Fr. 31c
τὼ]ς μὲν ἔφη· τὰς δ' εἶθαρ ἐμὸς πάλιν εἴρετο θυμός
notes
Fr. 31c Harder (= 31b Pf., = 35 Mass.) P.Oxy. 2263, fr. 1
col. II 9-10 [image], Trismegistos 59402
According to the diegesis, inhabitants of Epirus violated Artemis' sanctuary at Leucas, stole her crown, and replaced it with a mortar. The Leucadians subsequently replaced her crown but the goddess rejected it, preferring to keep the mortar, as a recollection of the event. Almost nothing is known about the incident, but a very similar event was related by the historian Herclides Lembus (2nd century BC), Excerpta Politiarum 45 Dilts, namely, that Molossians had plundered a sanctuary of Artemis in Cephallania and insulted the statue by removing its wreath and putting a mortar on its head. When the Cephallanians tried to replace the wreath it was found on the ground, rejected by the goddess.
Bibliography
Cappalletto, Pietro. 1995 “Le 'dee offese' nel primo libro degli Aitia di Callimaco,” Rendiconti 129:211-32.