Deceptive echoes: the tarnished shine of Ajax's sword (S. Aj. 1025)
Julián Víctor Méndez Dosuna2011, A Greek Man in the Iberian Street. Papers in Linguistics and Epigraphy in Honour of Javier de Hoz (E.R. Luján, J.L. García Alonso, eds.), pp. 93-100
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The indiscreet charm of brightness: from early Greek thought to Plato.
Entretiens sur l'antiquité classique, t. LXVI, 2020
In the surviving fragments of the early Greek philosophers we find evidence both of the awareness of the emotional impact of colours on the observer depending on their luminosity (or the lack thereof) and of the suspicion that colours may constitute or, worse, be exploited as a deceitful covering of the truth (cf. Parmenides, Fragment 8, 39-41 DK; Empedocles, Fragment 23 DK; Gorgias, Fragment 11, 17-18 DK). This judgment about the ‘ambivalence’ of colours is clearly shared by Plato, as shown by his criticism of painting, and particularly of the technique of σκιαγραφία, in the broader frame- work of his discussion on mimesis. However, Plato is far from being immune to the charm of colours in nature as well as in painting. As a matter of fact, as I argue in this paper, it can be shown that Plato conceived the luminosity of certain colours (esp. ‘white’ and the colours of precious metals) as the sensible medium through which intelligible Beauty makes itself visible to the human eye.
BLACK AND WHITE: SCHOLIA AND GLOSSOGRAPHERS ON THE COLOUR OF φρένες
Indo-European Linguistics and Classical Philology, 17, 2013
When the Sun Meets Okeanos: The Glitter Path as an Eschatological Route, from the Late Bronze Age to Archaic Greece
Journal of Skyscape Archaeology, 2020
In the Aegean, a landscape of small islands and peninsulas means that views of the Sun rising or setting over the sea are commonplace. Yet this everyday occurrence can produce a dazzling spectacle known as the "glitter path"-a line of bright sunlight reflected on the water, linking the seashore and the horizon. This paper explores how this phenomenon was elaborated as a form of seascape by the Aegean Greeks from Late Bronze Age (LBA) III through to the Archaic period, examining how it was incorporated into their worldview as something natural assimilated into the cultural. The diachronic perspective focuses on elements of continuity and discontinuity regarding beliefs about the world beyond. First, funerary pottery iconography from LB III (ca. 1400-1100 BC) is examined: in particular, a close relationship between the Sun and the sea can be inferred from imagery on Octopus Style funerary jars, where abstract representations of glitter paths seem to appear in the shape of hybrid octopuses. The evidence suggests that the octopus was depicted as the light-bearer within the darkness of the sea, with marked eyes to emphasise vision. The second part of the study gathers proof of allusions to the phenomenon of the glitter path in early Greek poetry as suggested by the descriptions of the door of Hades and gates of the Sun in the first literary documents produced in Greece from the eighth century BC, most notably in the works of Homer and Hesiod, but also in the poetry of Pindar, Mimnermus and Stesichorus.
The Perception of Color and The Meaning of Brilliance Among Archaic and Ancient Populations and Its Reflections on Language
Introduction. Yellow-blue and red-green; Radiant - non radiant, aspect, skin, hair and surface ; the problem of blue-green; green stones, an aesthetics of colour and brilliance?; sources of natural colours; purple and purpureous; Jew textiles, Phoenician purple and biblical bue; the colours of the Greeks; Blue, glass and faiance; colour in Mesopotamia ; Aegiptyan colours; Origin of chromatic terms in the Neolithic and the Bronze Age; the colour of the sky and the adjective caeruleus ; the colours of the Mycenaean Greeks; the colour of the Greek sea; problematic blue and the question of the woad (Isatis tinctoria) ; hyacynth, glaucus and perse.
A spear 'like a ball': a note on Sophocles, fr. 781 (draft)
This is an unpublished draft. In this note I discuss Soph. fr. 781: τὸ δ’ ἔγχος ἐν ποσὶ κυλίνδεται. Following the claim of the Etymologicum Magnum that ἔγχος here refers to a ball (σφαῖρα), scholars generally assign this fragment to Sophocles’ lost Nausicaa. This view is compromised by the fact that in the Odyssey Nausicaa’s ball never reached Odysseus’ feet, but disappeared into an eddy. I propose that the fragment’s connection to a ball is misunderstood: ἔγχος refers to an object from the Iliad that is like a ball (σφαιρ-ηδόν), namely the head of Imbrius, which was cut off by the Locrian Ajax and then tossed into the fighting crowd to land at the feet of Hector. I suggest that this incident could have been recalled in Sophocles’ Aias Lokros, with the fragment’s riddling language favouring Cassandra as its speaker.
The semantics of ἀοιδός and related compounds: Towards a historical poetics of solo performance in Archaic Greece
Classical Antiquity
COLOUR PHENOMENON IN GREEK TRAGEDY (Summary in English)
Colour Phenomenon in Greek Tragedy (in Georgian), 2005
PREFACE Colour as a universal aesthetic category has dominated the thoughts of a large number of scholars and scientists from the ancient times till nowadays. Colour has been studied and discussed by chemists, physicists and biologists, theologists, philosophers and psychologists, art experts, literary critics and linguists. Colour has a particular function not only in the spheres directly related to it, like fine arts and architecture, but in fiction as well. While discussing the peculiar and "strange" character of colour vision, the most popular points to consider are the thoughts of ancient philosophers on the one hand and fiction on the other. However, scholars are basically concerned with the identification of the meaning and use of colour terms and the degree of their correspondence with the modern perception of colours. But on what concerns particular observations by individual scholars, purely literary or conceptual aspects of colour use are not substantially studied. Therefore, our ideas on the principles and opportunities of colour use are incomplete and insufficient. The aim of the present work is to fill this gap. The book targets on the following objectives: identification of colour function and systemic study of the colour phenomenon in the writings of the ancient tragedians (in complete surviving pieces, and not in fragments). The analysis of chromatism in a particular text poses a whole set of questions connected to colour: what is the colour, who uses it, where, when and why. The present book attempts to answer these very questions. As an outcome, the book intends to determine: what are the colours the tragedians use, which words are used to convey the colour senses, which structural forms prevail-simple or compound, which parts of the dramas have more colour terms-chorus parts or dialogue. These are the commonly applied criteria for the lexicological analysis of drama; however, a similar investigation focusing on colour has not yet been carried out. Aeschylus', Sophocles' and Euripides' writings enjoy ever-increasing interest since the ancient times. Scholars usually study the tragedies in terms of their linguistic and artistic properties, socio-political and religious-mythological aspects, as well as the vision of the playwrights. The style of the tragedians has become the object of profound and important researches; however, the colour phenomenon as represented in the writings has so far escaped close consideration, although colour is to be regarded as an intrinsic 1 The author would like to thank Mrs. Helen Tatishvili and Mr. Yorgos Voudiklaris for the English translation of the summary.
