sosipo1is and Ei1eithyia see Burkert 1 983: 9 1 9 2 and 1 02-03, respectively. For the Hesiodean Rhea and Gaia, two "aggrieved wives and mothers," and the modem approaches to the myth see Doherty 200 1 : 56-64. Henrichs 1980: 225 with n. 2. Griffith 1 989: 1 7 1-73, esp. 1 73 with n. 23. For the identification of these goddesses see P. Derveni, col. XXII: Tij DE xaL Mrz.rrz/2 xaL 7'ea xaL "H/2rz i] aim]. 'EXA1]eTl DE Tij I1EV VOl1lP, Mrirrz/2 D' OTt EX tautTl� It!ivta y(vEtm. Tij xUL Taia xutu YAWOOUV EXuOtOL�. L1rY171rf//2 DE WVOl1uoSTl W01tEQ i] Tij M!jr@, E� UI1CPotEQWV EV OVOI1U" to uutO YUQ �v, "Earth (Ge), Mother (Meter), Rhea, and Hera are one and the same. She was called Earth (Ge) by convention; Mother, because all things are born from her; Ge and Gaia, according to each one's dialect. She was named Demeter, just like Ge-meter; one name from both, for it was the same" (Laks-Most 1 997: 20); on the sexual connotations of L1rzw
Pelops in Pindar
1 39
ries of Demeter and Rhea, exemplify an embedded gender tension; females en gender and protect life, in contrast to males who destroy it. The bleak and gloomy atmosphere continues in this Pindaric ode with a re vised account of the crime committed by Tantalus. This consists not in his killing and serving a son to the gods, but in his stealing and distributing to his co-eval fellow diners the divine food, the nectar and ambrosia, by which gods had be stowed immortality upon him. 3 1 1 The theme of illicit appropriation of prohibited food by humans is at the center of both the traditional cannibalistic and the "cor rected" story. The theme of mingling, introduced with the programmatic ltQo a EIlELSE (22), subtly resurfaces here, since the consumption of divine food effaces the demarcation lines between mortals and immortals. The cannibalistic father turns into a man devoted to his fellows at table and his group of peers, or even 3 into a reduced Prometheic figure in his partisanship to humans. 12 Yet the traces of the cannibalistic story are still, even if dimly, felt: Tantalus is unable to "di gest" his great fortune (55-56). His hybristic appropriation of food, his vacillation between alliances, framed as they are in the context of sympotic merriment and impious mingling, and his proverbial punishment by a "suspended rock" (54-58), provide the background for the understanding of the fate and the name of Tanta Ius; its discussion is deferred for a later point. To resume our contact with Pelops, his deportation from the celestial resi dence and his return to the 'tUXVltO'tIlOV . . . UVEQWV E8vo� (66) is presented by Pindar as capping the punishment of Tantalus (64-65), and also as dashing the hopes of the youth that he would be rewarded with immortality for his commen sality and erotic concourse with a god. But even so, he will live "in a world that is ,, the best possible, 3 l 3 and eventually will transcend his human bonds through his heroization and worship at Olympia. The signs of Pelops ' human nature sweep down on earth along with him: his reversed movement from the celestial tfjA.E to the mundane 1CiA.a� this time, and the dark overtones engendered by the 'tuxv lto'tIlOV . . . UVEQWV E8vo�, which echoes the Homeric E8vEa VEXQWV (Od. l l . 632-33; 1 0. 526), coincide with the growth of a physical sign of maturation: Pelops' beard grows dark (IlEAUV) and he is resolved to seek a dangerous marriage and a bride, "glorious" Hippodameia, whose father, Oenomaus, was killing her suitors, thus forcing a virginal state upon her and impeding her from actualizing the connotations of her hippo- and -dameia components, namely, from mating. "The use of metaphors taken from the domestication of animals," is attested in myths referring to the education of adolescents and to adult sexuality; "the eques31 1
312
3 13
The etymology of ambrosia and nectar entails absence of death. See Heubeck 1 949-5011984: 2 1 8 = \ 1 5 n. ! . "vixw{.J
Pelops and his Name - Literary Tradition
1 40
trian connotations of domestication constitute one of the essential symbolic levels , of the myth of the love affairs and marriage of Pelops and Hippodameia. ,3 14 Back on earth, Pelops constantly flirts with danger and darkness. He must cross it before he reaches light again, this time through his heroic accomplish ments, of course with a touch of divine succor. To face Oenomaus, a lethal oppo nent who has killed thirteen suitors, Pelops addresses his former lover, Poseidon, in a solitary nocturnal prayer. This passage is of nodal significance: the poet dramatizes here Pelops' plea, and indulges in a heavy etymologizing, accom plished by the accumulation of etymological markers for both Pelops and Posei don. The semantic and imagistic reciprocity of the erotic couple, which we pos ited above, is sealed here with the reciprocity of charis, as gratitude and recom pense, and with the establishment of their etymological and functional correlation. For the dynameis and etymology of Poseidon Pindar draws heavily on Homer, but for Pelops he has to dig deeply into his own mind, to improvise and give flesh and blood to the hero' s evasive pel- and -ops sounds. In a recital of unrivaled imagina tion and verbal dexterity, the poet says (67-78): nQoe; EMv6qtOV 0' chE
In this passage the names of Pelops and Poseidon as well as their functions and etymologies are treated in a highly intricate manner. By means of cognates (italics for Pelops and bold for Poseidon), synonyms and antonyms (underlined), the poet rearticulates the underlying phonetic sequences of these two names and generates narrative, in which he exploits the semantics of their newly segmented lexemes. The tissue bears the stamp of a masterful and crafty, daidaleos, poet, indeed! With a soaring imagination and unmistakable adherence to the Homeric pattern of rear314
Calame 1 997: 242.
141
Pelops in Pindar
ticulation and resignification, Pindar dramatizes the reciprocity o f charis between the two ex-lovers, and constructs parallelisms and contrasts between them and their names. Etymology prompts the thematic coherence and serves again as a unifying factor. Signifier and signified become subject to an unrivalled artistic elaboration and variegation; the intertextual hints, which reveal the poetic poikilia, mingle in imaginative manners. To start with Pelops, the Lydian ephebe, who is abducted from his homeland and then "expatriated" from his Olympic foster home, is doubly an alien. 3 l 5 He returns to the mundane world, leaving behind his ephebic connections with ri/As/Jr11A Vt and brightness, and enters a world shrouded in the darkness of phthonos, of lies and crimes. Pelops must go through a liminal stage marked by seclusion, solitude and darkness, before he comes close, TCEAa�, and is reinte grated into human society as a successful and luminous adult, earning the status of soldier, king and husband. During this intermediate phase on the way to adult hood, while his first beard starts to darken, Auxvm VlV liD.av Y€VElOV EQEqJOV (68; sch. 01. 1 . 1 09a, c, 1 l 0a), Pe10ps approaches the abode of his former lover. He comes near (£yyu� � TCEAa�) the TCOAUi sea, alone in the dark of the night, olo� EV op({Jva.31 6 This phrase reduplicates the darkness that started with the "black" beard that "covered" his chin; o[JqJVa and E[JECPW are words etymologically akin.3 l7 This passage provides the etymological markers for Pelops, and posits his connections with TCEAa� and TCOAt6�; the two ex-lovers are bound in proximity and darkness this time. Pelops shouts and invokes Poseidon, un'UEv (72), with a plea, TCEAaaov (78), that will allow him to approach power and settle in the com munity of even foreign people. The former verb provides a synonym for the sec ond component of Pel-ops (o'IjJ = voice, LSJ A), while the latter is a derivative of TCEAa�. By the sea, a liminal and mediating locus, and in a nocturnal setting, Pelops shapes his future, building upon reciprocity and gratitude, charis, for past acts of love. Yet the presence of polia at this critical moment has rekindled the debate over its color and its bearing on Pelops. The Pindaric scholia (rec. 01. 1 . 1 1 5, Boeckh 2:40), explain the adj ective firstly as YEQm6� (� TCaAat6�), under the influence of cosmological speculations, and secondly as "white.,,318 Modem scholars are undecided. Slater ( 1 969) renders
315
316
317
Pindar makes Pelops an example of "alien is native:" see Nagy 1990a: 292-98. Gerber 1 982: 1 14, sees in v. 7 1 "a combination of Homeric reminiscence and ritual practice . . . In addition, night is also the time most suitable for the practice of magic." Cf. the objec tions of Verdenius 1 988: 35. The idea of magic has recently gained currency and conviction, associated mainly with pedason (76, see below). Faraone 199 1 : 17, argues: "secrecy is part of the traditional ritual procedure used in approaching the gods for help, while at the same time shielding a person's private affairs from the inquisitive eye of the neighbors." See Philox. fr. 231 Or. 122. 1 5 , oQcpvrz <eQecpw ... ii 01{E:rto.souoa to cpiii £ - EGud. 0 437. 8-9; EQc{30; is also associated with eQecpw: Philox. 484 Or. 62. 12; EGud. E 5 1 8. 2-3; EM 370. 26-28 et al. Sch. rec. Pi. al. I. 1 1 5, Boeckh 2: 40: To 7To).ta; 0.).0; 11 (xvii, tOU � v6n, OIU to dvul nQoYEvEm:egov to u6wQ tiiiv aUwv OtOLXELWV, w£ Ecpa!!EV' 11 (xvii, toU ).cvxfj<;" =
=
318
1 42
Pelops and his Name - Literary Tradition
jW),t6� as "white flecked, grey, hoary." Foge1mark denies that it is "a word denot ing visual colour," but admits that "it is tempting to take O. 1 . 7 1 as passage de noting actual colour because of the addition of £V oQqJVC;X -but that would be a romantic interpretation, which is refuted by the use of the same epithet in P. 11. 68. IIo),t6� should rather be understood as a parallel to y),avx6�, not denoting the ,, colour of the sea, but suggesting its smooth, placid surface. 3 1 9 Fogelmark con cludes, "on these grounds one may justifiably exclude Jro),t6� from the group of visually ornamental colour-epithets, all the more so because the only instance which has an allusion to colour (Jro),wC [ rQ(Xf�], O. IV. 26) is Homeric in origin, ,, though not a formula. 32o Formulaic or not, romantic or not, the chromatic aspects of polios and pelios are underpinned by ancient evidence, which repeatedly and unequivocally refers to them explicitly in terms of color: 6 LU 'tT]V 'tlis; XQoLas; i6Lo'tTj'ta, XQw!1a, etc. Placidity of the sea surface is not a typical feature of the polia sea; instead, the adjective often qualifies the foamy and white sea either as a result of rowing, or of the vehement dashing of the waves at a breakwater. However, on this specific occasion (01. 1 . 7 1 ), the nocturnal setting makes the question of the "real" color ofpolia sea irrelevant; neither the commotion nor the placidity or the whiteness of the sea are discernible and appreciable qualities: polia sea blends with the dark ness of the nighe2 1 and the hero' s solitude to furnish the setting for his prayer and the miraculous epiphany of the god of the sea. Praying by the sea is one of the basic motifs of myths linked with coming-of-age: Pelops prepares to cross the threshold that separates him from adolescence and maturity. As we saw above, polia sea is a mediating, a liminal locus, pregnant with potentialites and miracu lous appearances; out ofpolia thalassa emerges Rhodes, invisible to all but Helios (Pi. 01. 7. 6 1 -62). But most significantly, it provides the clues to the etymological connections of Pelops with Jro),t6� in the meaning of dark this time; the inherent chromatic ambiguities and functional polarities of polia sea make it the proper sounding board of the physique and aspirations of the cult hero. The role and the name of Poseidon, on the other hand, are comprised in verses 72-78: loud-pounding, �aQvx't'Ul'tOS;, Poseidon hears the shout ( Ul't'UEV) of Pelops AfVxa(VE1:m YUQ 'tfl 'toov x'UWl'tWV 1tEQl(jJOQ(i xu'l oLVijon. This, removed from the empiri 319
cal world of Homeric rowing (cf. periphora, dinesis) suggests philosophical reflection;. Fogelmark 1 972: 34 with n. 90. Cf.Verdenius 1 987: 75-76 ad 01. 7. 6 1 : "dull white as con trasted with f..E'UXO£ 'shining white';" id. 1 988: 34 ad 0/. 1 .7 1 , after Reiter ( 1 962: 14-7, 5463): potios often refers to broken water, whereas f..E'UXO£ is characteristic of calm sea (Od. 1 0. 94). See Kober 1 932: 49-52: "the "metaphorical uses [ofpolios] . . are derived from its con nection with old age through the color of the hair," "IIoA!6; itself seems to stand for the lightest shade of grey possible." Gerber 1 982: 1 14- 15, opts for AfVX6;, which as a description of the sea seems to refer to the whiteness of its disturbed surface; Alexiou 1 986: 1 6 n. 10; Ir win 1 974: 3, 89, 56, 76-77, 1 67-68, 1 94-96, who interprets polios as "grey" and considers it almost identical to leukos. Christol 2002: 29-44 examines potios (gris <=> bleu/vert) in its contexts, rejecting the help of etymology since pellos, peleia lack chromatic unity (44 n. 24). Fogelmark 1972: 35. See Irwin 1 996: 386: "The need for light in order to see colours was recognized by the Ro mans, Lucr. 2. 795-833. Colours were not perceived at night, cf. Verg. Aen. 6. 272." .
32 0 321
Pelops in Pindar
1 43
and appears right by his feet, JtaQ nob), GXEOOV ma vu (74): Poseidon "emerges" and "approaches." Despite its frequency and stereotypical meaning, close at hand (LSJ), the prepositional phrase JtaQ Jtoo( in this specific context plays upon the names of the two ex-partners: it is not only synonymous to the adjacent � and ntAa�, with which Pelops is intimately associated, but it also evokes the deri vation of Poseidon from nous. Pelops encapsulates the dynameis of his divine champion in two significant imperatives, ni&u(Jov, nOQ£u(Jov, and entreats him to return the erotic favor, EL 'tL E� XaQLV r8AAE1:m (75-76; cf. ntAOj1m), thus echo ing the name of the aspiring recipient, Pelops. Exchange of gifts entails gratitude and reciprocity; it is a binding commitment. It is clear that Pelops asks the god to bind (ni&u(Jov) his opponent, metaphorically or magically,322 thus proving the diacritical qualities, which are imprinted in his divine name and epitomized in the key words n£&ciro, nibTJ, nous, &£iv and &WJlOS; Homer, as we saw above, was outspoken about them. Indeed, Oenomaus is bound, all'to� n£&ci9TJ , as Pindar confirms elsewhere.323 The Pindaric scholia (01. 1 . 1 22b) interpret nibu(Jov with the cognates £JlnObl(Jov and (JuJlnoM(Jus. The horse-breaking god, who was once bound and tamed by Pelops' love (buJlivtu
323 324
In the imperative nEoaoov, Kakridis 1 930/1970: 1 69-70, discerns the influence of magic and the language used in magic deflXiones. Gerber 1 982: 120-2 1 , agrees, especially in the light of the alliteration and the homoioteleuton in nEoaoov, nOQ€UOOV, JtEt.. a oov, but warns that a binding may be metaphorical and need not always imply magic, especially in contexts refer ring to chariots and horses. Cf. Verdenius 1988: 36, "a god has no need of magic." For the discussion of magic here see Howie 1 99 1 : 72-84. Faraone 1 99 1 : 1 1 , 1 7- 1 8, considers our pas sage (Pi. 01. 1 . 75-78) "one of the most straightforward applications of defixiones (and one that most clearly shows their agonistic context) . . . Pelops' prayer. . . may preserve the earliest example of this kind of curse . . . binding aims at evening up the odds of a contest that from the perspective of the defigiens seems rather lopsided." Hansen 2000: 26 n. 1 3 , discussing Taraxippos (Paus. 6. 20. 1 5-20), argues that Pelops had perhaps buried a magical object of some sort, which hindered Oenomaus' horses and threw them into confusion. Pi. fr. 135 Mae sch. Pi. al. 1 . 127a, Porphyr. ( 1 : 148. 1 3 , Schrader) apud sch. b I/. 1 0. 252. On the relation of hippios Poseidon with the present poem see Kohnken 1 974: 1 99-206. =
1 44
Pelops and his Name - Literary Tradition
,,m axis of "the near and the far, using synonymous expressions that signify local vicinity, EYYU� {c'} EASWV (7 1 ), ltaQ ltOC( (74), or a cognate, nO.aaov (78), which recalls Pelops' associations with nEAac;. He also hints at the constitution of Pelops through nOA�6c; (7 1), rEAAOllat (rEUsrat, 76), whose Aeolic form is nEAOllat. But Pindar's superb dexterity is reflected in the masterful, concurrent manipulation of both names: he narrativizes the derivation of Poseidon from nEMO) and also hints at it in the key expressions, ltag nob), aXEcov wavn (74), while with UltUEV PUgUXTUltOV (72), he simultaneously points to both figures. The former expression describes the approach and epiphany of Poseidon, and subtly posits his etymology from nou\>; insinuating proximity and vision it draws a connecting line, too, between the god and Pel-ops on whose etymological mark ers it harks (nEAac;+o'IjJ = o'IjJ�c;, LSJ B). A comparable poetical strategy is ob served in the latter, UltUEV puguxtUltov: this action ("he shouted") hints at -o'IjJ, the second component of Pel-ops, only this time in the sense of o'IjJ = voice (LSJ A), and also evokes the canonical association of Poseidon with thunderous noise. In this context the qualities of the two ex-lovers mingle intricately: Pe1-ops cries aloud to Poseidon, fulfilling the expectations of his own name, which ties in well with the features of Poseidon pugUXtUltO£, !1uxrt ta£, OELo(XSo)V. 326 In this passage the poet indulges in a linguistic game, based on reciprocity and transference. Manipulating the functional and etymological specificities of the god and his paidika, Pindar allows the hero to capture and "bind" his ex-partner, thus illustrating his own poetic poikilia, on the etymological plane this time: the names Pelops and Poseidon exhibit mutual and overlapping inroads; words that ety mologize the one have a bearing also on the other. In this closely-knit tissue, an incessant trafficking and exchange of qualities binds the two ex-partners in love; etymological markers are transferred from the one member of this erotic syzygy, 61l�Ma, to the other with the ultimate purpose of consolidating their liasion and reciprocity on the linguistic level as well. The technique by which the etymologi cal markers and their underlying conceptual cargo is transferred from their natural bearer to a different but related person is well-attested in the Homeric epos and the Homeric Hymns, and often involves surrogate or foil figures. Here the erotic past and the functional duplication of Poseidon and Pelops becomes a matter of linguistic representation as well as religious accommodation: Pindar accumulates and integrates in the narrative the major dynameis of Poseidon, thus casting Pelops' prayer in the conventional manner that ensures its efficacy. In the sequel of his story, Pindar draws a portrait of Pelops, which foreshad ows the Platonic, but with telling differentiations. Unlike Plato, who finds Pelops ' vision of the future shortsighted, examining the myth from a moral and utilitarian angle on the basis of what is beneficial not solely for the individual but for his lineage as a whole, the epinician poet focuses on the effectiveness of Pelops' vi325 326
For the formulation of this motif see Young 1968: 35-68, 1 1 6-20. Sch. Pi. 01. 1 . 1 1 6b, {JaQvwcvlCoV oE dJtE tOV I1oaELoGJva altO ,(OV x-rVlCOV tf]� 8aAaaaT]�. Cf. Corn. Epidr. c. 4, p. 4. 14, lCd50adwv; c. 22, p. 42. 1 -9, tvoa{x8wv, tvoa{yaw�, at:w{ X8wv, �u1{T]ta�.
Pelops in Pindar
145
sion in terms of heroic aspirations. Pindar presents Pelops at the threshold of man hood to take a long-term look, indeed, at his personal life and seek the assistance of Poseidon as he prepares to abandon the ambivalent phase of polios and enter the unequivocal phase of cpw;, i.e., of an adventurous man who reaches out for the cpw;, the light of success (8 1 -85):
6 !!EYU£ oE x(vouvo£ UVUAXLV ov qJGnu AU!!�av£L. 8UV€lV 0' OtOLV avayxu, 'ta XE LL£ UVolVU!'OV yligu£ Ev qxO't!Q xu8rj!!€vo£ £ljJOl !!a'tuv, cmav't!QV XUAWV U!!!!ogo£ ; aAA' E!!ol !!Ev � u€8Ao£ UltOX€(onUL "Great risk I does not take hold of a cowardly man. I But since men must die, why should anyone sit I in darkness and coddle a nameless old age to no use, I deprived of all noble deeds? No! I that contest shall be mine I to undertake" (Race).
With his vision oriented towards the distant future, and with a striking narrati vization of his associations with both "the near and the far" in connection with heroic values and achievements, the Pindaric Pelops declares his resolution to undertake the present trial (� � nEAa;),327 which corresponds to the immedi acy of EtOLIlOV yallov (69). The hero, repulsed by the prospect of dark anonymity in the distant future, capitalizes on the available opportunity, in an effort to avoid failure, darkness, and anonymity, since lack of name is tantamount to death. Here the poet allows Pelops to indulge in an existential evaluation of "name" and "dis tance," as measurements of heroic virtue: the worth of present ("near") and future ('far') is gauged in terms of light and reputation. With his usual "amphibolic dex ,, terity 328 Pindar envelops the heroic feats of Pelops in a wordplay on cpo)�, OX6to� and avo)vwo� (8 1 -85): heroic status is bathed in the radiance of renown (cpw;-cpw;), thus epitomizing the concept of ideal virtue. In a wordplay, which owes its efficacy partly to the syntactic ambiguity of o u ( o u Aall�aVEL/ou avaAxLv cpwta, litotes for "brave"), the poet states that great danger seizes (or "strikes," Slater 1 969) not the coward, but the brave, heroic cpw;. The coward is not linked with cpw; (light) but with ox6to� (darkness); hence he is anonymous and dead, metaphorically. Ancient scholars record the complementary etymologi cal and semantic connections of cpw;/cpw; with cpa{vw, cpwd�w and cpw (= UYW). 329 Unlike (Xv1(J, the generic term for man, the word cpw; in Pindar is a ve327 328
329
See Gerber 1 982: 130 ad 84, "one should strive for what is near at hand (my italics) and capable of fulfilment." For the term and its application in Pindar see Stanford 1 93911972: 129-136. See Or. 1 60. 13, rpw�. 6 uv8go)1to£, 6 !!OVO£ 'ta 'tli£ OLUVO(U£ rpw,{�WV 'tW AOYQ), 11 nUlla to rpliJ 'to A€yw; cf. ib. 160. 12,sv. rpwv�. Ap. Soph. 1 66. 1 (rpwrt:� <rpw,{�w). Reitzenstein 1 76. 102 (rpliJ� <rpa{vw). EGud.
1 46
Pelops and his Name - Literary Tradition
hicle of aristocratic virtues and agonistic success described in terms of light and appearance.330 Elsewhere in Pindar (01. 1 0. 49-55), in a similar polarity of light and dark ness, Pelops' victory over Oenomaus is presented as a civilizing act and a JtQwt6yovo£ tEAEta, which allows the hill of Cronion to be named and so emerge out of its primeval phase of obscurity and anonymity. Only Chronos ( Time) will prove the etymological truth of this namegiving and its aAa8ELuv ini'rvllov; light and darkness imbue this baptismal act and etymology with its true meaning. 331 With similar imagery and terminology, Pindar presents wealth, which is embellished with deeds of valor and is dispensed according to kairos (01. 2. 53-55), as a at�Q aQctUAo�, £'tu,.uhu'tov / a v6QL �, "a conspicuous lodestar, the truest light for a man" (Race). 332 Aristocratic descent, financial resources spent in due meas ure and at the right time together with natural virtue bathe man in the most genu ine and radiant light that touches his deepest and real essence; aVtlQ becomes cpw� and cp6J�, in the true sense. Verses 8 1 -85 legitimate Pelops' aspirations to pass from the ephebic darkness to the light of accomplished adulthood, exploiting the ambiguity and the potential of his name. The hero attains to manhood through trials, which are visualized with words of local and chromatic import; his "life" as much as his name partake of darkness and light, of proximity and distance, of vision and sound. He leaves the solitude, the gloomy night and the polia sea behind, climbs a golden chariot with winged horses, and acclaims his reintegration into human society as a warrior, husband and father (86b-89): =
TOV IlEV ayaUwv 6EO<;, EOWXEV oC
Poseidon, who launched this erotic liaison as raui-oxo� (25), "who rejoices at his chariots," and Aglao-triaina (40), now introduces the pact of reciprocity with the 330
33 1 332
Verses 8 1 -84 have drawn the attention of modem scholarship. For the differentiation of aV1)Q -q)(.6�, and the meaning of the latter in Pindar as the great man, a gods' protege, who accom plishes great deeds of valor, see Thummer 1 968-69: 38 on Isth. 2. I ; cf.Verdenius 1 988: 25, 37, who separates ov from avaAxLV
Pelops in Pindar
1 47
cognate a yaAAwv (exalt, magnify, honour, LSJ), which is used of glorifying lus tre, growth and joy. 333 He listens to the plea of his fonner lover, makes him the recipient of his inherent quality (ayaAAw � ya{w), and prompts his aspirations, presenting him with a golden chariot (oxo£"') as well as winged horses. The Posei donian tmwt provide Pelops with the means to subdue both Oenomaus and the girl with the significant name, 7JrJroDaWta. Both suffer the action of the young hero: the father is killed, while Hippo-dameia is sexually "smitten" and subdued by Pelops, whom Homer called JrAJi�tJrJrO£", (11. 2 . 1 04) with the assistance of Poseidon whose relevance as hippios in this ode has been shown by Kohnken (see n. 324, above). The Homeric scholia (sch. A (D) 11. 1 . 38) entertain an interesting wordplay on the motif of "taming:" Poseidon's gifts makes this possible (cf. Pi. 01. 1 3 . 69, Damaios): Pelops Aa�wv reaga nO(J£lbrovo� tJrJrov£", abuJ'a(JTo\J� ... eoreE'UoEv EL£ fHouv ... Ere), 'tOY 7JrJrobuJ'£iu� ya l-t o v . Pelops took Hippodameia to be his wife, with whom he united in all probability far (rijAc!JrJiAVt) from Elis, as the local custom required. 334 This part of the story is concluded in a telegraphic manner: our hero begets sons ugE'tu'Lm J'£J'U6TU�: Pindar employs here a verbal fonn that resounds the name Oeno-maus. With a cunning aposiopesis of the tragic story of the Pelopids, and in the person of the grandchildren who "strive" for virtue, Pindar disguises and tempers the unheroic connotations of oIvo� and J'£J'uu ; these embrace not only Oeno-maus, but Tantalus as well, who J'£VOlVroV (58), tries to cast the boul der off his head. But this linguistic family (menos-mania) marks the Pelopid line and haunts its onomastics and ethos. 335 Yet in the laudatory program of the epini cian poet there is room only for the praise and aggrandizement of the progeny of the founder of the games. At the closure of the myth, the connections of Pelops with the near and far, with dark and light, sound and vision, converge in the historic present: "now," says Pindar, returning with this transitional fonnula from the mythical past to the present, Pelops is worshipped at Olympia, "mixed" (J'£J'lXTUl) with splendid uil-tuxo'UgCm, and his tomb is surrounded and attended by many people (90-96): vliv 0' EV ai"aXouQlQL� ayAaalot 1l£lllxt"al, AA
333 334 33 5
On the etymology and meaning of ayaUw see sch. Pi. 01. 1. 139a, b, c; EGud. a 15. 1 -4; EM5. 38-4 1 ; 1 6 1 . 29; EGen. a 1 332. 1 -5 et al. On the taboo of breeding mules within the Elean territory see: Hdt. 4. 30; Plut. Mor. 303b; Paus. 5. 5. 2; Ael. NA 5. 8. See also Devereux 1 965: 3-25; Calame 1997: 243-44 with n. 135. For this reason I disagree with the reading Wf.1aAowc:; aQEwia!; cf. Donaldson 1868: 10 ad 89, "dear to virtues." See nn. 4 1 1 , 480, below.
148
Pelops and his Name - Literary Tradition "And now he partakes / of splendid blood sacrifices / as he reclines by the course of the AI pheos, / having his much-attended tomb beside the altar / thronged by visiting strangers. And far shines that / fame of the Olympic festivals gained in the racecourses / of Pelops, where competition is held for swiftness of feet / and boldly laboring feats of strength" (Race).
The chromatic ambiguities of Pelops on account of his derivation from neALa� /nOALa�, recur in his cult: with an oxymoron, which constitutes a distinctive ele ment of the Pindaric technique,336 the blood sacrifices that are poured down into his bothros and hint at the chthonic character of his cult, are resplendent, aYAaa(;337 yet these practices are "black-focused" (Stratiki) and blood is usually described in dark terms. 338 This epithet signals the elevated status of Pelops and his admission to the divine cohort. The local polarities of ntAa�-Tf[A£ and the connections of our hero with ntAOl1m (cf. a<pav to � en£A£�, 46) resurface in verse 93, tVIlBov af.1cp(-noAov EXWV JtOAu�£\,WtatW Jtagu BW IlQ:> , 339 suggesting a cen tripetal movement: Pelops' tomb is the focal point of congregation. The phrase VUV 0' EV aLllaxoug(m� aYAaai:<JL JliJllxtal seals the composite fate of Pelops and his contact with dark-colored but also splendid sacrifices in the company of men and gods alike. In view of Pelops' status as the archetypal athlete and adoles cent, alf.1wwvQ(m acquire a deeper significance, evoking uovQa and udQw and the rites of coming of age, which are usually performed by the streams of XOVQOTQaCPOL rivers; Pelops enjoys these offerings "reclining by the stream of Alpheus" (92). The alternate derivation of alf.1auovQ(m from xOQtVVVf.1L and a[f.1a (sch. Pi. al. 1 . 1 46d) also claims a part in this myth: the blood of the man gled child and the impious gluttony are transubstantiated in his ritual feast. The tomb is unambiguously attributed to Pelops, but there is a long-standing debate regarding the owner of the altar. The Pindaric scholia oscillate between Pelops and Zeus, while modem scholars lean rather towards Zeus (noAv s£vwTaTO�; cf. stvW�)?40 We have little hope of reaching a definitive answer on 336
33 7
338
339
340
Stem 1 970: 333-34, 336-37, points out similar cases of oxymoron and a wavering tone: the earth engulfs Amphiaraus and his <pa[(')(!la� '(ltltou� (al. 6. 14); the poison, by which lamus is fed, is "blameless" (ib. 46-47). Pelops' worship seems to mediate between a hero- and tomb-cult (for the definition of these terms see Antonaccio 1 998: 46-70): he is honored as the founder of a prime athletic event, sponsored by the Olympian Zeus, and is offered chthonic food. It remains debatable whether or not consumption of meals also takes place in the cult of Pelops, a regular practice in tomb cult according to Antonaccio 1 998: 65. For the sacrifices and the feasting around Pelops' tomb see Burkert 1 983: 96-98; Slater 1 989: 490-500. Stratiki 2004: 106-07. ALl!a is I!fAaV (Il. 4. 149) and ltogcpUgEOv (17. 361). Cf. Hsch. 3084 ltOgcpUgEO� 8avm:o� 6 I!fAa�. )taL �a8u�. )taL tagaxwoll�. Pi. Isth. 8.50, I!fAa� cp6vo�. See Irwin 1 974: 1 38, 1 9 1 ; on their connotative and signifying value: Fountoulakis 2004: 1 12-15. According to Gantz 1978: 37-38, al!cpLltOAO�, ltoAul;EVWtatO� and I!ELYVWL are the oppo sites of solitude and exhibit the connection and involvement that runs through the ode. See also Bremmer 1978: 28-29 with n. 162. In historic times the term ltEgLltOAOL suggests the centrifugal movement and wanderings of the Athenian ephebes near the frontier. On this see Winkler 1 990: 29-30. Whose altar is this? See sch. Pi. al. 1 . l 50a,b,c; sch Pi. al. 1 0. 29a, b. Paus. 5. 1 3 . 1 - 14. 4, makes a clear distinction between the (llw rerW/JlIfvov ri!levo� of Pelops and the altar of
Pelops in Pindar
1 49
this issue; the intentional ambiguity of Pindar and his polyprismatic poetic vision render such aspirations rather futile. In either case, the result is the same: Pelops' tomb is a{lcp{:n;oAO�, that is, "much-visited" (Slater, 1 969), and partakes of the features of the altar "where many strangers come" (Slater, 1 969). The words a{lcp{:n;oAO� and :n;OAV;£VO� are near synonyms and suggest a fervent trafficking around the tomb of a foreign yet naturalized cult hero. The word :n;OA v;£vwraTO� also suggests a reciprocal exchange of favors and gifts, typical of the aristocratic notion of ;£v{a.341 Even though it qualifies Zeus (cf. ;£vw�), it also affects Pelops, the ;£vo� who became the archetypal hero of the locale and enjoys a Pan hellenic reputation. The tomb of Pelops and the altar grow into a place of umbili cal significance as the center where people from all over the world gather in uni son and peace. The adjective a{lcp{:n;oAO� echoes the name of Pelops, and brings forward the underlying notions of pelomai and polos, in their universal and cos mic significance. The "polic" associations of this family develop in unexpected manners with Tantalus. It is worth noting that through :n;OAv;£vwraTO� the poet subtly draws into the etymological map of Pelops the word :n;OAV�, whose potential was prefigured in the Homeric juxtaposition of :n;oAt6�-:n;OAV� (/1. 2 1 . 58-59), and will be elaborated further by the classical tragedians; this family is marked by the notion of immod eration and excess. It is not without significance for our project that ancient lexi cographers connect :n;OAV� with :n;£AO{lm and :n;6At�;342 all three are utilized in the scientific and the poetic etymologizing of Pelops. To sum up, this passage (90-96) abounds in familiar key words that point to Pelops, such as a{lcp{:n;oAO� « :n;£AO{lm), rrzA68£v/:n;1AVt, and :n;OAV�. The chro matic ambiguities of :n;£At6�/:n;OAt6� and the local polarities of :n;£Aa�-rfiA£ con verge around Pelops' much-attended or -frequented (a{lcp{:n;oAO�; cf. :n;OAV;£ vwraro�) tomb at Olympia: dark, shiny, white, far and near mingle at the bothros of the hero in a centripetal movement. Pelops' corpse is drenched in and "min gled" with the bright though dark blood offerings (EV uLftuxouQCms; aYAuuLOL
341
342
Zeus. Modem scholars attribute the altar to Zeus: Burkert 1 983: 96-99; Degani-Burzacchini 1 977: 345. Gerber 1 982: 145, assumes a double entendre in rtOAU�EVW·tatO£: it may refer to the altar of Zeus and the tomb of Pe lops; "Pelops' altar entertains many guests." Cf.Verdenius 1 988: 42: "although the excavation of the Pelopeion has brought to light an altar, rtOAU �EV(j)t6.t!Jl shows that the altar of Zeus is meant." See Valavanis' account in n. 348, below. Slater 1989: 489-94, passim: Pelops "is a party to cultic festivity" (49 1), the scene implies "reclining in a Totenmahl, cup in hand" (492); "the hero is buried as a symposiast . . . lived on as a symposiast in the afterlife, and the first Olympian suggests that Pelops is heroized as a symposiast at Olympia;" this explains "why banqueting is a central theme in the poem" (499). For Kurke 1999: 1 09- 10, the alf.tUxougCm is a public event which was described as if privat ized; she integrates rtOA u�EVWtato£ in the privileged sphere and the sympotic context of aris tocratic gift exchange, "the generous hospitality that xenoi extend to one another . . . Klitheis represents Pelops . . . as one reclines on a banqueting couch, transforming the public offering into a private sympotic context in which poluxenotatos is most at home." Or. 1 82. 29: 1I6A!�· lha to ex .7fOAAWV ouvCotao8m. EGud. rt 473. 36-44: 1I6A!�, nUQa to .7fOAW to uVaOtgEcp0[.lm· l'j nUQa to .7foA{�(j) to otxw· l'j nUQa to ex .7fOAAWV ouvCotao8m. See also EM 680. 1-8, 49 et al.
Pelops and his Name - Literary Tradition
1 50
�i�l'l(tal). In the sequel, it is his alter ego, his incorporeal fame that reaches out
from "near" to "far" with a centrifugal impetus. Pelops' fame is "heard" and its radiance is "seen" far and wide, to Of xUO( 'l'11Ao8£v Ot(jopx£ . . . IItAo1to� (9395); cf. 6A£JtEtat xaL 60atat 6 ... aywv (sch. 01. U 5 l ±). The etymological kin ship of xUo�, 'KUW and XAVW is well attested; 'KUO( together with Ot(jopx£ re sume and duplicate in synonymy the second component of Pel-ops: the compre hension of his O'lP both as voice and vision (LSJ A, B) is contextually mandatory and inevitable.343 A magnificent synaesthetic effect is created here, reflecting the composite etymology and destiny of heroized Pelops, who mediates between men and gods, thus confirming the conspicuous role of "mixture," with which this ring composition started and closed (:rtQOOi�£lS£, 22, �i�l'l(tal, 9 1 ): Hieron "min gled" with victory and its sheen on the model of his mythical analogue, Pelops, who "mingled" with divinities on Olympus and with honorary cult libation on earth, thus proving an eternal consort of gods and a valuable symbol. Both Hieron and Pelops share immortality in their own measure and ways. Pelops lies, in the significant words of the scholiast, :rt£QLOl1�6tatov EXWV �vfJ�a n aQ u to nOAu SEVCP �w!l0 (sch. 01. 1 . 1 46b): his tomb is both a mnema and sema and acquires a semiotic value as regards the etymology and the semantics of Pelops. The name Pelops functions as a linguistic and cognitive sema, a repository in which mingle the alternative and concurring derivations and meanings of the hero. This name is likened to a grave that "recalls" and "signifies" Pelops' polysemous nature. To recapitulate, the Pindaric Pelops oscillates between brightness and dark ness as well as near and far, on secular and divine levels?44 He drifts between the gloom of the traditional cannibalistic myth and the light of the revised erotic myth, the lustre and the whiteness of the ivory shoulder, the purity of the caul dron, the blessed sojourn on all-shiny Olympus, where he consorts with figures embodying brightness. Pelops experiences the blackness of the first beard, the darkness of the night and the water, and the prospect of anonymous and obscure old age, that is, substitute death, before he emerges as a victorious soldier, hus band and progenitor of a famous and illustrious genos embraced in the light of renown. The chromatic terms branch out in his cult: his buried body is drenched by dark yet splendid offerings, while his incorporeal fame floods the entire world -
343
For the kinship of uUo;- uUw, UAVW, uAvro;- see Epim. Horn. KIO uAvrE (Dyck 1 995: 402); LSJ S.v. uUw A. They correspond to the -01/1 component of Pelops as voice, while MOOQUEV evokes his -01/1 as vision orface. A synonymous epithet, ;nclitus, andpolleo (=to be powerful, strong and efficacious from a medical aspect) accompany Pelops (Sen. Thy. 1 90-94): Atreus, playing upon his own name and heredity, wishes that, haec ipsa pollens incUt; Peiopis domus / ruat vel in me, dummodo in fratrem ruat ... aliquod audendum est nefas / atrox, "This mighty palace itself, illustrious Pelops' house, may it e'en fall on me, if only on my brother, too, it fall . . I must dare some crime, atrocious" (Miller, Loeb). With an impressive allitera tion, Peiops' name is interlaced with power (polleo) and poetic fame (inclituslkleos). See Bremer 1 976: 230-33; Gantz 1 978: 24-39. This oscillation is recognized by Segal 1 964: 2 14, who speaks of "a movement from the brightness of the sun (5-6) and the gods (40-41 ) to the darkness of Pelops' prayer (7 1 , 83) back to the tempered humanly receivable brightness of the hero (91-94)." Cf., however, Verdenius 1 988: 35 n. 58. ,
.
344
Pelops in Pindar
151
with its sheen. These polarities mingle to portray the successive stages of Pelops' life and his destiny, while his name, thanks to its ambiguity, becomes a bearer of poetological and ritual signs. Social anthopologists and ritualists have found in this myth traces of coming of-age and initiation rites. 345 A salient feature of such myths and practices is the metonomasia of the initiates, which marks their reintegration into the community of adult citizens and soldiers, or their admission into professional or religious guilds. 346 The new name is an essential part of the newly acquired identity of the mature individual, and signposts his embarking upon a more advanced and de manding social status. 347 Nothing of this sort has been handed down for Pelops:
345
346
347
On the initiatory character of Pe lops' myth see Duchemin 1 955: 1 57-62, 3 1 1-14; Sega1 1 964: 2 1 1-67; Burkert 1 983: 97- 103; Crotty 1 982: 1 1 2-2 1 , on which see Felson 1 999: 7 with n. 1 8; Hubbard 1 987: 3-2 1 ; Slater 1 989: 493 with n. 38 (analogy with the Cretan apodromoi); Fernandez 1 994: 53-74. Spivey 2004: 221 -24, outlines the theories of F. M. Cornford (the Olympic festival was founded upon cults of vegetation and fertility); of W. Ridgeway (Greek athletics originate in the epithaphios agon), and Karl Meuli (funerary customs), and considers "speculative" the theories "which seek the generic origins of sport in rites of hunting or male initiation." Recently a host of scholars have joined in to prove the inadequacy of the popular model of initiation rites for the understanding of many classical Greek narratives. Graf 2003 : 14- 1 5, advises careful analysis of the situation and sparing use of "initiation rite" when deal ing with Greece, and suggests an alternative terminology, e.g., "rituals of coming to age," for collective rites of adolescents of both sexes. Johnston 2003 : 1 70-7 1 , argues that "adolescent initiation rituals per se did not exist in historical Greece," but "there were rites and practices that facilitated or acknowledged young men's progress towards adulthood, such as athletic ag6nes;" participation in athletics did not change a boy's status as a traditional initiation ritual did; there had not been developed "any myths for athletic festivals that made an explicit con nection between athletics and maturation," but myths associated with athletic festivals play with the idea: they present "young men engaging in activities associated with heroic adoles cence," as e.g. Pelops.' On dye and the dokimasia in rites of passage see Soverini 2003:73-75. On metonomasia: Brelich 1 958: 236 with n. 28, 242; Bremmer 1 978: 7-9; Calame 2000: 79-83. See for instance: Navo£-'Oo\)ooeu£, ALyUQrov-}\XLAl.eu£, rruQQo£-Neort1:oA.e�o£, }\A.ltULO£ }\A.lte(OT]£-Nei:A.o£-"HQultA.ij£, Aerocpov'tT]£-"btn:ovoo£-BeAl.eQocpov'tT]£. On the initiatory ele ments of Achilles' transvestism (he hides on Skyros disguised as a girl), and his education on the margins of civilization by the Centaur see Crawley (apud Bremmer 1 978: 7 n. 12). His name Ligyron, I submit, fits the pattern, too, evoking the "soft" or "shrill" voices of prototyp ical singing figures, such as the Muses and the Sirens, and of maidens in ephebic choral ac tivities; trial during the liminal period, accompanied by biological growth and change (cf. 'tQuY�ELv: Winkler 1 990: 59) make the boy a man. Hence, the ephebic and rather effeminate Atyvl?rov « Atyvl?6� or Atyv�+yal?vro), is substituted by AXtUEV�, the grim warrior who in duces pain and grief (axo�) to Greeks and Trojans alike (Aa6�, 7AtEl�). His new name de scribes his new identity and social integration in the society of fighters. Ps.-Apollod. (Bibl. 3 . 1 3 . 6) records "the previous name Ligyron" and motivates the renomination o f the hero: Chi ron, who fed the boy with the entrails of lions and boars and with the brain of bears, named him Achilles because he did not bring his lips to the breast" « a-priv.+XElAo� vel yaAa). The regimen of the boy in the wilderness and his martial career motivate his renomination. On the meaning of ligyros see Stanford 1 967: 149-50. "Reddish," JIVl?l?O�, too, tempers the rashness and ephebic heat « ;rrvl?l?6�), which is inherent in his n:ULOLltOV £n:roVU�LOV (Plut. Pyrrhus 1 .2), becoming Nw;rrr6AEIl'o� because his father Achilles "started to fight when still young"
1 52
Pelops and his Name - Literary Tradition
his name remains unchanged. Yet Pindar, capitalizing on the immense potential of the sounds pel-, pol- and -ops of Pelops and the images created by the polysemy of this name, is bold enough to weave into his poetic canvas an allusive and al most elusive metonomasia of Pelops, which keeps track of his progressive course towards maturation. With a dense network of images centering on light, darkness, vision and acoustics, the poet illustrates the semantic metamorphosis of Pelops and his religious and social significance for the Olympian games. The internal, contextual resignification of Pelops' name, which replaces the explicit initiatory renaming, appears to be another aspect of the Pindaric poikilia. By this metapoeti cal treatment and resemanticization of Pelops, the poet expands his literary space. The ambiguous name and nature of Pelops function as the visual symbol of his mediating role and his correlation with the spirit of Olympism: the athletes offer chthonic sacrifices to him before they go to bright Zeus. The games test ath letic prowess, manhood and sociability under the aegis of both the supreme god and the archetypal hero. Under such conditions, the tomb of Pelops has a perfect symbolic value: it is situated in the very center of the city, the polis, and sur rounded by people, who go about it in a circle. 348 By virtue of its centrality and the circular movement of the visitors, it acquires a cosmic dimension and func tions as a kind of ideal omphalos for the Greeks, who gather there and compete in unison, thus experiencing a sense of religious, spiritual, and civic cohesion and regeneration. 349 The sema of mangled but deified Pelops embodies a promise of reintegration and rejuvenation; along with the altar of Zeus, it becomes a holistic, global symbol of Panhellenic mingling and consummation; a symbol of the ulti mate accomplishment and bliss, a symbol of all, OAOr;, attained at a place suitably named 'OAVf1, m a. The tomb of Pelops is the perisemotaton emblem of Greekness and Olympism; the centrality of the tomb and the openness of radiant Olympia
348
349
(Paus. 10. 26. 4, En vio� 1I:OAf/lt:LV ijQ�u 'tO ), or because he was himself "a Young Warrior," or "One who enters the battlefield at an early age." Sch. Pi. 01. 1 . 149b. Ct/lCP(1I:OAOV OE tLVE� TOV 1I:fQ!1I:OAOV/lEVOV, Ola TO £V "fOn ehal Tft 1I:6Afl" ot yCt.Q oLxLaTuL EV �Eam� ta;;� 1I:6AW!V E8ultTOVTO E� E80 u�. d. 1I:q:H1I:OAOV/lfVOV, w� TWV EmqJOLTCOVTWV I'lLCt. TO ayuv Tii� xatuaxEuii� EXlt QEltE � XUXA'1l ltEQLLOVTWV xm 8Ew�Evwv. Slater 1 989: 492 n. 35 consults BCH 1 12 ( 1988) 632-33: under the Pelopeion lies a prehistoric tumulus from the Bronze age, surrounded by a circle of stones (fig. 37). Vala vanis 2004: 32, 35 describes the prehistoric circular peribolos that is dated to ca. 2600-2500 B.C. and made of large river pebbles; it played a significant role 1 500 years later when the in habitants of the area fabricated the legend that this was Pelops' tomb; yet Zeus reigned in the new sanctuary. Behind Valavanis' account we may discern an overlapping or conflation of the deities worshipped; this perhaps explains the uncertainty about the owner of the altar. Spivey 2004: 1 -4 and passim, challenges this idealistic view of the games, but acknowledges (Phase II: The Rhetoric of Homonoia, 1 84-92) "the rhetoric of Panhellenic unity at Olympia in the fifth and early fourth centuries BC . . . there was an altar to 'Unanimity' . . . a statue of Zeus inscribed 'From the Eleans, for Concord' " ( 1 92). He says (229-30) that Phlegon of Tralles "knew that Iphitos, along with Lycurgus of Sparta and a certain Cleosthenes, had re established the contests at Olympia with a view to spreading peace -homonoia- around the Peloponnese (FGrHist. 257 F l )."
Pelops in Pindar
1 53
« OAO<;"+Aop,nw)350 to visitors, makes it the earthly miniature of Olympus, the ce lestial abode of gods. Pelops functions as the verbal sema and mnema of the
Olympic spirit and a symbol of what it stands for. With this outlook we may try to evaluate the pertinence of the proem of this ode. What does Pindar have in mind, when urging men not to seek anything warmer or brighter than the sun, who has by that time been identified with Apollo, and rides his solitary course through the aether, EQllf1U£ bL' UlfJ E{JO<;" (6), or any thing better than the Olympic games, from which the sophoi poets start weaving their hymns (01. 1 . 8-9)? According to the scholiast (Pi. 01. 1 . 9b), this description is motivated partly by the fact that the star is burning and inaccessible, btn to ayuv nvpw&( xUL to Un nAnauiCfL v UVtQ'), while aether is the firmament or the starry sphere, the pole (ib. 1 . l Oe). Unlike the sun, Pindar's imagination did not follow a solitary path. Years later, Chrysippus finds "solitude" embedded in the name of Apollo, 11 Ott U6voC; EatL XUL oV):;L nOAAo{, on which Macrobius will build the argument that Apollo the sun owes his Latin name, sol, to the fact that he alone, solus, obtained such brightness; Cornutus, on the other hand, points out the inaccessibility of Apollo and Artemis in their capacity as "EXUWL35 1 It is true that Pindar compares the ultimate athletic value with the bright sun and Olympia, radiance being their common point (sch. Pi. 01. 1 . ge). However, the sun and Oly mpia are contrasted in terms of their respective solitude/sociability: remote and lonely, the sun revolves in a barren expanse, while Olympia, host to numerous foreign and local people, is accessible and hospitable. A harmonious and promis ing synthesis of the contrasting qualities of Apollo the sun and Olympia is accom plished in the ambiguous name of a mediating hero, Pelops. The reconciliation of the cosmic barrenness and emptiness with the friendliness and sociability of Olympia occurs at Pelops' aI1CP{noAo<;" tomb and Zeus' nOAV;EVWTaW<;" altar. Apollo and Pelops come into contact again in the story about Cillas, which goes back to the fifth century historian Theopompus: Pelops, honoring his chario teer Cillas or Cillaeus or Cellas, who died suddenly, erects a temple which he dedicates to Apollo Cillaeus, because sudden deaths of males are attributed to the agency of Apollo. 352 Pelops also founds a city, nOAl v xrCau<;", which he names 350
al. 5. lOa; Epim. Hom. 0 3, 0 77 (Dyck 1 995: 534, 563) - EGud. ltaQII to OAOAa/1nO� ELVUL 'tOte:; U01:QOLe:; i) ltaQII to 6AAVHV TOiJ� JJnw;. Cf. EM623, 7-18; Eust. n, I: 44.25 - 45 , 12; Ps.-Arist. De Mundo 404a6-8 et al. Chrys. fr. 1 095 SVF ii, von Arnim, on which see Macr. Sat. I. 1 7 . 7-8: Chrysippus Apollinem, we:; ill1x1. tooV nOAAoov XUt qJaUAWV oumoov toU 1tuQoc:; oVtu ... i) OtL � fatt XUt !2iW. nOAAo{, nam et Latinitas eum, quia tantam claritudinem so/us obtinuit, so/em vocavit. Corn. Epidr. c. 32, p. 65. 4-1 1 , speaking of "ExaTO� and 'Exarrz, says: some people gave these epi thets to the gods wishing that both these and their harm stay away and do not come near: wc:; exa� UUtouc:; ELVUL ... XUt tTjv fS UUtooV �Ari�T]V un n(JoaneAa�/O!v. Cf. Eur. Or. 1 683-85: See sch. Pi, 01, 2. 23c; sch.
o 426. 50-54,
351
Apollo will bring Helen close to the house of Zeus, across the vault of the bright stars,
'EMvT]v ... neAaaw, AUJ.L1tQOOV uatQwv noAov fsuvuauc:;. The
352
words exa� (- rM!!/n6AU[), n(JoaneAa�e[ v, neAaaw, nOAo�, used of or by Apollo, also evoke Pe/ops. Sch. A (D) n. I. 38; sch. bT n. I. 38a cum test. On the connection of Artemis and Apollo with the sudden deaths of women and men respectively, see Eust. n. 2: 292. 15 - 293.2 ad 6. 205; Eust. n. 4: 542. 1 7-23 ad n. 2 1 . 482-84.
