DOCSLIB.ORG

CORINNA of TANAGRA on POETRY by W .1

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
CORINNA of TANAGRA on POETRY by W .1 ACTA CLASSICA XXXVIII (1995) 29-41 ISSN 0065-1141 CORINNA OF TANAGRA ON POETRY by W _.1. Henderson (Rand Afrikaans University) Introdudion The main subject-matter of the surviving verse-fragments of Corinna, lyric poetess of Tanagra, is heroic myth. She herself advertises her interest in such material in a two-line fragment, 664(b) PMG (I follow Page's text): tWvEL 0' dpww'J <ipEcac; xdpwcrowv but 1 come of heroes' and heroines' brave deeds [to sing]. This mythical material is almost exclusively Boeotian, 1 survives in most cases only as titles or names, or offers details unknown to us from other sources.'2 There is, however, another theme that runs through the testimo­ nia on Corinna and is re:fl.ected in the remaining fragments: her activities as a poet and her views on poetry. We may be critical of the testimonia as evidence for her biography,3 yet these remains of ancient criticism do serve to remind us of this thread in the fabric of her poetry. The central concern of this article is to bring together what we can deduce about this theme from the fragments of her poetry. The problem of the dating of Corinna, which has attracted the most scholarly attention, is treated only incidentally, although, of course, the question as to whether the attitudes to and practice of poetry reflect those of the 5th century or later inevitably comes to the fore. 4 The l\tluses At its most expected and evident the theme entails recognition of the Muses. This is echoed in two fragments.s In the one, fr. 676(a) PMG: se; MW(J&w'J, 'from the Muses,' the Muses are apparently acknowledged as the source of poetry, but the phrase is quoted only to illustrate the Boeo­ tian USE' of Be; for BX; the absence of any context prevents us from knowing whose words or thoughts these are. In the second fragment the Boeotian town of Thespia, at the foot of Mount Helicon, seat of the ~i[uses, is described as xIXAALytvd:lAe qnA6~evE (JW(1o<ptAEne, 'bringer forth of fair offspring, friend of the stranger, beloved 29 of the Muses' (fr. 674 PMG). The line clearly celebrates the town's noble progeny, hospitality and association with the cult of the Muses. The sanc­ tuary and quadrennial games in honour of the :vfuses were of some local importance and much frequented,6 and Corinna may be simply echoing common-place sentiments. For \Vest, Corinna's words evoke Thespia as a 'self-conscious tourist-centre, trading on its association with Hesiod, and able to refer to genealogical poetry in which its eponym was assigned her place in a worthy family line,' a situation that seems to him more suited to the 4th than the 5th century.7 However, we are surely justified in linking the text of the poem with the reality of the cult ceremonies in honour of the Muses. Corinna could have composed songs for such occasions in much the same way as Aleman did. If that is so, Corinna's invocation would be a real one, meant to work, and not simply a conventional one. Snyder is to my mind correct in speaking of Corinna's 'function as a public poet.' 8 This kind of role in the cult ceremonies of public occasions is more in keeping with earlier than Hellenistic Greek culture. ~.loreover, we need to focus on what Corinna might have wished to achieve with these words. For us this entails some account of what effect the words have. The three long compounds attract attention. Corinna surely wanted her audience to notice the clever, eloquent and unusual compounds9 and the beautiful sound of the line. Also, the asyndetic tricololl of voca­ tives suggests hymnic chant, as others have observed.lO West has aptly noted the density of meaning and the hymn-like invocation to a townY This hymnic element may be due to the performance of the original poem at an official occasion during the cult celebrations. Although there is no external evidence for this view, it is not intrinsically impossible, and inter­ nal indications make it probable. We can, however, be sure of the effect produced by the hymnic invocation: it enhanced the depiction of Thespia. Corinna is enhancing her city as a centre for the Muses while at the same tiIlle demonstrating her art under the influence of the MusesP The opening lines (1-5) of fragment 655 PMG, the main body of which treats some unidentifiable myth,13 reveal a poet fully aware of and confident in her own creative powers and place in her community. 14 EJtL !-lE: Te:pcjnX6pcr [XctAL XctACt fe:po[ <xtaO!-l[tvIXv TIXvIXyp[oe:aat AE:[vX01tbCAlj<; !-ltyIX 0' E!