Corinth and Ephyra in Simonides' elegy (fr. 15-16 West, Plut. De malign. 872d-e)

Starikova Arina O.

mnimum

PHILOLOGIA CLASSICA

GRAECIA ANTIQUA IjÜlHHUHlliil

VOL. 14. FASC. 1. 2019

UDC 821.14

Corinth and Ephyra in Simonides' Elegy (fr. 15-16 West, Plut. De malign. 872D-E)*

Arina O. Starikova

St. Petersburg State University,

7-9, Universitetskaya nab., St. Petersburg, 199034, Russian Federation; arin.starikova@yandex.ru

For citation: Arina O. Starikova. Corinth and Ephyra in Simonides' Elegy (fr. 15-16 West, Plut. De malign. 872D-E). Philologia Classica 2019, 14(1), 8-19. https://doi.org/10.21638/11701/spbu20.2019.101

Plutarch cited Simonides' elegy with toponyms Corinth and Ephyra as proof that Corinthians had participated directly in the battle of Plataea (Plut. De malign. 872D-E). Though several places in Greece bore the name Ephyra (Strab. 8, 3, 5), a number of features in Simonides' text allows us to identify Ephyra with Corinth, but the juxtaposition of two names of the same city needs to be explained. On the one hand, Ephyra could denote a territory adjacent to Corinth, but it is difficult to localize it; attempts were made to identify the historical Ephyra with one of the settlements of the Mycenaean period in the vicinity of Corinth (Korakou and Aetopetra). On the other hand, several sources mention the fact that Ephyra could be used as the ancient name for Corinth, and Aristarchus remarked that in Homer Corinth was called Ephyra in the characters' speeches (i. e. by Glaucus); to be sure, in literary texts, and especially in poetry, the toponyms Ephyra and Corinth are virtually interchangeable. It thus seems probable that Simonides mentioned Ephyra as the ancient name of Corinth, implying by the use of this toponym, as well as by the mentioning of Glaucus, that the Corinthians who fought at Plataea were equal in prowess to the Homeric heroes.

Keywords: Simonides, Corinth, Ephyra, battle of Plataea, Acrocorinth, Glaucus, Korakou, Aetopetra.

In his treatise On the Malice of Herodotus Plutarch cites Simonides' elegy contesting the historian's account of the battle of Plataea. According to Herodotus (9, 69), Corinthians did not directly take part in the military action:

* I would like to thank E. L. Ermolaeva and the readers for Philologia Classica for their helpful comments and suggestions.

аЛЛа KopivGiou; -ye ка! xdi;iv ^v s|idxovxo то!; pappdpoi;, ка! теЛо; ^XiKov Unfjp^ev айто!; ano той nXaxaiaaiv a-ywvo; e^eaxi Zi|iwvi6ou nuGsaGai Ypd9ovxo^ sv xofrroi;

|isaaoi; 6' o'l x"E9upnv поЛитбака vaiexdovxe;, navxoir|;; apexfj;; iSpie; sv лоЛецш, о!' те n6\iv ГЛайкою KopivGiov aaxu vs|iovxe; o!' <?> кdЛЛlaтov |idpxuv eGevxo n6vwv, Хриаой xi|^evxo^ sv a'lGspi- Kai афгу as^ei auxwv x' eupeiav ^r^va ка! naxspwv.

тайта yap ой xopov sv KopivGw SiSda^v ой6' aa|ia noiwv e'i; x^v n6\iv, аЛЛш; 6s та; npd^ei; ёке^а;, sXe-yeig -ypd9wv, [атбр^ке^

(Plut. De malign. 872D-E Bernardakis; Simon. fr. 15-16 West)

"About the Corinthians, their battle formation against the barbarians, and the consequences for them after the battle of Plataea we can learn from Simonides. He writes:

And in the center both the inhabitants of Ephyra with its many springs,

well acquainted with all sorts of virtue in battle,

and those who rule Glaucus' town, the Corinthian citadel

<who> served as the finest witness of their toils

the precious gold in the sky; this to their benefit will increase

their own and their fathers' broad fame'.

Simonides has recorded this, neither for a choral production in Corinth nor for a song in honor of the city, but simply writing up these events in elegiacs."

(Transl. D. Sider 2001, 22-23)

Simonides asserts that the inhabitants of Corinth and Ephyra did indeed fight at Plataea; the sun itself witnessed their valour. A significant number of corrections has been proposed for the transmitted text.1 Already Reiske saw that Plutarch must have changed the Homeric form 'E^up^v to the Attic form 'E^upav when citing the fragment. Meaaoi is an amendment that was proposed earlier by Turnebus (1553), and an improvement in clarity on the transmitted цеааои;; in a similar vein, O. Poltera has recently proposed |eaa6Gi. Should цеааои; be preserved, it would have to depend on a lost word from the previous verse. M. West accepted v£|ovxec; instead of ve|ovxai, following Aldus Manuti-us. He also formally divided the lines quoted by Plutarch into two fragments of the same elegy (so that verses 1-3 constitute fragment 15, verses 4-6 fragment 16), surmising that о!' was probably inserted by Plutarch to introduce the next extract from the same elegy by Simonides. The beginning of v. 4. was restored differently: earlier editors joined these two passages and considered о!' the authentic beginning of v. 4, so that only the following syllable needed to be reconstructed (Hiller reconstructed o!'nep, Bergk — о!' ка! каЛЛ^ш; the latter conjecture was accepted by Pearson and Sandbach).2 Schneidewin reconstructed the beginning of v. 4 as ra^ov without Plutarch's insertion о!'.3 Amendments каЛЛ^ш and ra^ov explain xpuaou in genetive; without corrections xpuaou is unclear.4 It is fair-

