Introduction
The Delian Maidens in the Homeric Hymn (3) to Apollo
κοῦραι Δηλιάδες Ἑκατηβελέταο θεράπναι·
αἵ τ’ ἐπεὶ ἂρ πρῶτον μὲν Ἀπόλλων’ ὑμνήσωσιν,
αὖτις δ’ αὖ Λητώ τε καὶ Ἄρτεμιν ἰοχέαιραν,
160 μνησάμεναι ἀνδρῶν τε παλαιῶν ἠδὲ γυναικῶν
ὕμνον ἀείδουσιν, θέλγουσι δὲ φῦλ’ ἀνθρώπων.
πάντων δ’ ἀνθρώπων φωνὰς καὶ κρεμβαλιαστὺν
μιμεῖσθ’ ἴσασιν· φαίη δέ κεν αὐτὸς ἕκαστος
φθέγγεσθ’· οὕτω σφιν καλὴ συνάρηρεν ἀοιδή.
165 ἀλλ’ ἄγεθ’ ἱλήκοι μὲν Ἀπόλλων Ἀρτέμιδι ξύν,
χαίρετε δ’ ὑμεῖς πᾶσαι· ἐμεῖο δὲ καὶ μετόπισθε
μνήσασθ’, ὁππότε κέν τις ἐπιχθονίων ἀνθρώπων
ἐνθάδ’ ἀνείρηται ξεῖνος ταλαπείριος ἐλθών·
ὦ κοῦραι, τίς δ’ ὔμμιν ἀνὴρ ἥδιστος ἀοιδῶν
170 ἐνθάδε πωλεῖται, καὶ τέῳ τέρπεσθε μάλιστα;
ὑμεῖς δ’ εὖ μάλα πᾶσαι ὑποκρίνασθαι ἀφ’ ἡμέων· [11]
τυφλὸς ἀνήρ, οἰκεῖ δὲ Χίῳ ἔνι παιπαλοέσσῃ,
τοῦ πᾶσαι μετόπισθεν ἀριστεύουσιν ἀοιδαί.
ἡμεῖς δ’ ὑμέτερον κλέος οἴσομεν ὅσσον ἐπ’ αἶαν
175 ἀνθρώπων στρεφόμεσθα πόλεις εὖ ναιεταώσας·
οἱ δ’ ἐπὶ δὴ πείσονται, ἐπεὶ καὶ ἐτήτυμόν ἐστιν.
αὐτὰρ ἐγὼν οὐ λήξω ἑκηβόλον Ἀπόλλωνα
ὑμνέων ἀργυρότοξον ὃν ἠΰκομος τέκε Λητώ.
And then, there is this great thing of wonder [thauma], the fame [kleos] of which will never perish:
the Delian Maidens, attendants [therapnai] of the one who shoots from afar. {229|230}
So [12] when they make Apollo their humnos [13] first and foremost,
and then Leto and Artemis, shooter of arrows,
160 they keep in mind men of the past and women too,
as they sing the humnos , and they enchant all different kinds of humanity.
All humans’ voices and rhythms [14]
they know how to reenact [mimeîsthai]. And each single person would say that his own voice
was their voice. That is how their beautiful song has each of its parts fitting together [sunarariskein] in place.
165 But come now, may Apollo be gracious, along with Artemis;
and you all also, hail and take pleasure [khairete], all of you [Maidens of Delos]. Keep me, even in the future,
in your mind, whenever someone, out of the whole mass of earthbound humanity,
comes here [to Delos], after arduous wandering, as a guest entitled to the rules of hosting, and asks this question:
“O Maidens, who is for you the most pleasurable of singers
170 that wanders here? In whom do you take the most delight [terpesthai]?”
Then you, all of you [Maidens of Delos], must very properly respond [hupokrinesthai] about me: [15]
“It is a blind man, and he dwells [oikeîn] in Chios, a rugged land,
and all his songs will in the future prevail as the very best.”
And I [16] in turn will carry your fame [kleos] as far over the earth
175 as I wander, throughout the cities of men, with their fair populations. {230|231}
And they will all believe – I now see – since it is genuine [etētumon].
As for me, I will not leave off [lēgein] making far-shooting Apollo
my humnos, [17] the one with the silver quiver, who was born of Leto with the beautiful hair.
