Choreia in Alcman's Second Partheneion (3 Pmgf)

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SPARTA'S PRIMA BALLERINA: CHOREIA IN ALCMAN'S SECOND PARTHENEION (3 PMGF)

ANASTASIA-ERASMIA PEPONI

The Classical Quarterly / Volume 57 / Issue 02 / December 2007, pp 351 - 362 DOI: 10.1017/S0009838807000444, Published online: 07 November 2007

Link to this article: http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0009838807000444

How to cite this article: ANASTASIA-ERASMIA PEPONI (2007). SPARTA'S PRIMA BALLERINA: CHOREIA IN ALCMAN'S SECOND PARTHENEION (3 PMGF). The Classical Quarterly, 57, pp 351-362 doi:10.1017/S0009838807000444

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Downloaded from http://journals.cambridge.org/CAQ, IP address: 128.103.149.52 on 23 Sep 2014 Classical Quarterly 57.2 351–362 (2007) Printed in Great Britain 351 doi:10.1017/S0009838807000444 ANASTASIA-ERASMIASPARTA’S PRIMA BALLERINA PEPONI

SPARTA’S PRIMA BALLERINA: CHOREIA IN ALCMAN’S SECOND PARTHENEION (3 PMGF)

A technical definition of Greek choreia would describe it as a particular practice of mousike, involving the combination of song and dance in collective performance.1 But for the understanding of its cultural function, the broader social implications of choreia are of primary importance. For instance, in one of the major surviving discussions of Greek choreia, the second book of Plato’s Laws, choreia and paideia appear as almost identical, with the former explicitly said to be the quintessential requirement for the latter.2 Remarkably, in the same context paideia itself is defined as the appropriate training of pleasure (hedone) and pain (lupe).3 Interestingly, then, in a central fourth-century treatment of Greek chorality, choreia is conceptualized within a complex network, where mousike, paideia and the disciplining of emotions coexist.4 The following reading is an attempt to shed light on how this conceptual network seems to be already in action much before Plato’s theorization, in the choral practices of the archaic period. Among the surviving poems that illuminate choreia as a discipline inseparably uniting musical and emotional faculties, Alcman’s second Partheneion (PMGF 3) offers an especially interesting and unexplored instance. So far, attempts to interpret the obscurities of this rather neglected fragment (compared to the Louvre Parth- eneion) focus justifiably on the emotional, mainly erotic, rhetoric of the singing chorus.5 The present reading, however, claims that the self-referential choral language of the fragment can be deciphered most effectively if interpreted as a code referring at the same time to musical action and emotional attitude. Moreover, as dance is in this case the explicitly thematized component of the unfolding musical action, the chorus’ emotional disposition cannot be satisfactorily explained without our understanding of the way their language refers to the underlying choreography. Thus a number of suggestions will be made illuminating the scenario and the choreography latent in the surviving central piece of the fragment (lines 61–81). The ultimate intention of this

1 For a definition of choreia see Plato’s Laws 654B. Instrumental accompaniment to song and dance is not explicitly stated in Plato’s definition but, as a matter of principle, it should generally be implied. For a discussion of choreia in Plato’s Laws see G. Morrow, Plato’s Cretan City: A Historical Interpretation of the Laws (Princeton, 1960), 297–318; W. Mullen, Choreia: Pindar and Dance (Princeton, 1982), 46–56; S. Lonsdale, Dance and Ritual Play in Greek Religion (Baltimore, 1993), 21–43; S. Benardete, Plato’s Laws: The Discovery of Being (Chicago, 2000 ), 54–87. 2 Plato, Laws 653E–654E, esp. 654B. 3 Plato, Laws 653A–E, 654C–D. For the concept of pleasure in the Laws see e.g. J. Gosling and C. Taylor, The Greeks on Pleasure (Oxford, 1982), 169–74. For emotions in the Laws see e.g. W. Fortenbaugh, Aristotle on Emotion1 (London, 1975), 23–5, 28, 32, 48–53. 4 I use the term mousike to signify any combination of vocal, kinetic and instrumental activity, or all three activities together. 5 See e.g. C. Calame, Les choeurs de jeunes filles en Grèce archaique (Rome, 1977), 2.90–3; F. Lasserre, ‘Ornements érotiques dans la poésie lyrique archaique’, in J. Heller and J. K. Newman (edd.), Serta Turyniana: Studies in Greek Literature and Palaeography in Honor of Alexander Turyn (Urbana, 1974), 5–33 at 10–13; M. Davies, ‘Alcman and the lover as suppliant’, ZPE 64 (1986), 13–14. 352 ANASTASIA-ERASMIA PEPONI reading is to show how, in this instantiation of archaic choreia, musical and emotional disciplines are inseparably paired in both the poem’s enactment and language. The poem under consideration runs as follows:6