1 54
Pelops and his Name - Literary Tradition
Cilla. The name Cillas evokes the noun ULAA6�, which is chromatic and means 35 cpat6�,353 and the verb UiAAW (ta drive an, LSJ). 4 Posterity interprets the Apol Ionian epithet Cillaeus in terms congruous with the god's identification with the sun and his oblique movement. 355 The Troezenians named Pelops' charioteer Sphaerus,356 giving him a name that becomes meaningful in relation to the helia cal associations of Apollo, the god of the celestial orbis or sphaera. The programmatic Pindaric phrase, 08EV 6 rtOAUCPU'WC; vr-tVOC; <':tr-tCPL�6.AAE tat / aocpwv JUltteoOL (al. 1 . 8-9) eventually finds its justification: the function of IJ. f1tL� is subtly illustrated with a series of interconnected images. The saphai, partaking of divine inspiration and mobilizing their own metis, weave in their po etic tissue eternal values. To the deceiving tales of the impious and envious ({)eDatDaA/livOL 1/JEu6WL rtOLXlAOLC; / E;UrtUtWVtL WU8OL, 29), they juxtapose the words firstly of Charis, who devises intellectual ways to make the unbelievable appear believable (£lJ.tl0uto, 3 1), and secondly of her therapon, the saphas poet, who contraposes his celebration of true virtue and victory (XA'Utu'iOL DatDa Awai/lev vr-tvwv rtt'UXa'iC;, 1 05) to the wicked craft of liars. The god sanctions the techne of hymnic DaLDaAoiiv and of truthful praise (8EOC; ... IJ.tl �£ tUt , 1 06). Metis selects the themes and imagery, and is causally connected with paikilia. Holding the poem together and controlling its various ways, the poetic metis creates, in deed, a JroAv-vcpato�, closely woven hymn. The notion of combining and min gling runs through the ode. 3. 7. Pelops and Iamus in Pindar
The poetic technique of rearticulation and resignification, which essentially stands for an implicit metanamasia in the interior of the ode, is evidenced again in the case of Iamus, a heroic and cultic figure. His birth and coming-of-age as narrated by Pindar (al. 6. 43-7 1 ), corroborate the initiatory character of his myth and the thesis about the metapoetic contextualized metanamasia.
3 53 354
3 55 3 56
Hsch. 2690 XLAAOV. el66£ 'tl XQWflUW£ cpmou. Kramer 1 886: 9 with nn. 2, 3, on the evidence of Eust. [?] xiUw: 'to j3ub�w, argues that the same motivation underlies both names, Cillas and Sphaerus, since both are suitable to a charioteer as suggesting trotting. He also refers to Papius' view of Cillas as "Trabert," and Starkius' as "der die zeugerische Natur des Esels in sich darstellt." See Or. 1 09. 1-2, %EtJ.ElV bE 'to 'tUXEW£ 'tQEXELV. Similarly EGud. j3 2 8 1 . 14- 1 5 ; % 3 1 3 . 59, 4 14. 1 5; EM 502. 1 0-1 1 ; 565. 48; 608. 3 3 . Hansen 2000: 2 1 -25, passim, makes the story of Cillas part of "a light tradi tion" and a "noble branch," in which the "beneficiary turns benefactor," in contrast to the Myrtilus story which belongs to the "dark tradition" and the "ignoble branch:" the hero and his allies are . . . duplicitous"(25). Macr. Sat. 1 . 17. 48, A. KLAAalo�, OTt 'tu£ %lvtjaEl£ Aatil� :1wlEl, semper nobis ab austro currens. Paus. 5. 10. 7: 'to bE avbQL o£ �vLOXEl 'to nEt.om )'6y
rcpulQo£, 6 bE f�TJYTJ'tTj£ Ecpua%EV 6 EV 'O),U[l:1tC� KC),),uv dvm.
Pelops and Iamus in Pindar
1 55
Modem scholars have pointed out the structural and thematic similarities of the central myths in the Olympian 1 and the Olympian 6 (see also sch. Pi. al. 1 . 1 50b). 357 The solitary, nocturnal prayer out in the open by the seashore or the banks of a river, constitute "a combination of Homeric reminiscence and ritual practice," as Gerber observes,358 and "a most ancient way of praying" (sch. Pi. al. 6. 1 04b). The prayers of Pe lops and Iamus coincide with the onset of their puberty and blooming: Pelops approaches (JtQoC;) E'I)UV8qLOV . . . CP'Uuv (al. 1 . 67), and Iamus when he receives XQ'UOOO"tECPUVOLO ... xaQJtov "H�ac; (01. 6. 57-58). Both prayers are delivered in a watery setting, recalling firstly the connections of the two ephebes with Poseidon as a lover and grandfather, respectively, and secondly the ritual significance of the water. The mythical exemplum, which dramatizes Iamus' life, provides the clues for his double etymology. 359 I intend to submit two more alternatives that mark the completion of Iamus' initiation into to his new mantic profession and his transition from the matrilinear realm to the patrilinear; namegiving proves the point. Iamus is blessed to have Poseidon as grandfather and Apollo as father. Divine dispensation attends him from the moment of his birth and furnishes the motiva tion for his namegiving. This is illustrated with great clarity by Pindar: Iamus is Apollo's son by Euadna; his birth (39-46) is attended by the contrast of darkness and light or color, whether this involves the mother's purple and saffron girdle, her silver pitcher, the dark thicket, golden-haired Apollo, his coming from the darkness of hid mother's womb to the light (phaos, 44) of the external world, and, finally, the bright-eyed serpents, which nourished Iamus, when his mother, in her distress, "left him down on the ground," xa�a( (45), thus exposing him both liter ally and symbolically. Two god-sent serpents, behaving as relatives, take care 357
358 359
Garner 1 992: 63-64 with nn. 55, 56, considering epinician language as eschatological lan guage, discerns the influence of the cult of Persephone and Demeter in the Pindaric odes composed for western victors (al. 1 , 2, 6, and fr. 1 29), who are thus bathed in an eschatologi cal brilliance. Salvador 1 997: 50-56, points out the relationship orrov firstly with the epic landscape of magical and eschatological overtones, and secondly with ritual practices and divination; he recognizes "through rov, the beating of the Sicilian eschatology proper to the myth of Persephone: a Sicilian heart . . . inside a mythical corpus essentially Arcadian" (58). Gerber 1 982: 1 1 4 and 120 with a number of ancient attestations; see also n. 3 1 6, above. This ode is heavily studded with etymological clues: behind the Pindaric programmatic phrase, "we must now spread open, avwnrva/lEV, the gates of hymns" (al. 6. 27-28), we de tect the name of Pitana, Iamus' grandmother (see sch. al. 6. 46a). Yet Pindar breaks our ex pectations about the woman who stands for "openness," and by an oxymoron connects her with the verb hide, conceal: X(Jlj1/JE Of n:UQ8fV(UV WOLVU XOAn:OLS; (3 1 ), in accord with the overall theme of secrecy and hiding that permeates the ode. Her daughter, ioplokos Euadna, gave birth to a child named Iamus «ion or ios), the archegete of the Iamids. The ancient scholia associate her name with the number of gifts offered for her (sch. 01. 6. 46a): Evaovm Of oLaauL, f.lLU f.lfV 11 I1oafLowvos; XUt I1LtUVTlS;, b:EQU Of YlqJLooS;, \'jv XUt TaVEtQav AfYO f.lEVTlV <jluatv EVdovllv wvolla(J9at bta to JrAf]8oc; ,WV fovrov 6)V EoroXf KUn:UVfUS;. But the poetic phrase, "she touched sweet Aphrodite under Apollo" (01. 6. 35), implies "taking pleasure at love making," hence her association with avoaVEtV-EvaoEv. The importance of women in this poem (01. 6) has been noted by Garner: 1 992: 58-63. On the etymology of the masculine names in this ode see Salvador 1 997: 38 with n. 4.
1 56
Pelops and his Name - Literary Tradition
(xabOJ.tEVOL, x'ijooC;) of baby Iamus, as he lies in the dark thicket, new-born and helpless, and nurture him with honey. The two yAavuwJr8£" D(Jc1UOVT8£", of rein forced and doubled "seeing" (M(JuOl1m�yAavaaw+oJrwJra, o'ljJ), foreshadow the acute prophetic vision and the mantic calling of baby Iamus. He is attended by two chthonic figures and is nourished with "the blameless poison of the bees," UJ.tEJ.tCPEL icp 118Awawv (01. 6. 47); serpents and bees portend poetry and divina tion, while the adjective UJ.tEJ.tCP�C; annuls the sinister connotations of both the ser pent and poison. 36o The poet, functioning as a godfather, suggests an implicit ety mology for Iamus, drawing upon the details of his birth and first food. When Ia mus is revealed to be the scion of Apollo and is still hidden in the thicket, his mother Euadna also performs a baptismal act and gives him an explicit "immor tal" name after the violets that enfolded him during his birth (53-57): aJ A' EV XEXQUIT'W yaQ OxoCVCjl �atL(i T' fV (':mELQCTCjl, tWV �av8aLol xaL ITa[!IToQqJ\jQm� UXTLOl �E�QEY[!EVO� a�Qov Ow[!a' TO xaL xaTE<jJU[!l�EV )lIlAl:'lUOllt VlV XQ6vCjl OU[!ITaVTl [!UTl]Q ..
TOVT'OVU�'aOaVIlTOV "But in fact, / he had been hidden in a bed of reeds within a vast thicket, / while his tender body was bathed / by the golden and purple rays / of violets. That was why his mother declared / that for all time he would be called / by that immortal name" (Race).
The ancient scholiasts acknowledge the etymological value of this passage and the underlying motivation: the baby receives the chromatic name Iamus because he lies "drenched by" and "covered with the beams of the violets," LOV. 361 The scho liasts imply the chromatic nature of this flowery name, making a distinction be tween the whitish and purple violets, with whose rays and lustre the baby is be dewed ?62 Modem scholars have recognized both derivations,363 which build upon 360
361
362
For the collected bibliography on honey and prophecy see Tsitsibakou-Vasalos 2003: 20-2 1 with nn. 20, 2 1 . On the function of snakes and honey see also Steiner 1 986: 1 03. Salvador 1 997: 59 n. 9 1 , sees in melissai not only the medium of prophecy, but also the prophetesses of Demeter and the influence of her cult in this Pindaric ode. On o(laxwv: EGud. 0 378. 3-4, btu TO O(lav xax6)� � AwaCvEQ8m. 1'\ :n:IlQU TO ot(lXW, TO 6M1t!Il. Sch. Pi. al. 6. 89, EXELTO Of 6 ITaL� �E�QEY[!EVO� xaL XEXaAU[![!EVO� TaL� TWV tWV uXTLm . . . bto:n:I:'Q )1111. TTJV )lAijUtV T�V TOU 'Jalwv ain!jJ f] [!t]Tl]Q lOI:'TO a:n:o Tij; TWV tWV Ilhtll;. Cf. ib. 90d, �aTEC(,1 ... xaL OtL TOV 'Jail-DV £tU�OAOyt:l; ib. 93 a, xaTE<jJU[!l�EV: btu TO fV Uy8Em TETQU<jJ8m �Iall-D� £)(All01} a:n:o TOW tWV TOlV ITEQL aUTov; similiter ib. 93 b. Sch. Pi. al. 6. 9 1 a. tWV ;IlVOlll; TE: TaL� TWV tWV uXTLm xaL AIl�:n:1}b6Ut oEoQomO[!Evo<;. ib. 91 b. uXTLm Of :n:1l�:n:oQcptJQOt; dITEv, fITELO� TOlV tWV Ta [!fV iJ:n:OAI:'U)(t�t:t, Ta Of :n:OQ cpUQii fOTlV. Irwin 1 996: 385-95, attempts to specify which kind of violets Pindar has in mind, and points out the interaction of light and color (386): "The rays shone light and colour on to the baby who . . . appeared to be wrapped in a richly coloured blanket of those colours, reflected by his skin ... We speak of . . . being 'bathed' or ' steeped' in light, to capture the transfer of light and colour to a surface until it gives back that colour."
Pelops and Iamus in Pindar
1 57
two interrelated details in Iamus' mythical microstory: his miraculous nourish ment «16�), and the protective blanketing of purple/white/yellow violets «Lov). It is true that "Homer and the tragedians as well as Pindar feel ties between a man's name and his fate," and that "These more than verbal plays merge with the ,, coloring of the scene as methods of conveying meaning. 364 Yet the meaning of Iamus is not exhausted with the alternatives of "poison" and "violet." Pindar daringly exploits the sounds of Iamus at another crucial mo ment, when the young hero severs the umbilical cord of his infantile connections with ios and ion and the closed world of his ioplokos mother,365 and prepares to brave the world of adult males. He descends into the middle of Alpheus, and prays to his male forebears, Poseidon and Apollo (58-59), "asking for himself some office that would serve his people," AaoTg6cpov TLI.tUV (60). Despite its seeming transparity, the passage is condensed and pregnant. Apollo responds, using a sym bolic and ambiguous language, worthy of Loxias (6 1 -63): avtEcp6EYSm:O 0' agtlE1t�£ natgLa oooa, �EtUnaoEv tE VlV . Ogoo tEXVOV, OEUgO nuyxo lVOV f£ xwgav r�EV cpu�a£ Omo6EV.' , "
,
"The clear-speaking voice / of his father responded and sought him out: "Arise, my son, / and follow my voice here to a land shared by all" (Race).
With a wording of apparent simplicity, Apollo addresses his son Iamus and urges him: "Rise, child," using a verb, ogoo, that reproduces a symbolic ritual gesture: the newborn baby is "picked up" (cf. aVaLgEw), is given a name and acknowl edged as a legitimate or foster child. Apollo recognizes in Iamus his true off spring, and reverses the gesture of his distressed, unwedded and stigmatized mother, who exposed him and left him xa!taC, "down;" the belated birth ritual is reenacted with the proper verbal sign (ogoo). 366 Apollo speaks as a(Jn-cn��, 363
364 365
366
See Wilamowitz 1 886/1967: 1 65 n. 1 3: double etymology of Iamus from Ft6� and F(ov sup ported by the saga of this family. On the double derivation of Iamus see also Stem 1 970: 334 with n. 7; Ruck 1976: 235-52. Crotty 1 982: 1 1 6, adds, "Thus, the myth parallels aspects of the initiation ritual. The initiate is 'new-born' ; he is given a name to signify his time in the wilds, just as initiates are often given new names." Most 1985: 85, discusses the explicit deri vation, arguing that "whenever Pindar provides scenes of naming of a child, that name is etymologically transparent and refers to the circumstances of the child's birth or conception: thus Iamus (0. 6. 56-57) is so called because the child had been hidden among the violets." So Finley 1 966: 1 1 5 . For the meaning of ioplokos as "dark-haired" or "with violets in her hair" see Irwin 1 996:38594. See also Salvador 1997: 5 1 -53. The participle aVEAwv or aVEA6�EVO£ occurs in such scenes of foster parenthood and name giving. Rermes, picking up (avEAwv) new born Aristaeus, sunders him from his mother Cyrene, and brings him to foster mothers and nurses, Rorai and Gaia (the baby' s great grandmother), on whose "knees" he places him (Pi. Pyth. 9. 59-62 with sch. ad lac. 1 04-107); fJrtyovv(owv is associated with y6vv, Y(YVO�at and YOV!], true descent. These deities per form a baptismal act, giving the baby many names that culminate in the "Best," Aristaeus.
1 58
Pelops and his Name - Literary Tradition
which ancient and modem scholars interpret in terms of clarity, lucidity and truth fulness « aQno�+sJro�).367 Yet the ambiguity of the adverb aQn subtly emerges here: "only recently," or 'just now," and after so long, the divine father recognizes Iamus grown-up as his legitimate son, and provides for him; aQn binds past and present. Apollo makes amends to Iamus, urging him: "go behind the fama (pro phetic word) to a land that belongs to all." Delivering an aQnEJr,z�, well articulated and trustworthy, though ambiguous and allusive prophetic utterance, the divine father takes an active part, recognizing his son and also reshaping his name and future. Apollo rearticulates and resignifies the name Iamus, manipulat ing its sounds in the phrase i"/JEV cptilla� oma8Ev (63). Father and son reach eronion, lofty and sun-trod (64, aM{3ar:o�
367
368
369
370
The form aVEA.6I!EVO� is used of the horse-tender, who picks up Tyro's baby and gives him a name, aVEA6I!EVO� IIeMav £)CaA£IJ£ (Eust. Od. I: 4 1 0. 4 1 -44 ad Od. I ! . 253). Sega1 1 986: 1 02 with n. 3 1 , speaks of the concealment motif and "the babe's miraculous emergence into the light, a symbolic rebirth or reenactment of birth (01. 6. 45-57)." On the meaning of CtQT!en1'ic; as garrulous, artfully speaking, well-speaking so as to be trusted see Scholia-D Il. 22. 28 1 ; sch. A Il. 22. 28 1 a 1 , sch.T bT Il. 22. 281b. Nash 1 975: 1 1 0- 1 6, hence Iamus emerges "from the dark streams of the Alpheus . . . into the intense light of the heights of the 'mountain' " ( 1 13). She notes, "Pindar frequently plays with puns in the odes, but in this passage he seems unusually aware of etymology." On Loxias as obscure diviner and solar figure see Or. 93.9 - EM 569. 49-50: . . . alto TOU Ao,;i)V fXELV 't�v ray, 'tou'tEun 'tUy CjJ!llvtiv' � ltaQa TO Ao,;6)� iivm 'tOV flALOV .. . See also Corn. Epidr. c. 32, p. 67. 14-1 6; Macr. Sat. I. 17. 3 1 = Apollod. of Athens 244 F95. Gamer 1 992: 65-66, finds parallels between the Aeschylean Bassarai and Iamus' journey with his father, which he traces back to a Pythagorean eschatological tradition.
Pelops and Iamus in Pindar
1 59
onym cpwvav axoUELV (66), Apollo submits two new meanings and etymologies for Iamus: from El,u+cpa,w+onwf3Ev and from la+('dw. The divine father, matching the dual namegiving motivations for Iamus from LOV and l6�, performs here a third baptism, submitting a dual motivation for Iamus, in strict relation to the man's new vocation and mission this time. This allusive etymologizing recalls the Homeric patterns mentioned above, canonized in the principle of compositio ,, or "etymology by contraction. 3 ?! The signifier remains the same externally but not internally: its meaning changes. In such "mots-valises" the Grywivov is imag inatively and implicitly recharged with new 0'YJj1mv6{tEva, whose presence is subtly validated by the context. As with Pelops before, so now with Iamus, Pindar submits an internal, contextualized, metonomasia of the hero, interlacing the seg ments of his name into his poetic canvas in ways that mirror the indelible changes this person undergoes: the name of Iamus is immortal, imperishable (57), indeed! The interpretation I propose here seems to be signaled and underpinned by the ambiguous verb {tEraAAaoEv, which occurs at a crucial and transitional point in the poem: avtE
372
See Allen 1 948/1949: 35-60, esp. 54. See also Sedley 2003: 80 on Tantalus (n. 427, below). For the term "mots-valises" I am indebted to Henry 199 1 : 1 03, who attributes their creation to popular etymology and the lexical crossing [meeting]. Wilamowitz-Moellendorff 1 886/ l 967: 1 66 n. 16. Fennell l 879: 67.
Pelops and his Name - Literary Tradition
1 60
trodden" Cronion. The verb {te'UxAAaooev ties in nicely with this picture: Apollo sanctions the transition and transformation of his skotios son from a nature boy into a lofty cultural and mantic figure; the genos of the Iamids becomes famous (poly-kleiton) and prosperous (olhos) (7 1 -72), from the time when Iamus, pursu ingfama, comes (63) to the Juxyxmvov XWQuv, which is "shared by all," that is, Olympia, in the vicinity of sun-bathed Cronion: the relation of Olympia with OAO� and AaWr:w is an indispensable part of the Pindaric vision. This is the ideal place, in which mortals and immortals consort (cf. Jt£iyvuJtt) in terms of commensality, sacrifices and games. In the microstories of Pelops and Iamus the presence of the River Alpheus is prominent. Iamus descends into it, while Pelops reclines by its streams (klitheis, al. 1 . 92) as if a convivial at a banquet. The Alpheus is it not merely a geographi cal mark of Olympia, but is intimately linked with the physique and the transitory experiences of the two heroes as well; the function of the Alpheus in initiatory myths and rites of passage is well documented and its name is taken to mean ,, "white. 373 The ancient sources find the motivation of Alpheus in the healing and beneficial properties of its water, :n:aQu to LOU£ aAcpov� 8EQUJtEVELV. 1) :n:aQu to (XAcpetV, (5 EGn 8EQUJtEVELV xu'l WqJEA.ELV. 374 The river heals the alphoi, those who have a skin disease and whose complexion is patchy. This skin discoloration or paral/age can be whitish, or subfuscating, hypomelanizousa, hence the patient is called leukos alphos or melas alphos, respectively.375 What do we gain for the names and function of our two heroes from this ancient description of the physical symptoms of this disease and from the etymology of Alpheus? Both Iamus and Pelops are connected with the Alpheus. Both manifest inti mate and essential associations with variegated and changing colors; they are as sociated "biographically" and etymologically with images and objects that oscil late between the polarities of dark and bright. Iamus lies helpless on the earth, and is nourished by two chthonic creatures, is a "violet" infant, fed on golden honey and drenched by the dew and the rays of the whitish or purple violets, and the dazzling heliacal brightness of Cronion �Mf3aiOv, "trodden by the sun." Iamus follows an ascending course from the underground darkness, the abode of snakes
J 7J
374 375
Graves 1 992: 749, epigrammatic ally renders Alpheus as "Whitish." EGen. U 554. 1-4; ESym. 639; EM 72. 44-45; Eust. Il. 3 : 314. 14- 1 5 . EGen. U 5 5 6 . 1-6: jUcp6�' nUQa 't o ivaUaaacLv 'tl]V XQolav' 'to yaQ ivaUaaactv ituQa
EAEYf'tO . Ol][lUCVfL oE 'to 1t(ieo�, aU6cpw� 'tL� WV, 6 aUowcpa itOLWV . . . XUL EitL 'tWV EitL 'tWV EitL 'to XfLQOV i�llUaY!l{vwv; ESym. 641 ; EGud. U 100. 12-14, 1 0 1 .7: iUcp6�' 6 AfVU6dnuQa 'to] aUocpav1j� 'tL� wv. EM 72. 39-43: ;Ucp6�: I1uQa 'to aUocpav1j� 'tL� dvuv Ol][luCVEL oE 'tOY AfitQOV' nUQa 'to ivaUaaactv tTjv XQolav' to yaQ ivaUaaacLv ituQa toL� aQXuCOL� aAcpa{VctV EAEYf'tO . Photius 1066: iUcpo{- lCapaUaaaovOt yaQ xU'ta tOY XQiii'tu; ib. 1 073: AACPtr6XpWTO�' 'tii� Awuii�. EitL Of tii� XfCPUAii£ tii� no Alii;; ib. 1076: AAcp6�' 11 [lEV n� AWUTz ituQuJ..I.uyTj XUta 'to XQiii"u [lftU tLVWV Af1ttWV OtLY[lUtWV, xUL xUAfL'tm AfV:KO� aAcp6�, 11 oE uno"EAuvI �o\J(Ju xUL xUAfLtm "EAa; aAcp6�; ib. 1077: AACPOV�' AfV:KOV� fj AfVua�. So Hsch. 3344,
'tOL� aQxuCol�
aAcpa{VctV
VE� 'to XQiii"u
..
3345. On alphas and the Proetids: Hes. ff. 133. 3-5 M-W.
Pelops and Iamus in Pindar
161
and the thickets of black earth, to the middle of the river, and then even higher to the sheen of lofty Cronion and his fame. 376 Pelops is associated with an ambiguous adjective, poiios, which is bound with a skin disease: in a story that bears the mark of a Euhemeristic rationalization, Tzetzes portrays Pelops as a sick man suffering from a skin disease, and relates the cannibalistic story only to renounce it: as the traditional story goes, Tantalus served the gods with his son; the gods refrained from this abhorrent food with the exception of Demeter who ate the shoulder blade of Pelops inadvertently and in a state of mental distraction due to the abduction of her daughter, o ux €yvw �HU 'to �E�'I1VEVa L uu'tllV btu 'tllV
377
Stem 1 970: 332-40, esp. 338: Iamus' "maturity is a constant striving upward away from the recesses ofthe earth toward the high point on which his prophetic altar is to stand." Tzetzes ad Lyc. A lex. 1 52. 1 -22, 70-71 Scheer: ... IlOV11 oe L'111Ilt'jT11Q oux EYVW OLa TO IlEIl11VEvm UUTljV OLa TljV aQJtuyljv Tf]£ KOQ11£, 08EV Au�ouau TOV WIl0JtAaT11V EqJUYEV. ot 8wt Of XUTOLXTELQUVTE<; WUWV ci
EJtLAUOIlEV' 6 TavTuAo<; EuaE�lj<; ... tEQEU<; XUt qJLAuv8QwJtL<;t Ta Tmv 8Emv lluaTt'jQLU *wl<; UIlUt'jTOL<;* uaTEQov EiJtwv ESE�At'j811 TOU tEQOU xUTuMyou ... TOV ITEAOJtU JtUVTO<; aWIlUTo<; voat'jaUVTU JtaQEOLV Wllul<; XUt XUUTf]QOL XUt iUTQLxOl<; XELQOUQyt'jIlUOL JtUVWLOL<; TIl118EVTU XUt IlOAL<; UYLf] YEYOVOW W<; XUt AELtjJUVOV Tmv XUUTt'jQWV EXELV XUt Tmv wllmv TOV wll0JtAaT11v �IlLT!l11WV XUt Jto),tall xal 1IJto),wxa{lIoVUall OLa TljV Tf]<; aUQxo<; aa8EVELUV EqJuauv w<; 6 JtUTljQ wl<; 8wl<; EJtLsEvw8ElaL wuwv XUTETEIlEV ... XUTETEIlEV UtJTOV 6 JtUTljQ Tul<; Tmv iUTQmv TOIlUl<;, Ehu XUt Tol<; XUUTf]QOLV, 01<; XUt ia811. EJtEt oe aUJtEV TL TOU WIl0JtAawu y€ YOVE yf] XUt ETUqJ11, *08EV* XUt Jto),ta �1I xal vJto),evxa{lIovua, EIlu8Euauvw w<; � L'1t'jIl11TQU �E�QWXE TUUTU. Pliny (NH 28. 6. 34) also mentions Pe10ps' shoulder blade in a brief narrative of miraculous cures: quorundam partes medicae sunt, sicuti diximus de Pyrrhi regis pollice, et Elide solebat ostendi Pelopis os ul namque eam eburneam adfirmabant (Mayhoff), "Some men have healing powers confined to parts of their body. We have mentioned the thumb of King Pyrrus, and at Elis there used to be shown a shoulder blade of Pe lops, which was stated to be of ivory" (lones, Loeb). For Pelops'
1 62
Pelops and his Name - Literary Tradition
men but is also nourished by them when they die; only their bones survive. An cient sources, such as the scholiast of the Derveni Papyrus (col. XXII), Plato (Cra. 404b8-9), and Comutus (Epidr. c. 28, pp. 52-53), recognize Demeter's nurturing and motherly capacities, and see in her the "Mother Earth," the divinity that en genders. Servius (in Verg. Geo. 3 . 7, Thilo-Hagen) emphasizes the edacious char acter of Demeter: quod [sc. the restitution of Pelops' ivory shoulder] ideojingitur, quia Ceres ipsa est terra, quae corpora universa consumit, ossa tantum reservans. The ivory or polia shoulder blade apud Tzetzes takes on the character of a family gnorisma. This object, however, especially in view of its pronounced medical context and its etymological value, would be tantamount to afyla, a word
that carries strong medical connotations. 378 This would sit particularly well with Tzetzes' version, which transforms the cannibalistic story into a medical condi tion. But the corporeal tokens, or semata, that prove the legitimacy of the mem bers of this genos are multiple and listed by the Pindaric scholia (al. 1 . 40c): 379 tOUTOV <paoL xaL VnO!!Vll!!a TOU� rrEA.onCoa� tou rrOOEtOWVO� EgOltL. People say that as a reminiscence/commemoration of this the Pelopids bear a kind of white ness about the shoulder. Some people said that the mark on Pelops' shoulder was white be cause of the ivory; some others said it was a lance on the arm; some others said it was a Gorgo on his left arm; some others that it was a trident on his shoulder blade testifYing to the eras of Poseidon.
Later authors add the EA.aLa (olive or mole?) as a mark of the Pelopids, employing significant terms, such as aiiJwVTQov and avaarywv (= aVIlf3oAov, signal, token, ensign, insignia LSJ). 380 Malalas makes the EAaLa the token for the recognition of
378
379
380
shoulder as a remedy for a contagious disease see Paus. 5. 1 3 . 5 = n. 271, above; as a talisman vouchsafing victory see Ps.-Apollod. Bibl. Epit. 5. 10-1 1 . Lyons 1 977: 1: 99, 108, on sema: "having originated in Greek medicine for diagnosis by means of bodily symptoms, it was employed by the Stoic philosophers to include both logic and epistemology." Perhaps in this context, as a family sign, we ought to understand the sphragis of Orestes in Soph. El. 1223 . Cf. Kenna 1 96 1 : 99- 1 04; Gerber 1 982: 57-59. For the Pindaric ivory shoulder not as a prosthesis, but as a birthmark see: Kohnken 1983: 66-76, esp. 7 1 ; Howie 1983: 28687; id. 1 99 1 : 1 17; Griffith 2000: 2 1 . Cf. Brillante 1 99 1 : 1 8, this was the only bodily part im mortalized during an aborted attempt to confer immortality upon baby Pelops. Malalas Chron. pp. 1 38-39, I. 1 7 Dind. = 5. 34. 20-33, p. 107 Thum (also in TLG: Cedrenus Compend. Histor. l : 236, I. 17, and Constant. VII Porphyrog. De insidiis, pp. 153. 36- 1 54. 2). Vergil (Geo. 3. 6-8) alludes to Pelops' signum-(Jfyla: cui non dictus . . . Hippodameque umeroque Pelops insignis eburno, / acer equis? "Who has not told of . . . Hippodame, and Pelops, famed for ivory shoulder, and fearless with his steed? (Fairclough, Loeb). Besides its semiotic value, insignis is of intertextual import, hinting at older literary treatments of this myth. This Vergilean passage alludes to Pindar (01. I. 27), argues Lundstrom 1 976: 163-9 1, while Thomas 1988: 36-39, 1 999: 68-76, sees Callimachean influence here. Acer equis, on the other hand, recalls the Homeric nATjsLJtnO� rrEAo'lj!, and also implies the erotic taming of
Pe10ps and Iamus in Pindar
1 63
Iphigeneia and Orestes: 6 Ef.lOe; aOEAcpOe; toU TIEAOltELO'U YEVO'Ue; arY.w vrQov EXE L EAaLav EV t4-> wf.l{P, she says, and observes that he has the Pe10pean sign, to TIEAOltELOV avaaT/JLov EXOVta autov?81 In the Thyesteia deipna, Agamemnon dismembers his nephews, making their parts aaT/JLa (Aes. Agam. 1 596): oblitera tion of the family's sema is tantamount to death, and foreshadows its ruin. To refocus on Tzetzes, his explanation of the condition of Pelops and his po lia and whitening shoulder as a severe medical condition and putrifaction recalls ancient medical treatises, which consider polia a sickness of the skin and hair, caused by undigested food. Ps.-Aristotle is particularly eloquent: he considers
polia putrifaction of the hair,382 and reaffirms its chromatic aspects and its causal relation to sickness (De Color. 798a2 1 -26): ta ltEQL tOVe; XQOtucpo'Ue; f.lUAtOta ltUVtWV ltOAWVVrm, xaL OAWe; ltEQL tOVe; ao8EVELe; xaL ltEltOVT]XOtae; tWV tOltWV. TIaQo xaL ltaQa ltUVta f.lUALata Eie; toUto to XQro,ta J.1£'tapcll..l..£L, otav t�V cpumv ltaQal..l.cl . !;n t�V oLxELav. The verb ltaQaUaaaw here echoes the concept of /.u;:raUaaaEv, which is proposed above apropos of Iamus (01. 6. 6 1 -62). Pelops undergoes a comparable ltaQaUaYl1 in the course of his life: he
drifts between the Olympian radiance, the whiteness of his ivory shoulder, the darkness of the sacrificial cauldron and finally, the chromatic transubstantiation that he experiences about his tomb. In the hands of Pindar, Pelops and Iamus, two chromatic heroes who undergo a physical and spiritual change, are masterfully subjected to an abstract poetic parallage that takes place about the A1pheus. The streams of the Alpheus are associated with the curing of skin diseases, with initiatory rituals of maidens and with etiological myths, indispensable parts of which are the use of masks and the practice of concealing the face and identity with white soot or flour and clay. 383 Pausanias describes the ritual of mixing the water of the Alpheus with the ashes of the sacrificial thighbones left on the altar of Zeus, and of forming a kind of plaster with which Zeus' image is covered once
381
382
383
the girl. The poetological nuances of insignis recur in Tib. Eleg. 1 .4. 63-65: carmine pur purea est Nisi coma: carmina ni sint, / ex umero Pelopis non nituisset ebur.l quem referent Musae, vivet, "Verse keeps the lock of Nisus purple. Were verses not, no ivory would have shone on Pelops' shoulder. He whom the Muses tell of shall live" (Postgate, Loeb). These signs have their own relevance: the whiteness evidently goes back to the traditional cannibalistic tale and the restoration of the consumed shoulder by an ivory prosthesis. The lance is politically motivated and illustrates the martial qualities of the line of Pelops, the de feat of Oenomaus and the acquisition of the girl, while the trident insinuates the pederastic version of Pindar. Finally, the olive draws its relevance from the olive wreath with which the victors at Olympia were crowned, although it is not clear whether Malalas means the olive or the mole (EAaCa : naevus on the skin, LSJ) The only reference that remains unresolved is Gorgo and its discussion is deferred for a later point. Arist. De gen. animo 784bl 0 : waTE xaL i) EV taL£ 8QLS'L TOLmhl1 ovaa TQOCPl] OU n€HO/lEvt/ aTj1tETaL, xaL yCVETaL i) xaAo1J!!EVl1 nOAta ... tlL61tEQ i) EV TaL£ aaQS-LV CtnE1jJ{u 1tOLEL TU£ noAL(i�. Arist. Probl. 894b7- 1 1 : i) oE nOAtC! Wa1tEQ aU1tQ6Tl1£ n£ TWV TQLJ(WV Eanv. For the role of the Alpheus in the cult of Artemis Alpheiaea, skin diseases and the wide spread use of gypsum, soot and white meal in initiatory myths (Proetids, Minyads, Bacchants, or vintage and ithyphallic performers) see Burkert 1983: 1 68-79; Calame 1 997: 92, 1 14-16; Robertson 2003: 235 nn. 33, 34.
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a year.3 84 The polarities between pelios/polios Pelops, the recipient of chthonic honors, and Zeus, his celestial counterpart, are thus partly eliminated. Pelops and Iamus, with their external and internal changes, symbolize the changes experi enced by the cohorts of athletes whose manhood and prowess is tested near the Alpheus and the sacrificial sites of Pelops and Zeus. So, what is the essence ofpolios and its role in our Pelops story, after all? It is an elusive word, whose meaning is conditioned by the context and the concur rence of many factors. Paradoxically, the polios air may be transparent, bta <pa v�� (ltOAtOtO bt' f]€Qo�, sch. Ap. Rh. Arg. 3 . 275, 228 W), but our conception of polios is rather obscure and as vague as the primeval substance it qualifies. It is an illusion and involves the surface, or what Aristotle calls bU7roAij� in his discus sion of 7TOAt6�. 3 85 It is a majestic fantasia that makes things appear dark and black or white and shiny, as the rusty but polished iron,3 86 or as the dark and white Pelops, who is imbued with the divine lustre of the purifying lebes and of Olym pus, or with the darkness of the sacrificial cauldron and of the sea at night time. The duality and ambivalence of Pelops in terms of appearance and reality, signi fier and signified, is matched firstly by that of the poplar tree, AE'lJ'fGll, "a Border land tree," which Heracles brought from Acheron and with which Pelops' cult is intimately linked,3 87 and secondly by that of the polia sea, a mediating locus which dispenses salvation and death. Pelops crosses his boundaries on the way to Olympus and by the polia sea, a transitory place, where he approaches Poseidon, and then rises up, driving a golden chariot with winged horses. The polia sea forms the nucleus of Pelops' existence: in it, as also in the Alpheus, merge and "mingle" the strands of his mortal and immortal life, visualized in terms of light and darkness. By the Alpheus and the polia sea mingle the contrasting etymologi cal semata of Pelops: polios not only sums up his transformations, whether physi cal, social, spiritual and cultic, but also operates as a poetological symbol of the thoughts and images, which the poet of the Olympian 1 desires to share with his audience. Polios is the key to the poetic !If]1:t� and ltOt'fGtALa . The multiplicity of the circulating mythic versions and interpretations as re gards Pelops, supports the modem view that despite their traditional material, 384 385
Paus. 5. 1 3 . 1 1 and 5. 1 3 . 5 . See also Graves 1 992: 54 1 -43. Arist. De gen. animo 784b9-2 1 : XUL yug 6 fUgW£ fOtL oultg6'tl]£ YfWOOU£ Ct'tIlLOO£. WO'tf
XUL ii fV 'tui:£ 6gL�'t 'tOW1J'tl] oiiou 'tgoqJl] OV Jl:cnOIUfvll oijltf'taL, XUL YLYVf'taL ii XUI.OU IlfVl] JroAui . . . WOltfg yug CtV'tfO'tgUllllfVOV 'tft mixvn 6 EUgW£ fO'tLV ... OLO XUL sJrtJroMi,; fOtLV iillqJW' ii yug Ct'tIlL£ sJrtJroMi,;. XUL fii Ol] ot ltOLl]'tUL fV 'tui:£ XWllqJOLaL£ Ilf'tUqJf gouOL OXWlt'tOV'tf£ 'tu£ JroA!a,; XUI.O'UV'tf£ yijgw£ fUgOl'tU XUL mixvl]v. See Chantraine
386
387
DELG S.V. JreAollm. Sch. Res. Gp. 150b5- 1 5 1b4: Lfl.fUXO£ ... ygUqJfL IlfI.U£ 0' OUX fOtL OLOl]gO£, LVU n Ill] xu661.ou 'to Ill] fXfLv. IlEI.U£ 0' OUX fOXf OLOl]gO£: 'to IlEI.U£ YVWO'tEOV tfJ qJuvtUOIQ. tfJ tOO bEt· tfJ rail Ip\iOEt l.uIlltg6v fO'tL. West 1 978: 1 89-90, considers this scholium corrupt. The cpavraa(a 1WDll'; is ambiguous; it certainly means "imagining it rusty" (West), but fan tasia also means appearance and appearing (see Ps.-Arist. De Calor. passim), creative imagi nation and the use of imagery. Onfantasia see Meijering 1 987, chapters I and n. See Paus. 5 . 1 3 . 3; 5. 14. 2. See also Cook 1 925: H. I: 466-73, for the collected evidence.
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myths are emancipated from the ritual they may have originally underpinned and explained, and assume an independent life of their own, becoming charters of so cial and political ideologies, and reflecting values, ideas and social conditions of different eras and different people. "The fact that myths exist only in a series of different versions . . . confirms the poststructuralist insight that discourse is his ,, torically specific and constantly shifting. 3 88 Yet the Pindaric focalization on Pelops is unparalleled in ancient Greek poetry. The protagonistic role of Pelops in Pindar's Olympian 1 reflects firstly the Panhellenic significance of the Olympic games and their founder, and secondly the genre requirements of the epinician poetry; the analogies between the victor, the hero and the epinician poet serve the genre's hymnic and laudatory programming and its conventional techniques. 3. 8. Pelops in Tragedy
Tragedy shifts its focus to the plight of Pelops' offspring and their ruinous deci sions and choices, which signal and remotivate the misery of the Pelopids on an intergenerational level. The dramatic situation often gives the impetus for a reflex ion on the causes of the disaster that plagues this family until the chain of evil deeds is eventualy broken by divine dispensation. The child sacrifice perpetrated by Tantalus, the treacherous victory of Pelops over Oenomaus, and the murder of Myrtilus provide the background causes of the inherited criminality and curse, which clings to the genos and is renewed by the sinful acts of its members in sub sequent generations. The references to Pelops mark critical moments in the myth; etymology continues to be a powerful tool for imparting meaning, and Pelops renews its semiotic worth and value. A novel relation of signifier and signified is discernible in Sophocles. He in terlaces the Pelopids and the origin of the evil, lingering on the notion of JrOAV�, "much:" the pedagogue ushers Orestes into Mycene and the "utterly ruined" pal ace (El. 1 0): JroAvcp8o{}6v tE 6wl-ta IIdomDwv ta6E, while the chorus also la ments, hammering on JrOAV� (504-1 5): d) IIfAoJro� Cl ltQao8Ev / JrOAVJrOVO� LltltEla, / WS; EI-tOAES; aLavljs; / t{t6E y{t; ever since Myrtilus was plunged into the sea over the all-golden chariots, ltaYXQuowv 6lCPQWV, all too painful disaster, JrOAVJrOVO� aLxEla, has dogged the house. The name Pelops and the patronymic Pelopides, Pelopidae carry with them the concept of "much," which reflects the ethos and the vita of this overbearing family. Its members have experienced power, crime and pain profusely and excessively; polys has borne down heavily on this house ever since its archegete took this JrOAVJrOVO� LltltEla, "very painful horse-riding," and reversed the divine gift, making it an instrument of utter, root 388
Doherty 200 1 : 94, 144, passim; she speaks of "the paradox of mythology -its simultaneous persistence and changeability" ( 1 64), and uses Levi-Strauss' term bricolage ('tinkering') as "an apt metaphor for mythmaking itself, which never starts with 'raw' material but is forever making new stories out of older ones" (129). On the "communicative fluidity" of myth and ritual see also lohnston 2003: 1 71.
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and branch death (ltQ6QQLl;0�, 5 1 3). The all-golden chariots evoke the Pindaric
version, but are clouded with treachery and murder. Instead of glorifying the Po seidonian gifts, Sophocles denigrates the old horse-riding, innda, in two ways: explicitly as the fatal arrival of Pelops and the uprooting of Myrtilus, and implic itly and metaphorically as the sexual taming of the maiden with the telling name Hippo-dameia; treacherous "riding" is an immanent motif, causing the collapse of the Pelopid house. The love affairs of the Pelopid brides, Aerope, Helen and Cly taemestra make the point. With this pregnant passage (504-1 5), the chorus explic itly condemns the murder of Myrtilus, and implicitly reverses the wedding and the procreation of criminal offspring. The Pindaric sons, IU:fLa6ra� uQE'tu1m, have turned into miserable and loathsome figures. With a forceful alliteration on pel-, pol- and -p- sounds, Sophocles visualizes the gist of the Pe10pid fate and the fac tors that have contributed to it. A most imaginative approach to Pelops' name and his connections with "vi sion" is attested for Sophocles via Athenaeus, who discusses the central role of the eyes in the attractions of love, and summarizes Aristotle's opinion that lovers look at nothing but the eyes of their loved ones, the seat of shame, aidos.3 89 Athenaeus cites a short passage drawn from the Oenomaus of Sophocles, which dramatizes the love of Hippodameia and Pelops and the potency of eye contact: Hippodameia is captured by the lightning in Pelops' erotic look, and focusing intently on his eyes and their irresistible and scorching power, she says in engaging language (fr. 474): toCUV IIO.m" LUYYU 8T]QutT]QCuv EQWtO�, aotQultTjv tLV' 0llllarwv, EXEL. n 8UAltEtm [!Ev U1h6�, ESOlttQ, 0' E[!E LOOV [!EtQWV orp8aAllov, WOtE t6tto vo � ltuQu otu8[!T]v L6vto� oQ8ovtm xuvwv Such a love-hunting wryneck does Pelops have, / some lightning of eyes, by which he is warmed himself, / but bakes me through (my translation), "measuring a glance to equal my own, as a carpenter's rule is kept straight while he moves along the line" (apud Radt).
Sophocles here combines conventional erotic motifs, attested in archaic lyric, such as the central role of the erotic eye3 90 and the conception of love as hunting. How ever, he innovates, incorporating in this erotic context the tekton imagery: in love matters Pelops is a both a hunter and carpenter. Describing erotic passion in terms 389
390
Soph. fr. 474, TrGF 4: 383-84, Radt: Athen. 1 3 . 564b, XUL 6 AQLOtOtEAT]� OE (fr. 96 Rose) EqJT] tOU� EQUOtU� EL� OUOEV ano toU OW[!Uto � tWV EQW[!EVWV altO�MltElV 11 to u� orp8aAIlO1j�, EV ot� tljv uLow XUtmXELv. LOqJOXAf]� O€ ltOU ltEQL tou xunou� tOU IIiAO Jro� OluAqO[!EVT]V ltmTjou� tljv 'IltltOOU[!ELUV qJT]OLV" 'toCav - - xavwv. ' O n Soph. fr. 474 and the power o f eye contact see Faraone 199 1 : 223 with n . 6 3 (p . 239). On the erotic sight-gaze see also Calame 1 992: 20-22, 32-33, 57-58, passim. Preller 189411 964: 373 with n. 5, on the basis of Soph. fr. 474 and Hsch. 'IltltoM[!ELu' AqJQooCtT], not only draws the girl into the circle of Aphrodite but identifies her with the goddess.
Pelops in Tragedy
1 67
of cooking and broiling (E�on'ti;i), Sophocles subtly alludes to the intrinsic role of cookery and digestion in Pelops' myth. He transforms the shiny eyes (Ol1l1ara, ocpfJaAl10v) of Pel-ops into a magical and enchanting ruy� that inspires a burning love. 3 9 1 Pelops is merely "warmed," but Hippodameia, as she gazes at him, is scorched and consumed by the fire of his eyes. The carpenter imagery and the masculine, controlled and self-disciplined act of measuring, l1£l{)WV, is contra posed to the feminine frantic and unrestrained passion. The tektonic language and the verb 11£1{)W become vehicles of gender differentiation in erotic issues: males approach love, calculating and measuring options and methods, while females are utterly engulfed and consumed by their irrational passion; their intellect is dis rupted, with or without pharmaceutical assistance, although this creeps into our story from independent sources. Pelops seeks to arouse her erotic desire by sacri ficing to Athena with the telling epithet Kydonia: kydonia mala are thrown at Me nelaus and Helen during their wedding (Stes. PMGF 187); apples and quinces are presented to the newly wedded either as symbols of fecundity or, as Faraone ar gues, "to produce sexual desire in the female ... as such [the apples] merit a close ,, discussion as a form of erotic magic. 3 92 With similar incentives Pelops, upon crossing the River Hermus « Hermes), dedicates an image of myrtle wood to Aphrodite of Temnus. Stephanus (Ethnica 62 1 . 5-7) gives a curious aition for the name of the locale: Tfy.1vo�, nOAL� AioAC oo�. 6 MaAao� YUQ v...a �E XQl]O!!OV, onou av 6 toU aQ!!ata� a�wv c'h aTl1rzfJfl nOALv XtLOaL xaL OtaTl1rzfJtvTO� tau a�ovo� Xt�EL. The foundation myth of
Temnus evidences a curious correspondence with the story of Oenomaus, who dies as his chariot axle is tampered with and breaks. This would furnish a striking example of "persuasive analogy" in erotic magic: as the axle breaking (TtI1VW) marks the foundation of the city Temnus, so will Hippodameia be subdued when her father's axle breaks; his death will signal the foundation of Pelops' family. The Lydian, guileful Pelops appeals to the Lydian Temnian Aphrodite, a deity re nowned for her wiles in matters of love at any rate (cf. Paphia
3 92
The reading is uncertain; tvyya is a modem correction (Bruncker) of the manuscript Avyya. Kramer 1 886: 20, considers tvyya "sine iusta causa," and opts for the "Pelopis ocuUs lynceis." Kramer reads: 'tOLa.v6' EV o1jJEL Avyya 8T]QU'tT]Q(uv, favoring the the "Iyncean," that is, bright and far-seeing eyes of Pelops; lynx is etymo10gically associated with leusso and lyc (cf. Lynkeus, whose derivation is narrativized in Pi. Nem. 1 0. 6 1 -63). I would read iynx for reasons to be deduced from the following discussion. Cf. LSJ: Avyya 8rz!!arrz!!{av dub. 1. in S. fr. 474. I . Faraone 1999: 69-78. Burkert 1 983 : 62 with nn. 1 7, 1 8, mentions the rituals that make "the bride and groom the butt of make-believe aggression. By hurling flowers and smashing pots, outsiders come to grips with the couple's new status." Yet fertility and sexuality, Aphrodisian and Artemisian elements, are not mutually exclusive as the relief from Echinus suggests: Ar temis is presented with ambiguous gifts, of far-reaching even funeral implications, such as: apple, pomegranate, honey-cakes, myrtle branch and bunch of grapes. See Cole 1 998: 34-35.
