(Mnemosyne Supplements 322) Maarit Kivilo-Early Greek Poets' Lives. the Shaping of the Tradition...

8/13/2019 (Mnemosyne Supplements 322) Maarit Kivilo-Early Greek Poets' Lives. the Shaping of the Tradition (Mnemosyne Supplements - Volume 322) -Brill Academic Pu

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Early Greek Poets Lives


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Mnemosyne

Supplements

Monographs on Greek andRoman Language and Literature

Editorial Board

G.J. BoterA. Chaniotis

K.M. Coleman

I.J.F. de Jong. Reinhardt

VOLUME 322


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Early Greek Poets Lives

Te Shaping of the radition

By

Maarit Kivilo

LEIDEN BOS ON2010


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Tis book is printed on acid-free paper.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Kivilo, Maarit.

Early Greek poets' lives : the shaping of the tradition / by Maarit Kivilo.p. cm. (Mnemosyne supplements : monographs on Greek and Roman language andliterature ; 322)

Includes bibliographical references.ISBN 978-90-04-18615-6 (hardback : alk. paper)1. Poets, GreekBiographyHistory and criticism. 2. Greek prose literatureHistory and

criticism. 3. GreeceBiographyHistory and criticism. 4. Classical biographyHistory andcriticism. 5. Hesiod. 6. Stesichorus. 7. Archilochus. 8. Hipponax, . 540-537 B.C. 9. erpander.10. Sappho. I. itle. II. Series.

PA3043.K58 2010881'.0109dc22[B]

2010017664

ISSN 0169-8958ISBN 978 9004 18615 6

Copyright 2010 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, Te Netherlands.Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing,IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP.

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CON EN S

Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Chapter One. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Chapter wo. Hesiod . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7. Te tradition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7. Origin and amily o Hesiod . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8. Genealogies o Hesiod . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12. Hesiods li e . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17. Te story o Hesiods death .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25. Te works o Hesiod and on Hesiod. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37. Te date o Hesiod . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45. Formulaic themes and Orphic/Pythagorean inuences in

Hesiods tradition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52. wo modern views on the tradition o Hesiod . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56. Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Chapter Tree. Stesichorus . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63. Te tradition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63. Stesichorus amily . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65. Stesichorus home and travels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68. Stesichorus poetry and music .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

. Blindness, Helen, and the Palinode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73. Stesichorus and politics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75

. Stesichorus name and his death . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

. Te date o Stesichorus.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

. Te connections with the Pythagorean tradition . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82. Formulaic elements in the tradition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84. Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Chapter Four. Archilochus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87. Te tradition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87. Archilochus amily and his riends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92. Archilochus home, journeys, and contests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94


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. Archilochus encounter with the Muses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

. Te oracles in the tradition o Archilochus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96

. Archilochus and the cult o gods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102. Lycambes and his daughters .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104

. Te death o Archilochus . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

. Te cult o Archilochus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107. Ancient criticism o Archilochus .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109. Te date o Archilochus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111. raditional elements in Archilochus biography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116. Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

Chapter Five. Hipponax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121. Te tradition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121. Hipponax origin, home town and amily . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122. Hipponax inventions and the story o Iambe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125. Te quarrel with Boupalus .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127. Te death o Hipponax.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129. Ancient criticism and editions o Hipponax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130. Te date o Hipponax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131. Formulaic themes in Hipponax tradition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133. Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

Chapter Six. erpander . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135. Te tradition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135. erpanders home and origin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136. erpander in Sparta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139. Te citharodes o Lesbos .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144. Te death o erpander . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

. erpanders poetry and music .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148. Te date o erpander. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

. Formulaic themes in erpanders tradition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

. Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

Chapter Seven. Sappho . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167. Te tradition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167. Ancient portraits and appearance o Sappho. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172. Sapphos home and amily .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173. Sappho and Phaon, her exile and death . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179. Sapphos reputation, circle, and rivals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183. Sapphos inventions and music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193


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. Te ancient editions o Sapphos poetry, and the treatises onher li e . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194

. Te date o Sappho . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195. Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198

Chapter Eight. Te ormation o biographical traditions. . . . . . . . . . . . . 201. Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201. ime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203. Formulaic themes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208

Chapter Nine. Conclusion .. .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225

Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255


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ACKNOWLEDGEMEN S

Tis book is a slightly revised version o a doctoral thesis submitted toOx ord University in the Summer o . Te manuscript was closedin substance in March ; since then I have not attempted any sys-tematic revision. I am endlessly grate ul to my supervisor Dr. NicholasRichardson or all his help, and his continued support o my work wellbeyond my D.Phil. supervisions. I should mention that he read and com-mented on more versions o this text than either o us would like toremember. I am also grate ul or advice, criticism and encouragementrom Pro . Oliver aplin and Dr. Mait Kiv, and or help in various mat-ters rom Dr. Ivo Volt. I would also like to thank Brill Academic Pub-lishers, in particular Caroline van Erp or her patience and help in thepreparation o this book. I am also grate ul to the anonymous revieweror help ul criticism and detailed suggestions. I would like to acknowl-edge the substantial nancial support during my doctoral studies romOx ord University Press (Clarendon Scholarship) and Magdalen College(Jan Hruska Scholarship); also the Cultural Endowment o Estonia, theEstonian World Council, and the Estonian Students Fund in the U.S.A.And nally, thanks to my riends and amily or their loving supportthroughout this project.


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ABBREVIA IONS

BMCR Bryn Mawr Classical Review: http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/.CAH1 Te Cambridge Ancient History (First edition). Ed. by

J.B. Bury, S.A. Cook, et al . Cambridge, CAH2 Te Cambridge Ancient History, nd edition. Ed. by

J. Boardman, I.E.S. Edwards, et al . Cambridge, CEG Carmina Epigraphica Graeca . Vol. I: Saeculorum VIIIV

a.Chr.n . Ed. by P.A. Hansen. Berlin, CGF Comicorum Graecorum Fragmenta , ed. G. Kaibel. Berlin, CIG Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum , ed. A. Boeckh. Berlin,

DGRBM Dictionary o Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, ed.

by William Smith. London, DGRG A Dictionary o Greek and Roman Geography, ed. by William

Smith. London, ( 1)EM Etymologicum magnum genuinum. Symeonis etymologicum

una cum Magna grammatica, vol. i, ii. Ediderunt FranciscusLasserre, Nicolaus Livadaras. Rome,

FGE Further Greek Epigrams, ed. by D.L. Page. Cambridge, GL Grammatici Latini ex recensione Henrici Keilii. Leipzig,

HE Te Greek Anthology. Hellenistic Epigams, edited by A.S.F. Gow and D.L. Page. Cambridge,

IG Inscriptiones Graecae, Berlin, .L the catalogue o legendary responses to oracles in Fontenrose,

J.E. Te Delphic oracle, its responses and operations, with acatalogue o responses. Berkeley,

LSJ A Greek-English Lexicon. Compiled by Henry George Liddelland Robert Scott, revised and augmented throughout by SirHenry Stuart Jones with the assistance o Roderick McKenzieand with the cooperation o many scholars. With a revisedsupplement. Ox ord,

MSG Musici scriptores Graeci. Recognovit, prooemiis et indiceinstruxit Carolus Janus; Supplementum Melodiarum reliquiae .Leipzig,

OCD nd ed. Te Ox ord Classical Dictionary, nd edition. Ed. by N.G.L. Hammond and H.H. Scullard. Ox ord,

OCD rd ed. Ox ord Classical Dictionary, third revised edition, ed. by S. Hornblower and A. Spaw orth. Ox ord,

PLG4 Poetae Lyrici Graeci, ed. T. Bergk. Pars I: Pindari carmina ,Leipzig . Pars II: Poetae Elegiaci et Iambographi, Leipzig. Pars III: Poetae Melici, Leipzig,


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PMG Poetae Melici Graeci, ed. D.L. Page. Ox ord, PMGF Poetarum Melicorum Graecorum ragmenta , ed. M. Davies.

