Fr. 178

      ἠὼς οὐδὲ πιθοιγὶς ἐλάνθανεν οὐδ' ὅτε δούλοις

           ἦμαρ Ὀρέστειοι λευκὸν ἄγουσι χόες·

      Ἰκαρίου καὶ παιδὸς ἄγων ἐπέτειον ἁγιστύν,

           Ἀτθίσιν οἰκτίστη, σὸν φάος, Ἠριγόνη,  

5    ἐς δαίτην ἐκάλεσσεν ὁμηθέας, ἐν δέ νυ τοῖσι 

          ξεῖνον ὃς Α[]γύπτῳ καινὸς ἀνεστρέφετο

      μεμβλωκὼς ἴδιόν τι κατὰ χρέος· ἦν δὲ γενέθλην

           Ἴκιος, ᾧ ξυνὴν εἶχον ἐγὼ κλισίην

      οὐκ ἐπιτάξ, ἀλλ' αἶνος Ὁμηρικός, αἰὲν ὁμοῖον

10       ὡς θεός, οὐ ψευδής, ἐς τὸν ὁμοῖον ἄγει.

      καὶ γὰρ ὁ Θρηϊκίην μὲν ἀπέστυγε χανδὸν ἄμυστιν

           ζωροποτεῖν, ὀλίγῳ δ' ἥδετο κισσυβίῳ.

      τῷ μὲν ἐγὼ τάδ' ἔλεξα περιστείχοντος ἀλείσου

           τὸ τρίτον, εὖτ' ἐδάην οὔνομα καὶ γενεήν·

15  ʿἦ μάλ' ἔπος τόδ' ἀληθές, ὅ τ' οὐ μόνον ὕδατος αἶσαν,

           ἀλλ' ἔτι καὶ λέσχης οἶνος ἔχειν ἐθέλει.  

      τὴν ἡμεῖς— οὐκ ἐν γ[]ρ ἀρυστήρεσσι φορεῖται

           οὐδέ μιν εἰς ἀτ[ενεῖ]ς ὀφρύας οἰνοχόων

      αἰτήσεις ὁρόω[ν] ὅτ' ἐλεύθερος ἀτμένα σαίνει—   

20       βάλλωμεν χαλεπῷ φάρμακον ἐν πόματι,

      Θεύγενες· ὅσσ[α] δ' ἐμεῖο σ[έ]θεν πάρα θυμὸς ἀκοῦσαι 

           ἰχαίνει, τάδε μοι λ[έ]ξον [ἀνειρομέν]ῳ·

      Μυρμιδόνων ἑσσῆνα τ[ί πάτριον ὔ]μμι σέβεσθαι

           Πηλέα, κῶς Ἴκῳ ξυν[ὰ τὰ Θεσσαλι]κά,

25  τεῦ δ' ἕνεκεν γήτειον ιδ[. .]υτ[. . . .]ρτον ἔχουσα

           ἥρωος κα[θ]όδου πα[ῖς  

      εἰδότες ὡς ἐνέπου[σιν

           κείνην ἣ περὶ σὴν [

      οὔθ' ἑτέρην ἔγνωκα· τ[

30       οὔατα μυθεῖσθαι βουλομέν[οις ἀνέχων.

      τ[αῦτ'] ἐμέθεν λέξαντο[ς

           ‘τρις μάκαρ, ἦ παύρων ὄλβιός ἐσσι μέτα,

      ναυτιλίης εἰ νῆιν ἔχεις βίον· ἀλλ' ἐμὸς αἰών

           κύμασιν αἰθυίης μᾶλλον ἐσῳκίσατο

 

    Fragment 178 Harder (= 178 Pf., = 89 Mass.)
      1-34 P.Oxy. 1362, fr. 1 col. 1 (1-25) and col. II (26-34)
      [image], Trismegistos 59367

      11-14 Ath. 11.477c
      11-12 Ath. 10.442f
      12 Σ Theoc. 1.27a
      15-16 Ath. 1.32b-c
      23 Hdn. Π.μον.λεξ 2.923.5 sqq
      30 Str. 9.5.17, 438C
      32-34 Stob. 4.17.11
      33-34 Σ Arat. 299

    This unplaced fragment contains a description of a symposium held at the house of an Athenian named Pollis, who was a resident in Egypt (presumably Alexandria), but who nevertheless celebrated Attic festivals. The occasion was the festival of the Aiora. In the course of the party Callimachus asked his neighbor, a visitor to Egypt from Icus, to tell him about a cult of Peleus that the Icians celebrated. There is a growing consensus that this fragment belongs at the beginning of Book 2. This fragment has been used to argue that the three events mentioned—the Pithoigia, the Choes, and the Aiora—are separate days of the Anthesteria (see Burkert 1985: 237-42, and for a different opinion Hamilton 1992: 48-9). For various interpretations of the fragment see Fantuzzi-Hunter (2004, 76 ff.), and Stephens (2013).