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xu'l YEv£a8aL oi tOY yallov 'tile; l:J't:J'tObUIlECUe; UttOUIlEVOV. But Hermes, Myrti
Ius' father, looms ominously in the background of this story. The phrase [aov Ilt:T(}WV ocp(JaAllov is especially intriguing, since it cor relates the craft with the linguistic constitution of Pelops: the hero with the tenac ity and calculation of a tekton, weighs the situation and "measures her eye," matching his eye (i'f1p- d51/J) with hers. This description has an etymological bear ing: Pelops' essence centers in his "eyes;" his glance is direct, unswerving and un faltering, like a carpenter's nail, I would say, and drives right into the eyes of the virgin, seducing and "fixing" her in love. The Sophoclean tektonic simile turns love into a well-gauged male techne, and "eyes" into a powerful instrument of riveting love, which becomes even more forceful as it is rooted in the name and essence of the lover himself. The Sophoclean language and imagery illustrates the working of intertext and the indebtedness to Pindar, in particular. The tragedian seems to refashion the Pindaric scene of Medea's seduction by Jason (Pyth. 4. 2 1 3-423): Cyprogeneia provided Jason with the dappled bird of madness (:J'totXLAUV LUYYU . . . llaLvab' OQVLV, 2 14- 16) upon his arrival at the land of XeAwvwJrwm K6AXOLOLV, the "dark-eyed" Colchians. Aphrodite taught him prayers and charms by which he would make Medea bum with erotic passion and succumb to the scourge of a mar tial and cruel Persuasion (EV cpgua'l XaL0ll£vav bOV£OL IlaanyL ilEL80iiC;, 2 1 9). Jason, true to his name « laoIlW), "medicates" the essential quality of Medea, her 1l"zDt:a(Jw, and transfers onto her the natural qualities of the bird by way of "per , suasive analogy. ,393 Robbed and devoid of her intellectual capacity, Medea is deprived of her innate shame and respect for her parents. Hence, the Pindaric Ja son breaks her resistance, controls her mind and turns her devious metis to his own advantage; love incapacitates intellect. Sophocles transfers the magical qualities from the bird to the very eyes of Pelops, internalizing the Pindaric external, magical forces. "Eye contact is power ful even without pharmaceutical or spiritual assistance," Winkler argues, discuss ing the ways of forcing love. 394 The tekton simile, on the other hand, renders love a techne, thus giving it an air of discipline and civilization; love is taught. The male tekton, Pelops, applies not brutal force, but erotic "technology" and the wily crafts of civilization to "break" the young filly. This imagery illustrates the Sophoclean originality and the semiotic value of Pelops' eyes, which are instru mental in actualizing the components of Hippo-dameia, and also imply her ex tolled role in this tragedy: a girl burning with passion is capable of doing many abominable things. Medea has proven this beyond any doubt. 393
394
So Faraone 1 999: 55-69; he discusses at length this widespread Mediterranean ritual, which includes magic spells and incantations, by which the natural madness and sex hunger of these birds (iynx and kigklos) are transferred to the female targets of the spell. On the action of iynx see Segal 1986 passim ; 10hnston 1 995: 1 77-206; Brillante 1 998: 9-10. Winkler 199 1 : 223 with 239 n. 63, "As Hippodamia says of the beautiful Pelops in Sopho cles' Oenomaus: 'Pelops has such a magician's implement to capture eros, some lightning in his eyes; it warms him, it scorches me entire' (frag. 474)."
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The Sophoclean choice of tektonic imagery and the concept of p£iQav have made quite an impact, as proven by its career in the Platonic etymologizing of Pelops. The philosopher challenges the poetic imagery of measurement and its use in an overwhelming infatuation that centers on the sheer power of "eyes" and the calculated pursuit of success by impious means. Plato points out the ruinous con sequences of an unmeasured, shortsighted vision, and the miscalculation of what would be beneficial for oneself and his genos in the long run. Using a hapax for mula to suggest etymological plausibility, Plato argues in an oxymoron that Pe lops was named ip"'l£iQW�. Sophocles and Plato vie in binding Pelops with the concept of metron; the legitimacy and applicability of /lEiQav and its conse quences become the nucleus of an intertextual discourse between the poet and the philosopher. Euripides dramatizes specific episodes of this saga, and indulges in brief flashbacks to the remote causes of things, stitching his canvas with fleeting word plays on Pelops. The anagnorismos between Orestes and Iphigeneia is accom plished by means of certain elements that belong to the 'history' of the family. These are: the golden lamb, the reversal of the sun's course, or private details and objects of emblematic value. To the last category belongs an old heirloom, the spear, which Pelops brandished in his hand when he killed Oenomaus and earned Hippodameia. Orestes invokes this as a token of his identity, and stresses that he was an eyewitness: he "saw" the spear by which the genos was inaugurated (IT 822-26): et 0' doov ai,,;6 �, 1:(10E
"And now I will tell you for proof these things I saw my- I self: I saw the ancient spear of Pelops our ancestor in the I house -which he brandished when he killed Oenomaus I and won the maid of Pis a, Hippodamia- hidden in your I bedroom" (Kovacs).
Orestes' speech is framed in a thick cluster of alliterated labial sounds. The name of Pelops is enfolded in a wordplay on n;aAm6� and miAAw. It should be remem bered that ancient scholiasts and lexicographers use n;aAm6� to interpret and in all probability etymologize n;oAI6�, with which the life and name of II£AotjJ is connected. 395 The wording is allusive: the spear that killed Oenomaus almost im perceptibly turns from an instrument of death into an instrument of sex and pro creation. These two are interrelated on the level of imagery: sex is often visualized as an act of piercing and stabbing. This ambivalent weapon is significantly hidden in a parthenon, thus revealing the ambiguity of the parthenos and her dangerous 395
Linguists associate reaAmoc;-m1Am with rijAc/lnjAVt: Pokomy 1 959: 640, "k!'el-, fern." Cf. Chantraine DELG s.v reEAO/-lm: "le rapprochement avec mXAm, reaAtV, rijAc est contestable." Curtius 1 886, 2: 32 1 . 344b, associates reaAAW ... reaAtv, reOAc/-lOC; and pello, pulsus, gathering them under 'the root reaA-.
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Pelops and his Name - Literary Tradition
sexuality. This passage is double-edged: it evokes the past bloodshed but also pre figures the future; the salvation of Orestes and the Pelopid line depends on Iphi geneia, the parthenos in whose parthenon the double-faced ancestral spear is kept safe. Life and death are hidden in the chambers of a virgin. This is spelled out by Orestes, who prays that his sister with the significant name save himself and the paternal house, w� 'tal!' OA.WA.E :n:av'ta xal 'ta IItoAoJU{)(iJv (IT 983-86). The double face of the virgin is verified when she affirms her ancestral ties, and insinuates the etymology of Pelops in a cryptic manner, pleading with Thoas that no one approach and see, l!1']o€v' El� O'ljJt V Jr£AaCnv (IT 1 2 1 2). In this context the name of IIiAo'ljJ is flanked by o'ljJt�, JrtoAaCw as well as by JrOAt�, such per tinent etymological markers (see also 876-80, 886). A few lines above, Iphigeneia had sighed, too KUXA.-wJrl� EO'tLa (845). Here she forbids the barbarians to "ap proach" and "see" what she knows to be the Pelopean progeny; hiding the essen tial linguistic features of her genos, she saves it from extinction. Thoas, uttely blinded, hastens to comment in the same verse (anti/abe), d, yE U71OeV£t� JrOAtV ( 1 2 1 2), thus alluding to the deeper meaning of her actions and words: the verb U710evw means either (a) take care oj, or (b) carry out for burial. The virgin speaks and acts in terms that befit her ancestral blood ties and concerns (uiic5o�, U71Oevw) for her own kin, not for the Taurian city, as Thoas assumes in his delu sion; she does not intend to bury her brother but save both him and the seed of the family. The Taurians will judge her actions (the safe deportation of the foreigners and the robbery of Artemis' xoanon) as negation of (a) U710evw and as a breach of loyalty, which entails capital punishment, hence (b) U71Oevw. The Pelopid genos is salvaged not only because the parthenos cunningly manipulates language and the linguistic features of her genos, but also because she respects the emblematic spear. Reversing its deadly aspects, she fulfills its positive potential; the instru ment of death becomes salutary and quasi-procreational. The parthenos vouch safes the continuity of the line unlike her murderous mother and the married and :n: o A. u avw Q 'BUva, who was named £Uva�, {Aavc5(}o� £UJrr:oAt� by some pro vidence of destiny, and ironically brought oQ8wvUj.tov uiic5o� to her new relatives (Aes. Agam. 68 1 -700; see n. 499). Iphigeneia proves part of her name true, with a remarkable differentiation: manipulating her first component, she uses guile not might (rept) to preserve her race (y£vo�) and disrupt the ancestral mischief. In his Orestes, Euripides submits an imaginative association of Pelops with Jr£Aayo�, whose etymological chart comprises a great range of words such as: Jr£Aa�, riiA£/Jr�AVt, Jr£AW, Jr£AW� [Jr£AtO�], JrAayw� and JrA�aaw; these are some of the derivations that ancient and modem authorities submit for pelagos. 396 396
EGud. It 458. 33-36: JriAayo�, 'to � JrO.a� tT']; yij� av. IW.ayo�, 3tIlQU to JrO.w 'to umlQ XW, )taL to ayo�, 'to oT]!lai:vov t�V E)tltAT]SLV 'to EXOV E)tltAT]SLV, )taL 'to UltE LQov �6.eo; tOU UOaTO;. Cf. EM 659. 5-6: IIiAayo� 'to � JriAa� tT']; yij�. �H 3tIlQU to rijA£ )taL to yij ... ruiQQN 'tT']� yij� av. See also EGud. E 447. I and EM323. 26-30: YExJraYAo� 6 xaraJrATl xnx6�. llllQu to JriAayo� . . �H El( to" JrAIJOOW, 'tOU oT]!la(vovto� to eau!l6.�w. The verb .
JrAIJOOW evokes the Homeric JrAIJ�LJrJrO� IIiAo1/!. Choer. De Orth. 25 1 . 4, associates pelagios and pelagos with peiios. Linguists also connect JriAayo� with JrAaytO�: Boisacq 1 9 1 6: 759 s.V. JriAayo�; Pokomy 1 959: 832; Frisk s.v. JriAayo� and JrAaytO�; Chantraine DELG s.v.
Pelops in Tragedy
171
I s it accidental that these words also etymologize Pelops? The answer is negative, judging from the ancient evidence and practice. Euripides, in pace with the an cient well-documented tendencies and linguistic experimentations, exploits the aural similarities of IIEA01/J and JrEAayo£, to posit novel images and associations. The genetic role of the "open sea" for the misery of the house of Pelops is con spicuous in the aria of Euripidean Electra, who desires to go to the rock, which is suspended between the earth and the sky, to meet Tantalus and communicate with him the evils of the house, a·ta�, which originated ever since (OBEV ) there oc curred the no'1'avov ()(wY/-la nwA.wv (988) and the murder of Myrtilus in the JrEAayo£, (Or. 989-9 1 ) : IIEAo1/J 0'1" Ent m::A aYEat ()LE- / ()(cpQE'lJOE M 'lJQ'tO O'IJ cpovov / () LXWV E� ol()/-la novto'IJ, "There was that flying colt-chase / when Pelops with four-horsed equipage / rode over on the sea's expanses, hurling / Myrtilus to death in the swell of the waves (West). In Euripides the "open sea," pelagos, plays a causal part in the doom of the house (988-1 000), in contrast to the Pindaric polia sea. As a result of Pelops' guileful and dishonest actions, his line incurred many woes (995- 1 000 OCT): ..
OeEV MIlOLOL 'WL£ £1l0L£ �!..e' ago. lto!..UOtOVO£, MXEullu ltOLIlVCOLOL Muuibo£ t6xou, to Xguo61lUAAOV agvo£ olt6t' £YEVEtO rt(Jac; DAODY DAODY A r(Jtoc; llt lt o �ohu . "Thence came upon the house / a curse fraught with woe, / when what the son of Maia brought to birth / in the flocks, / that gold-fleeced prodigy of a lamb / appeared, ruinous thing / of Atreus breeder of horses" (West).
This version demonstrates firstly the causative role of the murder in the JrEAayo£, for the aQa that befell the house, and secondly the duplicity of Pelops and his JrAayw£, way of acting; both reflect critical choices and features of this dynasty on an intergenerational level. The exact details of this story cannot be recon structed with certainty. Pelops crosses the open sea either in order to claim Hip podameia, or to be purified by Hephaestus in the Ocean after the deadly encounter with Oenomaus; 397 inflamed by the accusations of Hippodameia, that Myrtilus made erotic advances to her, Pelops plunges Myrtilus (his accomplice in the guile ful victory over Oenomaus) into the sea by Geraestus, thus binding his family and ltUiywC;: this is derived from a noun rather than a verb with the radical ltAay ofplorg- . . . Theme I in pelorg-, cf. 1CtAayoc; . . . "Le tout repose sur une racine petar /pta-. cf. 1CaAallrz. 1CAJiOOW." Cf. Windekens 1 986: 182, 1CtAayoc; < *pel, *pele-, 1CLIl1CA7/JU . Lacroix 1976: 333, links Myrtilus' death (in the "Myrtoon" pelagos) with the purification of Pe lops by Hephaestus on Lernno s. Cf., however, Sechan 1 926: 465 with n. 10. West 1987: 253 ad 988, assumes that Euripides followed the Pherecydean version (FGrHist. 3F37-8), which located Oenomaus on Lesbos. After the sabotage and the death of Oenomaus, Pelops, the girl and Myrtilus escape crossing the Aegean sea; Pelops ejects Myrtilus near Geraestus in southem'Euboea. lttAayoc;
397
1 72
Pelops and his Name - Literary Tradition
with a curse, since Hermes vindicates the death of his son, sending the golden lamb as an object of deadly dispute between Atreus and Thyestes. Crossing the pelagos is, consequently, a landmark in this myth as providing the beginning of disaster (sch. Eur. Or. 987), aQX� tf]� atl]� fj LltltOOQollLa IIiAolw� fj YEVOIlEVl] OLa tOU .7TsAayov�. The same version also provides the clues for the ethos of Pelops' : it marks his duplicity and dishonesty, which he bequeathes to his off spring; Agamemnon, for example, is contemptuously reproached with the phrase .7TAayw
398
The suspended chariot at the Anaktoron at Celeae (Paus. 2. 14. 4) symbolizes the mediating condition of this family. See Cic. Tusc. Disp. 2. 27. 67: equi Pelopis illi Neptunii qui "per un , das currus suspensos rapuisse" dicuntur.
Pelops in Comedy
1 73
3. 9. Pelops in Comedy
Ancient comic texts very seldom mention Pelops, and when they do, their frag mentary state and specific objectives seriously affect the degree of our com prehension. Athenaeus (4. 1 30e) hands down to us a sizeable passage, but de tached from its context. In this citation, the eating habits of the Greeks are com pared to those of the oriental people. 399 Athenaeus ascribes the passage to Anti phanes, a fourth century B.c. comedian, and a play entitled Oenomaus or Pelops (fr. 1 70, peG 2: 406, Kassel-Austin): ono.E xaL AV'tl(pavT]£ 0 XW�qlCLOnOLo£ EV OlvofJ,aqJ � IIiAOJrl cLana(Swv £qJT] TL 0' av "EAA.!']vE£ !lIXQOTQUTtE�Ol, CPUAA.OTQWYE£ oQuaElav; OTtOU TETTaQa A�lj!!']l xQEa !lLXQ' 6�OAOii. TtaQa. 0' �!l£TEQOl£ TtQOYOVOlaLV OAOU� �oii£ OOTtTWV, 1)£, EAUCPOU£, aQva�' TO TEAEUTaLov 0' 6 !lUY£lQO£ OAOV TiQa� orntJ(Ja� !lEYUAWl �aaLAEL 8EQ!l �V TtaQE8!']xE XU!lTJAOV. "But what could leaf-chewing Greeks, scant of table, accomplish? Among them you can get only four little pieces of meat for a ha'penny. But among our ancestors they used to roast whole oxen, swine, deer, and lambs. Lately our cook roasted a monster entire and served the ).400 great King with a -hot camel" (Gulick, Loeb
The suppressed context of this fragment has invited a great deal of conjecture. 401 To outline the story, the Greeks, who are vegetarian because they can hardly af ford to buy meat, are contrasted to the ancestors of the speaker and his collocutor, who are obviously well off and have the means to buy and roast big animals of all kinds. The relevance of this passage to the myth of Pelops and Oenomaus, after whom this comedy is entitled, is bewildering: what is Antiphanes attempting? Does he merely intend to draw laughter, exaggerating and ridiculing the appetite and customs of non-Greeks, or make allusions to older poetical, grand and grave, themes in a playful (cLana(Swv) and parodic style? My own inclination is towards the latter, on the grounds that the last three verses of the fragment, which draw a gross picture of the oriental buffet, ring fa miliar and true to people versed in ancient myths and literature. The phrase aQva£ . oAov ri(}a� portrays the insatiable appetite of the oriental king, but at the same time it subtly parodies a serious piece, the Euripidean (Or. 998-1 000) CtQvo£ ... ri(}a� DAoov J4 r(}io�. The verbal similarities are striking, indeed, while the din..
399
400 401
See Eust. Il. I : 373 .24 - 374.2 for the plain eating habits of the Greeks, ou TtOAUTEAUi£ OLEX£lQ�OVTO Ta. tWV EUWXIWV ol TtaAaLoC. OLO aXWTtTWV i\vncpuv!']£ E'cp !']' « TL 0' av "EAA.!']vE£ ... oQuaELav.» Edmonds 1959: 246-47, argues that here Pe lops is addressing Artaxerxes, referring to their common ancestors (�!l£tEQOl£ TtQOyOVOlaLV). See Kramer 1 886: 26.
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Pelops and his Name - Literary Tradition
ing setting recalls the teknophagic tendencies of this family and Atreus, in this instance. But the same comic verses, fraught with ambiguity, also revive memo ries of the first cannibalistic dinner of the family, since the comic 'to 'tEAE'lJ'tu'i:ov evokes the Pindaric 'tQuJt£smo( 't' (qupL OE'IJtU'tU XQEWV (01. 1 . 5 0) : Pelops was boiled and served last, as the Pindaric scholia (sch. Pi. 01. 1 80b) argue, explain ing OE'IJtU'tU as EOXU'tU, a synonym of 'tEAE'U'tU'i:OV. In the comic citation "a whole monster" is last of all roasted and offered to the great king. The comedian's OAOV r:t(Ja� and 'tEAE'IJ'tU'i:OV hark back to the lyric and tragic myth of the Pel opids, and set the climate for a para prosdokian joke: 8EQ�ljV JtuQ£81lXEV x6.�llAOV: the great oriental king was offered not a dismembered child but a whole animal. The phrase OAOV r:t(Ja� suggests the monstrosity of the meat consumed with respect to quantity (whole) and kind (camel). But the word teras belongs to the sphere of the sacred and connotes a prodigious phantom or creature. Signifi cantly, comedy consciously trespasses the boundaries between the sacred and pro fane. If there is anything in my intuition, the comedian is here alluding to the sac rifices that denigrate the Pelopid family: Thyestes' children and Pelops come to mind with the account of the roasted teras offered to "the great king," and fulfill the prescriptions of monstrosity, of teras. The attribute OAOV increases the horror of the teras: the victims are not dismembered, but "entire," as Pelops, who emerged whole (with the exception of the ivory prosthesis) from the katharos lebes, or as the ram that was sacrificed whole by Medea during a child's rejuve nation;402 their recognizability increases the horror, which suddenly comes to a full and unexpected stop: the monstrous offering is only a hot camel! The wording of this comic fragment is allusive and double-edged; it may overtly describe an innocent dinner of oriental people with uncommon appetites and tastes, but it may also allude to the impious, cannibalistic dinners that plague this family. Unfortunately, its fragmentary state of transmission makes the above reconstruction no more than conjecture. 3. 10. Pelops in Post-classical Poetry
Hellenistic writers only fleetingly touch upon the myth of Pelops. The role of in tertext is also here striking, since poets engage in a discourse with their epic and lyric predecessors. Apollonius Rhodius provides an interesting case study, as he flirts with Pindar and Sophocles, but also stamps his own seal on the treatment of the myth. Pursuing the implicit parallelism of Pelops and lason, a glimpse of which we had above (Soph. fr. 474; Pi. Pyth. 4. 2 1 4), Apollonius makes the char iot race of Pelops and Oenomaus part of an ecphrasis, an artistic scene embroi dered, along with seven more paradigms, by the Tritonian goddess on lason's cloak (Arg. 1. 752-58 OCT):
402
See Slater 1 989: 496 with nn. 5 1 , 54, 55; interesting is his discussion of the Hellenistic term xQ€u OAO/lEAl1.
Pelops in Post-classical Poetry
175
'Ev oE OUW OCcpQOL Jr£]wvlja1:o 0l1QLOWV'tE' xal t OU �Ev ltQomlQoL8E IIt).mp � t Lvaaawv �vCa, auv Of ol EaxE ltaQm�atL£ 'Iltltooa�ELa' tOU oE �Etao Qo�a ollv Eltl MUQ'tCl.o£ �l.aEV '(ltltOU£, auv 't<1> 0' Oivo!lao\;, ltQOtEVE� 06Qu XfLQl !If!lUQ3tW\;, l1};ovo£ EV JrA1jjlvna! ltaQaXI.LOOV UYVWEVOLO ltLlttEV, buqq,1!teVO; IIfAomiw vwta oa·Lsm.
"And therein were fashioned two chariots, racing, and the one in front Pelops was guiding, as he shook the reins, and with him was Hippodameia at his side, and in pursuit Myrtilus urged his steeds, and with him Oenomaus had grasped his couched spear, but fell as the axle swerved and broke in the nave, while he was eager to pierce the back of Pelops" (Seaton, Loeb).
Athena teaches Jason how to measure the yokes according to the ruler that makes things straight, xav6vEOOL 66.10 �uya !!E'tQlloaoSm (724); the ruler, the straight ness and the metretike techne hark back to the Sophoclean treatment of Pelops' myth. Here also Pelops and Jason inspire the maidens with flagrant eras, and make them, maddened with love, defy their blood ties and kin. The notion of technical skils and "measuring" in particular runs through this ring-compositional ecphrasis, and contributes to its unity: famous mythical technicians and civilizing figures, such as the Cyclopes, who forge the thunderbolt of Zeus, and Amphion and Zethus, who fortify Thebes, appear in it. In a programmatic manner Cythereia is introduced as author of love and strife, thus providing the leitmotiv for the mythical paradigms fashioned on the cloak: infatuation, abduction, eris, and death exempl'fy 1 her work'mgs. 403 The Hellenistic poet treats the conflict of Pelops and Oenomaus in ways that betray both his literary models and innovation: the verb lrElrOvtjaro echoes the Sophoclean JtOA:U-lrOVO� iJtJtELa and JtOAV-JWVO� aixELa, while the participle Orl(HOwVTE resounds EQt� and EQW�, a motif that runs through the Apollonian ecphrasis and gives it unity. The erotic nature of this eris may be deduced by the presence of Hippodameia next to Pelops and the characterization of 01, v6�ao� as �£�aQ:rtro�. The verb /laQlriW (<paQrz) signifies "seizing" and "grasping," but also connotes rape and abduction: MaQlrrzooa, whom Apollo raped, avtjQJraOE (ll. 9. 564), combines both forms in her name and mythical vita. The verbs /laQlriW and CtQlraf;w fit Oenomaus, the son of Harpina, who personifies rapac ity. The erotic nuances of /laQlriW are confirmed in the mythical version that pre sents Oenomaus as enamored with his daughter; he has or lusts to have an inces tuous liaison with her. The erotic and martial undercurrents of !!E!!aQJtw� and JtaQm�6."tL� align this conflict with the central theme of the Apollonian ecphrasis. 403
In Ap. Rh. Arg. 1 . 747-73, the T1/Af-{36m (Far-shouting) fight with 'HAfX1:QVWV « amber, or sun), the ground being bathed in blood; .f\-Jr6Uwv (QiiruQ JroU6� = < a-priv .+JroA v�) fights TtTV6�, foster son of Earth « 1:(1:1/ =Yii+ vl6�) and aspiring rapist of Leto. With Phrixus and the almost "speaking" ram, we return cyclically to the technical skils of Athena, although Cythereia is still active and feared: Jason, excludes Atalante from the expedition because he was afraid of erotic conflicts, uQyaMa£ EQLOCJ.£ CPLI.6'tll'tO£ EXlltL ( 1 . 773).
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Pelops and his Name - Literary Tradition
The participle JL£JLag:rtro; breaks the horizon of our expectations that calls for Oeno-malls JL£JLaro;. Yet the customary and etymologically sustained "eager ness" of Oenomalls (<J1EJLaa) is not entirely withheld: it is supplied instead by the synonymous participle £:rt£U(J"IU;VO�: Oeno-malls rushes in eagerness to cut Pelops' back, rr£AOJ't�La YOyta Dui'';Ut ,404 The phraseology is engaging: not unlike the acts of Pelops' biological father, the father-in-Iaw's acts are also dis guised in a sacrificial language: Pelops is spoken of as a sacrificial victim whose most choice part, the meaty back, will be soon cut up. The verb DUi'�w and its cognates, DU(; and DU(VWll, belong to the linguistic field of feasting and sacrific ing; the verb occurs in the agonizing dilemma of another member of this family, Agamemnon, prior to the sacrifice, 'tEXYOY Dui'';w (Aes. Agam. 2 08) . The context of this Hellenistic poem overall illustrates the deeper meaning of DrU;HowViE: the conflict is couched in sacrificial and erotic language.405 The Sophoclean image of eye measurement and straightness as well as the Euripidean intellectual obliqueness of Pelops are picked up by Apollonius Rho dius and transformed into an art of fighting: Pelops drives his chariot "straight" (t'81JY£), while Oenomaus holds his spear fore-stretched, but falls down obliquely, J'tUgUXALOOY, or J'tUgUX£XALrtEY(J)� EJt LJ't't£Y, in the scholiast's paraphrase. The Apollonian passage demonstrates a deadly tension between "straight" and "obliquely." The semantic boundaries between lCUPUXAtDOV and, let us say, lCAUY(W;, are very thin: the words are synonymous and have an ethographical and etymological bearing on Pelops, who is notorious in tragedy for his oblique wheeling and dealing; the fate of Oenomaus and Myrtilus testify to this. Pelops' actions would be deservedly and naturally characterized by lCAayw;, a word that belongs to the same linguistic and semantic family as lCeAU;, lCeAUyO;, lCA1]OOW, lCAa�w,406 and evokes the Homeric rrSA01jJ lCA1]';-LJ'tJ'tO� (Il. 2. 1 04). The implicit connections of Pelops with lCAUY(W; are transferred via lCUPUXAtDOV onto Oe nomaus, and determine the mode of his death. Myrtilus dies in a similar, oblique manner as well. The ancient scholia de scribe how Pelops pushed Myrtilus to the sea when they were driving by or along side the sea (sch. Eur. Or. 987, 1 95 Schwartz), XUt 'tUY J't uga 8UAUaaUY EAUU Y(J)Y <'m(J)8�au'tO ulJ'tOY xu't' Ex£1YOY 'tOY 'toJ'tOY 'tf]� 8UAUaal1�. This scene can be visualized in only one way: Myrtilus is pushed to the side, lCAUY(W�.407 His death fits his guileful character as well as the nature and name of his killer, Pelops. The Euripidean lCAayw cpgoy£1�, 'ta rtfY YUY, 'ta Of J'tUAat, 'ta 0' ul'n(xu (lA 332), used of Agamemnon, makes "oblique" thoughts and machinations a 404 405
406 407
The back of an ox is an honorary portion, geras: see Od. 4. 65-66. On OflQt� <EQt�, Oa-+EQt�, 0l1AEW, Oa{w, see Or. 50. 13-17; Eust. Il. I: 1 12. 2-3; ib. 3: 412. 24-27; EGud. 0 35 1 . 8 ; EM266. 32-4 1 . For the collected ancient and modem evidence see n. 3 96, above. One vase shows Myrtilus thrown from the back of the chariot; two Etruscan pictorial sources present Pelops and Hippodameia killing Myrtilus near an altar and near the same wheel which had killed Oenomaus: see LIMe VII I: 286, Myrtilus Lecythe aryballisque Campanien, Ber lin, Staatl. Mus. F 3072, from Capoue, fourth century B.C. See also Sechan 1 926:460.
Pelops in Post-classical Poetry
1 77
family trait. The sly behavior insinuated by plagios is a "trade mark" of Pelops and his genos as a whole, including the parthenos Iphigeneia. The axle of the chariot breaks at a crucial point, the 7rAfjj.l Vrz, "which is filled" (Ap. Soph. 1 32. 1 3 ; Eust. 11. 2: 1 79. 2-8) by the nail or wedge. This part and its connotations are significant for the entire family: Oenomaus' life comes to an end at the symbolical "point of filling," whose "emptiness" signifies death: the cancel lation of its etymology and function motivates his death. Oenomaus' plagios as sassin does not realize that, by emptying the 7rAfjj.l Vrz, "he fills" his race with inex haustible evils, as Plato (Cra. 395dl) observes: the implicit etymology of Pelops from Ef.l7r(f.l7rAr/Ju parallels that of the nave, 7rAfjj.l Vrz being the visual symbol of "fullness" and life. The Pelopids will thereafter have their "fill" of doom, indeed! However, in accordance with the economy and the program of the Argonau tica, the ancient scholia shift the responsibility onto Hippodameia;408 the enam ored Pisan girl emerges as a double figure of scheming and devious Medea, falls prey to eras, and makes a victim of her father. The conflict of the Aphrodisian aphrosyne and the Athenian phronesis is interwoven into the same canvas: techni cal skils that create beauty and harmony are contraposed to the Aphrodisian chaos that disrupts even the most sacred blood relations, and demolishes the most re vered institutions of social life. Here lies the illustrative force of this ecphrasis. It is worth noting that all seven examples embroidered on Jason' s cloak (Arg. 1 . 735-67) partake of sheen and vision, be it the Cycl-ops who forge the bright thunderbolt, or the sons of Anti-ope and As-opos, or Cythereia-Aphrodite, who is also linked with the lustre and brightness of the foam and dawn, and whose image reflects on the shiny shield, or Apollo, who is identified with the sun, and finally, Phrixus and his golden ram. So Pel-ops is incorporated into a world diffused with sheen, light and with 01jJ as vision. Yet these miraculous pictures have a muting effect: they render the onlookers speechless: 01jJ in the sense of vision renders impotent 01jJ in the sense of articulate voice. Callimachus, poet and philologus at the same time, plays upon the sounds and meaning of IIt:Ao7rrz(�, a derivative of Pelops (In Del. 4. 72-73): qJEUYE 0' 01,.11 rrE).,on1jl� oall naQaxEXALtm 'Ia8!-l0, fI1JT).1jV AtYWAOU yE xaL !\QYEOS; "fled all the land of Pelops that lies beside the Isthmus, / save only Aigialos and Argos" (A. W. Mair, Loeb)
The part of the Pelopeis that lies near Isthmus figures in a list of the locales that denied hospitality and refuge to Leto. The poet juxtaposes IIdo7rrz(� and Ef.l7rArzV, an adverb that means near, next, close by (LSJ A; cf 7riAa�) as well as besides, except (LSJ B); in both cases Ef.l7rArzV is associated etymologically and semanti408
See sch. Arg. 1 . 752-58a, 64-65 W: Hippodameia fell in love with Pelops and persuaded Myr tilus xa'ta'tQoxCam 'tOY na'tEQa, �oUAo!-lEVll ITEAom Y�!-laa8m. < .. > aXEuuaav'ta 'tOY £!-l�OAOV EX XllQOU, '(va EV 'to oQOWJl 8Aaa8Ev'tos; au'tOu vLx�aas; ITEAo1jJ AU�n au'tl]v nQos; YU!-lOV ... xaL oil'twS; EXXUAW8Ev'toS; 'tOU 'tQOXou ExnEOElv 'tOY otvo!-laov. .
178
Pelops and his Name - Literary Tradition
cally with Jr£AW TO JrArzauiCw . 409 This primary meaning is subtly reinforced in our context by the adjacent :n:UQUXEXALTaL , lies nearby, next to: all Pelopeis that is near (para-) Isthmus, except Aegialus and Argos, which happen to be close, refused to accept Leto, says the poet, playing on oJ.o�, TIEJ.07tllis and EI-l:JtJ.11 v . 4 10 Later poets continue to play upon the names of Pelops and Oenomaus. In the fourth or fifth century A.D., the epic poet Nonnus entertains an extensive word play on these two names: through heavy alliteration and transferred etymology the two opponents prove their identities. In one passage, Dionysus speaks to his sol diers, who are versed in the art of fighting, horse-riding and all kinds of virtue, :n:UVTO(aL� a Q £Tnm IlEIl11),, 6n:� £loL llaXl1T:ai, and encourages them with brief mythical exempla drawn from their local traditions. So he urges the Lydians to imitate the exemplary horsemanship of Pelops, and the Pisans to bear in mind that this is a race of virtue not of evil marriages and Aphrodite -note the ambiguity of £A£u8£Q o � aqJQoy£v£(n� (Dion. 37. 1 36-43): EL yaQ anD TI1WAOto y€vo� Aa,XE i\u6w� aV�Q, lnnECT]� TEMon IIeAolfT/((jo� aSLa vCXT]�' El 6E n€60v II LoaLov EXEL !tat llLOV LnltlOV VHAt(jO� Eu6CcpQow xaL OivoJtaoLO lfO).(TT/�, ol6EV 'OAuf.lma,60� xonvT]cp6Qov o�ov EAa(T/�' aAA' ou x OivoJtaoLO lffAEt 6Q6f.lo�, ou6 EAaTfiIlE� Ev8a,6E XEVTQOV EXOUOL xaxoSECvWV Uf.lEVaCWV, aAA.' aQEtii� 6Q6f.lo� OVtO�, EAEU8EQO� aCPQOYEVECT]� '
409
410
On £l1lfAT/V see Or. 65. 14; EGud. E 465. 6; EM 336. 16; cf. sch. Call. In Del. 4. 73a, Pfeiffer; sch. in Nic. Ther. 322al-10; LSJ A and B. Chantraine DELG s.v. lffAa�, mentions the root *pla- (>lfA1jV), its original meaning, "it cote de," and its development into "excepte, en de hors"; so £l1lfAT/V has two meanings: "it cote de" and "d' autre part" (Archil., Call., Nic.). Mair translates £l1lfAT/V as "save only," adopting the interpretation provided by the ancient scholia ad loc.: XWIl(�. In both cases, however, the etymological associations of the adverb are not affected. For a sensitive allusion to Pelopeis, Pelops and their verbal semata see Statius (Theb. 10. 4953): At procul [= TijAE/lf1]AVt 1 Argolici supplex in margine templi / coetus et ad patrias fosae Pelopeides aras / sceptriferae Iunonis opem reditumque suorum / exposcunt. pictasque fores et frigida vultu / saxa terunt parvosque docent procumbere natos, "But far away at the threshold of the temple in Argolis there is a gathering of suppliants, and the women of the Pelopid line, spread out at the paternal altars, implore the help of sceptre-bearing Hera and the return of their own, and with their faces they press the painted doors and the frigid stones, and they teach their small sons to bend forward" (Mozley's transl. modified). Far away, the Pel opid women, prostrate at the temple and pray to Juno to bring their own back home, i.e., near; In a context of pronounced alliteration and synonymy (vultus o1J!), they allude to Juno's derivation (<juvo: opem exposcunt; Maltby 1 99 1 s.v. Juno) also echoing Pel ops (cf. Pe 1opem) and his derivative (Pel opeides). Words, sounds and images, originating in the world of men and of Pelops, the owner of an ancestral scepter (ll. 2. 104), are now transferred to the world of females, be it Juno or the Pelopid women, who, unlike men, try to save their family, educating their sons procumbere in the ways of reverence and piety rather than accumbere (cf. klitheis, Pi.OI. 1 .92). In Verg. Aen. 6. 601 -07 Erinys accubat obstructing the dinner of the Lapithae in a scene that recalls the sufferings of Tantalus: see Servius Comm. ad v. 603. -
-
-
Pelops in Post-classical Poetry
1 79
"If one is of Lydian birth from Tmolos, he will do deeds worthy of the victorious racing of Pelops. If one comes from the land of Pisa, nurse of horses, a man of Elis with its fine chari ots, a country man of Oenomaus, he knows the sprigs of Olympian wild olive: but this is not the race of Oenomaus, our drivers here have not the goad of marriage fatal to strangers -this is a race of honour and free from the foambom" (Rouse, Loeb).
In this passage the erotic motif is conspicuously replaced by the heroic virtue; "foam-born" Aphrodite, eros and bad marriages are excluded form it. The names of Pelops and Oenomaus are echoed here in multiple ways. The entire phrase is enfolded in alliterated words: Tf1ijjAO�, 'HAt�, nOAtnK, 'OAvf.,lnui� fAa{a, fAa Tr/Q, resonate Pelops and his pel-/pol- sounds, while TdEaet IIeA-onTJ{oo� and nEAet point directly to him. The name Oenomaus, on the other hand, is resumed by IlUlllWV and 1l£1l1lA.6't£� IlUXll'tUL41 1 The adjective IlUlllWV etymologizes Oenomaus, but in the course of the narrative it is transferred onto pedon Pisaion, the breeder of horses.412 Pelops and Oeno-maus exchange their cognates (nEAet, IlUlllWV), thus proving once more how flexible and engaging poetical language can be. Nonnus also extols the chariot race of a certain Phaunus, comparing it with the exemplary mythical race of Pelops and Oenomaus. Phaunus strikes the chariot of his opponent and breaks its wheel, which lies on the ground, resembling that of Oenomaus. The wheel of the chariot, its circular shape, its twirling and the func tion of the sun capture Nonnus' imagination (Dion. 37. 424-30): xaL � f/Av8E
"Now Phaunos came close and drove alongside. Chariot struck chariot, and hitting the middle bolt with his axle he broke it with his rolling wheel -the other wheel rolled off by itself and fell twisting on the ground, as with the chariot of Oinomaos, when the wax of the false axle melted in Phaethon's heat and ended the horsemanship of that furious driver" (Rouse).
Nonnus suppresses the name of Pelops in this narrative, but subtly alludes to it with the adverb aXE06v (= ntAa�), the verb nEAaaae and, most significantly, with (McpQo�) Of.,lTJAV� « Of.,l 0 iJ+fA eelv), "fellow-citizen" or companion (Nonn. Dion. 14. 25, LSJ Suppl. Glare). Phaunus rides a chariot "of the same country," 4ll
The ancients consider IlclXOIlUt and lluivOIlUt cognate: sch. A /I. 18. 1 92b; sch. bT /1. 2 1 . Sc. The participle IlElluA6tu� has probably motivated the Byzantine v.l. for the Pindaric IlEllu6tu� (01. I . 89). See n. 480, below. 412 On IlUt1]LO� see LSJ s.v. IlUtEUtt)(6� in Nonn. Dion. 9. 1 67. This passage describes how the Corybantes beat their swords and shields to ensure the safety and growth of baby Dionysus, the god who embodies the mania of wine drinking and is the reputed father of Oenomaus in , some mythical versions.
1 80
Pelops and his Name - Literary Tradition
implicitly in contrast to Pelops, an alien (cf. EJr'f/AV�, foreigner, stranger) who rides a divine and outlandish chariot. Nonnus builds upon these words, and espe cially the innuendoes of O{l'f/AV�, to intimate Pelops as the figure behind the an tonomasia. The case with Oenomaus is explicit and lucid: Nonnus resumes his name with the participle lleIlTJv6'tO�. The implicit name of Pelops, and the ex plicit of Oenomaus constitute the outer frame of this narrative. Here, too, the role of <PaESWV and his complicity is extended beyond the melting of wax: in the vi cinity of the ambiguous (maniAW� (cf. ib. 20. 1 6 1 ; syntactically linked with the axle), Phaethon the sun (CtiAW�-fiAW�) and Pelops, the perpetrator of Ctmlr'f/, appear as double figures, collaborating to bring Oenomaus down. Apollo creeps into the story from another venue: when the poet lingers on the circular shape of the wheel, tQoxoEL6E'C X VXAqJ, and on the image of its falling off and rolling on the ground, tQOXo£ aViOxvAwiO� EAL�, a "self-rolling" wheel, he uses words (xv}.,(w, XVXAO�, EAL�) associated with the shape of the sun disc and its god, who courses (slAsirm) about the poles of the sky. 4l3 Apollo's meddling with this fam ily and Tantalus in particular, is as old as Anaxagoras and Euripides. The above passage has a heroic ring, but the redundancy of "twirling," "wheel" and kyklos words may suggest the influence of another literary model, such as Eubulus (a fourth century B.C. comic poet) and his comedy entitled OINOMAO� H IIEAO'l'. Athenaeus ( 1 5 . 678f = fr.73 peG 5: 232, Kassel Austin) cites a fragment of it: [tVTJIlOV£UEL 6' autou [toU XUALOtOU Ot£cpuvou] EU�OUAO£ 6' EV otvo[tuqJ � IIEAom' JtEQLCPOQulS; XVXA01)/lEVO; WOJtEQ xVAwro;- O'tECPUVOS;
"Rolling round and round in twists, like a rolled-out wreath' (Gulick, Loeb).
Scholars assume that this distich refers to Oenomaus and describes how he fell off his chariot during the race with Pelops.414 The picture of Oenomaus' rolling down like a rolled wreath,415 suits the spirit of comedy and its entertaining objectives; making fun of the lofty and grim themes of epic and tragedy serves this purpose. Yet, in spite of this presumable comic model, Nonnus keeps in with the style proper to his genre; he recreates the epic agonistic or tragic atmosphere and their grandeur. 413
414
415
Or. 1 78.7: f/Ato;- {na to ElMia8w ... � /ita to rw8w, fiyouv cpEQE08m Uav. Linguists draw kyklos into the family of pel- words. Frisk s.v. XVXAO;- assumes an idg. *quelo, and an underlying verb that means "drehen," such as :rr{AO/lW; he sees in kyklos the original meaning "Drehung, Dreher." As we saw, Plato associated Apollo with poloi andpoleisthai. Kock 1 884: 1 90, "fortasse intellegendus Oenomaus in certamine curru excursus. ef. Archipp. 40." See Hunter 1 983: 163-64: "the grand phrase JtEQLCPOQuTS; XVXAOV/lEVO;- would fit well in a comic counterpart of those speeches," namely Soph. El. 681-763 and Eur. Hipp. 121 8-48. The LSJ renders xVAwr6;- as: fitfor rolling, large, gloss on QU'tOS; (EM 707. 3), or n. twined in a circle, epith. of a kind of garland; Alex. 274. 5, peG 2: 1 76; Antiph. 5 1 ; Athen. 15. 678f, wonders whether kylistos refers to the material of which these stephanoi were made (roses), or their texture (aoQoC) . Hsch. 1456 sees size in EXXUALO'tOL O'tECPUVOL f!EYUAOL xUL aOQo L.
Pelops in Art
181
To put an end to our perambulations into classical and post-classical litera ture, the associations of Ili}."o1/J with JrOAV�, JraAatO�, JrAayw�, JrEAayo�, Jr£AaCn v, 01/Jt� and E/lJrArzV (through Il£AoJrrz(�) have gone a long way from the Homeric JrA�aaw, but have many features in common with the Pindaric and Pla tonic JrOAtO�, JrEAa�, i'fjAE/Jr�AVt, JrEAO/lat, 01/J (LSJ A, B) and Jr(/lJrArJ/1t, along with their derivative and antiphrastic formations. A vague yet significant connec tion of Pelops with Apollo, JrOAOt and OAO� was noted in the proem of the Olym pian 1 ; this possibility gains currency in the myth of Tantalus and its Anaxago rean version. Poetry continues to practise its traditional exploitation of the aural and semantic qualities of words, suggesting novel mythological and etymological versions that serve the poetic fancy and reflect contemporary, social, intellectual or other, preoccupations. The diachronic treatment of Pelops' myth evidences the workings of intertext and the flexibility of the poetic myth, which is historically specific in that it also illustrates the idiosyncratic manipulations made by individ ual poets. The poetic myth becomes the ground in which tradition wrestles with modernity and novelty. Barthes' theory (see pp. 25-26, above) finds its justi fication in Pelops: the proper name is "a voluminous sign," indeed! 3. 1 1 . Pelops in Art
Philostratus the Elder and the Younger describe certain paintings of the en counter of Oenomaus and Pelops. The two art critics are attracted by the counte nance of the two contestants. The pictorial signs of these ecphrases corroborate the verbal signs which I have tried to elicit from literature: the colors and the be havior of the combatants reflect their ethos and validate their names. Philostratus the Elder in his Imagines (book 1 . 30. IlEA ° 1/J, p. 337 Kayser) speaks of Pelops' shiny shoulder and his crossing the Aegean sea with "dry axle." This ecphrasis closes with a picturesque description (p. 338): the artist did not paint the garment on Pelops' left shoulder, W� !!� XQU:rt'tOL'tO UUtOU U uuyJj, VUS tE yaQ E:rtEXEL XUL AUI-l:rtQuVEtm to WWP to !!£LQaxLOv, ooov 11 vu� to EO:rtEQqJ,
"in order that its gleam may not be hidden; for the night draws on, and the lad glows with the radiance of his shoulder as does the night with that of the evening star" (Fairbanks, Loeb). The contrasting nocturnal setting highlights the radiance and whiteness of Pelops' ivory shoulder. The scene seems to have been modelled on the Pindaric chiaroscuro antithesis of Pe lops' phaidimos ivory shoulder and his nocturnal prayer by the polia sea. The detail of revealing the bright shoulder is not limited in art: Ovid (Met. 6. 401 - 1 1 ) exploits this motif in a gloomy situation: when the crowd mourns Amphion and his children, blaming Niobe, only "her brother Pelops, is said to have wept for her, and, drawing aside his garment from his breast, to have revealed the ivory patch on the left shoulder. This at the time of his birth had been of the same colour as his right, and of flesh" (Miller, Loeb; un-
1 82
Pelops and his Name - Literary Tradition
derlining mine).416 Pelops justifies his weeping, exhibiting his sema and thus iden tifying himself as Niobe's kin. Philostratus the Younger (9. IIiA01jJ, p. 403 Kayser) also describes how Pelops teVVE, guided or drove straight ahead, the Poseidonian chariot across the sea without wetting the axle, thus reconfirming his mediating status and his vacil lation in mediating loci. His horses are dark-eyed (kyaneoi) and dark-necked, as befits sea horses, while "His flashing eye and erect head attest his alertness of mind" (Fairbanks, Loeb), OI1/.la 0' uin:0 YOQYov xu'L UUX�v CtVEO'tl]XW£ 'to 'tT]£ YVWfll]£ E'tOtflOV Ef...EYXEt. The semiotic value of Ol1l1a 0' uu't0 YOQYov, is un deniable: it verbalizes Pelops' appearance and essence, which rests on the lexeme -ops; the linguistic sign is translated into a pictorial sign. This phrase may belong to the professional jargon of contemporary art critics, and be reserved for the de scription of certain postures and attitudes, but it may also hint at the literary mod els of our art critic. The indebtedness of Philostratus the younger to his grandfa ther and to pictorial and/or literary sources is a disputable matter. Fairbanks as sumes with due caution that Philostratus is "imagining pictures to suit his literary ,, purpose. 417 A closer inspection of the phraseology of Philostratus suggests that he very likely gave flesh and blood to the pictures he set out to describe, drawing on classical pieces of literature, thematic congeniality being an indispensable fac tor in this process. This inference can be supported by the striking features which the Philostratean description of Pelops shares with the Aeschylean and Euripidean treatment of Parthen-opaeus, whose second component matches that of Pel-ops. Aeschylus concentrates in the looks of the Arcadian Parthenopaeus, and the gulf that separates his appearance and reality; the nexus between his name and essence is seriously challenged (Sept. 526-37). Parthen-opaeus values his spear more than his "eyes," OI1Wi:rwv 8' 1)JtEQ'tEQOV, his intrinsic constitutional part. Aeschylus narrativizes the derivation of Parthenopaeus (JwQeivo�+01jJ), consoli dating its second half and renouncing or reversing its first, 6 0' WblOV, 015 Tt JWQ eivwv £3trovullOV / CPQOVl]flU, YOQYov 0' 01111 ' EXWV, JtQooCo'tu'tat. The negation of the maidenly spirit of this "man-boy" is capped by the emblematic presence of the raw-eating, Wflom'tO£, Sphinx on his shield (541 -43).418 Euripides also alludes to this antinomy of name and thing and its partial deformation, combining the ephebic, unshorn locks of Parthenopaeus with his gorgon-like look (Phoen. 146-
416
417 418
Ovid Met. 6. 402- 1 1 : vulgus ... hanc tunc quoque dicitur unus /flesse Pelops umeroque, suas a pectore postquam / deduxit vestes, ebur ostendisse sinistro. / concolor his umerus nascendi tempore dextro / corporeus fuit. When the missing part was replaced by a piece of ivory, the hero was made whole again, factoque Pelops fuit integer illo. See also n. 236, above (Paley apud Gerber 1982: 58). See Fairbanks Intro. Loeb, p. 279. In this Aeschylean passage "vision" is incorporated in a pun on the antithesis between deeds and words: Parthenopaeus' Theban adversary is AxrwQ « ayw; cf. 6QuaL�ov), a man whose vision lies in his hands, aV�Q aX0l-tltO£, XELQ 6' oQ(i TO 6Quowov (554-55): his "hand sees what must be done." On Aes. Sept. 533-37 see Zeitlin 1 982: 99.