Fr. 1

10 ‹desunt vv. 20›

Fr. 3

< >

‹desunt vv. 23›

Fr.3,col.ii

–

6 I print the poem as in Davies PMGF 3, with some exceptions: first, in line 72 I print parsenikas instead of parsenikan, following Page’s suggestion that a sigma can be read as a correction over the nu in the ending -an of parsenikan. On this see D. L. Page, ‘Oxyrhynchus papyri XXIV’, CR 9.1 (1959), 15–23 at 18. This reading is adopted by D. A. Campbell, Greek Lyric Poetry2 (London, 1982). Second, I do not print line 81 restored as . For the complexities of this supplement see n. 35 below. SPARTA’S PRIMA BALLERINA 353

–

‹desunt vv. 5›

Olympian (Muses fill ) my heart (with yearning for a new) song: (I long) to hear the (maiden) voiceofgirlssingingabeautifulmelody...itwillscattersweetsleepfromtheeyesandleadsme to go to the assembly, where I shall shake my blond hair. ...softfeet ...andwithlimb-looseningdesire,hergazemeltsmorepowerfullythansleepanddeath; not in vain is she sweet; but Astymeloisa does not respond to me; instead, holding the garland, like a star flying through the shining heavens, or like a golden branch, or like soft down … she strode through on her long feet; (beautiful)-haired moist charm of Cinyras sits on the maiden’s mane;(indeed)Astymeloisa,thepeople’sdearconcern(goes)throughtheassembly;...having taken...Isay;...ifonly...asilvercup...Iweretoseewhethershewouldloveme;ifonlyshe came closer and took my tender hand, immediately I might become her. . . Asitis...awisegirl...havingme...thegirl...grace7

The longer surviving part of the poem seems to belong to a broader category of compositions representing the distress of a female speaker, whether individual or collective, who has been deprived of contact with a member of the female circle, often acting in the form of a chorus.8 This anticipated or actual experience of absence is frequently represented as resulting from the departure of a member of the female circle and her integration into the larger community by means of marriage. Variations on this theme can be traced in a number of Sappho’s poems (for instance frr. 94, 96 and 31).9 An interesting later elaboration on this topic is Theocritus’ Helen’s Epithalamium, a Hellenistic reflection on archaic choral discourse with traceable

7 The translation offered here owes much to Campbell’s translation, in the Loeb series, D. A. Campbell, Greek Lyric (Cambridge, MA, 1988) 2.379–81. I also put in parentheses all supple- ments in Campbell’s edition. There are obvious divergences, though, among which I should like to underline one: I translate the intriguing Greek term melêma as ‘dear concern’, in an effort to render the full semantic range of the word, on which see LSJ s.v. and G. Nagy, Pindar’s Homer: The Lyric Possession of an Epic Past (Baltimore, 1990), 347. 8 Indisputably the female group acts in the form of a chorus in Alcman’s Partheneia.For argumentation concerning the model of Sappho’s circle as an essentially choral one see C. Calame, Choruses of Young Women in Ancient Greece: Their Morphology, Religious Role, and Social Functions (Lanham, MD, 1997) , 210–14; and A. Lardinois, ‘Subject and circumstance in Sappho’s poetry’, TAPhA 124 (1994 ), 57– 84 at 63–4, 70–4, 79–80. See also A. Lardinois, ‘Who sang Sappho’s songs ?’, in E. Greene (ed.), Reading Sappho: Contemporary Approaches (Berkeley, 1996), 150–72, regarding the possible choral features of Sappho’s poetry. 9 See e.g. Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, Sappho und Simonides: Untersuchungen über Griechische Lyriker (Berlin, 1913), 56–9; B. Snell, ‘Sappho’s Gedicht, phainetai moi kênos’, Hermes 66 (1931), 71–90; R. Merkelbach, ‘ Sappho und ihr Kreis’, Philologus 101 (1957), 1–29, esp. 4–6 ; Lasserre (n. 5), 25; J. G. Howie, ‘Sappho fr. 94 (LP): farewell, consolation and help in a new life’, Papers of the Liverpool Latin Seminar 2 (1979), 299–342; Calame (n. 8) at 232. 354 ANASTASIA-ERASMIA PEPONI allusions to Alcman.10 Although in Theocritus the wedding is represented as com- pleted and the chorus of the Spartan parthenoi is singing outside the new couple’s thalamos, their discourse is a mixture of desire for the chorêgos, Helen, and nostalgia for the life they used to share with her within the female choral community.11 As sexual maturation is conceptually interwoven with pre-eminence within the female circle, the departing or departed member is usually portrayed in the role of a chorus leader, the chorêgos. Sexual charm along with choral distinction, then, mark the young woman’s readiness for the passage from adolescence to adulthood through marriage.12 Thus Helen in Theocritus and the woman performing under the name Astymeloisa in Alcman’s Partheneion seem to take on similar roles.13 Yet, unlike Theocritus’ poem, where Helen is represented as already gone from the female community, the surviving part of the second Partheneion is most likely a stylized enactment of the intense moment when Astymeloisa is on the cusp between the inner world of the female chorus and the outer world of the asty.14 From the two larger surviving pieces (frr. 1, 3) of the poem, the present reading will focus on the second one (fr. 3), specifically on lines 61–81 which are preserved on the second column of the Oxyrhynchus papyrus. It should be noted, though, that in the first shorter piece as well (fr.1, lines 1–10), which most probably represents the beginning of the poem, there are references significant for the interpretation of the later section. For instance, the space of the performance is identified as the agôn (7), a term denoting the place of the assembly’s gathering, often in order to attend performances.15 It is most likely, then, that the performance is staged as a public event of the polis, programmatically involving male citizens, who seem to play a key role in the second surviving section of the poem.16 Moreover, even in this introductory piece, one can already trace an emphasis on the kinetic element of choreia, which seems to be of central significance later in the poem. For instance, two successive phrases in lines 9 and 10 refer to dancing movement. In line 9 refers to the intense movement of the head, especially in female dances, while in line 10 is a phrase found in similar contexts denoting lightness in dance.17 A public ambience, on the one hand, and dance, on the other, already appearing in this introductory part of the poem, will prove to be significant for the interpretation of the longer surviving piece (fr. 3, 61–81).

