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. At the same time, the southern colonies in general, including Locri, can be shown to have been exposed to the koine before the northern ones, such as Taras, as a result of frequent contact with the Greeks of near Sicily in the fourth and early third centuries. In the third chapter I complete my investigation by assessing the use of dialectal features in literary texts produced in South Italy around the same period (both metrical inscriptions and literary works transmitted in manuscripts). The evidence of these texts, combined with that of documentary inscriptions, provides a deeper insight into matters of dialect identity and prestige in this area. After summarising the results of my research, I conclude my investigation with a brief discussion of the socio-historical reasons why a Doric koina did not develop in South Italy as in other areas. ! Table of Contents Table of Contents 1 Declaration and Statement of Length 4 Acknowledgements 5 Conventions and Abbreviations 7 List of Tables and Figures 10 ! 0. Introduction 11 0.1 Historical background 12 0.2 Evidence 20 0.3 Previous scholarship 25 0.4 Objectives and methodological framework 28 0.5 Structure of this study 31 ! 1. Reconsidering the Question of the Vocalism in Locri Epizephyrii 34 1.1 Weaknesses of the standard hypothesis 35 1.2 A new hypothesis for the development of severior Doric dialects 45 1.2.1 The development of closer secondary long mid-vowels 46 1.2.2 Merger of primary and secondary long mid-vowels in Doric dialects: a structural hypothesis 66 1.3 The development of the severior vowel system at Locri 75 1.3.1 Internal evidence for absence of monophthongisation in Locri 76 1.3.2 Possible external evidence: the Oscan inscriptions in the Greek alphabet 79 1.4 Conclusions: rejection of the hypothesis of dialect influence from Taras 89 ! 2. A New Investigation of Dialect Contact in Early Hellenistic Magna Graecia 92 2.1 Dialect contact and identity in Locri Epizephyrii 93 2.2 Diffusion of the innovations: the north of Magna Graecia 106 2.3 Contacts with the Greek of Sicily? 111 1 2.3.1 The Sicilian Doric koina 112 2.3.2 The Sicilian expansion in Italy: Rhegion 117 2.3.3 Koine via Sicily? 121 2.3.4 The chronology of the bronze tablets 126 2.4. Koine via Sicily: Croton 157 2.5. Conclusions: towards a new assessment of dialectal areas in early Hellenistic Magna Graecia 160 ! 3. Literary Dialects of Fourth- and Third-Century Magna Graecia 167 3.1 Metrical inscriptions 169 3.1.1 The gold lamellae: Hipponion 171 3.1.2 The gold lamellae: Thurii 177 3.1.2.1 OF 488 [T2] 177 3.1.2.2 OF 489 [T3] 181 3.1.2.3 OF 490 [T4] 182 3.1.2.4 OF 487 [T5] 183 3.1.2.5 OF 492 [T6] 185 3.1.3 The gold lamellae: Petelia 186 3.1.4 The gold lamellae: comparative testimonies 187 3.1.4.1 Sicily 188 3.1.4.2 Crete 189 3.1.4.3 Thessaly 191 3.1.5 The Ephesia Grammata 192 3.1.5.1 Locri 193 3.1.5.2 Comparative testimonies 194 3.1.6 Other metrical inscriptions 197 3.1.7 The language of fourth- and third-century metrical inscriptions: conclusions 199 3.2 The evidence from manuscripts: poetry 201 3.3 The evidence from manuscripts: prose 208 3.4 Rhinthon 214 3.3 Conclusions: the prestige of local dialects in literary contexts 217 ! 2 4. Conclusions 221 4.1 A new assessment of dialect contact in fourth- and third-century Magna Graecia 221 4.2 Why did a koina not develop in South Italy? 223 4.3 Future directions 229 ! References 232 ! Appendix Metrical Inscriptions from South Italy, ca.400-200 257 A.1 Gold lamellae 257 A.1.1 Texts from South Italy 257 A.1.2 Comparative testimonies 263 A.2 Ephesia Grammata 269 A.2.1 Texts from South Italy 269 A.2.2 Comparative testimonies 270 A.3 Other metrical inscriptions 273 ! 3 Declaration and Statement of Length This dissertation is the result of my own work and includes nothing which is the outcome of work done in collaboration. It is not substantially the same as any that I have submitted, or, is being concurrently submitted for a degree or diploma or other qualification at the University of Cambridge or any other University or similar institution. I further state that no substantial part of my dissertation has already been submitted, or, is being concurrently submitted for any such degree, diploma or other qualification at the University of Cambridge or any other University or similar institution. This thesis does not exceed the prescribed word limit. It is 79,994 words in length, in accordance with the specifications of the Degree Committee of the Faculty of Classics, including footnotes and references, but excluding the title page, front matter and bibliography. The appendix, separately bound, is also excluded from the word count, with the permission of the Degree Committee of the Faculty of Classics. 4 Acknowledgements This thesis was written as part of the project ‘Greek in Italy: investigating the linguistic effect of the long-term presence of Greek speakers on the native languages of Italy’ in the Faculty of Classics, University of Cambridge, with the generous financial support of the Arts and Humanities Research Council UK and of the Faculty of Classics, University of Cambridge. Further financial assistance for travel was provided by St John’s College, Cambridge, and the Faculty of Classics, University of Cambridge; I am very grateful to both for giving me the opportunity to participate in conferences outside Cambridge, and to meet many prominent and emerging scholars in my discipline. From October 2017 my doctoral research was supported by a Research Fellowship at Jesus College, Cambridge. As a doctoral student I have enormously benefited from being part of the ‘Greek in Italy’ project. I have been very privileged to work with the other members of the project, James Clackson, Geoffrey Horrocks, Patrick James, Katherine McDonald and Nicholas Zair, over the last three years. They have been the nicest, most inspiring and supportive people I could work with during my PhD. I am immensely grateful to all of them for their comments on my research, for sharing their views and their research with me, and for helping and guiding me on many occasions. Most of all, I would like to convey my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Geoffrey Horrocks. His constant guidance, support and sense of humour during these years have meant more to me than I could ever express. Throughout my PhD, he continuously showed me the greatest kindness, availability and care I could ever ask for, and I cannot thank him enough for all the time he spent discussing my ideas with me and giving me advice and encouragement. I feel extremely honoured for having been his last PhD student before retirement. This thesis would be much diminished without the advice and suggestions I received from many people at conferences and seminars, both in Cambridge and elsewhere. I am very grateful to all of them for their contributions. I would also like to thank the academics, students, librarians and support staff at both St John’s College and the Faculty of Classics for providing an incredibly stimulating and supportive research environment, and the members of the Philology and Linguistics Caucus of 5 the Faculty of Classics in particular for many thoughtful comments on my research over the past three years. Finally, I wish to express wholehearted gratitude to Stephen Colvin, Nikolaos Gonis and Fiachra Mac Góráin for encouraging and supporting my application for the PhD position on the ‘Greek in Italy’ project when I was a Master student at University College London.