Pelops in Art
1 83
47): Xata�601;guXo£, olll.Lam yOQy6� elm&iv vEavCa£. 419 His proper name, at first sight effeminate and unfit for a warrior, is reversed so as to reveal the grim and ferocious character of its bearer, while Sphinx, the sema figuring on his shield, has a semiotic value and is instrumental for his transformation. Parthen-opaeus, the son of A-talanta, and Pel-ops the son of Tantalus and off spring of Atlas (see n. 426, below), are parallel figures as sharing the same lin guistic and semantic field (o'ljJ = o'ljJ��), illustrated by the pictorial gorgon omma, and as having contacts with the verb *tlao, with mountains and deviant eating practices. 42o This �AaOty)!la xaUC:rcgqJgov (Sept. 533; see n. 496, below) origi nates from Arcadia, an area notorious for its cannibalistic feasts, while Pelops is a child dismembered and feasted upon at a commensality of gods and men.421 The Philostratean context qualifies and disambiguates what kind of "eye" the author has in mind: the erotic "eye," which once inflamed Hippodameia with wild passion in the oxymoron of a civilized teehne (Soph. fr. 474), finds in gorgos its warlike and ferocious counterpart. The monstrous figure of Gorgo may play a significant role in myths about coming-of-age and maturity (cf. Perseus, Pi. Pyth. 1 0), but her role in the myth of Pelops is internal. Philostratus seems to exploit ancient evidence as regards the role of gorgos and Gorgo in this family; she fig ures in the Pindaric scholia (01. 1 . 40c), as we saw above, in a list of the diacriti cal marks of this genos. What is then the role of Gorgo in the Pelopid story? Gorgo's presence has been justified with the pretense of collecting wedding gifts for Hippodameia: Polydectes attempts to marry Danae and get rid of Perseus, sending him off to fetch the Gorgon head, which eventually embellishes Athena' s shield.422 Athena plays an instrumental role in both myths, and her part in the Pelops' story is implied from different quarters. As we mentioned above, Pelops prays to Athena Kydonia before he enters the race with Oenomaus; on one vase Hippodameia bears three apples -so Sechan- or kydonia, quinces; in another vase Athena stands nearby and wears the aegis decorated with Gorgo's head. Epic po etry is eloquent: EV O€ tE fOgYECY) xEcpaAl) OHVOLO licAW{!OV, / OHV� tE OW{!Ovi/ tE (11. 5. 741 -42; Hes. Se. 223-24). The Gorgons are aliArzw� and accompanied by two O{!axovu: .. . aygta &{!Xolltvw, which gnash their teeth (Hes. Se. 23536); the Gorgons belong to a world marked by disquieting sounds and are de-
41 9 420
42 1 422
Soph. OC 1 320-22, EX"tO£ oE IIaQeEvOJraio� AQxu£ oQvu'taL, I Ertwvu!'os 'tii£ l1Q608fV � XQ6vcp l [.t1']'tQo£ AOXEU8EL£, ltlotoS 1\taAaVt1JS y6voS. Parthen-opaeus' eponymy is motivated by the status of his "untamed," virginal, mother (parthenos - aoUJj'tu). The links between these two are fixed firstly by the mountainous abode of their parents Atalanta is 6QEmujJO�, while Tantalus, on the evidence of Asclepiades, is fettered to a moun tain (sch.V Od. 1 1 . 582)- and secondly by the fact that their procreators also share the feature of daring and suffering (*tlao). See Henrichs (1 980: 224): "The Isle of Pelops" is "a paradise for cannibals." Ps.-Apollod. Bibl. 2. 4. 2: I10AUO€X't1']£ ... OUVfXUAEL 'tou£ CPLAOU£, [.tEe' cliv XUL I1EQOEU, AEYWV EQUVOV ouvuYELV EJtt 'toue; 'Il1JtOOU[.tfLUe; 'tiie; Oivo[.tuou yU[.toue;. wu OE I1fQOEWe; Eil16v'to£ XUL El1L 'tfl XfCPUAfl 'tii£ rOQy6vo£ OUX av'tEQE1V ... El1E'tu�E 'tiie; rOQy6voe; xo[.tLl;ELV 'tl]V XECPUArJV. See also sch. Pi. Pyth. 10. 72a; Pyth. 12. 25a; Graves 1 992: 73d-e.
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PeJops and his Name - Literary Tradition
scribed in audio-visual terms, as Vemant notes.423 Gorgo, the inapproachable monster that combines in her essence both terrible vision and sound (nEAW{Jov, anArrW�; cf. Pel-ops), becomes a family emblem: besides Pelops' arm, she also decorates the shield of Agamemnon, which is encircled by f3Aoav{J-6)m� TO{JYw of the terrible look, onyoy Ot:{J'X0IlEVl1 (ll. 1 1 . 36-37). Athena YAav'X-6)m� kills Gorgo, and bears her image on her chest; she turns herself into yO{Jy-6)m� and wards off the a[llaT-WnOv� Erinyes from Orestes. The terrifying vision of Gorgo is embedded not only in Athena' s nature and attributes, but also in those of the Pelopids. Pel-ops has the Gorgonic ferocity and grimness impressed not only in his left arm, but in his eyes as well, according to Philostratus. This ancestral fea ture will be transferred to Orestes; with him vision becomes a source of super natural torture in the hands of the Erinyes whom Aeschylus (Eum. 48-49) likens to the Gorgons, ngoc; to cpO�EgOY tf]c; o1J1t:w� (sch. ad loc.). Athena, the goddess of intellectual and menacing vision (<<1(J{JEW; cf. YAav'X6)m�, yO{Jy6)m�), with her vote will heal the distorted vision, o{Jaat�, of Orestes and salvage the genos of the Pel-op ids.
423
Sch. A n. 8. 349a 1 , rogyoij� � EX(fJV. Sch. bT n. 1 1 . 36b, YOQYOTI1Ta 'tLva xaL xa'tu nAll�LV 'twv 00(llv't(fJV; Scholia-D ad loc. , TOQYw: YOQYOTI1<; O€ou� nagaoxEUaOtLXl] xaL cpuyijc:; 'tWV 00Wv't(fJv. EM 238. 32-36, YOQYOVf<; nU(1a /it: TO YOQYOV ,[(llV oW8aAwi)y 1'\ nU(1WVUIlW;· /ita ya(1 Tfj<; YOQYOTI1TO<; xaL o�u'tll'toc:; 't{;lV oW8aAWPv cmfA(8ouv � OQwv'ta�. The epithet aWQ15vo; (Or. 1 4 1 . 1 1 -12) shares the semantic and etymological field of 15Qaxwv, /5iQXOf.la! and Gorgo's powers. On Gorgo see Vemant 1998: 39-54 ("une face de terreur"). His observations remind us of the duality of Pelops' second component (61J!, LS] A, B) and provide additional motivation for Gorgo' s presence in this myth. On Athena glaukopis and gorgopis, on the ambiguity of glaukos and its symbolic contrasting (nurturing and threat ening) meanings and its associations with Athena's attributes (glaux, aegis and olive) see Deacy and Villing 2004: 85-90. ...
CHAPTER 4 FATHERS AND SONS 4. 1. Tantalus
The linguistic and semantic bonds that resurface between the male members of this family on an intergenerational basis, are persistent and pervasive. Palmer has observed this to a certain extent. He detects in the names of Neleus-Nestor, Laer tiis-Odysseus and the Atreidae an example of a "leitmotiv principle, which is op erative in the dynastic names of the Heroic Age," that is, "the habit of giving the son a component of his father's name." The names Menelaus and Agamemnon comply with this leitmotiv principle and their father's name, Atreus, proves it from ,, a semantic point of view, "although it is given different linguistic expression. 424 I hope to prove that this leitmotiv encompasses more members of this family, with the exception of Pelops, who is rather sui generis: his lexical and functional po larization about color, distance, vision and voice are unparalleled -only Orestes shares Pelops' ties with vision-, yet his name concentrates and transubstantiates the qualities that run through his genos. Pelops' suspension between diametrically opposed features is modelled on Tantalus, the Ur-ancestor of this dynasty, who bears a rather generic name, which epitomizes the vacillation of his kin. 425 Modem scholarship discerns in Tantalus the verb * daw,426 and considers the man a doublet of Atlas, thus adopting the ancient scholiastic and exegetical tradi tion. Yet literary etymology keeps to its own solitary but imaginative tracks, yielding a remarkably polysemantic and multifarious network of etymologies. 4. 1. 2. Tantalus in Plato
Plato discovers the motivation for the name of Tantalus in his mythical vita: the name was given correctly and according to nature, if what is reported of this man is true; Tantalus suffered many and terrible things both during his life (OUOtUxu Ita ta EY€VEtO :ltOAAU xaL OEL vu), and his afterlife, since the oscillation above his head (wAavrda) is wondrous and in agreement with his name; if someone 424 425 426
Palmer 1980: 34-38. For the ancient evidence on Tantalus see Hylen 1 896. Hereafter the etymology of the prime hero figuring in each section will be printed in italics (e.g. Tantalus), while any other ety mologies figuring in the same passages will be printed in bold (e.g. Pelops as sub Tantalus). See Frisk s.v. TavraAo�; von Kamptz 1982: IOd p. 3 1 : " 'Trager,' vielleicht ein halbg6ttlicher 'Himmelstrager' wie Atlas;" 36b p. 109, reduplicated and dissimilated from * TakraAo�: horn. iraAaaaa von Wz. *tel-; 70b3 p. 257 « dfjvaL, raAaaaaL, " 'tragen ertragen' . . . in der Bedeutung deckt sich TavraAo� mit dem verwandten a-rAa� ('der allein aus eigener 'Kraft tragt')." Atlas enters the line of Pelops as his maternal grandfather from Dione.
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wished to call him "most wretched" (wAavwrov) and desired to conceal his name, he would call him Tantalus; the fortune of fate would provide such a name for him (Cra. 395d3-395e5): LQ.
T4> Of TavraAqJ xal Jta£ av i]y�amto toiivo[1a oQ9iii; Xllt xll'ta CPUIJIV 't£9f)VIlI Et aAT]8i'] ta JtEQl aUTOV A£Y6[1Eva. EPM. Ta Jtola TaUta; LQ. '1\ TE Jtou Ett �wvn oua Tuxtiuata EYEVELO Jtona xal OEtVU. div xal TEAO£ i] JtaTQl£ aUTou OAT] aVETQUJtELO, xal TEAEuT�aavn EV '1\tOOU i] UJtfQ ti']£ X£(paAi']£ tOU AC80u wAavrda 8awaat� t1J� UVI'CP(J)'Vo� riii o'Vol'an xal atEXvw£ EOtXEV, waJtEQ av EL n£ �OUA6[1EVO£ wAavwrov ovo[1Uam a:rtoxQu:FnoJ1£VO; oVO[1Ua£tE xaL EtJtOt aVT' EXE(VOU « TavraAOV» , tOtOUT6v tt xal tothqJ TO OVO[1a EOlxEV ExJtOQ(am i] TUXT] Ti']£ CP�[1T]£. "SO. Everyone would agree, too, that 'Tantalus' was given correctly and according to nature, if what's said about its bearer is true. HERM. What's that? SO. They say that many terrible misfortunes happened to him in his life -the last of which was the total overthrow of his country- and that, in Hades, after his death, he had a stone suspended (talanteia) over his head, in wondrous harmony with his name. It's exactly as if someone had wished to name him 'Talantatos' ('Most-weighed-upon') but had disguised the name and said 'Tantalus' in stead. In some such way, in any case, the chance of legend supplied him with his name" (Reeve).
Tantalus' "biography" motivates his name: the words talas and *tlao summarize his multiple and terrible mishaps, together with the suspense, the talanteia (cf. talanteuomai), of the rock over his head. As with Pelops before, so now with Tan talus, the philosopher has extracted and codified the gist of mythical variants that circulated about his time: talanteia reflects the version about the rock and the reli gious scruples about merit and desert as rewarded in Hades, while talas recapitu lates Tantalus' fate, although this is not spelled out in Reeve's metaphorical lan guage (cf. his 'Most-weighed-upon'). Name and thing are once more interlocked in a natural and reciprocal motivation, and etymology carries conviction. Tantalus "has a name which, according to Socrates, wonderfully fits his pre dicament," observes Sedley, who continues with a rhetorical question, "What could be more appropriate for someone utterly wretched (talantatos) who was punished with the balancing (talanteia) of a rock over his head than to be called ,, Tantalus? 427 Sedley formulates the principle of Platonic etymologizing: "the codification which goes into naming may well include addition, subtraction or transposition of letters: clearly the conversion of 'talanteia' and 'talantatos' to 'Tantalus' involved subtraction and transposition, but, so we are asked to agree, neither alteration prevents us discerning the core meaning." This formulation, ,, along with AlIen's thesis of compositio or "etymology by contraction, 428 gives us a clear conspectus of the mechanism and the logistics of ancient etymologizing.
427 428
Sedley 2003: 80. Allen 1948/49: 35-60, esp. 54.
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4. 1. 3. Tantalus in Homer
Homer draws a vivid yet gloomy picture of Tantalus' toils in the Underworld, thus insinuating the notion of talas, which later literature valorizes. Yet Homer no where mentions or implies the talanteia of the rock. Did he suppress this detail or did he not know it? The text suggests instead a new turn (Od. 1 1 . 5 82-92): Kut f!�V TaVWAOV EOELOOV J(UAElt' uAye' fJ(QVTu, Em;UOT' EV Al!tVll . fl OE ltQoIJe:rtl«te YEVEL; 0' UVEILQ� rj(ltTUOXE ltQTt VEWm Olu6EVTU. "Yes, and I saw Tantalus in bitter torment, standing in a pool, and the water came close to his chin. He was wild with thirst, but had no way to drink; for as often as the old man stooped down, eager to drink, so often would the water be swallowed up and vanish away, and at his feet the black earth would appear, for some god would dry it all up. And trees, high and leafy, let hang their fruits from their tops, pears, and pomegranates, and apple trees with their fruit, and sweet figs, and luxuriant olives. But as often as the old man would reach out towards these, to clutch them with his hands, the wind would toss them to the shadowy clouds" (Murray, rev. Dimock, Loeb).
Homer focuses on the misery of Tantalus, xaAErr: aAYW £xo Y'ta , providing a paraphrase of what posterity will formulate into raAa<; or *daw, and elaborates on the nature of his suffering: the Homeric Tantalus is not threatened by a sus pended rock (cf. wAavrda, wAavrEV0f-lm), but "stands" still," (fa'tao't', an;u1:0). He is "fixed" in a lake, ACf-l vrz « ACav+f-livw), a medium of immobility or at least limited mobility, a place for fixation, which mirrors his very comportment. Tantalus meets, consequently, the appropriate and ultimate punishment: he is con demned to an eternal stasis. However, Homer transfers the notion of talanteia to the infernal physical world that surrounds Tantalus: water and trees engage in a tidal counteraction: when he bends over to drink, JttELY f-lEVEa{vwv, water with draws and retreats under his feet; when he reaches out for the succulent fruit, the branches of the trees spring away. The old man, in a constant state of starvation and thirst, is engaged in a hopeless effort to reach out; his motion is matched by a simultaneous and counteractive motion of the physical objects around him. The infernal world swings like a pendulum in perpendicular motion; a talanteia of water and tree branches stamps his life with misery and destitute. The Homeric Tantalus is talas as trapped in the synergism of this talanteia. The idyllic and blooming infernal landscape functions as his foil, making his toils more painful.
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Homer describes the lake in an interesting manner: ''the wave strikes Tan talus' chin," i] DE JtgoaEJtAu�E YEVELq:> (583).429 Does Homer wish to intensify the notion of Tantalus' immobility or his frustration at being thirsty though sur rounded by a plentiful supply of water, or perhaps to insinuate Tantalus' crimes, subtly drawing Pelops into the picture? The first two alternatives need no further elaboration, while the third rests on the connotations of JtQooil"tAa�£ and YEVELOV: Homer uses this verb here and in the vicinity of
429
430
431
432 433
434 435
Heubeck 1 989: 1 1 3 . Sch. T Il. 2 1 . 269b 1 : ltM�' W/1ov�: ltAU(J(J£V, EltA1J(J<()">£v with test. = Epim. Horn. An. Ox. 1 : 149. 1 9-20 Cramer (cf. It 25, Dyck 1 995: 583): Eltt !!fVtOL AXLl.AfW£ ":JtAU� ' W!!o'U£ xa6um,g6Ev" to EltA1J(J(J£ 01']1.0L ( . . . ) A Lo I.LXW£ :JtAU(J(J£V, EltA1J(J(J£V. The Aristarchean reading meets the approval of LSJ: "perhaps rightly," and Frisk s.v. nAci�w, nAijaaw. See LSJ: Eust. (ad Il. 2 1 . 269) opts for ltM�{J)-lt£AU�{J). See sch. H Od. 2. 396: ltAU�£ : ltl.avao6m ll ltaQaqJQovELY EltOCEL. Sch. b Il. 2 1 . 269b2 /c2 : ltAU�£tV oE to otQOqJOOLVELV xat OLOVEt oxotW;LY . The ancients connect iTZAEB6wam with BciAAW, dismissing the currency of rijAE+BdAAW: sch. T 11. 22. 423, rrzAEBdovw<�>: avtt taU BciAAovra<9· oil yag EYXEt'tat to rijAE. See sch. also bT;1 Il. 6. 148b; EM 756. 48-52: TrzAEBciovrE�: nalla 'to BaAAW, BciAAOvrE�. f.uvatm oE cLvm xat :Jtalla 'to BaUBw . . . (oil yag Eyx£t'tat to TijAE). sch. Opp. Hal. 3. 5 3 . 32; 4. 279. 3 (Bussemaker); Eust. II. 4: 703.2-8; EGud. 6 260. 3 5 . See Onians 195111998: 1 74-86. Sch. V Od. 1 1 . 582: according to Ac1epiades, Tanta1us was punished for having misap propriated the taboo divine food: he stole it and gave it to his co-eva1s, 6!! TjI.L�LV . ECfJ ol£ ...
ayavaxtTjoavta tOY f.Ca . . . E�agtliom Elt' ogo'U£ 1nl'1']1.0U EXOEOE!!fVOV twv XELgwv.
Ac1epiades is credited with this version that makes Tanta1us a Prometheic figure fettered on a
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resonance and the etymologies of the words involved point to that direction: "fa thers and sons" mingle again on the level of diction this time; the derivation of Pelops' name is echoed in the description of his father's retribution in Hades. Whether or not Homer knew of or suppressed the cannibalism, his Tantalus is haunted by his son even after death: he is trapped in Pelops' linguistic semata.436 Whatever the motives for Tantalus' penalty, Homer gives some clues about his name and comportment, and plants the thematic and linguistic seeds from which both the post-Homeric mythopoeic tradition and our discussion of fathers and-sons will benefit. The Homeric Tantalus p,evea{vwv (585) provides the model for the Pindaric p,evotVI.Dv (01. 1 . 58): both participles describe Tantalus' punish ment in his infernal abode; the former refers to his manic desire to drink, the latter to his manic desire to get rid of the stone. The verbal formations p,evea{vwv and p,eVOL v6Jv belong to a linguistic family that oscillates between p,ivo�, p,av{a, p,ip,aa and p,ep,aoJ� and indelibly marks the attitudes and names of the members of this family. 4. 1. 4. Tantalus in Pindar and later Poetry
In Pindar's Olympian 1 , Pelops is entangled in a deadly fight with two dangerous paternal figures, Tantalus and Oenomaus. The former is Pelops' biological father and sacrificer (traditional tale), or the man who tempts the gods, stealing from them the food and drink of immortality (revised version). In both stories, Tantalus ,, is "a negative hero, 437 and engages in activities that endanger the physical integ rity or metaphysical beatitude of his son. He thus vies with Oenomaus, a quasi paternal figure and serial killer, who clings to his daughter and also pursues the physical extermination of Pelops. The Pindaric Pelops is thus embraced by a natu ral father, p,eV-OL v6Jv Tantalus, who linguistically and functionally matches the father-in-law, Olv6-p,ao�. Both partake of menos and mania, i.e. of physical and intellectual force, which is often accompanied by guile and deception (ll. 14. 22 1 ), high mountain. Whether or not the version of Tantalus' bondage on ogoc:; betrays the influ ence of tales relating his meteorological interests and his heretical speculations, it recurs when Zeus, piling Mount Sipylon on Tantalus, punishes him for taking a false oath and pro tecting Pandareos, the thief of the Cretan dog: see also sch. Pi. 01. 1 . 9 1 a. Di Benedetto 1965: 8 ad 7-1 0, argues that Tantalus was originally a "Bergdamon. 436 This phenomenon is observed also in Horace (Carm. 1 . 28. 4-7), who makes Tantalus the counterpart of Archytas, and speaks of his contact with the heavenly poles, alluding at the same time to the derivation of his son, Pelops: . . . nee quiequam tibi prodest / aerias temp tasse domos animoque rotundum ; pereurrisse polum morituro. ; oeeidit et Pelopis genitor, eonviva deorum, "and it profits you nothing to have probed ; the dwellings of air and trav ersed the round vault of heaven ; with a mind that was to die. ; The father of Pe lops also died, boon companion of the gods" (D. West). 437 See Bemardini 1 983: 52 with n. 42, and 1 3 5 n. 43. Currie 2005: 353, also sees in Tantalus "a negative example," and discusses his case in the "dismissal of foil in Pindar,"since his myth , "displays several (failed) motifs of immortalization in quick succession."
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and borders on insanity. 43 8 Both emerge as complementary dark and scheming figures, which Pelops must get rid of in the hope of gaining his independence and manhood. Tantalus and Pelops constantly drift between lrSAa; and rijA£/1r1/AVL, be tween proximity or alienation and broken commitments. In such a context Pindar frames the criminal and hybristic behavior of Tantalus and his punishment (01. 1 . 54-66): cl
Of 'tLV' avcQu 8vu'tov 'Ot..U!!ltOV OX.OltOL E'tL!!UOUV, �v TUv'tut..oe:; oii'toe:; ut..t..a yaQ X.m:UJJE1jJat UEyuv Qt..�o v oUx. Ecvvuq8n, x.oQqJ C' EAEV a'tuv UltEQOltt..OV, av 'tOL ltm:T)Q ihtEQ � X.UQ'tEQOV uu't0 /..C80v, 'tOY uiEL !!EVOLVOOV X.EqJUt..Ue:; �Ut..Ei:V EUWQOquvu� UAKuat. EXEL C' (mut..ullOv �LOV 'tou'tov EUltEOOIlO:dlov !!na 'tQLOOV 'tEWQ'tOV ltOVOV, u 8uvu'tove:; O'tL x.M'I\late:; ·
'tOUVEX.U {ol} ltQoTix.uv vLov U8UVU'tOL
ltUt.. LV !!na 'to 'tU)(UJJO'tIlOV uvn� UVEQWV E8vo�.
"If in fact the wardens of Olympos honored any mortal / man, Tantalus was that one. He, however, / could not digestihis great good fortune, and because of his greed he won / an overwhelming punishment in the form of a massive / rock which the Father suspended above him; / in his constant eagerness to cast it away from his head / he is banished from joy. He has this helpless existence of constant weariness, / the fourth toil along with three others, because he stole . . . And so, the immortals cast his son back / once again among the shortlived race of men" (Race).
In a chain of crime and retribution and in highly engaging and allusive language, Tantalus appears unable to "digest" the great olbos, the bliss bestowed upon him by his divine partners in commensality;43 9 he steals from them the taboo food and drink of immortality, and shares them with his co-evals and co-drinkers (60-64). Tantalus is punished thereupon with a fourth toil, besides the three mentioned in the Odyssey (immobility, thirst and hunger),44o that is, with the punitive boulder 43 8
439
For the kinship of menos-memaos see sch. A n. 6. 261bl, b.2 See Frisk s. v. pEvoLvaw: "im Sinne haben, vorhaben, wiinschen, begehren." Chantraine DELG s.v. p{pova, p{vo�, etc. Fiihrer LfgrE s.v. pEvoLvaw: "sich vorstellen, sich Gedanken machen, sinnen." The intellec tual ramifications of the verb are discerned in its connection with: VOTl!!U, vooe:;, !!TjCO!!at, !! Tl 'tLUO!!at, VOEW, OQ!!ULVW, qJQOVEW . On the semantic field of pEvoLvaw see Jahn 1987: 286-7. For the semantic gradations of cognates of this root see Hershkowitz 1998: 1 25-60. Niobe, his daughter, instead x.Tjow ltEOOEL (11. 24. 6 1 7). On olhos see Most 1 985: 1 84 with n. 4: "those mortals who, through the graciousness of the gods, attain to a greater o).f3o� than is appropriate to their mortal status -Tantalus . . . (0. 1 . 55-56)- . . . end up being destroyed by it." Most recognizes the tendency of the word olhos "to suggest, in contrast to EUOUL!!OVLU . . the wealth which in terms of material possessions is the expression of divine favor." For other alternatives see the Pindaric scholia ad 01. 1 . 97a-g. .
440
Tantalus
191
which hangs over his head, and which he vainly tries to shake off; Tantalus' life is hopeless and fixed in toil. Pindar subtly narrativizes Tantalus through xgEIlUOE. which entails the notion of suspense comprised in talanteuo, -omai and talanteia. It is worth noting that Pindar concatenates the notions of daring and suffering or enduring, which constitute the semantic chart of * TAaw and TaAu�, and displays their causal relation (56-64): Tantalus suffered because he dared. His name also illustrates the ambiguity inherent also in nOA tJ-rAU�, much suffering (LSJ) and much daring. Tantalus appears as propensus ad summa audenda,44 1 and always dares do what he ought not to, whether this is (a) the cannibalistic dinner he offers to the gods; (b) the disclosure of divine secrets (uJtoQQTI1:U); or (c), the illicit ap propriation and distribution of divine food. The last version is proferred by Pindar, although the dismemberment and cooking of Pelops underlies his culinary im agery: Tantalus could not digest his great happiness and prosperity (XU1:UJtEWat !-lEYUV OA�OV oux Ecvvao8T]). The Pindaric Tav'tuAoc:; is pictured, consequently, as da� and TaAu�, reck less and wretched at the same time, as a result of which he has a life fixed in toil, EXEL C' c:'maAullov �(ov LOihov EIlJtEMIlOX80v (59) . His plight, !-loX80c:;, is quali fied by two almost synonymous adjectives, uJtaAU!-loc:; and E!-lJtECOC:;, which re verse the notion of suspense and inventiveness that are inherent in talanteuomai and talanteia and the essence of Tantalus; the suspense is transferred instead onto the rock. Tantalus, the man who personifies movement and oscillation, and has traversed the poles of the world consorting with gods, is conversely grounded and imbued with labor: he is now EIlJtEM-lloX8o�. A comparable effect is created by c:'maAullo� « a-priv.+nuAallll, aVUnaAAOllat): the symbol of inventiveness and physical or intellectual alertnes and agility is denounced. Tantalus is in a state of physical and intellectual fixity, thus belying or reversing his nature and name. This is a notable example of unnaming or deformation, which evokes the plight of Tantalus in the Odyssean lake. Pindar's dexterity is further illustrated in the passage {A,£v arav... aAarat, which through transposition of sounds and alliteration reproduces the phonemes of Tantalus. This phrase also reveals the Pindaric programming and his indebted ness to the epos: although u'tT] is overtly employed here in the sense of punish ment, yet in the vicinity of Il£VOtVWV and £vqJQoavvu� aAaTm,442 it emits its Kramer 1 886: 1 7- 1 8 with n. I, quoting Goethe (Iph. Act. III, v. 1 1 7): "Der gewaltig Wol1ende." 442 f\TT] in Homer is primarily a temporary mental blindness, bordering on punishment; its treatment by E. R. Dodds is canonical. The words CtAaOI1a! and aAa! are also used of intel lectual distractions and mental disturbances: in n. 6. 200-2 with sch. ad loco cum test., the solitary wanderings of Bellerophon (010£ CtAaro) are considered a sign �u,AayxoAava£. See sch. Q Od. 1 8. 333. CtAVn�: XaCQfL£ ... EV aAn xaL 60Qu�4l Til<; oLavoCa<; xa6€oTT]Xa<;. The initiatory myth of the Proetids also combines physical and intellectual roaming, i.e. madness: the girls incurred the wrath of Hera (or Dionysus), who �AOaVVllV EV€T]XE (Hes. fr. 3 7. 15 M W), and were healed (illoaw) by Melampus. This verb makes sense only if �AOaVVll is con sidered a disease; at any rate, the ancient tradition unanimously speaks about the mania of the Proetids. Mettes 1 970: 1 06-07, associates aimless wandering with mental wandering and
44 1
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regular Homeric connotations of "temporary mental blindness," and so affects the semantics of Et)(p[Joavva: what Tantalus lacks is sound intellect (cv+CP[J�v) rather . 443 TantaIus, f.1CV-Ot vwv . mernment. than mereIy sympotIc to cast away the rock, IS · on a par with manic Olvo-f.1ao�, and both figures establish the verbal root that runs through this Pindaric ode: men eagerly look for Pelops, f.1atOf.1CVOt CPWtE� (46), while Pelops will be allowed to exorcise his bleak inheritance of mania memaa on either side, procreating sons f.1cf.1aor:a� ugEtaLcH . Going beyond the narrow boundaries of the two Ur-ancestors, the menos-mania syndrome will be imprinted in the names of Aga-memnon and Mene-Iaus, and will fonn the poles around which this genos revolves; menos and mania have a semiotic value for the family. Pindar continues to play upon Tantalus, using the cognate CtrOAf.1arov (lsth. 8. 9- 1 1): frenOl] 'tov ureeQ xecpul..u £ ye t TavraAov l.. C8ov reuQu '[L£ E'tQe1jJev U!!!!L 8e6£, ar6A�arov 'EI..I..UOL !!6x8ov .. .
"since a god has turned away / from over our heads / the very rock of Tantalus, / that unbearable labor for Hellas" (Race).
The hanging stone is a well-established mythological element by Pindar's time, and is used metaphorically for hostilities and external threats; it is a "metaphor for the Persian invasion of 480" (Race, n. 3). Archilochus (fr. 9 1 W) had anticipated the Pindaric martial metaphor with the wish "let the stone of Tantalus not hang over this island" (Gerber, Loeb). The notion of unbearable, CtrOAf.1aro�, that ety mologizes Tantalus, is now transferred onto !l6X80�, the toil that threatens Greece and turns her into a Tantalic, tortured and laboring figure. Tantalus and his rock become a symbol for the evils suffered by Greece and dared by the invading bar barians. The basic duality of * rAaw resurfaces here: the connection of Tantalus with CtrOAf.1arov, which means not only not to be endured, insufferable (LSJ), or unbearable (Slater, Race), but also not to be dared (LSJ s.v. 2.), subtly insinuates the attitudes of the hero: he dares commit unholy and reckless actions and suffers madness; here belong words of the stem aA-, such as �AOaVV1'/, �Ae6�, �A6�, aAv"ra�w, aAa{vw, &UO� �Ae6�. Maehler 1 997: 222 and 235 agrees with Mettes, in contrast to Robertson 1983: 1 59-60 with n. 40, who translates �AOaVV1'/V as "foolishness." On the mental and physical aspects of alaomai see Hershkowitz 1 998: 1 24-25; Denniston-Page 195711972: , 86-87 ad Agam. 1 94, �Qo 'tOiv aAm: "a non-physical sense of aAm, 'distractions (madness) . . . would run smoothly in this context." The verb alaomai belongs to the same semantic field with talanteia and talanteuomai and eventually Tantalus. See Bundy 1 96211 986: 2, "a poetic word for a victory revel;" see also Gerber 1 982: 98: "Pin dar's choice of aAarm may have been influenced by the lack of sympotic enjoyment experi enced by exiles, since Tantalus resembles an exile (aAiir1'/�, compare Il. 6. 200-2) in his ex clusion from the symposium;" cf. the objections of Verdenius 1 988: 3 1 . See Slater 1 989: 48994 and Kurke 1999: 1 09- 1 0 (n. 34 1 , above) for a similar portrayal of Pelops as convivial. =
443
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their consequences. Name and thing, Tantalus and tolma, are interlocked nega tively and inauspiciously. As early as Anacreon, the swinging rock of Tantalus is interlocked with a monetary commodity, his U.lAaVra, in the proverb ra TavraAov raAavra rav raU,srw, "his talents would tantalise Tantalus" (Campbell Greek Lyric 11).444 The hero is associated with raAavra and ravraU,w, a verb which the ancients ,, comprehend primarily as: shake, tremble, move, wave about, balance. 445 Modem English lexica explain tantalise metaphorically in the sense of torment, tease, em phasizing the psychological oscillation between hope and disappointment.446 In the middle of fifth century B.C., Tantalus and his fate undergo a significant change under the influence of the cosmological theories of Anaxagoras and his pupils, Euripides being one of them. The poet dramatizes a novel version: Tanta Ius does not reside in the Underworld, but floats in mid air (Or. 4-1 0): 6 yaQ llaxuQwc; -xoux 6VELD�W 'tuxac;L\LOC; 1mpuxwc;, wC; AEYOUOL, Tavra}..o; xOQu
"That fortunate man (and I am not being sarcastic about his fate), Zeus' offspring, as they say -Tantalus- hovers in mid air in dread of a rock that looms above his head; he pays this pen alty -so they say-because, a mortal enjoying equal status with gods at the shared table, he caught that most horrid disease, an unchecked tongue" (West)
Here Electra calls makarios a condemned and wretched man whose misfortune has become proverbial. She hastens to justifY the appellation by invoking his di vine descent, although the rest of the story will reinforce and justifY the traditional version of his misery. Tantalus is far from blessed; he is afraid of the stone that looms above his head, and hovers in mid air, MQt :7to'tu'taL, thus fulfilling the expectations raised by talanteuomai, and paying penalties for daring to commit hybristic deeds. He now suffers their consequences and is miserable, talas. Euripi des speaks of :7tE'tQOV as xOQuCPTic; V:7t£Q'tEA.AOV'tU , using a verb that describes the 444
445 446
Anacr. PMG 355 (Suda 4: 't 147, 't 8 1 , Adler: ra Tavra}..o v ra}.. a vra ravra)..{�Erm. DLE�E�Ol]'tO 6 Tavra}..o; EltL ltAOU't!]), wC; xaL dC; ltaQOLIlCav DmD08f)vaL. ODWC; yaQ ltI..OU OlOS
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sunrise.447 KOQ'UCfJ�, on the other hand, may refer either to a mountain top from which the stone "rises," or to the head of Tantalus over which "looms" the stone. In the former, the stone would be identified with the sun, and Tantalus would be pictured as a mediating and reduced heliacal figure, perhaps a competitor of Apollo the sungod.448 In the latter, xOQ'UCfJ� would connote the stature of Tantalus, who is often identified with the Titan Atlas.449 Later on, Electra expresses the unreal wish that she could climb that lump, balos, which is strung with golden chains and hovers between the sky and the earth, is of Olympian origin, and perpetually rotates; on this lies her ancestor (Or. 982-87): !lOAOL[a TUV oUQuvoii !lEOOV X80vo£ TETUIlEVUV uiwQtilluOL 1tETQUV, CtAUOWL XQUOEULOL CPEQO!lEVUV liivUlIH, Piii A OV E� 'OAU!l1tOU, IV EV 8Ql]VOLOLV avu�ouow YEQOVTL 1tUTQt TUVTUAq>, o£ fTEXEV fTEXE YEVETOQU£ E!lE8EV, 06!lWV o'Cu£ XUTELOOV UTU£.
"I wish I could go to that rock I strung in suspense between sky and earth I by golden chains, the whirlwind-borne I glebe that came from Olympus, I to cry in lamentation to old father Tantalus I who sired, who sired by forbears I what wounds to the house I have seen" (West).
This passage reestablishes the notion of oscillation, and through ULwQUllum evokes TaAaVrSVm� or TaAavrda, which are intrically bound with Tantalus, even though they refer explicitly to the stone or holos, whether these are identical with the sun, as the ancient scholiasts argue, or merely a lump of earth that broke off Olympus, as modern scholars contend.450 Yet this petra is suspended in mid air, reTa{t£vav: this participle of rdvw subtly posits a new connection for Tan talus, confirmed by the ancient scholiast (Eur. Or. 982, 1 93 Schw.): aAJ... wc;: f] IlEV L01:0 QCU AEyEt tOY TaVTaAOV avar£Ta{t£vm� XEQOL CfJEQEtV tOY 01JQUV6V.451 447 448
449 450
451
So Di Benedetto 1 965: 7 ad 6-7. Cole 1992: 123, assumes that "If Heracles plays God . . . Ixion and Tantalus are Lucifer fig ures in the same celestial constellation." KOQucpl] is used of the head of monstrous Geryon in Stes. Ger. ff. S 15 col. ii. l 0- 1 1 . See Scodel 1 984: 1 8; West 1 987: 252. However, "Olympus" is identified either with the mountain or the sky; sometimes these are not distinguished: see sch. Aint Ariston. 11. 1 . 44a; sch. A Ariston. 11. 8. 46a, bTil 8. 46b; sch. Aint Ariston. 11. 15. 2 1 c and Ariston. bI 1 5. 2 1 d. Hsch. 656 (sky, residence of gods and mountain) - EGud. 0 426. 25 - EM 623. 7 - Eust. 11. I: 44.25 - 45. 1 2 et al. If Olympus is the sky, then hOlos cannot be a "lump of earth"; hence its celestial origin is not excluded. The verb reCvw occurs among ancient etymologies of talanton, which include: taino, titaino ( teino), talaos, and talanteuo: EM 744. 4- 12: nlAavrov XQUOELU 1tUT�Q Ih(rmvE nXAav ra. Ll]!lU(VEL oE raAavwv TO �uYOV, 1tUQQ. 'to ra(vw QT]!lU ... XutU aVUOL1tAUOLUO!lOV nra(vw . . . �H 1tUQQ. 'to raAa6v, to 1moIJoYUTLXOV toii �uQou£. TaAavwv ovv � otu8!ll]' =
Tantalus
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Here Tantalus emerges as a surrogate of Atlas. Electra wishes to resort to the Ur father of her genos and seek comfort for the atas, the disasters. In this context the past woes mingle with the present; the family swings in a calamity that originated from Tantalus (r£1Aa�, *d£1W, wAavrda). To sum up, in his Orestes Euripides conflates two versions, both marked by hybris: firstly the intemperate language of Tantalus, which involves the revelation of mysteries and divine secrets, and secondly the contempt of Helios, who is viewed in physical terms as a mass of red hot metal. The story is sketched by the scholia (Pi. 01. 1 . 9 1 a), which posit the indebtedness of Euripides (Or. 4- 1 0, 98287) to Anaxagoras: 452 EVLOt OE uxououm tOV ltEtQOV EltL taU i]ALou' tOV yaQ TavraAov cpumoAoyov YEVOIlEVOV xaL IluOQov (!1tocpijvavta tOV llALOV Eltl IOUtW oLxa� lmoQXELV WOtE xaL fltmwQELo8m autij) tOV llALOv, � oEt�atouQ8m xaL xatamJ'jQoEtv. ltEQL oE tOU i]ALou Ol cpumxoL cpamv 00£ 1.. (80<; xaAELtm 6 llALO£' xaL Ava1;ayoQou oE YEVOIlEVOV tOV EUQt1tLOT]V lla8T]tl]v ltEtQOV ELQT]XEVm tOV llALOV Ota tWV ltQOEXXEtIlEVWV (VQ. 4) .................................................................................... .. xaL 1tIlAtV Ot UAAWV f3WAOV Myovta OVtw<; COQ. 982)........... '
In a brief paraphrase: some people see the sun behind petros (stone). Tantalus, for instance, who became a physiologus, natural philosopher, and claimed that the sun was a mydros, a red-hot mass of stone or metal (LSJ), and received a fitting pun ishment for his hybris: the sun hangs over him and forces him to crouch in fear. The natural philosophers call the sun lithos (stone), while Euripides, a pupil of Anaxagoras, calls it petros-petra or bolos. This scholium does not stand alone; Eustathius also speaks of the heliacal nature of both the golden chain and the stone, which bears down on Tantalus and punishes him for demythicizing and secularizing a celestial body full of divine and ineffable powers; the name Tanta Ius is connected again with the notion of talanteuomai (nQTUW�VOV), and his pen alty is homeopathic: it comes from above, from a heliodes material and a stone " 1ar to the mydros.453 Slml Euripides dissolves the ambiguity about the nature of the stone or hOlos, call ing the sun XQvo€a �WAOS; in his Phaethon (72 F783, TrGF 5.2: 824 Kan-
452
453
xaL TaAavrEVtUV, to ota81l�Etv xaL SuyootatELv. It is worth noting that these words illus trate Tantalus as well. On Anaxagoras' metaphorical language and how it was extended by his followers into alle gory see Scodel 1984: 1 3-24. For the dependence of the Derveni papyrus on Anaxagoras or the Atomists see Burkert 1 997: 1 67-74. Eust. Od. 1 : 436.44 - 437.2 ad Od, 1 1 . 580: UAAot Of cptAOOOCPOV ycyovota tov TuvtaAov oo1;uom ElltOV IlUOQOV Elvm tOV "HALOv xaL Ill] OWIlU tt 8ELov xaL YE�OV uQQijtWV OUVU�EWV. 08EV 'HAlou XOAqJ ttllwQELo8m A(8ou OtT]VEXEi: xatacpoQ(t, nQtUlAEvou XQuoij<; xaL 00<; dltELV i]Atwoou<; aAuoEw<;' 'HALqJ yaQ i] tOU XQuoou vAT] UVUXEttm, '(va ltEQL 0 EocpaAta, fXEL8EV ELT] autij) i] ltotvl], UVW8EV OT]AaOl] xaL ota i]Atwoou<; VAT]£ xaL Ota A(8ou, 0<; Ol] 6�oEtoij<; tt<; tij) �uoQqJ fOtLV.
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nicht).454 The imagery of Orestes 4-10 and 982-85 seems to validate this con ception: the menacing stone or bolos, which comes "from Olympus," rises above the korypha (be it the mountain top or the head of Tantalus), is bound with chains of gold, hovers in mid air, and rotates O(VaLOL, seems to be the sun. Dine, "repre senting a natural rotatory motion in the cosmos, was a favourite word of 5th_ ,, century cosmologists, 455 and is used "of the rotating heaven" and aether (see LSJ i s.v.). The circular motion implied by (j{vrz fits nicely the rotation of the sun-fAw� and is imprinted in its name, which is derived from dAAW, clUw, £A£TTW and dA rzat �, the synonyms of dineomai, dine.456 Euripides makes {36JAO� the physical i symbol of Apollo-fAw�, who is thus intimately linked firstly with growth and life, and secondly with the circular course of JrwAsia8m/JroAsiv; these specifici ties are embedded in the derivation of {36JAO�.457 Hence the golden {36JAO� « {36J+JroUw) conveys the nature of Apollo the sun, who perambulates the poles of the world (dUw JroUw), making all things grow and perish « ClJroUVf.u) as well. Significantly, Euripides lingers on the functional polarities of Apollo when he allows his Clymene to cry out in despair (Phaeth. 72 F78 1 . 1 1 - 1 3 , TrGF 5.2: 8 1 7 Kannicht ): �
d) XUnL
Fair-shining He1ios, how you destroyed me I and this one too. You are correctly named "Apollon" among the mortals I by whomever knows the silent name of deities.
The names of gods are silent, so susceptible to all kinds of manipulation, re articulation and resignification. Clymene identifies fair-shining Helios with Apollo whose human name signifies death (aJrwAwa�). This dionymia exem plifies the ambiguity of the god and his contradictory diacritical qualities, which are thus distributed between his two names (HelioslApollo). Bolos emerges as the
454 455 456 457
See West 1 987: 252 ad Or. 985: the ancient commentators were wrong to identitY that golden lump with the present lump of Tanta1us. So West 1 987: 252. See Di Benedetto 1 965: 1 95 ad 984: �LVTJ is used to indicate the turns ("giri") accomplished by the sun, while XQUOEU �WAO� is the sun also in fr. 783; similarly p. 1 96 ad 985 with reference to the Anaxagorean doctrines (lithos sun). See Eur. Phoen. 3; Macr. Sat. 1. 1 7. 43-45. See also nn. 1 03, 413, above. Or. 35 . 1 3-14, {3WAO� rruQ(z TO {3w to tQE
=
.
.