-l~C; ytY[IXSt 1tOAtC; Atyovpoxw['d)A';[<; EV01t~<;. on me Terpsichora [calls to sing beautiful tales of heroes for Tanagra's white-robed daughters; 30 and the city rejoices greatly in my clear and babbling voice. The poetess claims inspiration from the Muse Terpsichora: the poem's dramatic setting pretends the Muse is actually still calling upon the poetess to sing. I fl Terpsichora is the only Muse named for certain in the surviving fragments of Corinna's work. 16 Terpsichora's name associated her with the choral dance, and it is tempting to interpret her name here as an allusion to the performance of Corinna's poetry, or at least this poem, by a choms.n This impression could be supported by the references in line 3 to TavC(yptoe:(J(1t Ae:[\Jxom::rcA1)~, and in line 11 to ltC(pO[ejvl)(Jl ('for girls').18 It seeIllS highly unlikely that the girls referred to here comprise Corinna's audience, a O(C«Jo~ similar to Sappho's. For one thing, there is no evidence at all for such a female thiasos in connectioll with Corinna. For another: the masculine themes of her poetry in general and this poem in particular would be more suitable for a general, predominantly male audience than a group of teenage girls. For yet another: the apparel of the girls (if the reading is correct) suggests some formal group such as a chorus. We may ha;;;arrl the conclusion that Corinna is referring to a choral performance of this poem, and even of her other songs. The precise reference of Fe:pOt( IX) in line 2 is not clear, but the qualifying xIXAti indicates the poetess' pride in her works, be they 'tales of long ago', or 'songs of heroes" or 'narratives.' 19 This sense of pride is present also in tJ-£YIX ... yeylC(Oe: (4), and even in gtJ-~~ ... Evor;~~ {4£.).~o Thf' word AtyoUP()XW[1:iJAU[~ occurs only here, and precise translation into an English equivalent is difficult. Fortunately we know the two com­ ponents of the compound, ),tyupo~/),tY(;~ and XW1:(nW/XW1:(AO~. LSJ offers 'clear and plaintive.' Page finds the plaintiveness 'out of place here.' 21 He point;; inst.ead to LSJ's entries on xW1:1Hw, 'prattle, chatter, usually with eollat,eral notion of coaxing,' and XW1:(/,O~, 'ehattering, babbling.' Davi­ son tnmslates the word as 'shrilly-babbling',22 Segal as 'coaxing in high tones. 23 'Vest emphasised the verbal force in the second member: Atyupti xW1:lH(0V rather than simply Atyupo~ XIXi XW1:lAO~, and the complimentary sense of XW·d/,O~.24 The adjective would therefore suggest clear-ringing, sweet-sounding song, with an admixture of appealing chatter. Was this intended by the poet to capture the sound of the chorus of girls? There would be a touch of pride and humour in such a depiction of the chorus. But t.his interpretation depends on whether the audience would have un­ derstood llE (1) and EtJ-~~ ... EVOlt~~ (5£.) as referring to the chorus rather than the poet. An alternative interpretation reads the personal pronouns at face value: Corinna is speaking of her own voice, that is, her poetry. In this case the adjective is more likely to be self-deprecatory: her song is shrill and 31 babbling. The question then arises: is she serious or ironical? Given the context of these lines and the nature of the poem that follows, the term must be taken as ironicaL Such ironical self-deprecation together with a sense of poetic pride is found in Pindar fro l40b, also involving a compound word.25 A decisive choice of either alternative is impossible on present evidence. The Lyric Tradition Corinna was aware of and showed some interest in the broader traditions of lyric poetry. She speaks of Hyria in her native Boeotia as a land of beautiful dances (xa.AAtX6pw XOov6<;, fro 669 PMG), and supposedly related how Apollo was taught flute-playing by Athena (fr. 668 PMG Plut., De musica 14). There is, however, only one fragment in which she refers to other poets. She criticises the poetess Myrtis and, by implication, praises Pindar in ff. 664 PMG. [l€[l<po[ll] oE x~ Alyovph Movp'tto' iwvy' O'tl ~a.v& <poG­ cr' ~~:x ITlVO&pOl )tCl'!: 1:ptv. but I indeed censure even clear-voiced Myrtis, for, though born a woman, she went to compete against Pindar. We notice again the use of AlYVp6<; to describe clear, sweet song. This praise is in contrast to the criticism levelled at Myrtis in [It[l<po[lTF the two words frame the line. Then there is the emphasis on Myrtis (x~ xed) and on the poetic'!' (1.wvy' = EYwvy:x), drawing attention t.o some differ­ ence between them. This is resolved when it becomes clear that Corinna considered Myrtis, as a woman, arrogant to compete against Pindar, even with her poetic talent.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Durham E-Theses
    Durham E-Theses The legend of Oedipus in fth century tragedy at Athens Bailey, S. K. How to cite: Bailey, S. K. (1955) The legend of Oedipus in fth century tragedy at Athens, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/9722/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk r 1 THE LEGEND OF OEDIPUS IN FIFTH CENTURY TRAGEDY AT ATHENS A THESIS SUJ3W:TTED BY S.K. BAILEY FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF LETTERS The aims of the thesis are (a) to mark what has been altered or added to the legend of Oedipus by the three great dramatists of the fifth century, and (b) to show that these alterations and additions were made with a· specific end in view. To further these aims it has been necessary to broaden somewhat the scope of the thesis so as to include in it a gathering together of the pre-Aeechylean versions of the story; in the case of Aeschylus a reconstruction of the two lost plays of the trilogy, and in the case of each poet a personal interpretation of the plays connected with the Oedipus legend.