10 On the poetic background of Theocritus’ Idyll 18, and especially its echoes of Alcman’s poetic tradition, see R. Hunter, Theocritus and the Archaeology of Greek Poetry (Cambridge, 1996), 149–66, and esp. 152–57. See also T. Rosenmeyer, ‘Alcman’s Partheneion I reconsidered’, GRBS 7 (1966), 321–59, at 325–7 and 353–4. On Rosenmeyer’s approach see also n. 40. 11 Helen’s Epithalamium 20–48 and especially 38–42. 12 Calame (n. 8), 73. See also Calame (n. 5), 98–104. 13 On an analogous similarity, that is the similarity between Helen in Theocritus and Hagesichora in Alcman’s Louvre Partheneion, see e.g. Hunter (n. 10), 152; Nagy (n. 7), 345–46. 14 On Astymeloisa as most probably performing the role of the chorêgos see Page, (n. 6), 15–23 at 17; Calame (n. 5), 92 and 103–4. On the transitional condition of the chorêgos as one who is about to leave the chorus while reaching the status of an adult see Calame 1997 (n. 8), 73, as well as Calame (n. 5), 106–7. 15 See for instance Od. 8.260, 8.380. 16 On Alcman’s Partheneia, especially the Louvre Partheneion, performed in public see E. Stehle, Performance and Gender in Ancient Greece: Nondramatic Poetry in its Setting (Princeton, 1997), 30–9; on the public character of the second Partheneion see ibid. 90, 92–3, with a different focus than the one suggested here. 17 For the shaking of the hair as part of the dance in a Spartan setting, strongly evoking Alcman, see Ar. Lys. 1311. For the shaking of various members of the body in dance cf. Fragmenta Adespota 122 PMG.Forhapalos pous denoting lightness in dance cf. Hes. Theog. 3–4. SPARTA’S PRIMA BALLERINA 355

LANGUAGE AND CHOREOGRAPHY Any given choreography creates spatial structures by means of bodily movement. In the particular case of this Partheneion, as the chorus speaks of the developing choreography, spatiality permeates their discourse and becomes fundamental for the understanding of lines 64–81. The focus of these lines is Astymeloisa’s execution of a spectacular dancing movement from one spot to another: from the location of the singing chorus to that of the silent spectators, the stratos. This choreographed movement is charged with significant symbolic value. In order to interpret the passage one has to trace the purely kinetic aspect of the choreography as well as the emotional implication of the symbolism it conveys.18 Despite damage to the papyrus we can trace the direction of Astymeloisa’s movement as marked off in a fourfold series of expressions: (64), (70), (73) and 9ττοξ ο¨τα (80). All but the first are indicators of spatial relations. The spatial implication of (64), however, becomes transparent if the phrase is interpreted within its syntactical and notional context. That is, as the chorus’ statement regarding Astymeloisa’s lack of response ( 64) is immediately followed by the description of her solo dance, the two acts are most likely meant to be understood in a causal relationship. In the editio princeps this contrast was rendered explicit by Lobel’s conjecture for the beginning of line 65. In other words, Astymeloisa does not respond to the chorus ( 64) because, contrary to their wish, she is in fact moving away from them by stepping across the space of the performance ( 70).19 In turn, the following (73) indicates the spot Astymeloisa is described as arriving at or, perhaps, stepping through: the assembly of the watching citizens.20 No matter how physically close we are to imagine the actual spot of the assembly in relation to that of the singing chorus, Astymeloisa’s choreographed movement from the one to the other is meant to create a symbolic rupture between the two. The dramatization of this fission is decisive for the understanding of the fragment and

