The Trajectory of Archaic Greek Trimeters (Mnemosyne, Bibliotheca Classica Batava Supplementum)

221 Pages·2005·1.01 MB·English

by  Ippokratis Kantzios

THE TRAJECTORY OF ARCHAIC
GREEK TRIMETERS
MNEMOSYNE
BIBLIOTHECA CLASSICA BATAVA
COLLEGERUNT
H. PINKSTER •H.S. VERSNEL
I.J.F. DE JONG •P.H. SCHRIJVERS
BIBLIOTHECAE FASCICULOS EDENDOS CURAVIT
H. PINKSTER, KLASSIEK SEMINARIUM, SPUISTRAAT 134, AMSTERDAM
SUPPLEMENTUM DUCENTESIMUM SEXAGESIMUM QUINTUM
IPPOKRATIS KANTZIOS
THE TRAJECTORY OF ARCHAIC
GREEK TRIMETERS
THE TRAJECTORY OF
ARCHAIC GREEK TRIMETERS
BY
IPPOKRATIS KANTZIOS
BRILL
LEIDEN•BOSTON
2005
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Kantzios, Ippokratis.
The trajectory of archaic Greek trimeters / by Ippokratis Kantzios.
p. cm. – (Mnemosyne, bibliotheca classica Batava. Supplementum,
ISSN 0169-8958 ; 265)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 90-04-14536-2 (alk. paper)
1. Greek language—Metrics and rhythmics. 2. Iambic trimeter. I. Title. II. Series.
PA188.I2 K36 2005
2005046993
ISSN 0169-8958
ISBN 90 04 14536 2
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For Niki and Niko
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements........................................................................ ix
Chapter One: Introduction.............................................................. 1
I. The Ancient Testimonies......................................................... 2
II. The Ritual Model.................................................................... 12
III. The Secular or Sympotic Model........................................... 17
IV. Epic Elements....................................................................... 20
V. Direct References to a Sympotic Setting................................ 22
VI. Settling on a Definition......................................................... 28
VII. The Changing Face of Archaic Literary Iambus................. 29
Chapter Two: Thematic Elements of the Trimeters....................... 34
I. Early Thematic Elements......................................................... 35
A. Only in the First Generation............................................... 35
B. Only in the First Two Generations...................................... 38
II. Permanent Thematic Elements............................................... 39
A. In All Four Poets................................................................. 39
B. In Three Poets..................................................................... 52
C. In Two Poets....................................................................... 62
III. General Observations............................................................ 64
A. Themes Occurring Only in the First Generation................. 64
B. Themes Occurring Only in the First Two Generations....... 65
C. Permanent Thematic Conventions...................................... 66
Chapter Three: Morphology and Vocabulary of the Trimeters...... 75
I. Identity of Character................................................................ 76
A. The Speaker (First Person).................................................. 76
B. The Addressee (Second Person).......................................... 82
C. Characters Other than Speaker and Addressee.................... 85
II. The Use of Person.................................................................. 89
A. Archilochus and Hipponax................................................. 90
B. Semonides and Solon.......................................................... 92
III. The Use of Diction................................................................ 94
A. Verbs................................................................................... 94
B. Nouns.................................................................................. 95
viii CONTENTS
Chapter Four: The Trimeters and Elegy......................................... 100
I. Thematic Elements.................................................................. 101
A. Elegy................................................................................... 101
B. Trimeters and Elegy: A Comparison................................... 112
II. Identityof Character............................................................... 117
A. Elegy................................................................................... 117
B. Trimeters and Elegy: A Comparison................................... 124
III. The Use of Person................................................................. 126
IV. The Use of Diction................................................................ 128
A. Verbs................................................................................... 128
B. Nouns.................................................................................. 130
Chapter Five: Inscriptions, LaterIambusand Tragedy................. 132
I. The Meter of Archaic Metric Inscriptions.............................. 133
A. Epitaphs............................................................................. 135
B. Dedications......................................................................... 137
C. Summary of Inscriptions.................................................... 139
D. Observations...................................................................... 140
II. The Later Iambic Poets.......................................................... 142
A. The Poets............................................................................ 143
B. General Observations......................................................... 147