1 Plutarch's text follows Bernardakis' edition, but the poetic fragments are adjusted according to M. L. West's edition (West 21992, 121-122), followed by D. Sider.

2 See Hiller 1911, 249; Bergk 1843, 772; Pearson, Sandbach 1970, 120.

3 Schneidewin 1835, 82. The reader suggested that the initial word of verse 4 might have been noAAoi: this solution would unite two fragments in a coherent text; however, it constitutes a shift in meaning ("many" instead of "which").

4 Catenacci (2001, 127) explains xpuaou as genetivus materiae.

ly certain that the elegy did not end with fr. 16, 3 West (autwv t' eupeiav KAnSova Kal natEpwv).5

The juxtaposition of'Eqtupa, noAic; rAauKoio and KopivGiov aatu seems unusual. As Plutarch quoted both fragments of Simonides' elegy when discussing Corinthians' prowess, he must have understood Ephyra as Corinth itself, but the correlation of these expressions is not self-evident because several cities in Greece bore the name "Ephyra" including Corinth. The issue is that in Simonides' fragment 'Eq>upa and noAic; rAauKoio, KopivGtov aatu are joined by the coordinating particle te, and it is logical to assume that they designated different places. This paper will examine the possible interpretations of'Eqtupa.

To some scholars, Simonides' wording suggested that noAic; rAauKoio and KopivGtov aatu designated Acrocorinth (aatu is regularly used for a citadel), while 'Eq>upa noAurnSa^ denoted the chora of Corinth. F. G. Schneidewin in particular adhered to this interpretation; similarly, C. Catenacci suggested that noAi; rAauKoio, KopivGtov aatu could be identified with the remains of a considerable settlement on Acrocorinth dating to the archaic period, the time of Simonides.6 He assumed that Simonides could be drawing attention to the fact that both the citizens of the city of Corinth and the inhabitants of the chora defended Greece in the battle of Plataea in contrast to the Trojan war, when two Corinthians, Euchenor and Glaucus, fought for the two opposite sides.7 I. Rutherford's opinion that, on the contrary, 'Eq>upa noAurnSa^ must denote Acrocorinth because noAurnSa^ had been used by Homer for mount Ida,8 does not seem convincing.

According to Strabo, four cities, besides a village and an island, were called Ephyra: 1) Corinth itself, 2) a town in Thesprotia, 3) a town in Thessaly, 4) a town on the riverside of the Selleeis:

|i£Ta^u SE tou XeAwvaTa Kal tf; KuAAr|vr; o te n^veio; ekSISuot TC0Ta|i6; Kal o ZeAA^ei; uno tou noir|Tou Aeyo|evo;, pEwv ek OoAor; £9' w Eq>upa noAi;, EtEpa tf; ©EanputiKf; Kal ©ETTaAiK^; Kal tf; KopivGou, TEtaptr ti; £nl tfl oSw KEi|iEv| tfl £nl tov Aaaiwva, ^toi ^ aur^ ouaa tfl Boivwa (t^v yap Olvorv out« KaAEiv ElwGaaiv) ^ nAraiov ekeIv^;, SiExouaa tf; 'HAeIwv tcoAe«; ataSiou; EKatov EiKoaiv^ ^ te TArnoAs|iou tou 'HpaKAsou; Soke! AsyEaGai I^T^p^ t^v a-yEt' Eqmpr; nota|ou ano ZeAA^evto; <...> sati Se Kal nEpl ZiKuwva ZeAA^ei; nota|o; Kal Eqmpa nAnaiov K«|i|, Kal £v tfl Aypaia tf; AltwAia; Eq>upa KW|ir|, 01 S' an' autf; 'E9upoi- Kal aAAoi 01 nEppai^wv npo; MaKESovia, 01 Kpavvwvioi, Kal 01 ©EanpwtiKol 01 ek Kixupou tf; npotEpov Eqmpa;. (Strab. 8, 3, 5, C 338)

"It is between Chelonatas and Cyllene that the river Peneius empties; as also the river Selleeis, which is mentioned by the poet and flows out of Pholoe. On the Selleeis is situated a city Ephyra, which is to be distinguished from the Thesprotian, Thessalian and Corinthian Ephyras; it is the fourth Ephyra situated on the road that leads to Lasion, being either the same city as Boenoa (for thus Oenoe is usually called), or else near that city, at a distance of one hundred and twenty stadia

5 The end of this elegy ^eivoSokwv yap apiato; o xpuao; £v alGspi Aa|nwv in Schneidewin's edition; similarly Bergk, but with wpiaro; instead of apiato;. Based on the newly found papyrus (P. Oxy. 3965 fr. 5), M. L. West restored ]noAu[ in verse following fr. 16, 3 (in this he is followed by Sider (2001, 22), whereas the verse ^eivosokwv yap apiato; o xpuao; £v alGspi Aa|nwv appears in the West's edition as Simon. fr. 12.