Tantalus
1 97
physical representation of this functional and onomastic duality of Apollo, the agent of nurturing and killing. To sum up, Euripides inserts raAa�, wAaVTEVOf.,lm, and rdvw, by means of paraphrases or synonyms, into the etymological map of Tantalus and motivates the hostility between him and the sun-god as follows: Tantalus has abrogated the divinity of Apollo and therefore incurs a homeopathic and commensurate penalty; he oscillates between sky and earth, threatened by a suspended heliacal fiery mass. As his name and story prove, Tantalus is a mediating figure and a double of Atlas, since both are associated with * daw, and are somehow involved with the celestial sphere; Atlas suffers under the oUQavLOv nOAov (Aes. Prom. 428-30), while Tantalus observes the bodies of the vault of heaven (noAo�) and is eventu ally threatened by one. Mythology provides Tantalus with an equally polysemous and polyvalent son: Pelops vacillates between antithetical qualities and states as he sees near and far, travels the poles of the world as a lover of Poseidon, shares the darkness and brightness of polios/pelios and receives dark but also illustrious blood libations, while his surrogate but unsubstantial alter ego, his bright fame, soars far and wide as well. In sum, Pelops matches the interests and traits of his physiologus and meteorologus father. Is it accidental that Plato etymologizes Zeus and Ouranus right after Pelops and Tantalus, and records the etymology, "one who sees above" « avw oQl'iv, Cra. 396b7-c3), which the prating and adoleschae meteorologoi (Cra. 401b6-8) give to Ouranus? The meteorological interests of Anaxagoras and his pupils, who are notorious for their garrulity, explain the ver sion about the akolastos glossa of Tantalus,458 who has access to the cmoQQrjw of gods. 459 Euripides feels free to mix mythology with science with respect to Tantalus,46o while the scholia that make Tantalus a cpvaLOAoyo� have very likely motivated the Latin derivation of Tantalus from eta and (e)etAw (teantelon).461 Later Greek writers exploit the name and vita of Tantalus to promote their ethical or philosophical reflections. Lucianus,462 for instance, presents the hero
458
459
460
461
462
On the "collocation of stargazing and chattering," on ot IAE'tElOQOAOYOI xal aooAEoxm as well as on the Anaxogorean school see Baxter 1 992: 139-44. Tantalus had an impious tongue and divulged the mysteries: see among others Eur. Or. 10; Ps.-Apollod. Bibl. Epit. 2. I; Diod. Sic. 4. 74. 2. For the crimes of Tantalus and his penalties see sch. Pi. 01. ! . 9 1 a; sch. V Od. 1 9. 5 1 8; sch. QV Od. 20. 66; Ant. Lib. Met. 36. Sourvinou Inwood 1 986: 40-47, esp. 42-43 with n. 26, argues that Tantalus "broke the alimentary code which helped articulate the cosmos . . . perverted the values of the family, and threatened both the divine/cosmic and the human order." See also Gantz 1993: 533-35. Sch. Eur.Or. 982, 1 94 S. et 0' aQa 'tLVE£ olarroQouOL rrw£ f£ a),:uoEoo£ rraQY]Q'ty]IAEVO£ rrEQL HOLV 6 ijALO£, YIYVoooxE'toooav 1511 'tu CPUOLXU 101£ lAuflLxo1£ XmalALYvuOLV 6 EUQLrrCOY]£. Maltby s.v. Tantalus. Fulg. Virg. Cont. p. 1 0 ! . 7: Tantalus ... Grece quasi teantelon, id est visionem volens; omnis enim avaritia ieiunafruendi usus solae visionis imagine pascitur. Luc. Dialogi mortuorum 7 (17): TANTAAOL Tou't au'to i] xOAaoC£ fon, 'to OIl!Jf]V T�V '
l!Jux�v w£ OWlAa oiloav ... xal 'tOU'tO 0' oilv IAEQO£ Tf]£ xmaoCxY]£ fo'tl 'to EJtL8W£lV JtLE1v lAy]OEV OEOIAEVOV. See Vermeule 1 979: 8: "For a thousand years after Homer the scene of the underworld tortures of the dead in the Odyssey remained corporeal, in the absence of corpora, physical for those who had not much physique left to speak of;" cf. ib. 30: "that dead Tantalos
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arguing that his punishment consists in his ignorance of the nature and com position of the soul; his soul is tormented by physical symptoms, such as thirst, as if it were corporeal: this is his punishment. Menippus, struck by the novel thought, discounts Tantalus as madman. The epigrammatists compare their erotic suffer ings with those of Tantalus: whoever endures pangs of love will endure the Tan talean thirst as well; Tantalus paid a heavy toll, indeed, but in the underworld, in contrast to the wretched lovers who are tormented during their lifetime.463 The concept of talanteia and suspense finally becomes proverbial for wealthy and ter rified people, who cannot enjoy life. 464 The gloss of Hesychius ( 1 40): ravra Aaaanm· bUxQuu. aTa'Et buxQuu , seems to imply the association of Tantalus with the verbs ma'w, araAaaaw (trickle, let drop, drip, LSJ): the name of Tan talus interlocks with his tearful fate. To conclude: besides occasional novelties (e.g. Tdvw), the life and name of Tantalus are intricately bound up with the notion of oscillation, talanteia and ta lanteuomai. He vascillates between the two complementary modes of *tlao; the synergism of its active (to dare) and passive uses (to suffer or endure) renders him a reckless and utterly miserable man, talas and tlas, indeed! Tantalus bequeathes his features to his descendants and provides the lexical and conceptual semata that haunt his genos, thus initiating a bifurcation of victimizers and victimized. This remains to be discussed. 4. 2. Oenomaus 4. 2. 1. Modern Etymology
Modem scholars almost unanimously derive Oenomaus from olvo� and {tE{taa, ,, {ta (o{tm , and interpret it as "eager for wine. 465 Some scholars justify oinos
through Oenomaus' connections with the cycle of Dionysus and Ares.466 Others
463 464
465
466
ought not to be hungry and thirsty . . . is to confuse folklore with religion, and above all to be dicourteous to the poet." Paul. Sil. Anth. Oraeca b. 5, ep. 246. 1 -6: MaA8axa I-lEv Laltcpoil£ Ta cpLAtll-laTa ... xat T(£ ilJl:O,Aa(71; nixa TL£, TaXa TOilw WAaaaa; {\(1/Jav Tav-raAE71V 'A1]anat d'l-lagEw£. Suda 4: 77, Adler: TaVWAe(a 1jIVX1]: TOil Tav-raAOV; ib. 78: Tav,aAewL: Tg0I-lLXOC. xat ltagoLI-l(a· Tav,aAewL TLI-lwg(m· Eltt TWV aya8a I-lEV EX6vTwv [i.e. ,aAavwvj, 1-lT] ouyxw gOUI-lEVWV {\E altOAaUELV aUTwv, 00£ Ot BU�aVTLOL, 1-lT] wAwDv,e; �w TOil aOTEO£ {\LaYELV. Pokomy 1 959: 704-5, "me-, mo-, ma-, 'heftigen und krliftigen Willens sein, heftig streben,' Gr. f.1a(0f.1at (liol. f.1aof.1at) 'strebe, trachte,' wozu die Namen Ev/ww;, Olv0f.1ao;, Ma(wv . . . f.1atf.1aw, 'verlange heftig.' " Palmer 1 963: 80, "he who longs for wine." Von Kamptz 1 982: 72 §22a2; 108 §36a2; 2 1 2 §66:
L
Oenomaus
1 99
adopt a quasi-allegorical interpretation in which the Achaeans, aided by the sea (Poseidon) and the wind (Hermes), defended Pelopia from the impetus of the waves, namely, from savage and hostile Oenomaus, whose fluetus are viewed as horses, which are ventorumflatu creatos (Mythogr. I. 1 . 2 1 ), or Aquilone veloeio res (Hygin Fab. 84); hence Oenomaus is considered a "Nomen sine dubio forma ,, tum de truci atque sinistro fluetuum aspeetu (cf. olvo1jJ JtoV'Wc:;). 467 The chro. . . . 8 6 matIc aspects 0f o£vo�, o£vo1jJ poslted as ear1y as antIqUity,4 have been thus cor.. .. related with Oenomaus' violent and stormy character. Pape and Benseler see in Oenomaus the "Mann des kraftigen, kuhnen Strebens," and seek his derivation in r� viS.469 Weizsacker, building upon Oenomaus' descent from Ares and Harpina and his putative identity as a daemon of the sudden and vehement blasts of wind, proposes olwv6�, envisioning Olv6f.1ao� as Olwv6f.1ao�, i.e. rapacious, "Raub Iustige.'47o Interestingly, Pindar uses a periphrastic expression with {Ha, the equivalent of r�-vis, to seal the victory of Pelops over Oenomaus: EAEV b' OlvoWiov {3Cav (01. 1 . 88). Such periphrastic expressions with the proper name and the nouns r�, {3Ca, f.1tvo�, are common in early poetry, and usually mean no more than "mighty so and so." This phrase, though generic and stereotypical, fits the heroic prescrip tions and the behavior of Oenomaus; the force contained in his memaa is doubled and consolidated by {3Ca.471 Yet the ancients focus not so much on Oenomaus' physical aptitude as on his guile and ruthlessness: they load him and his name with negative connotations, laying the emphasis on his raw, sinister and scheming personality. He is notorious and hated for his W!!01:11C:; and Jtovl1QCa (Luc. Charid. 1 9). Similar skepticism may be addressed to oionos: rapacity is a genealogical �
467
468
469 470 47 1
So Kramer 1 886: 4 1 -42 with n. 4: Oenomaus is son of Ares (caeli procellosi) and Harpina (rapacis) or Eurythoe (super vastum currentis) or Sterope ifulgoris), and sacrifices a ram, the symbol of thunderstorm. Weizsacker 1 965: 772, credits Preller (Gr. Myth. 2. 3, 384) and Kramer (1 886: 41 n. 4), with the connection of Olvo/wor;-FOLVOfJ.aOr; and otvo1jJ nov'!'Or; to denote "Dunkelfarbigen, unheimlich, wie das Meer vor dem Sturm Aussehenden bezeichnen wiirde." This approach has been revitalized by Fiehn 1 937: 2245; Mader LfgrE 1 999: 584. Sch. bT n. 1 3 . 703: ol:'vonf: olvw8Etr; Ei� to oQi'iv, ol Of !!EAaVE� w� « ol:'vona rcov'tOV»; cf. sch. min. zu Horn. col. IX. 1 5 (Henrichs ZPE 7 [ 1 97 1 ] 144), otvona: OtV[O]f[t]01j t1Jv XQoav Ej(OVta . Chromatic is otvor; in olvcivti1j omoQa� that qualifies YEV'U� (Pi. Nem. 5. 6). See Irwin 1 974: 4, "otvo1jJ of sea and cattle, a dark surface reflecting light;" ib. p. 202, "dark +gleaming" or "dark with highlights," as distinct from merely "dark;" p. 203, "In o[vo1jJ the suffix -o1jJ (from o1jJ 'face') gives a meaning 'wine-like' for the epithet." Von Kamptz 1982: 3 1b2: Otv01jJ "(:oinos: 'weinfarbig': on- 'Auge, Gesicht, Anblick;' " ib. 50a. "-on: Kompo sita mit nominalem orc- 'Auge, Gesicht, Aussehen' sind tPaivo1jJ, Otvo1jJ, HV01jJ." See Miihlestein 1 987: 2 1 : "un nom de couleur en fonction d' anthroponyme n' etonne pas dans ce mond de rAafJuor;, Ecivtior; ... OlwvofJ.aoc;> OlvofJ.aor; "der Mann mit dem Sinn, dem Begehren eines Geiers, der Raublustige." Comparable is the function of lEQOV IAEVO� )UUtvoow; the connections of Alci-noos with tiAUIj are doubled and consolidated with the synonymous attributes lfQor; « I:'r;) and IAEVO�. =
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feature bequeathed to Oinomaus by his mother Harpina, and as such a plausible namegiving motivation, but even so, it is not an essential feature of his, unless we reckon the erotic version that makes him a rival lover of his daughter. 4.
2. 2. Oinos and memaa in Ancient Thought
The decoding of Oenomaus' name depends on the function of oinos and memaa. What does wine stand for and how is it viewed by the ancients? In final analysis, what is the import of wine from a chararacterological point of view? Wine was viewed in antiquity very much as nowadays: if used moderately, !lELgCwC;, it is beneficial, induces strength, IlEVOt;, boosts and encourages men; otherwise it has a negative effect on sanity and stamina. The ancients point out its causative and etymological relation with arrogance, irrascibility, and derangement, or with slackness and inactivity. Homer (It. 6. 258-60) illustrates the range of its effects: wine benefits tired men (6vljoWt, 260), strengthens or undercuts their stamina (flEVOt;, 26 1 , 265; cf. IlEv(E), 258), and affects their mind (cpQljv, cf. !lEA.L-CPQWV, 264). Homer describes the adverse effects of wine-drinking on the intellect (cpQEVat;, acpQaUnatV, oU!lUaaa!lEVoc; cpQivat; OLVq) , Od. 9. 360-62, 454, 5 1 6), thus leaving no room for ovrzatt; or 6v(Vrzll t in excessive wine consumption. The Homeric etymologizing of olvot; from 6v(Vrzll t and its effect on IlEVOt; and cpQEVat; are confirmed by an cient scholiasts, who elaborate on the causal role of immoderate wine con sumption on the inducement of Ilav(a; quantity is directly proportionate to the performance of noos.472 Plato (era. 406c5-6) focuses on the illusory power of wine and its effect on the "mind:" the drinkers "think" that they are sensible, but they are not; hence olVOt;, OrEO(Jat and vOiit; (cf. olovovt;) exhibit a negative interaction, and knowl edge is replaced by orrzatt; (opinion, notion = (5osa, LSJ).47 3 A significant ad vance is made in EGud. 0 422. 24-34: wine affects mental vision, and olvot; is so named because it subjects the mind to a state of "thinking" (orEt rov voiiv), and makes the mind puffed up and dim-sighted (all/3AvWJcEl), thus turning individuals
472
473
Sch. bT 11. 6. 260c: DV{V1!O! of. O[VO� /1€tQtO� 1t08EL£ /)UVU/1(v te £/1:rtotei , w£ ){UL to «to YUQ J.lEVO£ foil xaL UAX�» . . . «0£ OE x' uVTjQ oi'vow xOQwmXJ.lEVO£ xaL fOWOT]£ ... 1tav TJJ.lEQW£ 1tOAEJ.lCl;;n , I 8aQoaAEov vu ol �toQ fVL rpQWLV, OUOE Tt yuia I 1tQLV XUJ.lVEL :rtQLV 1tuvta£ fQWT]OaL 1tOAEJ.l0W» (T 1 67-70). 6 OE, f1tEL 1tQauvEL 6 olvo£, �OUAEtaL oE CiYQlO£ 1tQo£ toU£ 1tOAEJ.lLOU£ ElVal ... OtQatlOOtaL£ J.lEV 8Quoo<; 1toQCl;;E tal, otQatTJYou<; oE tT]£ rpQOV�OEW<; lJJtExAUEL. 11 toi<; u1tOXaJ.l0UOLV J.lOVOV WrpEAlJ.lO£, 6 OE eTt LOXUEl. Sch. bT 11. 6. 260d: e1tElta oE xauto£ DVljOW!: . . . 6 J.lEv J.lEtU 1tovou<; O[VO� WrpEAlJ.lO£, 6 6E 1tQo 1tOVOU fJtL�Aa��<;. Archilochus (fr. 120 W.) begins his ecstatic song for Dionysus, when wine hits his mind (phrenes) like a thunderbolt. PI. Cra. 406c5-6: olvo� 0', Otl oi'weal voDv eXELv 1tOlEL tWV JtLVOVtWV tou<; 1tOnou<; oux eXOvta£, « oI6voV9> OLXaLOtat' av XaAOUJ.lEvO<;.
Oenomaus
201
into sleep walkers; filled with opinion, they have a distorted view of their internal and external cosmos. 474 To sum up, the ancients etymologize O[VO� predominantly from ov{vrlJu, ovrzm�, v6o�, o/:o{lm, o/:rzm� and br{vow, on account of its dynamis and effect on mind (v6o�) and stamina ({tEVO�), and only exceptionally from ok (to ltQa �a to v ) .475 Its negative influence on the intellect occurs when the boundaries be tween o/:vwm�, which creates pleasure, and �£81'] are crossed.476 To paraphrase the situation in a way meaningful for our project, moderate oivo� is beneficial, hence v6o� {lEVEL, while immoderate is harmful; hence v6o� {lE{lUEV and {lEVO� turns to {luv{u. Wine and eagerness, O[VO� and {lE{lUU underlie Oino-maus; the semantic field of the former partly overlaps with and complements the latter, and these words display a gradation that ranges from vehement desire and uncontrollable fervor to manic states and dementia; oinos and memaa therefore exercise a reciprocal and concerted effect on noos. Two Homeric scholia suggest the semantic elasticity of menos-memaa and their bordering on lust for blood. Discussing a simile, in which the Achaeans charge on like flies, the scholiasts find the tertium comparationis in the blood thirst of both the {l vlu and the {lE{lUOYCE� Achaeans. 477 As we shall see below, the Homeric scholia (on 11. 17. 570-73) reestablish the etymological con nection of {l vlu, {lS{lUU, and ul{lu in a simile that involves Mene-laus, the off spring of Oino-maus and {tEv-Ot vwv Tantalus. The constituents of Oino-maus combine their forces to picture a composite figure, marked by a sinister mental capacity and bloody preoccupations. These qualities he has probably inherited from his two reputed fathers, Ares or Diony sus, whose deeds are often described in terms of mania. 478 Oenomaus is overcome by mania and visual dimness, a{l[3}.,vwn{u , which invite the chromatic imagery inherent in oinos and the bloody acts. Oenomaus finds a perfect match in the am474
EGud. 0 422. 24-34: olvor;, ltag6tt mV6[lEVO£ OrEt ,QV VOVV, 1:0U1:' fOtt
,
475
476 477
a[l�A UlOltElO . Or. 1 82. 6; Epim. Ham. 462B (Dyck 1 983:225); Epim.Hom. 0 70 (Dyck 1 995: 561); EGud. 0 430. 32-33; 61 5-46; EM 6 1 8. 2 1 -29; Reitzenstein 1 897: 373-74. Panyas. (EGF fr. 12. 1-13, Davies = apud Stab. Eel. 3. 18. 2 1 ) plays on olVOr;-OVEtaQ; Dem. De corona 242. 1 - 243. 5 : aQouQuio� Olvo/laor; .. . 1:( yug � o � Oflv61:l]£ Ei£ ovrzmv fjxfl 1:ii nu'tQibl (i.e. UQOUQU). See apud Arist. fr. 102 Rose: Phi!. de plantat. Noe 35-42 ( 1 : 350-56 M.). Sch. bT 11. 2. 469a. ijthE /lVUllOV: ltgo£ 1:0 Em8Wl]ttxov 1:0U aL/la'Or;. £nciYEl youv < (B 472-3). On /lvla-al/la see also sch. BQ Od. 1 1 . 37; sch. T n. 5. 661b. /lmw»waa: ltAfOVa�fl TO [l' fOTl yag aiwowaa. Sch. A(D) ad lac., Ev80uOLwoa xaL O�ElO£ og[lwoa. \l 1:0U aL/laWr; yEU OttXW£ fxouoa WU [l ltAfOVa�ovTo£. Sch. Til n. 1 3 . 75. aVTL 1:0U ai/lwwa! Or. 97.12-17. Sulzberger 1 926: 442, connects a L/lW v-A L/lW v, Ma{wv Ai/lov{c5rzr; with the primitive meaning "plein de sang," or "qui a du sang," hence "fort" and "ardent." See Eust. n. 2: 259.10- 1 8 : 'EvTau8a Of xaL TOV L'.L6vuoov /lmVO/lEVOV ElltEV 0 ltOll]T�£, xa8a xa't TOV 'Agl]V, ljWL /lavtolrotov. W/lijvaat yag ltlO£ oi /lE8voV1:Er;, 00£ xaL ot XaTa [laXl]v EvaywVLOl. "OBEV 1:0151:0U£ [lEV Ct.QEt/lav{ovr; <pa[lEV, wU£ OE w8vaovr; olvo/lavEir;, EltEL xaL TOV L'.L6vuoov /lmvoArzv xaL Mm vdc5ar; Tat; oltaOou£ mhou. ,
47 8
�
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biguous figure of Pel-ops, the former olvoX6o�, who unites in himself darkness (JtOAL6�+(f1p) and "near- or far-sightedness" « JtiAU�, rf/Ae/Jtr/AVL+O'ljJ). Pelops, almost homeopathically, incorporates the qualities of Oenomaus, and thus be comes a lethal opponent. Oenomaus' death is small wonder: excessive consump tion of wine entails disaster and death in Greek myth.479 4. 2. 3. Oenomaus in the Ancient Literary Tradition
Homer does not mention Oenomaus, Pelops' father-in-law, but a homonymous Trojan, who met his death at the hands of Idomeneus (II. 1 3 . 506- 1 0): Idomeneus hit Oenomaus at the stomach, and the bronze drew his entrails, 'Ioo{levev� 0' agu OLvo{luOV �af...E yuO'tEgu !J.EOOllV . . . OLa 0' EV'tEgU XUf...xO � ll
Pelops killed mighty Oenomaus and took the virgin as his wife; the issue of this marriage were six sons ugE'tULOL {le{lu6ra�, says Pindar.480 Barkhuizen argues "that Pindar intended us to see a play of words between Olvowxov and {le{lu,, 6ra�, if not an actual etymology of the name. 481 Gerber retorts that "this hardly seems an appropriate place for what would amount to a humorous paronomasia: Pelops, having overcome one 'who is eager for wine,' begets offspring who 'are ,, eager for deeds of prowess.' 482 479
480
48 1 482
See Od. 9. 374 (Cyclops); 10. 555 (Elpenor); 2 1 . 304 (Eurytion). The olvof3agdwv is "a most negative term in Homeric epic:" so Louden 1999: 38. The reading Wlla6r;a� is doubtful; some editors prefer the Byzantine reading [LE[LUt..6tU£. Bowra: Wlla6r;a�; cf. app. crit. in his OCT edition: "IlEllaA6r;a�. recc.: [LE[LUWtU£ V." Donaldson 1 868: 1 0 , opts for WllaA6r:a� on the evidence of lleAr/j.ta (Pyth. X. 59) and lliAWV (F. inc. 24). Gerber 1 982: 1 3 9-41 , retains the reading of the veteres C!lElla6r:a�), and takes the dative ug €taiOt as "the instrument by which the sons of Pelops give evidence of their ar dour" (1 39). Verdenius 1988: 40: "the dative denotes the field to which the action is limited." Barkhuizen 1 975: 1 4-16; the translation apud Gerber 1982: 140. Gerber 1 982: 140.
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203
However, the originality and expediency of this Pindaric paronomastic play are unmistakable, since it underpins the core value of Pindar's mythical exem plum, and thus promotes his epinician program: the conception of Oeno-maus as "one who is eager or lusts for wine" would be rather subversive in a victory ode that celebrates the achievements of an archetypal athlete, and would also under mine the basic laudatory purpose and the hyrnnic conventions of epinician poetry, in which the construction of appropriate foil or surrogate figures and analogies plays an instrumental role. If Pelops is the idealized heroic prototype on whom Hieron, the victor and commissioner of the ode, is positively and paradgmatically modelled, then the introduction of a mere drunkard, a methysos or olvof3aQti� Oenomaus as the opponent of this archetypal model, would be an unprecedented diplomatical blunder. It would not only compromise the virtue and dignity of the archegete of the Peloponnesians by providing him with an antiheroic and unwor thy opponent, but it would also offend Hieron and Pindar, whose poetic aptitude and reputation would be at stake. Pindar, a successful professional, emphasizes the fiendish and wicked nature of Oenomaus, diligently mentioning the thirteen suitors he had slain. Pindar's Pelops appears as an embodiment of civilization, as a hero who re leases both himself and the world from the grip of such a savage and beastly per son as Oenomaus. Pindar cannot get rid of the relation of the in-law with oinos and memaa, but he can re signify it in Pelops' progeny: the hero begets sons eager for deeds of valor, ug£LaLOL Wfla6r:a� VLOUS; (88). His Pelops thus "corrects" in his own progeny the inauspicious heredity, which was founded on both sides upon olvo�, fleflaa, fla{Oflat, flEVOtWXW and distorted noos. Both paternal figures are linked with symposia, drinking wine483 and mental failure. Pelops functions as their foil: he is the beloved of gods, and is auspiciously connected with wine, as olvoX60S; on Olympus, or as lover of Poseidon, the master of oinops pontos. The lust for blood that is inherent in memaos, is moreover transubstantiated in his cult. The dark and sinister legacy is disguised and the mental polarities of menos memaa are transformed into martial, virtues, which are imprinted in the names and actions of Aga-memnon and Mene-Iaus. Yet, despite the Pindaric veneer, these words never lose their original gloomy connotations; the history of the race is an infallible witness. Later poets treat Oenomaus in a variety of ways, emphasizing his ruthless ness, which is manifested in his killing the suitors and impaling their heads;484 we already had a flavor of this with Nonnus. Quintus Smyrnaeus also describes the crucial race between the two rivals, and alludes to the name of Oenomaus and its linguistic associations (Posthom. 4. 526-32), focusing on the parameter of intel483
484
Pi. 01. l .61 : sympotais; Hdn. Part. 140. 7-9, olvo;. . . Olvo/wo;, XUQLOV QVOlla. See Athen. 10. 426[ = fr. 2, peG 7: 40-4 1 : NLxoX6.QT]� youv EV "A./lv/u{wn ltI/o; toiivo�a lta(�(J)v £qJT] (I 770 K). 01 vO/lao; o{jtO�, XaTQE' nEVtE xat Mo, / xuyw tE xat au avwrotat YEvo(IlE8a. See Soph. Oenomaus [r. 473a, TrGF 4: 383 Radt with test.: seh. Pi. Isth. 4. 92a; Hygin Fab. 84; Philostr. maj. Imag. I . 30, p. 337 Kayser; Philostr. jun. Imag. 9, pp. 403-04 Kayser; Tzetz. ad Lye. Alex. 1 60b, 1 6 1 , 76 Seheer; Ovid lb. 365-66; Nonn. Dion. 20. 1 52-66.
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lect: Pelops accomplished a great deed; he overtook the chariot of the evil schemer Oenomaus, xaxoWQovOC; Olvof1aow, who has wrought pitiless death for the youth who woed his daughter, UflCJlL yaflOLo J'tEQCWQovoC; "I:rr :rr o bUIl£tTJI>. But although Oenomaus cared for horse-riding and possessed swift-footed horses (ou flaV XELVO� yE xaL t:rr :rr UOtnm f1Ef111AW� / t:rr :rr O UI> wxvJtooa� LOCO'lJ� EXEV), he had inferior horses (JtOAAOV / JtOOOLV uCJla'lJQo'tEQO'lJ�), which resembled the winds (oY yaQ 't ' ELOOV't' UVEltOLOLV).485 Speaking of the horses, which "looked like the winds," Quintus alludes to the famous horses of Ares, as well as to the name and essence of 'A.QJt Lv(v)a , Oenomaus' mother. The phrase oY yaQ 't' Et'oov't' UVEltOLOLV justifies the wind-like swiftness of the horses.486 The deriva tion of Oenomaus is echoed through f1ef1 11AW�, which refers to his interest in horsemanship; the replacement of the expected f1Ef1aw� by f1ef111AW� momentarily astonishes. Yet the negative intellectual repercussions of memaa and oinos are insinuated by the antithetical pair kakophron-periphron; uauocp{}wv explains and etymologizes Oenomaus, alluding to his inherent perverse associations with oinos, noos and memaa. To conclude with the semantics and etymology of Oenomaus, his association with oinos and maiomai is indisputable and validated in the ancient literary tradi tion. Oenomaus can be envisaged as one who "lusts for wine," and as one who embodies and actualizes the connotations of wine: as a man under the influence, he is arrogant, "blown" and elated, a serial killer and out of touch with due meas ure and sanity. The negative relations with metron, menos and mania characterize this family and determine its fate. Oenomaus conforms to the horizon of expecta tions that is circumscribed by his linguistic constitution: he not only lustsfor wine but also eagerly fosters (jdf1aa) dark plots in his mind (o[vo�; cf. voo�, o [V01jJ). He is overcome by an ambiguous figure, a former cupbearer, who embodies radi ance and darkness, and Olympian and chthonic liaisons.487
485
486
48 7
Quint. Srn. Posthom. 4.526-32: rH.Looe; EX O(lle;, Em:i, � !1EYU EQYOV EQESE/ ltUQcp<8>u!1EVOe; 800v aQ!1u xux6WQovo� Olvo/laotD, / oe; QU T6T' T)L8EOLGLV aVllAEU TEUJ(EV OAE8Qov / xouglle; a!1CPi, YU!10LO ltEQ(WQovo� "l3tltOOalU,l1J; / aAA' ov !1aV XE1V6e; yE xui, tltltaUlnUl W/lT/AW; / LltltOU; roxultooa; 'to(oue; EJ(EV , aAA' ligu ltOAAOV / ltOUUlv acpUugoTEgoUe; ' ill YUQ T' dOOVT' aVEIAOLOLV. Sch. Lye. Alex. 165, 77 Scheer: WUAAu xui, Ag.7Uvva ( 1 67) "LltltOL Oivo!1uOU ... LOllV t1glrv{m; ... AQlrvwt &E !1U8LXWe; OU(!10VEe; 'tLVEe; ... aglrvtat oE AEyOV'taL xui, OgVEU TLVU t1glraurtuii 08EV E!1u8EUOUV'tO xui, Tae; 'tOU LvEwe; 8uymEgue; 'EguOELUV xui, AglrVgEWV ogVEa ElVaL arpaglra�ovw T�V TgOcp�V altO 'tOU oT6!1u'tOe; 'tOU yEgoV'tOe;. aglrvwt &E aAAllyogLxwe; ot liVE!10L we; xui, vuv ltuga TO £v rep aigt lrirEo8m . A black ram is sacrificed for Pelops (Paus. 5. 1 3 . 2), while Oenomaus sacrifices a ram as well before chasing and killing the suitors. On the chthonic significance of the ram in the Olym pian and Lycaean ritual see Burkert 1983: 97-100, 106-07.
Atreus 4.
205
2. 4. Oenomaus in Art
Our foregoing inferences regarding the interlocked ethos and color of Oenomaus are confirmed in an artistic portrayal of the chariot race. Philostratus the Elder describes the conflict as follows (Imag. book 1 . 1 7. 1nnoMI1EW, p. 3 19 Kayser ): oga, ltal, 'tOu£ j.!EV 'tOU Oivow10v, w� ClELYO( If dOl XClL OCjJOClQOL oQlJflam AUUIl� If xaL UCjJQOU IJEQ'tO( 'tOUIL ClE ltfgl 'tOU£ AQXUCl% EiJgme; j.!UALOIa, xaL we; � EltELCl� Elt' (n6ltm� xaL oUx fUCjJU"OL� E�fUYVUV'tO, 'tOue; 6f IOU 1I£l.. olto;, we; 1..£ \lXot If ELm xal Iii f)v(\X ltg6OCPOQOL It£IOoli; If EIalgoL xaL Xgfj.!fI�OVIfe; 1111£116" IL xaL fUSUVEIOV Ilie; V(Xl1£, I6v If Oivo/laov, w£ raa xal D.LOj.!1jCll1£ 0 8g(is �uQ�aQ6� If xEttm xaL QH!O� to E1ClO�. "Look, my boy, at the horses of Oenomaus, how fierce they are and keen to run, full of rage and covered with foam -you will find such horses especially among the Arcadians-and how black they are, harnessed as they were for a monstrous and accursed deed. But look at the horses of Pelops, how white they are, obedient to the rein, comrades as they are of Persua sion, neighing gently and as if aware of the coming victory. And look at Oenomaus, how like he is to the Thracian Diomedes as he lies there, a barbarian and savage of aspect" (Fairbanks, Loeb).
The black, foaming and raving horses of Oenomaus represent the ethos of their master, matching his fury, unlawful and unspeakable pursuits and darkness. Arca dia evokes Lycaon (cf. Avrrrz) and his cannibalistic rites, and insinuates the rabid and frantic nature of the black horses, which are yoked for infamous deeds (bt' cnonoLe; xaL oux £Ucp�f-lO Le;). These horses become symbols of Oenomaus' sav agery and excommunication from civilization. Philostratus the Younger (Imag. 9. rrt}..o 1jJ, pp. 403-04 Kayser) also mentions the delight that Oenomaus takes at im paling the suitors' heads, and describes him as aygwe; lc5elv xaL cpovwv to Ol1l1a, "man of savage aspect and with murder in his eyes," and like the barbarian Dio medes (notorious for his flesh-eating horses) is Wf-l0e; to £looe;. Contrastingly, the white and docile horses of Pelops symbolize the soothing effect of Peitho, and project the corresponding nature of their master. The two contestants and their matching horses constitute foil figures: Oenomaus represents a primal, raw and uncivilized state; conversely, Pelops appears as a civilizing figure. The cultural clash and the pervasive spirit of Olympism have been imprinted in the artistic representation of this contest. 4. 3. Atreus
Atreus, as we saw above,488 personifies the atrocity, fearlessness and impious boldness that plagues the genos. Plato illustrates the meaning and the etymon of this name, which is natural and reflects the ethos of its bearer (Cra. 395b2-c2): 488
On the names of Atreus and Agamemnon see ch. 2.6, "Reversal of Etymology or Unnaming."
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law<; cE )tal, 0 AT�>I:V� oQ6roS eX£L. i5 TE yaQ TOU XQuaeltltOU aUT
au'tiji 'to QvoJla x£1: 'taL.
"The name 'Atreus' also seems to be correct; for both his murder of Chrysippus and his cru elty to Thyestes were damaging and destructive (atera) to his virtue. However, the meaning of his name is somewhat distorted and obscure, so that it doesn't express his nature to every one. But to those who understand about names it adequately expresses what 'Atreus' means. For whether the name accords with his stubborness (ateires), or his boldness (atrestos), or his destructiveness (ateros), it is correctly given to him" (Reeve).
Sedley observes that the philosopher "combines in a single string of sound" the above words: Plato speaks here of "combination" and "it is a vital methodo logical principle that a single name may be a portmanteau word , combining two ,, or more different meanings. 489 This view seems to be strengthened by the verb EJtLXEXaA.1J:7ttaL, which means to be covered, and carries the notion of over lapping; the verb functions as a technical term, describing the phenomenon of semantic and phonetic concurrence. Would it be far-fetched to assume that the alliteration in the phrase (lrrz{!Cx :7tQ o� Ct{!ET"zV and the notion ofEJtLxaA.1Jtln� allow also Ct{!ET"z to enter the etymological map of Atreus? All three qualities encoded in Atreus' name evoke the mythical microstories of his grandfathers on both sides: taking after them, he is ateires (tough, cruel), atrestos (fearless) and ateros (beset with ate); his essence centers on alpha priva tive. The concept of atrestos merits our attention since it negates trein,49o which means to fear and tremble, and harks back to the ancestral trait of shaking and oscillating, talanteia and talanteuomai. Atreus does not waver and his career vali dates his name: unflinching, cruel, and clouded by ate, he acts out the aggressive aspects of *tlao; he dares commit deeds condemned by the divine and human communities alike, while the sun reverses his route upon seeing his acts of atroc ity: Atreus sacrifices the children of his brother Thyestes and serves them up to their father on a xQE01JQy6v �!!aQ (Aes. A£am. 1 592), a day of criminal ambigu ity. Atreus mimicks the deeds of Tantalus 91 not to satisfy the gods, but his own dynastic aspirations; he wishes to revenge himself on his adulterous wife and his brother. The cannibalistic dinner has been secularized; gods no longer mingle with mortals. This abominable and appalling feast, ta t' tno)vuJuJ. OEL:7tva 8u€ow1J 489
490
491
Sedley 2003: 80-8 1 with n. 1 1 . The distinctive features of Atreus continue their effect in future generations: the connotations of a-priv.+TQfw are reversed several times for both Agamemnon (his phrenes trorneonto, lI. 10. 1 0; cf. trorneei gyia, 10. 95), and Menelaus (trornos took hold of him), or are validated: in the course of a simile, for instance, Agamemnon like a lion breathes trornos upon his enemies ( l J . 1 1 3-2 1). Of the Latin Atreus we had a glimpse above (n. 343). Pelops also emulates his father when he treacherously murders, dismembers and scatters the limbs of the Arcadian king Stymphalus (Ps.-Apollod. Bibl. 3. 1 2 . 6). Yet he does not shed kin blood.
Agamemnon
207
(Eur. Or. 1 008), is commemorated in the name of Thyestes, "who eats the sacrifi cial victim" « (Jvw/(Jvo�+{ow). The ancestral taboo food and the abhorrent human victuals continue to plague and divide the genos even onomastically. The ancestral distinctive features of this family -*tlao, ate, menos and memaa cross the intergenerational lines and beset its male members; daring, suffering, and enduring, along with ate both as mental blindness or punishment mark their mythical vita, as we shall see below. The manic propensities of tleVOL vrov Tanta Ius and Oeno-maus cling on this genos, but as we move down the line, the canni balistic and atrocious traits of the Ur-fathers are watered down and diluted; this is required by the change of time and values. The younger members of the genos continue to exhibit their generic properties, though softened. The raw uncivilized memaa of the grandparents is distributed between the two Atreids in varying de grees, accompanied by the pronounced ancestral *tlao. These two resurface in the sacrifice of Iphigeneia, which undergoes a civilizing process presented as an act of duty and obligation of the chief-in-command towards his allies. In Aga memnon and Mene-Iaus the heredity is subjected to gradation; their menos is quantified (cf. agan) or specified (cf. laos). The two brothers slide along the scale of menos-mania, drifting from the positive pole, occupied by the compassionate and tempered menos of Mene-laus, the "leader of men," to the negative pole, oc cupied by the excessive ruthlessness of Aga-memnon; the ancestral sphragis of the criminal tolma, ate, menos and mania is indelibly stamped on this genos. In the hands of the Attic tragedians these traits become pivotal points in an agonizing reflection on human responsibility and divine interference. A few selective exam ples will prove the point. 4. 4. Agamemnon
To start with the explicit etymologizing of Plato, we are surprised to find, espe cially after his contemptuous comments about the shortsighted Pelops who piled misery onto his family, a derivation that disregards the notorious, gloomy and negative picture of the Aeschylean Agamemnon: Plato decides to highlight his "admirable" martial talents, his "insistence" and "perseverence" at war (Cra. 395 a2-b2): L:Q. L:Q.
YEmXEV Of yE xal Tii'J ltUTQl auwu l(a'ta ql1)OtV 'to OVO/ola Etvat. EPM. aCvETm. KLVOUVE1JEL yaQ TOLOUT6£ TL£ dvm 6 « Aya/lf/lVWv,» 010£ a 06�ELEV aUTii'J � vE1qflm xal xaQTEQEly To..O£ EltmflEl£ TOl£ 06�am OL' UQETijV. 0l1/olEiov OE auwu � EV TQoC(l /lovh wu Jt(iflou� TE xal xaQTEQCa�. OTL OBV ayaoro,; l(a'ta 'tlJV brt/lovhv OVTO£ 6 UVllQ hOl1/olaivEt TO DVO!!a 6 « A ya/lf/lVwv» .
So. "And his father's name also seems to accord with nature. Herm. It does. So. Yes, for Agamemnon is someone who worked hard and persevered, bringing his plans to completion because of his virtue or excellence. The stay of his army in Troy and his perseverance there is a sign of this. And thus the name 'Agamemnon' signifies that this man is admirable (agastos) for holding his ground (epirnone)" (Reeve).
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Applying his favorite technique, Plato supplies first the interpretation (OLaJto vELoElm XUt XU(.l'tEQELV, XUQtEQLU) and the semantics of the name, 'to bTJl..o uJt£ vov, in Proclus' terminology, and then spells out its derivation, to OLaJtoVELoElm XUt XUQtEQELV :rtQOEL:rtwv, £:rttlyay£v on ODV ayaoro; aVllQ btu 'tl)v Em/-tovi/v (Procl. 89, p. 45 . 1 9-22 Pasq.). Following the overall pattern of ancient etymolo gizing, Plato approaches this name with a degree of bias and subjectivity: he ar ticulates the initial Aga- as agastos (admirable), hence submitting a positive value rather than a negative, agan, "too much," probably contradicting other implicit etymological alternatives that take into account the excesses of Agamemnon and his hybris; the gloomy portrait drawn of him by Aeschylus has made a wide im pact. This bias is noted by Proclus (90, p. 45. 23-25 Pasq.), 'tOY Aya/-te/-tvova :rtaQu 'to ayaorov ouyx£to9at AEYEL, ov l'taQu 'to ayav.
Plato's partiality is not exceptional; from Homer onwards, poets, scholiasts and grammarians felt free to interpret texts in their own idiosyncratic and purpose serving ways. Etymology, a long-revered, deeply-rooted and accredited instru ment of elucidation and commentary, gives poets and scholars a unique opportu nity to impress new ideas onto old texts and situations. This Platonic passage also provides in embryo the technical terminology from which semiology and semiot ics will benefit (OTJJtetov, EvOTJJtalvet). Turning to poetic etymologizing, Homer treats Agamemnon in significant ways, offering valuable clues of ethographical and etymological nature, which do not differ from modem assumptions. 492 Homer often focuses on the wide rule and regal power of Agamemnon (e.g. Il. 1 . 278-8 1 ; 2. 1 05-08), or his martial virtues, such as insistence and perseverence.493 We already witnessed a touch of his de formation or unnaming by Achilles (ch. 2.6, above). Agamemnon makes his debut in Iliad 1 in all his might and "black" menos, which borders on mania; central is the role of his "eyes" and the verb "to fill" ( 1 . 1 0 1 -05):
492
See Frisk S.v. 1\ ya{lE{lVwv:<* A ya-Iufo{lwv (Prellwitz) <,uEVO;, {lEVE! v (Kretschmer, Curtius). Heubeck 1968: 357-61 Kleine Schriften 268-272. Palmer 1 980: 35-36, finds a verification of the leitmotiv principle in the name "Aga-memnon, which has been analysed as Aga-men mon with metathesis; but it is also possible that the characterizing suffix -on has been added to memn-, a reduplicated fonn of the root men-. With both analyses the meaning remains the same: 'he who stands fast exceedingly' . The leitmotiv is detectable semantically in the fa ther's name, but there it is given different linguistic expression. Atreus is clearly a shortened fonn of a name whose first element was a-tres- 'not running away,' for the root tres- has the meaning of 'panic-stricken flight. ' In Sparta tresiis was the tenn for a deserter." See van der Valk LfgrE 1 955 S.V. l .<{lEOO{lat *1\ya{lEO{lWV, 'der sehr Waltende' : u) *-{lEO{lWV> -{lEV (lWV>-{lE{lvwV, �) *-{lEO{lWV> -{lEO{lWV. 2. {l£v- a) (lEVW 'der (sehr) Ausharrende' b u) {l£v (lE{lVI1-{lat, �) {l£v- {lEVO� ' der sehr Lebenskrafiige.' von Kamptz 1982: 8 1 , §26b <,uEOO{lat. The ancients derive Agamemnon from ayav+{lEVW (EGud. a 7. 20; EM 5. 43; Choer. Proleg. 32b, I: 8 G; Epim. Hom. a 289 (Dyck 1 995: 166), but indirectly associate it also with {lEOW through the equation of EVQvxQdwv and EVQV{lEOWV; ol :n;aAmoC named Agamemnon 1\ ya{lEOWV (Eust. I: 259.10-16; ib. 446.1 8-20). Eust. n. 3 : 833. 16-20, discussing Ma({laAo;, connects Agamemnon with memaa: Ma({laAo; . � ltu(!a TO {lat{lav � ltu(!a TO {lat{lav fiAt;, ljyouv ACav :n;Qo8Wfi:a8m, 6:n;oi:6v Tt xal TO 1\ ya{lE{lVWV 01]A.OUV cpaCVftUl. =
493
..
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1:0Lot 6' a VEa1:1l ijQoo<; l\TQe'L61l<; EUQU XQE(OOV A yaflEflvwv aXVUI-IEvO<; flEveor; 6e UEYU WQEYE� <WW), lIEl..aLvU! JC{WfAavi, oaaE bE ot JtuQ), I.. UI-IJtfTOWVTL f{xTIlY Kal..XUVTU JtQwnoTu xax' oaaoflEVOr; JtQOOEHJtE .
"and among them rose the warrior, son of Atreus, wide-ruling Agamemnon, deeply vexed; and with rage was his black heart wholly filled, and his eyes were like blazing fire. To Cal chas first of all he spoke and his look threatened trouble" (Murray rev. Wyatt).
Agamemnon, accompanied by his insignia, rises firstly as the chief-in-command, thus lending credibility to his derivation from ayav+/lt8w, and secondly as Atrei des and representative of a wider family, having donned the accoutrements of his lineage, /ltvo;, /ltvw and /lav{a.494 As a true descendant of Pel-ops, he is "filled" (.7l{/l.7lAavr') with rage and his "eyes" (OOOE) bum like fire. This specific verbal form is reserved for Agamemnon and his foil, Achilles, who broods over his wrath (Ilfjv£; ) and refuses to make amends with Agamemnon (cf. JU/l.7lAaVETat /lEVW;, 9. 679). The inherited features are concentrated in this initial picture of the supreme Greek leader and foreshadow the disaster he is capable of wreaking in his delusion, ate, which plays a big part of him in the Iliad. The Homeric Agamemnon proves a case study for the relation of name and thing (11. 2. 1 04-41 ). The poet makes the scepter that Hermes had donated to Pelops, a symbol of kake apate ( 1 1 4) and ate ( 1 1 1 ), of bad deception and mental blindness: Zeus deceives Aya-/lt/lvwV, who in his turn distorts the decrees of Zeus VJ1:E[J-/lEVl1; ( 1 1 6) and deceives the Achaeans. Instead of marsha ling them to war, as ordained by god-sent Oneiros, he urges them to withdraw and prepare to sail back home. He thus reverses his diacritical features, which reside in ayav+ /ltvw, advising retreat, CPfUYWj.lfV (2. 140). He even turns into a reduced double figure of Zeus, into a poor and dangerous schemer, whose designs would have thrown the entire expedition into chaos, had Athena not roused the sound schemer, 'OcSuofla, LHL /lfj1:£V araAavrov ( 1 69). Odysseus takes over at this criti cal moment and restores order and discipline ( 1 83-332). Holding the potent family heirloom ( 1 00-08), the regalia of the Tantalid Pelops ( 1 85-86), Odysseus operates as king by proxy (x.oLQa VEWV, 207), and appropriates concepts intimately linked with the name and essence of Agamemnon. Pointing out ironically and almost EX toU aVTL8EtoU the uncertainty of the v60� k!:[JEtWVO; (as if
To consolidate his power and the meaning of his name, Agamemnon invites Achilles to stay, menein, or go as he likes ( I . 1 73-74), and deprives him of his honorary gift (Briseis) with the purpose of showing to Achilles and all the others that he is pherteros and they cannot vie with him (1 86-87; cf. 277-84). Achilles' answer is quick and contempuous: he insults Agame mnon, retracting his inherent attributes of agan menein and medein (225-32).
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fiasco. A great part of book 2 probes the problematic value of the royal emblem and the nature of the leader of the thunderous name Agamemnon: the relations of signifier and signified (ayav+tJ,£ow and tJ,£vw) are seriously challenged but rein stated by Odysseus, the exponent of ,din;. Fifth century tragedy capitalizes on the duality of the ancestral *tlao and its consequences. Aeschylus interlaces the two complementary meanings of *tlao in the crucial dilemma of Agamemnon, who, true offspring of Tantalus, swings be tween two equally painful alternatives: to sacrifice his daughter or fail in his alli ance. He is trapped in a mental oscillation, a potent and deadly talanteia, border ing on mania, and a ruinous tolma. His tragic decision to sacrifice his daughter, another Pelopid child, is formulated in a telling manner of etymological import (Aes. Agam . 220-25): ,68EV ,0 navr6roAIlov WooYEiy UE,Eyvw.
I3g01:Ou� 80aauvEL yug aia)(o6UU'L� nXAat va Itaoaxoltu ItgW1:01t�ltWV {TAa 0' o?'v 8u,�g YEvEa8m 8uyacg6� "from that moment he reversed his mind and turned to utter recklessness. For men are em boldened by base-counselling wretched infatuation, the beginning of woe. However, he brought himself [i.e. he dared] to become the sacrificer of his daughter" (Frankel).
Agamemnon "breathes the unholy wind that changes the mind," WQEYO� rcVEwV O'lJOOE�T] tQorca(av (2 1 9), and from that moment onwards he changes his mind and dares do things of utrnost daring (220_2 1 ).495 The verb etla and its cognates, talaina and pantotolmon, are interlaced with synonymous words (underlined), which signify mental disturbance and confusion, and attend a genuine descendant of tJ,EVOtVWV Tantalus and Oeno-maus on the eve of a child sacrifice. The em phatic references to the "wretched first act of folly" and especially to "vision" and ,, "voice, 496 evoke the first sacrificed child, Pel-ops : hence the two children reveal the ethos and the fate of this teknophagic family. The ancestral male gathering and the sympotic setting recur in Aeschylus: with an arrow issuing from her eyes, 495
496
Agamemnon and Menelaus share in varying degrees the lexeme IlEVW, but their differing idiosyncrasies are clothed in chromatic terms in the simile of the two eagles which devour the pregnant hare-Troy (Aes. Agam. 109-20). Aeschylus caps a long series of talas and *tlao ref erences that culminate in the murder scene, calling the two brothers OLCPUEi� TavraA{oat (Agam. 1468-69), who suffered in the hands of two sisters. The patronymics Tantalidae IAtreidae become synonymous with death, misfortune and sacrifice of kin (Eur. Or. 807-1 8). "Eye" and "voice" are pronounced in Iphigeneia's sacrifice in Aes. Agam. 228-45: (a) noov wmi�, xaU{nOqJOo� [<norpoa<no6+60aw], El3aIJ.'.. fm' ollllaro� l3o.EL; (b) AL1:a�, XAT]66.
va�, a,6lta1:O� ... CPUAuxi;t xacaaXEiv cp86yyov ugaiov, uvaUOql ItEvEL, EltEA1j!EV auoi;t. Denniston-Page 1 957: 90, consider xaAA{nOqJOo� "an extreme example of its type, the com pound adjective of which the latter element is meaningless," and quote Sept. 533. But Iphige neia is a Pel-opid child, whose sacrifice aims at calming down the winds and ensuring sailing; the nautical metaphor (norpoa) is essential here.
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Iphigeneia desires to hit her male sacrificers, for whom she had often sung patros kat ' andronas eutrapezous (244). In a flashback, the original sacrificial frame is revived, along with the mental repercussions of O[VO� and the insane and distorted ways of reciprocating hospitality. In a sympotic context Agamemnon's father, Atreus, had killed his nephews. The murder of Agamemnon, an all-daring and deranged Tantalid figure, is ac complished in an homeopathic manner by Clytaemestra, who takes over the major behavioral and linguistic features that stamp this family: she dares, iOAf.1(i ( 1 23 1 ), and as JTaVi6iOAf.10� ( 1 237) commits the murder with fearless, trembling-not, heart, CtT{}£OUP xago(g. ( 1 402). Cassandra also "dares" face her ineluctable death at the hands of this bold woman ( 1 1 36, 1 1 38, 1 298, 1 302), while the chorus has dark premonitions about the future now that the most friendly guard, has suffered many woes at the hands of his wife, cpuf...a xo� sl'f.1EVEOUliOv / JtOf...f...U rAaViO� O La Y1Jvmx6� ( 1 452-53).497 As Cassandra before, so now Clytaemestra describes the murder of Agamemnon in sacrificial terms; the family is caught in the grip of corrupt sacrifice; the Tantalean feast looms over the genos. Clytaemestra eventu ally realizes the implications of her deeds: by an act of frenzy that denounces her name and essence (cf. 1 426-29), she has added a new link to the chain of crimes that plague this family, and has attached herself to the thrice-nourished daemon and the ate of the Tantalid / Atreid genos (cf. ahoy CtT11lo)('ipUXl]�, 1 483). Reproached for wavering, having changed his mind and having dispatched a secret but intercepted letter to his wife, the Euripidean Agamernnon addresses his brother, with pomp and the unfaltering spirit that becomes an Atreides (Eur. lA 321): �&v T{}£Oa� oux avaxaf...lhjiw 6f...€Q2aQov A T{}£W� YEYW�; Agamernnon formulates the quintessence of his genealogical prescriptions: boldness, mental oscillation but also steadfastness and fearlessness epitomize the nature of a Tan talid, Pelopid and Atreid; the family is marked by polar oppositions and reversals. 4. 5. Menelaus
Modem scholars have tackled Menelaus and its constitution in satisfactory ways. Palmer considers Mene-liiwos a transparent name, which along with Agamemnon exemplifies his leitmotiv principle; it means "he who makes the folk stand fast," with men- in the sense of 'abide,' 'cause to abide.' ,,498 This etymology is repeat edly alluded to in the Homeric epos: the ancestral properties are put to good mar497
498
The Attic Tragedy persistently characterizes the members of this family with clusters of cog nates bearing on rOA/la, *rAaw, raAa�, rA7)pWV, raAmva. The contest between male and female is decided with acts of deranged boldness, to which Orestes attaches himself with the matricide. The ambiguity of *rAaw underscores the Latin story of the Tantalis Niobe (Ov. Met. 6): daring (audeo, audax, 1 85, 2 1 2, 269-70, 288) and suffering (miseranda, misera, 276, 284, 292) are interwoven in her vita; cf. Bacch. fr.20D, rAanEv8t1£, 1\uarAch[ou mi8u£. Palmer 1 980: 35. See von Kamptz § 1 8a l , p. 62: Menelaus should be judged according to /lEVE-cSiji:o�, "dem Feind standhaltend." Mader LfgrE 1 993 S.v. "MEVEAUO£," ' der beim Yolk bleibt,' 'der fur sein Yolk standhlilt.'
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tial effect, and Menelaus' resistence, insistence, endurance (menos, menein, me maa) and absence of trembling or fleeing (A-treides, trein) on the battlefield con stitute a commonplace. His intimate contact with these inherited qualities and vi sion is illustrated in Iliad 3, in the preamble of his aborted duel with Paris. Mene laus dons his ancestral lexical and semantic accoutrements, thus proving a formidable foil for his effeminate opponent. In the compass of a simile (3. 23-28), he is compared to Uwv, an animal known for its wild volition and vision; its ety mology carries both « AcXW (a) to desire, yearn, (b) to see). These semantic al ternatives are combined in the person of "Menelaus the lion," who "rejoices" in his heart upon "seeing" his enemy, Paris, and insists in seizing his prey. The choice of lion, a regal symbol that often stands for the members of this dynasty in Attic tragedy,499 acquires a deeper pertinence here on account of the duality of AcXW: desirous (cf. AfjJla) and possessing acute vision, the lion coresponds to Me nelaus and his distinctive features (*rAcXw, rOA{lll and o'ljJ = face, eyes); the ances tral traits of Tantalus and Pelops loom in the background. Menelaus becomes the foil of Alexandrus, who upon seeing Menelaus among the foremost warriors is panic-stricken in his heart, EV ltQollaXOtOL cpavEvta, XatEltA:rjyy) cpCAOV �t o Q (3 . 3 1 ). This phrase, in which are concentrated the major linguistic features of the Pelopids, is a hapax in the Iliad. Ironically, the Trojan "Warder of men" seeks safety among his companions (3. 33-37): =
w� b' (hE TC� TE b(.HlxoV'ta [billv 1t aA CvoQoO � (mEoT,!] oUQo� EV ��oon�, u1t6 TE r{}6Jlo� eAAa�E yuia, u'/l b' UVEXOOQ'!]OEV, � TE �LV dAE 1taQEL(l�, &� a-otL� xae' O�LAOV ebu TQoo(J)v UYEQOOX(J)V bECoa� A r{}io� u tOY AAE;a vbQo� 8EOELb��. "And just as a man at the sight of a snake in the glades of a mountain starts back, and trem bling seizes his limbs beneath him, and he draws back again and pallor lays hold of his cheeks, so did godlike Alexander, seized with fear of Atreus' son, shrink back into the throng of the lordly Trojans" (Murray, rev. Wyatt).
