Proceedings ofthe Danish Institute at Athens • II Edited by Seven Dietz & Signe Isager Aarhus U niversitetstorlag Langelandsgade 177 8200 Arhus N © Copyright The Danish Institute at Athens,Athens 1998 The publication was sponsored by: The Danish Research Council for the Humanities. Consul General Gosta Enbom's Foundation. Konsul Georgjorck og hustru Emmajorck's Fond. Proceedings of the Danish Institute at Athens General Editor: Seren Dietz and Signe Isager Graphic design and Production by: Freddy Pedersen Printed in Denmark on permanent paper ISBN 87 7288 722 2 Distributed by: AARHUS UNIVERSITY PRESS University ofAarhus DK-8000 Arhus C Fax (+45) 8619 8433 73 Lime Walk Headington, Oxford OX3 7AD Fax (+44) 865 750 079 Box 511 Oakvill, Conn. 06779 Fax (+1) 203 945 94 9468 The drawing reproduced as cover illustration represents Kristian Jeppesen's proposal for the restoration of the Maussolleion, in particular of the colonnade (PTERON) in which portrait statues of members of the Hecatomnid dynasty said to have been carved by the famous artists Scopas, Bryaxis,Timotheos, and Leochares were exhibited. Drawing by the author, see p. 173, Abb. 5, C. Propertius and the monumenta of Actium. (IV, 6 as a topographical source) Jacob Isager The monuments at Actium Photios Petsas and William Murray1 de serve special mention for the renewed in Augustus celebrated his victory at Actium terest their work has aroused in the site. by founding the city of Nikopolis near the They have provided new evidence concer scene ofthe battle and the local temple of ning this memorial, most notably its ram- Apollo Actius.This new city soon took a sockets, from whose size and form we can central position in the north-western co gain an idea ofthe shape and number of astal area of Greece not least because of a the bronze rams originally inserted in the synoicism, or forced migration, ofthe in monument. 23 sockets have been located habitants from city-centres in the area into and measured. Murray's studies ofthe scat the newly established City ofVictory.The tered blocks bearing letters of the exten revival, on grander scale, ofthe Actia, the sive dedicatory inscription in Latin have quinquennial games in honour ofApollo afforded a better understanding of the Actius, also added to the distinction ofthe wording of this inscription. It appears that city. the gods Mars2 and Neptune are named, a North ofthe city a precinct (temenos) fact which accords with Suetonius was laid out for the celebration ofthe ga (Aug.18,2) who tells us that the campsite mes. Eventually, a stadium, a gymnasium was dedicated to Mars and Neptune and and a theater were built there; their huge adorned with naval spoils. But the intrigu remains still dominate the landscape. On ing question ofApollo's role in relation to the hillside above this precinct a colossal the monument remains unsolved. rostral monument with as many as 40 rams Finally an excavation ofthe monument was erected as the first and most important begun in 1995 under the direction of official war monument in the area. This Konstantinos Zachos ofthe Ephoria of Io- memorial faced south with a magnificent annina has brought to light much new evi view ofthe other, "living" victory memo dence concerning the monument's con rial, the city itself, and ofthe scene of the struction and plan.3 battle and of the island ofLeucas in the di These investigations, as well as my own NOTE 1 stance. According to Strabo (7,7,6) and visits to the area, have inspired me to the W. S. Murray and P.M. Petsas, Octavian's Campsite Dio Cassius (51,1,3) both the temenos and following new reading ofPropertius' Memorial for theAction War. the memorial on the hill were sacred to Actium-elegy (4,6), which in its turn, TAPS Vol.79, Part 4,Phila Apollo. Another war memorial consisting through the poem's relation to the site, delphia, 1989. often ships from the enemy fleets was es may contribute to a better understanding tablished in a boathouse-like structure at ofthe locality and its place in the mind of NOTE 2 There is only evidence for Antony's former campsite across the straits the Romans. Further, my interpretation the letters R and T, and the ofActium near the ancient temple ol offers some suggestions concerning the re T is dubious. Apollo Actius now refurbished by Au lation between Apollo Actius and Apollo gustus. Palatinus and their iconography. NOTE 3 The rostral monument, with its Latin I am most grateful to dr. dedicatory inscription, on the former Zachos for informing me concerning his investigati campsite ofAugustus was excavated early ons of the memorial. in this century. Recent investigations by 399 The