Weekday Greek

 Our author (T.H. Carpenter) analyzes two stories which are depicted on the Francois Vase: the return of Hephaestus to Olympus, accompanied by Dionysus; and Achilles' pursuit of Troilus outside of Troy. These stories are not well attested in archaic literary sources, and Carpenter picks these stories to make the point that "much of our knowledge for both of these myths comes from depictions of them in ancient art rather than literary sources" (18). He describes the scenes on the Francois vase and then leads us through a pretty tedious catalogue of other depictions of the myth in archaic and classical sources. 1) I find it hard to imagine and think about the Francois vase as a 3d object. This 3d model is not very detailed but at least is helpful for orienting yourself on the vase: https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/francois-vase-bf5a13753ad74578a438b79a9e824151 Better images of the two stories in question here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/69716881@N02/8522743550/in/photostr...

hAp conclusion. Some closing thoughts on the hymn: 1) The hymn obviously tells several different stories: birth on Delos, the Delian festival, founding Delphi, bringing the Cretans. But nevertheless it's pretty unified in themes and language; an anthology hymn. 2) Over the course of the hymn, we see pretty much the whole Greek world, from Miletus to Ithaca, Crete to Samothrace; but we don't go beyond that world. That is, this is a pretty earthy hymn compared to Demeter. No Olympus (or just the glimpse at the beginning), no Underworld, just the inhabited Greek world. But in focusing on the whole of the Greek world, it's definitely more panhellenic than Demeter, which in its epichoric references seems intended for an Attic audience. 3) Throughout the language feels not quite homeric: lots of unhomeric hapaxes, and also unhomeric words found in later Greek (πρυτανευσέμεν, πριν + indicative); but simultaneously it feels like our author is potentially purposefully engaging with ...

hAp 502-546 (end of the hymn). The Cretans land the ship and follow Apollo's orders: build an altar, sacrifice, eat dinner, and follow Apollo to the temple at Delphi while singing the paean. Once they arrive, the Cretan's leader asks, "What will we eat? We bid you to think about it." Apollo responds that they will sacrifice animals in abundance that the tribes of people bring; a confusing lacuna, something to do with hybris, and someday the Cretans will be bound to foreign leaders. Then farewell, I will sing of you another time. 1) This hymn loves the formula φῦλ' ἀνθρώπων, which occurs 5x here in this relatively short hymn; elsewhere 1x Il., 3x Od., 4x Hes., and 1x elsewhere in hymns. Seems like a funny quirk. 2) Heck of an ending to the hymn -- the lacuna makes Apollo's closing lines tough to interpret, but the prophecy of eventual subjugation seems like a real bummer for the Cretans (who of course didn't want to be there in the first place). This kind o...

hAp 451-501. Apollo, as a young man, jumps on the ship and asks why the sailors are just sitting there. Their leader praises Apollo as looking like the gods, asks what land this is, and explains they have come there unwillingly. Apollo says that they will not return home; he is Apollo, and here they will hold his temple. He orders them to get out, build an altar, and pray to him as Delphinios, since he first appeared to them as a dolphin; then eat and libate; and then sing the paean until they reach the spot for the altar. 1) The sailors say that they are longing to go home (νόστου ἱέμενοι); seems pretty uncool for Apollo to say that they will never go home, and really stick it to them by describing the city, homes, and wives they will never see again; ξεῖνοι, τοὶ Κνωσὸν πολυδένδρεον ἀμφινέμεσθε  τὸ πρίν, ἀτὰρ νῦν οὐκ ἔθ' ὑπότροποι αὖθις ἔσεσθε  ἔς τε πόλιν ἐρατὴν καὶ δώματα καλὰ ἕκαστος  ἔς τε φίλας ἀλόχους... A nostos utterly denied 2) Weird that Apollo repeatedly uses ...

Anacreontea 39. Young at heart. I love an old man and a young dancer; and whenever an old man dances, he is young in his heart. Anacreontea 40. I'll dance before I die. On the path of life I do not know what I have to run. No matter; before my end catchs me, I will play, laugh, and dance with Dionysu. Anacreontea 41. A romantic meadow. It's lovely to walk in a meadow with the Zephyr and to hold a tender girl smelling of Aphrodite. Anacreontea 42. Preferring the peaceful life. I love Dionysus' dances and playing the lyre with a young man, and I love garlands and playing with girls. But I hate battles over wine; instead, let me lead a peaceful life. Anacreontea 43. A girl and boy sing and dance. Let's get drunk, while a girl and boy sing and dance. Love will rejoice and enter the revel.