Alexandrus, in a pronounced deformation of his essence and name, jumps back wards as one who "sees" a serpent, the vehicle of "vision" (oQcXuwv
499
The Aeschylean Agamemnon exploits the potential of "lion" (murderous, noble, valorless, two-footed lioness) and its ATllta to its fullest. Iphigeneia stands for the young one of the ferocious lions, which no one should touch (Tsitsibakou-Vasalos 1 995: 23 1-46); Relen is also a sweet lion cub that eventually becomes a priestess of disaster, of Ate, while Clytaemestra as a lioness subdues the royal lion, utilizing her natural advantage of fostering xAvra Jl�OW, notorious schemes, and becoming his match. She is a desirous lioness with a remarkable martial discipline, organizing talents, forethought and vision, by which she brings down the "blind" offspring of Pel-ops. Yet her prognostication fails; only too late she realizes that her lust and revenge, her AijJta, have fastened her onto the ancestral ate and the alastor of the genos. On Relen's etymology see Tsitsibakou-Vasalos 2004: 45-48.
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"color," the Trojan prince reverses his derivation, bringing into relief that of Me ne1aus; indeed, transference of etymology works. The essence of Menelaus is manifested also in Iliad 1 7, which describes the battle around the corpse of Patroc1us. The poet focuses on the encounter of Eu phorbus and Menelaus, employing a number of mel- and men- words, which are distributed between the two combatants. Euphorbus acknowledges the authority of Menelaus over the laos, but commands him to retire and belie his intrinsic con nections with "staying," "resisting" and "not fleeing:" A i(JEUj1J MEvEAaE fl LO tQ£CP£e:;, oQXU!!£ Aawv / xa�£O, AdJt£ oE v£xQov ( 1 7. 12-13). The Trojan asks the Greek to renounce the first component of his name (xa�OUaL : xuta aVtLcpQumv of jlEVW), and disprove both his individual and ancestral expectations. Menelaus warns Euphorbus that he will be punished like strong Hyperenor, and extols the virtue, the menos, of Panthos' sons, vL£e:; EU!!!!£ALaL (23), likening them to a leop ard, lion and boar. Leopards and lions are notorious for their shiny and wild eyes (y1..U VXOL 6m£e:;), while boars are famous for their endurance, unyielding spirit and "ferocious vision" (aEl£v£'C /3AEjlWtVEt, 22). 500 Mene1aus' speech abounds with words, which are genuine or pseudo- members of the menos family (J1EVO�, 20, 29; tm:EjlEtVE, 25; cf. the alliteration in EjljlEVat, 27), or their synonyms (� = jldvn�, 30; cf. !!l]O' aVtLoe:; Lmua', 3 1 ). The diacritical qualities of Panthos' sons, significantly, correspond to those of the Pelopids and Atreids. Euphorbus and Menelaus vie on the lines of wild Afyw, menos, memaa, distorted qJ(JovElv, and vision. The death of Euphorbus is foreboded by his unnaming: the expectations raised of a man of "good nourishment" are canceled, as he dies like an eradicated flourishing shoot of olive tree that grows in a far away solitary place, E'Qvoe:; ... E(Jt81JU� EAULl]e:; / XWQW EV o io n:o A.ql ... i1JAE8aov (53-55); i1JAE8aov is either a reduplicated form of 8aAAw, or a compound of -riile+8aAAw. Pel-ops'descendant kills Euphorbus, who is invested in the compass of the simile with the ancestral features of his killer (:rrilm-:rroloq, :rrOAVq, antiphrastic of oloe:;, and -riiAe/ 1rJIAVt ) . At this point the protective motherly imagery used of Menelaus yields to male aggressiveness: Menelaus, who tends Patroc1us as a cow tends her young heifers ( 1 7. 4-6), is transformed into a mountain-bred lion, which tears apart and devours a cow. As dogs and shepherds shout, but do not "wish" (E8£1.. oo Aaw) to draw near the AEWV, so also the Trojans dare not come against Mene1aus in their terror (66-69): cmoJtQoEl£v ouo' EEI£Aovmv / aVtLoV E1.. 8 £!!£vaL ... we:; tmv OUtLVL ElV!!oe:; EVL atl1E1wmv / EiOAjla aVtLOV E1..8 £!!£vaL M£v£A.aoV XVOU1.. L!!O LO . The Trojans keep away from the descendant of Pelops (aJtoJtQoEl£v ti}A.£/:rnlA.ut) and dare not (EiOAjlU) face the descendant of Tantalus. Mene1aus the lion mobilizes the combined paternal traits, and faces the dilemma of staying or retreating, so of validating or reversing his name and essence, when Apollo, disguised as MEVi1J� �
�
500
EGud. i3 273 . 9-1 0: (3).f/u;a{vwv . nUQa to {3giJ1,w ... fj up {3UJ1,J1,aTt cpo{3w. Similarly EM 1 99. 45-5 1 ; sound and eyes/ face (cf. o1jJ LSJ A,B) mingle here. The leopard is named after its velocity and 'jumping in front or past" « lTQoaJ..Aw8m, lTaQaJ..Aw8m, Scholia-D n. 1 7. 20), thus serving as a suitable symbol of "all-swift" Panthos (
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(an abbreviated form of Mevi-Aao�),50 1 intervenes and encourages Hector (7 1 8 1 ). Apollo appears as Menelaus' linguistic double and functional foil. Menelaus is chased against his will by dogs and men ( 1 06- 1 3) "like a bearded lion." This is the current interpretation OntS; ijiiYEW:WS; ( 1 09), although geneion is cognate with gignomai, genos, and as such anticipates the return of Menelaus and his rein statement as a lion "of noble lineage" (cf. eVyev��). A passage that illustrates most clearly the essence and etymology of Menelaus also occurs in Iliad 1 7: Athena, who is known as A trytone « T(JVW, T(Jiw, TeL(JW) , is here wrapped in a purple cloud, JtoQoLVt� in form and voice, CxTe£(Jia
xaL ol /lv{Tj; � EVL OtijElwOLV EVT]XEV, ij tE xaL EQYO[!EVTj [!UAa ltEQ XQOOC; avoQO[!EOtO tOJ(ayua OaXEELV, AaQov tE ol at/l' avElQwlt01l . tOL01l [!LV � ltAT]OE CPQEva� alLCPL ILEAuva� "and in his breast set the daring of the fly that, though it be driven away often from the skin of a man, ever persists in biting, and sweet to it is the blood of man; with such daring she filled his dark heart within him" (Murray, rev. Wyatt).
The ancient scholiasts aptly parallel the ethos of the hero and the habits of the insect: both share EJU/10V�, which the poet emphasizes, seeking what is suitable to the thing (to C:tQf.t. OOWV 1:4> JtQuyf..tu n �T]1:wv). The scholiasts criticize the choice of this image, JtQOS; 'to huf..t oV XUt br:(/1oVOV fJ Eixwv, but admit that the poetic words cover its humbleness. 503 The simile uses a lowly but obstinate and insistent 501
502 503
See von Kamptz §53a 1 , p. 145, §70b 255, MEVTTj;: WZ.*men-, "denken" in horn. /lE/lOVa "sinne, trachte" . . . angeschlossen an VN wie MEvEAao;." Significantly, Athena is worshipped as Tharso: sch. AbT n. 5. 2a; cf. sch. PQT Od. 7. 5 1 . Scholia-D n. 17. 570. /lv{Tj; �: to flttl10VOV tOU ijQWOC; MYEL. Sch. bT n. 1 7 . 570a: /.W{I1; �: ltLElavwc; ov /lv{\1 avtov elXaIJeV (�v yaQ ov Xata T)Qw'(xov a�LW[!a T) elxolv), a/../.. a to EluQooC; avtT]C; ltQOOEElTjXEV T) ElEOC;; ib. sch. bT 570b. a/../.. wc;· /lV{I1; �: xaL EltL ta EAUXLOta XatUYEtaL, to aQ[!ootOv to ltQuy[!an �Tjtwv. al DE ltOLTj tLxaL M�ELC; EltLXaAUltt01l0L to taltELvov. ltQOC; to ita[!ov ovv xaL £:n:tI10VOV ij dXolV. Sch. A" 570c. ElQaoutatov yaQ to �wov.
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creature to rouse Menelaus, reminding him of both his constitution and essence. This simile becomes a carrier of singular significance: similar attitudes and sounds bind p,via and Mene-laus both etymologically and functionally. This parallelism is reaffirmed by an independent scholium on another fly sim ile in book 2 : the Greeks swarm and rush against the Trojans as the flies swarm near the milk pots in the springtime. The Homeric Scholia (bT Il. 2. 469a) com ment on ijihE p,vuiwv abtVuwv: JtQo£ to Em8W1']tL'XOV tOU arp,aro�. EJt LOtaVtO bLaQQai:om p,Ep,aWTE�» (B 472-3). The insect is chosen specifically because of its habits, its thirst for blood, insistence and precipitation (pvia ' o il )(atQi(O� l'UIVU £XEt to p,t:p,aw�, ov yaQ EXEYYUO£ �v UVEA-ELV tOY UVtCOV EA-8ovta, p,t:p,aw� IlEVtOL �v oLa 8aQoaA-Eo£. bto )(at P,V(1;l £V toi� £sf]� Jtou £i,)(a�£tat btu to ayav EV p,axn JtQo8UJ.tov [in 11. 17. 570-73] . Apollo discounts the inherited qualities o f Menelaus A-treides, contraposing his past softness to his present belligerence. Providing a good example of the transference of etymology (v7riTQt:Ga� and its synonym taQ6nOELEV hark back to A TQt:Ujrz�, but also describe the attitude of Hector and the TQWE�), Apollo scolds Hector ( 1 7. 5 86-89): "EXTOQ, T(� XE a' El' U1J,o� f\Xm
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Menelaus is forced to desert the battlefield against his will ( 1 7. 656-67), likened to a lion that abandons a farmstead after he has vexed men and dogs alike, but has accomplished nothing; he leaves with sullen heart as they hurl blazing torches against him, 'ta£ LE r(JEl EQQUUEy6� :1tEQ (663), "before which he quails, though he is very eager" (£QQUUaL {li{laa); his diacritical qualities as Menelaus, the offspring of A-treus, Tantalus menoinon and Oenomaus are subtly challenged. Menelaus' presence often motivates various forms of r(Jiw (cf. dietresan), which evoke his patronymic Atreides and his effect on the T(JWE; (e.g. If. 1 1 . 481 -86). Later poetry is also sensitive to the repercussions of Menelaus: its second component, laos, is implicitly narrativized by Euripides (Or. 688-92): Menelaus returned home without his allies and friends, that is, his laos; hence he has no hopes of winning, deprived as he is of the one half of his etymology and his power as well. The scholiast on Lycophron (Alex. 1 49a30-1 50ab, 69-70 Scheer) mentions the genealogical blending of Menelaus , whom he calls [Ha 'tOU'tO oDY fyiol(Jijra �aQ�uQoy; his grandfather, Pelops, was Lydian by origin, while his mother, Aer ope, was Cretan. 504 K(Jllrrz, located at the crossroads between three continents, is the theater of cross-cultural and ethnic mingling and intermarriages. The Pelopids exhibit a high degree of intermixing and a natural association with x(Jtim; and xE(JavVV{lt, which is not always felicitous. Aer-ope signifies "dark-faced," and her behavior (breaking wedding vows and adultery, Eur. Or. 1 009- 1 0) makes her a double figure of Pel-ops, "dark-faced," who also plots against Oenomaus and drowns his co-conspirator, Myrtilus, thus heaping calamities upon his family. Pelops eventually enjoys a hero cult and is mingled with ritual libations, Ut/!u xov(J{m. The verb xE(JavVV{l t and the notion of "mixing" may etymologize K(Jll; and K(Jijaaa and have a genealogical import, but they may also have a meta phorical value, recalling firstly the crater, an object of central significance for the ill-starred symposia that haunt the vita of this dynasty, and secondlly the watering down and dilution of the familial propensities in the person of Menelaus: linguis tic and behavioral legacy is "mixed" and mollified in him. �
4. 6. Orestes
The last scion of the Tantalids embodies the combined qualities of his forebears in his name and essence. His life is entangled in the suffocating duality of the Tan talean *tlao: he "dares" commit matricide, a most horrendous act, and "suffers" its consequences. He also appropriates in his name the mountainous associations of Tantalus in the hope of coping with his lionlike and serpentine mother, her valor504
Seh. Lye. A/ex. 149a30-1 50ab, 69-70 Seheer: i\'tQEW£ xal i\EQOJtrl£ i\yaI-lEI-lVWV xal MEVE Aao£' � Of i\EQOltll 8uyu'tllQ �v KmQEw£ mu K(J1)'to; iS8fV tOY MEvEAaov fy.ux(Jijra ElltE. fy..t tx(Jijra �uQ�aQov . . 6 Of ITEAo1j! Au06£, ol O£ Auool �uQ�aQOl, OtU toutO ovv .
fy..t tx(Jijra {3a(J{3a(Jov.
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217
less wolfish lover, and especially her vindictive Erinyes. Tantalus' mountainous bondage and celestial interests lurk in the background, illuminating the etymo logical make up of Orestes: o(Jo� and o(JeXw, words etymologically akin,505 under lie Orestes. Vision is a permanent mark of this family: Orestes embodies the am bivalent vision of Pel-ops « o(JeXw, 01/1) as he comes to grip with the Erinyes, chthonic creatures whose power is concentrated in their grim eyes and distorted sight. Thus Orestes seeks his weaponry not in the paternal resistance and endur ance, but in the beastly, raw and precipitous impulses of his kin, which determine his character and the constitution of his name; Orestes is susceptible to multiple rearticulations and resignifications (o(Jo�, o(JeXw, o(Jovw, f}(JqJoxw). To start with the explicit ancient derivation of Orestes, Plato, hypothesizing the workings of chance or a former poetic treatment, submits the natural associa tion of Orestes with o(Jo� via O(JEt v6� (Cra. 394e8- 1 1 ): 506 "QmtEQ yE XUl 6 « 'OQeorr19>, 6) 'EQI-\0YEVE£, XLV/)UVE1lEL ol/9iiiS eX£Lv, ELtE tL£ TUX1] £9£TO UUTtji TO OVOIlU ELtE XUl nOL1]TtlS tLS, to 811QLW/)E� TTJS lJlu(J£!J)S XUl to � UUtoU XUl to OQ£!VDV iov/)ELXVUI-\EVO£ to QVOl-\atL. "Thus the name 'Orestes' (,Mountain-man') is surely correct, Hermogenes, whether it was given to him by chance or by some poet, who displayed in his name the brutality, savagery, and ruggedness of his nature" (Reeve).
Plato attaches beastly, wild and mountainous characteristics to his Orestes, obvi ously in an effort to rationalize and explain the aberrant and exorbitant acts of the man. Proclus, who favors the possibility of Plato being indebted to an older poetic version, probes the motivations that underlie Orestes, and adds two new alterna tives, o(Jf.1rl and o(Jovw, into his etymological chart. 507 We shall return to Plato's poetical loans below. 505
506
507
On the etymology of oQo� see sch r1 Il. 14. 225b: {J{ov, oQo�, oQaw; sch. Nnt Ariston. 11. 14. 1 54a; EGud. 0 435. 59-436. 2: oQo� ... nUl/a TO at'Qw to flWlQW � fltT]Ql-\fVT] XUl avutE TUl-\fVT] yiY 'ii nUl/a to oQw, to �Af1tW YlVEtaL oQo� 6 EUOJttO� t01tO�, 'ii aq/ov Eotl xat' Eu8ELUV oQiiv. EM632. 45-48 « at'Qw, oQ£xv) with the addition of1;o oQw to oQ/lW. Ancient scholars endorse the derivation of'OQeorrl� from oQo�: sch. bT 11. 5.609b; Or. 89.20; EGud. 0 432.56; EM 5 10. I; Suda 3: 0 537, Adler. Positing the initiatory character of the myth of Orestes, Bierl 1994: 8 1 -96, esp. 86 with n. 29, tackles his name: "Like other ephebes, Orestes is exiled and remains outside the polis in the wilds wandering astray in the nature, a feature that may be referred to in his name;" see ib. n. 29: "The name may be derived from oQo� 'mountain,' symbol of the wild uncivilized nature." Sedley 2003 : 87, also argues that Orestes "was a wild and rugged type, hence aptly described by his name, which appears to derive from aras, 'mountain,' and to mean something like 'hillbilly'." Proc1us (88, pp. 44. 2 1 - 45. 1 9 Pasq.) explores the motivations behind namegiving, using Orestes as an example. He acknowledges the importance of the etymologies invented by the entheazantes poets, who see the results of actions (to. EX�E�T]XOtU tWV 1tQa �Ewv) and through them analyze and find the proper names (a vuAUOVtWV EUOtOXW£ XUl EUQLOXOVtWV Ta OtxEiu 6vol-\utu); observing the tOAJ.laV of Orestes against his mother, the poets called him Orestes for being OQELOV XUl iiYQ10Y XUl iixuQ1t o Y . The word OQELOV (which derives from oQo�) is found in the syllables of Orestes, 01tEQ tUL£ OUAAU�UL£ iiyxELtaL. However,
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Ancient poetry invents new imaginative ways of exploiting Orestes. Attic Tragedy weaves the hero's mythical vita, with a keen ear to the phonetic quality of his name and its dramatic potential. In Aeschylus' Choephoroe, a drama of vision, whether real, imaginary, physical, metaphysical, sane or hallucinatory, the verbs O()(lW, o(Jovw or 8(Jq5auw as well as their derivatives play a significant part and are used by or of Orestes. In the recognition scene (Choe. 224-27), whose efficacy lies in the power of vision, Orestes speaks in a way that befits his essence and name: al";ov IlEv ODV o(Jwaa CUalla8EL� filE (225); . . xM6xELI; o(Jilv filE (227). The latter recalls the dilemma of Tantalus, who thought that he saw things although in reality he did not (Alcm. PMGF 79); real and/or assumed vision (COXEW , o(Jaw) binds the Ur-ancestor of the line and father of Pel-ops with Ores tes. 508 The same conflict of "seeing" and "seeming" recurs in the dream of Clytae mestra, who dreamed of giving birth to a snake, TEXELV bQclXOV"t' £"CO�EV (Choe. 527): bQclX(!)V duplicates 'O(JEmrz;, since both are embodiments of vision (MQ XOJlat o(Jaw). Orestes recognizes the analogy and spells out its meaning: EX bQaxov"t(!)6£(� (549) he will fulfill the expectations of his name and his legacy. In her ignorance of the identity of Orestes, who poses as as stranger, Clytae mestra makes an ironic comment: "there are here . . . beds of just people and Olllla'TWV :7taQouo(a (Choe. 67 1 ), while Orestes stands right in front of her, equipped with his natural might that resides in his very "eyes." Plotting the matri cide, the native alien with the significant name will turn "the presence of eyes" into an absence of eyes, that is, death. Clytaemestra orders a pretentious mourning with sullen "eyes" (738), while the chorus in a corrupt phrase, in which oWCPQo ouv'!] is linked with Ilu(ollm (786-87), prays that Zeus may assist the young colt of the master and add measure, :7tQOOTL8EL� IlETQOV (797); indeed, this genos is alienated from the notion of measure and moderation. 509 The chorus sings of Orestes in two stanzas replete with terms of vision, aVLCELV, cp&�, LCELV, 0llllaOLV aAa' £"cpavE, aoxo:7tov, �A€:7tWV, :7tQoVllllaTWV, fllcpavEoTEQO� (807- 1 8), and urges him to muster the courage of Perseus and kill his Gorgo mother "looking at her," clao(Jwv (837). Vision is Orestes' diacritical quality and weapon as well, which he mobilizes to counteract his Gorgonic mother, thus emerging as the dou blet and foil of Perseus at the same time. With his customary vanity and mental blindness, Aegisthus utters an ironic and misguided phrase, OUTOL CPQEV' av xAE'ljJELEv WIlIlU'TWIlEVrzV (854), that is, no one will cheat his mind that has "eyes." In his delusion, Aegisthus appropriates the etymology of Orestes and meets his death; once more the eyes of the hero prove a potent weapon. .
�
508
Agamemnon may have given his son this name not for the agriotes of his ethos but for his agility and impulse, Ol(z 't1JV OQltTzV XUt 'tllV EUXLV1l0LUV !taQ(z 'to oQOVEt v (88, p. 43.22-28). A1cm. PMGF 79 sch. Pi. al. 1 . 9 1a: 01t(lJ(; UVllQ b' EV U0ItEVOLOLV UI.L'tllQO£ �o't' Eltt 8uxu£ xmu ltE'tQU£ OQfWV ItEV OUbEV, � bE, "a sinner, he sat among agreeable things on a seat under a rock, seeing nothing, but supposing that he did" (Campbell, Greek Lyric 11). As we saw above, Sophocles (fr. 474) uses a technical implement (metron and the carpenter's ruler) to imply the paradox of immeasurable infatuation that ruins the family, while Plato in corporates metron in a hapax technical formula (emmetros) that advocates correctness of name and etymological plausibility. =
509
Orestes
219
Orestes' eyes and vision acquire a metaphysical touch from the matricide on wards. Clytaemestra had warned him to beware of her wrathful dogs, oQa, CPVAU sa l !!l1'tQo£ EYXOWU£ xvvu£ (Choe. 924). With an insight into the implications of these warnings, the chorus, wishes that the "eye" of the house may not fall in utter ruin, ocp(JaA/10V OLXWV !!� nuvwA£8Qov JtWELV (934), echoing Orestes' earlier wish that the seed of the Pel-opids may not be wiped out (503); in the proper con text, conventional formulae acquire linguistic and semantic relevance and signifi cance. Orestes demonstrates his murderous acts, in ways that reveal his identity: [Dea(J£ (973, 980), 6EC�u8' 00£ [on nu't�Q ... "HALO£ (984-86). For him, the vision of the Erinyes is not mere M�aL ( 1 05 1 , 1 053), as the chorus assumes, but a reality he sees: they pursue him like Gorgons, blood dripping from their eyes, xas o/1/1a:r:wv ( 1 057). The Choephoroe concludes with two themes, which act as a bridge to the Eumenides: the need for an Apolline katharmos ( 1 059) and Orestes' awareness of his contact with metaphysical vision. Through his unnatural and overdaring deeds, he has gained access to an invisible world; he sees what the others cannot see, U!!EL£ !!fv OUX oQa1:£ 'ta0'6', EYW 6' oQw ( 1 061). But is it for tuitous that the Erinyes are transformed into Eu-menides in this very saga? As we have hopefully shown above, ASWV and Afy.,ta are salient features in the dramatic treatments of this myth. In his Oresteia, Aeschylus made them potent symbols of regal office, lust, ferocity, invincibility, atrocity as well as vision; males and females share the Afy.,ta of Uwv. These words also play a significant role in the Euripidean treatment of the myth. Clytaemestra kills her posis like a mountainous lioness of the wooded land, oQda n£ 00£ AEaLv' oQydowv (Eur. El. 1 1 63). This phrase is probably modelled on the utterance of the Aeschylean cho rus, which urges Orestes, 'ta 6'uu'to£ oQya !!u8ELV (Choe. 454); Clytaemestra's punishment issues from her son, Orestes, who embodies her features. The Euripi dean Orestes is also pursued by the Erinyes, figures emblematic of wild and dis torted vision. In his fury, Orestes describes their bloody, serpentine, doglike and terrifying eyes, and how they "bounce" around him. The Erinyes, displaying the inherent qualities of Orestes, attempt to annihilate his name and essence. Eurip ides, playing upon visual appearance and reality (oQ(i� yaQ ou6£v fuv 6ox£i:� O'acp' t:lMvm ; cf. Alcm. PMGF 79; Aes. Choe. 227), narrativizes the derivation of Orestes in a passage that focuses on the appearance of the Erinyes (Or. 253-6 1): HA. OLIlOl, xaa(yvTj1:', ofJ,fJ,a aov 'tagaaanm ...
or. <1 llii'tEg, tXELEUW aE, Ill] 'reCanE IlOl
'ta£ a[fJ,arWlfov<; xa'l (J(!axovrwDt:t<; leoQa;. ahm yag afnm reATjaCOV eQc(Jaxova( Ilou. HA. IlEV', <1 'taAaCrewg', rirQifJ, a aOL� EV OEIlVCOl�' oQ(i<; yag OU6EV <1v � aacp' ciDivat. or. <1
220
Fathers and Sons EL. Stay quietly, poor sufferer, on your bed. You're not seeing any of the things you think you're sure of. OR. 0 Phoebus! They'll kill me, the bitch-faced, fierce-eyed priestesses of the nether ones, dread goddesses!" (West)
Orestes' manic state is described in a conventional manner (cf. Eur. HF 93 1 -34) and in a passage studded with clusters of words of vision, distorted and horrify ing. slO Orestes' manic omma catches sight of the furious gang that is chasing him, his mother's avengers, who are qualified by compound epithets in -w:Tl6�, -WOT/�, -W:TlL�, - w'ljJ: their eyes, serpentine and Gorgon-like, drip with blood (Hsch. al/1a rW:Tlov;;, a[/1a 6AE:1to15ou�). The conflict centers in the "eye" and sight (oQaw), and poses a serious threat to the survival of the Pel-opids. The poet creates a cli mate of amphibolia, through xOQu;, an ambiguous word that means "maidens," daughters" and "pupils of the eyes." The Erinyes "bounce" about him (8QqJmcov at), transmitting to him the tempo of their manic jumping. Grasping Orestes tight, Electra tries to stop him from being drawn into the manic leaping, and "to prevent him from jumping misfortunate jumps," oxl'j ow OE JtUOCtv o'Uo"t'Uxf] JtIlOUUU"tU (Or. 263). She supplicates him, the descendant of Tantalus, Atreus and Agame mnon, to act out the paternal features (258): /1£V, (l) wAa(:TlwQ', (h:Q£/1a 001� EV Oq.lVCOL�, "stay quietly, poor sufferer, on your bed" (West), and implicitly to sup press what naturally belongs to him, that is, oQovw (8QqJaxw and JtUoaw), and also regain control of sound vision, oQaw. In his Orestes, Euripides repeatedly plays upon the distorted vision and the agrion = oreinon ethos of the hero. In a rapid exchange of utterances and a dense cluster of words of vision, Menelaus and Orestes comment on the latter's wild appearance (385-89): "tC AE 15 oow ; "tCvu O€ooQx u VEQ"tEQWV; (Men. 3 85), cpao � 0' oQw (Or. 386), w� UYQCWOat (Men. 3 87), OVX 11 :TlQ6ao'ljJ(� [t', aAAa nlQY' uiXLSE"tat (Or. 388; cf. 1 020-2 1 ), OELVOV AE1500EL� o/1/1arwv ;'I] Q ul� xOQUt; (Men. 3 89). Menelaus, stunned by the manic and horrifying appearance of his nephew, is the exponent of the outlook of average man. Orestes, however, despite his misery and derangement, behaves as a sophisticated exponent of the Euripid ean linguistic and etymological views as regards the relation of name and thing: he shifts the focus to his deeds rather than his looks, saying, "to O<'D[tU CPQOVClOV' "to Cl' Qvo[tu ov AEAOLJtE [tOL (390); body wanes, but name and reputation lead their independent existence. 5 l l Euripides continues to weave Orestes into contexts that recall the associations of this Pelopid, Pelasgian and Cyclopean child with mountains, bouncing and seeing (960-72, 989). 512 Tyndare6s, outraged with his 510
511 512
The canonical associations of Orestes with vision are taken over and narrativized by Lucan (BC 7. 777-78): haud alios nondum Scythica purgatus in ara / Eumenidum vidit vo/tus Pel opeus Orestes, "Even so Pelopean Orestes beheld the faces of the Furies, before he was puri fied at the Scythian altar" (Duff, Loeb). See Macr. Sat. 1 . 1 5 . 16: quod Graeci ihEiv dicunt, nos v littera addita videre dicimus. O n the Euripidean theoretical stance and the incongruity of name and thing under the sophis tic influence see Kraus 1987: 145-46. Eur. Or. : O(}EXedC;, 328; W(}eCVEV, 405; O(}OC;, 443, 1 644; acpw(}f.l'flrm, 844; 'O(}iar'flv ... OUX O(}(ic; niAac;, 877; XaJtgOl O(}iarE(}O£, 1459 (Orestes and Pylades). With a cluster of o(}aw
Orestes
221
lascivious and criminal daughters as well as with matricidal Orestes, declares himself ready to defend the law (524-25), 'to enQLw6e� 'tO u to xu't ,.tLmcpovov / rruvwv, 0 xu't yi']v xu't rroAfLS; onuo' aet, "to curb this animal butchery which is always the ruin of land and community" (West). Although here Tyndare6s makes a general comment, its relevance to Orestes' beastly and murderous nature is un mistakable. The Euripidean adjective enQLw6e£, in conjunction with �YQ(wom (Or. 387), seems to anchor the Platonic interpretation of Orestes, to enQLw6e� ti']s; cpvoews; xu't to � uu'tOu xu't OQEL V6v, and his derivation from oQo�. The philosophical treatment is in all probability modelled on the Euripidean. Euripides elaborates further on the name and essence of Orestes in his Iphige neia Taurica: Orestes is the only ophthalmos or omma left for this genos, and ifhe does not take the ouranion bretas of the goddess, the Pelopids go down with him (IT 983-86); the survival of the Pelopid line depends on Orestes and a celestial image. Iphigeneia is fully aware of this intricate relation as suggested by her am biguous and double-edged injunction to Thoas that no one may draw near, [! l]6€v' £is; 01jJL V JrEAaCELv ( 1 2 1 2; cf. Or. 877, 'OQEarr/V .,. OU)( oQ(i� JrEAa�); the phrase evokes the sounds and lexemes of Pelops and Iphigenea's resolution to keep her line invisible, hence safe and sound. This interpretation is underpinned by the concurrence, in one line (antilabe), of the pregnant and allusive verb xrz&vw: as we saw above , Thoas uses it in his blindness to describe firstly Iphigeneia's good intentions and her concern for the city , e{, ye Xrz&VEL� rroALv ( 1 2 1 2), and sec ondly the xrzcSda of the two strangers through the performance of the customary human sacrifice to Artemis. But he receives an ambiguous answer: she takes care of the dearest to her ( 1 2 1 3), which are of course her Pelopid blood relatives (xizcSo�, xfjcSof,Lm). The associations of Orestes with "bounce" (8QqJoxw) are re stated, though revised: Orestes purified ( 1 3 1 6 , 1 332) jumps (8oQwv, 1 382) on the ladder of the ship that brings him to safety, holding the image of Artemis , which fell from the sky, oVQavov rr€ol][!u ( 1 3 84). Unlike Tantalus, the Ur-ancestor who was punished for his impious celestial explorations, Orestes is saved from the sky; oVQav6� « (ivw+oQaw, PI. era. 396b7-c3) acquires a significant part in Orestes' mythical biography and also enters his etymological map. The hero returns to civilized society, and saves the seed of the Pelopids with the help of his virgin sister. A faint reminiscence of the old human sacrifice survives in the injunction that the neck of a man be scratched with a sword at the Tauropolia (IT 1456-6 1).
words, Electra wails for the presumably imminent death o f Orestes, 100Da' E V o/l/laat v / rravuotatljv lrQ60011!!V ( 1 020-2 1); ef. 1458. See also Eur. IT: oQovaa,; .. . Aiwv orrw�, 297; oQda,; ... �EA(OOIj�, 634-35; 012«';, 773; I\OXGl yaQ DU rraQwv, 0' OQQV EXEL, 855.
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Conclusions
The above survey of the masculine proper names of this dynasty has hopefully shown that the Tantalids-Pelopids exhibit a rigorous and coherent name system based on polar oppositions, synonymy and lexical identity or overlapping. m With his corrupt sacrifice and culinary excesses, a sign of mental disorder, Tantalus menoinon sets in train the oscillation between active daring and passive suffering (*tlao) and manic states. The Tantalean features, coupled with the implications of the oinos and memaa of the Pisan father-in-law, impose a legacy that pervades the onomastic system and the attitudes of this family. These qualities, itemized and individualized, are adopted by later generations. Atreus, unflinching and atro cious, inherits the aggressive and criminal aspects of daring, *tlao, reflected in his impious sacrifice (Thyesteia deipna). The overbearing, steadfast and stout Aga mernnon espouses the sacrificial corruption of his forebears, while Menelaus, rather subdued and compassionate, blunts and mollifies the manic features that are embedded in his genos. With Orestes the genos regresses into the pit of distorted ancestral values; the redemption comes only by divine dispensation. Pelops, last but not least, unites in himself a bipolar chromatic ambiguity (darkness-radiance), vision and sound, proximity and remoteness, thus serving as an imagistic abstrac tion of the inclinations and the potentialities of a genos notorious for its criminal leaders. 514 He occupies a central position, epitomizing in his vita and name the contrasting states of blessed mingling with or miserable estrangement from gods. The antithetical yet complementary qualities summarized above cause a bifur cation into victimizers and victimized, illustrating thus the family dynamics: split in hatred, its members shed and taste kindred blood and flesh. The murder of 513
5 14
See Palmer 1 980: 35-36; Peradotto 1 990: 1 65 . However, Sedley 2003 : 86-87 (5. The limita tions of Personal Names), finds "the point about the individual appropriateness of personal names, not necessarily transmitted from generation to generation . . . by studying a long gene alogy, whose members over seven generations were all . . . appropriately named on the basis of their own characters or functions." Seeking "the strategic aim of the genealogy," Sedley argues that "At the junior end, we notice the radical instability of family nomenclature: each generation is different, and if their names turn out to fit, that is due either to luck or to poetic hindsight." The Ur-fathers of this genos are flanked by mothers and/or wives of matching or contrasting names; their atrocities are reflected against the astral light and vision of their mothers and wives. These women share the same first (EvQv-) or second components (-6mz - -01jJ), which reflect dynastic power, chthonic liaisons, vision and luminosity. Oenomaus' mothers are: Harpina, Eurythoe and Ster-ope; his wives: Ster-ope, Ewythoe and Euarete. Pelops' mothers: Euryanassa, Eurythemiste, Euryprytane, Euryto (or, Eu-ryto), Klytia, Dione, Calyce, Ster-ope or Peni-ope: Scherling 1 940: 850. 27-5 1 et al. Tantalus, Zeus' son (cf. L1t6<;, L1{a), marries Dione, Atlas' daughter. Tantalus and Atlas are often fused etymologically and display their genealogical touch with luminosity in a chiastic structure: Zcv<;> Tlivtalos - 'Atlas> L1uvvrz. See Ov. Met. 6. 1 74; Hygin Fab. 82, 83; Serv. in Verg. Aen. 8. 1 30. 1 3 .
Conclusions
223
Agamemnon by Aegisthus and Clytaemestra tips the balance on which this bifur cation rests: the victimizers are now victimized. This was made possible only through a renewed flux and recontamination of the kin's blood, which occurred when Thyestes raped his virgin daughter, Pelopia. This conscious incestuous vio lation (sch. Eur. Or. 1 4. 24-26, 98 Schw., Tllv (i8wllov AtyCo80'U YOVtlv), serves the family vendetta, since the oracle had prophesied that the son who would issue from this liaison, would take revenge upon Atreus and his progeny. Mingling na ture and culture in himself, Aegisthus, an exposed weakling son "nourished by a goat" « aLq+f"ow) in the wilderness, returns to the oikos to take avenge on his father Thyestes, who was tricked into tasting an impious human thysia, his own children. The branch of passive sacrifice-eaters applies guile and seduction to eradicate the branch of the aggressive and manic sacrificers. The dark and beastly traits of this family, which perpetually sheds or defiles the kin's blood and oscil lates between performing or receiving vices, are revitalized when the relative is disguised as a foreigner. This sequence of events is repeated twice: when Orestes and Aegisthus, sons exposed or exiled respectively, return to the civic center to resume the vendetta. Aegisthus, the scapegoat, will die, while Orestes will be spared through the benevolence of his divine accomplices. The matricide will revive in the person of Orestes the combined ancestral feaures: the mania, which has plagued this family ever since Tantalus and Oeno maus, and the associations with mountains and vision of which Pel ops is an ex emplar. Orestes, frisky and wild in action and sight, concentrates in his name and essence the ambiguities of his ancestors. He seeks blood for blood and calls the matricide a sacred act, thysia (f"Bvaa Il'l]TEgU, Eur. Or. 562). He turns from a thytes into a potential thyma at the hands of the maternal Erinyes, and is inextrica bly caught in the Tantalid bifurcation. He passes through a grueling, liminal phase during which the familial capacities bequeathed to him reach the limits of overdaring, bestiality and distortion of vision. The excess, the derangement and atrocity of his family spill onto him and threaten him with extinction; yet he is eventually released and cured by divine dispensation. The chthonic goddesses, who stand for raw blood revenge, are appeased through rites, and replaced by en forcement of the law. The state judicial ordinances put an end to the cycle of shed kindred blood, forcing an equilibrium of political and institutional nature. Orestes, the last link in this chain, illustrates the ascending course from bestiality to civili zation and a renewed awareness of "vision" in the framework of the polity. In the course of this normalizing and integrating process, accomplished through a virgin, the house of the Tantalids and Atreids deserts its internal feuds and teknophagic activities, but loses its original lustre and potency: feeding upon blood was, in deed, an invigorating and empowering act. To round off our treatment of "Fathers and Sons" from an onomastic and se mantic point of view, we should take a brief look at the subject of heredity, such a prominent subject in ancient Greek civilization, and modern as well, I might add. Pindar (01. 1 . 89) gives the motivation for such an enterprise with his comment about the procreation of the six sons of Pelops, who are eager for deeds of virtue (aretaisi memaotas); Pindar thus "corrects" their inherited bane. This does not -
224
Fathers and Sons
come as a surprise: Pindar's sensitivity to the repercussions of heredity is well evidenced in his poetic corpus. He pays attention, for instance, to the wisdom of the Heliads, who inherited, JtaQa6E�a[tEvo'U�, the most wise thoughts among older people (01. 7. 72-73); or to the inherited righteous mind of Diagoras, 6a£L� a 'tE ot Jta'tEQWV OQ8aL CPQEVE� E� aya8wv / EXQEOV (ib. 9 1 -92); or to the noble character bequeathed from fathers to sons, cp'U(i 'to YEvva'Lov EJtLJtQEJtfL/ EX Jta'tE QWV JtaLOL A,fj[ta (Pyth. 8. 44-45). Conversely, he suggests a violation of this principle in the person of Asclepius, whom Apollo, his divine father, snatched from the burning corpse of his mother Coronis (Pyth. 3. 43-44) and released from death. When Asclepius grew up into a preeminent doctor, Zeus killed him by a thunderbolt for taking bribes to resurrect dead men (55-57). Asclepius took after his mortal mother, who humiliated Apollo, longing for remote and unfulfilled things, ).,fl1_ta KOQwv(60� (v E� a'([ta'tO� WV. 5 16 Such references are modelled on a common and authoritative fount; epic and didactic poetry hold this prerogative. ...
515
516
See Will cock 1995: 20, apropos of 01. 1 1 . 3, raindrops are "watery children of the cloud;" Nem. 4. 3, songs are "daughters of the Muses;" 01. 2. 1 7, time is "the father of all;" cf. 01. 7. 70; 01. 2. 32. Cf., however, the objections of West 1 987: 207 ad 349-5 1 .
Conclusions
225
Visual and ethical similarities of fathers and sons constitute a favorite subject of older hexametric poetry as providing a seal of authentication and legitimacy: children are true offspring if they resemble their fathers. Hesiod (Op. 235) pithily formulates the issue: "women bear children that resemble their parents," TeXTOU atV oE yuvui:xEe; £OlXOTU TEXVU yo vEvm . 5 1 7 Homer conjoins two proofs of true parentage for Telemachus (Od. 4. 1 40-57), that is, his striking likeness to Odys seus and his proper name, which commemorates his father's engagement in the Trojan war. Framed by an etymological pointer, ETWOV-fTllTWOV ( 1 40, 1 57), Telemachus, "One whose father fights far away," is interwoven with issues of in herited visual similarity. Helen spells this out: never before has she seen a man who bears such a close physical similarity to Odysseus. With this criterion, she divines the identity of this unfamiliar young man: 1jJEUOOftUL, � £TUJiOV EQEW; ... ou YUQ no) tLva C!JllftL £OtXOTU
Finally, Peisistratus verifies their intuition: 1\TQE'LOll MEVEAUE ... XELVOU ftEV Tot 00' uioe; ET11TUJi0'V, we; ayoQEUELe; ( 1 56-57). Homer lingers on physical likeness, since Odysseus and Telemachus have no other way of proving their true identity and kinship; this father's long absence from home has rendered recognition prob lematic. But the most compelling argument that justifies this role of external simi larity is the complete absence of patronymics, in -{cSrz�, -{wv or -acSrz�, which would unequivocally identify Telemachus. The identity of Odysseus and his son in the Odyssey is constantly negotiated, doubted and disputed; recognition is al ways at stake for both of them and they must submit their credentials, be it physi cal or heroic behavioral resemblance. 5l8 The youth has to prove worthy of such a father and earn the seal of manhood along with the lost father. Since the patro nymic, such a common pointer of familial connections and kleos, is here consis tently and consciously withheld, Telemachus must prove his descent and filial status through his martial prowess. Odysseus, on the other hand, must prove that 517
518
Cf. West 1 978: 1 99, 2 1 5- 1 6 ad 1 82, 235. Se.: also Arist. De gen. animo 4. 3 . 767b. Sulzberger 1 926: 412 with n. 20, bases his theory on patronymy, but differentiates this from patronymic. Svenbro 1 993 : 23 n. 67, notes that the father/son relationship is one of resemblance for the Greeks. Kurke 199 1 : 287-300 evaluates the Pindaric blurring of relatives and its function. See Wiihrle 1 999: 1 3 0 with nn. 32, 33: Telemachus' trip is a means of obtaining his identity and kleos; it also forms part of his initiation, on which see ib. 129 with nn. 26-28 and 137 with nn. 45, 46, 47. For the patronymic as a sign of patriarchy see ib. 1 9 with n. 3 1 .
226
Fathers and Sons
he is the person that left home twenty years ago and now claims the status of le gitimate husband, father and master of the oikos. Odysseus' multiple verbal and physical disguises stress the crucial role of true identity and its revelation. To ac commodate Odysseus' double recognition, restoration and reintegration and also Telemachus' graduation from the ranks of the ephebes, the poet artfully suppres ses patronymics of the sort of Odysse-ides, Odysse-ion, on the pattern of Peleus> Pele-ides, Pele-ion; he makes legitimacy and recognition significant structural elements of the plot, and subjects them to the test of narrative verisimilitude. In the passages cited above, Telemachus' identity is mediated through a clus ter of words signifying "seeing," "looking alike," and "appearing," in the vicinity of ET'lJ�OV and Et�'t'lJ�O V ; here the poet narrativizes the suppresed patronymic, which would in all probability end in -{orz�, as suggested by the prominence of visual resemblance and the wording. Upon contextual evidence, we may assume that the patronymic in -{orz� is intimately connected with the verb o()(xw-l&lv. This assumption complies with the ancient feeling of language and practice: a great number of Greek words in -E£O��/-{orz� are interpreted by the ancient scho liasts in terms of resemblance or appearance; their derivation from *dow-l&lv is unequivocal. A welcome confirmation occurs in Plutarch ( Vit. Arist. 320c) and his famous line that etymologizes 'A[Jw7:-{orz�: ov yaQ 60XELv a[JW7:0�, ana dvm BEA.EL. Here the verb 60x£1y, which belongs to the semantic field of *dow and o[Jaw, renders the ending -{orz� of the proper name. Whether or not these were the original etymological connections of the ending -{orz�, Homer and later men of literature put them to good effect. Modem scholarship does not fail to recognize in it the derivation from o[Jaw, l&lv. Walter Haas, for instance, in his commentary on Tyrannion and Diokles, discusses the ancient discord as regards the reading of the patronymics, and says: "Man bedenke nun, dass die Patronymika zu JId[Jat o�, JIrzAEV�, JIaveoo� urspriinglich JIE£[JatF{orz�, JIrzAEF{orz�, JIaveoF{orz�, dann JIEt[Jattorz�, JIrzAdorz�, JIaveotorz� lauteten."S19 In a mimetic culture and ideology which regretfully posits that few children are similar to their fathers, 6�OLOl, or better, aQE(OVE� (Od. 2. 276-77), the patronymic in -£0- fits the cul tural specificities, expressing among other things "belonging" and "dependence;" in adjectives, -{orz� means nobleness of birth,S20 a vital heroic virtue that is ex posed to public vision and criticism. To sum up, the genos of heroes with patronymics such as Tantal-ides, Pelop ides and Atre-ides, is haunted by a behavioral and linguistic resemblance; a heavy filiation and affiliation pervades the line and is perpetuated by the male progeny. The epigonoi inherit the edacious and culinary propensities of their ancestors, their boldness and suffering, their gradations of menos and mania, their relent lessness and hostility against the kin, and their "vision," distorted or not. Pelops, on the other hand, bears a polysemous name which functions to some extent as an abstract imagistic rendition of the core values of this family, which is eventually redeemed through the salutary intervention of gods. 5 19
5 20
Haas 1 977: 1 16- 1 7 , fr. 1 5 (fr. l l Pl.); see also Epirn. Horn. 7A \ 7A2 (Dyck 1 983 : 82). Chantraine: 1 968: 362 §295. On the Greek "culture of mimesis" see Svenbro 1 993: 23, 69.
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Index of Names and Subjects
Achaeans, 32, 36, 50, 60, 72, 76, 78, 82, 9 1 -92. etymology, 62, 67-68, 95 See also Achilles Achilles, 29, 36, 40-43, 53, 6 1 , 63, 69, 73, 8082, 9 1 -92, 95-96, 226
ancient etymology. See etymology Andromache, 75, 76 analogy, 28, 99, 1 5 1 , 1 67, 1 68, 2 1 8 Anaxagoras, 1 80, 1 93, 195, 1 97, 233 See also Tantalus
etymology, 29, 40-43, 57-59, 6 1 -65, 6769, 80
anomaly, 28
foil for Apollo, 64, 65, 67
Antonaccio, 148
surrogate of Athena, 53
Antiphanes, 173 antonomasia, 101, 1 02, 1 80 antonyms, 1 28, 1 37, 140 Aphrodite (A
Adkins, 45-46 Aegaeon, 32 Divine and human language, 90, 92-96
See also Briareos Aegisthus, 2 1 8, 223 the scapegoat, 223
55, 65, 66, 67, 82, 1 35, 1 55, 1 66-1 68, 1 771 79 etymology, 46, 5 1 , 65-66, 82 Cypris (KvnQLC;), 66
Aerope (AEQonT]), 8 1 , 1 66, 2 1 6
Cyprogeneia, 1 68
Aeschylus, 122, 1 82, 1 84, 208, 2 1 0, 2 1 8, 2 1 9, 224
Cythereia (Ku8EQELU), 66, 1 75,
Agamemnon, 10, 42, 43, 53, 60, 1 20, 122, 125, 126, 1 27, 128, 1 63, 1 72, 1 76, 1 84, 1 85, 205-209, 2 1 0-2 12, 2 1 5, 2 1 7, 2 1 8, 222, 223 etymology: in Aeschylus, 2 1 0-2 1 1 in Euripides, 2 1 1 in Homer, 43, 8 1 -82, 126, 208-2 1 0 i n Plato, 10, 207-208 Aeneas, 49, 56, 65 A-irus [ALQoC;), 82-89
See also Irus
1 77 Paphia (IIu
insignia, 48, 1 67 See also Athena, Hera Apollo (Anot..t..Olv), 39, 46, 50, 5 1 , 56, 57, 66, 68, 75, 77, 78, 80, 89, 94, 1 02, 1 55, 1 57, 1 58, 1 59, 1 75, 1 8 1 , 2 1 3, 2 1 5, 224, 227 etymology: Apollo the sun, 49-50, 56, 57, 58, 64, 65, 95, 1 29, 1 50, 1 53, 1 54, 1 60, 1 69, 1 77, 1 79, 1 80, 1 94- 1 97, 206
Ajax the Locrian, 7 1 , 72 Ajax the Telamonian, 39, 55, 7 1 , 72, 87 Akessamenos, 59 Alcathoos-Alcathous, 32 foil for Poseidon-Thoas, 73-74
�ouxot..OC; Anot..t..Olv, 64, EXT]�Ot..OC; Anot..t..Olv, 38
1 96
Cillaeus, 1 53, 1 54 Eleleus, 49-50 Lycios, 55
Alcinoos-Alcinous, 32, 60, 85 Alcman, 99-1 02, 2 1 8, 2 1 9
Nomios, 64, 1 96
Alexandrus, 46, 47, 49, 8 1 , 1 04, 2 1 2
Apollo: master of pestilence, health,
Phoebos, 49, 56
foil for Athena, 48 surrogate of Apollo, 64
master of music and the celestial
See also Paris
poles, 56
death, 38, 56-57, 64, 65,77
Alexandrus (homonym), 1 04 Alexiou, 142, 1 99 Allen, Graham, 9, 80 Allen, T. W., 3 1 Allen, W. S., 1 59, 1 86 alliteration, 6, 32, 33, 36, 39, 67, 90, 96,
insignia, 55-57 Apollo-Helios and Pelops, 1 53 - 1 54 Apollo-Helios and Tantalus, 193 1 97
See also Paieon (IIuulv/IImijOlv) Apollonius Rhodius, 1 64, 1 74, 1 76
1 1 6, 1 1 8, 129, 143, 1 50, 1 66, 1 72, 1 78,
Arcadia, 1 3 8, 1 83, 205
1 9 1 , 206, 2 1 3
archekakos, 32, 43, 45-48, 57 -u'tT], 45; -kallisteia, 45, 48 See also epexegesis and analysis of
Alpheus, 1 3 0- 1 3 1 , 148, 1 5 7- 1 60, 1 63, 164 etymology, 1 60 anagrammatismos, anagram, 50, 1 1 3 Anchises, 65, 66 ancient reception.
words Archilochus, 97-98
See reception
238
Index of Names and Subjects
Ares (f\gTj�), 32, 39, 42, 45, 48,50, 53, 94, 127, 1 98, 1 99, 201, 204 etymology, 5 1 -52
Bernardini, 1 89 Bier!, 2 1 7 Bloch, 1 l 3, 123
mother-and-son relation, 5 1
Boeckh, 1 1 7, 1 4 1
Aristarchus, 54, 125, 1 8 8
Boedecker, 124
'AguJtCoTj�, 226 Arnaeus (l\gvaLo�)
Bonanno, 97
Boisacq, 64, 1 70
etymology, 83-89
bothros, 12, I l l , 1 29, 148, 149 Brelich, 1 5 1
See also !rus Asteropaeus, 58-59
Bremer, 128, 1 5 0
Ate ("A'tTj). See also ate. ate (u'tTj), 32, 42, 43, 45, 46, 48, 57, 65, 66, 95,
Bremrner, 1 4 8 , 1 5 1
1 72, 1 9 1 , 206, 207, 209, 2 1 1 , 2 1 2, 224 etymology, 42-43, 8 1 -82, 95 Aphrodite and ate, 46, 65, 66 Tantalids and ate, 2 1 1
See also Agamemnon Athena, 45-55, 6 1 -64, 67, 68, 7 1 , 8 1 , 86, 88, 90, 94, 1 1 5, 1 67, 175, 1 83, 1 84, 209, 2 1 5 etymology: f\8Tjvu, 49-5 1 , 53 l\AaAxoILEVTj'L�, 45, 48
Briare6s, 32, 90, 92-96
See also Aegae6n Brillante, 1 33, 1 62, 1 68 Bromberger, 24 Bulman, 1 3 6 Bundy, 1 92 Burges, 1 2 1 Burkert, 88, I l l , 1 37, 1 38, 148, 149, 1 5 1 , 1 63, 1 67, 1 95, 204 Burzacchini.