6 Schneidewin 1835, 83; cf. Catenacci 2001, 122.

7 "...i Corinzi hanno partecipato ad unum omnes: sia quelli che abitano le contrade dell' antica Efira sia quelli che popolano l'urbe attorno all' Acrocorinto (aatu KopivGiov) <.> Glauco e nome emblematico ed evocativo, tutt' altro che generico, per Corinto e i Corinzi quando si parla della guerra di Troia, come appunto accade nell' elegia per la battaglia di Platea" (Catenacci 2001, 126).

8 Rutherford 2001, 49.

from the city of the Eleians. This, apparently, is the Ephyra which Homer calls the home of the mother of Tlepolemus, the son of Heracles, when he says: 'Whom he had brought out of Ephyra, from the river Selleeis' <...> But there is another river Selleeis near Sicyon, and near the river a village Ephyra. And in the Agaean district of Aetolia there is a village Ephyra; its inhabitants are called Ephyri. And there are still other Ephyri, I mean the branch of the Perrhaebians who live near Macedonia (the Crannonians), as also those Thesprotian Ephyri of Cichyrus, which in earlier times was called Ephyra."

(Transl. H. L. Jones, slightly modified)

Strabo's catalogue of Ephyras consists of two parts, stemming probably from two distinct traditions, partly from Demetrius of Scepsis and partly from Apollodorus of Athens; both scholars are referred to by Strabo himself (Strab. 8, 3, 6). Ephyra is mentioned in Homeric epos seven times (Il. 2, 659; 6, 152; 6, 210; 13, 301; 15, 531; Od. 1, 260; 2, 328), and it is not always clear which city, Thesprotian or Thessalian, is meant.9 There were also three rivers called Selleeis,10 and we know that Apollodorus and Demetrius debated the location of Ephyra on this river (Hom. Il. 2, 659; 15, 528-531); Demetrius located it in Elis (in this he is followed by Strabo), Apollodorus, on the other hand, continuing Aristarchus' tradition (see Jacoby 1993, 788 on Apollod. F. gr. Hist. 244, 181) located it in Thesprotia.11 A contamination of two independent traditions regarding Homeric Ephyra is possible, as both lists mention Thessaly. C. W. Blegen suggested that the second list is an interpolated gloss on the first one and "the village near Sicyon is really a second version of the Corinthian Ephyra mentioned above".12 However, if the second list of Ephyras was a gloss on the first one, the expression eaxt Se Kai nspi ZtKuwva ZeAA^etq noxa^oq Kai 'E^upa nAraiov K«m would correspond to 'E^upa noAiq... x^q KopivGou. It is difficult to assert that words K«m and noAiq designate the same Ephyra. S. Radt also noted that Strabo enumerates cities and villages separately.13 On the other hand, Strabo mentions both the Ephyra in Si-cyonia (the village) and the Corinthian Ephyra (a suburb of Corinth or its ancient name), which is situated in the vicinity of the first, and if he understood 'E^upa noAiq... x^q KopivGou as designating the suburb, it may have also been the Ephyra in Sicyonia; in other words, here as well, we might be dealing with a gloss.

Independently of the question whether Strabo viewed Ephyra as the ancient name of Corinth, one of Ephyras mentioned in Strab. 8, 3, 5=C 338, was a village near Sicyon and the other was Corinth itself. The Ephyra mentioned in Simonides' elegy must be one of these cities or villages. What might help us to identify it? According to the text of the fragment, it would have abounded in water (Simonides qualified it as noAumSa^) and its

9 Moreover L. Deroy supposed that Homeric Ephyra was not a real city, connecting this toponym with (scpupoq (Deroy 1949, 401-402), but the description of Ephyras in the geographical sources allows to localize them.

10 Rivers with the name Selleeis flow in Thesprotia, in Elis, and in Troad (Honigmann 1923, 1320). Towns and villages named Ephyra were situated in Elis on the Selleeis, in Sicyonia (on the Selleeis, too, according to Strabo), in Thessaly (identified with Crannon), in Epirus (identified with Cichyrus), and also Corinth had a name Ephyra (Philippson 1907, 20-21).