Ecphrastic Shields in Graeco Roman Literature. The World's Forge. Contents and Introduction (final proofs)
Karel Thein - Ecphrastic Shields in Graeco Roman Literature. The World's Forge. Contents and Introduction (final proofs), 2022
This volume takes a fresh look at ekphrasis as a textual practice closely connected to our embodied imagination and its verbal dimension; it offers the first detailed study of a large family of ancient ecphrastic shields, often studied separately, but never as an ensemble with its own development. The main objective consists of establishing a theoretical and historical framework that is applied to a series of famous ecphrastic shields starting with the Homeric shield of Achilles. The latter is reinterpreted as a paradigmatic "thing" whose echoing down the centuries is reinforced by the fundamental connection between ekphrasis and artefacts as its primary objects. The book demonstrates that although the ancient sources do not limit ekphrasis to artificial creations, the latter are most efficient in bringing out the intimate affinity between artefacts and vivid mental images as two kind of entities that lack a natural scale and are rightly understood as ontologically unstable. Ecphrastic Shields in Graeco-Roman Literature: The World's Forge should be read by those interested in ancient culture, art and philosophy, but also by those fascinated by the broader issue of imagination and by the interplay between the natural and the artificial. The attached file contains the final proofs of the book’s Contents and Introduction. For quotations, please refer to the published text.
Papers on Ancient Greek Linguistics. Proceedings of the Ninth International Colloquium on Ancient Greek Linguistics (ICAGL9) 30 August – 1 September 2018, Helsinki
Suomen Tiedeseura eBooks, 2021
One of the most famous features of Homeric Greek is the widespread use of a construction including an intransitive predicate and a noun in the accusative case that restricts the force of the predicate to a part or attribute of the subject: (1) a. ὃ δὲ φρένα τέρπετ᾽ ἀκούων. (Il. 1.474) 'and his heart was glad (lit. he was glad with respect of his heart), as he heard.' 2 b. μὲν Μενέλαος ὑπείρεχεν εὐρέας ὤμους (Il. 3.210) 'Menelaus overtopped him with his broad shoulders (lit. overtopped him with respect of his broad shoulders).' The accusatives such as φρένα 'heart' and ὤμους 'shoulders' are known as "accusatives of respect". The relation that these have to the predicate is local or instrumental, though this is not quite so explicitly expressed. These accusatives are limited to referents that can be seen as inalienably possessed and are almost exclusively found in relation to the human body. The term "accusative of respect" is a vague and unsatisfactory one, and serves to designate a class of uses to which it is difficult to assign definite bounds. Other definitions are "accusative of specification" (Hahn 1960: 227), "accusative of the part affected" (Monro 1882: 137), "accusative of reference" (Monro 1882: 137). Moreover, the German terminology is quite confused and unclear: "Akkusativ 1 I am indebted to the anonymous referee for very helpful comments and criticism that helped me improve the formulation of what follows. I of course remain solely responsible for the contents. 2 English translations are those provided in the Loeb series by A. T. Murry for Homer, The Iliad and The Odyssey. His translation, however, has occasionally been changed slightly to emphasize particular meanings. (2) a. μελαίνετο δὲ χρόα καλόν. (Il. 5.354) 'and her (i.e. of Aphrodite) fair flesh was darkened.' b. χερμαδίῳ γὰρ βλῆτο παρὰ σφυρὸν ὀκριόεντι / κνήμην δεξιτερήν˙ (Il. 4.518-519) 'for with a jagged stone was he struck on the right leg by the ankle.' c. οὐ μέν θην κείνης γε χερείων εὔχομαι εἶναι, / οὐ δέμας οὐδὲ φυήν (Od. 5.211-212 'Surely not inferior to her do I declare myself to be either in form or stature.') d. ἐπεὶ περίεσσι γυναικῶν / εἶδός τε μέγεθός τε ἰδὲ φρένας ἔνδον ἐΐσας. (Od. 18.248-249) 'for thou excellest all women in comeliness and stature, and in the wise heart within thee.' Closely allied to these is a group of words relating to the emotional or spiritual dimension and denoting 'mind, heart, spirit, soul' or 'temper'. Many of these terms were originally physical and concrete in meaning, and subsequently formed the connecting link: (3) a. φέροι δ᾽ ἔναρα βροτόεντα / κτείνας δήϊον ἄνδρα, χαρείη δὲ φρένα μήτηρ. (Il. 6.480-481) DARDANO, The accusative of respect in Homeric Greek Comm. Hum. Litt. Vol. 139 7 'and may he carry the bloodstained spoils of the foeman he has slain, and may his mother's heart rejoice.' b. ἀλλὰ φόβηθεν / πάντες, ἐπεὶ βασιλῆα ἴδον βεβλαμμένον ἦτορ / κείμενον ἐν νεκύων ἀγύρει˙ (Il. 16.659-661) 'but (the Lycians) were driven in rout one and all, when they saw their king struck to the heart, lying in a heap of the dead.' Abstract ideas are not lacking, and qualities or distintive properties can be found such as ἀρετή 'excellence' and κάλλος 'beauty': (4) a.υἱὸς ἀμείνων / παντοίας ἀρετάς, ἠμὲν πόδας ἠδὲ μάχεσθαι, / καὶ νόον ἐν πρώτοισι Μυκηναίων ἐτέτυκτο˙ (Il. 15.641-643) 'Of him […] was begotten a son better in all manner of excellence, both in fleetness of foot and in fight, and in mind he was among the first of the men of Mycenae.' b. κούρην δ᾽ οὐ γαμέω Ἀγαμέμνονος Ἀτρεΐδαο, / οὐδ᾽ εἰ χρυσείῃ Ἀφροδίτῃ κάλλος ἐρίζοι, / ἔργα δ᾽ Ἀθηναίῃ γλαυκώπιδι ἰσοφαρίζοι˙ (Il. 9.388-390) 'And the daughter of Agamemnon, son of Atreus, will I not wed, not though she vied in beauty with golden Aphrodite and in handwork were the peer of flashing-eyed Athene.' There is a further extension, which is seen in either the human activities or the ability to perform those activities such as ἔργα 'feats': (5) Ζεῦ πάτερ οὐ νεμεσίζῃ Ἄρῃ τάδε καρτερὰ ἔργα (Il. 5.757) 'Father Zeus, are you not indignant at Ares for these violent deeds …?' There can be little question that notions such as 'lineage' and 'family' also belong here: (6) a. αὐτῷ γὰρ γενεὴν ἄγχιστα ἐῴκει. (Il. 14.474) 'for he is most like to him in build.' b. ἐξ Ἰθάκης γένος εἰμί, πατὴρ δέ μοί ἐστιν Ὀδυσσεύς (Od. 15.267) 'Of Ithaca I am by birth, and my father is Odysseus.' 