    [Show full text]
  • Ritual Performance As Training for Daughters in Archaic Greece Author(S): Wayne B
    Classical Association of Canada Ritual Performance as Training for Daughters in Archaic Greece Author(s): Wayne B. Ingalls Reviewed work(s): Source: Phoenix, Vol. 54, No. 1/2 (Spring - Summer, 2000), pp. 1-20 Published by: Classical Association of Canada Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1089087 . Accessed: 31/03/2012 18:35 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Classical Association of Canada is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Phoenix. http://www.jstor.org RITUAL PERFORMANCE AS TRAINING FOR DAUGHTERS IN ARCHAIC GREECE WAYNEB. INGALLS INTRODUCTION THE PUBLICATION OF THE REVISION AND ENGLISH TRANSLATION of Claude Calame's Les choeursdejeunes filles en Grecearchaique (1997) has again focused attention on the participationof girls in traditionallyric choruses. One aspect of choral activitywhich Calame discusses is education (1977: 1.385-420; 1997: 221-244). In this treatment Calame deals with the chorus as the place of education, the instruction given to the chorus, the metaphoricalrepresentation of education and marriage, and the homoerotic elements
    [Show full text]
  • The Aesthetics of Dialect in Hellenistic Epigram
    The Aesthetics of Dialect in Hellenistic Epigram A dissertation submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Cincinnati in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Classics by Taylor S. Coughlan B.A. Carleton College M.A. University of Wisconsin—Madison March 18, 2016 Committee Chair: Kathryn Gutzwiller, Ph.D. Alex Sens, Ph.D. Lauren Ginsberg, Ph.D. i Abstract This dissertation is a study of dialect choice and dialect mixture in Hellenistic book epigram. The aims of the project are not only linguistic, but also literary; indeed, what motivates the study is an overarching interest in understanding how specific dialect choices can enrich the meaning of the poem in which they appear. Scholars have only recently started to include dialect in their readings of individual epigrams, but no one has systematically studied the entire corpus. In order to more fully understand Hellenistic book epigram and its flourishing during a period of great social, cultural, and literary change, we must confront the genre’s use of dialect or otherwise miss out on an important component in this self-conscious genre’s production of poetic meaning. Following an introduction that sets out the interpretive framework for the dissertation and explores issues of dialect transmission in the manuscript tradition, the study falls into two parts, each comprising three chapters. In the first part, I attempt to situate dialect choice and mixture in its poetic and literary-critical contexts. In the first chapter, I investigate dialect usage in pre- Hellenistic Greek poetry, not including inscribed epigram, arguing that dialect mixture for poetic effect existed in Archaic and Classical poetry.