11 Hom. II. 2, 659: r^v aysT 'Ecpupr|q nora^ou ano EsAA^svroq. Like ancient sources, modern commentators place the Homeric Ephyra on the Selleeis in the different regions: Jones (1988, map 9), and Janko (1995, 287) in Elis. G. S. Kirk with reference to Aristarchus (schol. ad Il. 2, 659 A Erbse) located this Ephyra in Thesprotia (Kirk 1985, 225). Also Ephyra in Hom. Od. 1, 260-263 was identified by Strabo with the one in Elis (Strab. 8, 3, 5) but now is recognized as Thesprotian Ephyra (Heubeck 1990, 108).

12 Blegen 1923, 159.

13 Radt 2007, 390-391.

inhabitants would have had a good reputation in war (navxoinq apex^q I'Spieq ¿v noX.£|«). While these characteristics may apply to some of the other Ephyras, Plutarch's context implies that he understood it as Corinthian Ephyra.

Indeed, both traits mentioned above would suit Corinth. As for the Corinthians' military prowess, it was known from the Iliad, where Euchenor and Glaucus, Corinthian heroes, fought in the battle of Troy, Euchenor on the side of the Achaeans (Hom. Il. 13, 663-668), and Glaucus on the side of the Trojans (Hom. Il. 6, 144-153). This singular circumstance (two outstanding representatives of one city fighting on different sides of the conflict) was, as L. R. Farnell pointed out, first emphasized by Simonides, and referred to by Pindar,14 whose words npo AapSavou xetxewv ¿SoK^aav / ¿n' a^oxepa |axav xd|veiv xeXoq implied both Glaucus and Euchenorus (Pind. Ol. 13, 56-57).15 In addition Pindar noted that Glaucus lived in Lycia (Hom. Il. 6, 210), however his ancestors' hometown was Corinth:

(Pind. Ol. 13, 60-62)

"The Danaans trembled before Glaucus who came from Lycia. And to them he boasted that in

the city of Peirene were the kingship and rich inheritance and the palace of his father."

(Transl. W. H. Race)

Thus, Glaucus was connected with Ephyra (in Homer), with Corinth (in Pindar) and also with Lycia.16 In Homer Glaucus himself designated his hometown as Ephyra, not Corinth, but the scholiasts understood them as two names of the same city. The issue of the double name for Corinth in poetry will be treated below.

As for the abundance of water (E^upn noXumSa^), poets as well as geographers report that Corinth was well supplied with water. In one of his famous epitaphs, also quoted by Plutarch,

Simonides qualifies Corinth as euuSpoq:

14 See Farnell 1965, 95. He cites another Simonides' verse from Aristotle's Rhetoric: Kopiv9ioiq 5' oti |£|9exai to "IXiov (1363a16 with varia lectio oti |aviei: PMG Simon. 572). According to Aristotle, Corinthians were insulted by Simonides' hint at their having taken part in the Trojan war on both sides of the conflict. It is tempting to imagine that the laudatory tone of fr. 15-16 West might have been an attempt to appease the Corinthians. C. Catenacci also remarks that the hint at Glaucus in PMG 572 must have been particularly insulting for the Corinthians during the Persian wars ("Un'affermazione equivoca e tendenziosa nel parallelismo tra querra troiana e guerre persiane e nella temperie di voci non edificanti sulla condotta dei Corinzi a Salamina e Platea" — Catenacci 2001, 124). The fact that Simonides was specifically referring to Glaucus is confirmed by Plutarch (o Zi|«viSr|q <pr|a'v, w Eoaaie EeveKiwv, xoiq Kopiv9ioiq oti |r|vieiv to "IXiov ¿niaxpaxeüaaai |exa xwv Äxaiwv, öxi KdKeivoiq o'l nepi TXaÜKov ¿^ äpxfjq Kopiv9ioi yeyovoxeq auve^axouv npo9ü||«q...: "Simonides says 'Ilium is not wroth with the Corinthians' for coming up against her with the Achaeans, because the Trojans also had Glaucus, who sprang from Corinth, as a zealous ally", Plut. Dion 1, 1; transl. B. Perrin) and it is quoted in scholia to Pindar (schol. ad Ol. 13, 78c).

15 Gildersleeve 1890, 233.

16 Modern scholars assume that Glaucus' residence in Lycia reflects the transposition of a Lycian myth to Corinth: thus, L. Malten suggested that the author of the Corinthian epic cycle known as "Eumelus" (see West 2002, 109) may have transferred the myth of Bellerophon to Corinth, although it had originally been connected with Lycia, because Corinth did not have a myth of its own: "Das sagenlose Korinth bereichert sich um einen Mythos, den es aus der Ilias entnimmt, mit dem Trick, daß es das dortige Ephyra sich gleichsetzt" (Malten 1944, 8-9; see also Stoevesandt 2008, 60).

(CEG 131; Simon. 157 Schneidewin; 81 Hiller;

Plut. De malign. 870E; Dio Chrys. 20, 18)

"Hail stranger! Once by Corinth's fairest springs we dwelt; Now Salamis, isle of Ajax, holds our dust. Phoenician ships we smote here, Medes and Persians felled, And kept the holy land of Hellas free."