Ox ord, POxy Te Oxyrhynchus Papyri. Ed. by B.P. Gren ell, A. Hunt, et al .London,

PW the catalogue o oracles in Parke, H.W. and Wormell, D.E.W.Te Delphic Oracle, Vol. and . Ox ord,

Q the catalogue o quasi-historical responses to oracles inFontenrose, J.E. Te Delphic oracle, its responses andoperations, with a catalogue o responses. Berkeley,

RE Paulys Realencyclopdie der classischen Altertumswis-senschaf. Neue Bearbeitung, herausg. von G. Wissowa.Stuttgart,

SLG Supplementum Lyricis Graecis. Poetarum lyricorum Graecorum ragmenta quae recens innotuerunt ed. D. Page. Ox ord,

SOL Suda On Line: Byzantine Lexicography, in http://www.stoa.org/sol/

SVF Stoicorum veterum ragmenta coll. Ioannes ab Arnim. Vol. I:Zeno et Zenonis discipuli, Leipzig . Vol. II: Chrysippi ragmenta. Logica et Physica. Leipzig,


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IN RODUC ION

Tis book examines the ormation and development o the biographicaltraditions about archaic Greek poets. It seeks to clari y:

. who were the creators o the particular traditions;

. what were the sources o the traditions;. when the traditions were ormed;

. to what extent the traditions are shaped by ormulaic themes andstory-patterns.

Secondly, this studycompares thetraditionsaboutpoets with those aboutother amous people, such as seers, sages, tyrants and heroes, in orderto identi y the similarities and differences in conventions according towhich the different traditions are ormed. It challenges several main-

stream assumptions on the subject, or example, that the traditions wereormed mainly in the Post-Classical period; that the only signi cantsource or the legends about the poets is the works o the particular poetandthe traditions are there ore historically entirely or substantially unre-liable; and that the poets were perceived as new heroes.

Te prevalent view is that the development o ancient biography wasbrought about by the rise o Greek antiquarianism and historiography,and reached its ull orm as a continuous account o the character andactions o an individual (the ) in the Hellenistic and Roman era,

where we nd the works o Chamaeleon, Phaenias, Neanthes, shortsketches o ancient authors to introduce the Alexandrian editions, theLives by Plutarch, Diogenes Laertius, and others.1 Te earlier biographi-cal writings which concentrated on one or another aspect o the authorsli e rather than giving a learned continuous account are regarded as thepredecessors o the Hellenistic . Te beginnings o that kind o pre-biographies have been traced back to the early Peripatetics (Leo), theSocratic circle (Dihle), the late- fh century authors such as Xenophon

1 Literary biography as a Hellenistic and Roman genre: Stuart : , Dihle : ,: , Le owitz : , Momigliano : , . About the de nition o the biog-

raphy see Momigliano : , , Dihle : .


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and Isocrates (Stuart), and Herodotus (Homeyer).2 In addition there arenumerous short biographical statements such as eulogies, uneral ora-tions, genealogies, re erences in comedies, collections o maxims, leg-ends and anecdotes in the works o the authors o the Classical periodand onwards. Tese statements are believed to have been created to serve various unctions such as rein orcing a point an author was making, as ameans o claiming superiority over an authority, to represent a poet as aheroic gure and promote his authority, or simply to entertain the audi-ence and satis y its curiosity by telling a ascinating story about a amousperson.3 Te biographical material, scattered in the works o ancientauthors, is ofen cast into a traditional orm, using conventional ancienttopoi and stereotypical patterns which are reely trans erable rom onepersons tradition to another.4

Te question which has interested students o ancient biography themost, is the relationship between historical truth and pure ction inbiographies. For a long time the readers o the Lives regarded them astrue historical accounts about a persons li e. Even the more miraculousstories, such as Arions escape with the help o dolphins, or example,were given credibility in the belie that even the implausible accountsmay contain a grain o truth wrapped in allegory.5 At the end o thenineteenth and the beginning o twentieth century, however, a numbero more sceptical treatises on structure and development o Graeco-Roman biography were published and the readers were warned not totake any in ormation in theLivesat ace value.Teauthors o the treatisesmaintained that the biographies o poets were compiled centuries afertheir death using old anecdotes, legends, and ctional accounts createdon the basis o ofen misunderstood hints in the authors works, and

2 Leo : ff. (although Momigliano agrees with Leo, or other reasons,thatPeripatetic Aristoxenus was the rst direct predecessor o Alexandrian biography, hebelieves him to be the only member o the early Peripatos to be concerned with biograph-ical writing, see : ), Dihle : , Momigliano : ., Stuart : , Homeyer : and passim. About Aristotle and biography see Huxley .