    [Show full text]
  • The Rise of the Greek Epic Author(S): M
    The Rise of the Greek Epic Author(s): M. L. West Reviewed work(s): Source: The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol. 108 (1988), pp. 151-172 Published by: The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/632637 . Accessed: 04/07/2012 06:05 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Journal of Hellenic Studies. http://www.jstor.org Journal of Hellenic Studies cviii (1988) 15I-I72 THE RISE OF THE GREEKEPIC MY title is familiar as that of a book, and my subject may be thought to call for one. I hope in due course to explore the genesis of the Homeric poems in that format, and what I have to say here may take its place there in a maturer form (wiser, fatter). For the moment I offer merely a provisional attempt to trace out the stages by which the epic tradition developed, stopping short of any discussion of the Iliad and Odyssey themselves. Any such attempt necessarily involves a certain amount of rehearsal of familiar arguments, and, if it is to be plausible, a fair measure of concurrence in familiar conclusions.
    [Show full text]
  • Greek in Early Hellenistic Magna Graecia: Dialect Contact and Change in South Italy
    Greek in Early Hellenistic Magna Graecia: Dialect Contact and Change in South Italy Livia Tagliapietra St John’s College, Cambridge This dissertation is submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy January 2018 Greek in Early Hellenistic Magna Graecia: Dialect Contact and Change in South Italy Livia Tagliapietra Summary This doctoral thesis investigates dialect contact, identity and change in the ancient Greek colonies of Magna Graecia in the fourth and third centuries BC, as evidenced in the surviving epigraphic sources. South Italy is an area of the ancient Greek-speaking world in which a comprehensive investigation of the linguistic evidence has not previously been attempted. By considering linguistic questions within their broader socio-historical environment, I propose a radical redrawing of the dialect map of this area. I first present the historical context, the linguistic evidence and the methodological framework of my research in the introduction. In the first chapter I reject previous hypotheses about dialect contact in South Italy around 300 BC on the basis of both historical and linguistic arguments. I then propose a new and empirically better supported explanation for the development of the ‘severior’ long- vowel system in the dialect of the southern city of Locri, which previous studies have generally attributed to influence from the dialect of the important northern city of Taras and taken as evidence for Taras’ linguistic influence over the rest of Magna Graecia, and possibly also for the existence of a local Doric koina (i.e. a common dialect). In the second chapter I offer a new analysis of the inscriptional record from Locri and show that, in the absence of compelling evidence for influence from the dialect of Taras, a high level of prestige remained attributed to the traditional local dialect until at least the mid-third century.
    [Show full text]
  • CORINNA I Life Corinna Was a Boeotian Poet Who Was Identified with the City of Tanagra. Plutarch, Pausanias, Aelian and the Suda
    CORINNA I Life Corinna was a Boeotian poet who was identified with the city of Tanagra. Plutarch, Pausanias, Aelian and the Suda all connect her with Pindar, thereby situating her in the fifth century B.C.2 Plutarch reports a story in which Corinna advised Pindar on the proper use of myth in poetry. Pausanias describes a painting of her placed in the gymnasium of Tanagra which, he claims, reflected her victory over Pindar in a competition of melic poetry. Aelian and the Suda report that she defeated Pindar not once but five times. The Suda linked the two poets as pupils of Myrtis, and in fr. 664(a) Corinna criticizes Myrtis for competing with Pindar despite the fact that she is a woman. Despite this strong ancient tradition anchoring Corinna in the fifth century, modern readers have been making a case for her being a poet of a much later date, sometime in the third century B.C. Corinna (in the verses which remain) gives us no internal evidence of her date, and beginning with Edgar LobeJ3 questions have been raised about whether one can reconcile the language, vocabulary, metre, style and content of her fragments with what we know of the poetry of the Archaic period. Of significant length we have only portions of three poems contained in two papyrus fragments, numbers 654-655. The earlier papyrus (the "Berlin" papyrus) dates from the third century B.C.; the words are in the Boeotian vernacular, and the orthography resembles Boeotian in­ scriptions of the 3rd century.4 One way of reconciling the ancient tradition with this evidence is to assume metagrammatism, a third-century scribe's rewriting of a fifth-century text into the com­ mon speech of Hellenistic Boeotia.