(Transl. L. Pearson, F. H. Sandbach)18

How well Corinth was supplied with water may be seen from Pausanias, who lists numerous springs of the city (Paus. 2, 3, 5). The most celebrated among them was, of course, Peirene, which came to be seen as almost the "heart" of the city: thus, in the victory ode quoted above, Pindar calls Corinth aatu neipavat; (Pind. Ol. 13, 61); in the Delphic oracle, quoted by Herodotus, Peirene is the main feature of Corinth (.KopivGioi, 01 nepl KaA^v / neip^vrv oIkeTte Kal 09pu6evTa KopivGov — Hdt. 5, 92B: "Corinthians, you who dwell by lovely Pirene and the overhanging heights of Corinth" — transl. A. D. Godley). Strabo discusses the stream of Peirene and explains Euripides' epithet nepiKAuaTo; AKpoKopivGo; (Eur. fr. 1084 Nauck) as 'washed on all sides' in the depths round the mountain (Strab. 8, 6, 21, C 379).19 Strabo clearly refers to the Upper Peirene, the spring at Acrocorinth. Another spring bearing the same name surfaces outside the walls of Acrocorinth. It was described by Pausanias (Paus. 2, 5, 1), who supposed that both Peirenes, the upper and the inferior one, flowed from the same underground river.20

Thus, seeing that Corinth abounded in water and its inhabitants were famous for valour, it is natural to understand Simonides' Ephyra as denoting Corinth. More specifically, it is not unreasonable to suppose that 'Eq>upn noAumSa^ might denote Acrocorinth. However, the exact relationship between the two toponyms in the poem remains unclear.

17 Metonymical designation of a city by its outstanding hero (or eponym) is frequent in Homer (Il. 2, 332; 2, 677; 11, 682; 14, 230; 17, 191) and the practice continued in elegies (Mimn. fr. 9, 1), tragedy (Eur. fr. 228, 6) and in epigrams (AP 7, 708). This type of designation became particularly widespread in sepulchral epigrams, where the native city of the deceased had to be mentioned alongside his name (AP 7, 24; 7, 78; 7, 81 etc).

18 Plutarch referred to Simonides' epigram in order to demonstrate that Corinthians actively participated in the Persian wars, but Pearson and Sandbach suggested that this inscription may commemorate an earlier expedition to Salamis, as the lettering can be dated to the period before 600 B. C. (Pearson, Sandbach 1970, 107). A. Petrovic dates this epigram to the period after 480 B. C., characterizing the lettering as archaizing ("die Schrift scheint deswegen eine absichtlich archaisierte Variante der korinthischen Schrift" — Petrovic 2007, 145). O. Hansen supposed that the epigram might have been authored by Solon and that Simonides supplemented it (Hansen 1991, 206-207). For our purposes, however, it is important that, whatever its authorship and date, this epigram characterized Corinth as abounding in water.

19 Radt disagrees with this explanation preferring to connect nepiKAuatov with the two gulfs, Corinthian and Saronic, that wash the shores of Corinthia (cf. bimaris Corinthus — Hor. Carm. 1, 7, 2; Ov. Fast. 4, 501). This version seems to contradict Euripides, who described not Corinth as the whole city, but specifically Acrocorinth (iepov oxGov).

20 This idea was denied by S. Radt (2007, 485) and B. H. Hill (1964, 4).

Ancient scholars, as early as Aristarchus, remarked that Homer used the name KóptvQoq in his narrative (Il. 2, 570; 13, 664), whereas 'Ефирп was reserved for character's speech; thus, it is used twice (Il. 6, 152; 210) by Glaucus in address to Diomedes:

eaxi тоЛк; 'Ефирп |ихф Ар-yeoi; InnopóToio, ev0a 5s Xía^oi; eaKev, o KÉpSiaTo^ -ysveT' áv6pwv.

(Il. 6, 152-153)

"There is a city Ephyra in a corner of Argos, pastureland of horses, and there dwelt Sisyphus who was craftiest of men (Transl. A. T. Murray).

The scholiast remarks on this passage:

oTi Ефирг^ T^v KópivGov s^ ^pw'ÍKoü npoawnou einev (schol. A ad Il. 6, 152)

"That he called Corinth Ephyra when speaking through the heroic character's mouth".21

The idea became popular with Roman scholars, cf. in particular Velleius Paterculus:

Paulo ante Aletes (...) Corinthum, quae antea fuerat Ephyre, claustra Peloponnesi continentem, in Isthmo condidit. Neque est quod miremur ab Homero nominari Corinthum; nam ex persona poetae et hanc urbem et quasdam Ionum colonias iis nominibus appellat, quibus vocabantur aetate eius, multo post Ilium captum conditae (Vell. Pat. 1, 3, 3).

"Shortly before these events Aletes (...) founded upon the Isthmus the city of Corinth, the key to the Peloponnesus, on the site of the former Ephyra. There is no need for surprise that Corinth is mentioned by Homer, for it is in his own person as poet that Homer calls this city and some of the Ionian colonies by the names which they bore in his day, although they were founded long after the capture of Troy" (Transl. F. W. Shipley).

