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1 Theognis Revisited Theognis Revisited: A Historic, Thematic and Literary Reading of the Theognidean Corpus Odiseas Espanol Androutsopoulos Department of History and Classical Studies McGill Univeristy, Montreal December 2016 A thesis submitted to McGill University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Arts in Classics (Thesis Option) © Odiseas Espanol Androutsopoulos, 2016 1 Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Abstract 5 Acknowledgements 6 Introduction 7 Part I: The Muddled History of Theognis 9 1. Our sources on Theognis 9 1.1.Classical and post-Classical antiquity 9 Sources from Classical antiquity 9 Sources from post-Classical antiquity 10 Information in the ancient sources 11 1.2.The Middle Ages 11 Theognis’ fame in the Middle Ages 11 Information in the Suda and the chronicles 12 2. The manuscript tradition 13 3. The historical issues surrounding the Theognidean corpus 14 3.1.Theognis as a compilation 14 Theognidean analysts and unitarians 14 The content and structure of the Theognidean corpus 15 Further indicators of a compilation 17 3.2.The dating of the Theognidean corpus 19 Views on and problems with dating Theognis 19 Indicators of an early date 20 The problem of the “Persian War” verses 22 3.3.Theognis’ Megara 23 The ancient debate on Theognis’ origins: which Megara? 23 Specific references to mainland Megara in the corpus 24 History of Nisaean Megara 25 Theognidean biographies: mapping Theognis onto Megarian history 26 Solving the debate and making sense of the Sicilian evidence: Figueira’s Pan-Megarian Theognis 27 Using the Pan-Megarian Theognis to help solve the dating problem 29 3.4.The compilation and inception of Theognis: a corpus of oral poetry 30 A series of compilations: the “analyst” view 30 A unified Theognis 31 A unified Theognis as a tradition of oral poetry 33 4. A “real” Theognis? 37 5. Conclusion to Part I 39 Part II: A Literary and Thematic Reading of the Corpus 40 1. Themes in Theognis 40 1.1.The Theognidean narrative of decay 40 2 Decay in the Theognidean corpus 41 Theognis as a “conservative”: similarities and differences in Theognidean and Hesiodic narratives of decline 42 1.2.Urban Theognis 46 Theognis and the polis 47 City and country 49 1.3.International aristocratic and local Megarian identity 50 Theognis the Megarian Panhellenic aristocrat 50 Panhellenism and the universal fame of Theognidean poetry 54 2. Theognis’ aristocracy 55 2.1.Theognis the mouthpiece of aristocracy 56 Aristocratic readings of Theognis 56 Theognis’ aristocratic activities and political discourse 57 Problems with the traditional view of Theognis as an aristocrat 61 2.2.Defining the aristocrat: the terms agathos and esthlos in the Theognidea 62 The pairs agathos/kakos and esthlos/deilos 62 Intertwined moral and political connotations 63 Implications of the ambiguity in the central terms 65 2.3.Cobb-Stevens’ hierarchy of values 67 2.4.Ploutos in the Theognidea: necessary but not sufficient 68 Theognis’ peniē and the social consequences of poverty 68 Improper distribution of wealth as a social problem 70 2.5.Genos, dikē, and the paedagogical mission of the poetry 72 Nature vs. nurture: the role of genos in imparting dikē 72 Reduced importance of genos and dikē as the defining trait of the agathos 73 Implications of Theognis’ definition of aristocracy: a biographical concern? 74 2.6.Dikē, the morality of the philoi 76 Philia as the main topic of Theognidean moralizing 76 Philia as connected to the agathos 80 Philia as informing a universal moral code of dikē 82 2.7.A broader perspective on Theognidean thought 83 The moral system of philia as inherently aristocratic 83 A proto-philosophical sublimation of traditional aristocratic thought 85 3. The Theognidean symposium and the initiatory aspect of Theognidean poetry 86 3.1.The Theognidean symposium 86 The importance of the Theognidean symposium 87 The symposium as a microcosm of the aristocratic world 87 The symposium as a place for educating the agathoi 90 3.2.The Youth of the Poetic Voice 93 Theognis as a young poet 93 The implications of the poetic voice’s age 97 4. Cyrnus 97 3 4.1.Cyrnus as a textual element and a poetic character 98 4.2.Cyrnus and the pais in Book II 99 4.3.The conceptualization of the Cyrnus/Theognis relationship in the poetry 102 The Theognis/Cyrnus relationship as mainly paedagogical 102 The “romantic” aspect of the Theognis/Cyrnus relationship 103 4.4.The paedagogical and initiatory aspect of the Theognis/Cyrnus relationship 105 Theognis and Cyrnus as a single unit 105 Theognis as a model for Cyrnus 107 Cyrnus’ membership in the group of philoi through his relationship to Theognis 108 Cyrnus as a son and the ultimate subordination of genos to philia 110 Conclusion 112 Bibliography 115 4 Abstract A unified reading of the ancient Greek text attributed to Theognis of Megara as an oral corpus of symposiastic, didactic aristocratic