Philitas of Cos: Difference between revisions
m robot Adding: ca:Filetes de Cos |
Use "div" instead of "poem", to work around what appears to be a newly-introduced bug in the Wikimedia software or classes. |
||
| Line 31: | Line 31: | ||
A 2nd century AD Greek author, [[Athenaeus of Naucratis]], wrote that Philitas studied false arguments and erroneous word-usage so intensely that he wasted away and starved to death, and that his [[epitaph]] read:<ref>[[Athenaeus]] (tr. [[Charles_Duke_Yonge|C.D. Yonge]]). ''[[Deipnosophistae|The Gastronomers]]'', [http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/Literature/Literature-idx?type=turn&entity=Literature.AthV2.p0115 9.401e]. Retrieved on [[2008-10-03]].</ref> |
A 2nd century AD Greek author, [[Athenaeus of Naucratis]], wrote that Philitas studied false arguments and erroneous word-usage so intensely that he wasted away and starved to death, and that his [[epitaph]] read:<ref>[[Athenaeus]] (tr. [[Charles_Duke_Yonge|C.D. Yonge]]). ''[[Deipnosophistae|The Gastronomers]]'', [http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/Literature/Literature-idx?type=turn&entity=Literature.AthV2.p0115 9.401e]. Retrieved on [[2008-10-03]].</ref> |
||
< |
< style='margin-left: 1em'> |
||
{| cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 |
{| cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 |
||
| colspan=2 | ξεῖνε, Φιλίταϲ εἰμί· λόγων ὁ ψευδόμενόϲ με |
| colspan=2 | ξεῖνε, Φιλίταϲ εἰμί· λόγων ὁ ψευδόμενόϲ με |
||
| Line 43: | Line 43: | ||
| ''{{transl|el|ISO|hṓlese kaì nyktôn phrontídes hespérioi}}'' |
| ''{{transl|el|ISO|hṓlese kaì nyktôn phrontídes hespérioi}}'' |
||
|} |
|} |
||
</ |
</> |
||
St. George Stock analyzed the story as saying Philitas studied the [[Megarian school of philosophy]], which cultivated and studied [[paradox]]es such as the [[liar paradox]]: if someone says "I am lying", is what he says true or false?<ref>{{cite book |editor= Edward N. Zalta |title= Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |chapterurl=http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/insolubles/#1 |chapter=Insolubles |author= Paul Vincent Spade |date=2005 |accessdate=2007-06-30}}</ref> Stock wrote that Philitas worried so much over the liar paradox that he died of insomnia, and translated the epitaph as follows: |
St. George Stock analyzed the story as saying Philitas studied the [[Megarian school of philosophy]], which cultivated and studied [[paradox]]es such as the [[liar paradox]]: if someone says "I am lying", is what he says true or false?<ref>{{cite book |editor= Edward N. Zalta |title= Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |chapterurl=http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/insolubles/#1 |chapter=Insolubles |author= Paul Vincent Spade |date=2005 |accessdate=2007-06-30}}</ref> Stock wrote that Philitas worried so much over the liar paradox that he died of insomnia, and translated the epitaph as follows: |
||
| Line 74: | Line 74: | ||
At most fifty verses of Philitas survive.<ref name=Bing/> Below is an example fragment of two verses, which was quoted in the ''Collection of Paradoxical Stories'', whose putative author Antigonus (often identified with [[Antigonus of Carystus]],<ref>{{cite book |author= Kathryn Gutzwiller |title= A Guide to Hellenistic Literature |location= Malden, MA |publisher=Blackwell |date=2007 |isbn=0-631-23321-0 |pages=166–7}}</ref> a near-contemporary) does not specify which work they came from; indirect evidence suggests ''Demeter''.<ref>{{cite book |author=Spanoudakis |title= Philitas of Cos |pages=209–13}}</ref> These two verses show the confluence of Philitas' interests in poetry and obscure words: |