Velleius Paterculus may have found the definition of Ephyra as the ancient name for Corinth in geographical treatises, where the identification appeared regularly. Thus, Pliny mentioned Ephyra as the ancient name of Corinth:

In medio hoc intervallo, quod Isthmon appellavimus, adplicata colli habitatur colonia Corinthus, antea Ephyra dicta, sexagenis ab utroque litore stadiis, e summa sua arce, quae vocatur Acro-corinthos, in qua fons Pirene, diversa duo maria prospectans. (Plin. HN 4, 6).

"In the middle of this neck of land which we have called the Isthmus is the colony of Corinth, the former name of which was Ephyra; its habitations cling to the side of a hill, seven and half miles from the coast on either side, and the top of its citadel, called Acrocorinth, on which is the spring of Pirene, commands views of the two seas in opposite directions."

(Transl. H. Rackham).

This remark probably goes back to Pausanias (2, 1, 1), but unlike Pliny, Pausanias spoke of Corinthia (KopivGia), calling Ephyraea (Ефира1а) the whole region. Pausanias was drawing not on a scholarly source, but on a certain "Eumelus" (fr. 4 Bernabé), whose poem Corinthiaca he summarized:

21 This remark was later included in Eustathius' commentary on the Iliad: ar||ieiouvTai 5s o'l naXaioi, oTi r^v KópivGov, ^vÍKa ^pw'itóv sari то XaXoüv npóawnov, Ефирг^ KaXeí — Eust. ad Il. 2, 570, van der Valk I, 448.

(Paus. 2, 1, 1).

"The Corinthian land is a portion of the Argive, and is named after Corinthus (...) Eumelus, the son of Amphilytus, of the family called Bacchidae, who is said to have composed the epic poem, says in his Corinthian history (if indeed the history be his) that Ephyra, the daughter of Oceanus, dwelt first in this land (...) and that Asopia was renamed after Sicyon, and Ephyraea after Corinthus" (Transl. W. H. S. Jones).

Pausanias reports that a region was named after Ephyra, the daughter of Epimetheus, but "Eumelus" would have probably called the city of Corinth so as well.22 The use of the toponym Ephyra instead of Corinth can be found in poetic contexts, both Greek and Latin. In Ovid (Met. 7, 391-392) Medea reaches Ephyra (scil. Corinth). Similarly, Ephyra was used as a poetic substitute for Corinth in Callimachus (Hymn 4, 42), and in an epigram by Agathius Scholasticus (AP 7, 220). And in another passage of Ovid's Metamorphoses

Ephyra appears both as a toponym and as the name of the eponym nymph: quaerit Beotia Dircen, / Argos Amymonen, Ephyre Pirenidas undas (Ov. Met. 2, 239-240).

Thus, in poetry the name Ephyra was regularly used to designate Corinth; there is in fact an interesting example of such usage in a relatively late Corinthian elegiac inscription:

arfas Se e'iv 'E9up[r|] nip|viSoq ayx[i pesGpwv] / t^Se Zekou[vS (IG IV, 1604) ".put me up so in Ephyra near the stream of Peirene Secundinus".

The name ZsKou[vSsivoq] restored by B. D. Meritt clearly shows that the inscription must be dated to Roman times.23 The choice of the poetic and archaizing toponym Ephy-ra, unusual for epigraphic sources, for Corinth, reinforces the general solemnity of the inscription, although it may also be due to metrical considerations.

Origially, Ephyra and Corinth would have denoted different places. In the Iliad Ephyra is described as situated |ux« 'Apysoq innoporoio (Il. 6, 152). The expression |ux$ 'Apysoq occurs twice in Homer, in Od. 3, 263 denoting the city of Argos. The word |ux$ in Il. 6, 152 suggests that location of the city was at a certain distance from the shore, but Corinth is situated on the two gulfs. In fact, the location of Argos is not obvious here and it was interpreted differently in the scholia: 'Apyoq Innoporoq was placed by Aristonicus following Aristarchus in Peloponnesus, and by other scholiast — in Thessaly (schol. bT).24 According to Strabo, there was Ephyra in Thessaly, that was identified with Crannon,

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22 'E^üpa ^ KopivOoq, äno 'E^üpaq xrjq 'E-m|r|0£wq Ouyaxpoq- Eu|r|Xoq SS äno 'E^üpaq xrjq 'flKeavou Kai Tr|6üoq, yuvaiKÖq SS yevo|£vr|q 'E-m|r|0£wq: "Ephyra is Corinth, named after Ephyra, the daughter of Epimetheus; but Eumelus said, that after Ephyra, the daughter of Ocean and Tethys, who became the wife of Epimetheus" (Eum. fr. 1 Bernabe=Schol. in Ap. Rhod. 4, 1212-14b). The myth about Ephyra is also known from Hyginus: Ephyre nympha Oceani filia Ephyren [condidit], quam postea Corinthum appellarunt (Hyg. Fab. 275): "The nymph Ephyre, daughter of Ocean, founded Ephyre, which was later named Corinth".