18 In this reading the use of the terms ‘symbol’ and ‘symbolic’ in association with Greek choral practices is mainly inspired by E. Cassirer’s work on symbolic thought and expression as factors of culture in E. Cassirer, An Essay on Man (New Haven, 1944) , especially 23–41. For a similar but modified approach see Geertz’s analysis of the terms ‘symbol’ and ‘symbolic form’ in cultural acts in C. Geertz, The Interpretation of Cultures (New York, 1973), 87–125 and especially 89–95. 19 For the conjectured conjunction alla (65), probably introducing the verb dieba in line 70, see E. Lobel, The Oxyrhynchus Papyri: Part xxiv (London, 1957), 16. As for Lobel’s concern regarding the difference in tense between present (ameibetai) and past (dieba) see C. Calame, Alcman (Rome, 1983), ad loc. That is, the aorist dieba most probably expresses the immediate past, an act that has just happened. The exact meaning of the verb dieba in this context is not clear. When intransitive, the verb diabainein means to stride, walk or stand with legs apart; in the context of the Partheneion, then, it would describe the virtuoso execution of rapid large strides on the part of Astymeloisa, a meaning additionally emphasized by the phrase υαξαο Κ ποτ ξ. On the other hand, if the verb was used as transitive, it would mean to step across, pass over, and the description of Astymeloisa’s movement would include a reference to the space she was stepping across. For the meaning of the verb see LSJ s.v.. The condition of the papyrus, though, does not allow for a definite decision between the two semantic nuances of the verb. For an interesting suggestion regarding the restoration of the lines, including a possible object for the verb dieba see W. Peek, ‘Das Neue Alkman-Parthenion’, Philologus 104 (1960), 163–80 at 171 and 174. 20 For the first possible meaning, that is kata + accusative denoting arrival at a spot, see e.g. Il.1.484: Also Il. 13.329, Od. 24.13. For the verb erchetai as a possible supplement in line 74 (adopted by most scholars) see Page (n. 6), 18. 356 ANASTASIA-ERASMIA PEPONI becomes even clearer in the last surviving spatial reference: . (80). The explicit but unfulfilled wish for spatial proximity (asson)isa further indication of the distance symbolically separating the chorus from the solo dancer. Although nun de, in the beginning of line 82, creates a clear contrast between the chorus’ unfulfilled wish for proximity with their chorêgos and the reality of the performance that keeps her at a distance from them, the condition of the papyrus does not allow any certainty regarding the sequence of acts following line 81. Page, followed by others, interpreted two legible references to a pais in lines 82 and 84 respectively, as referring to another maiden with whom Astymeloisa is involved in a common act.21 This would render the second Partheneion similar to the Louvre Partheneion, where Hagesichora, the chorus leader, is involved with Agido in a common ritual activity, while the chorus watching them expresses desire for the former and praises both. It should be noted that although this scenario cannot be excluded, given the lacunae of the present papyrus it remains nothing but a hypothesis.22 If one adopts this possibility, however, then a second, inner, circle of symbolic rupture could have been staged, this time within the female performing ensemble itself. It is possible that this inner rupture functioned as a symbolic duplication of the real deprivation that the external, male, audience represented for the chorus. Whether or not this internal symbolic split was enacted in the Partheneion under discussion, the very name of Asty-meloisa, and, mainly, the way its meaning is activated scenically, indicate that the critical factor for the dramatization of the poem was the external male audience and its impact on the emerging choral act. For that matter it is tempting to notice that, unlike the Louvre Partheneion, where the name of the chorêgos, Hagesichora, defines her internally, in relation to the chorus, in the second Partheneion the name of the chorêgos, Astymeloisa, qualifies her externally, in relation to the asty. Given the small number and the fragmentary condition of the surviving Partheneia it is difficult to determine to what extent the names of the chorêgoi are indicative of the roles assigned to them in different performances. The term chorostatis (84), most likely addressed to Hagesichora in the Louvre Partheneion, serves as an elucidation of her leading role within the chorus, which is already imprinted on her name. One can detect an even more obvious enactment of Astymeloisa’s name in the second Partheneion. Not only does the chorus explicitly define the meaning of her name as in line 74—just after having used it in line 73—but this explanation is provided precisely at the moment when Astymeloisa is described as actually approaching, or dancing through, the Spartan citizens, here named stratos (73). In other words, in a remarkably dense cluster of kindred terms, where asty, damos and stratos appear as near synonyms, semantic elucidation and dramatic action function as synchronized mutual illustrations. By approaching or entering the male assembly while performing her spectacular dance Asty-meloisa materializes the truth of her name: her dance renders her a in action. The asty, therefore, has an exceptionally prominent role in this Partheneion. The citizens forming the assembly are not meant to function merely as the audience of the

21 Page (n. 6), 18. See also Peek (n. 19), 176; Calame (n. 19), ad loc. 22 For instance, one wonders whether the two surviving references to a pais could perhaps apply to Astymeloisa herself who, in this alternative case, would be described by the chorus as performing a series of acts alone, still away from them and close to, or in the midst of, the assembly. SPARTA’S PRIMA BALLERINA 357 developing performance; their prominent presence signals Astymeloisa’s forthcoming incorporation into their own community, thus deepening the emotional tension between them and the singing chorus while enhancing the dramatic intensity of the overall enactment. In the eyes of the singing chorus the presence of the watching community is nothing other than the emblem of Astymeloisa’s imminent absence, her unavoidable departure. The second Partheneion, then, seems to offer a rare case in choral poetry, where the relation between performers and audience is explicitly thematized while also being absolutely crucial for the understanding of the developing enactment.23

