The paper deals with an interpretation of Cratin. fr. 7 K.-A. (Archilochoi). It is proposed that the interpretation given by the testimonia of the fragment (Phot. d 659 Th. = Sud. d 1213 A. = Apost. VI 20) is probably misguided and autoschediastic, partially based on a lemma of Hesychius (d 1925 L.), which contains an ancient varia lectio of Cratinus’ text itself: psephoi for pessoi. Basing on this possibility, the traditional interpretation of the fragment and the collocation in the agon of the comedy are newly discussed, and a comparison with a passage of Aristophanes (Nub. 955-56) is also proposed.
This paper deals with Paches’ trial, held in 427 BC in connection with the euthyna (the mandatory officials’ account) Paches underwent as a general during the Athenian campaign against Mytilene. This trial, unknown to the leading sources on this military campaign (Thucydides and Diororus), is mentioned in two almost identical passages of Plutarch’s Parallel Lives, and in an epigram of Agathias Scholasticus. Modern scholars have been quite sceptical about these accounts, especially in relation to the fact that Plutarch describes Paches’ suicide as a tragic consequence of his conviction on trial. Nevertheless, two passages of Aristophanes’ comedies, which appear to hint at the general’s tragic end, seem to move in the same direction as Plutarch. The comparison between our leading sources on the campaign against Mytilene and the late sources on Paches’ story allow us to trace back the procedural features of the general’s trial to a consistent framework.
This paper aims at verifying the reliability of a passage from Bekker’s Anecdota Graeca (I 310 1-5). In this passage the very existence of the adjudication procedure concerning a disputed property (epidikasia) in connection with criminal behaviours as idleness (argia) and insanity (paranoia) seems to be attested. The paper (firstly) reconstructs the procedure normally used to prosecute these crimes; (secondly) it assesses the applicability of the epidikasia procedure in the case of argia and paranoia; (finally) it asserts that the passage lacks reliability and that the epidikasia procedure was never used in connection with argia and paranoia. At the same time, the paper argues that the source of the error lies in the synthesis that seems to have marked the composition of the lexicon’s section in which the passage is included.
The so-called Meropis is one of the miraculous stories inserted by Theopompos into the Thaumasia, which in its turn was a digression in the historical narrative of the Philippika. A re-examination of the evidence shows that one fragment, preserved in a scholion to the Anabasis of Xenophon, has never been taken into account by the editors. Furthermore, some other allusions to this tale, which have usually also been neglected by scholars, can shed new light on its interpretation. Finally, the reading of this story in the framework of the historical narrative about Philip II suggests that it was meant by Theopompos as a criticism against the policy of the Macedonian king.
Lycurgus’ speech Against Leocrates is a difficult source for the history of Athens in the times of Alexander. In fact, the flight of Leocrates after Chaeroneia in 338 and his business and stay in Megara can be linked with the Macedonian domination, at the light of the close ties between Leocrates and some Macedonians, like Amintas, or the coincidence of Leocrateswith Harpalos, Alexander’s collaborator, in Megara during the grain distribution recorded by a famous stele of Cyrene (SEG XI, 2). Finally, a review of the date of the speech can connect the words of Lycurgus with the situation in Athens and the Aegean in the end of the 30’s of the IVth Century BC.
The relationship between the kingdom of Pontus and the kingdoms of the successors in 4th-3rd c. B.C. had the appearance of an intricate web of ambiguous ties, propagandist, dynastic and political, and culminated in the wedding of Antiochus III with Laodice, the daughter of Mithridates II: in this occasion Polybius (V 43, 1-4) highlights the Mithridatids’ nobility with reference to the Seven Persians that established Darius I. Nevertheless, Diodorus and Plutarch also link the Mithridatids with a dynasty of Cyus in Mysia, and attribute to the Macedonian Demetrius Poliorcetes a major role in the foundation myth of the Pontic kingdom. Through the comparison of the literary sources, this work shows that Hieronymus of Cardia concocted the whole tradition promoting the Iranian origins of the dynasty together with the Antigonid support to the creation of the Basileia. While the link with the Achaemenids implied prestige even beyond the days of Alexander the Great, the Mysian connection was designed to explain the Mithridatids’ political interactions with the Hellenistic dynasties. Showing that the earliest evidence of the promotion of the dynasty’s multicultural ties originated during the reign of Mithridates II, the paper ultimately provides a new perspective on the agenda and dynastic propaganda conceived by the king who is also known for the opening of the royal family to the Graeco-Macedonian through interdynastic marriages (epigamiai) with the Seleucids.