23 Meritt 1931, 66.

24 Apyoq SS InnößoTov x^v ne\onövvr|aov KaXei, x^v SS ©erraXiav Apyoq neXaayiKov (schol. A ad Il. 6, 152). Also a|eivov SS Apyoq mnößoxov x^v ©eaaaXiav Xsyeiv (schol. bT ad Il. 3, 258).

whose location on the plain of Larissa suits the expression ^ux« Apyeoc; better (Strab. 9,

5, 6). Thus, W. Leaf assumed that myth about Bellerophon recounted by Glaucus (Hom. II.

6, 155-211), referring to a certain Ephyra, came from Thessaly, and only later was transposed to Corinth.25 However, the scholiast (scholium A ad loc.) remarked that the epithet Apyoc; Innóporoq denoted Peloponnesian Argos that could be taken metonymically: W. Leaf in addition to the Thessalian Ephyra, proposed another solution, as the expression ^uxw Apyeoc; should be taken to mean "in a corner of Peloponnesus"; thus, Ephyra would be situated near Corinth.26 Finally, ^ux« Apyeoc; can be taken in the broad sense as "in the heart of Greece". According to Stephanus of Byzantium, ^ux« Apyeoc; should be understood here as "in the heart of Greece", as Argos means the realm of Agamemnon (Il. 1, 30; 2, 108; 13, 379) and may imply the Peloponnesus and the whole Greece. Similarly B. Graziosi and J. Haubold thought that the expression referred to Glaucus' hometown in Greece, i. e. that for the hero, while at Troy, Ephyra seemed very far away, so that speaking about it he imagined it as situated in the very heart of Greece.27

As Ephyra was suggested to be situated in the vicinity of Corinth, there have been attempts to identify it with the remnants of the settlements near the city. P. Monceaux placed Ephyra near the sanctuary of Poseidon on the Isthmus; this version was not accepted by other scholars.28 Thus, W. Leaf and C. W. Blegen were debating on Korakou and Aetopetra: Leaf placed Ephyra of Glaucus in Sicyonia (it was his third suggestion about location of Homeric Ephyra), identifying the citadel of Aetopetra with Ephyra and the river Longo-potamos with the Selleeis (Aetopetra is situated 3 km. to the west from ancient Corinth and about 13 km. from Sicyon).29 C. W. Blegen initially identified Ephyra with Korakou in the vicinity of Lechaeum, 4 km. to the northeast from ancient Corinth, however, two years later, in a discussion with Leaf, he admitted that Aetopetra as well as Corinth itself, could also be the Homeric Ephyra, and that "the exact situation may indeed never be identified".30 A. Philippson referring to C. Blegen does not specify the location of Ephyra, but suggests that it may have been the part of Corinth.31 Other scholars are more cautious: R. J. A. Talbert does not indicate Corinthian Ephyra on the map in the Barrington Atlas,

25 Leaf 1900, 268. R. Drews also believes that "Ephyre of the Bellerophon story was originally either Aetolian or Thessalian Ephyre", and that Ephyra could not be the ancient name of Corinth, because K6piv9oc; "seems to be one of the oldest place-names in Greece" (Drews 1979, 122). The suffix -iv9- shows the pre-Greek origin of this toponym (Lenschau 1924, 1010). On the other hand, G. S. Kirk in his commentary on this passage (Hom. Il. 6, 152) notes only that Ephyra was the old name of Corinth, without remarking on the possible transfer of toponym (Kirk 1990, 177).

26 Leaf 1900, 268. B. Mader shares Leaf's opinion about the transfer of the toponym from Ephyra, situated near Corinth, to Corinth itself (Mader in LfgrE, Lief. XIV, 1489 (s. v. Kopiv9o;). Autenrieth also understood Argos in Il. 6, 152 as pars pro toto for Peloponnesus (1904, 52 s. v. 'Apyo;).

27 .. .r|yv6r|0£ 5' öti |iuxo; ^ KopivGo; ¿ari rXaÜK« npo; avaroXa; oiKouvri w; av rrjc; Eüpwnn; ouaa SuriKwrarn — Steph. Byz. Ethnica 290, 7 s. v. E^üpa. Cf. Graziosi, Haubold 2010, 119.

28 "Ces changements de nom cachent... la substitution des Doriens aux Ioniens" (Monceaux 1885, 406). Cf. "the cuttings in the rock described by Monceaux appear to date from the occupation of the site in the early classical period" (Fowler, Blegen 1932, 112).

29 Leaf 1923, 155.

30 Blegen 1923, 162-163. A type of ware found in Korakou was dubbed "Ephyraean", as Blegen supposed that Korakou "may perhaps be the Homeric Ephyra" (Blegen 1921, 54); this term is used to this day. Blegen's identification of Ephyra with Korakou is so far the best established identification (Dunbabin 1948, 60; Catenacci 2001, 121). About Aetopetra and Korakou see Blegen 1920, 3-5.