CHOREIA AS A SYSTEM OF RECIPROCATION Indisputably, the construction and experience of desire plays a major role in this Partheneion. This has been noticed since the first publication of the Oxyrhynchus papyrus containing the poem and has been further analysed in the subsequent scholarship. Along with the language of desire one can trace a second semantic layer that is tied to the idiom of chorality and refers to the developing choral act itself. The first and second layers are best interpreted if understood as interrelated and synchronically activated semantic codes. In the surviving part of the song the highlights of this double language, which addresses chorality and desire simulta- neously, are the phrases (64) and (81). Once interpreted in their double semantics, the two phrases will be found to be linked and mutually explicative. The phrase (64) is usually understood as an expression of the chorus’ amorous frustration, caused by the lack of the chorêgos’ response to their desire, which, in turn, is being aroused by her seductive gaze (61–3).24 Interestingly, though, this expression seems to come within an intense network of musical diction. For instance, the lines immediately following the reference to Astymeloisa’s lack of amoibe (65–70) describe her dancing action. Since, as I have already shown, lack of reciprocation and solo dancing are most probably

23 Plut. Lyc. 14 provides a good attestation that young men attended choral dances performed by young maidens in Sparta. In a passage referring to the festive calendar of his ideal city, the Athenian of Pl. Leg. 771E–772A suggests that young people of both sexes (koroi and korai) familiarize themselves with each other’s sex by mutually viewing and being viewed unclad in choric events so that they avoid mistaken choices at their marriage. Regardless of the many questions Plato’s suggestion may raise as concerns its cultural and practical implications—especially as a model potentially applicable to Athenian society—it certainly reflects a mentality where performing and viewing in choric practices is in effect associated with sexual attraction. It is not unlikely that the age-class principally—although not exclusively—addressed in the lines referring to the male audience in Alcman’s Partheneion should broadly correspond to the Spartan hêbontes. On the Spartan age-class of the hêbontes seeN.M.Kennel,The Gymnasium of Virtue (Chapel Hill, 1995), 117–18; P. Cartledge, Spartan Reflections (Berkeley, 2001), 87–8 and 116. The appropriate age for male Spartans to marry is in dispute; see for instance B. Kunstler, ‘Family dynamics and female power in Ancient Sparta’, in M. Skinner (ed.), Rescuing Creusa: New Methodological Approaches to Women in Antiquity, Helios suppl. 13.2 (1987), 32–48 at 33; M. Lupi, L’ordine delle generazioni: classi di età e costumi matrimoniali nell’ antica Sparta (Bari, 2000), 27–64. Although there can be no certainty about the age-class system operative in Alcman’s time, the juxtaposition of the two terms damos and stratos denoting civic and military participation is crucial. As regards the problematic chronology of Alcman as well as his plausible floruit at the end of the seventh century see M. L. West, ‘Alcmanica’, CQ 15 (1965), 188–202 at 188–94 and Calame (n. 5 ), 21–2. 24 Calame (n. 19 ), 406. 358 ANASTASIA-ERASMIA PEPONI meant to be understood in a causal relationship, the two facts are likely to belong to a common area of reference. That is, erotic desire cannot be presented as negated by the dancing action, unless dance and desire are implicitly interrelated within the symbolic code used by the chorus. A reexamination of the semantics of the verb ameibesthai will shed light on this aspect of the chorus’ diction. The verb ameibesthai is essentially related to the notion of change or exchange, one specialization of which is the act of replying or answering in the Homeric poems.25 As a symbolic system, then, language is subjected to exchange through speech. Similarly, in the context of choral performances all three symbolic media—vocal, instrumental, and kinetic—are considered to be susceptible to interchange or exchange. For instance in Iliad 1.604 the formulaic phrase ameibomenai opi kalê—‘responding with their beautiful voices’—applies to the archetypal chorus par excellence, as the Muses vocally reciprocate Apollo’s playing of the phorminx.26 In the Homeric Hymn to Apollo, the god’s playing marks his arrival on Olympus and is again immediately reciprocated by the Muses’ vocal activity (189), expressed with the same formula.27 Likewise, in Odyssey 24.60 the same expression is used to indicate the Muses’ vocal response to the Nereids’ lament over Achilles’ dead body.28 In the three cases mentioned so far, reciprocation occurs either within the same medium, that is, voice reciprocated by voice, or between different media, that is, instrument reciprocated by voice. An interesting musical moment in the Odyssey involves reciprocation as practised within the kinetic medium. In the striking pas de deux of the two virtuoso dancers, Halios and Laodamas, the expression (8.379) probably denotes the fast exchange of dancing postures between the dancing duet, a coordinated exchange that is ultimately to be understood as conversation by means of movement.29 Dance, then, is also considered a symbolic code subject to exchange, in a way similar to speech exchange.