    [Show full text]
  • Divine Corinna’: Pre-Twentieth Century Receptions of an Artistic Authority1
    ‘Divine Corinna’: Pre-Twentieth Century Receptions of an Artistic Authority1 THEA S. THORSEN The Norwegian University of Science and Technology [email protected] Introduction At the heart of the reception history of Corinna of Tanagra lies an asto- nishing idea. This is the idea that she was not only a poet, but also honou- red as an authority in the artistic and intellectual domain of literature and a champion in poetic contest against Pindar2, her alleged Boeotian compatriot, poet-colleague and fellow student3. Indeed, as such, the idea 1 — I wish to thank the editors Jacqueline Fabre-Serris and Judith Hallett for kindly welco- ming this article and helping me improve my argument. Thanks are also due to the anonymous referees, whose efforts to aid me in improving this article have been beyond what could reasonably be expected; for generous help of various other kinds I am grateful to (in alphabetical order) Benedetto Benedetti, Robert Emil Berge, Stephen Harrison, Daria Lanzuolo, Maria Emelia Masci and last, but not least, Marina Prusac-Lindhagen. 2 — The coinage ‘artistic authority’ is meant to evoke all these aspects; Corinna’s occupation as poet, her standing as honoured and her alleged superiority over Pindar. 3 — Pindar’s name occurs twice in Corinna’s extant fragments. One instance is preserved in the grammarian Apollonius Dyscolus: Βοιωτοὶ <ἱών>, ὡς μὲν Τρύφων... ὡς δὲ ἔνιοι, ὧν ἐστιν ὁ Ἅβρων, θέμα ἐστίν, ὃ συζύγως οἱ αὐτοί φασι, τῇ μὲν ἐγών τὴν ἱών, <τῇ δὲ ἐγώνη τὴν ἱώνει>, εἴγε τὸ παρὰ Δωριεῦσιν η εἰς ει μεταβάλλεται, τῇ δ’ ἐγώνγα τὴν ἱώνγα.
    [Show full text]
  • A History of Alcman's Early Reception
    A History of Alcman’s Early Reception A History of Alcman’s Early Reception: Female-Voiced Nightingales By Vasiliki Kousoulini A History of Alcman’s Early Reception: Female-Voiced Nightingales By Vasiliki Kousoulini This book first published 2019 Cambridge Scholars Publishing Lady Stephenson Library, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE6 2PA, UK British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Copyright © 2019 by Vasiliki Kousoulini All rights for this book reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. ISBN (10): 1-5275-3166-X ISBN (13): 978-1-5275-3166-6 TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgments .................................................................................... vii Introduction ................................................................................................ 1 Chapter One .............................................................................................. 13 Exploring the Biographical Tradition 1) The Name of the Poet 2) Alcman and the Canon 3) Origin 4) Date 5) Poetry and Life: a Common Biographical Fallacy 6) Poetic Genres and Classification of Poems 7) Novelties and Characteristics of his Poetry 8) Dialect 9) Autobiographical References 10) Conclusions Chapter Two ............................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • The Landscape and Language of Korinna Daniel W
    The Landscape and Language of Korinna Daniel W. Berman HE POETRY OF KORINNA, who tradition tells us hailed from Tanagra or Thebes, is known for its strong local T flavor. Its language is certainly a type of Boiotian dialect, and the content of the poems and fragments that survive is deeply colored by local particulars of all types. The present article is loosely centered around controversies that have long plagued interpretation of her poetry: the question of her date, thought to be either roughly contemporary with Pin- dar (i.e. late sixth to fifth century) or significantly later, perhaps Hellenistic or at least late fourth century, and the related matter of her homeland: Tanagra or Thebes.1 I consider here two issues facing an interpreter of Korinna that both, in some- what similar ways, relate to these problems. The first is one that has not been much discussed by critics, her representation of Boiotian topography. The second, the language of the poems, is more traveled ground. In both cases I hope to shed new light on the central problems of Korinna’s location in time and place, and the discussion of topography may potentially open a new perspective on Korinna’s language. Korinna’s poetry survives to us on papyri and in a smattering of stray quotations from commentators or other ancient wit- nesses.2 We have several relatively lengthy fragments and quite 1 Tanagra according to Pausanias (9.22.3); the Suda s.v. identifies her as Θηβαία ἢ Ταναγραία. Most have sided with Pausanias. 2 The best and most comprehensive edition is still D.