31 „Doch scheint zuerst die Unterstadt an dem Nordfuß des Berges auf den beiden oberen Terrassen entstanden zu sein" (Philippson 1959, 84).

and the Basel commentary on the Iliad states that it is located somewhere in the northeast of Peloponnesus.32

If we compare these suggestions with literary sources, both Aetopetra and Korakou are situated near ancient Corinth and could in fact be identified with Ephyra: Aetopetra would have suited the expression eari Se Kai nspi ZiKuwva ZsAArsiq nora|6q Kai 'E^upa nA|aiov Kw|n better, while Korakou would have corresponded to 'E^upa noAiq... rfq KopivGou (Strab. 8, 3, 5), if Strabo, or rather his sources, had known these Mycenaean settlements. As for Glaucus' hometown Ephyra, situated as Homer says |ux« 'Apysoq, it is difficult to choose between Korakou or Aetopetra: according to Homer only, Aetopetra, which is more distant from the shore, suits better; Strabo seems to mention both Korak-ou (E^upa noAiq... rfq KopivGou) and Aetopetra (eari Se Kai nspi ZiKuwva ZsAArsiq nora^oq Kai 'E^upa nA|aiov Kw|n); or Korakou/Aetopetra meaning 'E^upa noAiq... rfq KopivGou and another unidentified Ephyra on the Selleeis in the vicinity of Sicyon.

Finally, it is impossible to be certain which of these places "Eumelus" meant when he identified Ephyra with Corinth. It was thus that Ephyra began its literary existence independently of the original historical Ephyra.

The exact location of Simonides' 'E^upa noAumSa^ cannot be identified solely on the basis of the verses cited by Plutarch. The word aaru as well as noAiq can be applied both to a fortress and to the whole city,33 and given that both Acrocorinth and Corinth abounded in water, noAiq rAauKoio, KopivGiov aaru and 'E^upa noAumSa^ should not necessarily be opposed (cf. Pindar's expression aaru nsipavaq that can refer to either). Pausanias' testimony on the Ephyraea cannot be used to corroborate the idea that KopivGiov aaru denoted Acrocorinth, and Ephyra the chora of Corinth: he calls the region 'E^upaia, so that the city's name would be 'E^upa. It is remarkable that Pliny identified Ephyra not with Acrocorinth but with the whole of Corinth; in other words, for him Ephyra included both the town and the citadel.

Naturally, the possibility that Simonides might have been opposing the city of Corinth and its suburban territories cannot be fully excluded, but C. Catenacci is surely right in attaching greater importance to the chronological distinction.34 The toponyms Corinth and Ephyra in Simonides' elegy must be interpreted as referring not to a fortified center and a suburb (or chora) but to the ancient name of Corinth and the name used in the times of Simonides. The context in which Simonides' verses appear shows that Plutarch considered citizens of historical Corinth to be descendants of Ephyrians, who share the same reputation for courage on the battlefield. According to Simonides, Corinthians had shown their valour in the Trojan war, and thus noAiq rAauKoio, 'E^upa and the Homeric epithet noAumSa^ all serve to emphasize similar heroism displayed by contemporary Corinthians in the battle of Plataea. Furthermore, establishing a link between the toponyms 'E^upa, KopivGiov aaru and the figure of Glaucus, Simonides stresses that he is speaking of the inhabitants of the same city, but in different ages, perhaps also alluding more specifically

32 Talbert 2000, 58. Stoevesandt 2008, 61.

33 Euvals, Voigt, in LfgrE, Lief. VIII, 1453 (s. v. aaru); Schmidt in LfgrE, Lief. XX, 1364 (s. v. nóXu;).

34 "Una partecipazione unitaria che fuga le ombre che dal passato epico si proiettano per i Corinzi sul passato recentissimo delle guerre persiane" (Catenacci 2001, 126); "Negli anni della vittoria sui Persiani, viene inaugurata la rilettura della guerra di Troia come precedente paradigmatico dello scontro tra Greci e Persiani, all' interno della contrapposizione antica tra Europa e Asia (idem, 124).

in his description of Ephyrians' valour (navToin; aperce; ï'ôpiet; èv noÀi|œ) to Glaucus' speech in Homer:

(II. 6, 207-210)

"He [scil. Hippolochus] sent me to Troy and straightly charged me ever to be bravest and preeminent above all, and not bring shame upon the race of my fathers, that were far the noblest in Ephyre and in wide Lycia." (Transl. A. T. Murray)

Thus, the juxtaposition of nô\i; rXaÙKoio, Kopivöiov aaTU and 'E^upa noXurnôa^ in Simonides serves above all to create an association with Homeric epics and not to refer to geographical or historical realia. The presence of both Ephyra and Corinth in Simonides' elegiac fragment emphasizes the idea of continuity, suggesting that to the poet contemporary Corinthians, judging by their bravery in the battle of Plataea, appeared as worthy successors of Homeric heroes.

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Received: February 7, 2019 Accepted: April 18, 2019

Corinth and Ephyra in Simonides' elegy (fr. 15-16 West, Plut. De malign. 872d-e) Текст научной статьи по специальности «Языкознание и литературоведение»

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