At most fifty verses of Philitas survive.<ref name=Bing/> Below is an example fragment of two verses, which was quoted in the ''Collection of Paradoxical Stories'', whose putative author Antigonus (often identified with [[Antigonus of Carystus]],<ref>{{cite book |author= Kathryn Gutzwiller |title= A Guide to Hellenistic Literature |location= Malden, MA |publisher=Blackwell |date=2007 |isbn=0-631-23321-0 |pages=166–7}}</ref> a near-contemporary) does not specify which work they came from; indirect evidence suggests ''Demeter''.<ref>{{cite book |author=Spanoudakis |title= Philitas of Cos |pages=209–13}}</ref> These two verses show the confluence of Philitas' interests in poetry and obscure words: |
||
< |
< style='margin-left: 1em'> |
||
{| cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 |
{| cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 |
||
| colspan=2 | γηρύσαιτο δὲ νεβρὸς ἀπὸ ζωὴν ὀλέσασα |
| colspan=2 | γηρύσαιτο δὲ νεβρὸς ἀπὸ ζωὴν ὀλέσασα |
||
| Line 86: | Line 86: | ||
| ''{{transl|el|ISO|oxeíēs káktou týmma phylaxaménē}}'' |
| ''{{transl|el|ISO|oxeíēs káktou týmma phylaxaménē}}'' |
||
|} |
|} |
||
</ |
</> |
||
<poem style='margin-left: 1em'> |
<poem style='margin-left: 1em'> |
||
Revision as of 07:23, 31 October 2008
Philitas of Cos | |
|---|---|
 The Philosopher (c. 250–200 BC) from the Antikythera wreck illustrates the style used by Hecataeus in his bronze of Philitas.[1] | |
| Occupation | Scholar and poet |
| Nationality | Ptolemaic Kingdom |
| Genre | Elegiac, Epigram, Epyllion |
| Subject | Glossary, Homer |
| Literary movement | Alexandrian school of poetry |
| Notable works | Demeter Disorderly Words |
 Literature portal | |
Philitas or Philetas of Cos (c. 340 – c. 285 BC) was a scholar and poet during the early Hellenistic period of ancient Greece.[8] A Greek associated with Alexandria, he flourished in the second half of the 4th century BC and was appointed tutor to the heir to the throne of Ptolemaic Egypt. He was thin and frail; Athenaeus later caricatured him as an academic so consumed by his studies that he wasted away and died.[4]
Philitas was the first major writer who was both a scholar and a poet.[8] His reputation continued for centuries, based on both his pioneering study of words and his verse in elegiac meter. His vocabulary Disorderly Words described the meanings of rare literary words, including those used by Homer. His poetry, notably his elegiac poem Demeter, was highly respected by later ancient poets. However, almost all his work has since been lost.[4]
Life
Little is known of Philitas' life. Ancient sources refer to him as a Coan, a native or long-time inhabitant of Cos,[3] one of the Dodecanese islands in the Aegean Sea just off the coast of Asia. His student Theocritus wrote that Philetas' father was Telephos (Τήλεφος, Tḗlephos) and his mother, assuming the manuscript is supplemented correctly, Euctione (Εὐκτιόνη, Euktiónē).[9] From a comment about Philitas in the Suda, a 10th century AD historical encyclopedia, it is estimated he was born c. 340 BC, and that he might have established a reputation in Cos by c. 309/8 BC. During the wars of the Diadochi that followed the death of Alexander the Great and divided Alexander's empire, Ptolemy had captured Cos from his rival successor, Antigonus, in 310 BC; his son, Ptolemy II Philadelphus, was born there in 308 BC. It was a favorite retreat for men of letters weary of Alexandria.[5]
Philetas was appointed Philadelphus' preceptor, or tutor, which suggests he moved to Alexandria c. 297/6 BC[2] and moved back to Cos in the later 290s BC.[3] He may also have tutored Arsinoe II, Philadelphus' older sister and eventual wife.[10] Later tutors of royal offspring in Ptolemaic Egypt generally headed the Library of Alexandria, but it is unknown whether Philitas held that position.[8] Philitas also taught the poets Hermesianax and Theocritus and the grammarian Zenodotus, and after he returned to Cos he seems to have spent at least ten years leading a brotherhood of intellectuals and poets that included Aratus, Hermesianax, and Theocritus.[5][11] He seems to have died in Cos sometime in the 280s BC.[3]