8 To recapitulate, some clarification is needed. First of all, it is important to consider that body parts represent the overwhelming majority. Secondly, the analysis as an accusative of motion as proposed by Blümel, may be attractive in certain respects; nevertheless, this is incomplete and therefore somewhat misleading as this cannot account for the overall pattern of the uses of the accusative of respect in Homeric Greek. Moreover, when the uses of the accusative of motion are observed, it is important to stress that the verb always carries with it, more or less distinctly, the idea of reaching a point, or arriving, but this is not the case with the accusative of respect. The use of this with intransitive verbs which do not express a motion and with adjectives is not clarified by Blümel's hypothesis. 2.2 The predicates To prove the validity of the proposal made by Berthold Delbrück the predicates that the accusative of respect occurs with should be examined. There is little doubt that this occurs with passive verbs and passive participles. It is well known that the 'Father, of a truth I have ever heard of thy great fame, that thou wast a warrior in strenght of hand and in wise counsel …' Without a doubt the accusative of respect was largely extended beyond the passive construction; therefore, it is possibly not desirable to separate the accusative of respect used with adjectives from that used with middle participles, or the latter from that used with middle finite verbal forms. As can be seen in the examples above, the only argument of these predicates is a patient, not an agent. Moreover, all these predicates imply the representation of a state or a change of state: this appears to be the common denominator of the attestations mentioned up to now. 2.3 The double accusative construction of the whole and the part As has been seen above, according to some scholars, the accusative of respect results from the passivization of a double accusative construction, also called σχῆμα καθ᾽ὅλον καὶ μέρος. This construction is a combination of two substantives, both in the accusative case, denoting respectively an individual and a body part. 8 Its clearest evidence comes from the epic poetry. In Homeric Greek the wholepart construction typically, but not exclusively, occurs with verbs that indicate physical contact, such as hitting, touching, striking and wounding: (15) a. ὃ δ᾽ Ἀρηΐθοον θεράποντα / ἂψ ἵππους στρέψαντα μετάφρενον ὀξέϊ δουρὶ / νύξ᾽ (Il. 20.487-489) 'and Areithous, his attendant, as he was turning round the horses, did Achilles pierce in the back with his sharp spear.' b. τόν ῥ᾽ Ὀδυσεὺς ἑτάροιο χολωσάμενος βάλε δουρὶ / κόρσην˙ (Il. 4.501-502) 'Him Odysseus, wroth for his comrade's sake, smote with his spear on the temple.' c. Τρῶας δ᾽ ἄχος ἔλλαβε θυμόν. (Il. 14.475) 'and sorrow seized the hearts of the Trojans.' d. Ἕκτωρ μὲν θνητός τε γυναῖκά τε θήσατο μαζόν˙ (Il. 24.58) 'Hector is but mortal and was suckled at a woman's breast.' 10 Inalienable possession involves entities that cannot be separated from the possessor. The notion of inalienability cannot be the same in all languages: while body parts are inalienably possessed in all languages that distinguish between the two types of possession, other entities, like various types of personal objects, can be the object of inalienable possession as well, but the range of inalienable possession is language specific. 11 The form περὶ στήθεσσι shows the tendency to add the body part in combination with a preposition. DARDANO, The accusative of respect in Homeric Greek Comm. Hum. Litt. Vol. 139 13 (17) a. τόν ῥ᾽ Ὀδυσεὺς ἑτάροιο χολωσάμενος βάλε δουρὶ / κόρσην˙ (Il. 4.501-502) 'Him Odysseus, wroth for his comrade's sake, smote with his spear on the temple.' b. Ἰδομενεὺς δ᾽ ἄρα Οἰνόμαον βάλε γαστέρα μέσσην, (Il. 13.506) 'but Idomeneus cast and struck Oenomaus, square on the belly.' c. Ἀτρεΐδης δ᾽ ἄχεϊ μεγάλῳ βεβολημένος ἦτορ (Il. 9.9) 'But the son of Atreus, stricken to the heart with sore grief …' d. βλῆτο γὰρ ὦμον δουρὶ πρόσω τετραμμένος αἰεὶ / ἄκρον ἐπιλίγδην˙ (Il. 17.598-599) 'For as he stood ever facing the foe he was struck on the top of the shoulder with a spear, a glancing blow.' 12 See Hoffner & Melchert (2008: 248); Cotticelli-Kurras (2016). 13 The text describes the patient's body; see Oettinger (2004). DARDANO, The accusative of respect in Homeric Greek Comm. Hum. Litt. Vol. 139 15 12 UDU iyanza IGI [ḪI].A-wa d UTU-i neanza 13 nu=šši=kan SÍG ḫuttulli ḫūittiyami 'Then I go among the sheep and I pluck a tuft of wool from what sheep is turned with its eyes toward the sun.' (VBoT 24 III 11-13) In (20) aiš 'mouth' and UZU ḫurḫurta 'throat' are accusative of respect depending on the verbal adjective šūwant-'full'; the imperative verbal form ēš is addressed to the patient of the ritual: (20) 9´ n=ašta anda QATAMMA=pat memaḫḫi aiš=za=kan Ì-it 10´ šūwanza ēš UZU ḫurḫurta=ma=za=kan ḫalwamnaz [š]ūwanza 'And then I say exactly this: 'Let you, (namely your) mouth, be filled with fat (lit. let you be filled with fat with respect of your mouth); let you, (your) throat, be filled with happy laughter (lit. let you be filled with happy laughter with respect of your throat)'.' (KBo 12.96+ I 9´-10´) (24) d U-aš IGI ḪI.A-wa [išḫ]aḫruwanza 'the Stormgod, tearful of eyes …' (KUB 33.113 + KUB 36.12 I 30´-31´) Likewise, the Luwian participle tittalitāima-refers to the type of decoration of a garment and is accompanied by the accusative of respect purin 'rim, hem': (25) 2 TÚG=ma ! SAG.DUL ZA.GÌN pūrin tittalitāimenzi 'Two garments, head cover(s), blue, tittalitāi-ed...