III. Rise of Tragedy and Disappearance of Serious Iambus....... 151
Conclusion..................................................................................... 163
Appendices
Appendix I.................................................................................. 167
Appendix II................................................................................ 171
Appendix III............................................................................... 174
Appendix IV............................................................................... 179
Appendix V................................................................................ 185
Appendix VI............................................................................... 189
WorksCited................................................................................... 197
General Index................................................................................ 205
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work is an in-depth revision of the doctoral dissertation which I
submitted to Bryn Mawr College in 1996. I would like to use this
opportunity to thank again my teachers there, especially Richard
Hamilton, who was my main advisor. In more direct relationship to
this project, special thanks should go to William Murray, Director of
the Interdisciplinary Center for Hellenic Studies at the University of
South Florida, who set aside funds that facilitated the completion of
this book and to my Chair, Victor Peppard, who granted me research
leave in the spring of 2004. I would also like to thank a number of
colleagues from different institutions for sending me books or articles
I had difficulty obtaining: Crystyna Bartol, Diskin Clay, Nick Dobson,
Andrew Ford, and Ralph Rosen. M. B. Wallace introduced me to Julia
Lougovaya, whose advice and expertise saved me from many errors in
the section on metrical inscriptions. She should not be held
responsible for those that remain. Thanks also for assistance in various
ways to the following students: Luca Lai, Bartholomäus Winkler, Lisa
Raymond, Gregory Thole, and William Lehman. It would be an omis-
sion if I did not mention here the generosity of Peter Kourmolis, who
through the American Foundation for Greek Language and Culture
endowed the professorship I hold. I have left for last the person to
whom I owe my deepest gratitude, Niki Holmes Kantzios, my partner
in life and editor of this book. Her advice and criticism extended from
stylistic matters to structure and coherence of argument. There should
be no question that her assistance has improved the book greatly.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Early Greek poetry occurs in a variety of metrical forms, the most
prominent being hexameter, elegy and iambus. Of these, iambus is the
least understood, not only because its extant corpus is by far the
smallest, but also because iambus even more than elegy has a wide
range of subject matter that does not immediately seem to connect it
consistently with a specific occasion or context of performance. In
addition, the paucity of early references to iambus makes it difficult
for us to discern how its nature and its function were understood in
archaic Greece.1
However scholars have chosen to define iambus, it is agreed that
its floruit was the archaic period (seventh-sixth centuries B.C.E.). Per-
haps because of the short span of that period—little more than a hun-
dred years—or perhaps because so much scholarly energy has been
absorbed in defining the genre, scant attention has been expended on
the matter of internal development of iambus. Its characteristics are
generally discussed as unchanging over time. It is the contention of
the author that this monolithic view is erroneous, that even within its
short lifetime as an important literary genre definite patterns of change
are recognizable, and that a reason for this trajectory may be posited.
It may be that an acknowledgement of such a pattern of change will
———
1 The limitations we moderns face seem also to have plagued the grammarians of
late antiquity, if we are to judge from their attempts to explain the etymology of the
term (cid:255)(cid:449)μ(cid:453)(cid:512)(cid:528) primarily on the basis of onomatopoetic associations that bring forth the
various aspects of the genre (content, meter, manner of performance). Gramm. Am-
bros. (p. 255 Nauck), for instance, derives the term from the verb (cid:251)(cid:282)(cid:188)(cid:532)(cid:511) (to hurl) and
the Etymologicum Magnum, from (cid:251)(cid:289)(cid:510) (cid:453)(cid:282)(cid:543)(cid:468)(cid:490)(cid:510), supplying the gloss (cid:274)(cid:528) (cid:453)(cid:284)(cid:498)(cid:470) (cid:532)(cid:281)
(cid:498)(cid:468)(cid:478)(cid:290)μ(cid:468)(cid:510)(cid:449), obviously intending to underline the abusive nature of this kind of poetry;
Diomedes (447.6) suggests (cid:251)(cid:284)(cid:510)(cid:449)(cid:490) (cid:494)(cid:449)(cid:287) (cid:453)(cid:512)(cid:323)(cid:510) and assumes that (cid:255)(cid:449)μ(cid:453)(cid:512)(cid:528) derives from the
hero Iambus, who, when about to throw his spear, would take a short and a long step,
an echo of which are the short and long syllables of the iambic meter ((cid:539) -). Mar. Vict.
I, VI 44, 28 K proposes the etymology of (cid:251)(cid:284)(cid:510)(cid:449)(cid:490) (cid:453)(cid:282)(cid:457)(cid:470)(cid:510), which seems to refer to mode
of performance (alluding to (cid:494)(cid:367)μ(cid:512)(cid:528) or some other peripatetic activity).