3 About the sources o biography see Fairweather , Momigliano : ,Dihle : . About the reasons to invent stories about the poets and other amouspeople, see West : ., Graziosi : , , , , andLe owitz and

:ix and passim.4 Fairweather and , and Le owitz : (on Euripides Li e).5

See, or example, Welckers ( : ) and Mllers ( : n. ) rationaliz-ing interpretations o the Arion story. For the overviews o modern opinions on biogra-phies see Stuart : , Homeyer : , Dihle : , Momigliano

: , Fairweather : .


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there ore the biographies are ctions with hardly any reliable materialrather than historical documents.6

Consequently, the legends about the poets and details in their Liveswere treated much more critically and scholars turned instead to thepoems, which were regarded as more or less autobiographical, as theprimary source or in ormation.Tisapproach wassupportedbythethencurrent chronological doctrine o the development o ancient literature,according to which the non-personal genre o epic poetry was ollowedin the era o awakening personality (approximately in the seventhcentury ) by personal lyric poetry created by individuals who opposedthemselves to old customs and orms o poetry.7 A lyric poet was seen asno longer the vessel o the Muses, the recorder o other mens deeds andthoughts, /- - -/, [h]e is now participant, and, to a greater or lesser degree,speaks or himsel .8 Since the Lives o the poets are to a great extent builtaround the works o a poet, and as the poems were believed to containautobiographical statements, biographies too were generally believeddespite the warnings o Lehrs, Leo and othersto contain a quantity o reliable in ormation about the poets.9

Only in the middle o the twentieth century a new approach emerged,and scholars gradually began to admit that total veracity might not to beexpected rom archaic Greek poetry. K.J. Dover expressed his scepticismabout a cultural evolution o individual sel -awareness as a necessary andsufficient explanation o the difference between the epic and lyric genres,and claimed that this difference can be accounted or in terms o liter-ary genre: on the one hand a highly specialized, conventional epic song,on the other hand personal lyric poetry, both o which may have coex-isted throughout the entire prehistory o Greek literature. According to

6 Lehrs , Leo : (Die griechische Historiographiehatniemals Geschichteund Biographie verwechselt), Meyer : (Aber eineeigentlichhistorische tigkeitist [Biographie] nicht.)

7 Snell : (Among the Greeks /- - -/ the genres ourished in chronologicalsuccession. When the strains o the epic subsided, the lyric took its place, and whenthe lyric was about to expire, drama came into its own.) See also Jaeger 4: ,Burckhardt :iii. ff., Bowra 2: , Frnkel : .

8 Kirkwood : . Also Snell ( op. cit .: ): Perhaps the most striking differencebetween the two genres (i.e. epic and lyric poetryMK) /- - -/ is the emergence o thepoets as individuals. /- - -/ [Te lyrists] speak about themselves and become recognizableas personalities.

9

See, or example, the entries on archaic poets in RE, Schmid-Sthlin passim,Jaeger 4: , Campbell passim, and overviews o the modern opinions onparticular poets in the chapters below. Tere are still those who pre er to ollow this idea,e.g. Schmidt passim.


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this approach, the I o Greek lyric cannot always be taken to be theautobiographical poet: the song may express eelings which are not nec-essarily those o the composer/per ormer, but may belong, or example,to a conventional stock-character or entirely ctional poetic gure. Tesubject matter o the songs, composed in small societies, would still beintelligible or the audience even when there are not enough explicit sig-nals in the text: the community in which the poet composed a song knew its context. Te situation would change only with the spread o literacy when the poetry is read also by people who do not know the backgroundo the poet and his songs andmay regard the I in the poems as autobio-graphical and, consequently, would use the poets rst person statementsas testimonies o his li e. In the light o this view, the biography whichwas mainly ormed around the unreliably personal poetry cannot betrusted in every detail as historical document.10 Tis approach has beentaken to its extreme by Mary Le owitz who claims that the biographicaldata we have about archaic poets was generated almost entirely romtheir (non-autobiographical) verses and the accounts o their li e wereinvented a long time afer their li etime, in order to create, owing to theexpectations o the audiences, an image o a poet as a new hero whois remote rom ordinary men, acknowledged in some way by divinities,and serving the commonwealth with their words.11 Le owitzs radicalapproach on thecomplete lack o historically true in ormationwithin thebiographies has not been wholly accepted and the current general view is that the biographies, built on poets own verses and several additionalsources, are a mixture o act and ction and should beread with a criticalmind and balanced judgement.12

As is mentioned above, many o the biographical statements scat-tered in the sources are very old. Some o them, such as the criticism o