WORDS, WORDS, WORDS: ONOMASTICA AND ONOMASTIC TECHNIQUE IN ALEXANDRIAN POETRY
The general area into which this short essay falls is a familiar one: the extent (given Pfeiffer's famous emphasis on the dual role of scholarship and poetry in the early days of the Museum) to which the methods and procedures and results of philological scholarship manifest themselves in Alexandrian poetry. But when this question is broached at all, it tends to be with regards to Homeric scholarship—the poets' response to matters of Homeric glossography and issues of philological interpretation, correspondences between Callimachus and Apollonius and Zenodotus' text of Homer or the D scholia—and my focus here is on responses to, or reflections of, other genres of scholarship, especially the glossary and onomasticon. 1 Delight in words—the wealth of the Greek language, its versatility and exploitability by an inventive wit—is the motor of everything they do, and the question here is the extent to which their activities are informed by the practice, or actually supplied by the works, of the prose writers who for some time have been collecting and analysing the riches of literary and vernacular Greek. Antecedents and impulses can be found in a number of sources—philological research above all into epic, but also into lyric and dramatic poetry (and the notion, already Aristotelian, that the γλῶσσα or uncommon word is especially at home in epic poetry); 2 the Peripatetic impulse to close, careful, systematic study of a given field; also the antiquarian and patriotic impulse to celebrate the peculiarities and particularities of specific locations, as we see local historiographers already paying loving attention to place-specific customs and usages.
CONTENTS
Preface
Juan Luis GARCÍA ALONSO – Eugenio R. LUJÁN .......................................... 5
GREEK
The Aisimnatai at Megara
María Luisa del BARRIO VEGA ................................................................... 17
Some Proposals of Interpretation of PY Ub 1315
Alberto BERNABÉ ....................................................................................... 25
Conjunctive Adverbs. A Neglected Chapter of Greek Grammar
Emilio CRESPO ........................................................................................... 35
Jewish Inscriptions from Tarragona
Jaime CURBERA.......................................................................................... 45
Las expresiones proverbiales más problemáticas del Mimiambo III
de Herodas
José Antonio FERNÁNDEZ DELGADO ........................................................... 55
Ὄ
y términos relacionados
Elvira GANGUTIA ELICEGUI – José Antonio BERENGUER SÁNCHEZ ............... 65
Bilingüismo grecolatino en la península Ibérica. Testimonios
de code-switching
María Paz de HOZ GARCÍA-BELLIDO........................................................... 79
Deceptive Echoes: the Tarnished Shine of Ajax’s Sword (S. Aj. 1025)
Julián MÉNDEZ DOSUNA ............................................................................. 93
On Non-etymological /a:/ in Archimedes
Susana MIMBRERA OLARTE ...................................................................... 101
The Imprecation Formula at the End of a Defixio from Camarina
(SEG IV 30)
María Teresa MOLINOS TEJADA – Manuel GARCÍA TEIJEIRO ..................... 109
12
Contents
De nuevo sobre topónimos griegos en Iberia y Tartessos
Francisco RODRÍGUEZ ADRADOS ............................................................... 115
CELTIC AND PALAEOHISPANIC LANGUAGES
Entre Ibères et Celtes : l’écriture à Ensérune dans le contexte
de la Gaule du sud (Ve-IIe s. av. J.-C.)