Philitas was thin and frail, and may have suffered and died from a wasting disease.[12] His pupil Hermesianax wrote that a statue of him was erected under a plane tree by the people of Cos, depicting him as "frail with all the glosses".[4] His contemporary Posidippus wrote that Philadelphus commissioned a bronze of Philitas in old age from the sculptor Hecataeus,[1][13] which "included nothing from the physique of heroes. No, ... he cast the old man full of cares."[4][14] The 3rd century AD Roman author Aelian skeptically passed along a story that Philitas was so thin that he put lead weights in the soles of his shoes to avoid being blown away by a stiff wind.[15] A 2nd century AD Greek author, Athenaeus of Naucratis, wrote that Philitas studied false arguments and erroneous word-usage so intensely that he wasted away and starved to death, and that his epitaph read:[16]
| ξεῖνε, Φιλίταϲ εἰμί· λόγων ὁ ψευδόμενόϲ με | Xeîne, Philítas eimí. Lógōn ho pseudómenós me | |||
| ὥλεϲε καὶ νυκτῶν φροντίδεϲ ἑϲπέριοι[13][17] | hṓlese kaì nyktôn phrontídes hespérioi | |||
St. George Stock analyzed the story as saying Philitas studied the Megarian school of philosophy, which cultivated and studied paradoxes such as the liar paradox: if someone says "I am lying", is what he says true or false?[18] Stock wrote that Philitas worried so much over the liar paradox that he died of insomnia, and translated the epitaph as follows:
Philetas of Cos am I,
'Twas the Liar who made me die,
And the bad nights caused thereby.[19]
A more literal translation suggests that the invented epitaph pokes fun at Philitas' focus on using the right words:
Stranger, I am Philitas. The lying word and nights' evening cares destroyed me.[13]
Works
Philitas wrote a vocabulary explaining the meanings of rare literary words, words from local dialects, and technical terms; it probably took the form of a lexicon.[11] The vocabulary, called Disorderly Words (Ἄτακτοι γλῶσσαι, Átaktoi glôssai), has been lost, with only a few fragments quoted by later authors.[4] One example, quoted in Athenaeus, is that the word πέλλα (pélla) meant "wine cup" in the ancient Greek region of Boeotia;[21] this was evidently contrasted to the same word meaning "milk pail" in Homer's Iliad.[4] Hermeneia, another scholarly work, probably contained Philitas' versions and critical interpretations of Homer and other authors.[11]
About thirty fragments of Philitas' poetry are known, along with four definite titles:[11]
- Demeter, Philitas' most famous work, consisted of couplets in the elegiac meter.[22] Its few surviving fragments suggest that it narrated the grain goddess Demeter's hunt for her daughter Persephone.[23] The fragments describe Demeter's arrival on Cos and warm welcome by its royal family of Meropids, or humans twice normal size, thus presenting the founding myth of a local cult of Demeter on Cos.[11]
- Hermes was an epyllion, or brief mythological narrative, written in hexameter. It had the structure of a hymn, with a central narrative telling of Odysseus' visit to the island of the king Aeolus, keeper of the winds, and of Odysseus' secret affair with the king's daughter Polymele.[11]
- The Playthings (Παίγνια, Paígnia) had two shorter collections. These poems had the structure of epigrams and their themes may have included erotica. The only surviving poem contains two elegiac couplets and has a puzzle or riddle structure characteristic of some ancient Greek drinking-party songs.[11]
- Only one of the Epigrams has been fully reconstructed.[11]
Another possible poem is Telephus, which may have been a companion to Demeter.[11] Hermesianax wrote of "Philitas, singing of nimble Bittis", and Ovid twice calls her "Battis". It is commonly thought that Bittis or Battis was Philitas' mistress, and that Hermesianax referred to love poetry; another possibility is that her name connoted "chatterbox", and that she was a humorous personification of Philitas' passion for words.[4]