poetry within the wider political & historic context of early archaic Megara & its colonies. Une lecture unifiée du texte Grec traditionellement attribué a Théognis de Mégare comme un corpus oral de poésie aristocratique, didactique et symposiaque dans le cadre historique et politique de la cité-état de Mégare et ses colonies dans l’Âge Archaique Grec. 5 Acknowledgements I would like to effusively thank my thesis supervisor Prof. Lynn Kozak for her invaluable knowledge and expertise, tireless revision and correction work on the present thesis, and general sup- port and guidance throughout my graduate studies, both in and out of class; Profs. Michael Fronda and Martin Sirois for their wealth of knowledge and guidance in formative classes without which I would be in no state to produce the present work; Prof. Hans Beck for the opportunity to gain all manner of insights into archaic Megara during the 2016 Megarian Moments workshop, and the chance to present a segment of the present work during the 2015-2016 oberseminar series and receive valuable feedback, not the least his own; likewise the speakers and respondents at these events; Prof. William Gladhill and the Department of History and Classical studies in general, faculty and fellow students, for an intellec- tually enriching and formative academic experience; Ms. Mitali Das for helping me navigate the ad- ministrative side of this undertaking; the Classical Studies Committee for their generous support through the Paul F. McCullagh fellowship. I likewise wish to thank Mrs. Antonia Androutsopoulou and Prof. Manuel Español Echevarría for editorial work and endless support of every kind; Miss Delia Androutsopoulou for being there; Mrs. Euphrosyne Androutsopoulou for being wherever she was needed; and Messrs. Bruce, Sam and Jasper for being themselves. ἐσθλῶν ἄπ᾽ ἐσθλὰ ἔμαθον. All remaining errors are my own. 6 Introduction Out of the entirety of archaic Greek poetry, three major corpora have come down to us in the manuscript tradition. The first two, the texts attributed to Homer and Hesiod, are traditionally assigned to the epic genre. The third is the body of verses attributed to the lyric poet Theognis of Megara.1 The Theognidean corpus is very important for the study of archaic poetry in general, and for the study of archaic lyric poetry in particular. The only archaic lyric poet to have survived to our day in the manuscript tradition,2 Theognis’ verses account for a huge proportion of extant archaic lyric poetry, and over half of extant pre-Alexandrian elegy.3 They thus provide a simultaneously normative (by their size) and anomalous (by the singularity of their preservation) model for these very significant genres. Their study is consequently significant for our broader understanding of lyric poetry. However, despite the size of the corpus and its poetic significance, as we shall see both in antiquity and in modern studies Theognis and his work have remained shrouded in mystery. Unanswered questions linger regarding both every aspect of the poetry and the figure of the author himself. The present work is a historic, thematic and literary study of the poetry of Theognis, or, more accurately, of the approximately 1350 verses (known as the Theognidea) that have come down to us under that name. It is grounded in a multi-faceted analysis of the Theognidean corpus, informed by our historical knowledge of the poetry. In the first section, I will attempt to address the traditional problems of Theognidean scholarship, such as the dating of the poetry, its place of origin, its compilation, and the potential of Theognis as a historical figure. I believe these issues are best addressed by reference to the theory of oral composition of the poetry. Based on this information, subsequent sections will undertake a broader philological, historic and thematic analysis of the Theognidean corpus, first looking at some 1Nonetheless, Theognis’ similarities to the Hesiodic Works and Days, for example, suggest a greater interconnectedness between the corpora than is first apparent from this broad classification. 2B.M. Knox, “Elegy and Iambus”, in J.P. Barron, P.E. Easterling, B.M. W. Knox (ed.) Cambridge History of Classical Literature, London, Cambridge University Press, 1985, pp. 118-164 (Theognis: pp. 136-146), p.136. For a complete overview of the Theognidean manuscript tradition, see D.C. Young, “A Codicological Inventory of Theognis Manuscripts” in Scriptorium v.7.1, 1953, pp. 3-36. Manuscript A is the oldest manuscript, and the only one containing Book II. 3L.E. Woodbury, “The Riddle of Theognis: the Latest Answer” in Phoenix, v5, n1 (Spring, 1951), pp. 3-10, p.1. 7 general topics before proceeding to its central theme, which I believe to be aristocratic identity and the ideological creation of a community of aristocratic philoi based on a common moral code; a code expressed didactically by poetry itself.
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