GODDESS of LOVE and MISTRESS of the SEA P. Goodspeed 101 Is
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GODDESS OF LOVE AND MISTRESS OF THE SEA NOTES ON A HELLENISTIC HYMN TO ARSINOE-APHRODITE (P. LIT. GOODSP. 2, I-IV)* Abstract: This article analyses one of the hexametric poems copied on a 2nd-century AD papyrus, possibly from Hermupolis, P. Lit. Good- speed 2: a Hellenistic hymn to Aphrodite celebrated as a patroness of the sea and of wedded love. This portrayal of the goddess perfectly fits with Ptolemaic royal propaganda in the 3rd century BC. The address to ’Arsinóa Ptolema[ì] (II 5) reveals that the goddess is here worshipped as a divine image of a queen Arsinoe, most probably Arsinoe II Phila- delphos, who had strong links with key figures of the Ptolemaic navy. The hymn is compared with contemporary Alexandrian poetry, such as the epigrams of the Milan papyrus P. Mil. Vogl. VIII 309. Some hypo- theses are also presented on the context of the composition and the per- formance of the hymn (a Cypriot cult of Arsinoe Philadelphos?). THE PAPYRUS P. Goodspeed 101 is a fragment of a papyrus roll composed by a series of II AD documents pasted together1. On the verso, on twelve fragmentary * This article is an expanded and modified version of a short paper I presented at the conference La cultura ellenistica: il libro, l’opera letteraria e l’esegesi antica, Università di Roma, Tor Vergata, 22-24 September 2003. I wish to thank the anonymous readers and the editors of Ancient Society for useful comments and suggestions. Abbreviations: CA = J.U. POWELL, Collectanea Alexandrina. Reliquiae minores poetarum Graecorum aetatis Ptolemaicae 323-146 a.C. epicorum, elegiacorum, lyricorum, ethicorum, Oxonii 1925 (repr. Chicago 1981); HE = A.S.F. GOW – D.L. PAGE, The Greek Anthology. Hellenistic Epigrams, 2 vols., Cam- bridge 1965; Kaibel = G. KAIBEL, Epigrammata Graeca ex lapidibus conlecta, Berolini 1878; LDAB = Leuven Database of Ancient Books, http://ldab.arts.kuleuven.ac.be; M.-N. = I. MICHAELIDOU-NICOLAOU, Prosopography of Ptolemaic Cyprus, Göteborg 1976; MP3 = Mertens-Pack3, http://promethee.philo.ulg.ac.be/cedopal/index.html; SH = P.J. PARSONS – H. LLOYD-JONES, Supplementum Hellenisticum, Berolini et Novi Ebo- raci 1983; SGO = R. MERKELBACH – J. STAUBER, Steinepigramme aus dem griechischen Osten I: Die Westküste Kleinasiens von Knidos bis Ilion, Munich–Leipzig 1998; ID., Steinepigramme aus dem griechischen Osten II: Die Nordküste Kleinasiens (Marmarameer und Pon- tos), Munich–Leipzig 2000. 1 The papyrus is now in the University of Chicago Library (P. Chic. MS inv. 1061). On the Edgar J. Goodspeed collection see R.W. ALLISON, Guide to the Edgar J. Goodspeed Papyri, ZPE 16 (1975), p. 27-32. The documents on the recto are still unpublished: they 136 S. BARBANTANI columns, a number of Greek hexameter poems identified as hymns has been copied between the IInd and the IIIrd century AD (P. Lit. Goodspeed 2)2. Since style and prosody of the hymns are Hellenistic and their content reveals a Graeco-Egyptian cultural background, they have been labelled by the editors «Alexandrian Hexameters» (Goodspeed) and «Ptolemaic Hymns» (Powell). Actually the name ‘Arsinoe’ (II 5) brings us back to the early Ptolemaic age. According to Powell3, moreover, the so-called Epyllion Andromedae at col. VIII-IX could have been among Manilius’ and Ovid’s sources, therefore it should be dated to II-I BC at the latest. The hymns seem to be addressed to various gods of the Greek pantheon, Aphrodite (col. I-IV, possibly also V and XI), Apollo and Zeus (col. VI- VII), Dionysus and Artemis ‘three-shaped’ (Hekate/Isis) (col. X)4. But for one doubtful case, there are no spaces or other dividing marks between the poems5. The fact that the hymns were written on a reused papyrus, the space- saving devices and some orthographic peculiarities suggest that this anthology, in spite of the clear and regular literary hand, was a private copy; it could have been commissioned to a professional scribe by a pri- vate person, who himself provided an old documentary roll for the job6. Nothing is known about the archaeological context (Fundort). The Good- speed collection was mainly built on purchases from the antiquities mar- ket: this papyrus, along with CLP nos. 93 and 104, was bought in 1900 from an Egyptian dealer who said it came from Ashmunên, the ancient were identified by E.J. GOODSPEED, Alexandrian Hexameter Fragments, JHS 23 (1903), p. 237-247 (237), as tax registers, with lists of names and figures in arurae and artabae. 