25 Cf. Lexicon des Frühgriechischen Epos s.v. 26 A. Barker, Greek Musical Writings, I: The Musician and his Art (Cambridge, 1984), 24, n. 17 thinks that this particular reference could also be interpreted as a form of antiphonal singing. Even if the act of ameibesthai is considered an antiphonal mode of interchange within the singing chorus, however, the essential choral mentality I am focusing on, that of musical reciprocation, remains crucial. At any rate, it is worth noting that in the proem of Hesiod’s Theogony, where the Muses are described in extenso as singing without any external musical accompaniment, the formulaic phrase ameibomenai opi kale is absent. Instead, the phrase phone homereusai (39) is used, putting the emphasis on the harmonious fitting of the chorus’ voices. On this meaning see M. L. West, Hesiod: Theogony (Oxford, 1966), 170. 27 On this interpretation see also Barker (n. 26), 41, n. 8, and also T. W. Allen, W. R. Halliday andE.E.Sikes,The Homeric Hymns2 (Oxford, 1936), 228. In the context of this particular passage Apollo’s playing the phorminx is emphasized by its double mention in v. 183 and, more elaborately, in vv. 184–5. 28 On this scene see A. Heubeck in J. Russo, M. F Galiano and A. Heubeck, A Commentary on Homer’s Odyssey: Books XVII–XXIV (Oxford, 1992), ad loc. The reciprocation of vocal actions does not necessarily imply exchange of an identical type of song. See for instance Nagy (n. 7), 36, n. 102. 29 Scholars and translators have been puzzled by the expression (379). See W. B. Stanford, The Odyssey of Homer (London, 1959), 341; A. F. Garvie, Homer, Odyssey: Books VI–VIII (Cambridge, 1994), 313–14. The present reading holds that lines 377–8 mark the end of the preceding ball playing, now followed by a different kind of coordinated dance demon- stration, not including the ball anymore. (On this interpretation see e.g. M. Wegner, Musik und Tanz. Archaeologia Homerica III (Göttingen, 1968), 42. Thus, the phrase in line 379 applies to the fast interplay of dancing postures between the two Phaeacian dancers, emphasizing their artful interaction as a virtuoso duet. Yet, even in the opposite case, according SPARTA’S PRIMA BALLERINA 359

In the light of these uses of the verb ameibesthai I suggest that the expression in line 64, without losing its overtones of unfulfilled desire, should be interpreted within the musical and choric symbolic system. Moreover, in this particular case I understand it as referring mainly to the kinetic code of choreia.As will be shown, one gets the full impact of this essentially choric and musical implication when the sequence of acts is brought to completion in line 80, with the wish that Astymeloisa would come closer to the chorus and hold hands.30 Desire no doubt longs for closeness, and suggestions that the chorus’ wish at this point be interpreted within the terms of female homoeroticism certainly have some truth in them.31 Yet, it should be noted once again that in a choral song permeated by the description of dance, the wish to hold the hand sounds specific to the activity. In collective choric practices holding the hand is a marked gesture: it is associated with circular dance, the most frequent dance formation attested in antiquity, especially (although not exclusively) in the case of female choruses.32 Earlier mentions of this particular gesture within the discourse of choruses as they are performing are lacking, but the self-referential choral language of Aeschylus and Aristophanes turns out to be particularly helpful. In the phrase used by the chorus of Eumenides (307), the call for touch (choron haptein: literally, touching the dance or the dancing ensemble) should probably be understood as a call for joining the hands in a circular dance formation, in order for the chorus to perform the ensuing part of their song.33 An even more explicit reference to the act of joining the hands in a circle occurs in a choral piece of Aristophanes’ Thesmophoriazusae (954–6) // < > / : ‘Go ahead, get moving lightly on your feet, form the circle, bind together hand with hand, altogether set the rhythm of song and dance.’34 Interestingly, in both Aeschylus’ and Aristophanes’ lyrics choral language is used as a self-referential stage-direction as the chorus exhorts and incites itself to alter the current dance formation in order to dance in a circle. Touch (haptein in the first case, sunaptein in the second) is crucial. So it is in the chorus’ wish in the Partheneion under discussion. Here, however, the detail of the hand’s softness ( 80) gives a sensual overtone to a wish which otherwise sounds like a call for collective choral action.35 to which lines 378–80 would be considered as referring to a new version of the same ball game, the poet’s stress on the exceptional virtuosity of Halios and Laodamas as dancers, presents their movements as an artistic elaboration of the ball game, part of the duet’s choreographic repertory. In this case as well, the expression would underline reciprocity in dancing movement as part of the dancers’ outstanding expertise. 30 For the restoration of line 80 see Peek (n. 19), 175. 31 Davies (n. 5), 13–14 believes that the metaphoric image underlying these verses is that of the lover as suppliant, a motif recurrent in Hellenistic and later poetry and probably adopted there from archaic lyric poetry. On this suggestion, however, see also n. 35. 32 On the circular formation of the lyric chorus and its various arrangements see Calame’s illuminating analysis: (n. 8), 34–43 and esp. 39–40. Also Wegner (n. 29), 49–60; L. Lawler, The Dance in Ancient Greece (Seattle–London, 1964), 31–4 and 53–4. For explicit references to maidens’ circular dances—human or divine—in poetry see e.g. Eur. IA 1054–7, Hel. 1312–14, and Callim. Hymns 3.170, 3.241, 3.267, 4.301. 33 See A. H. Sommerstein, Aeschylus’ Eumenides (Cambridge, 1989), ad loc. 34 See A. H. Sommerstein, Thesmophoriazusae (Warminster, 1994), ad loc.; Lawler (n. 32), 84. 35 The present interpretation of lines 80–1 sides with those who are particularly reluctant regarding the conjecture in line 81. On this see for instance Lasserre (n. 5), 12, with whose line of investigation the present reading is basically in agreement. Because the presence of the letter kappa before is doubtful, any interpretation of these lines founded on the asser- 360 ANASTASIA-ERASMIA PEPONI