With this article the author concludes his researches on Aratus’ minor literary production, that is almost entirely lost (we can try to shed light only through the old testimonies relating it): he examines the minor works, such as hymns, epicedia, epigrams, and the letters traditionally attributed to the author of the Phaenomena. About these letters, of which no fragment remains, the paper distinguishes between the prosaic ones, certainly spurious, and the poetic ones, which could be attributed to Aratus.
The first part of this article is devoted to the comparison between interregnum and dictatorship comitiorum habendorum causa, whose different requirements are highlighted for their establishment. In light of this comparison, the paper aims to demonstrate that the dictatorship of Q. Fabius Maximus in 217 b.C. was established by means of an interregnum, as stated in the Fasti Capitolini, and not through a popular vote, as claimed by Livy and other sources.
This paper, structured in three sections, intends to focus the attention upon some specific aspects of Accius’ Atreus. In the first section, starting from an analysis of the record of Serv. auct. ad Verg. Aen. VIII 130, it is intended to highlight the importance of the unreleased role of Sterope as Atlas’ daughter and the possible consequences of this role on the Pelopids and on the sequences of events of Accian tragedy; in the second section are similarly highlighted the resemblances, to various levels, between the event of the golden lamb theft, symbol of power and source of brotherly discord, and that of the golden dog theft by Pandareus and Tantalus; in the third and last section it is tried to provide new confirmation of the fr. X. Ribbeck3 [= R.3] of Atreus to a messenger and to put its allocation at the end of the tragedy, through the semantic analysis of the terms tyrannus and daps and a parallel with a famous biblical sententia.
This article aims to evaluate the support to Mithridates VI Eupator, king of Pontus, in his war against Rome, stressing on his alliance with the Italian socii. After breaking into the province of Asia, the Pontic king boosted his diplomacy and received embassies from all over the Greek world. However, the sources indicate that many parts of Italy were among his allies (App. Mithr. 16). According to Diodorus (XXXVII 2, 11), an Italian embassy was sent to the king in order to ask for his help and to encourage him to attack Italy. This testimony might be linked to some numismatic evidences.
This article proposes a new interpretation of the Ep. IX 12 of Pliny the Younger. In the middle of the text we find a reference to ll. 101-110 of Terence’s Adelphoe, while the concluding sentence (et hominem esse te et hominis patrem) reveals the affinity with a similar expression, not identified so far, which was present in the texts of consolation (especially Seneca’s Consolatio ad Marciam and Plutarch’s Consolatio ad Apollonium, but originating from Teles). Pliny, through the mediation of the School of Rhetoric, recovers this sentence and transforms it into a real pedagogical project clearly derived from Terence.
The Stromateis of Clement of Alexandria are preserved by an unique codex, the Laurentianus V 3. The final portion consists of texts that the scholars believe independent works, that is, the Excerpta ex Theodoto and Eclogae propheticae. There is debate, however, whether the sections grouped under the title of ‘Book VIII’ belong to the Stromateis. This study looked at the whole issue and highlights some material aspects of codex of the Stromateis so far underrated, shedding light on the transmission way of the text: so it’s possible to say that the book VIII never existed. This ‘book’, transmitted by ms. Laurentianus V 3, was formed, before the time of Eusebius, by a very expert compiler with materials coming from the Hypotyposeis, perhaps with the aim to defend the work of Clement against accusations of heterodoxy.
The killing of Gallienus probably sprang from the violent reaction on the part of the army to the Emperor’s policy, which was pursuing an increasingly explicit military cooperation with the Germans; indeed Gallienus welcomed the Herulian chief Naulobatus, honoring him with ornamenta consularia, but also contracted with another Marcomannic chief, Attalus, so that territorial concessions in Pannonia were marked by the Germans collaboration in military control of the territory, and this covenant had the Emperor sanction through the concubinage with a daughter of Attalus. It also does not rule out the rejection of the new supreme military leadership to the dynastic succession, that prevented their participation and ability to Emperor election purposes.