At most fifty verses of Philitas survive.[4] Below is an example fragment of two verses, which was quoted in the Collection of Paradoxical Stories, whose putative author Antigonus (often identified with Antigonus of Carystus,[24] a near-contemporary) does not specify which work they came from; indirect evidence suggests Demeter.[25] These two verses show the confluence of Philitas' interests in poetry and obscure words:
| γηρύσαιτο δὲ νεβρὸς ἀπὸ ζωὴν ὀλέσασα | Gērýsaito dè nebròs apò zōḕn olésasa | |||
| ὀξείης κάκτου τύμμα φυλαξαμένη | oxeíēs káktou týmma phylaxaménē | |||
The deer can sing when it has lost its life
if it avoids the prick of the sharp "cactus".[4]
According to Antigonus, the "cactus" (κάκτος, káktos) was a thorny plant from Sicily, and "When a deer steps on it and is pricked, its bones remain soundless and unusable for flutes. For that reason Philitas spoke of it."[4] Antigonus quotes one more passage, and the 5th century AD anthologist Stobaeus quotes eleven passages from Philitas; the remaining fragments are derived from ancient commentators who quoted Philitas when discussing rare words or names used by other authors.[26]
Influence
Philitas was the most important intellectual figure in the early years of Hellenistic civilization.[27] He gained instant recognition in both poetry and literary scholarship.[8] As tutor to Philadelphus he is assumed to have had great influence on the development of the Mouseion at Alexandria, a scholarly institution that included the famous Library of Alexandria. A statue was erected of him, possibly at a Mouseion at Cos,[28] and his work was explicitly acknowledged as a classic by both Theocritus and Callimachus.[26]
His reputation for scholarship endured for at least a century. In Athens, the comic playwright Strato made jokes that assumed audiences knew about Philitas' vocabulary, and the vocabulary was criticized more than a century later by the influential Homeric scholar Aristarchus of Samothrace in his Against Philitas (Πρὸς Φιλίταν, Pròs Philítan). The geographer Strabo described him three centuries later as "simultaneously a poet and a critic".[4][29]
Philitas was the first writer whose works represent the combination of qualities now regarded as Hellenistic: variety, scholarship, and use of Homeric sources in non-epic works. He directly influenced the major Hellenistic poets Callimachus and Apollonius of Rhodes.[26] His poetry was mentioned or briefly quoted by his rival Callimachus and by other ancient authors,[30] and his poetic reputation endured for at least three centuries, as Augustan poets identified his name with great elegiac writing.[26] Propertius linked him to his rival with the following well-known couplet:
Callimachi Manes et Coi sacra Philetae,
in vestrum, quaeso, me sinite ire nemus.[6]
Callimachus' spirit, and shrine of Philitas of Cos,
let me enter your sacred grove, I beseech you.
The 1st century AD rhetorician Quintilian ranked Philitas second only to Callimachus among the elegiac poets.[31] Philitas' influence has been found or suspected in a wide range of ancient writing;[22] Longus' 2nd century AD novel Daphnis and Chloe contains a character likely named after him.[7] Almost all that he wrote seems to have disappeared within two centuries, though, so it is unlikely that any writer later than the 2nd century BC read any but a few of his lines.[26]
Bibliography
Ancient sources spell his name in different ways. The correct form Φιλίτας (Philítas) is ancient and was common in Cos but the Doric Greek color Φιλήτας (Philḗtas) is also ancient; the accentuation Φιλητᾶς (Philētâs) did not exist before Imperial times.
Philitas' fragments were edited by Spanoudakis with commentary in English:
- Konstantinos Spanoudakis (2002). Philitas of Cos. Mnemosyne, Supplements, 229. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 90-04-12428-4. Reviewed by Hopkinson[22] and by Sens.[33]
and also by Dettori (for vocabulary) and by Sbardella (for poetry) with commentary in Italian:
- Emanuele Dettori (2000). Filita grammatico: Testimonianze e frammenti: introduzione, edizione e commento (in Italian). Rome: Quasar. ISBN 88-7140-185-9.