A third surviving parallel supports this particular understanding of the Alcmanic lines, this time with the preserved use of exactly the same verb as the one found in Alcman, namely the verb lambanein +genitive. In the exodos of Aristophanes’ Birds and in the presence of the bird chorus who participate in the wedding festivities, Peisetaerus, himself costumed as a bird, asks Basileia, his bride, to reach out her hand and hold him by the ‘wings’ in order to dance together with him (1759–61): / / ‘Stretch out your hand, my happy one, hold me by my wings, and dance with me.’ The reference to wings instead of hands is a well-established joke in the entire play and the diction of these lines clearly refers to the traditional joined dance (τφηγσεφτοξ) with the hands held together.36 What the Alcmanic chorus seems to wish, then, is that Astymeloisa, now performing her solo dance while distancing herself from them, come back, hold them by their tender hands and, probably, lead their dance, thus restoring them as co-performers instead of mere spectators.37 The mutilated text prevents full understanding of the scene. But the wish of the chorus that Astymeloisa hold their hands in line 80 seems to bring to a full circle what started as a statement regarding her lack of amoibe in line 64.38 Within the symbolic system of dance, Astymeloisa’s amoibe would fulfil the chorus’ desire for a joint performance. According to this reading, then, desire—undoubtedly present in the Partheneion under consideration—is grounded in the system of choric action. The interpretation of amoibe as reciprocation within the musical codes of choreia illuminates the interde- pendence between the musical and emotional formation of a choral group. If mousike offers the essential medium for experiencing and representing emotions, then its codes become quintessential carriers of communication. This particular aspect of Greek choreia can be clearly revealed in cases where the emotional and musical interaction between the members of the performing chorus becomes the very theme of the choral performance itself. Though lacking in the surviving odes of Pindar or those of Athenian tragedy, in the self-representational choral discourse of Alcman’s female choruses this aspect seems to be prominent. From this point of view it is interesting that the concept of choral amoibe may appear in the Louvre Partheneion as well. According to Aristophanes of Byzantium the verb amunesthai used by the chorus in tion that supplication is somehow involved is risky and creates more problems. Davies (n.5), 14, n. 9, who suggests that the touching of hands is related to supplication (see also n. 31 above), acknowledges that the suppliant is the one who would touch the hand of the supplicated, whereas in this case the chorus asks that Astymeloisa hold their hand. On the rarity of supplication scenes where the hand of the supplicated is involved see J. Gould, ‘Hiketeia’, JHS 93 (1973), 74–103 at 77 and especially 96, n. 112. 36 On these lines see N. Dunbar, Aristophanes, Birds (Oxford, 1995), ad loc. 37 To my knowledge so far only M. Treu, ‘Alkman’, RE suppl. 11 (Stuttgart, 1968), coll. 27–8, has interpreted the expression in line 80 as referring to collective dance, in a brief note and without further argumentation. Furthermore he thinks that the underlying dance formation is the stoichos. He also holds that the members of the chorus are competing as to whose hand Astymeloisa will touch, an interesting suggestion—for which see also Peek (n. 19), 176—not supported, however, by the extant part of the poem, where the first person singular applies to the chorus in its collectivity (see for instance lines 64, 79, 81) as also happens in the Louvre Partheneion (for which see lines 52, 56, 85–6). 38 This interpretation, then, while making sense of lines 80–1 in connection with the previous ones, may overcome the generalized interpretive difficulty that led G. O. Hutchinson, Greek Lyric Poetry: A Commentary on Selected Larger Pieces (Oxford, 2001), 111–12, to the suggestion that perhaps lines 80–4 were not placed correctly by Lobel in the first edition of the poem. SPARTA’S PRIMA BALLERINA 361 that poem (65) should be understood as a synonym for the verb ameibesthai.39 This interpretation opens new possibilities for the understanding of this much contested poem, an issue not to be addressed in the present reading. In this case, however, it is most probably the chorus who admit their inability to reciprocate sufficiently their choral leaders in performative efficiency and outstanding beauty.40 For the chorus, then, being held by the hand would mark their chorus leader’s amoibe within the codes of mousike, that is, her participation in their collective choreia. Yet, given the transitional rite enacted in the performance as well as the related underlying dramatic tension between the female chorus and the watching male audience, one wonders whether the desired gesture of holding the hand is perhaps meant to bring to mind two different and almost competing symbolic codes. The first is explicit and, according to this reading, is the musical code of choreia. The second is implicit and may be identified as the wedding code. The gesture of a groom holding the bride by the hand or by the wrist, while leading her to the thalamos, marks a decisive moment of physical contact between the couple to be sexually united and appears regularly on Athenian vases of the fifth century.41 Given the lack of similar iconographic evidence as early as Alcman it is worth noting that an interesting variation of this gesture appears in the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite, a poem usually considered one of the older representatives of the genre.42 Despite its risqué inversion of the traditional sequence in this case (sex precedes, wedding is supposed to follow) the developing erotic scene between Anchises and Aphrodite is introduced and marked out by the ritual gesture under discussion: Anchises holds Aphrodite’s hand in order to lead her to the bed ( 155). It is legitimate to wonder, then, whether in the Partheneion the explicit reference to the holding of the hand, signalling the desired return of the chorêgos to the female choral ensemble, functions as an implicit female counter-act to the anticipation of the same gesture by a male, marking

