pseudo-Bacchylides 1 (P. Oxon. 3 Bodleian)
[ed.: I am very grateful to Oxford University Press for allowing me to post a pre-press copy of the following.]
pseudo-Bacchylides 1 (P. Oxonensis 3 Bodleian)
Text, Prolegomena, and Commentary by Bruno Fabrizio, Università di Bologna & NUI Blarney
. . .]με καὶ τὰ[. . .
. . . ]χελῶνα[ . . .
. . . ]δὲ τὴν πο[ . . .
. . . μ]ετὰ τὸν Θησ[ . . .
. . . ]άων τινων[ . . .5
. . . ]ντα μὲν τοῦ ι[ . . .
. . . ]υθεῖσα[ . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . .]έειν[ . . . 10
. . . . . . .]ασθαι[ . . .
. . . . . ]ἔγγυές τιν[ . . .
. . . ]χελῶναι στρατ[ . . .
. . . ]ον ἕπτα ταὶ[ . . .
. . . ]λέγοντι ἦθος[ . . .15
. . . ]σθέμεν τοῖσιν[ . . .
. . . . .]θι νεκροῖσι[ . . .
. . . . . . . ]τῷ θριπὶ[ . . .
1. The Text
A fragment recovered from a mummified hedgehog. Date of composition uncertain (see below). Date of text c.476-31 BC., though a terminus ante quem can only be confidently established as 1976 (see below). Original site of excavation is unknown due to an uncommon archival error, though probably from the Mediterranean basin. The fragment was “rediscovered” in 2005, found tucked inside a take-out menu for a chip shop, “Time and Tide,” which is no longer in business, though is reputed to have enjoyed the custom of many graduates in classics. The menu itself was found in the 1976 volume of L’Année philologique, apparently marking the page of the Pindar entry.
2. Language and Prosody
The dialect appears to be literary Doric, in the manner of Pindar and Bacchylides, and absent of the “restored” vernacularisms of Alexandrian poets writing in affected Doric, e.g. Callimachus and Theocritus. The uncontracted -άων gen.pl. of line 5 is, however, inconsistent with Pindaric and Bacchylidean forms.
The meter is iambo-trochaic, beyond more precise determination without the left margin. It would not be unreasonable to identify it as a trochaic meter by analogy to Bacchylides, especially Bacchylides 17 (see below). The meter suggests that the poem is dithyrambic, if not the content. Vowel quantity is consistent with the prosody observed by Pindar and Bacchylides. The hiatus in line 15 is prevented by the presence of digamma, cf. Pindar O. 11.20.
3. Authorship
Pseudo-Bacchylides was likely a contemporary of Bacchylides and Pindar. It is impossible to determine if he enjoyed patronage to the extent of his contemporaries. The content of the fragment, however, suggests that he was writing in imitation of Bacchylides, rather than in admiration. The similarities to Bacchylides 17 are numerous, though there are several deviations from the conventional account of Thesus’s expedition to Crete. Gantz records no lemmata or recensions of the Theseus myth including eels (line 12) or wood-eating insects (line 18). Theseus is well known to have contended with a turtle, but the present context is sufficiently departed. What remains does not appear to rise to the level of intertextual allusion. (Anyone who has had the dubious fortune of judging submissions for undergraduate Latin and Greek composition prizes will recognize this ignorant “one-ups-manship.” Pardon the apostrophe.)
4. Materia
The state of the fragment prohibits any informed attempt at translation, yet it does provide some enticing hints at reconstructing the poem’s context.
5. Commentary
1 τὰ: prob. τὰ but perhaps ταὶ
2 χελῶνα: prob. χελῶναι.
3 τὴν πο: prob. τὴν πόλιν. Athens?
4 τὸν Θησ: prob. τὸν Θησέα
6 ι: digamma present. Perhaps ϝίδε(ν) or ϝίδον. Campbell does not read digamma in Bacchylides 17.16, but he was Australian.
7 υθεῖσαι: prob. τυθεῖσαι, in reference to the girls, or turtles?, to be offered to the Minotaur.
