Collins, Derek. 2004. Master of the Game: Competition and Performance in Greek Poetry. Hellenic Studies Series 7. Washington, DC: Center for Hellenic Studies. http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:hul.ebook:CHS_CollinsD.Master_of_the_Game.2004.
20. Ptolemaic Homers
And Zeus addressed Hera, his sister and wife.
… and when he tired in his hands from killing.
The idiom in Greek requires that the noun χεῖρας, in the accusative, represent the body part that is fatigued in connection with the verb κάμνω ‘to weary’, while the participle ἐναίρων (from ἐναίρω ‘to slay, kill’) describes the action from which one is fatigued. However, the T scholia report that a rhapsode named Hermodorus (otherwise unknown) placed a different construction on this line. The scholion reads: Ἑρμόδωρος ὁ ῥαψῳδὸς χεῖρας ἐναίρων ἤκουε χειροκοπῶν, κατεχρήσατο δέ. “The rhapsode Hermodorus for χεῖρας ἐναίρων heard ‘hand-cutting’, and used it wrongly.”
I cite this passage at length because it provides significant background to the wide variety of poetry that was performed in theatres, such as the hexameters of Hesiod and Empedocles, [19] and also the iambic poems of Archilochus and Simonides. Most importantly for the present, however, is that the great theatre of Alexandria is singled out as the locale for the acting (ὑποκρίνομαι) of Hesiod and Homer. To follow Athenaeus’ logic of presentation, even the fact that the poetry of Homer and Hesiod was acted by a comedian (κωμῳδός) in Alexandria can be seen as a development of the greater theatricalization of Homeric performance begun by Demetrius.
golden, which Hephaistos had set thick around the crest [of the helmet]
316α [σείων Πηλιάδα μελ]ίην κατὰ [δεξιὸν] ὦμον
shaking the Pelian ash spear by his right shoulder
316β [δεινήν· ἀμφὶ δὲ χαλκὸ]σ̣ ἐλάμπ[ε]τ̣ο̣ [εἴκελοσ αὐγῆι
dangerous; and the bronze all around shone like a ray
316γ [ἢ πυρὸσ αἰθομένου ἢ ἠελίου] ἀνιόν τ̣[οσ.
either of blazing fire or of the rising sun
Note especially that the enjambing word (σείων) in 316α is a participle, a frequent and flexible type of enjambement in Homer and the Certamen, and that the participle is consistent with the uses of enjambement by rhapsodes for which I argued earlier. In any case, these three verses are identical to verses 133–35 from the same book, 22, of the Iliad, as transmitted through the vulgate. Now the question is, why do these plus verses appear at line 316 in this eccentric papyrus?
λεπτὸν καὶ χαρίεν, περὶ δὲ ζώνην βάλετ᾽ ἰξυῖ
καλὴν χρυσείην, κεφαλῇ δ᾽ ἐπέθηκε [31] καλύπτρην·
And the goddess herself put on a large white cloak,
delicate and lovely, and put a beautiful golden belt
around her waist, and put a veil upon her head.
β καλῶι νηγατέωι, τό ῥά οἱ τεθυωμένον ἦεν.
And the goddess covered herself up above with a beautiful,
newly-made headdress, which was fragrant for her.
These additional lines have caused much consternation, beginning with whether the καλύπτρη ‘veil’ was to be identified with the κρήδεμνον ‘headdress’ or whether these terms ought to remain distinct. [32] Because the lines describe a second veiling of Calypso, they have been viewed more recently by some commentators as “incoherent.” [33] But to take such a position is to assume a narrative standard that does not reflect the performance demands of Alexandrian rhapsodes, homêristai, or whoever performed these texts. As di Luzio has cautioned, we simply cannot apply modern standards to the Ptolemaic papyri, especially those derived from the study of written literature; [34] the variations reflect different performance objectives. Line 232α and the first hemistich of 232β are found in Iliad 14.184–5, in the context of Hera’s toilette in anticipation of her deceptive tryst with Zeus. The only difference is that the second hemistich of Iliad 14.185 reads λευκὸν δ᾽ ἦν ἡέλιος ὥς “it was as bright as the sun,” while the phrase in the papyrus, τό ῥά οἱ τεθυωμένον ἦεν “which was fragrant for her,” occurs several lines earlier at 14.172 and refers to the sweet smell of the olive oil with which Hera anoints herself. We have, then, formulaic lines transposed from a similar situation and added on through enjambement, which is a typical mark of rhapsodic manipulation. [35]
Footnotes