See Degani
l\8Q�vTj, 49, 50, 52, 53, 1 6 1 , 1 84
Cairns, D., 1 34
l\'tgu'tWVTj , 47-48, 2 1 4
Cairns, F., 29
KuowvCa, 1 67, 1 8 3
Calame, 1 0, 1 3 , 20, 26, 58, 99, 140, 147, 1 5 1 ,
I1aAAa�, 44, 45, 47, 53, 6 1 , 63
1 63 , 1 66
Bagow, 2 1 4, 2 1 5
Callimachus, 55, 1 77
insignia, 54-55, 1 83 - 1 84
Calliopa, -eia, 99, 1 0 1
See also YAaux6Jm�,
yogy6JrCL�, fogyw,
53, 54, 1 83, 1 84 Athenaeus, 1 66, 1 73 , 1 80 Atherton, 1 07 Atlas, I l l , 1 83, 1 85 , 1 94, 195, 1 97, 2 1 1 , 222
See also Tantalus Atreidae, Atreides, Atreid(s), 1 1 , 8 1 , 82, 122,
Carey, 98 catalysis-synthesis, 80
See also rearticulation and resignification of names cauldron, 1 2, 1 3 1 - 1 33, 1 50, 1 6 1 , 163, 1 64 Ceres, 1 62
See also Demeter
1 85, 207, 209, 2 1 0, 2 1 1 , 2 1 3, 2 1 5, 2 1 6,
Chantraine, 29, 64, 70, 1 09, 1 1 0, 1 2 1 , 126,
223, 224
1 35, 1 64, 1 69, 1 70, 1 78, 1 90, 226 Chiron, 4 1 , 59, 1 5 1
See also Agamemnon Atre-ides, 226
Choral Lyric, 98-103
Atreus, 1 0, 8 1 , 82, 83, 1 1 8, 122, 1 25, 127, 1 50,
Christol, 142 Cillas, 126, 1 53 - 1 54
1 7 1 , 1 85 , 208, 209, 2 1 1 , 2 1 2, 2 1 5-2 1 6 , 220, 222, 223 etymology: in Homer, 82, 206, 2 1 2
Cillaeus, 1 53 - 1 54 See also Apollo Clarke, 47
i n Euripides, 1 72
Cleio, I O l
in Comedy, 1 74
cluster (verb or noun)
in Plato, 82, 205, 206 Austin, 42
clusters of cognates! descriptions! qualities!sounds! words, 6, 1 9, 34, 37, 39, 40, 4 1 , 47, 53, 54, 57, 59, 60, 63, 73, 78,
Bakker, 7 baptism, baptismal, 2 1 , 87, 146, 1 56, 1 57- 1 59 �ag�agLoIL6�, �ag�agov, 106 Barkhuizen, 102, 202 Barrett, 1 34, 1 72 Barthes, 9, 14, 24-27
85, 94, 1 69, 1 72, 2 1 1 , 220, 226
See also Homeric Etymology Clytaemestra, 1 66, 2 1 1 , 2 1 8, 2 1 9 etymology, 2 1 2 cognate(s), 6, 1 1 , 33-36, 39, 40, 4 1 , 44, 53, 54, 57-59, 64, 67, 70, 74, 78, 84, 85, 93, 94,
Baxter, 1 97
1 0 1 , 1 1 6, 1 1 7, 122, 1 24, 128, 1 32, 1 37,
Bechtel-Fick, 1 1 0
140, 143, 144, 147, 1 76, 1 79, 1 90, 1 92,
Beekes, I I I
2 1 0, 2 1 1 , 2 1 4
Index of Names and Subjects
See also cluster of Cole, S., 1 67
Cole, T., 1 94 coming-of-age, 65, 98, 142, 1 5 1 , 1 54, 1 83
1 99, 202, 204, 207-209, 2 1 3, 2 1 7, 2 1 9, 221, 226, -aural similarities, 28, 30, 3 1 , 55 - rearticulation of words, 66;
commensality with gods, 1 34, 1 39, 160, 1 83, 1 90
- narrativized, 96 Derveni Papyrus, 162, 228, 23 1
See also mingle, mix compositio or etymology by contraction, 1 59,
Devereux, 147
1 86
See also ancient etymology. contextual allusionslhints, 78, 92; anchorage, 34; evidence, 226; integration of names or
Di Benedetto, 1 89, 1 94, 1 96 Diels, 7 Diomedes, 45, 46, 47-49, 5 1 , 52, 6 1 , 63, 75, 94 etymology, 32, 47, 49, 5 1 , 52 surrogate/proxy of Athena, 45, 47, 5 1
dii5nymon or dii5nymia. Divine and human
etymology, 27, 94, 1 0 1 ; parallelisms, 90;
language, 89-96, 196
relevance, 34; requirements, 86, 96, 1 04 resignification, 1 52; studies, 1 25
See also Homeric Etymology:
contextualize (etymology/derivation), 10, 34, 57, 7 1 , 8 1 , 92, 96, 1 00
metonomasia, 1 54, 1 59 See also Homeric Etymology Cook, 1 33, 1 64 Cronion, 1 38, 146, 1 58, 1 60 Cronus, 92, 93, 94 Crotty, 1 5 1 , 1 57
239
Patterns Dodds, 23, 108, 134, 1 9 1 Doherty, 83, 87, 1 1 9, 1 38, 1 65 Donaldson, 1 33, 147, 202 Duchemin, 1 32, 1 3 3, 1 5 1 Duigan, 1 32 Dysparis, 80
See also Paris and reversal of etymology or unnaming.
Cuddon, 9 cult, 1 1 , 70, 92 cult hero, 142, 149 cultural, 1 0, 12, 1 6, 2 1 , 24, 26, 27, 28, 30, 96, 99, 1 05, 1 38, 160, 226 culture, 6, 9, 2 1 -26, 36, 42, 65, 1 05, 1 06, 1 58, 223, 226 manuscript-culture, 9 print-culture, 9 song-culture, 5, 1 06 Currie, 146, 1 89 Curtius, 1 1 2, 126, 1 69, 208
daidala, 46 daidaleos, 140 Daidalus, 46, 133 Damaios (D.u[.tulo£), 73, 79, 147
ecphrasis, 1 74, 1 75, 1 77, 1 8 1 Edmonds, 1 73 Electra, 1 7 1 , 193, 1 94, 1 95, 221
emmetri5s (E[.t[.t EtQ(J)£), 1 1 9- 123, 169, 2 1 8 See also metron envy (
See also Homeric Etymology epinician, 128, 130, 1 33, 1 36, 144, 147, 1 55, 1 65, 203 Erinyes, 1 84, 2 1 6, 2 1 9, 220, 223 etymological, 5, 6, 7, 10, 16, 27, 28, 3 1, 33-35, 38, 43, 47, 49, 60, 64, 69, 73, 77, 82, 84, 86, 90, 9 1 , 1 0 1 , 105, 1 07, 1 32, 1 44, 168, 1 69, 1 76 alliteration, 32, 33, 67; alternatives/
See also Poseidon Deacy, 1 84
variants/versions, 59, 88, 96, 1 1 8,
De Jong, 8
association!connection! correlation!
Degani-Burzacchini, 1 09, 149
relation, 1 2 , 28, 32, 52, 54, 59, 67, 78,
Demeter (L'1rUu'rrll P), 102, 1 37, 1 38, 1 39, 1 55,
1 37, 1 8 1 , 208; ambiguity, 1 04;
1 00, 1 0 1 , 1 02, 1 1 7, 1 1 8, 126, 1 37, 140,
1 56, 1 6 1
142, 145, 200, 20 1 , 226; concepts, 6;
etymology, 1 62
constitution, 80, 206, 2 1 7; disambiguation,
L'111w, 1 3 8
See also Gaia-Gii Meter, Ceres
66; fallacy, 27; identification! identity, 53, 73, 90; hints /nuances, 1 04, 128;
Demriston-Page, 1 92, 2 1 0
illustration! highlighting, 37, 40, 57;
derivation, 6, 1 1 , 23, 28, 30, 3 1 , 3 8 , 42-44; 46,
integration, 90; kinship, 40, 47, 55, 1 4 1 ,
47, 50, 52-57, 60-62, 63, 64, 66, 67, 7 1 ,
1 50, 2 1 7; manipulation, 105, 1 07;
75-76, 78, 79, 84, 85, 90, 9 1 , 94, 96, 1 00,
map/chart, 35, 84, 1 2 1 , 149, 1 70, 1 88,
1 0 1 , 1 02, 1 03, 105, 1 09, 1 l 0, 1 1 3, 1 1 9, 1 2 1 , 1 23, 124, 1 28, 129, 143-144, 148,
75-76, 84, 93, 1 03, 1 30, 140, 1 4 1 , 1 44,
1 50, 1 56, 1 70, 1 72, 1 82, 1 89, 1 96, 1 97,
1 97, 206, 2 1 7, 22 1 ; markers/pointers, 60, 1 70; truth, 146, 225; patterns, 57, 59, 98, 99, 1 02, 1 04; paronomasialparechesis, 6,
240
Index of Names and Subjects
32, 35, 36, 93, 1 1 6, 1 1 9; signs/semafa, 47,
Fogelmark, 142
53, 57, 60, 65, 68, 70, 74, 75, 85, 93, 1 64,
foil, 48, 6 1 , 64, 65, 67, 68, 73, 85, 95, 99, 136, 144, 1 87, 1 89, 203, 205, 209, 2 1 2, 2 14,
202, 2 1 4; techniques, 6, 1 0, 20, 33, 49, 96, 1 00, 1 20, 1 32; tradition, 6, 1 04; value, 35, 44, 74, 1 2 1 , 1 56, 162, 1 72, 202; wordplay,
218 Foley, 9, 1 0
35, 58, 58, 8 1 , 102, 105
folk etymology, 28, 29
Etymology scientific and ancient. Comparisons and contrasts, S, 6, 1 1 , 27-33, 1 1 3, 1 1 7 ancient etymology, S, 6, 27-33, 40, 1 0 1 , 106- 1 07, 1 1 8, 120 ancient poetic etymology, S, 6, 34, 1041 05, 1 20, 1 86, 208 etymology, sounds and aural similarities, 3 1 -33, 36, 96, 207
See paretymology Ford, 1 0 Fountoulakis, 1 4 8 Fowler, 8 , 9 Frame, 75 Frege, 1 5- 1 9 Frisk, 29, 4 1 , 64, 70, 75, 1 09, 1 1 0, 126, 1 70, 1 80, 1 85, 1 88, 190, 208 Fiihrer, 190
etymology by contraction or
composifio, 1 59, 1 86 ancient theory (philosophers,
Gaia-Ga Meter, 138
See also Demeter
grammarians, scholiasts)
Gan�, 120, 148, 1 50, 1 97
28-3 1 , 1 04-107
Ganymedes, 1 34 etymology, 1 3 5
etymology and cultural anthropology, 30 definition, 30, 1 07-108 E'tur-tOV-b:�'twov, 1 07, 146,
225, 226 its ontological character, 30, 108 its function and objectives: exegetical tool, 6-7, 37-57,
Garner, 1 55, 1 5 8 genealogical figure, 199, 2 1 1 , 2 1 6, 222, 224 bifurcation, 198, 222, 223 Genette, 106 genos, 1 20, 122, 1 23, 125, 127, I SO, 1 60, 1 6 1 ,
94, 96, 106
1 62, 1 65, 1 69, 1 70, 1 77, 1 83, 1 84, 1 85,
mnemonic aid, 6, 36, 40
1 88, 1 92, 1 95, 1 98, 205, 207, 2 1 1 , 2 1 2, 2 1 4, 2 1 8, 22 1 , 222, 226
relation to tAATjVL0r-t6£, og806tELU, �ag�ugov, �ug�ugLor-t6£, 1 06 holistic and global interpretation, 1 0, 27, 55, 57, 1 06 etymology as palimpsest, 1 06 Euadna, 1 5 5
Gerber, I l l , 129, 1 30, 1 3 1 , 1 33, 1 34, 1 36, 1 4 1 , 142, 143, 145, 149, 1 55, 1 62, 1 82, 1 92, 202 Gildersleeve, 1 3 6 global
Eubulus, 1 80
etymology, 1 08
Eumenides, 2 1 9 Euripides, 1 69, 1 70, 1 7 1 , 1 72, 1 80, 1 82, 193,
viewing/studies of language, 106, 1 1 8
1 95, 196, 1 97, 2 1 6, 2 1 9, 220, 221, 227, 23 1 , 234, 235 exegetical aspect, 6; clauses, 4 1 , 43; corpus, 96; enterprises, 106; factors, 30; intentions, 44; phrases, 4 1 ; tool, 96; tradition, 107 Faraone, 77, 1 4 1 , 143, 166, 1 67, 1 68 Fathers and sons, 1 0, 1 1 , 93, 1 85-226, 223 physical likeness, 225 behavioral and linguistic resemblance, 226 Felson, 88, 1 5 1 Fennell, 1 59 Femindez Canosa, 1 5 1
- and holistic symbol, 1 52 Gorgo (fog yw) Athena, 53-54 Orestes, 2 1 8-220 Parthenopaeus, 1 82- 1 83 Pelops, 162, 1 63, 1 82- 1 84 Pelopid sema, 1 62, 1 83 - 1 84 Graf, 1 1 2, 1 5 1 grammarians modern criticism, 27 objectives and techniques, S, 27-30, 32, 35, 104-105, 108, 1 1 8, 1 88, 208 See also scholiasts, philosophers grammatical etymology, S, 6, 1 08; figures, 6; changes, 28; material, 30; nature, 1 04; rules, 1 06
Ferrante, 97, 98
Granger, 1 3 , 20, 2 1 , 22, 23, 26
Fiehn, 1 99
Graves, 1 1 2, 1 60, 1 64, 1 83
,figura etymologica, 35 See also paronomasia
Graziosi-Haubold, 8
Finley, 1 5 7
Griffin, 8, 40
Greengard, 99
24 1
Index of Names and Subjects
Griffith, 1 02, 1 36, 1 3 8 , 1 62
proto-allegorist, 105
Gruppe, 1 1 0, 1 34, 1 98
Stoic Homer, 93, 105 influence on later poetry, 98- 1 04,
Haas, 226
1 32, 1 33, 140, 1 62, 1 76, 1 8 1
Hades rALc'iT]�), 42, 5 1 , 52, 67, 1 86, 1 89
See also Homeric Etymology and
etymology 5 1 , 52, 1 3 7 Hainsworth, 40 Halliday, 3 1 Hamilton, 1 1 3, 1 33, 1 3 6 Harpina, 222
scholarship Homeric Etymology, 5, 30-33, 34-96 Pattemsffypology Clustering of Cognates, 37-40, passim L'.tWVU!-IOV or c'itWVU!-ILa. Divine
Hansen, 1 3 3 , 143, 1 54
and Human language, 89-96 Epexegesis and Analysis of Words,
Hector, 32, 39, 4 1 , 63, 68, 73, 75-77, 127, 2 1 5 etymology, 68, 72, 73, 75, 2 1 4
Narrativization and Contextualization,
etymology, 1 75 , 1 99, 200
37-57
Helen (Elba), 4 6 , 6 3 , 82, 1 5 3 , 1 66, 167, 225,
57-59
23 1 , 232
Paronomasia, 7, 35-36
etymology, 1 70, 2 1 2
Rearticulation and Resignification of Proper Names, 66-80
Hellenism, 1 06, 1 08 Henrichs, 1 1 4, 1 35, 1 38, 1 83, 1 99 Henry, 1 5 9 Hera CHQa), 45, 47, 48-5 1 , 55, 75-77, 95 etymology, 50, 5 1 , 55, 76, 1 1 3 mother-and-son relation, 5 1 Herbermann, 22, 27 heredity
Reversal of Etymology or Unnaming, 80-89 Transference of Etymology, 60-66 Homeric scholarship, 7- 1 0 fiction, 8, 1 0, 3 0 , 58, 1 04 innovation, 8, 92 intertextuality, 9, 1 0
apropos the Atreides, 8 1 , 207
narratology, 7, 40
in Aeschylus, 224 in Hesiod, 225
orality-literacy, 6, 9, 3 9 performance, 7, 9, 10, 2 1 , 97, 99
in Homer, 225-226 in Pindar, 203, 223-224
reception, 5, 7, 9, 1 0, 24, 39, 57, 1 05 recomposition-in-performance, 7
Hermes ('EQ!-lii�) etymology, 55 Hermes and the Pelopids, 1 2 1 , 125, 1 37,
tradition, 5, 8, 9, 1 0, 1 1 , 2 1 , 3 1 , 34, 99, 1 0 1 , 1 02, 103, 1 04, 1 05, 1 06, 1 07 Howie, 143, 1 62
1 57, 1 68 , 1 72, 1 99, 209
Hubbard, 1 39, 1 5 1
insignia, 55
Hunter, 1 80
Hermus, 1 67 Hershkowitz, 1 90, 1 92 Hesiod, 3 1 , 92, 1 00, 1 0 1 , 128, 225, 234
HyMn, 1 85
his name, 23 Heubeck, 75, 89, 90, 92, 94, 1 39, 1 88, 208
Iamus, 148, 1 64, 233, 1 1 0
Hieron, 1 30, 1 33, 1 35, 1 36, 1 50, 203
Iambic Poetry, 97-98 etymology/metonomasia, 1 54- 1 60 Iamus and Pelops, 1 54-163
etymology, 1 02- 103, 1 3 1 Higbie, 1 0, 80
Iamus and the Alpheus, 1 54- 1 60, 1 63 Idomeneus, 44, 73, 74, 202
Hippodameia, 120, 1 23, 124, 126, 140, 147,
inheritance, 1 1 , 2 1 , 1 92
228, 229
inherit, 59, 75, 8 1 , 82, 96, 106, 1 07, 125, 1 28, 1 65 , 2 0 1 , 209, 2 1 2 , 2 1 5 , 222-224, 226
etymology, 126, 1 39, 147, 1 66
initiation, 2 1 , 1 37, 1 5 1 , 1 55 , 1 57, 225, 230,
peplophoria/Pelops, 1 1 2, 1 1 3, 123
23 1 initiatory myths, 65, 160, 1 63
1 66- 1 68, 1 69, 1 7 1 , 1 75-1 77, 1 83 , 204,
holistic, 27, 1 06, 109, 1 5 2 exploration o f etymology, 1 0, 55, 57 See also global Hofmann, 1 1 0, 1 1 1 , 1 26 See also Walde
insignia, 49, 54-55, 63, 1 2 8, 162, 209 See also Aphrodite, Apollo, Athena, Hermes, Pelopids ins ignis Pelops, 1 62-163
Holub, 9
interaction, 8, 1 8, 2 1 , 39, 67, 69, 1 56, 200
Homer, 1 1 4- 1 1 6, 125-127, 1 87- 1 89, 200-20 1 ,
intertextual, 8, 68, 1 05, 1 4 1 , 162, 1 69 intertextuality, 5, 9, 1 0
208-2 1 0, 2 1 1 -2 1 6 his name, 23, 98 philologist, 6-7
See also Homeric scholarship Iphigeneia, 1 63 , 1 69, 1 70, 207, 2 1 0-2 12, 221
242
Index of Names and Subjects
Irigoin, 3 1 lrus
(IQo�), 82-89
Medea, 1 0 1 , 1 74, 1 77 etymology, 1 68
Irwin, 1 36, 142, 148, 1 56, 1 57, 1 99 iynx (tuy1;), 1 66- 1 68
mediating figures/roles: 12, 96, 1 37, 1 58, 194, 1 97
See also Hippodameia, Medea
locus: polia sea, 1 14- 1 1 6, 1 4 1 - 142, 1 64 See also Pelops
Jahn, 190
Meijering, 47, 54, 1 64, 2 1 5
Janko, 74
memory, 7, 25, 36, 40, 1 06
Jason, 1 68, 1 74, 1 75, 1 77
Menelaus, 32, 45, 79, 80, 1 14, 1 67, 206, 207,
Johnston, 1 36, 1 5 1 , 165, 1 68
2 1 0, 2 1 6, 220, 222, 225
Kahane, 7, 78
etymology: Palmer's leitmotiv principle, 1 85,
Kakridis, 1 3 1 , 1 34, 143 Kamptz, von, 84, 1 1 0, 1 85, 1 98, 1 99, 208, 2 1 1, 214 Kenna, 1 62 Kirk, 47, 50
211 in Homer, 2 1 1 -2 1 6 i n Euripides, 2 1 6, 224 Menestheus, 126 Meriones, 44, 46
Kober, 142
metonomasia, 1 5 1 - 1 52, 1 54, 1 58- 1 59
Kock, 1 80
metron Pelops and his kin, 1 20-123, 1 67 - 1 69,
Kohnken, 1 3 1 , 1 36, 143, 147, 1 62 Kramer, 1 1 2, 126, 1 54, 167, 1 73, 1 9 1 , 1 99
204, 2 1 8.
Kraus, 1 0, 85, 89, 90, 1 0 1 , 220
Mettes, 1 9 1 - 1 92
Kretschmer, 1 1 0, 208 Kripke, 1 5, 1 8-20
Mill, 1 3, 1 5- 1 6, 20 mimesis, 1 23
Kurke, 149, 1 92, 225 Kyriakidou. See Peraki kydonia, 1 67, 1 83
See Athena KuowvCa
mimetic arts, culture and language, 1 4, 1 06, 1 23, 226 Minchin, 8, 36 mingle (l-ldYVUf!.l), 126, 127, 1 30, 1 3 1 , 1 39, 1 4 1 , 144, 148, 149, 1 5 1 , 1 52, 1 54, 1 60,
Lacroix, 126, 1 7 1
1 64, 1 89, 1 95, 206, 2 1 3, 2 16, 222
Laks-Most, 1 3 8
mix, mixture, 1 1 5, 1 30-3 1 , 147, 1 50, 2 1 6 See also commensality
Lallot, 30, 69, 1 06, 1 08
Molino, 1 3 - 1 6, 1 8, 20-2 1 , 23-24
Lausberg, 35 Lee, 66
Most, 1 33, 1 3 8, 1 57, 1 90
Lesky, 46
mnema, 1 50, 1 5 3
Levi-Strauss, 1 3, 2 1 -24
mots-valises, 1 59
Levine, 87, 88
Miihlestein, 10, 45, 46, 74, 1 99
liminal
Miiller, 1 12, 1 1 3
locus: polia sea, 1 1 6, 1 4 1 , 142 stage/phase/period: 1 4 1 , 1 5 1 , 1 59, 223 Liftares-Saconi, 47 literary space, 80, 1 04, 1 52 Long, 94, 1 05
Myrtilus, 1 20, 1 2 1 , 125, 1 54, 1 65, 1 7 1 , 1 751 77, 2 1 6 l'Iagy, 7, 1 0, 23, 26, 58, 84, 98, 99, 1 3 1 , 1 33, 1 36, 1 39, 1 4 1
Louden, 3 1 , 80, 202
l'Iame Theory and Etymology 1 3-33
Loxias, 1 28, 1 57, 1 5 8
namegiving, 80, 92, 96,
Lundstrom, 1 62
modern theories, 5, 2 1 -24
Lyons, 1 3 - 1 6, 2 1 , 27, 1 62
ancient namegiving and etymology, 80,
Lyric Poetry, 5, 66, 97-103, 104 indebtedness to Homeric etymology, 98, 100-103
8 1 , 92, 96, 1 08, 1 2 1 , 146, 1 5 5 motivation, 40, 5 9 , 84, 1 59, 200 narrative verisimilitude, 226
Mader, 1 35, 1 98, 199, 2 1 1 Maehler, 192
narrativized etymology, 34, 57-59, 65, 66, 67, 74, 80, 8 1 , 85, 1 20, 1 28, 2 1 9 Nash, 1 58
Malalas, 1 62, 1 63
Nestor, 3 1 , 42, 75
Maltby, 29, 1 78, 1 97
Nifadopoulos, 27
Marinatos, 65
l'Iilsson, 38, 64
Maronitis, 84 Martin, 8
l'Ionnus, 1 78, 1 79, 1 80, 203
Index of Names and Subjects Odysseus, 1 7, 1 8, 52, 7 1 , 79, 83, 85-89, 1 1 5, 126, 209, 2 1 0 etymology, 2 1 , 3 1 , 40, 58, 60-6 1
Palmer's leitmotiv principle, 1 85 father-and-son, 225-226 Oenomaus, 32, I l l , 1 12, 1 26, 1 27, 1 39, 140, 143, 146, 147, 1 63 , 1 7 1 , 1 73, 1 74-1 8 1 , 1 83, 1 89, 203, 205, 207, 2 10, 215, 2 1 6, 222, 223, 229, 230, 23 1 , 234 etymology, 1 1 1 , 1 75-1 79, 189 modem, 1 98-200 in Homer, 8 1 , 202 in Pindar, 202-203 in Sophocles, 1 66-169 in later poetry, 203-204 Oenomaus in Art, 205 Oenopides, 127 Olympia, 1 1 , 12, 1 12, 1 24, 129, 1 3 1 , 1 39, 147, 149, 1 52-153, 1 58, 1 63, 229, 233 etymology, 12, 1 29-1 30,152-153, 1 60 Olympus, 1 2, 75, 93, 129-1 3 1 , 1 34, 1 35, 1 3 7, 1 50, 1 53, 1 64, 1 94, 196, 203 etymology, 12, 1 29-130, 1 35, 1 53, 1 64 Ong, 7, 8, 9, 34, 36, 40 Onians, 1 34, 1 88 Oresbius, 127 Orestes COQ€atT]�), 1 0, 8 1 , 1 20, 1 27, 1 62, 1 63, 165, 1 69, 1 70, 1 85, 1 95, 196, 2 1 1 , 2 1 6, 222, 223, 227, 228, 230, 234 etymology, 127, 1 84, 1 85, 2 1 6-22 1, 223 in Aeschylus, 2 1 8-219 in Euripides, 2 1 9-221 in Plato, 122, 2 1 7 Orestes (homonym in Homer), 1 27
overlapping (fJtLXUAUlj!t�, fJtLXEXUAUJttUL), 144, 1 52, 206, 222
Packard, 3 1 Padel, 134 Paieon (I1ULuV/I1UL�OlV) etymology, 38, 42 See also Apollo palimpsest, 106 Palmer, 1 85, 1 98, 208, 2 1 1 , 222 Pandarus, 45, 47 pan-Hellenes, 28, 96, 100 Panhellenic, 99, 149, 1 52, 1 65 Panhellenism, 1 2 Panopeus, 128 Pape-Benseler, 1 1 1 , 123, 1 99 parechesis, 32, 33, 93 See alliteration paretymology, 6, 28 Paris, 43, 45-48, 63, 64, 73, 80-82, 1 00, 1 03 See also Alexandrus, Dysparis Parke, 124 paronomasia, 6, 33, 35, 36, 203 paronomastic, 32, 33, 77, 99, 101
243
parthenon, 1 69
Parthenopaeus etymology: in Aeschylus, 1 82 in Euripides, 1 82-183 in Sophocles, 1 83 parthenos, 1 69, 1 70, 1 83
Patroclus, 32, 4 1 -43, 68, 73 patronymic, 1 65, 2 10, 2 1 6, 225, 226 behavioral and linguistic resemblance, 226 Pelegon, 58-59 Peleus, 53, 58, 62, 63, 8 1 , 101 Pelias, 1 10 Pelion, 58 See also Peleus Pelopia (land), 1 12, 1 99 Pelopia (Tantalus' daughter), 223 Pelopeis, 1 77-178 Pelopid, 1 27, 147, 1 6 1 , 1 66, 170, 1 74, 178, 1 83, 210, 2 1 1 , 220, 22 1
Pelopidae-Pelopids, 1 2, 82, 126, 1 28, 1 36, 147, 1 62, 1 65, 174, 1 77, 1 84, 2 12, 2 1 3, 2 16, 22 1 , 222 semata of the Pelopids, 1 6 1 , 1 62, 1 63, 1 69, 1 84 Pelopides, 1 65 Pelop-ides, 226 Pelops, 5, 1 0- 1 2, 34, 60, 67, 8 1 , 102, 103, 1091 19, 123, 130-155, 1 58-1 83, 1 85, 1 86, 1 88, 1 89, 190, 1 9 1 , 192, 197, 199, 202207, 209, 212, 2 1 3 , 2 1 5 , 2 1 6, 221-223, 226, 227, 229, 230, 232, 233 etymology, 109-184: modem, 1 09-1 1 3
ancient in Comedy, 1 73 - 1 74 in Homer, 125-128 in Euripides, 169-172 in Pindar, 128-154 in Plato, 1 1 9-124 in Sophocles, 123, 1 65-169 in Post-classical poetry, 1 74-181 Pelops and Apollo, 1 5 3- 1 54 Pelops and the Alpheus, 1 60-1 64 Pelops in cult, 1 1 , 1 1 1 , 1 3 1 , 1 35, 142, 147- 1 52, 164, 202, 2 1 6
mediating hero, 1 1 , 1 2 , 1 3 1 , 1 52, 1 53, 1 82
Pelops in Art, 1 8 1 - 1 84 See also insignis Peradotto, 8, 9, 10, 13, 15, 1 6, 1 8, 20, 58, 6 1 , 222
Peraki-Kyriakidou, 30, 53, 54, 55 performative, 2 1 , 57, 99 performative renomination, 2 1 Pfeiffer, 7 , 30, 3 1 , 37, 55, 1 78 Phaethon (<Pa€80lV), 1 80
244
Index of Names and Subjects
Phereclus, 45, 46, 47, 49 Pherenicus, 130, 1 3 1 philological, 6 , 7 , 3 1 , 34, 48, 5 8 expedience, 6 ; explanations, 7; methods, 26; cycles, 105
ruuioXo£, rm� o xo£, 7 1 , 72, 77, 79, 143, 146
LlUI-LULO£, 75, 147 EvvooCymo£, 71, 72, 76, 77 EVOOCX8wv, 69, 70-72, 77-79
philologist, 7, 28, 29, 44
8EI-LEALOUXO£, 76, 77
philology, 30, 106
l-Lull�ta£, 55, 78, 144
philosophers, 29, 104, 1 62, 1 95, 1 04, 105 philosophical, 1 6, 24, 30, 96, 1 04, 1 05 ,
OELoCX8wv, 144
1 97, 221 philosophy, 5, 1 3 , 30, 104, 106
Proper Name: Status and Function, 13-27
Philostratus the Elder, 1 8 1 , 205
proxy, 47, 65, 209
Philostratus the Younger, 1 82-1 84, 205 Piccaluga, 1 3 9
Quincey, 97, 1 0 1 , 1 2 1 , 1 2 8
Pickard-Cambridge, 98
Quintus Smymaeus, 203
Pindar, 35, 1 1 0- 1 1 3, 1 1 9, 1 28- 154, 1 54- 1 59, 1 6 1 - 165, 1 89- 1 93, 202-203,
Ramat, 1 1 1
etymological dialogue with Homer,
Rank, 7, 40, 4 1 , 50, 84, 89, 94, 1 0 1
practices and patterns, 99, 1 0 1 - 104, 1 28
Rankin, 98
Pindaric scholia, 1 1 7, 132, 1 37, 1 4 1 , 143, 148, 1 74, 1 83 , 190
rearticulation, 6, 66, 69, 78, 96, 109, 1 4 1 , 1 54, 217
See also resignification, catalysis
Plato, 25, 26 theory and etymology, 1 0, 30, 3 1 , 78, 89, 96, 107
synthesis reception:
alliteration/aural similarity, 32
ancient, 5, 10, 57, 39, 105
etymologies of:
modem, 7, 9- 10, 24, 39
Agamemnon, 207-208
See also Homeric Scholaship
Apollo, 56, 1 80
reciprocity, 1 34, 140, 1 4 1 , 143, 144, 146
Artemis, 96
Reeve, 56, 70, 89, 96, 120, 1 2 1 , 1 86, 206, 207,
Atreus, 82, 1 1 8, 205-206 Hera, 50, 1 1 3 Pelops, 1 1 0, 1 1 1 , 1 1 3 , 1 1 9- 1 24, 1 3 1 , 144, 1 62, 1 69, 1 77, 1 8 1 , 208, 2 1 8 Poseidon, 70, 74-75 Tantalus, 1 1 8, 1 85- 1 86 Plutarch, 226 poikilia (nOLlILACu), 136, 1 37, 1 4 1 , 144, 152, 1 54, 1 64 Pokorny, 64, 1 09, 1 1 0, 126, 169, 1 70, 1 98
polioslpelios, 1 09- 1 1 0, 1 1 3 - 1 1 9 medical application, 1 1 7, 1 6 1 , 1 63 , 1 64
polia sea: mediating locus, 1 1 5, 1 1 6 poetological symbol, 1 64
See mediating and liminal
217 Reiter, 142 Renehan, 1 29 renomination, 2 1 , 1 5 1
See also performative resemanticization, 69, 96, 1 52 resignification, 6, 6 6 , 78, 80 , 105, 1 4 1 , 1 52, 1 54, 1 96, 2 1 7 resonance, 8 , 10, 3 1 , 34, 59
See also alliteration restructuring, 58, 69, 1 05
See also rearticulation Richardson, 3 1 , 48, 69 Risch, 10, 1 1 5 Robertson, G.I.C., 53 Robertson, N., 1 1 1 , 1 63, 1 92
polysemous, 1 1 9, 1 50, 1 88, 197, 226
Ruck, 1 5 7
polysemy, 128, 1 52
Russell, 1 5 , 19, 22, 25
portmanteau word, 206
Russo, 83, 84
Poseid-aon, 70, 78-79
See Poseidon Poseidon (IloOELCliii v ), 32, 40, 48, 55, 67, 6980, 92-95, 1 1 2, 1 1 3, 1 1 5 , 1 1 6, 1 3 1 - 1 35 , 140-146, 1 55 , 1 57, 1 62, 1 64, 1 72, 197,
Salvador, 1 55, 1 56, 1 57 Salvadore, 10, 90 Scamandrus, 3 1 , 58, 89, 90, 9 1 , 92, 96.