Alcman fr. 1 (Louvre Partheneion). Very difficult to summarize, but falls into two sections: 1-39, a mythic section on the children of Hippocoon; 39-101, where the chorus sings about two female figures, Agido and Hagesichora. 1) Every time I read this poem I'm reminded again how difficult it is: the dialect is tough, the fragmentary nature of the poem is tough, but the toughest part is that it just makes no sense. On a sentence by sentence level it's tough to understand the train of thought; and also the poem is constantly gesturing to its performance context, but in the absence of that context it's hard to understand the relationship between text and context.  The poem asks "Don't you see?" (ἦ οὐχ ὁρῆις;) -- and of course I don't see, but would I have seen something at a 7th century performance in Sparta? Or is this all just a fiction?  2) In contrast to its difficulty, I had completely forgotten about the myth that opens the fragment. Possibly just becau...

hAp 402-450. Apollo as dolphin lies on the Cretans' ship, terrifying them and shaking the gear whenever someone looks at him. The south wind pushes the boat: past Cape Malea and Cape Tainaron (where Helios' flocks are), up the west coast of the Peloponnese past Pylos and Elis, and just within sight of Ithaca's high mountain. After sailing past the Peloponnese, a big west wind pushes ashore at Crisa. Apollo jumps out with sparks like a star, enters his adyton, and lights his shots; the women of Crisa cry out in fear. Apollo returns to the boat in the guise of a hairy, wide-shouldered young man. 1) Another catalogue of places -- each of the three big parts of this poem have had one. Richardson has a nice map of the ship's journey. The ship ends its journey at Crisa, probably in this poem just a term for the general area of Apollo's sanctuary (so Richardson on 269) 2) To me at least parts of the journey seem to evoke the Odyssey.  The boat first goes astray at Malea li...

hAp 332-401. Hera gives Typhaon to the dragon, who in turn does great harm to mortals until (πρίν) Apollo killed it. It rolled and groaned, and Apollo boasted "Go and rot (πύθευ);" for this reason, it's now called Pytho and they call Apollo Pytheios. Apollo realized the spring tricked him; he returns to Telphousa, tells her that he will share her glory, and piles a mountain peak on her, hiding her streams. Because he disfigured Telphousa's streams, everyone there calls him Telphousios. In need of priests at Pytho, Apollo comes to a ship of Cretans as a dolphin (more next time) 1) Whoever encounters the dragon is killed until Apollo kills it: ὃς τῇ γ' ἀντιάσειε, φέρεσκέ μιν αἴσιμον ἦμαρ  πρίν γέ οἱ ἰὸν ἐφῆκεν ἄναξ ἑκάεργος Ἀπόλλων  καρτερόν· I find the change in thought at πρίν quite abrupt -- generally the bookends around this Typhaon section are pretty harsh. Maybe relatedly, apparently this πρίν + indicative is not found in Homer and this is the first extant exa...

Anacreontea 35. Eros and the Bee.  Eros is stung by a bee and runs to his mother Aphrodite, who tells him that his own stings hurt others much more. Anacreontea 36. If Gold Could Buy Life.  If Ploutos sold life for gold, I would keep it safe; but since I am fated to die, what good is gold? Instead may I drink, hang out, and make love. Anacreontea 37. Racing in my Dreams At night I seemed to race with maidens, while tender boys mocked me. I wanted to kiss them, but they all ran out of my sleep; and bereft I want to sleep again. Anacreontea 38. Let Us Drink Wine and Sing Out Bacchus. Let's drink wine and sing out Bacchus, through whom drunkenness and grace were born and through whom pain and grief end. Let's abandon our cares and dance and play. 1) Eros' speech is 35 is pretty fun: ῾ὄλωλα κἀποθνήσκω· ὄφις μ᾿ ἔτυψε μικρὸς πτερωτός, ὃν καλοῦσιν μέλιτταν οἱ γεωργοί.’ At first it seems childish that he doesn't recognize a bee ("a small winged snake"), but then he do...

Theocritus 12. The narrator rejoices that his beloved has come after three days: spring is sweeter than winter, and just so much does the narrator rejoice. If only the Erotes blew on the lover and beloved equally; then they would be sung even down to the two hundredth generation. May the Megarians live prosperously, who received the boy-lover Diocles; even now, around his tomb, the boys hold a kissing contest, and the judge prays to Ganymede to have a mouth like a Lydian touchstone. 1) generally a weird poem. Structurally the narrator moves from addressing the boy to addressing the Megarians, without obvious transition. It's also a very "Hellenistic," learned poem -- incredibly obscure vocabulary from unusual dialects (ἀίτης from Thessaly, εἴσπνηλος from Amyclae), obscure myth (this boy-lover Diocles), and obscure rituals (the boy kissing competition at Megara).  Hopkinson in the Loeb cites Payne and Hunter and views the poem's oddities as comic ("characterize th...