Michel BATS ........................................................................................... 129
¿Firmas de artesano o sedes de asociaciones comerciales? A propósito
de los epígrafes musivos de Caminreal (E.7.1), Andelo (K.28.1)
y El Burgo de Ebro (HEp 11, 2001, 621 = AE 2001, 1237)
Francisco BELTRÁN LLORIS ..................................................................... 139
Celtic and Beyond: Genitives and Ablatives in Celtiberian, Lepontic,
Goidelic, Gaulish and Indo-European
Patrizia de BERNARDO-STEMPEL ............................................................... 149
Curunniacum y cluniego
José A. CORREA ...................................................................................... 169
Oclusivas aspiradas, celtas y lusitanos
Juan Luis GARCÍA ALONSO ...................................................................... 175
Galo gutuater
José Luis GARCÍA RAMÓN ....................................................................... 191
Interferencias lingüísticas en el material epigráfico hispano-celta
Joaquín GORROCHATEGUI ......................................................................... 201
Ethniques gaulois et noms d’arbres
Pierre-Yves LAMBERT ............................................................................. 217
Briga and castellum in North-Western Hispania
Eugenio R. LUJÁN ................................................................................... 225
Keltische Personennamen in Pannonien. Ihre Aussagekraft unter
soziologischen Aspekten
Wolfgang MEID ...................................................................................... 243
Topónimos galaicos con final -oño
Juan José MORALEJO ............................................................................... 257
Contents
13
The Contribution of Celtiberian to the History of the Celtic Languages
Karl Horst SCHMIDT ................................................................................ 267
Celto-Etruscan Speculations
Patrick SIMS-WILLIAMS ........................................................................... 275
Palabras compuestas ibéricas y tartesias del campo semántico
de “ciudad”
Jürgen UNTERMANN ................................................................................. 285
Cuestiones de morfología verbal en ibérico
Javier VELAZA ........................................................................................ 295
The Place-name Sandaquitum from Callaecia and the Apellative akwā
Francisco VILLAR ................................................................................... 305
OTHER LANGUAGES
Avatares licios de luvita im(ma)ra/i- ‘campiña’
Ignasi Xavier ADIEGO ............................................................................. 327
Dos versiones de un comentario. La Glosa de Hernán Núñez de Guzmán
(el Pinciano) a Las Trezientas de Juan de Mena
Carmen CODOÑER ................................................................................... 337
Hispania en las obras históricas de Nebrija
Gregorio HINOJO ANDRÉS ........................................................................ 355
Genitive and Possessive Adjectives in Ancient Indo-European Languages
Julia MENDOZA – Juan Antonio ÁLVAREZ-PEDROSA ................................. 365
Oppositions fonctionnelles dans les particules négatives de l’étrusque
Paolo POCCETTI ....................................................................................... 381
Venetico 3º sg. toler, 3º pl. teuters; a. irl. ˙fitir
Aldo L. PROSDOCIMI ................................................................................ 399
Sobre el concepto de la escritura en latín: SCRIBO y sus compuestos
Agustín RAMOS GUERREIRA ..................................................................... 413
Il gentilizio etrusco Perkalina e connessi
Carlo de SIMONE ..................................................................................... 425
Deceptive Echoes: the Tarnished Shine of Ajax’s Sword (S. Aj. 1025)
Julián Méndez Dosuna
Universidad de Salamanca
’ἀ
π
π
’ἀ
SOPHOCLES, Ajax 1415
1. Introduction
According to general opinion, the Greek adjective ἰ
denotes
an unusual conflation of speed, colour and shine. Allegedly, ἰ
may
mean ‘quick-moving’, ‘colourful, variegated’ and ‘shimmering, glittering’
depending on context, or possibly all these things at the same time. The
original sense was ‘quick-moving’, from which the other two senses arose
secondarily through synaesthesia. The idea of variegation evolved naturally
into the more abstract notion of variety, diversity.1
To my mind, in spite of its overwhelming popularity, this view is mistaken.
As I will try to demonstrate elsewhere in a more detailed and comprehensive
analysis (Méndez Dosuna, ms.), ἰ
originally had nothing to do with speed
or motion. It simply denoted diversity in colour or hue like its synonym π
.
While π
remained very much alive as a word of everyday speech,
ἰ
became a poeticism whose meaning was elusive to most speakers. The
meaning ‘quick-moving’, which is never clearly attested in the literature of the
classical period (Méndez Dosuna 2010), is an invention of the
,
who misinterpreted some occurrences of the adjective in Homer.
In this paper I discuss the evidence for the meaning ‘shimmering,
glittering’. Special attention will be paid to the sword of Ajax, a mythical
weapon that plays a fundamental role in Sophocles’ tragedy of the same
name. I will try to demonstrate that the evidence for ‘shimmering’ is flimsy
and that, contrary to common belief, Ajax’s sword did not shine.
2. Αἰόλος ‘shining’?
As indicated above, if one is to believe modern dictionaries, ἰ
may
denote a brief or intermittent shine: cf. ‘glittering, sheeny’ (LSJ), ‘aux reflets
changeants’ (Bailly), ‘lebendig-shimmernd’ (LfgrE), ‘scintillant’ (DÉLG), ‘de
reflejo o luz cambiante, parpadeante’ (DGE). This meaning has also made its
way into modern translations of classical and post-classical works. It should
be noted that, while the sense of ‘quick-moving’ is well documented among
1
This paper is based on research funded by project FFI2009-07645 of the Spanish Ministry of
Science and Innovation (MICINN). I would like to thank Alcorac Alonso Déniz and Emanuele
Dettori for helpful comments on a previous draft.
94
Julián Méndez Dosuna
ancient lexicographers and scholiasts, the sense of ‘gleaming’ seems to occur
in only one scholium to Il. 10.77 in ms. A (Venetus 454, 10th c.) which must
go back to the grammarian Aristonicus (1st c. B.C.-1st c. A.D.): π
π
π
‘the [adjective] π
[is said] of bright things’.
3. The Homeric evidence
Homer applies ἰ
and π
to various pieces of armour:
belt:
…π
(Il. 4.186, 10.77),
π
11.326)
armour:
( )… ἰ
(Il. 5.294-295)
shield:
ἰ
(Il. 7.222, 16.107),
ὐ π
breastplate: ώ
…π
(Il. 11.373-374)
(Il. 4.215,
(Il. 13.552)
Cf. also the compounds ἰ
ώ
(Il. 4.489, 16.173), ἰ
(Il. 5.707) and possibly
(39× Il.), an epithet exclusive to Hector,
which some interpret as meaning ‘with flashing helmet’ (Page 1959: 250);2
cf.
π ῖ
(‘helmets with shining bosses’, Il. 13.132,
16.216),
π
(‘[over] their shining helmets’, Il. 17.269),
π
(‘helmets brightly shining’, Il. 19.359).
It is widely assumed that in these instances ἰ
denotes the flashing
or flickering of metal weapons (cf. DÉLG, s.v. ‘l’éclat scintillant des armes,
du métal’). This assumption is, however, unsatisfying in several respects.
