The Curious Case of Erysichthon A Dissertation SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA BY Elizabeth Torresson IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Advisor: Nita Krevans December 2019 © Elizabeth Torresson 2019 Acknowledgments First, I would like to thank the department for their support and especially the members of my committee: Nita Krevans, Susanna Ferlito, Jackie Murray, Christopher Nappa, and Melissa Harl Sellew. The seeds of this dissertation were planted in my senior year of college when Jackie Murray spread to me with her contagious enthusiasm a love of Hellenistic poetry. Without her genuine concern for my success and her guidance in those early years, I would not be where I am today. I also owe a shout-out to my undergraduate professors, especially Robin Mitchell-Boyask and Daniel Tompkins, who inspired my love of Classics. At the University of Minnesota, Nita Krevans took me under her wing and offered both emotional and intellectual support at various stages along the way. Her initial suggestions, patience, and encouragement allowed this dissertation to take the turn that it did. I am also very grateful to Christopher Nappa and Melissa Harl Sellew for their unflagging encouragement and kindness over the years. It was in Melissa’s seminar that an initial piece of this dissertation was begun. My heartfelt thanks also to Susanna Ferlito, who graciously stepped in at the last minute and offered valuable feedback, and to Susan Noakes, for offering independent studies so that I could develop my interest in Italian language and literature. Finally, although not members of my committee, I am very grateful to Stephen Smith for i guiding me as a young teacher and to Douglas Olson, who had an important impact on my scholarly and professional development and who offered honest and detailed feedback on my work over the years. The department at the University of Minnesota felt like a second home. This is a testament to the professors and graduate students. Whether attending an entertaining Thanksgiving dinner at the home of Stephen Smith and Christopher Nappa, having coffee with Nita Krevans, or enjoying a post-speaker meal at Douglas Olson’s home, I always felt appreciated and valued. My fellow graduate students supported and listened to each other and made my time as a graduate student enjoyable. I would like to single out Cynthia Hornbeck, whose intellect I greatly admire and who guided me in my first year or so, and Rachael Cullick, to whom I have turned many times and whose social graces and kindness brighten every room. After this experience, my return to the Philadelphia area was somewhat isolating, but at least the Backyard Beans Coffee Co. was there to keep me energized with delicious coffee. Finally, the completion of this dissertation would not have been possible without my friends, especially my laotong (Lori Foster), and my family. My parents, Paul and Brenda Torresson, stepped aside and allowed me to become whoever I wanted to be and selflessly made my education and the writing of my dissertation financially possible. I am also grateful to my parents-in-law, Nola and ii Thomas Seaberg, for donating to the cause as well and for being my cheerleaders. Last, but not least, I dedicate this dissertation to Ryan Seaberg, whose unfailing love and patience and considerable emotional and intellectual support have significantly contributed to my personal and scholarly growth, and to Holly (my Shih Tzu), who provided immense emotional support and who was by my side for the entirety of my classical education, since I received her as a Christmas present from my parents in my first semester of Middle School Latin and since she passed away when I was putting the finishing touches on this dissertation. iii For Regulus & For Ilex (31 October 2000 – 6 October 2019) portavi lacrimis madidus te, nostra catella, quod feci lustris laetior ante tribus. ergo mihi, Ilex, iam non dabis oscula mille nec poteris gremio grata cubare meo. tristis perpetua posui te sede merentem et iunxi semper Manibus ipse meis, moribus argutis hominem simulare paratam perdidimus quales, hei mihi, delicias! tu dulcis, Ilex, nostras attingere mensas consueras, gremio poscere blanda cibos, lambere tu calicem lingua rapiente solebas quem tibi saepe meae sustinuere manus accipere et lassum cauda gaudente frequenter… iv Abstract The rejuvenation of once-adult figures in Hellenistic poetry is unique. This transformation is especially apparent in Callimachus, where it functions both as a metapoetic and a political strategy. In rejuvenating gods and other figures of the tradition, Callimachus is able to rewrite or reinvent the tradition, all while working in the court of the first three Ptolemies, who themselves were