    2. The Choes supposedly commemorated Orestes as an exile in Athens after killing Clytemnestra. Because of his pollution he could not be accepted as a guest, but was compelled to sit alone and drink in silence. 

    3-4. In Attica, Dionysus taught Icarius to make wine; when he demonstrated his new product to the locals, they thought they had been poisoned and killed him and buried his body. His daughter Erigone with her dog Maera searched for him and when she found him, hanged herself on a nearby tree. Dionysus punished them by driving Attic women to hang themselves. The festival of the Aiora is both an expiation and a remembrance of these events. Erigone and her dog were subsequently turned into constellations. 

    9-20. The details of eschewing deep drinking and preferring conversation recall Plato's Symposium, but the passage also has many recollections of Homer (e.g., Od 4.220-21 and 17.217-8).

    24. At the end of Peleus' life he sails out to meet his grandson Neoptolemus, who is coming from Troy. The former is shipwrecked on Icus, received by Molon, but dies there. Nothing further is known about the rites for Peleus on Icus.

     

    Bibliography

    Burkert, W. 1985. Greek Religion. Translated by John Raffan. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

    Fabian, Klaus. 1991. ‘Il banchetto di Pollis. Callimachi fr. 178-185 Pf. (Icus).’ In “Oinera Teuche.” Studi triestini di poesia conviviale, edited by Klaus Fabian, Ezio Pellizer, and Gennaro Tedeschi, 131-66.  Alessandria: Ed. dell'Orso. 

    Fantuzzi, Marco and Richard Hunter, 2004. Tradition and Innovation in Hellenistic Poetry. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Hamilton, R. 1992. Choes and Anthesteria: Athenian Iconography and Ritual. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

    Hunter, Richard L. 1996. "Callimachus Swings (frr. 178 and 43 Pf.)." Ramus 25:18-26.

    Scandroglio, Laura. 2003. 'Callimaco e Teogene di Ico.' Sungraphe 5:181-9.

    Scodel, Ruth. 1980. ‘Wine, Water, and the Anthesteria in Callimachus Fr. 178 Pf.’ Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 39:37-40.

    Stephens, Susan A. 2013. "Deregulating Poetry." In Performance and Culture in Plato's Laws, edited by A. Peponi, 371-91. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Fr. 178

    ἠώς ἠοῦς, ἡ: dawn, morning, day

    πῐθοίγια, τά: (οἴγνυμι) festival at the opening of casks of new wine, held at the Anthesteria; πῐθοιγὶς ἠώς, the morning of this festival

    ἦμαρ -ατος, τό: day

    Ὀρέστειος  -α -ον: Orestean, of Orestes

    λευκός -ή -όν: light, bright, clear; λευκὸν ἦμαρ, a joyful day or holiday

    χοῦς χοός, ὁ/ἡ: a liquid measure, the chous (about 3.27 litres); a pitcher 

    Ἰκάριος -ου, ὁ: Icarius, an Athenian whom Dionysus taught to make wine. When he shared the wine with others, they thought Icarius had poisoned them, and murdered him.

    ἐπέτειος -ον: annual, yearly

    ἁγιστύς -ύος, ἡ: ceremony

    Ἀτθίς -ίδος, ἡ: a woman of Athens

    οἴκτιστος -η -ον: most pitiable, lamentable

    φάος -εος, τό: light, daylight; day

    Ἠριγόνη -ης, ἡ: Erigone, the daughter of Icarius. When she learned of his murder she hanged herself in grief. In revenge, Dionysius drove the women of Athens mad so that they hanged themselves like Erigone until a festival was founded in her honor.

    δαίτη -ης, ἡ: feast 5

    ὁμοήθης -ες: (adj.) of the same habits or character; friend(ly)

    καινός -ή -όν: new, strange

    ἀναστρέφω: turn back; (pass.) to stay or dwell in a place

    βλώσκω, aor. 2 ἔμολον, perf. μέμβλωκα: go, come

    ἴδιος -α -ον: pertaining to oneself; private, personal; separate, distinct

    χρέος χρέους, τό: an obligation, debt; business, matter, affair

    γενέθλη -ης, ἡ: race, stock, family

    Ἴκιος -ου, ὁ: Ician, of Icus, modern Alonissos, one of the Northern Sporades islands

    ξυνός -ή -όν: common, shared

    κλισίη -ης, ἡ: a couch (Ion. for κλισία)