39 Aristophanes of Byzantium reads amunasthai instead of amunai. See also Calame (n. 5), 87, n. 78. 40 Interestingly, in his seminal reading of the Louvre Partheneion Rosenmeyer (n. 10), 346, holds that the quotation by Aristophanes shows that ‘amunai, then, is not agonistic but amoebean’. The basic principle argued in his article, namely that in the Louvre Partheneion,in particular, one can trace an amoebean—and not agonistic—mentality, which can be found later prominent and modified in the pastoral genre, is fascinating and needs further investigation. In my reading, though, there are several divergences from his approach (for which see Rosenmeyer, above, 335–7). First, I understand the amoebean mentality as appearing in several instances of Greek (especially archaic) choreia, besides the two provided by Alcman’s Partheneia; second, I interpret the amoebean concept as principally—although not exclusively—applying to the relationship between the choros and the chorêgos, not, as Rosenmeyer argues, to the relationship between semi-choruses; third, I understand the amoebean spirit of choreia as the epitome of musical reciprocity in general, only in some cases appearing in its variation as ‘internal rivalry and jockeying for position between members of the same chorus’ (Rosenmeyer, 335) . 41 On this typical marital gesture, labelled by scholars cheir epi karpôi, see R. F. Sutton, The Interaction Between Men and Women Portrayed on Attic Red-Figure Pottery (Diss., University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, 1981), 177–89, 181–4; J. H. Oakley and R. H. Sinos, The Wedding in Ancient Athens (Madison, WI, 1993), 32, 45, 137, n. 71. S. H. Lonsdale, Dance and Ritual Play in Greek Religion (Baltimore, 1993), 213–17, seems to draw a parallel between cheir epi karpôi in a wedding ritual and in the dance of a female chorus, both depicted on a lekythos by the Amasis painter. He suggests, however, that there may be a significant difference between holding the arm by the wrist and holding the hand. Whether these two similar hand positions are semantically differentiated or simply interchangeable needs to be substantiated through a further analysis of the existing iconographic and literary evidence. 42 See e.g. Allen et al. (n. 27), 350 and F. Càssola (ed.), Inni Omerici (Milan, 1975), 249. 362 ANASTASIA-ERASMIA PEPONI in a different ritual context the final stage of the young woman’s transition from the female chorus to the male oikos. Given the fragmented condition of the Partheneion this possible latent opposition between two different qualities of intimacy and touch will have to remain pure specu- lation. Since at the moment of her description Astymeloisa is suspended between chorus and dêmos, the desire for touch remains suspended for either side. The significance of this suspension may be further illuminated by returning to the thesis initially addressed in this reading. Some centuries before Plato’s theorizing about the relationship between choreia and paideia, Alcman was most likely practising a choral model that by its interweaving of mousikê with emotion had the power to address, distil, and transform pleasure (hedonê) and pain (lupê). No wonder, then, that physical distance and lack of touch are transmuted by the chorus into that necessary aesthetic distance, from which a levitated Astymeloisa can be imagined and enjoyed in three alternative ways (66–8): as a star flying through the shiny heavens, as a golden branch, or as soft down. In this total transformation of desire’s pain into aesthetic pleasure, the female chorus, the internal audience, seems to be suggesting a model of contem- plation for the benefit of the external, the male one. That is, before her bridal engagement, Astymeloisa, the melêma of the Spartan dêmos,halfrealandhalf imaginary, may embody for a while the city’s aesthetic engagement.43 Stanford University ANASTASIA-ERASMIA PEPONI [email protected]

43 I should like to thank the anonymous reader for all her/his helpful remarks. Warmest thanks to Ewen Bowie and Richard Martin for having read and commented on this paper.