2 Pack2 1620; LDAB 5005. Editions: E.J. GOODSPEED, art. cit. (n. 1); ID., Chicago Lit- erary Papyri, Chicago 1908, no. 2, p. 6-18; J.U. POWELL, Fragments of Greek Poetry from the Papyri in the Library of the University of Chicago, Journal of Philology 34 (1915), p. 106-128; ID., CA, p. 82-89. For more details on the editions and the contributions by A.S. Hunt, see S. BARBANTANI, Some Remarks on P. Goodspeed 101 and on the Orthog- raphy of the “Ptolemaic Hymns” (P. Lit. Goodspeed 2), forthcoming. 3 J.U. POWELL, art. cit. (n. 2), p. 127; J.U. POWELL – E.A. BARBER, New Chapters in the History of Greek Literature I. Recent Discoveries in Greek Poetry and Prose of the Fourth and Following Centuries B.C., Oxford 1921, p. 110. 4 K. NIAFAS, A Note on Ep. Adesp. 9.X.14 Powell (PChicag. 1279 Pack), ZPE 119 (1997), p. 55-56, sees in col. X references to an initiation ritual, and to a (Dionysiac?) epiphany, accompanied by lightning and earthquake. 5 A.S. HUNT, in J.U. POWELL, art. cit. (n. 2), was the first to notice two fine parallel strokes at col. XI, possibly marking the beginning of a new poem. The photo of the papyrus clearly shows two long lines, not comparable with usual paragraphoi, in the space between the second and the third extant lines of col. XI (possibly three lines are missing at the beginning of the column). 6 For further details on the papyrus see S. BARBANTANI, art. cit. (n. 2). GODDESS OF LOVE AND MISTRESS OF THE SEA 137 Hermupolis Magna7. One of the most important cities in Middle Egypt, facing the Hadrianean Antinoupolis on the other bank of the Nile, Hermu- polis has been a goldmine for papyrologists since the XIXth century8. Greek culture was still flourishing there in IV-V AD, as is evident from the books still read by Hermoupolites, including Hellenistic authors, ora- tors and historians (see e.g. P. Turner 9 = P. Berol. inv. 21247)9. As we know from P. Vindob. 12565 verso (SB X 10299; III AD) and from exca- vations, there were several Greek temples in the city, among which a temple of Aphrodite (hypostasis of the local Isis: P. Oxy. XI 1380, 35: «in Hermupolis Aphrodite, queen, holy», cf. Plut., de Is. 3), worshipped as qeà megístj10. The ‘Ptolemaic hymns’ of the Chicago papyrus fit well with the Her- moupolite cultural climate, and not just for literary reasons. If the first hymn, as we shall see briefly, involves a cult of Aphrodite/Arsinoe Phila- delphos, it might still have found an audience in Late Antiquity: Hermou- polis’ loyalty towards the Ptolemies is attested since III BC by many dedications11, in particular by the imposing temple, still standing in the Roman period, dedicated by some kátokoi ïppe⁄v to Ptolemy III and Berenike, «gods Benefactors», and to their predecessors, the «Sibling gods»12. 7 See E.J. GOODSPEED, art. cit. (n. 1), p. 237 n. 1; ID., op. cit. (n. 2), p. 45. 8 On literary papyri from Hermoupolis see É. BERNAND, Inscriptions grecques d’Her- moupolis Magna et de sa nécropole, Le Caire 1999, p. 5-8; P. VAN MINNEN – K.A. WORP, The Greek and Latin Literary Texts from Hermopolis, GRBS 34 (1993), p. 151-186. On the cultural life of Imperial Hermoupolis, and for documentary papyri see S. BARBANTANI, art. cit. (n. 2), with bibliography. 9 H. MAEHLER, Ein Büchverzeichnis aus Hermupolis, in P.J. PARSONS, J.R. REA et al. (eds.), Papyri Greek and Egyptian. Edited by Various Hands in Honour of Eric Gardner Turner on the Occasion of his Seventieth Birthday, London 1981, p. 45-49, no. 9; G. IOAN- NIDOU, Catalogue of Greek and Latin Literary Papyri in Berlin (BKT IX), Mainz am Rhein 1996, no. 151; R. OTRANTO, Antiche liste di libri su papiro, Roma 2000, p. 107-113. A sample of the Hellenistic authors read in Hermoupolis in Roman times: I-II AD: Heron- das (LDAB 1164); II AD: Antimachus (LDAB 221); III AD: Apollonius Rh. (LDAB 274); IV AD: Theocritus (LDAB 4000); IV-V AD: Apollonius Rh. (LDAB 287); V AD: Apollo- nius Rh. (LDAB 286) and Euphorion (LDAB 882); V-VI AD: Callimachus, SH 249A (LDAB 0521); VI AD: Theocritus (LDAB 4006); VI-VII AD: Apollonius Rh. (LDAB 292). 10 Dedication preserved at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milano: É. BER- NAND, op. cit. (n. 8), no. 7 (83/82 BC); L. CRISCUOLO, Iscrizioni greche dall’Egitto conser- vate nell’ Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore di Milano, Epigraphica 42 (1980), p. 185- 187. 11 É. BERNAND, op. cit. (n. 8), nos. 1, 2, 4, 5, 6. 12 A.J.B. WACE – A.H.S. MEGAW – T.C. SKEAT, Hermopolis Magna, Ashmunein. The Ptolemaic Sanctuary and the Basilica, Alexandria 1959, p. 4-11. The sanctuary remained intact at least until V AD. A Christian Basilica was built above it. 138 S. BARBANTANI Hermoupolis Magna could be a likely Schreibort for the ‘Ptolemaic Hymns’, whatever their Hellenistic origin (Alexandria?). However, it must be taken into account that papyrus dealers — now as then — are not likely to disclose the actual site of provenance of their merchandise.