    ἐπιτάξ: (adv.) by command or pre-arrangement

    Ὁμηρικός -ή -όν: Homeric, in the manner of Homer

    αἶνος -ου, ὁ: a tale, story; saying, proverb

    ψευδής -ές: lying, false, untrue 10

    Θρηΐκιος -η -ον: Thracian, of Thrace

    ἀποστυγέω: to hate violently, abhor

    χανδόν: (adv.) with mouth wide open, greedily

    ἄμυστις -ιος, ἡ: a long draught, large cup

    ζωροποτέω: drink neat or unmixed wine

    ἥδομαι: enjoy oneself, take one's pleasure

    κισσυβίον -ου, τό: a rustic drinking-cup

    περιστείχω: go round about

    ἄλεισον -ου, τό: cup, goblet

    εὖτε: (adv. of time) when, at the time when; (adv. of comparison, = ἠΰτε) as, even as

    δάω δαήσομαι ἐδάην: learn; ἐδάην = ἔμαθον

    αἶσα -ης, ἡ: share, portion 15

    λέσχη -ης, ἡ: talk, conversation

    οἶνος -ου, ὁ: wine

    ἀρυστήρ -ῆρος, ὁ: liquid measure, a cup or ladle

    φορέω: bear to and fro, bear along, (pass.) to be born along

    ἀτενής -ές: strained tight, intense, straight, unbending

    ὀφρύη -ης, ἡ: eyebrows (= ὀφρύς -ύος)

    οἰνοχόος -ου, ὁ: cupbearer, wine-pourer

    ἀτμήν -ένος, ὁ: slave, servant

    σαίνω: to wag the tail, fawn on

    φάρμακον -ου, τό: a drug, medicine, remedy 20

    πῶμα -ατος, τό: a drink. The short form πόμα πόματος occurs in Pindar and in later poets

    ἰχαίνω: long to, crave (= ἰχανάω)

    λέχομαι: lie down

    ἀνείρομαι: inquire of, question

    Μυρμιδόνες -ων,  οἱ: Myrmidons, a warlike people of Thessaly, subjects of Peleus and Achilles

    ἑσσῆν ἑσσῆνος, ὁ: king 

    πάτριος -α -ον: (adj.) of the father, hereditary, ancestral custom

    σέβομαι: feel awe, revere, worship

    Πηλεύς -έως, ὁ: Peleus, son of Aeacus, husband of Thetis, father of Achilles

    ξυνός -ή -όν: common, public, general

    Θεσσαλικός -ή- όν: Thessalian, of Thessaly

    ἕνεκεν: because of, thanks to 25

    γήτειον -ου, τό: a leek, a horn onion

    κάθοδος -ου, ἡ: a going down, descent

               .               .               .                .                .

    οὖας οὔατος, τό: ear (= οὖς, ὠτός, τό) 30

    μυθέομαι: say, speak

    ἀνέχω: hold up, lift up

    παῦρος -ον: little, small

    ὄλβιος -α -ον: happy, blessed, prosperous

    ναυτιλίη -ης, ἡ: sailing, seamanship, seafaring (Ion. for ναυτιλία)

    νῆϊς -ϊδος: (adj.) unknowing of, unpracticed in

    αἰών -ῶνος, ὁ: life, lifetime, time

    κῦμα -ατος, τό: wave, billow

    αἴθυια -ης, ἡ: a gull, shearwater, sea-bird

    εἰσοικίζω: bring in as a dweller or settler; (mid. and pass.) establish oneself or be established in; (metaph.) make oneself at home

    Fr. 178

    He did not miss the day of the opening of the jars, nor thε day when

    the pitchers of Orestes bring a happy day for slaves;

    and while celebrating the yearly festival of the child of Ikarios—

    your day, Erigone, who are most pitiable to Attic women—

    he invited congenial friends to the feast, and among them5

    now a new person, who was lately staying in Egypt,

    having come on some personal business. He was by 

    birth an Ician, and with him I shared a couch—

    not by pre-arrangement: rather the Homeric proverb

    is not false, that the god always leads like to like.10

    For he too hated to drink unmixed wine with his mouth wide 

    open in large Thracian gulps, but enjoyed the small cup.

    To him I said these things, as the beaker was going around

    for a third time, when I had learned his name and birth:

    "This saying is indeed very true that wine needs its15

    share not just of water, but also of conversation.

    That is something not brought around in ladles,

    and you won't ask for it by looking at the stern

    brows of the cupbearers, at a time when the freeman fawns on the slave—

    so let us throw some into the harsh drink like a drug,20

    Theogenes: there are things that my heart longs to hear

    from you. Tell me all, in response to my questions.

    Why is it the custom of your country to worship Peleus, the king 

    of the Myrmidons? How much does Icus have in common with Thessaly?

    On account of what ... holding an onion . . .25

    the descent(?) of the hero . . .

               .               .               .                .                .

    hold ears at the ready for those who want to tell a story30

    I myself having said these things. . ."

    "Thrice-blessed one, truly you are blessed as few are

    if you lead a life ignorant of seafaring; but my life

    is more at home in the waves than that of a seagull ..."

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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/pt/callimachus-aetia/uf/icus