13 στρατ: prob. στρατός, one comprised of both turtles and eels. Or perhaps στρατόν, an army that the eels and turtles are facing together.
14 ἕπτα ταί: ταί nom. pl. Could these be the seven girls? Or are they the seven turtles? Or perhaps the girls are being represented as turtles, to reflect the expectations of public modesty. If so, what then of the eels? Indeed. For a thoughtful discussion on maritime images as models of genderization in New Comedy, see Ute Mannschrank, forthcoming in Arethusa.
15 λέγοντι: 3pl pres. The subject is the seven turtle-girls, who appear to be explaining their character (ἦθος) to the dead. Stripped of their physical femininity, in their syncretistic chelonid depiction, they are offering the purest form of woman to an audience unwilling, or unable, to receive it. The foreshadowing of Ariadne's lot is chilling.
18 τῷ θριπί: dat., either as the other recipient of the speech of the turtle-girls or as the instrument of a lost participle explaining how the men happened to die.
6. Conclusions
None. This is either a more interesting version of the Theseus myth that, were it available to Pindar and Bacchylides, would give new reading pleasure to graduate students, or perhaps it is a complete ringer, composed by some Bacchylides-wannabe. Regardless, it is an important text, demanding complete reconsideration of the reception-tradition of the Theseus myth as well as of the culture of lyric poetry, and of the lyric poetry of culture.
[ed.: Dr. Fabrizio is currently engaged in a rigorous and ambitious program of fieldwork searching for any additional evidence of alternate Theseus cycles. He has immersed himself into the storytelling cultures of both Attica and Crete. You may contact him with queries about his work at the ΤΑΒΕΡΝΑ ΘΗΣΕΙΟ (The "Theseum" Tavern) in the Piraeus or in the ΤΑΒΕΡΝΑ ΧΡΥΣΟΧΕΛΩΝΕΣ (The "Golden Turtles" Tavern) in Iraklio, Crete. He is not accepting applications from graduate students, but is sorely in need of several manservants (graduate students, perhaps).
pseudo-Bacchylides 1 (P. Oxonensis 3 Bodleian)
Text, Prolegomena, and Commentary by Bruno Fabrizio, Università di Bologna & NUI Blarney
. . .]με καὶ τὰ[. . .
. . . ]χελῶνα[ . . .
. . . ]δὲ τὴν πο[ . . .
. . . μ]ετὰ τὸν Θησ[ . . .
. . . ]άων τινων[ . . .5
. . . ]ντα μὲν τοῦ ι[ . . .
. . . ]υθεῖσα[ . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . .]έειν[ . . . 10
. . . . . . .]ασθαι[ . . .
. . . . . ]ἔγγυές τιν[ . . .
. . . ]χελῶναι στρατ[ . . .
. . . ]ον ἕπτα ταὶ[ . . .
. . . ]λέγοντι ἦθος[ . . .15
. . . ]σθέμεν τοῖσιν[ . . .
. . . . .]θι νεκροῖσι[ . . .
. . . . . . . ]τῷ θριπὶ[ . . .
1. The Text
A fragment recovered from a mummified hedgehog. Date of composition uncertain (see below). Date of text c.476-31 BC., though a terminus ante quem can only be confidently established as 1976 (see below). Original site of excavation is unknown due to an uncommon archival error, though probably from the Mediterranean basin. The fragment was “rediscovered” in 2005, found tucked inside a take-out menu for a chip shop, “Time and Tide,” which is no longer in business, though is reputed to have enjoyed the custom of many graduates in classics. The menu itself was found in the 1976 volume of L’Année philologique, apparently marking the page of the Pindar entry.
2. Language and Prosody
The dialect appears to be literary Doric, in the manner of Pindar and Bacchylides, and absent of the “restored” vernacularisms of Alexandrian poets writing in affected Doric, e.g. Callimachus and Theocritus. The uncontracted -άων gen.pl. of line 5 is, however, inconsistent with Pindaric and Bacchylidean forms.