(a) Π
, which admittedly does not convey this meaning, occurs
in similar contexts: π
(Il. 3.327, 10.504),
π
(5×
Il., [Hes.], Sc. 423), ἔ
π
(Il. 10.75), π
…
(Il. 10.75),
ώ
…π
(Il. 16.133-134).
(b) At Il. 7.222 ἰ
qualifies a shield made from seven ox-hides (
ἰ
π
). However, leather can hardly glitter. The same shield
includes a piece (a rivet?, a layer?) of bronze:
π
(Il. 7.220).
But this fact probably does not justify the use of ἰ
(see below).
(c) Swords in epic poems can be described as big,3 sharp,4 hilted,5 two-edged,6
2
According to prevailing opinion, this is a verbal compound meaning ‘shaking the helmet’ or
‘having a mobile helmet’ (LSJ), but, in my opinion, this view is misguided (see below).
3
(Il. 1.194, 1.220),
ῳ (Il. 5.146, 20.459),
(Il.
15.712),
ῳ (Il. 16.115),
(Il. 23.824).
4
(5× Il., 13× Od.),
(Il. 21.173, Od. 10.321, 11.24, [Hes.], Sc. 457),
(3× Il., 4× Od.).
5
… π
(Il. 16.332, 20.475),
… π
(Il. 15.713).
6
(Il. 21.118, Od. 16.80, 21.341),
(Il. 10.256).
Deceptive Echoes: the Tarnished Shine of Ajax’s Sword (S. Aj. 1025)
95
long-edged,7 made of bronze8 or silver-studded (on this see below). The adjectives
ἰ
and π
are never applied to swords. This can hardly be accidental.
(d) Αἰ
co-occurs with adjectives or verbs meaning ‘flashing’ or
‘glittering’: cf.
’ π’ ὐ / ἰ
π
(Il. 5.295). At first glance,
this fact seems to confirm that ἰ
means ‘shining’, but, a fortiori, it should
be taken as proof of exactly the opposite: that ἰ
did not denote shining.
Significantly, co-ocurrence with adjectives or verbs denoting shining is also
documented for π
:
π
’ἔ
π (Il. 4.432), ώ
…π
ἀ
(‘sparkling like a star’?, ‘decorated with stars’?, Il. 16.134).
Some hypotheses have been advanced to explain these data. Janko
(1992: 334-335, ad Il. 16.134-135) observes that «armour is often π
, as if made of leather with bronze rivets, like some LHIIIC corslets»
(my italics).9 Hainsworth (1993: 169, ad Il. 10.149) suggests that shields are
π
«presumably because [they were] blazoned or elaborately chased
like that of Akhilleus». Actually, the scenes depicted on Achilles’ profusely
decorated shield include some details of colour: cf. ἣ (sc.
)
’
π
(‘behind, the land turned black’, 18.548),
’
(‘white
barley groats’, 18.560),
…
(‘black grapes’, 18.562),
π
ἀ
(‘white-footed dogs’, 18.578),10
ἷ
(‘black blood’,
18.583),
π
(‘therein [sc. in the shield] he coloured a place
for dancing’, 18.590).
Neither explanation is unlikely, but other solutions are also possible.
In the case of metal armour, ἰ
and π
could also possibly mean
‘iridescent’ (‘displaying different rainbow-like colours’). Furthermore, a
shield made from ox leather need not have had a uniform colour, especially
if the hair had not been removed and the hide was patched. This is the case
of the well-known 8-shaped shields painted on the wall of the hall of the
grand staircase at the Palace of Knossos (LMII). A shield of the same type is
represented in the lion-hunt scene as depicted in a famous dagger inlaid with
gold and silver (Mycenae, LH; Athens, National Museum).
Finally, the epithet
has nothing to do with brightness,
either. Arguably, it is a determinative compound meaning ‘helmet-colourful’
(*
ἰ
), i.e. ‘having a helmet with a colourful crest’.
7
(Od. 22.443),
(Il. 14.385),
(Il. 16.473,
Od.10.439, 11.231).
8
…
(3× Il., Od. 10.262),
(Od. 19.241),
…
(Od. 22.80).
9
Cf.
π
(Il. 6.504, 12.396, 13.181, 14.420, [Hes.], Sc. 423). Cf. also
π
(Il. 4.226, 10.322, 10.393).
10
This might also mean ‘quick-footed dogs’.
96
Julián Méndez Dosuna
4. Ajax’s sword in Sophocles
Sophocles’ Ajax presents us with an intriguing case. When Teucer
finds the corpse of his half brother impaled on his own sword, he exclaims
in utter despair, ἴ ,
;π
’ ἀπ π
π
ῦ/ ῦ ’ ἰ
ώ
; (Aj. 1024-1025). To the vast majority of modern commentators
and translators, this is just an instance of a shining weapon: ‘How shall I tug
you from the gleaming point of this cruel sword?’ (Lloyd-Jones 1994).
As scholars have repeatedly observed, the sword plays a key role in the
tragedy as a silent character (Cohen 1978: 26, Segal 1981: 116-118, Seale
1982: 144). It is the cause and the agent of Ajax’s death (cf. its personification
as
‘slaughterer’, l. 819). It is with this sword that Ajax slew the
sheep and cattle of the Greeks (Aj. 30, 95, 147, 287, 325). It is with this
sword that he finally commits suicide.
The weapon has its own history. It originally belonged to Hector. At
Troy, in the exchange of gifts that put an end to their single combat, Ajax
gave Hector his belt and Hector handed Ajax his sword (Il. 7.303; cf. also S.
Aj. 661ff. and 1032). Eventually the gifts turned out to be fatal for both heroes
(S. Aj. 1029-1033): Hector’s corpse was lashed with Ajax’s belt to the chariot
with which Achilles dragged him; Ajax killed himself with Hector’s sword.