- Livio Sbardella (2000). Filita: Testimonianze e frammenti poetici: introduzione, edizione e commento (in Italian). Rome: Quasar. ISBN 88-7140-182-4.
Earlier editions of the fragments include Kayser,[34] Bach,[35] Nowacki,[36] and Kuchenmü̈ller;[37] see also Maass.[38]
Notes
- ^ a b Andrew Stewart (2005). "Posidippus and the truth in sculpture". In Gutzwiller (ed.) (ed.). The New Posidippus. pp. 183–205.
{{cite book}}:|editor=has generic name (help) - ^ a b Spanoudakis. Philitas of Cos. p. 23.
- ^ a b c d Spanoudakis. Philitas of Cos. p. 24.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Peter Bing (2003). "The unruly tongue: Philitas of Cos as scholar and poet". Classical Philology. 98 (4): 330–48. doi:10.1086/422370.
- ^ a b c John Edwin Sandys (1903). A History of Classical Scholarship: from the Sixth Century B.C. to the End of the Middle Ages. London: Cambridge University Press. pp. 118–9. OCLC 2759759.
- ^ a b Propertius. Elegies, III.1 (in Latin). Retrieved on 2007-06-30. Allen argued that Philetae is a corruption of poetae, alluding to rather than naming Philitas. Archibald Allen (1996). "Propertius and 'Coan Philitas'". The Classical Quarterly. 46 (1): 308–9. doi:10.1093/cq/46.1.308.
{{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter|doi_brokendate=ignored (|doi-broken-date=suggested) (help) - ^ a b Richard Hunter (1996). "Longus, Daphnis and Chloe". In Gareth L. Schmeling (ed.). The Novel in the Ancient World. Mnemosyne, Supplements; The Classical Tradition, 159. Leiden: Brill. pp. 361–86. ISBN 90-04-09630-2.
- ^ a b c d Bulloch, "Hellenistic poetry", 4.
- ^ Spanoudakis. Philitas of Cos. p. 26.
- ^ a b Spanoudakis. Philitas of Cos. p. 29.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Livio Sbardella (2007). "Philitas of Cos". In Hubert Cancik; Helmuth Schneider; Christine F. Salazar et al. (eds.) (ed.). Brill's New Pauly—Antiquity, Vol. 11 (Phi–Prok). Leiden: Brill. pp. 49–50. ISBN 90-04-14216-9.
{{cite book}}:|editor=has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list (link) - ^ Alan Cameron (1991). "How thin was Philitas?". The Classical Quarterly. 41 (2): 534–8.
- ^ a b c Alexander Sens (2005). "The art of poetry and the poetry of art: the unity and poetics of Posidippus' statue-poems". In Gutzwiller (ed.) (ed.). The New Posidippus. pp. 206–28.
{{cite book}}:|editor=has generic name (help) • An earlier version appeared in: Alexander Sens (2002). "The new Posidippus, Asclepiades, and Hecataeus' Philitas-statue" (PDF). The Annual Meeting of the American Philological Association. Retrieved 2007-09-21. - ^ An alternate translation of Posidippus' poem is on p. 31 of Frank Nisetich (2005). "The poems of Posidippus". In Gutzwiller (ed.) (ed.). The New Posidippus. pp. 17–66.
{{cite book}}:|editor=has generic name (help) - ^ Aelian (tr. Thomas Stanley). Various History, 9.14. Retrieved on 2008-10-03.
- ^ Athenaeus (tr. C.D. Yonge). The Gastronomers, 9.401e. Retrieved on 2008-10-03.
- ^ This quote follows the source in using "ϲ", the ancient eastern Greek lunate sigma, instead of "σ" or "ς", the modern Greek sigmas. Lunate sigma looks like, but is not otherwise related to, the Latin letter "c".