See Divine and human language
199, 203, 230
Scheid -Svenbro, 1 1 2, 1 1 3
etymology:
schema etymologicum, 35
in Homer, 69-80 in Plato, 70, 74-75 i\YAUOtQCmvu, 1 34, 146
See paronomasia Scherling, 109, 1 1 0, 123, 222 Schlunk, 73
Index of Names and Subjects
Scodel, 8, 1 94, 1 95 scholiasts, 5, 6, 27, 28, 29, 30, 34, 35, 42, 46,
245
auaa��ov, 162
See also a��av�Qov
5 3 , 54, 68, 78, 80, 1 04, 105, 108, 1 1 5 , 1 1 8 , 1 55, 1 56, 1 69, 1 88, 1 94, 200, 2 0 1 , 208, 2 14, 226 Searle, 1 5 , 1 8, 1 9, 20
Tantalidae, Tantalids, 123, 2 1 6, 222, 223 oscillation, 1 50, 1 85, 1 9 1 , 193, 194,
Sechan, 1 7 1 , 1 76
1 98, 2 1 0, 2 1 1 , 222
Sedley, 1 1 8, 120, 1 59, 1 86, 206, 2 1 7, 222
bifurcation, 223
Segal, 146, 1 50 1 5 1 , 1 58, 168 sema, semata, 3 2 Pelops: sema of centrality, 1 2
Tantal-ides, 226 behavioral/linguistic resemblance, 226 Tanta1us, 10, 1 1 0, 1 1 8, 122, 125, 1 34, 1 36,
Pelops' tomb, 1 50, 1 52
1 39, 147, 149, 1 59, 1 6 1 , 1 65, 1 7 1 , 1 72,
corporeal tokens, 1 62, 1 63, 1 8 2
1 78, 1 80, 1 8 1 , 1 83 , 2 0 1 , 206, 207, 2 1 0-
etymological/linguistic semata, 10, 47, 52,
2 1 6, 2 1 8, 220-223, 233
57, 65, 68, 70, 74, 75, 76, 85, 93, 1 04, 1 64, 178, 1 82, 1 89, 1 98, 202 pictorial, 1 83 ,
etymology, 8 1 in Anacreon, 1 93 in Euripides, 193- 1 97
a��av�Qov/ auaa��ov, 162
in Homer, 1 87- 1 89
semiotic, 1 50, 1 62, 165, 1 68, 1 82, 1 83 , 192,
in Lucianus, 1 97- 1 98
208 Shive, 8 Sickle, van, 98 signifier-signified, signify, 1 1 , 1 3 , 14, 24, 25, 26, 57, 58, 59, 65, 73, 84, 1 08, 1 1 1 , 1 1 9, 1 20, 1 2 1 , 1 4 1 , 143, 1 50, 158, 1 59, 1 64,
in Pindar, 1 89- 1 93 in Plato, 1 85 - 1 86 celestial enterprises/suspense, 149, 1 7 1 , 1 72, 1 80, 1 8 1 , 1 9 1 , 195-197
See also Apollo and Anaxagoras crimes and punishment, 1 25 , 1 3 9, 147,
1 65 , 1 72, 1 75 , 1 77, 1 96, 202, 207, 2 1 0,
1 6 1 , 1 65, 1 7 1 , 1 85- 1 88, 1 90- 1 9 1 ,
215, 216
1 95 , 197
Sikes, 3 1
double of Atlas, 1 85, 1 94, 1 97
Silk, 3 1 , 40
Teiresias, 23, 100
Slater, 1 3 1 , 1 33 , 1 4 1 , 145, 148, 149, 1 5 1 , 152,
teknophagy, 1 74, 2 1 0, 223
1 59, 1 74, 192
tekton, techne, (TEX�WV, �EX�WV, �fUXW,
Sluiter, 30
�Exv�), 45 , 1 22, 1 54 , 1 66- 1 68 , 1 7 5 , 1 83
Sophocles, 1 23 , 1 65, 1 66, 1 68, 1 69, 174, 1 75,
See also Athena
1 76, 2 1 8, 232
Telemachus, 2 1 , 86, 1 1 5
Sourvinou-Inwood, 1 97
etymology, 225
Soverini, 1 5 1 , 2 1 5
father-and-son, 225-226
Sphaerus, 1 54
Temnus, 1 67
Spivey, 1 5 1 , 1 52
Temnian Aphrodite, 167- 1 68
Stanford, 10, 29, 3 1 , 4 1 , 80, 84, 1 0 1 , 1 06, 145, 1 5 1 , 1 93 Steiner, 1 1 1 , 1 32, 1 5 6
See also Aphrodite teras, 122, 1 72 , 1 74 Thaleia, 1 0 1
Stem, 1 4 8 , 1 57, 1 6 1
Theano, 67
Stesichorus, 9 8 , 100, 1 0 1
Thetis, 43, 74, 93, 95, 100, 1 1 5
Stoic, 1 4, 30, 93, 94, 1 05, 1 62
Thoas (Homer), 73
Stratiki, 148
Thoas (Euripides), 1 70, 22 1
Su1zberger, 10, 37, 44, 60, 74, 84, 92, 94, 98,
Thomas, 1 62
1 03 , 20 1 , 225 surrogate, 4 1 , 45, 5 1 , 53, 6 1 , 62, 64, 68, 74, 79, 99, 1 27, 144, 1 95, 1 97, 203 Svenbro, 1 1 2, 1 1 3, 225 , 226
See also Scheid symposium, symposiast, 130, 1 36, 149, 192, 203, 2 1 6 synonyrn, -ous, 1 7 , 32, 34, 37, 40, 4 1 , 43 , 44,
Thoosa, 73 Thramer, 1 1 0, 1 1 2, 1 1 3 Thummer, 146 Tlepolemus etymology, 60-61
Thyesteia deipna, 163, 1 72, 222 Thyestes, 88, 125, 1 72, 1 74, 206, 223 etymology, 207
49, 52-55, 57-59, 65, 67, 70, 74, 85, 93,
transference of etymology, 47, 50, 53, 56, 60-
1 0 1 , 102, 1 03 , 1 20, 128, 1 37, 140, 149,
66, 7 1 , 142- 1 44, 1 76, 1 78, 1 79, 1 84, 1 87,
1 96, 1 97, 209, 2 1 3 synonymy, 103, 1 50, 1 78, 222
1 9 1 , 1 92, 202, 2 1 3, 2 1 4, 2 1 5
See also Homeric Etymology: Patterns
246
Index of Names and Subjects
TQ
247 Index Locorum Aelianus De Natura Animalium 5. 8: 1 47 12. 4: 54 Aeschylus (Page) Agamemnon 1 09-20: 2 1 0 1 22 : 1 22 146: 3 8 1 94: 1 92 208: 1 76 220-25, 228-45: 2 1 0 264-65, 3 1 0- 1 1 , 386, 750-7 1 : 224 681-700: 1 70 1 1 36, 1 1 38, 1 23 1 , 1237, 1 298, 1 302, 1402, 1 426-29, 1452-53, 1 483: 2 1 1 1 468-69: 2 1 0 1 592: 88, 206 1 596: 1 63 Choephoroe 224-27: 2 1 8 227, 454, 503: 2 1 9 527, 549, 67 1 : 2 1 8 738, 786-87, 797: 2 1 8 807- 1 8, 854: 2 1 8 837, 924, 934, 973, 980, 984-86, 105 1 , 1 053, 1 057, 1059, 1 06 1 : 2 1 9 Eumenides 53 1 : 1 2 1 534-37: 224 Prometheus 428:-30: 197 Septem 526-37: 1 82, 1 83 541-43, 554-55: 1 82 Alcman (PMGF Davies) 1 . 40-43, 88-9 1 , 92, 96, 1 00-0 1 : 99 27. 2-3: 99 77: 1 00 79: 2 1 8, 2 1 9 Alexander Rhetor (Spengel) De Figuris, 3 : 36. 1 3-25: 35 Alexis 274 (=272), PCG 2: 1 76, Kassel- Austin: 1 80 Anacreon PMG 355: 1 93 Anonymus Rhetor (Spengel) De Figuris, 3: 1 85 . 1 0- 1 7: 35 Antipater Tarsensis fr. 36, SVF. iii, 249, v. Arnim: 55 Antoninus Liberalis Metamorphoses 6: 54 36: 1 97 Antiphanes fr. 1 70, PCG 2: 406, Kassel-Austin: 1 73 Apollodorus of Athens, FGrHist. Jacoby 244 F88: 1 10 244 F95 : 38, 1 5 8 244 F95-99g: 7 7 244 F95, 99a, 99r: 6 3
Apollodorus (Ps.-) Bibliotheca 2. 4. 2: 1 83 3 . 12. 6: 206 3. 1 3 . 6: 1 5 1 Bibl. Epit. 2 . I: 1 97 Bibl. Epit. 5. 1 0- 1 1 : 1 62 Apollonius Rhodius Argonautica (aCT) 1 . 724: 1 75 1 . 735-67: 177 1 . 747-73 : 175 1 . 752-58: 1 74-75 Scholia in Apollonium Rhodium vetera (Wendel) 1 . 752-58a, 64-65 W: 1 77 1 . 1 1 65c, 105-1 06 W: 92 2. 123-129a, 1 34 W: 1 1 7 3. 225-27a, 225 W: 1 02 3. 275, 228 W: 1 64 Apollonius Sophista (Bekker) 55. 7-1 1 : 49 129. 26: 124 1 32. 1 3 : 1 77 1 66. 1 : 145 Archilochus (West) fr. 9 1 : 1 92 fr. 120: 200 Aristotle De generatione animalium 7 84b9-2 1 : 1 64 784b l 0: 1 63 784bl O-785a5: 1 1 7 Problemata 889b30: 1 10 894b7-1 1 : 1 1 7, 1 63 Rhetorica (Rhet.) 1 407a5: 106 Ps.-Arist. De Coloribus 791a20-24: 1 14 798a2 1 -26: 163 Ps.-Arist. De Mundo 404a6-8: 1 53 fr. 1 02 Rose: Phi!. de plantat. Noe 35-42 ( I : 350-56 M): 201 fr. 96 Rose: 1 66 Arrian Bithyn. frag. 35 (2 10-2 1 1 , Wirth) = Eust. n. 1 : 1 9 1 . 1 3 - 1 5 : 92 Athenaeus 4. 130e: 173 1 0. 426f: 203 1 5 . 678f: 1 80 Bacchylides (Campbell Greek Lyric IV) 5 . 9- 10: 129 fr. 20D: 2 1 1 Callimachus (Pfeiffer) In Ap. 2. 5 : 55 In Ap. 2. 47: 64 In Del. 4. 72-73: 177 Choeroboscus Prolegomena (Gaisford) 32b l , 8 G: 208 106a l , 1 78 G: 46
248
Index Locorum
Chrysippus Fragm. Logica et Physica fr. 1063, SVF ii. 3 12, v. Arnim: 76 fr. 1 095, SVF ii. 3 1 9-20: 1 53 Cicero Tusculanae Disputationes 2. 27. 67: 172 Comutus Epidrome (Lang) c. 2, p. 3. 1 0- 1 1 : 76 c. 3 . p. 3 . 1 6-20: 55 c. 4, p. 4. 14: 77, 144 c. 6, pp. 5-6: 55 c. 1 6, p. 23. 1-4: 55 c. 17, p. 27. 12-17: 94 c. 1 7 . p. 27. 1 7- 1 8 : 94 c. 20, p. 35. 6-15: 53 c. 20, p. 36. 1-3: 49 c. 20, p. 36. 4-5: 5 1 c. 20, p. 36. 8 : 52 c. 20, pp. 36. 14 - 37.8: 54 c. 20, pp. 38. 20 - 39. 1 : 54 c. 2 1 , p. 40.20 - 4 1 . 1 : 52 � 2 1 , p. 4 1 . 6-1 1 : 5 1 c . 22, p . 4 1 .2 1 - 42. 1 : 77 c. 22, p. 42. 1 -9: 144 c. 22, p. 42. 1 -10: 78 c. 22, p. 42. 1 1 -20: 55 c. 22, p. 42. 1 1 - 14: 1 34 c. 22, p. 42. 2 1 -23: 77 c. 22, p. 44. 1 1- 1 5 : 95 c. 24, p. 46. 9- 1 3 : 55 c. 28, p. 52. 4-14: 1 3 8 c. 28, pp. 52-53 : 1 62 c. 32, p. 65. 4-1 1 : 153 c. 32, p. 66. 2-6: 79 c. 32, p. 66. 7-8: 76 c. 32, p. 67. 1 4-16: 1 5 8 c. 32, p. 68. 8-1 1 : 55 c. 32, pp. 68. 1 1 - 69.5: 55 c. 33, p. 70. 7-16: 55 Crates apud I. Lydus fr. 1 063, SVF ii, v. Amim: 1 76 Demosthenes De corona 242 . 1 - 243.5: 201 sch. Demosth. in Or. 1 9. 155 (58-59 Dilts): 1 12 Derveni Papyrus (col. XXII): 1 3 8, 1 62 Diodorus Sicu1us 4. 74. 2: 1 97 6. 6. 5: 1 34 6. 7. 2: 1 34 Dissoi Logoi 5. 8- 1 3 (Robinson): 1 1 8
Epimerismi Homerici Epim. Horn 7A l , 7A2 (Dyck 1 983: 82): 226 Epim. Horn. 462B (Dyck 1 983: 225): 201 Epim. Horn. An. Ox. 1 : 149. 1 9-20 (Cramer): 1 8 8 Epim. Horn. a 260 (Dyck 1 995: 147): 78
Epim. Horn. a 289 (Dyck 1 995: 1 66): 208 Epim. Horn. x 10 (Dyck 1 995: 402): 150 Epim. Horn. 0 3, 0 77 (Dyck 1 995: 543, 563): 1 53 Epim. Horn. 0 70 (Dyck 1 995: 561): 201 Epim. Horn. 0 89, 0 1 09 (Dyck 1 995: 567, 577): 47 Epim. Horn. It 25 (Dyck 1 995: 583) 1 88 Epim. Horn. It 46 (Dyck 1 995: 592): 1 24 Epim. Horn. It 127 (Dyck 1 995): 623, 1 18 Epim. Horn. It 128 (Dyck 1 995: 623): 1 17 Etymologicum Genuinum EGen. a 1 34. 1-6: 49 EGen. a 432. 24-30: 129 EGen. a 554. 1 -4: 1 60 EGen. a 556. 1 -6: 160 EGen. a 1 160. 1 -12: 52 EGen. a 1 165: 5 1 EGen. a 1 332. 1 -5: 1 47 EGen. a 1452. 1 -7: 76 EGen. � 2 1 3 . 1 -4: 46 EGen. /.. 37. 1 : 55 Etymologicum Gudianum (Sturz) EGud. a 7. 20: 208 EGud. a 1 5 . 1-4: 147 EGud. a 3 1 . 3-6: 49 EGud. a 100. 12-14: 1 60 EGud. a 1 0 1 . 7: 1 60 EGud. a 1 74. 8: 3 8 EGud. a 1 92. 6-7: 52 EGud. a 192. 6-8: 5 1 EGud. a 230. 1 9-20: 47 EGud. � 273. 9- 1 1 : 2 1 3 EGud. � 2 8 1 . 1 4- 1 5 : 154 EGud. � 282. 2 1 -23: 46 EGud. y 299. 1 1 - 1 3 : 52 EGud. y 3 12. 14-3 1 3 . 2: 37 EGud. & 349. 3-4: 76 EGud. & 351. 8: 1 76 EGud. & 360. 5: 76 EGud. & 3 7 1 . 18-19: 89 EGud. & 378. 3-4: 1 56 EGud. E 282. 4: 73 EGud. E 430. 3-4: 84 EGud. E 446. 8-1 1 : 1 70 EGud. E 447. 1 : 1 70 EGud. E 455. 1 5 - 1 8 : 1 32 EGud. E 465. 6: 178 EGud. E 518. 2-3: 141 EGud. E 518. 9-12: 73 EGud. T] 247. 38: 50 EGud. e 260. 35: 1 8 8 EGud. x 3 1 3 . 5 2 : 1 3 5 EGud. x 3 1 3 . 5 9 : 154 EGud. x 414. 1 5 : 154 EGud. 1.t 379. 46-48: 52 EGud. 1.t 379. 49-5 1 : 52 EGud. I.t 392. 48-50: 44 EGud. o 422. 24-34: 200 EGud. o 426. 25: 1 94 EGud. o 426. 50-54: 1 53
249
Index Locorum
EGud. 0 430. 32-33: 201 EGud. o 432. 56: 2 1 7 EGud. 0 435 . 9: 85 EGud. 0 435. 59-436. 2 : 2 1 7 EGud. 0 437. 8-9: 141 EGud. Jt 458. 39-48: 124 EGud. Jt 458. 33-36: 170 EGud. Jt 46 1 . 9-12: 1 17 EGud. Jt 473. 36-44: 149 EGud. t 524. 52-58: 23 EGud. t 534. 38-40: 47 EGud. er 560. 39-40: 145 Etymologicum Magnum (Gaisford) EM5 . 38-4 1 : 147 EM 5. 43: 208 EM24. 43-48: 49 EM27. 15-19: 7 1 EM27. 1 9-23: 72 EM28. 2-6: 94 EM 72. 39-43: 1 60 EM 72. 44-45: 1 60 EM 140. 1 7- 19: 52 EM 1 54. 38-4 1 : 79 EM 1 6 1 . 29: 147 EM 1 67. 1 8-2 1 : 47 EM 1 76. 33-36: 76 EM 1 99. 45-5 1 : 2 1 3 EM209. 6-8: 46 EM2 1 7. 43-47: 1 96 EM22 1 . 20-23: 135 EM223. 1 0- 1 1 : 143 EM 238. 32-36: 1 83 EM 260. 54: 74 EM 266. 32-4 1 : 176 EM266. 32-35: 5 1 EM 323. 26-30: 1 70 EM 328. 57-329. 10: 1 32 EM 336. 1 6 : 178 EM 370. 26-28: 141 EM 374. 4 1 -43: 51 EM 388. 1-8: 108 EM389. 35-38: 29 EM409. 2-3: 76 EM412. 39-46: 37 EM502. 10-1 1 : 1 54 EM5 1O. 1 : 2 1 7 EM 5 12. 35-36: 70 EM 557. 4: 55 EM 565. 48: 1 54 EM 574. 86: 52 EM 574. 103-09: 52 EM 574. 126-38: 52 EM 586. 43-45: 44 EM 608. 3 3 : 154 EM6 1 8 . 2 1 -29: 201 EM 623. 7: 1 94 EM623. 7- 1 8 : 153 EM 632. 45-48: 217 EM637. 1 5-20: 47 EM 657. 4- 1 5 : 42 EM 659. 5-6: 1 70 EM 659. 30-39: 1 1 7 EM 659.58 - 660.2: 124 EM 675. 34-54: 1 02
EM680. 1 -8, 49: 149 EM680. 14- 1 7, 2 1 -4 1 : 1 1 7 EM 684. 22-30: 80 EM 684. 30: 70 EM 684. 32-37: 80 EM 696. 48: 33 EM 707. 3: 1 80 EM744. 4-12: 1 94 EM 745. 47: 135 EM 756. 5-14: 23 EM 756. 48-52: 1 88 EM 764. 57-765 . 2 : 47 EM 790. 34-35: 46 EM804. 28-30: 145 EM808. 1 1 : 1 3 5 Etymologicum Symeonis ESym. 639: 1 60 ESym. 641 : 1 60 ESym. 1 3 54-55: 52 Eubulus apud Athen. 15. 678f. fr.73, PCG 5: 232 K-A: 1 80 Euripides (OCT) Alcestis (Ale.) 8, 569-87: 64 Bacchae (Ba.) 1 127: 1 3 7 Electra (El.) 1 163 : 219 Hercules Furens (HF) 93 1 -34: 220 Hippolytus (Hipp.) Hipp. 373-74: 1 72 Hipp. 443, 448-50: 66 Hipp. 1 2 1 8-48: 1 80 Iphigenia Aulidensis (lA) lA 3 2 1 : 2 1 1 lA 332: 1 72, 1 76 Iphigenia Taurica (IT) IT 822-26: 169 IT 876-80, 886: 170 IT 983-86, 985-86: 1 70, 221 IT 1212: 1 70, 2::'i IT 1 3 16, 1332, 1382, 1384, 1456-6 1 : 22 1 Orestes (Or.) Or. 4- 10: 1 93, 195 Or. 10: 197 Or. 253-6 1 : 219 Or. 258, 263: 220 Or. 349-5 1 : 224 Or. 385-89, 387: 22 1 Or. 562: 223 Or. 688-92: 216 Or. 807-1 8 : 2 1 0 Or. 877: 22 1 Or. 960-72, 989: 220 Or. 982-87: 1 94, 1 95 Or. 988: 1 72 Or. 989-9 1 : 1 7 1 Or. 995-1000: 1 7 1 Or. 1008: 206-207 Or. 1009-10: 2 1 6 Or. 1683-85: 1 5 3 Phaethon 72 <Pat8wv F78 1 . 1 1- 1 3, TrGF 5 . 2: 8 1 7 Kannicht: 1 96 72 <Pat8wv F783, TrGF 5.2: 824 Kannicht): 1 95-196 =
250 Phoenissae (Phoen.) 3: 1 96 Troades (Troad.) Troad. 424-25: 29 Troad. 988-90: 66 Scholia in Euripidem (Schwartz) sch. Eur. Or. 14. 24-26, 98 S: 223 sch. Eur. Or. 982, 194 S: 1 97 sch. Eur. Or. 982, 1 93 S: 1 94 sch. Eur. Or. 987, 1 95 S: 1 72, 1 76 Eustathius Commentarii ad Homeri Iliadem et Odysseam, adjidem exempli Romani editi (Stallbaum) (vols / pages / lines) Eust. Il. 1 : 39.34 - 40.9: 39, 40 Eust. Il. 1 : 44.25 - 45.12: 153, 194 Eust. 11. 1 : 64. 1 1-16: 39 Eust. Il. 1 : 74. 4-5, 1 5 : 50 Eust. Il. l : 1 12. 2-3: 1 76 Eust. 11. 1 : 132. 13-17: 49 Eust. 11. 1 : 137. 2 1 -23: 57 Eust. Il. 1 : 137.29 - 138. 1 : 55 Eust. 11. 1 : 1 37-139. 8: 55 Eust. 11. 1: 1 38. 5-9: 55 Eust. 11. 1: 138. 9- 10: 54 Eust. Il. 1 : 138.29 - 1 39.8: 54 Eust. Il. l : 1 80. 1 5- 30: 1 14 Eust. 11. 1 : 1 89.37 - 1 90. 1 1 : 92 Eust. Il. 1 : 1 90. 9-1 1 , 20-2 1 : 95 Eust. 11. 1 : 1 90. 25-27: 94 Eust. 11. 1: 1 90. 39-40: 92 Eust. Il. 1 : 1 9 1 .37 - 1 92.3: 89 Eust. Il. 1 : 1 9 1 . 13-15: 92 Eust. Il. 1 : 1 92.22 - 1 94.26: 33 Eust. Il. 1 : 212. 1 - 1 7: 42 Eust. Il. 1 : 239. 1 1- 1 3 : 49 Eust. Il. 1: 259. 1 0- 1 6: 208 Eust. 11. 1 : 28 1 . 1 3 - 282.32: 126 Eust. Il. 1: 322. 9- 1 1 : 35 Eust. Il. 1: 373.24 - 374.2: 173 Eust. It. 1: 383. 7-9: 39 Eust. It. 1 : 446. 1 8-20: 208 Eust. Il. 1 : 527.32 - 528. 7: 35 Eust. Il. 1: 545 . 30-32: 36 Eust. Il. 1: 693. 19-20: 5 1 Eust. Il. 2 : 14. 1 5-2 1 : 52 Eust. Il. 2: 20. 6: 45 Eust. Il. 2: 22. 5-6: 46 Eust. It. 2: 22. 5-12: 46 Eust. Il. 2: 22. 1 5 : 44 Eust. It. 2 : 138. 4-9: 5 1 Eust. 11. 2 : 175.14 - 1 76.2: 127-128 Eust. 11. 2: 1 79. 2-8: 177 Eust. Il. 2: 259. 10- 1 8 : 201 Eust. It. 2: 292 . 1 5 - 293.2: 153 Eust. 11. 2: 608. 1 0-12: 32-33 Eust. II. 2: 6 1 8. 12-2 1 : 39 Eust. Il. 2 : 726. 1 1-2 1 : 39 Eust. Il. 2 : 8 1 6. 16-2 1 ; 78 Eust. 11. 3: 83. 3-15: 1 1 7 Eust. Il. 3: 3 14. 14- 1 5 : 160 Eust. Il. 3 : 607. 12-17: 36 Eust. 11. 3 : 7 1 5 . 20-23 : 38
Index Locorum Eust. Il. 3: 7 1 5. 23-25: 78 Eust. Il. 3 : 82 1 . 7-12: 33 Eust. Il. 3 : 833. 1 6-20: 208 Eust. Il. 3: 932. 1 5 - 1 8 : 56 Eust. Il. 4: 3. 8- 1 1 : 2 1 5 Eust. 11. 4 : 397. 3-5: 135 Eust. Il. 4: 4 12. 24-27: 1 76 Eust. 11. 4: 542. 1 7-23: 153 Eust. It. 4: 703. 2-8: 1 88 Eust. Od. 1 : 1 1 . 29-3 1 : 29 Eust. Od. 1 : 22. 3-5: 73 Eust. Od. 1 : 77. 1 : 36 Eust. Od. 1 : 1 1 8. 44-46: 60 Eust. Od. 1 : 1 32. 1 8 : 54 Eust. Od. 1 : 1 9 1 . 38-40: 47 Eust. Od. 1: 2 1 6. 3-4: 134 Eust. Od. 1: 332. 34-37: 124 Eust. Od. 1: 333. 4-7: 124 Eust. Od. 1: 410. 4 1 -44: 1 58 Eust. Od. 1 : 436.44 - 437.2: 1 95 Eustathius Commentarii ad Dionysium Periegetam (Bernhardy) 135. 1 6-19: 92 Fulgentius Opera (Helm) Mythologiae 2. 13, p. 54. 1 8 : 56 Virgiliana Continentia p. 10 1 . 7: 1 97 Galen (Kuhn) Gtossarium, vol. 19: 129. 8: 1 17 Heliodorus in: Scholia in Dionysii Thracis Artem Grammaticam, Grammatici Graeci (Uhlig, rec. Hilgard, G. G.) 1 . 3: 470.29 - 471 . 10: 108 Herac1itus (Oelmann) Allegoriae 1 9. 8. I : 49 Hermogenes (Rabe) JIE[J( EV[J{aEw� 4. 7. 1 -6: 32 Herodianus Grammaticus (Hdn.) De prosodia catholica (Lentz, G. G.) 3. I: 123. 16: 1 17 3. I : 1 32. 4-5: 84 Partitiones (Boissonade) 1 05. 9-106. 2: 124 140. 7-9: 203 Herodianus Rhetor (Spengel) De Figuris 3: 95. 4-7: 35 Herodotus (Hdt.) 4. 30: 147 Hesiod Opera 235: 225 694: 123 Theogony 147-53: 92 5 1 1 : 137 fragmenta (Merkelbach-West) fr. 37. 15: 1 9 1 (M-W) fr. 1 33. 3-5: 1 60 fr. 163: 88 scholia Hesiod Opera (Pertusi) 1 50b5-1 5 1 b4, 60 P: 1 64
Index Locorum 383b-c, 1 3 1 - 132 P: 1 02 Hesychius (Hsch.) a 3344, 3345: 1 60 a 5944: 64 a 6506, 6507: 1 93 a 7 145 : 52 a 7 1 59: 5 1 � 1 395: 74 E 1 456: 180 x 2690: 1 54 !L 1 569: 83 0 656: 1 94 it 1 328, 1 329, 1 334, 1335, 1338, 1 339, 1 3 4 1 , 1344, 1 345, 1 354, 2776, 278 1 , 2782: 1 1 7 1: 40: 1 98 1: 1 3 1 8: 47 Hippocrates Coa Presagia (Littn!) vol. 5: 708, 32. 545. 3-7, L: 1 1 7 Homeric Hymns HAphr. 202-05: 1 3 5 252-55: 65 286-90: 65 HAp. 1 69-73: 98 HDem. 39-46: 1 3 8 Homer Iliad Il. 1 . 1 -5: 67, 68 Il. 1 . 5: 43, 95 Il. 1. 34-35: 1 55 Il. 1 . 1 0 1 -05: 208-209 Il. 1 . 1 97-200: 53 Il. 1 . 223: 42 Il. 1 . 223-28: 8 1 Il. 1 . 278-8 1 : 208 Il. 1 . 349-50: 155 Il. 1 . 350, 359: 1 1 5 Il. 1 . 403-05: 93 Il. 1. 4 1 1 - 1 2 : 82 Il. 1. 412: 42, 43 Il. 1 . 459: 87 Il. 1 . 467-68: 32 Il. 1 . 502- 10: 95 Il. 1. 530: 75 Il. 1 . 558-59: 95 Il. 2. 3 8 : 52 Il. 2. 86- 1 00: 36 Il. 2. 1 00-08, 1 04-4 1 : 209 Il. 2. 105-08: 208, 209 Il. 2. 1 83-332: 209 Il. 2. 472-3: 2 1 5 Il. 2. 527: 7 1 Il. 2 . 776: 37 Il. 2. 8 1 3-14: 89 Il. 3. 33-37: 212 Il. 3. 322: 3 1 If. 4 . 7-1 1 , 50-67: 45 Il. 4. 75: 63 Il. 4. 95-97, 1 05, 1 10-1 1 : 45 Il. 4. 127-40: 2 1 5 Il. 4. 140-49, 1 4 1 -47: 2 1 5 Il. 4. 149: 148 Il. 4. 1 83- 1 84: 2 1 5
251 Il. 4 . 327: 126 If. 5. 1 -7: 6 1 Il . 5. 1 - 143: 6 1 Il . 5. 5 : 63 Il. 5. 8, 60-61 , 62-63: 46 Il. 5. 59-66: 44 Il. 5. 59-68, 1 1 5- 1 26: 47 If. 5. 1 1 5, 1 2 1 : 6 1 Il. 5. 1 27, 1 28-32: 48 Il. 5. 1 36, 203: 3 1 If. 5. 256, 292, 295: 47 Il. 5. 330-40: 48 Il. 5. 3 3 1 , 349: 5 1 Il. 5 . 344-45 : 49 Il. 5. 356, 388-89: 5 1 Il. 5 . 401-02: 42 Il. 5. 437, 440-4 1 : 49 Il. 5. 668-70: 60 If. 5. 703-09: 127 If. 5. 74 1 -42: 54 If. 5. 770-7 1 ,776: 50 If. 5. 775-76: 50 Il. 5. 778-79: 47 Il. 5. 785: 50 Il. 5. 830-3 1 , 838: 5 1 Il . 5. 844-45 : 52 Il. 5. 846: 32 Il. 5. 855-57: 48 Il. 5. 859-63: 51 Il. 5. 864, 865: 37 If. 5. 875-82: 52 If. 5. 897: 5 1 -52 Il. 5. 899-904: 42 Il. 5. 906: 94 Il. 5. 908-09: 48 Il. 6. 37-65: 1 22 Il. 6. 45: 32 Il. 6. 1 00-01 : 47 If. 6. 200-2: 1 9 1 If. 6. 234: 43 Il. 6. 258-60: 200 Il. 6. 295: 63 Il. 6. 297-3 1 1 : 67 Il. 6. 356: 43 Il. 6. 357-58: 46 Il. 6. 355-56: 66 Il. 6. 401 : 63 If. 6. 400-03: 2 1 Il . 6. 429-39: 76 Il. 6. 5 1 3 : 64 Il. 8 . 1 8 1 : 35 Il. 8. 1 84- 197: 75 Il. 8. 1 86-90: 76 Il. 8. 198-204: 75 Il. 8. 203: 92 Il. 8. 237: 43 Il. 8. 527-28: 40 If. 9. 1 1 0-1 1 , 1 1 5-16, 1 1 8, 1 19: 42 If. 9. 1 37: 33 If. 9. 1 88 : 35 Il. 9. 247-5 1 : 68 Il. 9. 279, 358: 33 Il. 9. 485-9 1 : 68
252
Index Locorum
Il. 9. 50 1 -20: 39 Il. 9. 505-07: 43 Il. 9. 556-94: 2 1 Il. 9 . 564: 1 75 Il. 9. 574, 5 8 1 , 585, 591 : 39 Il. 9. 639: 69 Il. 9. 679: 209 Il. 10. 1 10, 1 75 : 7 1 Il. 1 0 . 1 89: 3 1 Il. 10. 223: 3 1 Il. 1 0 . 327: 35 Il. 1 1 . 1 3-14: 33 Il. 1 1 . 36-40: 183 Il. 1 1 . 6 1 -63: 63 11. 1 1 . 86-88: 3 8 11. 1 1 . 9 3 : 1 2 7 11. 1 1 . 4 8 1 -86: 2 1 6 Il. 1 1 . 558-59: 7 1 Il. 1 1 . 785-90: 42 Il. 1 1 . 790-803: 42 Il. 1 1 . 800-01 : 42 Il. 1 1 . 828-32: 4 1 11. 1 1. 830-32: 68 11. 1 1 . 845-48: 41 Il. 1 2. 27-29: 76 Il. 12. 62: 3 1 Il. 1 2 . 1 57: 37 Il. 1 2. 240: 37 Il. 1 2. 284-85 : 1 16, 1 1 8, 1 88 It. 12. 404-06: 3 1 Il. 1 3. 1 0 , 1 7-3 1 , 18-19: 69 11. 1 3 . 1 8 : 77 11. 13. 2 1 : 92, 94 11. 13. 23, 24, 25-26, 28, 29, 30: 70 Il. 1 3 . 34-37: 7 1 Il. 1 3 . 43-45, 49, 52, 56, 59, 6 1 , 69, 7 1 , 75, 78, 82-83, 89-90, 1 29-30, 135, 137: 72 Il. 1 3 . 1 36-48: 73 Il. 1 3 . 146: 79 Il. 1 3 . 1 5 1 : 73 Il. 13. 168: 79 Il. 13. 2 15-2 1 6, 235-36: 73 Il. 1 3 . 249, 287: 44 Il. 1 3 . 334, 336: 38 Il. 13. 355: 74 Il. 1 3 . 359-60: 73 Il. 1 3 . 386, 394: 38 Il. 13. 391 : 3 1 Il. 13. 412: 3 1 Il. 13. 434-35 : 74 Il. 1 3. 434-39: 73 Il. 1 3 . 438 : 77 Il. 1 3 . 442-44: 74 Il. 1 3 . 506- 1 0 : 202 Il. 1 3. 520: 3 8 Il. 13. 557-58 : 74 Il. 13. 622-23: 35 Il. 1 3. 824: 7 1 Il. 14. 1 76, 1 78, 1 8 1 : 3 5 Il. 14. 22 1 : 1 90 Il. 14. 290-9 1 : 89 Il. 14. 352: 77 Il. 14. 375-76: 38
11. 11. Il. Il. 11. Il. Il. Il. Il. Il. Il. Il. 11. 11. Il. Il. Il.
14. 384-87: 77 14. 394-401 : 78 1 5 . 147, 1 52: 3 8 1 5 . 1 53-54: 38 15. 159: 3 8 15. 161: 77, 78 15. 191: 37 15. 217: 79 1 5 . 2 1 8, 222, 228: 77 1 5 . 365, 387-89: 38 1 5 . 393-94: 68 1 5 . 4 1 0- 1 2 : 46 1 5. 4 1 1 , 412, 4 1 8 : 38 1 5 . 414: 35 1 5 . 561 -63 : 39 1 5. 564-65, 570: 39 1 5 . 572-73, 579-80, 585. 595-96, 602: 39 Il. 1 5 . 588: 38 Il. 1 5 . 593: 43 Il. 1 5 . 599-622: 39 11. 1 5 . 604, 605, 606, 607- 10, 620, 622: 39 Il. 1 5 . 625-26: 38 Il. 1 6. 34-35: 68, 1 02 Il. 1 6. 1 4 1 -44: 33, 58, 1 0 1 Il. 1 6. 274: 43 Il. 1 6. 594-96: 40 11. 1 6. 686-87: 52 11. 17. 4-6: 2 1 3 Il. I7. 9: 3 1 Il. 17. 12- 1 3 : 2 1 3 Il. 1 7 . 20, 22, 23, 25, 27, 29, 30, 3 1 : 2 1 3 Il. 1 7 . 53-55: 2 1 3 Il. 1 7 . 66-69: 2 1 3 Il. 1 7 . 272, 349: 3 1 11. 17. 3 6 1 : 148 Il. 17. 4 1 5- 1 6 : 33 11. 17. 4 1 9: 3 1 -32 Il. 17. 55 1 , 555, 570-73: 2 1 4 Il. 1 7. 586-89: 2 1 5 Il. 1 7. 588: 1 22 Il. 1 7. 656-67: 2 1 6 Il. 1 8 . 54-64: 80, 1 00 Il. 1 8 . 200-0 1 : 42 Il. 1 8. 203-14: 6 1 11. 1 8 . 225-27: 62 11. 1 8 . 407: 50 Il. 19. 40-68: 79 Il. 19. 86: 43 Il. 1 9. 86-97, 1 29-37: 82 Il. 1 9. 90-9 1 , 94, 95, 97, 1 29, 1 36-37: 43 Il. 19. 178: 69 11. 19. 349-98: 62, 64 11. 19. 377, 379: 63 Il. 1 9. 3 8 1 -83, 385-86, 397-98: 63 Il. 1 9. 388-9 1 : 33, 58, 63 Il. 1 9. 404-23: 64 Il. 20. 73-74: 89 Il. 20. 74: 89, 90 Il. 20. 1 52: 38 Il. 20. 164, 1 72: 37 Il. 2 1 . 1 -22 1 : 9 1
Index Locorum n. 2 1 . 58-59: 1 1 6, 149 n. 2 1 . 7 1 : 32 n. 2 1 . 139-208: 59 n. 2 1 . 1 54: 58 n. 2 1 . 1 76: 59 n. 21. 235-39, 3 1 6-23: 91 n. 21. 410: 52 n. 21. 440: 74 Il. 2 1 . 441 : 52 n. 22. 79-89: 100 It. 22. 92-94, 95: 68 n. 22. 3 1 7-2 1 : 63 n. 23. 450-87: 74 n. 23. 7 1 0: 86 n. 23. 754-83: 7 1 n. 24. 22-30, 27-28: 48 n. 24. 28: 43 n. 24. 28-30: 66 n. 24. 1 05 : 100 Odyssey Od. 1 . 2 1 : 40 Od. 1 . 68-75, 79: 79 Od. 1 . 7 1 -73: 73 Od. 1. 3 1 9-20: 54 Od. 2. 260-6 1 , 1 1 5 Od. 2. 276-77: 226 Od. 3. 66: 35 Od. 3. 197-2 1 7 : 43 Od. 3. 372-73: 54 Od. 4. 140-57: 225 Od. 4. 148-50: 225 Od. 4. 1 56-57: 225 Od. 4. 261 -64: 66 Od. 4. 380, 385-86: 79 Od. 4. 380-5 1 1 : 80 Od. 4. 469: 79 Od. 4. 543: 79 Od. 4. 579-80: 1 14 Od. 7. 1 5 : 5 1 Od. 8 . 73: 35 Od. 8. 559-63: 60 Od. 9. 142-45: 5 1 Od. 9 . 1 87-92: 1 24 Od. 9. 360-62, 454, 5 1 6: 200 Od. 9. 528-36: 79 Od. 1 0. 526: 1 3 9 Od. 1 1 .75: 1 1 5 Od. 1 1 . 399-400: 78 Od. 1 1 . 582-92: 1 87 Od. 1 1 . 632-33: 139 Od. 13. 50: 35 Od. 1 3 . 146-64: 79 Od. 1 3 . 1 68: 79 Od. 1 3 . 347, 352: 5 1 Od. 1 7 . 532: 32 Od. 18. 3-7: 83 Od. 18. 1 - 1 16: 82 Od. 1 8. 1 3, 38: 85 Od. 1 8. 26, 29: 83 Od. 1 8. 35, l OO, I l l : 88 Od. 18. 56-57: 85 Od. 18. 69-70: 86 Od. 18. 67, 68-69,74: 86 Od. 1 8. 73-74: 82, 87
Od. 1 8. 77: 87 Od. 1 8 . 87: 86 Od. 18. 98: 83 Od. 1 8. 99: 88 Od. 1 8. 1 14- 1 5 : 88 Od. 1 8. 1 1 7: 83, 89 Od. 1 9 . 260, 597: 80 Od. 1 9. 454: 83 Od. 19. 563-65: 1 32 Od. 20. 345-58: 88 Od. 22. 7: 88 Od. 22. 1 9-2 1 , 84-86, 88: 88 Od. 22. 383-86: 1 1 5 Od. 23. 97-99: 80 Od. 23. 2 3 1 -38: 1 1 5 Scholia Graeca in Homeri Iliadem (Erbse, Dindorf, van Thiel) sch. A(D) n. 1 . 38: 147, 1 53 sch. bT It. 1. 38a: 1 53 sch. AiDt Ariston. It. 1 . 44a: 1 94 sch.T A(D) n. 1 . 50: 50 sch. bT n. T 1 . 53-5: 50 sch. A(D) n. 1 . 195: 53 sch. bT It. 1. 199-200: 53 sch. A(D) n. 1 . 200: 53, 62 sch. A(D) n. 1 . 250: 38 sch. Ab AbT n. 1. 250c: 38 sch. bTI Did. n. 1. 350a: 1 14 sch. bT n. 1 . 359: 50 Scholia-D n. 1 . 359: 1 1 5 Scholia-D n. 1. 399: 92-93 sch. bT It. I . 399-406: 50, 92 sch. bT n. 1 . 400c: 50 sch. A n. 1 . 404a: 92 sch. AT It. 1 . 404c: 93, 94 sch. bT It. I . 459: 30 sch. bT It. 1 . 481a: 69 sch. T It. 2. 235b: 35 sch. bT n. 2. l Ib ! : 30 Scholia-D n. 2. 1 04: 1 25 sch. T n. 2. 104b: 125 sch. A n. 2. 1 06a: 125 sch. bT Il. 2. 106b: 125 sch. A n. 2. 1 07a: 1 25 Scholia-D n. 2. 1 2 1 : 35 sch. bT n. 2. 469a: 201, 215 Scholia-D n. 2. 758: 35 sch. A n. 2. 776: 37 sch. bT It. 3. 39b: 35 sch. bT n. 4. 141c: 215 sch. AbT n. 5. 2a: 2 1 4 sch. bTil n. 5 . 5 9 : 46 sch. A Ariston. n. 5. 60a: 46 sch. T n. 5. 60c: 46 sch. bT n. 5. 583: 1 32 sch. bT It. 5. 609b: 2 1 7 sch. A(D) n. 5. 661 : 201 sch. T n. 5. 661b: 201 sch. bT n. 5 . 722-3 1 : 50 sch. A Ariston. n. 5 . 842: 5 1 sch. bT n. 6 . 4c: 89 sch. bTil n. 6. 148b: 188 sch. bT It. 6. 260c: 200 sch. bT n. 6. 260d: 200
253
254 sch. A /I. 6. 261b l : 190 sch. b 11. 6. 261 b2 : 1 90 sch.bT /1. 7. 261 : 49 sch. A Ariston. 11. 8. 46a: 1 94 sch. bTil 8. 46b: 1 94 sch. A /I. 8. 349al : 1 83 sch. A /1. 8. 527b: 4 1 sch. A Ariston. /I. 9. 1 37a: 3 3 sch. Aim /1. 9. 5 7 1 b : 5 0 sch. AbT /1. 9. 5 7 1 c: 5 0 sch. A(D) /I. 10. 334: 1 10, 1 1 7 sch. bT 11. 10. 334: 1 17 Scholia-D /I. 1 1 . 36: 1 83 sch. bT 11. 1 1 . 36b: 1 83 sch. A(D) 11. 1 1 . 570: 1 34 sch. A Ariston. /I. 12. 285a: 1 16 sch. Til II. 12. 285c: 1 1 6 sch. AbT /I. 1 3 . 6d: 30 sch. Til /l. 1 3 . 75: 201 sch. A AbT /I. 1 3 . 137: 72 sch. A ll. 1 3 . 1 37b: 72 sch. bT AbT 11. 1 3 . 1 37c: 72 sch. bT /1. 1 3 . 703: 1 99 sch. A /I.T 1 3 . 824b l : 7 1 sch. AbT 11. 1 3 . 824c: 7 1 se!l. A Ariston. /I. 14. 37al : 106 sch. T /1. 14. 37a2 : 1 06 seh. Ain' Ariston. /I. 14. 1 54a: 2 1 7 seh. bT /I. 1 4 . 1 76b: 35 sch. Til II. 14. 1 78b: 36 sch Til /I. 14. 225b: 2 1 7 sch. A(D) 11. 1 5 . 1 8: 50 Scholia-D /I. 1 5 . 1 8: 29 sch. Nn' Ariston. /I. 15. 2 1 e: 1 94 sch. bT Ariston. /I. 1 5 . 2 1d: 1 94 sch. Nn' Ariston. /I. 1 5 . 1 6 1b: 77-78 sch. bT /I. 1 5 . 1 92-3: 29, 7 1 sch. A ll. 1 5 . 365a: 38 sch. bT /I. 15. 365b: 3 8 sch. b /l. 1 5 . 6 1 0-14b2: 29 sch. bT /I. 1 6. 233b: 29, 1 10 sch. A(D) bT /I. 16. 235: 30 Scholia-D /I. 16. 365: 29 sch. bT /I. 16. 365a: 29 sch. T /I. 1 6. 365b: 29 Scholia-D 11. 1 7. 20: 2 1 3 Scholia-D /I. 1 7. 570: 2 1 4 sch. b T /I. 1 7. 570a: 2 1 4 sch. b T 11. 17. 570b: 2 1 4 sch. N /I. 17. 570c: 2 1 4 sch. A /I. 18. 1 92b: 1 79 sch. bT T /I. 1 8 . 288: 3 8 sch. A /I. 1 8. 4 1 0b: 124 sch. bT 11. 18. 4 1Oe: 1 08 sch. A ll. 18. 4 1 0d: 108 sch. A(D) /I. 18. 486: 1 98 sch. bT 11. 1 8. 505c: 50, 5 1 sch. A /I. 1 8 . 52 1 b l : 52 sch. A ll. 19. 87a: 50 sch. AbT /I. 1 9. 90- 1 : 43 sch. T /I. 19. 9 1 e: 43 sch. bT /I. 1 9. 1 26: 43 sch. bT /I. 19. 267a: 1 1 7 sch. bTi' /I. 19. 267b: 1 1 8
Index Locorum sch. bT /1. 1 9. 270a: 43 sch. bT T /I. 20. 68b: 79 sch. b /1. 20. 69a: 5 1 sch. bT /I. 20. 69b: 5 1 sch. b T /1. 20. 1 52b: 38 sch. bT /I. 21. 5c: 1 79 sch T 11. 2 1 . 1 89: 63 sch. bT /I. 2 1 .203b - Pap. XII col. IX. 27-38, col. X. 1 -14: 59 Scholia-D 11. 2 1 . 269: 188 sch. T /1. 2 1 . 269b l : 188 sch. b /1. 2 1 . 269b2/C2: 188 sch. bT T /I. 21. 363c: 86 sch. bT /1. 2 1 . 380: 49 sch. bT /1. 2 1 . 447b: 77 sch. bT /I. 22. 2d: 68 Scholia-D /1. 22. 28 1 : 1 5 8 sch. A /I. 22. 28Ia ' : 1 5 8 sch.T bT /1. 22. 281b: 1 58 sch. T /1. 22. 423: 188 Scholia-D /1. 23. 5 1 : 37 sch. bT 11. 23. 765d: 78 sch. D T /1. 24. 757a ' , a2: 4 1 Scholia Graeca in Homeri Odysseam (Dindorf) sch. BMEHQRHVEQ Od. 1 . 320: 54 sch. H Od. 2. 396: 188 sch. E Od. 3.372: 54 sch. E Od. 4. 230: 4 1 sch. BEPQT Od. 5 . 334: 89 sch. E Od. 7. 14: 50 sch PQT Od. 7. 1 5 : 50 sch. PQT Od. 7. 5 1 : 2 1 4 sch H Od. 9 . 144: 50 sch. BQ Od. 1 1 . 37: 201 sch. V Od. 1 1 . 582: 183,188 sch Q Od. 1 3 . 352: 50 sch. PQ Od. 17. 23: 129 sch. BQ Od. 1 8.5: 84 sch. VHQBQ Od. 1 8.79: 72 sch. Q Od. 1 8. 333: 1 9 1 sch. V Od. 19. 5 1 8 : 1 97 sch. QV Od. 20. 66: 1 97 Horace Carmina 1 . 28. 4-7: 1 89 Hygin Fabulae 82, 83 : 223 84: 1 99, 203 Ibycus PMG 282. 8-9: 66 Isidorus Origines 12. 7. 1 8 : 56 Lucanus Bel/um Civile 7 . 777-78: 220 Lucianus (OCT) Charidemus 19: 1 99 Dialogi mortuorum 7 ( 1 7) : 1 97 Macrobius Saturnalia (Willis) 1. 1 5 . 1 6: 220 1 . 1 7. 7 : 63 1. 1 7. 7-8: 153 1 . 17. 1 6-20: 3 8 1 . 17. 14: 38 1 . 17. 3 1 : 158 1 . 1 7. 37-38: 5 5
255
Index Locorum 1. 1 7 . 43-45: 1 96 1 . 1 7 . 46: 49, 1 96 1 . 1 7. 48: 1 54 Malalas, J. Chronographia (Thurn) 5. 34. 20-33, 1 07 Thurn ( 1 38-39, 1. 17 Dind.): 1 62 =
Nonnus Dionysiaca 9. 1 67 : 1 79 14. 25: 1 79 20. 1 52-66 : 203 37. 1 36-43: 1 7 8 37. 424-30: 1 79 Orion Etymologicon (Sturz) 16. 1 1 - 1 6: 38 30. 25: 78 35. 1 3- 14: 1 96 50. 1 3 - 1 7: 1 76 65. 14: 178 68. 20: 50 68. 2 1 : 29 89.20: 2 1 7 93. 9: 1 5 8 97. 1 2- 1 7 : 201 97. 1 8- 1 9: 52 1 03. 33: 83 107. 1 1- 1 2 : 33 1 09. 1 -2: 1 54 109. 26-29: 33 1 2 1 . 9- 1 5 : 47 129. 1 1 : 1 1 7 141. 1 1-12 153. 1 6- 1 8 : 47 1 57. 34-35 : 46 1 60. 1 3 : 1 45 1 73. 1 -5 : 1 08 1 78.7: 180 1 82. 6: 201 1 82. 29: 1 49 Ovid Ibis 365-66: 203 Metamorphoses 6. 1 85, 2 12, 269-70, 276, 284, 288, 292: 2 1 1 6. 1 74: 222 6. 402- 1 1 : 1 8 1 Panyassis EGF fr. 1 2 . 1 - 1 3, Davies: 20 1 Paulus Silentiarius Anth. Graeca b. 5, ep. 246. 1 -6: 198 Pausanias 2. 14. 4: 1 72 5. 5. 2: 147 5. 1 0. 7 : 1 54 5. 1 3 . 1 : 1 12 5. 1 3 . 1 - 1 4.4: 1 48 5. 1 3 . 2: 204 5. 1 3 . 4-6: 124 5. 1 3 . 7 : 1 67 5. 1 3 . 1 1 : 1 63-64 5. 1 4. 2: 1 64 9. 40. 1 1 -12: 128
1 0. 26. 4: 1 5 1 -52 Philostratus the Elder ( major) Imagines (Kayser) 1 . 1 7: 205 1 . 30: 1 8 1 , 203 Philostratus the Younger (junior) Imagines (Kayser) 9. 3, 5 : 205 9. Pelops: 1 82, 1 83, 1 84 Philoxenus (Theodoridis) fr. 75 = EGen. 299. 1 -7: 1 96 fr. 23 1 Or. 1 22. 1 5 : 1 4 1 fr. 484 = Or. 62. 1 2 : 1 4 1 Phlegon o f Tralles FGrHist. 2 5 7 F l : 1 52 Photius a 1 066, 1 : 1 14 (Theodoridis): 1 60 a 1 073, 1 076, 1 077, 1 : 1 1 5 (Theo doridis): 1 60 1: p. 570. 12- 1 7 (Porson): 1 93 Pindar (Snell-Maehler) Olympians 1 . 3-9: 1 29 1 . 5-6: 64 1 . 8-9, 29, 3 1 , 105, 1 06: 1 54 1 . 9: 1 37 1 . 14: 1 3 5 1 . 22-24: 1 30 1 . 25-27: 1 3 1 , 1 3 5 1 . 28-29: 1 3 3 1 . 29, 37-38: 137 1. 37-39: 1 34 1 . 46-53: 1 35-136 1. 50: 1 74 1 . 54-58, 55-56: 1 39 1 . 54-66: 1 90 1. 6 1 : 203 1 . 66: 1 39 1 . 67-78: 140 1. 68: 1 10 1. 7 1 : 142 1 . 72-78: 142-143 1. 8 1 -85 : 145 1. 86b-89: 146 1. 88: 199 1 . 88-89: 202 1 . 89: 1 79, 223 1 . 90-96: 147 1 . 9 1 : 135 1 . 9 2 : 1 60 1 . 93-95: 1 50 2. 53-55: 146 3. 1 7 - 1 8 : 149 6. 14: 148 6. 27-28: 1 55 6. 35: 1 55 6. 43-7 1 : 1 54 6. 45, 46, 57: 158 6. 53-57: 1 5 6 6. 57-58: 1 55 6. 58-59, 60: 1 5 7 6. 6 1-62: 1 59, 1 63 6. 6 1 -63: 1 5 7 6. 63, 64, 65-67: 1 58 6. 67-70: 1 5 8 =
256
Index Locorum
6. 86-87: 1 36 7. 50-53: 46 7. 58-65: 102 7. 6 1 -62: 142 7. 67: 1 0 1 7. 72-73: 224 7. 9 1 -92: 224 10. 49-55: 146 1 3 . 69: 73, 79, 1 34, 147 Pythians 3. 1 2-24: 66 3. 25: 224 3. 43-44: 224 4. 9, 27, 57-58: 1 0 1 4. 2 14: 1 74 4. 2 14-16, 2 1 9: 168 4. 249-50: 46 5. 27-28: 1 0 1 8 . 44-45: 224 8. 96: 135 9. 59-62: 157 9. 77-78: 137 Nemeans 1 . 12: 101 2. 2, 1 1 -12: 102 3. 9: 1 37 4. 39-4 1 : 1 3 6 5. 2 1 -22, 26: 1 0 1 5. 28: 137 7. 6 1 : 136 7. 77-79: 132 10. 6 1 -63: 1 67 Isthmians 3/4. 66: 136 8. 9- 1 1 : 1 92 8. 27-29: 1 34 8. 50: 148 fragmenta (Maehler) fr. 33c4-6: 1 02 fr. 75. 1 0 : 1 02 fr. 96: 1 02 fr. 105a: 102 fr. 120: 1 03 fr. 135 = sch. 01. 1 . 1 27a: 143 Scholia vetera in Pindari Carmina (Drachmann) sch. Pi. al. 1 . 9b: 1 5 3 sch. Pi. al. 1 . ge: 153 sch. Pi. al. 1.1 Oe: 153 sch. Pi. al. 1 . 40a, c, d: 137 sch. Pi. al. 1 . 40c: 132, 1 62 : 1 83 sch. Pi. al. 1 . 4 1 : 133 sch. Pi. al. 1 . 80a: 1 3 7 sch. Pi. al. 1 . 80b: 1 37, 1 74 sch. al. 1 . 9 1 a: 189, 1 95, 197 sch. al. 1. 97a-g: 1 90 sch. al. 1 . 1 09, a, c: 1 4 1 sch. al. 1 . 1 10a: 141 sch. recentiora et glossae in Pi. 01. et Pyth. , 01. 1 . 1 1 5 (Boeckh 2: 40): 1 1 7,141 sch. Pi. al. 1 . 1 1 6b: 144 sch. Pi. al. 1. 122b: 143 sch. Pi. al. 1. 1 39a, b, c: 147
sch. Pi. al. 1. 1 46b: 150 sch. Pi. al. 1 . 146d: 148 sch. Pi. al. 1. 149b: 1 52 sch. Pi. al. 1 . 1 50a, c: 148 sch. Pi. al. 1. 1 50b: 148, 1 5 5 sch. Pi. 01. 1 . 1 5 1 f: 1 50 sch. Pi. 01. 2. 23c: 1 5 3 sch. Pi. al. 5. l Oa: 1 53 sch. Pi. al. 6. 46a: 1 5 5 sch. Pi. al. 6. 8 9 : 1 56 sch. Pi. al. 6. 90d, 9 1 a, 9 1b, 93a, 93b: 156 sch. Pi. al. 6. 106a, d , e : 1 5 9 sch. Pi. al. 7. 24f: 1 02 sch. Pi. al. 10. 29a, b: 148 sch. Pi. Pyth. 4. 1 74b: 1 1 7 sch. Pi. Pyth. 1 0 . 72a: 1 83 sch. Pi. Pyth. 1 2. 25a: 1 83 sch. Pi. Isth. 4. 92a: 203 Plato Cratylus 395b-e: 1 1 8 391d4-9: 89 394e8- 1 1 : 1 22, 2 1 7 3 9 5 a2-b2: 207 395b2-c2: 82, 1 72, 205 395c2-d3: 1 1 9- 1 20 395d: 1 77 395d3-395e5: 186 396b7-c3: 197, 22 1 401b6-8: 197 402el -5 : 70 402e6-403a2: 74 403a2: 70 404b8-9: 162 404b9-c4: 50 405c5-6: 3 8 405b6-cl : 67 405c2-5: 76 405c6-e2: 56 405c7-9: 64 406b5-6: 96 406c5-6: 200 4 14c4-7: 1 07 432e6-433a5: 14 432d-433a-c: 1 4 Politicus 282e-285c: 122 283c-d; 122 284b-d: 122 284e: 1 22 285a: 122 Pliny Naturalis Historia (Mayhoft) 28. 6. 34: 1 6 1 Plutarch Moralia 303b: 147 Pyrrhus 1. 2: 1 5 1 Aristides 320c: 226 Theseus 36. 4: 77 Porphyrius Quaestionum Homericarum Reliquiae (Schrader) adIl. 6. 201 1 : 297. 1 6- 1 7 S: 37 ad Il. 10. 252 sch. b ad loc.= I: 148. 1 3 S: 143 =
=
Index Locorum
adII. 2 1 .363 1 .25 1 -52. 1 6ff. S: 86 Proelus In Platonis Cratylum Commentaria (Pasquali) 85, pp. 39-4 1 : 1 08 88 p. 43. 22-28: 2 1 7 88, pp. 44.2 1- 45. 1 9: 2 1 7 89, p. 45. 1 9-22: 208 89, p. 45. 14-22: 120 90. p. 45. 23-25: 208 =
Quintus Smymaeus Posthomerica 4. 526-32: 203-204 Sappho, 1 . 3: 66 Scholia: in Aratus (Martin) 254-255. 6-1 1 , 202 M: 1 02 275, 2 1 6 M: 55 in Callimaehus (Pfeiffer) In Del. 4. 73a: 1 78 in Dionysii Thracis Artem Grammaticam, Grammatici Graeci (Uhlig, ree. Hilgard, G.G. 1 . 3) sch. Vat. 1 . 3 : 1 1 3 . 1 5-26: 1 06 sch. Vat. 1 . 3 : 1 60. 1 -5: 1 06 sch. Vat. 1 . 3: 1 69. 1 1- 1 5 : 1 07 seh. Vat. 1 . 3: 1 69. 16: 1 07 seh. Vat. 1 . 3: 237. 23-24: 89 sch. Marc. 1 . 3: 303. 12- 1 8 : 1 07 sch. Marc. 1 . 3: 303. 6-9, 1 7- 1 8 : 1 07 sch. Marc. 1 . 3 : 309: 12-14: 107 seh. Lond. 1 . 3: 454. 2 1 -23: 1 07 in Nieander Theriaca 322a (Crugnola): 1 78 in Oppianus Halieutica (Bussemaker) 1 . 360. 7-14: 1 24 3. 53.4, 4. 279. 1 : 1 88 in Theocritus (Wende1) 1 . 44a (44 W): 1 1 7 5. 99al-99c 1 , 1 76- 1 77 W: 1 1 7 in Lycophronis Alexandram (Scheer) See Tzetzes Seneea Thyestes 1 90-194: 150 ServiusCommentaria in Vergi/ius (Thilo Hagen) Aen. 6. 603: 1 78 Aen. 8. 1 30. 13 (2: 2 1 8- 1 9): 222 Geo. 3. 7 (3 : 273): 1 62 Sophoc1es Ajax 450-52: 55 Electra 10: 165 504- 1 5 : 1 65, 1 66 681-763: 1 80 1223 : 1 62 Oedipus Coloneus 1320-22: 1 83 Oenomaus (Radt) fr. 473a, TrGF 4: 383 R: 203 fr. 474, TrGF 4: 383-84 R: 1 66 fr. 844 (ine. fab.), TrGF 4: 555 R: 54 Speusippus, fr. 6 1 , p. 85 Lang: 76 Statius Thebais
257
7. 95-96: 126 1 0. 49-53: 1 78 Stephanus Ethnica (Meineke) p. 62 1 . 5-7: 167 Stesiehorus (PMGF Davies) Ger. fr. S 1 3 . 2-3, 4: l OO Ger. fr. S 1 5 col. ii. 1 0- 1 1 : 1 94 1 87: 167 2 1 0: 101 222b. 209-1 0, 2 19, 226, 234: l OO 240: 1 0 1 Strabo 8. 4. 4 , C 360: 1 12 Suda (Adler) 3 : 0 537: 2 1 7 4: Jt 933: 135 4: 1: 77: 1 98 4: 1: 78: 1 98 4: 1: 8 1 : 1 93 4: 1: 147: 193 Tibullus Elegiae 1. 4. 63-65: 1 63 Timotheus PMG 800: 64 Tzetzes Scholia in Lycophronis Alexandram (Seheer) 1 49a30-1 506ab, 69-70 S: 2 1 6 1 52. 1 -22, 70-71 S: 1 12, 1 6 1 1 60b, 1 6 1 , 76 S: 203 1 65, 77 S: 204 Vergil Aeneid 6. 601-07: 1 78 Georgica 3 . 6-8: 1 62 Xenophon Symposium 8. 30: 1 35
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FRANZ STEINER VERLAG STUTTGART
The potential of ancient Greek poetic ety
This family exhibits a consistent naming
mologiz.ing and its reception n i amiqui
system: the signifiers and signifieds of
ty are analyz.ed with new interpretive
its male members manifest a lexical and
models_ The author studies poetic etymo
semantic affinity; fathers and sons are
logy in a holistic and integrative manner,
linked with inherited linguistic and behav
as a tool of thematic and narrative uni
ioral bonds. Pelops is given a focal position
fication. Select passages from Homer and
on account of his preeminence at Olym
archaic lyric poetry provide the matrix
pia and his polyvalent and polysemous
for etymological patterns; their validity s i
name, in which the ambiguities and polar
examined in an intenextual study of the
ities of his mythic and cultic identity are
names of Pelops and his kin.
embedded.
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