in the process of legitimizing their new, Greek reign in Egypt. Thus, Callimachus’ first four hymns, which include explicit and implicit references to the Ptolemies and various political events, focus on the birth and successful coming-of-age of the gods, while the final two hymns contain opposing, complementary inset narratives of mythic youths. In the fifth hymn, Bath of Pallas, Teiresias, the old seer of tragedy becomes a youth and in the sixth hymn, the Hymn to Demeter, Erysichthon, a father both before (in Hesiod) and after (in Ovid) Callimachus, is now a childless young man. This dissertation focuses primarily on the sixth hymn. Whereas the first five hymns include successful birth and maturation tales, the six hymn is distinct for narrating just the opposite. Within a frame celebrating a ritual of Demeter is the tale of Erysichthon, who, together with his man-giants, barges into the goddess’ sacred grove and attempts to chop down a tree. Disguised as the priestess Nicippe, Demeter is unsuccessful in changing Erysichthon’s evil behavior, and so, punishes v the youth with insatiable hunger and thirst. From his entrance to the end of the narrative, Erysichthon regresses from man (φῶτα, 45) to child (παῖς, 56), and finally, to infant (βρέφος, 100). In this final stage, distraught at the financial consequences of his son’s ravening hunger, Erysichthon’s father wishes that Apollo had stricken down his βρέφος (96-110). Rather than pimping out his daughter for food (as in Hesiod and Ovid), Erysichthon lands at the crossroads, where he begs for filthy cast-offs from the feast (115). Although this dissertation will likely be restructured in future iterations, at present, it largely follows the progression of the narrative as Callimachus himself unfolds it (rather than e.g. by genre). I take mainly a socio-cultural approach to Erysichthon’s regression and examine each step through the lens of rites of passage. I begin with hunting, with which Callimachus is most clearly concerned in the Hymn to Artemis and especially the partner hymn of the Hymn to Demeter, Bath of Pallas, where the motif is a well-researched, clear example of a successful transition into adulthood through the marginal ground of the hunt. This is the foundation for my discussion of the negative inversion of this trajectory in the Hymn to Demeter, where I examine Erysichthon as failed “hunter” by exploring Callimachus’ allusions and manipulation of the literary tradition in two key passages: Erysichthon’s boar hunt and the lioness simile. The transition of Erysichthon from human to animal and the related, simultaneous regression from vi youth to infant occurs during the hunt, and it is from this perspective that I analyze Erysichthon’s destructive appetite. I argue that through his all-consuming hunger and thirst, Erysichthon slips into childhood or infancy, which the Greeks viewed negatively and regularly aligned with animals. The last chapter thus focuses on Erysichthon’s final metaphorical transition into brephos, a weighty term—for which, see the appendix, where I lay out the use and significance of all pre- Callimachean attestations—applied to both animals and newborns and most frequently, the child exposed at birth. In this final chapter (VII), I consider the implications of exposure and the related motif of abortion, and in doing so, suggest a new reading for the end of Callimachus’ Erysichthon narrative and the hymns as a collection. vii Table of Contents I. Introduction...................................................................................................................1 II. Teiresias, the Model Hunter...................................................................................12 1. Teiresias the Hunter in Bath of Pallas.................................................................12 2. Teiresias and Anchises........................................................................................14 3. The Actaeon Exemplum.......................................................................................15 3.1 Teiresias and Actaeon in Bath of Pallas.........................................................15 3.2 The Bath of Pallas and the Bacchae.................................................................19 3.2.1 Actaeon and Pentheus..........................................................................19 3.2.2 Pentheus and Teiresias.........................................................................20 3.3 The Bath of Pallas and a Hesiodic Actaeon...................................................22 4. Much to Do with Dionysus. Teiresias and Dionysus........................................27 4.1 Chariclo’s Lament..........................................................................................28