ERATOSTHENES Pàmias (J.), Geus (K.) (Edd., Trans.) Eratosthenes

the classical review 401

Underworld as told in the myth of his katabasis rather than as a mediator for Orphic initiates. The book will nevertheless be an important tool for future research on these highly interesting texts. However, if one does not share the authors’ belief that the various Orphic fragments, including the gold tablets, originated from a coherent Orphic movement, then the interpretations and conclusions found here may prove hard to accept. Moss, Norway STIAN SUNDELL TORJUSSEN [email protected]

ERATOSTHENES Pàmias (J.), Geus (K.) (edd., trans.) Eratosthenes. Sternsagen (Catasterismi). (Bibliotheca Classicorum 2.) Pp. 258, map. Oberhaid: Utopica Verlag, 2007. Cased, €29.95. ISBN: 978-3-938083-05-5. doi:10.1017/S0009840X09000365 After many years of neglect, the Star Myths or Catasterismi attributed to Eratosthenes is μnally receiving the scholarly attention it deserves. This new edition, with introduction, text, translation, notes and star-chart, by two leading Eratosthenic scholars, makes this fascinating text more accessible than it has been for many hundreds of years. The Catasterismi as it survives today is a collection of more than forty aetiological tales explaining the mythical origins of the constellations, planets and Milky Way; it also lists the number, location and brightness of the stars in each constellation. It began life as a larger work: opinions di¶er as to its original scope, structure and size, but the bare and rather perfunctory narratives that remain after various stages of editing and abbreviation are unlikely to attract many readers through their literary merits alone. However, if this is indeed the remains of a mythological and astronomical handbook by one of the foremost scholars of the Hellenistic age (and P. and G. strongly support Eratosthenic authorship), it may seem surprising that a text of such potential interest to many di¶erent disciplines is not more widely known. P. and G.’s learned yet accessible edition may remedy the situation. Drawing on their more specialised studies, it is aimed at a wide audience and avoids unnecessary detail without sacrificing scholarly rigour. The Introduction begins with a concise but informative account of Eratosthenes’ life and work; there follows a brief survey of Greek attitudes to the stars, where it is argued that mythological catasterisms emerged primarily from literary as opposed to religious tradition. Next comes a brief but lucid overview of the complex textual history of the work, and μnally there is a discussion of the methodology of the edition and translation. The centrepiece of this work is P.’s new text, based on his 2004 Catalan edition,1 which represents one of the most signiμcant milestones in this μeld for many years. The last editions were all published in the late nineteenth century, but since that time a large body of material has emerged that renders them incomplete, if not obsolete; this material is easy for the casual reader to overlook, and hard for the specialist to track down.

1J. Pàmias, Eratòsthenes de Cirene. Catasterismes (Barcelona: Fundació Bernat Metge, 2004).

The Catasterismi survive in various forms: there are two closely related Greek traditions, the Epitome and the Fragmenta Vaticana (henceforth FV). Similar texts survive in very close but often very poor Latin translations, found amongst Latin Aratean texts;2 one of these, known as Aratus Latinus, contains a word-for-word translation of the FV tradition, but preserves some myths missing from the Greek manuscripts. Only a few myths from FV’s Greek tradition were known to previous editors; the myths from FV’s Latin tradition, Aratus Latinus, were known to only one. Many more myths from Greek tradition were unearthed subsequently, but they never formed part of an edition until in 2004 P. brought together, for the μrst time, all the known witnesses to the Greek traditions of the Epitome and FV, including some manuscripts never before collated.3 The result is by far the best and most complete Greek text yet published. This text, with a few minor changes, is the one presented in P. and G. Its beneμt to the casual reader is clear right from the μrst myth: no recourse to obscure Latin Aratean scholia is necessary to elicit that Amphis’ variation on the rape of Callisto, in which Jupiter disguises himself as Diana (a conceit followed by Ovid in his Metamorphoses), was contained in the original work. P. and G. present the texts of the Epitome and FV in two columns side by side, with afacingGermantranslation. An apparatus – somewhat less full that that of the Catalan edition – is included, located at the end of each myth. Although this reduces clutter for the casual reader, it does make consulting the apparatus a little awkward, as it is often over the page from the main body of the text. The notes, located at the back of the book, are brief but informative, providing such information as other ancient sources for the myths, possible Babylonian analogues for the constellations, and various bibliographic references; and there is much else of interest here (e.g. some anti-Dionysus elements that may give the work a political edge). One might have hoped for a little more discussion in one or two places. For example, P. and G. keep a peculiar reading in FV’s account of Arctophylax (Cat. 8), according to which Arcas at some point unwittingly attempts ‘to marry his mother’. For P. and G., this re·ects the similarity between sex and hunting, and their common links to the ritual origins of myth. There is no attempt to explain the rather bizarre twist given to the Oedipal aspects of this reading when we remember that Arcas’ mother is at this point in the shape of a bear; and no suggestion that this is perhaps a scribal error. A more serious case is that of Orion (Cat. 32): in Greek, the FV tradition for this myth does not survive, so only the Epitome is printed. The FV tradition does survive in Latin, however, and it contains additional material, namely the story of Orion’s birth from an ox-hide: but there is no mention of this in the notes, so in this instance the casual reader may not get the full picture of what the Catasterismi may once have contained. However, these minor criticisms in no way detract from the signiμcance and importance of this extremely useful work, which will prove of great and lasting value to scholars in a wide variety of disciplines. University College London MATTHEW ROBINSON [email protected]

2The Catasterismi in some form were also a source for the Astronomia of Hyginus. 3Among these is Edimburgensis Adv 18.7.5, the archetype for the entire tradition of the Epitome.