Four words relating to the mimesis performed by the Delian Maidens
The making of mimesis by the chorus
The democratizing of choral lyric
Homer’s Delian Maidens and Hesiod’s Muses as models of mimesis
Choral performance as a nonprofessional activity
As I interpret the original Greek wording of this statement by the Old Oligarch, he is saying something different from what we see in the translation offered by Burkert. However slanted the views of the Old Oligarch may be when he speaks of the democratic State or Demos, his wording reflects accurately the historical circumstances that provoke those views. As I interpret the wording, he is not saying that the aristocrats of Athens in the archaic period were professionals when they sang and danced at choral events. It is quite the opposite. They were ostentatiously nonprofessional—just as they were ostentatiously nonprofessional when they participated in athletic events. The original Greek phrase tous de gumnazomenous … kai tēn mousikē̄n epitē̄deuontas needs to be rendered not as ‘those who performed sports and music’ but rather as ‘those who performed in athletic and in songmaking events’, where the mousikē or ‘songmaking’ includes {241|242} choral singing and dancing. [68] We can know for sure that the Old Oligarch has in mind a pairing of choral events with athletic events in this context because he goes on to say (Constitution of the Athenians 1.13) that the Demos tampered with aristocratic institutions by establishing democratic institutions of choral leadership and athletic leadership, khorēgia and gumnasiarkhia, where the rank and file are being led by khorēgoi ‘chorus leaders’ and gumnasiarkhoi ‘athletics leaders’ selected from the stratum of society that is rich enough to finance these activities, and thus ‘the Demos thinks it proper to get money for singing, running, and dancing’ (1.13 ἀξιοῖ γοῦν ἀργύριον λαμβάνειν ὁ δῆμος καὶ ᾄδων καὶ τρέχων καὶ ὀρχούμενος) just as it gets money for ‘sailing in ships’ (πλέων ἐν ταῖς ναυσίν), that is, for manning the warships or triremes of the Athenian navy.
The evolution of the choral poet-director
{245|246} We may consider Pindar a professional to the extent that he must have received some form or forms of compensation from the rich and powerful families that commissioned the composition of his songs and the performance of these songs by local choruses. But such local choruses who performed such compositions, in line with the earlier aristocratic pattern, would have been comprised of nonprofessional performers. And the relationship of the nonprofessional chorus and a professional poet-director like Pindar can be expressed in terms of mimesis: the chorus as a group can be the impersonator or the actor, as it were, of the poet-director. [76]
About the making of mimesis by the tragic chorus
Idiosyncrasies of the chorus in Athenian tragedy
The Delian Maidens as models of theatrical mimesis
As Lucian adds, the spectators that have seen such a spectacle of a perfectly executed dance can leave the theater with a sense of having participated in a perfect theatrical experience: καὶ ἀπέρχονται ἀπὸ τοῦ θεάτρου ἅ τε χρὴ αἱρεῖσθαι καὶ ἃ φεύγειν μεμαθηκότες καὶ ἃ πρότερον ἠγνόουν διδαχθέντες ‘and they come away from the theater with a sense of having learned all the things that they should embrace and all the things they should avoid, having learned things that they had not known before’ (On dance 81). And such a perfectly executed dance, as we see in the present context and elsewhere as well in Lucian’s essay, is a matter of mimesis (On dance 82: τῆς μιμήσεως). Further, it is a mimesis of experienced emotion, pathos (On dance 83: μίμησιν τοῦ πάθους).
πάντων δ’ ἀνθρώπων φωνὰς καὶ κρεμβαλιαστὺν
μιμεῖσθ’ ἴσασιν· φαίη δέ κεν αὐτὸς ἕκαστος
φθέγγεσθ’· οὕτω σφιν καλὴ συνάρηρεν ἀοιδή.
{249|250} They [= the Delian Maidens] enchant all different kinds of humanity.
All humans’ voices and rhythms
they know how to reenact [ mimeîsthai ]. And each single person would say that his own voice
was their voice. That is how their beautiful song has each of its parts fitting together [sunarariskein] in place.
Taking her cue from the use of the words paskhein ‘experience’ and pathos ‘experienced emotion’ in the passage I have quoted from Lucian’s essay, Peponi says that the choral performance of the Delian Maidens and the reaction of the audience are “mutually empathetic.” [86] Accordingly, she speaks of a choral “aesthetics of empathy.” [87]
The Delian Maidens as models of choral performance in tragedy
This description by Plutarch, composed half a millennium after the events described, still features the essential ritual concepts of hier(ei)a ‘sacrificial offerings’ and thusia ‘sacrifice, festival’.
<ναῶν> ὑμνοῦσ’ ἀμφὶ πύλας
τὸν Λατοῦς εὔπαιδα γόνον,
εἱλίσσουσαι καλλίχοροι·
παιᾶνας δ’ ἐπὶ σοῖς μελάθροις
κύκνος ὣς γέρων ἀοιδὸς
πολιᾶν ἐκ γενύων
κελαδήσω· τὸ γὰρ εὖ
τοῖς ὕμνοισιν ὑπάρχει.
A paean do the Delian Maidens
sing as a humnos around the temple gates,
singing (Apollo) the true child of Leto
as they swirl, and they have such a beautiful khoros.
I too, singing paeans at your palace,
aged singer that I am, like a swan,
from my graybearded throat,
will send forth a cry. For whatever is real
has a place to stay in my humnoi.