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
ὡ]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[
notes
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.