The meter is iambo-trochaic, beyond more precise determination without the left margin. It would not be unreasonable to identify it as a trochaic meter by analogy to Bacchylides, especially Bacchylides 17 (see below). The meter suggests that the poem is dithyrambic, if not the content. Vowel quantity is consistent with the prosody observed by Pindar and Bacchylides. The hiatus in line 15 is prevented by the presence of digamma, cf. Pindar O. 11.20.
3. Authorship
Pseudo-Bacchylides was likely a contemporary of Bacchylides and Pindar. It is impossible to determine if he enjoyed patronage to the extent of his contemporaries. The content of the fragment, however, suggests that he was writing in imitation of Bacchylides, rather than in admiration. The similarities to Bacchylides 17 are numerous, though there are several deviations from the conventional account of Thesus’s expedition to Crete. Gantz records no lemmata or recensions of the Theseus myth including eels (line 12) or wood-eating insects (line 18). Theseus is well known to have contended with a turtle, but the present context is sufficiently departed. What remains does not appear to rise to the level of intertextual allusion. (Anyone who has had the dubious fortune of judging submissions for undergraduate Latin and Greek composition prizes will recognize this ignorant “one-ups-manship.” Pardon the apostrophe.)
4. Materia
The state of the fragment prohibits any informed attempt at translation, yet it does provide some enticing hints at reconstructing the poem’s context.
5. Commentary
1 τὰ: prob. τὰ but perhaps ταὶ
2 χελῶνα: prob. χελῶναι.
3 τὴν πο: prob. τὴν πόλιν. Athens?
4 τὸν Θησ: prob. τὸν Θησέα
6 ι: digamma present. Perhaps ϝίδε(ν) or ϝίδον. Campbell does not read digamma in Bacchylides 17.16, but he was Australian.
7 υθεῖσαι: prob. τυθεῖσαι, in reference to the girls, or turtles?, to be offered to the Minotaur.
13 στρατ: prob. στρατός, one comprised of both turtles and eels. Or perhaps στρατόν, an army that the eels and turtles are facing together.
14 ἕπτα ταί: ταί nom. pl. Could these be the seven girls? Or are they the seven turtles? Or perhaps the girls are being represented as turtles, to reflect the expectations of public modesty. If so, what then of the eels? Indeed. For a thoughtful discussion on maritime images as models of genderization in New Comedy, see Ute Mannschrank, forthcoming in Arethusa.
15 λέγοντι: 3pl pres. The subject is the seven turtle-girls, who appear to be explaining their character (ἦθος) to the dead. Stripped of their physical femininity, in their syncretistic chelonid depiction, they are offering the purest form of woman to an audience unwilling, or unable, to receive it. The foreshadowing of Ariadne's lot is chilling.
18 τῷ θριπί: dat., either as the other recipient of the speech of the turtle-girls or as the instrument of a lost participle explaining how the men happened to die.
6. Conclusions
None. This is either a more interesting version of the Theseus myth that, were it available to Pindar and Bacchylides, would give new reading pleasure to graduate students, or perhaps it is a complete ringer, composed by some Bacchylides-wannabe. Regardless, it is an important text, demanding complete reconsideration of the reception-tradition of the Theseus myth as well as of the culture of lyric poetry, and of the lyric poetry of culture.
[ed.: Dr. Fabrizio is currently engaged in a rigorous and ambitious program of fieldwork searching for any additional evidence of alternate Theseus cycles. He has immersed himself into the storytelling cultures of both Attica and Crete. You may contact him with queries about his work at the ΤΑΒΕΡΝΑ ΘΗΣΕΙΟ (The "Theseum" Tavern) in the Piraeus or in the ΤΑΒΕΡΝΑ ΧΡΥΣΟΧΕΛΩΝΕΣ (The "Golden Turtles" Tavern) in Iraklio, Crete. He is not accepting applications from graduate students, but is sorely in need of several manservants (graduate students, perhaps).
posted by App Crit at Wednesday, April 12, 2006
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