Archilochus, Hesiod and Homer, the account o the latters Chian ori-gin and the anecdote o his de eat in solving the riddle o lice comerom late-sixth century sources; the accounts o Sapphos brothers love

10 Dover : , Kurke : , , West : , also Bruns: . About the biographical I see also Le owitz , Rsler : ff., Bowie: , Slings , et al .11 Le owitz : ., : and :viix. Le owitzsuggests that the practice

o developing biography rom poetry may have originated with thePeripatetic grammar-ian Chamaeleon ( : with n. ). AboutChamaeleon see also Momigliano :

and his ragments on poets in Wehrli : , .12 See especially Fairweather and , but also Podlecki , Kirkwood ,Dihle : ,Pelling : , Compton : .,and theentries onarchaicpoets in OCD rd ed., in Der Kleine Pauly , in Brills Neue Pauly and in other handbooks.


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affair in Egypt, erpanders inventions, Hesiods long li e and his death,Archilochus date, etc. are known rom the works o early- fh century authors.13 Tis period is about the earliest time we can expect any liter-ary account to have been written down by a Greek author.

It is hard to believe that the pre-Classical Greek audiences were notinterested in the li eand deeds o the amous gures o the past, includingold poets, and that the accounts o their lives were invented only startingrom the fh century and later, centuries afer the poets death. I suggestthat the biographical statements and anecdotes about early poets in theClassical authors works are the remnants o large and well-developedancient biographical tradition which began to orm simultaneously withthe per ormance o the poetry soon afer the poets death or even intheir li etime.14 Some details were recorded in local documents suchas inscriptions and lists o winners at poetic contests, or example, butmainly the tradition was developed and passed on orally. Fragments o itbecame eventually written down in authors works in different contextsand according to different purposes, including those mentioned above.Te biographical traditions were continuously developed urther, wereembellished and scrutinized by later authors and came to orm the basisor the Hellenistic literary Lives.

o try the assumption o the generic development o biographical tra-dition, I present a detailed study o the traditions o six early Greek poets,Hesiod, Stesichorus, Archilochus, Hipponax, erpander and Sappho. Ihavechosenpoets o theArchaic periodwhose (possibly) earlybiograph-ical traditions had time to develop according to traditional conventionsin an oral environment.15 In the case o each poet I shall try to establish

13 Xenoph. A , B , DK, c . Arist. r. R ap. Diog. L. . , Heracl. A , DK, Anaxim. F , c . Simon. eleg . Campbell (i the verses belong to Semonideso Amorgus, see Campbell : n. , c . Simon. in [Plut.] Vita Hom. ii, Vita Hom.

v), Heracl. B DK, c . also Xenoph. ap. Gell. NA . (the relative date o Hesiodand Homer), Teag. Rheg. A DK (a book on Homer), Cleisthenes in Hdt. .and Callin. in Paus. . . (about Homers works). Te early fh century examples: Hdt.. , . , Pi. r. d, Sn.-M. and ap. Suda s.v. .

14 I use the term biographical tradition as denoting the sum o scattered pieceso in ormation about the poets lives in all extant sources. Tis includes anecdotes,legends, chronographical material and re erences in the works o ancient authors. Tebiography (Li e, , Vita) marks the continuous literary account o an individual, agenre developed in the Hellenistic period.

15

I have not included a detailed study o Homers biographical tradition in this book since his exceptionally rich biographical tradition would not leave any room or otherpoets. I have, however, given an outline o thedevelopment o his tradition elsewhere, seemy Te early biographical tradition o Homer ( ). Tere is also a good overview o the


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the chronological development and the sources o the tradition, as wellas the shapers o it and the conventions according to which the traditionwas ormed. My primary aim is not to determine the historical veracity o the details in the traditions, although clari ying the process o devel-opment o biographical traditions may help to estimate their reliability as a source or historically true in ormation about the poets.

accounts o Homers early biographical tradition in Barbara Graziosis Inventing Homer ( ). She concentrates mainly on one strand in Homers biographical tradition i.e. thedevelopment o universal and authoritative Homer as the author o only the Iliad andOdyssey . See also the reviews by Kahane : , Halliwell : ., Ford : .