Coming back to Aj. 1025, Garner (1990: 63) makes the point that this is
the only occurrence in Greek literature of ἰ
being applied to a sword. He
concludes from this that the epithet is a significant intertextual link between
Hector and Ajax’s ‘silver-studded sword’ (
ἀ
, Il. 3.334,
7.303), and Ajax’s characteristic ‘tower-like bronze shield made from seven
ox-hides’ (cf. Il. 7.219-220, 7.245, 7.266, 11.485, etc.), which is described
as
ἰ
in Il. 7.222, 16.107. Teucer explicitly says that Hector, the
original owner of the sword, is the real murderer of Ajax (S. Aj. 1026-1027).
Admittedly, ἰ
imparts a certain Homeric flavour to the weapon,
but a specific allusion to Hector and to the shield of Ajax seems to me
far-fetched. As Davidson (2006: 38) puts it, «Sophocles may on occasion
be simply delving into the poetic treasure house of the Homeric texts rather
than making Homeric contexts work for him». Significantly, the formula
ἀ
is not exclusive to Hector’s sword. Other heroes possess
silver-studded swords: Agamemnon (Il. 2.45), Menelaus (Il. 3.334, 3.361,
13.610), Patroclus (Il. 16.135), Achilles (Il. 19.372), Odysseus (Od. 8.406,
8.416, 10.261, 11.97). Cf. also the variant
ἀ
said of
Sarpedon’s sword awarded by Achilles at Patroclus’ funeral games (Il. 23.807).
Interestingly, when Hector gets a new sword it is also described as silverstudded: cf.
ἀ
(Il. 14.405) in a new combat with Ajax.
Conceivably, a silver-studded sword could be described as ἰ
‘spotted’,
but this is most unlikely in the specific case of Ajax. On the one hand,
ἀ
refers to the sword-hilt, while ώ
denotes specifically the
Deceptive Echoes: the Tarnished Shine of Ajax’s Sword (S. Aj. 1025)
97
sword-blade. Even more importantly, an allusion to a ‘silver-studded sword’
would have been difficult to grasp in a scene in which the theatre audience
could only see the blade emerging from Ajax’s back while the hilt must
have remained hidden by the (dummy) corpse lying face downward: ῖ
ῳ
ῳπ π
(‘here lies [Ajax] folded around the hidden
sword’, S. Aj. 899).
Basing his analysis on Stanford (1978: 191) and Cohen (1978: 27),
Garvie (1998 ad loc.) perceives an intratextual connection between ἰ
ώ
and ἴ
ῳ as used by the Chorus in Aj. 147, which is
supposed to mean ‘with your flashing sword’. Unfortunately, the parallel is
unconvincing since it rests on the assumption that ἴ
may mean ‘flashing’
in Homer, which is improbable. This epithet is applied to various animals
with a tawny hue: lions (Il. 10.24, 10.178, 11.548, etc.; Tyrt. fr. 13.1), horses
(Il. 2.839, 12.97), an eagle (Il. 15.690), a bull (Il. 16.488), oxen (Od. 18.372),
a fox (Pi. O. 11.19). It is also applied to cauldrons (Il. 9.123, 9.265, 19.244)
and tripods (Il. 24.233) probably made of bronze, to bronze itself (B. 13.17),
and most frequently to iron (Il. 4.485, 7.473, 20.372; Od. 1.184; Hes. Op.
743; h.Merc. 180; Ar. Pax 1328). Kirk (1990: 291 ad Il. 7.473) concludes
that when said of iron «the epithet must mean ‘bright’ […] rather than having
its stricter and more usual sense of ‘flame-coloured’». This conclusion is,
however, specious. The epithet ἴ
denotes quite appropriately the tawny
hue of polished bronze and the reddish-brown colour of rusty iron.
Kamerbeek (1953: 199-200) also works on the basis that ἰ
ώ
is an echo of
ἀ
in Il. 7.303. But he notes that in
Tr. 11 and 834 Sophocles uses the collocation ἰ
, which, to all
appearances, he interprets as ‘a mischievous snake’ or something of the sort.
He probably has in mind the meaning ‘shifty, slippery’ of LSJ, s.v. Since, as
indicated above, Ajax’s sword is personified as a slaughterer in the very same
passage, Kamerbeek concludes that the presence of ἰ
can be justified
«because a malicious power is thought to be operative in the sword, issuing
from Hector, and to a certain degree comparable with the evil power lurking
in the robe of Nessus [in Trachiniae]».
Kamerbeck’s arguments are based on three problematic premises.
First, as explained in section 4, Sophocles’ ἰ
ώ
can hardly
echo Homer’s
ἀ
.
Second, Sophocles’ ἰ
denotes quite naturally the complex
and often multicoloured skin pattern characteristic of most snake species;
cf. also Τ
’
π ἴ
ἰ
(‘the Trojans shuddered
11
when they saw the colourful snake’, Il. 12.208).
Third, the following examples are cited by LSJ as evidence for the
11
This is usually interpreted as a ‘nimble snake’, but this meaning is unjustified.
98
Julián Méndez Dosuna
meaning ‘shifty, slippery’: ἰ ῳ
(Pi. N. 8.25), ἰ
(B.
14.57),
ἰ ώ
(Trag. adesp. 349 K.-S.). One could
possibly add the compound ἰ
‘full of wiles’ (Hes. Th. 509-510, A.
Suppl. 1036). However, it is highly doubtful that ἰ
denoted cunning by
itself in the classical period. In the instances at issue the adjective must mean
nothing more than ‘various, manifold’. Its negative connotations are triggered
by the context: ἰ
ῦ
is ‘an intricate lie’ (cf. E. a web of deceit) and
ἰ
are ‘multifarious wiles’. As for
ἰ ώ
,
one should first note that lynxes are known not for their cunning but for their
sharp sight, a characteristic which is not relevant here. The comparison refers
specifically to their fur, which is marked with dark brown spots (cf.
τε
‘spotted lynxes’, E. Alc. 579). The comparison skilfully combines the
proper and the figurative meaning of ἰ
: ‘a plot more intricate than [the
mottled skin of] a lynx’ (cf. Sophocles’
π
‘a multifarious
plot’ in OC 762). The overtones of cunning are induced by
rather
than by ἰ ώ
itself.