    [Show full text]
  • The Muses and Creative Inspiration: Homer to Milton
    UNF Digital Commons UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations Student Scholarship 1993 The uM ses and Creative Inspiration: Homer to Milton Kathleen PotthoffcH M ugh University of North Florida Suggested Citation McHugh, Kathleen Potthoff, "The usM es and Creative Inspiration: Homer to Milton" (1993). UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations. 85. https://digitalcommons.unf.edu/etd/85 This Master's Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Scholarship at UNF Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of UNF Digital Commons. For more information, please contact Digital Projects. © 1993 All Rights Reserved THE MUSES AND CREATIVE INSPIRATION: HOMER TO MILTON by Kathleen Potthoff McHugh A thesis submitted tQthe Department of Language and Literature in partial fulfiliment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in English UNIVERSITY OF NORTH FLORIDA COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES May, 1993 Unpublished work c Kathleen Potthoff McHugh Certificate of Approval Page The thesis of Kathleen Potthoff McHugh is approved: Signature deleted Signature deleted b -/0 - 75 Signature deleted , - (v -yJ Accepted for the Department: Signature deleted Chairperson Accepted for the College/School: Signature deleted Signature deleted c Affairs Acknowledgements Maybe this project began when I read the "prooimia" of Theogony on a ship from Italy to Greece, or when I started to fully understand Robert Graves' the White Goddess. But the more definite beginnings were in Brian Striar's class on English Renaissance poetry where I discovered Ovid and a perplexing array of references to the Muses.
    [Show full text]
  • HESIOD in OVID: the METAMORPHOSIS of the CATALOGUE of WOMEN a Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Co
    HESIOD IN OVID: THE METAMORPHOSIS OF THE CATALOGUE OF WOMEN A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Cornell University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy By Ioannis V. Ziogas February 2010 © 2010 Ioannis V. Ziogas HESIOD IN OVID: THE METAMORPHOSIS OF THE CATALOGUE OF WOMEN Ioannis V. Ziogas, Ph.D. Cornell University, 2010 The subject of my dissertation is Ovid's intertextual engagement with the Hesiodic Catalogue of Women (aka the Ehoiai). I examine the Hesiodic character of Ovid’s work, focusing mainly on the Metamorphoses and Heroides 16-17. The Metamorphoses begins with Chaos and moves on to the loves of the gods, reiterating the transition from the Theogony to the Catalogue. Divine passions for beautiful maidens constitute a recurring motif in the Metamorphoses, establishing the importance of the erotic element in Ovid’s hexameter poem and referring to the main topic of the Ehoiai (fr. 1.1-5 M-W). The first five books of Ovid’s epic follow the descendants of the river-god Inachus, beginning with Jupiter’s rape of Io and reaching forward to Perseus, and the stemma of the Inachids features prominently in the Hesiodic Catalogue (fr. 122-59 M-W). As a whole, the Metamorphoses delineates the genealogies of the major Greek tribes (Inachids, Thebans, Athenians), and includes the Trojans, the only non-Greek genealogies of the Catalogue, which were dealt with in the last part of Hesiod’s work. Ovid’s foray into the Hesiodic corpus gives us a new perspective to interpreting his aemulatio of Vergil.
    [Show full text]
  • Panhellenic Publicity in Epinician Poetry When Pindar And
    Panhellenic Publicity in Epinician Poetry When Pindar and Bacchylides composed poetry for a given patron, they naturally tailored their odes to the myths, politics, and culture of his locale. But an important element of these poets’ professional appeal was their supralocal reputation. Advertising it in their compositions had to be carefully balanced against the need for local color. In this paper I take a new look at self-promotion in epinician odes (cf. Gzella 1970) by considering the claims of Pindar and Bacchylides to Panhellenic fame. Although commissioned as itinerant poets to celebrate local victories, their epinicians evidence a concern to appeal to a geographically wider audience. I analyze how these poets used their odes for self-promotion in their competition for patronage and how they sought to reconcile local interests with the Panhellenic projection of their work. While Bacchylides explicitly identifies the setting of athletic competitions as ‘Panhellenic’ (ἐν Πανελλάνων ἀέθλοις 13.198), Pindar subtly hints at the Panhellenic dimensions of the local victory. He connects, for example, Hiero’s military success to the Greek victories against the Persians (P 1.73-80), thus evoking a common Panhellenic identity. In so doing, Pindar tailors the epinician to a wider audience and not only asserts his patron’s “Panhellenic profile” (cf. Fries 2017) and political power but also his own Panhellenic reputation. Pindar’s odes repeatedly signal his Panhellenic status in prominent places: e.g., at a programmatic opening (N. 5.1-4); at the end, as the final message to take away (O. 1.116-117); and at gnomic junctures (P.
    [Show full text]