- ^ Paul Vincent Spade (2005). "Insolubles". In Edward N. Zalta (ed.). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
{{cite book}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help); External link in|chapterurl=|chapterurl=ignored (|chapter-url=suggested) (help) - ^ St. George Stock (1908). Stoicism. London: Archibald Constable. p. 36. OCLC 1201330.
- ^ Spanoudakis. Philitas of Cos. pp. 215–7.
- ^ Athenaeus (tr. C.D. Yonge). The Gastronomers, 11.495e. Retrieved on 2008-10-05.
- ^ a b c N. Hopkinson (2003). "Coi sacra Philitae". The Classical Review. 53 (2): 311–2. doi:10.1093/cr/53.2.311.
- ^ S.J. Heyworth (2004). "Looking into the river: literary history and interpretation in Callimachus, Hymns 5 and 6". In M.A. Harder; R.F. Regtuit; G.C. Wakker (eds.) (ed.). Callimachus II. Hellenistica Groningana, 7. Leuven: Peeters. pp. 139–60. ISBN 90-429-1403-3.
{{cite book}}:|editor=has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list (link) - ^ Kathryn Gutzwiller (2007). A Guide to Hellenistic Literature. Malden, MA: Blackwell. pp. 166–7. ISBN 0-631-23321-0.
- ^ Spanoudakis. Philitas of Cos. pp. 209–13.
- ^ a b c d e Bulloch, "Hellenistic poetry", 5.
- ^ Bulloch, "Hellenistic poetry", 4. "The most important intellectual figure in the early years of the new Hellenistic world was Philetas from the east Greek island of Cos."
- ^ Alex Hardie (1997). "Philitas and the plane tree" (PDF). Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik. 119: 21–36.
- ^ Strabo. Geography, 14.2.19 (in Greek). Retrieved on 2008-10-03.
- ^ Spanoudakis. Philitas of Cos. pp. 85–346.
- ^ Quintilian (tr. John Selby Watson). Institutes of Oratory, 10.1.58. Retrieved on 2008-09-23.
- ^ Spanoudakis. Philitas of Cos. pp. 19–22.
- ^ Alexander Sens (2003). "Review of K. Spanoudakis (ed.), Philitas of Cos". Bryn Mawr Classical Review (2003.02.38).
{{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter|quotes=ignored (help) • Konstantinos Spanoudakis (2003). "Author's response". Bryn Mawr Classical Review (2003.03.32).{{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter|quotes=ignored (help) - ^ Carol. Phil. (Karl Philipp) Kayser (1793). Philetae Coi Fragmenta, quæ reperiuntur (in Latin). Göttingen: Typis Barmeierianis. OCLC 79432710.
- ^ Nicolaus Bachius (Bach) (1829). Philetae Coi, Hermesianactis Colophonii, atque Phanoclis Reliquiae (in Latin). Halle: Libraria Gebaueria. OCLC 165342613.
- ^ Adelbertus (Adelbert) Nowacki (1927). Philitae Coi Fragmenta Poetica (in Latin). Münster: Monasterii Westfalorum. OCLC 68721017.
- ^ Wilhelm Kuchenmü̈ller (1928). Philetae Coi Reliquiae (in Latin). Borna: Typis Roberti Noske. OCLC 65409641.
- ^ Ernestus (Ernst) Maass (1895). De tribus Philetae carminibus (in Latin). Marburg: N. G. Elwertum. OCLC 9861455.
References
- A. W. Bulloch (1989). "Hellenistic poetry". In P.E. Easterling; Bernard M.W. Knox (eds.) (ed.). The Hellenistic Period and the Empire. The Cambridge History of Classical Literature. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 1–81. ISBN 0-521-35984-8.
{{cite book}}:|editor=has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list (link) doi:10.1017/CHOL9780521210423.019 (inactive 2008-07-29). - Kathryn Gutzwiller, ed. (2005). The New Posidippus: A Hellenistic Poetry Book. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-926781-2.
{{cite book}}:|author=has generic name (help) - Spanoudakis. Philitas of Cos. (See Bibliography.)