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HESIOD

. Te tradition

Tevarious accounts about Hesiod provide the ollowing summary o hisli e. Hesiod o Ascra was the son o a Cymean man called Dios, who hadbeen orcedtoleavehishometowneitherasaresulto poverty,orbecausehe had killed a man. Hesiods amily was o an important origin, andtheir genealogies includePoseidon and Apollo, Atlas, Calliope,a Cymeanoikistes Chariphemus, and poets-musicians Orpheus, Linus, Melanopusand Homer. Hesiod was initiated into poetry by the Heliconian Muses.He composed the Works and Days as an admonition and guide to arighteousli e orhisbrotherPerseswithwhomhehadaquarrelovertheirathers inheritance. radition says that Homer and Hesiod were cousinsand opponents at a song contest which Hesiod won. He was awardeda tripod which he dedicated in gratitude to the Muses o Helicon. Heis reported to have taken part in other song contests as well, such asthe contest in hymns or Apollo in Delos. In Delphi Hesiod receivedan oracle predicting his death in the grove o Nemean Zeus. Avoidingthere ore Nemea in the Peloponnese, to which he supposed the oracleto re er, he went to Oenoe in West Locris which, unknown to him, wasalso sacred to Nemean Zeus. Soon aferwards the poet, suspected by his

hosts o having seduced their sister, was murdered and his body wascast into the sea. When it was brought back to the shore by dolphins,the murderers were punished and Hesiod was buried in the grove o the temple o Zeus. Afer many years had passed when plague broke outin Orchomenus, the Orchomenians, ollowing the advice o the Pythia,brought his remains to their city as a remedy to overcome the disease.According to tradition, Hesiod and the seduced girl had a son, the poetStesichorus.


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. Origin and amily o Hesiod

Hesiod says in the Works and Days that his ather had moved to Ascrarom Cyme (lines ). He also says that he himsel had never sailedthe sea be ore he went to take part in a song contest at Chalcis on Euboea( ). On the basis o these lines, some authors drew a conclusionthat Hesiod was born afer his parents had settled in Ascra.1 Othersbelieved that he was born in Cyme, and his parents took him to Ascrawhen he was still a small child.2 However, the birthplace o Hesiod seemsnot to have been an object o discussion o any considerable importanceor ancient authors.

Te belie that Hesiods athers name was Dios is probably based onthe Works, in which the poet re ers to his brother as , . . . (line ). Although this is not a grammatically correct patronymic,Hellanicus, Damastes, Pherecydes, Ephorus, the compiler o the Certa-men and the Suda did not hesitate to include Dios in their genealogieso the poet.3 Other sources which mention Dios as Hesiods ather are aninscription ound on a stele at the site o the temple o the Muses in Tes-piae, a papyrus rom the third or ourth century, and the Vita Hesiodi.4Since there is no other name or Hesiods ather known in the tradition,it seems that Dios was generally accepted in antiquity. Ephorus claimed,as mentioned already above, that Hesiods ather did not leave his hometown Cyme because o poverty as it stands in Op. , but because

1 Eph. F , , see also Hermesianax . Powell, and Vita Hesiodi .Vita Hesiodi is a treatise in two extant versions. Te shorter version is ascribed to Pro-

clus who, relying heavily on earlier scholarship, compiled the scholia on Hesiods Opera.Te other, longer but in its contents very similar to Proclus treatise, is by zetzes. SeeGais ord : , Westermann 2:viii, Allen : , Rzach in RE s.v. Hesiodos,Wilamowitz : . Both versions are published by Tomas Gais ord in his edition o Hesiod ( : ). In this work I have ollowed, i not stated otherwise, the numera-tion o Westermanns edition o the Vita Hesiodi ( 2) as probably the most accessibleunabridged text.

2 Suda s.v. . Tere are names such as Chariphemus and Melanopus indifferent genealogies o Hesiod which are connected with Cyme,see below, p. .

3 Hell. F b, Dam. F , Pherec. F (ap. Procl. Chrest . p. . Allen); Eph. F , Cert . , Suda s.v. . West believes that is a ormulaic expression,and, not being a grammatically correct orm, it could not have denoted the name o the

ather ( : .) It seems, however, that the Greeks (Hellanicus and others) were nottoo concerned about this lapse o grammar.4 IG . c: / () . . . ;

POxy recto , Vita Hesiodi .


