1. Introduction Toward the end of Alcman IP, the choir of maidens makes a strangely emphatic exclamation about the presence of Hagesichora. The identity of this figure is mysterious, and the significance of the passage is unclear: οὐ γὰρ ἁ κ[α]λλίσφυροςἉγησιχ[ό]ρ[α] πάρ’ αὐτεῖ,Ἀγιδοῖ …. αρμένειθωστήρ[ιά τ’] ἅμ’ ἐπαινεῖ The appearance of the adjective καλλίσφυρος contributes to the mystery. It is the only… Read more
2. σφυρόν in the Iliad One way of approaching the importance of the epithet καλλίσφυρος is a consideration of the meaning and use of the noun σφυρόν which lies at its root. This noun is not particularly obscure in meaning, and yet it appears infrequently in Greek verse. It occurs not at all in Hesiod or in extant lyric poetry and only five times in Homer, all… Read more
3. καλλίσφυρος in the Iliad and the Odyssey In light of the symbolic associations that σφυρόν bears in the Iliad, it is difficult to believe that an epithet deriving from this noun, and that occurs in the same poetic tradition, has no specific meaning and no pertinence to its context. καλλίσφυρος is the only such epithet that appears in the Homeric poems. It occurs twice in the… Read more
4. καλλίσφυρος and τανίσφυρος in the Homeric Hymns Once the consistent symbolism emerges in the use of καλλίσφυρος in the Iliad and in the Odyssey, the question arises whether this epithet bears the same connotations, if any at all, in other works and in other genres of archaic Greek poetry. It could be that this use is confined to the artistry of Homer or to the specific… Read more
5. καλλίσφυρος, τανίσφυρος and εὔσφυρος in Hesiod The Hesiodic poems provide a wealth of examples of the use of καλλίσφυρος and τανίσφυρος. These epithets appear both in the Theogony and in the Shield of Heracles, as well as in the fragments, which even in their damaged condition contain revealing uses of the words. And, in addition to these two epithets, another one, εὔσφυρος, appears frequently in Hesiod. Read more
6. καλλίσφυρος and τανίσφυρος in Lyric Poetry The many appearances of the three epithets in archaic verse and the consistent connotations they possess form a provocative resource for the vocabulary and the symbolism of the poetry of later centuries. τανίσφυρος occurs three times in the extant body of lyric poetry, in poems of Bacchylides and Ibycus; and καλλίσφυρος occurs once, in Alcman’s Partheneion. The few appearances of… Read more
7. Conclusion Once it appears that there are consistent symbolic connotations to the noun σφυρόν and to the epithets deriving from it, connotations that transcend poetic genre and span the course of literary development from Homer to Bacchylides, a final question remains: why should these words have the implications they do? This is the kind of question that is impossible to solve definitively, but it is nevertheless… Read more
9. The allusive method Part of the artistic economy in the language of folk tradition is the allusive method, by which a fact or an idea is expressed indirectly but concretely through symbols. [1] In the lament, it has a further ritual significance, since the mourner may deliberately avoid explicit reference to death, addressing the dead in a series of striking images… Read more
Bibliography Abbreviations for reference works, epigraphical publications and periodicals are listed at the end of the bibliography. All references in the bibliography are to page numbers, except in the case of some collections of folk songs, where (no.) after the item indicates that references are to numbered texts and not to pages. [Reprints or more recent editions of books used in the first edition of the Ritual… Read more
Abbreviations I. Reference works and epigraphical publications AB = Analecta Bollandiana, Brussels ALG = Anthologia Lyrica Graeca, E. Diehl. 2 vols. Teubner, 2 ed., Leipzig, 1936 AP = Anthologia Palatina, ed. H. Beckby (Anthologia Graeca), Munich, 1957 AS = Acta Sanctorum, J. Bolland, Paris, 1863–1940 Bonn = Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae, Bonn, 1829–97 … Read more