The right interpretation was timidly hinted at by Lobeck (1835: 350351: «Αἰ
ώ
Sophocles aut pro cruento dixisse videtur aut ad
exemplum homericorum ἰ
, ώ , etc.») and by Stanford
(1963: 190: «[ ἰ
] could possibly mean ‘discoloured’ here implying a
contrast between the shining metal and Ajax’ blood») and (1978: 196: «the
epithet perhaps implies discoloration rather than changing light»).
Buxton (2006) has convincingly argued that «the prevailing condition
of Ajax’s weapons is to be soaked in wet blood» (see also Cohen 1978: 26,
30-31). Of particular interest is the juncture
‘a sword
freshly sprinkled [with blood]’, which occurs twice in the play: π
π
ῳ
(‘rushing across the plains with a sword stained
with fresh-spilt blood’, l. 30) in Odysseus’ first speech in the prologue, and,
most significantly,
π
ῳ
(l. 828) in Ajax’s farewell
speech (on this see below).12 Inconceivably, Buxton (2006: 20, fn. 14) takes
side with those who believe that ἰ
ώ
is a ‘glittering spike’ and
explicitly refers to Garner (1990: 63) for an elucidation of the expression.
When time-honoured preconceptions are put aside, there can be little
doubt that ἰ
ώ
describes vividly the spotted (i.e. stained with
blood) sword-blade projecting through Ajax’s corpse. In his farewell to life
(lines 815-865), Ajax asks Zeus to send a messenger to inform Teucer of his
is reminiscent of Aeschylus’
:π ᾶ ’
ῳ
‘to examine things with a sword freshly dripping [blood], sc.
when the killer’s sword still drips blood’ (Ag. 1351). Sophocles himself uses the adjective
in a different context in El. 894-895:
ώ
/π
‘I saw streams of milk freshly flowing from the top of the mound’.
12
The collocation
Deceptive Echoes: the Tarnished Shine of Ajax’s Sword (S. Aj. 1025)
99
suicide, ‘so that he may be the first to handle me when I am fallen and impaled
upon a sword freshly spilt [with blood]’ (π
ὥ
ῃ/π π
π
ῳ
, lines 827-828). Ajax’s words clearly anticipate
Teucer’s π
’ ἀπ π
π
ῦ/ ῦ ’ ἰ
ώ
; ‘How shall I
tug you from this bitter [blood-]spotted blade?’ (lines 1024-1025).
6. Conclusion
To sum up, there is no ‘dead’ epithet in the phrase ῦ ’ ἰ
ώ
.
In spite of its misleading Homeric resonances, the adjective must retain all
its descriptive force. Its scope is intratextual rather than intertextual. The
evidence for ἰ
meaning ‘bright, shining’ in the literature of the archaic
and classical periods is illusory.
References
Bailly = Bailly, A. 1950. Dictionnaire Grec-Français (6th edn., revised by
L. Séchan and P. Chantraine). Paris: Hachette.
Buxton. R. 2006. Weapons and day’s white horses: the language of Ajax,
I. J. F. de Jong – A. Rijksbaron (eds.), 13-23.
Cohen, D. 1978. The imagery of Sophocles: A study of Ajax’s suicide. Greece
& Rome 25. 24-36.
Davidson, J. F. 2006. Sophocles and Homer: Some issues of vocabulary,
I. J. F. de Jong – A. Rijksbaron (eds.), 25-38.
DÉLG = Chantraine, P. 1968-1980. Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue
grecque. Histoire des mots. Paris: Klincksieck.
DGE = Adrados, F. R. et alii 1980-. Diccionario Griego-Español. Madrid:
C.S.I.C.
Garner, R. 1990. From Homer to tragedy. The art of allusion in Greek poetry.
London/New York: Routledge.
Garvie, A. F. 1998. Sophocles. Ajax. Warmister: Aris & Phillips.
Hainsworth, B. 1993. The Iliad: A commentary (Kirk, G. S., general editor).
Volume III: Books 9-12. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Janko, R. 1992. The Iliad: A commentary (Kirk, G. S., general editor). Volume
IV: Books 13-16. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
de Jong I. J. F. – Rijksbaron, A. (eds.) 2006. Sophocles and the Greek
language. Aspects of diction, syntax, and pragmatics, Leiden/Boston:
Brill.
Kamerbeek, J. C. 1953. The plays of Sophocles. Commentaries I. The Ajax.
Leiden: Brill.
Kirk, G. S. 1985. The Iliad: A commentary (Kirk, G.S., general editor).
Volume I: Books 1-4. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
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LfgrE = Snell, Br. et al. 1955-2010. Lexikon des frühgriechischen Epos.
Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.
Lloyd-Jones, H. 1994. Sophocles. Ajax – Electra – Oedipus Tyrannus. Cambridge
Mass.: Harvard University Press.
Lobeck, Chr. A. 1835. Sophoclis Aiax (editio secunda). Lipsiae: Weidmann.
LSJ = Liddell, H. G. – Scott, R. – Jones, H. S. – McKenzie, R. 1940. A GreekEnglish lexicon (9th edn.). Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Méndez Dosuna, J. 2010. Aristófanes, Tesmoforiantes 1054-1055: ¿Un raudo
viaje al Hades o una abigarrada danza macabra?, Dic mihi musa virum
(Homenaje al Profesor Antonio López Eire), ed. F. Cortés Gabaudán
– J. Méndez Dosuna, 449-457. Salamanca: Ediciones Universidad de
Salamanca.
Méndez Dosuna, J. ms. The meaning of αἰόλος in Homeric epics and related
matters.
Page, D. L. 1959. History and the Homeric Iliad. Berkeley/Los Angeles:
University of California Press.
Seale, D. 1982. Vision and stagecraft in Sophocles. London/Canberra: Croom
Helm.
Segal, Ch. 1981. Tragedy and civilization. An interpretation of Sophocles,
Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
Stanford, W. B. 1963. Sophocles. Ajax, London/New York: Macmillan/St.
Martin’s Press.
— 1978. Light and darkness in Sophocles’ Ajax. GRBS 19.189-197.
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