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he had killed a kinsman.5 Ephorus may have gained this piece o in or-mation rom a local Cymean history, or perhaps derived it rom Op. ,where Hesiod uses the word ( . . . ) in the descrip-tion o his athers decision to move rom Cyme to Ascra.6 Te detail o blood-guilt is a requent moti in biographical traditions as we shall seelater.

Te poet says nothing about his mother. Aferwards it was exclusively thought that her namewas Pycimede, and in onesourceshe is the daugh-ter o Apollo.7 According to Ephorus who is the rst known author tomention her, Hesiods ather married Pycimede only afer he had movedto Ascra, and there ore she must have been an Ascraean; in the Vita He-siodi she is a Cymean. Tis is all we know about Hesiods mother. We donot know rom where the ancient commentators drew the in ormationabout her. However, Pycimede (cautious-minded, shrewd, wise) iscertainly an appropriate name or the mother o a amous didactic poet.

Te extant ancient explanations o Hesiods own name are scarce andlate. Proclus claims Hesiod to be derived rom (= )and (< ), obtaining there ore something like He who speaksdelight ul things or He who speaks delight ully as the meaning o the name.8 Te Etymologicum Magnum provides a derivation rom (< ) and which suggests a meaning I will set a road/wayimplying perhaps Hesiods important position as a poet and teacher; orI will set to a road or simply Te one who travels.9 Another entry in the Etymologicum Magnum, shared by the Etymologicum Gudianum,explains Hesiod as an Aeolic name with a meaning He who walks onan auspicious road ( ),orHewhowalks

5 Eph. F , see also F . West proposes that the tradition that Hesiods atherwas a Cymean and had to leave his home town may be linked to another tradition,according towhich Homer laida curseonthe Cymeans that nopoet o importance shouldbe born in the city. See [Hdt.] Vita Hom. , West a: n. .

With the exeptiono theCertamen , thebiographies o Homer, editedby West ( a),Allen ( ), Wilamowitz ( ) and Westermann ( ), are re erred to according toAllens edition in this work. In the case o the Certamen, Wests enumeration by chaptersis used (i not stated otherwise). About the editions o the Certamen, see p. n. .

6 I Ephorus statement has any true historical background, it would explain why Hesiods ather lef the comparatively rich coast o Asia Minor and came to miserableAscra as poet describes it. Ascra, by the way, may not have been such a miserable placeat allsee Snodgrass : .

7

Eph. F , Cert . , POxy recto , Vita Hesiodi , Suda s.v. .8 Procl. schol. Hes. Op. . Te name is spelt also as aeolic (Herodian.ii. . . ( . ) Lentz) and (IG . ).

9 Etym. Magnum p. . . See also Gttling :xxiixxiii, Evelyn-White :xiv.


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auspiciously ( ).10 However, the discussion about theetymology o Hesiods name seems to have started late. In the archaicand classical periods the name Hesiod seems to have been treated asa proper name with no particularly signi cant meaning. Tis view isshared also by most modern commentators.11

In the Works and Days the poet describes his brother Perses as an idleman and a spendthrif. He is reported to have swindled Hesiod out o thelarger share o their athers inheritance by bribing the corrupt lords o Tespiae, but afer a while he had wasted his patrimony and ultimately came to want. When he came to his brother or help, Hesiod, insteado giving him money, tried to teach him how to live righteously anddiligently instead o intriguing against other people, and composed theWorks which contains his teachings and is dedicated to Perses.12 Mostancient sources regard Perses as a real person, a historical Listener tothe admonitions o Hesiod.13 Modern commentators point out that thecharacter and behaviour o Perses vary according to the rhetorical pointHesiod is making and, whether Perses ever existed or not, in the Workshe unctions as a conventional device used by the poet to strengthen hisarguments.14 In any case, the veracity o the tradition about the existenceand the nature o Perses was not an issue o debate in ancient times, atleast not on a large scale.

In Op. Hesiod mentions a son but it is ambiguous whether he issimply uttering a rhetorical wish or is really speaking o his own son.15However, the existence o this re erence may well be the basis o , or atleast a signi cant support or thedevelopmento thetradition aboutHes-

10 Etym. Magnum p. . = Etym. Gud . p. . Sturz.11 For example West : and , Evelyn-White :xiv. Modern attempts to

explain the name have led to the orms He who takes pleasure in the journey (hesi-

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(Mnemosyne Supplements 322) Maarit Kivilo-Early Greek Poets' Lives. the Shaping of the Tradition...

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