Actium-elegy of ous answers according to scholars' personal Propertius aesthetical or ideological views.8 Propertius presents this poem to the reader In her short analysis ofthe poem Margaret as a Roman aition in the tradition ofPhile- Hubbard9 points out the differences be tas and Callimachos.The setting is the tweenVirgil's description ofthe shield of Temple ofApollo on the Palatine and in Aeneas and Propertius' description of the the beginning ofthe poem the poet assu events at Actium.Virgil aims at action, Pro mes the role ofa pates and priest, who to pertius at stillness. Propertius opens with a gether with a chorus (of fellow poets, as description (ecphrasis) ofthe site ofthe becomes clear at the end ofthe poem) battle; this description is interrupted by makes a sacrifice in connection with a fes tival for Palatine Apollo4.Very quickly, NOTE 4 Cleopatra, and perhaps of the Actium however, the poem moves to a new set For the traditional picture in Greek section in Book 8 (675ff) ofthe ting, which constitutes its longest section. and Roman literature ofthe poet as Aeneid. He sees it as the climax of Pro This setting is Actium and in the descrip vates - as priest ofApollo -, cf. Nisbet pertius' recusatio in Book 4: "Neither tion of the battle between the fleet of and Hubbard, A commentary on Horace: Propertius' heart nor his talents are en Caesar Augustus and that of Cleopatra Odes. Book t, Oxford 1970,347-349. gaged in this poem" (J. P. Sullivan, Pro In Carm. 1,31, Horace presents himself pertius (Cambridge 1976) 146. Cfp.71: (and Mark Antony, who is not mentioned - patera in hand —as a vates ofApollo "the long and strange elegy on Octav- in the poem5) which follows, the poet on the occasion of the dedication of ian's victory at Actium which scholarly stresses the role ofApollo Actius whose in the new temple ofApollo on the Pala opinion characterizes as, to be chari tervention leads to victory (lines 15-86). tine: Quid dedicatum possit table, somewhat below the level of The poem then returns to the Palatine to a Apollinem /vates? Quid orat depatera no Propertius' best work." and vum/fundens liquorem.... For the choric p.145:"This poem has been almost banquet following the sacrifice. A leading £yc<3-figure and the possible blendings universally condemned as frigid by role is thus given to Apollo and only indi ofpoet, chorus and choregus in my critics." M. Hubbard (Propertius, Lon rectly in the comparison between Apollo thical hymns, see F. Cairns (1984), 139- don 1974) is less severe in her jud and Augustus does the poem show itself to 143. gment (p.136): "There are probably be an eulogy ofAugustus. few readers ofPropertius who find 4.6 NOTE 5 their favourite poem; its restraint and Many scholars6 have explained the cen There seems to be an agreement the disciplining offancy necessary in a tral role ofApollo in this poem by sug among the Augustan poets on disguis poet attempting to write ofActium af gesting that the poem is written as a hymn ing the fact that the war had been a ci ter Vergil make it seem something ofa in the manner of Callimachos. Francis vil one by the omission ofall mention cold tour deforce, for all its incidental Cairns has gone further and shown that ofAntony. The first to mention An beauties. But it provokes a reluctant tony by name in connection with the elegy not only imitates a hymn in ge admiration for all that." In recent years Actium isVirgil (Aen.8, 685). the view on Propertius' Augustan atti neral terms, but is also to be understood as tudes in Book 4 has changed and the a fivOiKOC, vjivoc,, a hymn which narrates a NOTE 6 studies of F. Cairns (Propertius and the myth or legend about the god who is be Much has been written about the Battle ofActium (4,6), in Poetry and ing celebrated. Moreover, the Actium- Actium-poem of Propertius and there politics in the age ofAugustus (Cambri poem tells a story,"in which the god's exists a variety of, in some cases, very dge 1984) 129-168) have especially different and conflicting interpretati contributed to a better understanding power to assist his friends and to punish ons. For a long time it was read as seri of the Actium poem in its Hellenistic his enemies is exemplified".7 ous pro-Augustan poetry, but during a and Roman context. For the recent period in the 60s and 70s it was contribution by R.A. Gurval see note A comparison betweenVirgil's vision of dismissed as a Horatian and especially 37. the battle on the shield ofAeneas (Aen. aVergilian pastiche and the verdict on it was harsh: ."..one ofthe most ridi NOTE 7 8,675-713) and Propertius'version offers culous poems in the latin lanquage." Cairns (1984) 137.