Teuthis

Fr. 190a 

                                ]ης ἀντὶ γεωτομίης·

                    Γλαύ]κῳ Λυκίῳ, ὅτε σιφλὸς ἐπει[

      ἀνθ᾽ ἑκατομβοί]ων ἐννεἀβοια λαβεῖν

                        σ]μινύην πέλεκυν μέτα .[

5         . .]υροφ. . . .δήκτην ἀμφοτέρῳ στόμα[τι

      ]ς ἀντὶ σκαπανῆος ὀροιτύπος ἐργάζη[

           τ]οῖον ἐπεὶ κείνης ὀκριόειν ἔδαφος

      γ]αίης· οὔτε βάλοις κεν ἐνὶ σπόρον οὔτ᾽ ἐν[ὶ κλῆμα, 

           δ]οιὰ Μεθυμναίου δῶρα κυθηγενέος·

10  ἀγρ[ι]άδας δ᾽ οὐκ ἄλλο σαρωνίδας οὖδας ενε[

           .ωι.φορον Ἀζάνων δαῖτα παλαιοτάτην·

      τοῦδέ κοτ᾽ Ἀργείοισιν ἐς Αὐλίδα [

           κοίρανος· Ἀτρείδαις δ᾽ εἰς ἔριν ἀντι.[

      ἤγειρεν μέγα νεῖκος, ὅ καὶ πα[

15       εἰς ἑόν, ἀλλ᾽ ἔστης, παῖ Διὸς ἐμ.[

      [                                                           ]

                                          ]δεν[

                                         ]νι[

                                          ]εεισ[

20                                    ].ου[ 

 

    Fragment 190a Harder (= SH 276, = 110 Mass.)
      1-14, 17-20 fin. P.Oxy. 14 [image], Trismegistos 59362
      4 P.Oxy. 2221 col. II 17 sqq [image] Trismegistos 63183
      5-15 init. P.Mich. inv. 4761C [image]

    This is the explanation for the bandage on the statue of Athena at Teuthis in Arcadia (modern Dimitsana), in Callimachus' day a member of the Achaean League. When the Greek fleet had assembled at Aulis prior to the invasion of Troy, an Arcadian from Teuthis, indignant about the delay, decided to return home. Athena in the guise of a mortal tried to dissuade him, but he wounded her in the thigh in anger. When he returned to Teuthis with his men he dreamed of Athena wounded, and his town was struck with famine. After consulting the oracle at Dodona, the townsmen learned that they should set up a statue to Athena with a bandaged thigh. This has parallels with the story of Artemis of Leucas, and with the story of Coroebus.

    The most likely location of this aition is in Book 1.

    The preserved lines represent a prologue to the story itself, involving a characterization of the land of Arcadia. The speaker, perhaps a Muse, says that the earth is so hard in Arcadia that one can more easily make a living by cutting timber than by cultivating wheat or grapes. The country abounds in oak trees, whose acorns were popularly supposed to be the only food of the pimitive people of Arcadia. At the end of the fragment the story proper begins with the word κοτ’ (ποτε, "once upon a time"), as the leader of Arcadia heads to Aulis, where the Greek fleet was assembled.

     

    Bibliography

    Hollis, Adrian S. 1982. ‘Teuthis and Callimachus, Aetia book 1 (Lloyd-Jones and Parson, Supplementum Hellenisticum no. 276).’ Classical Quarterly 32:117-20.

    ———. 1992. "Teuthis in Callimachus' Aetia (PMich Inv. 6235)." Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 92:115-117.

    Livrea, Enrico. 1979. ‘Teuthis once again.’ Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 34:43-5.

    Fr. 190a

    γεωτομίη -ης, ἡ: ploughing, turning up the earth

    σιφλός -η -ον: crippled, maimed; stupid

    ἑκατόμβοιος -ον: worth nine oxen

    ἐννεάβοιος -ον: worth nine oxen

    σμινύη -ης, ἡ: a two-pronged hoe or mattock

    δήκτης -ου, ὁ: biter, one who bites

    σκαπανεύς -εως, ὁ: a digger, one who digs

    ὀρειτύπος -ον: woodcutting; working in the mountains as a woodcutter or quarryman

    ἐργάζομαι: work; work at, make; do, perform

    ὀκριόεις -εσσα -εν: having many points, rugged, jagged, rough 7

    ἔδαφος -εος, τό: the bottom, foundation, base, ground, soil

    γαῖα -ης, ἡ: land, country

    σπόρος -ου, ὁ: a sowing; seed, produce

    κλῆμα -ατος, τό: a vine-twig, vine-branch; a cutting, slip

    δοιοί -αί -ά: two (Ep. of δύο)

    Μεθυμναῖος -ου, ὁ: Methymnaean (an epithet of Dionysius)

    κυθηγενής -ές: born in secret

    ἀγριάς -άδος (adj.): wild, growing in the wild 10

    σαρωνίς -ίδος, ἡ: oak tree

    οὖδας -εος, τό: the surface of the earth, the ground, earth

    δαίτη -ης, ἡ: a feast, banquet

    Ἀζανες -ων, οἱ: the Azanians (perhaps referring here  to the Arcadians)

    Ἀτρείδης -ου, ὁ: son of Atreus, i.e., Menelaus or Agamemnon 13

    ἔρις -ιδος, ἡ: strife, quarrel, rivalry

    ἐγείρω: awaken, wake up, rouse

    νεῖκος -εος, τό: a quarrel, wrangle, strife

    Ζεύς, gen. Διός or Ζηνός, dat. Διί or Ζηνί, acc. Δία or Ζῆνα: Zeus

    Fr. 190c Harder (= 667 Pf.) Scholion on Pausanias, Description of Greece 8.28.6 

    ὅτι φησὶν οὗτος (sc. Pausanias) ἑωρακέναι τὸ τῆς Ἀθηνᾶς ἄγαλμα ἐν Τευθίδι τελαμῶνι κατειλημμένον. καὶ ἣ Καλλίμαχος ἣ οὗτος ψεύδεται. ὁ μὲν γὰρ παλαίτερος ὣν φησὶ λῆξαι τοῦ τραύματος τὴν θεραπείαν, ὁ δὲ ἑωρακέναι φησὶν ἕτι ὣσπερ ἐπιδούμενον καὶ θεραπευόμενον.

    Because Pausanias says that he has seen the statue of Athena in Teuthis covered with a bandage. And either Callimachus is lying or Pausanias is. For the former, who is older, says that the treatment of the wound had ceased, but the latter says that it was still being bandaged and treated.

    Fr. 190a

    ... instead of ploughing;

    (like) Glaucus the Lycian, when he stupidly

    (was persuaded) to take (armor) worth nine oxen in exchange for (armor) worth a hundred oxen ...

    ... (don't use) a forked digging tοol, an axe ...

    ... (which) bites (the earth) with both mouths ...

    so you would work as a woodcutter instead of a digger,

    because the soil of that country

    is rough; you could neither throw seed in it nor (plant) a vine cutting

    the two gifts of the Methymnaean, the one born in secret;

    the soil (would yield) no other produce but wild oaks,

    the primitive food of the Azanes

    Once upon a time the ruler of this country (Teuthis) ... the Argives

    ... and starting a quarrel with the sons of Atreus 13

    he stirred up a big fight . . . 

    ... but you, child of Zeus, stood ...

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    Suggested Citation

    Susan Stephens, Callimachus: Aetia. Carlisle, Pennsylvania: Dickinson College Commentaries, 2015. ISBN: 978-1-947822-07-8.https://dcc.dickinson.edu/callimachus-aetia/uf/teuthis