Two well-known ancient witnesses report that Aristophanes of Byzantium was responsible for the arrangement of Pindar's poems into seventeen book-rolls according to lyric genres (dithyrambs, hymns, etc.). These witnesses form fr. 381 in the edition of Aristophanes' fragments by W.J. Slater (Aristophanis Byzantii fragmenta [Berlin and New York, 1986]): Vit. Pind. P.Oxy. 2438.35-9 (LDAB 3724, TM 62542; late second/early third century a.d.) 'Greek Passage'. A much-debated question is whether the order of the poems attested by the papyrus can be credited to Aristophanes, since an ordering principle is apparently not to be found in the list transmitted by it. Moreover, there are some disagreements with the list of Pindar's works transmitted by the Vita Ambrosiana, which is generally deemed the most authoritative catalogue of the poet's corpus, on account of its well-recognized criterion of classification: the poems are divided between those for gods (from hymnoi to hyporchēmata) and those for men (from enkōmia to epinikia), and both of these categories of songs are arranged from the most general (respectively, the hymns and the enkōmia) to the most specific (the remaining genres). This catalogue has been thought to reproduce the order established by Aristophanes in his edition of Pindar.

Ercoles M. (2020). P.OXY. 2438 and the order of books in aristophanes byzantius' edition of pindar. THE CLASSICAL QUARTERLY, 70(2), 822-826 [10.1017/S0009838820000804].

P.OXY. 2438 and the order of books in aristophanes byzantius' edition of pindar

Ercoles M.
2020

Abstract

Two well-known ancient witnesses report that Aristophanes of Byzantium was responsible for the arrangement of Pindar's poems into seventeen book-rolls according to lyric genres (dithyrambs, hymns, etc.). These witnesses form fr. 381 in the edition of Aristophanes' fragments by W.J. Slater (Aristophanis Byzantii fragmenta [Berlin and New York, 1986]): Vit. Pind. P.Oxy. 2438.35-9 (LDAB 3724, TM 62542; late second/early third century a.d.) 'Greek Passage'. A much-debated question is whether the order of the poems attested by the papyrus can be credited to Aristophanes, since an ordering principle is apparently not to be found in the list transmitted by it. Moreover, there are some disagreements with the list of Pindar's works transmitted by the Vita Ambrosiana, which is generally deemed the most authoritative catalogue of the poet's corpus, on account of its well-recognized criterion of classification: the poems are divided between those for gods (from hymnoi to hyporchēmata) and those for men (from enkōmia to epinikia), and both of these categories of songs are arranged from the most general (respectively, the hymns and the enkōmia) to the most specific (the remaining genres). This catalogue has been thought to reproduce the order established by Aristophanes in his edition of Pindar.
2020
Ercoles M. (2020). P.OXY. 2438 and the order of books in aristophanes byzantius' edition of pindar. THE CLASSICAL QUARTERLY, 70(2), 822-826 [10.1017/S0009838820000804].
Ercoles M.
File in questo prodotto:
File Dimensione Formato  
Ercoles_2021, POxy 2438 and Ar. Byz. (CQ 70).pdf

accesso aperto

Tipo: Versione (PDF) editoriale
Licenza: Licenza per Accesso Aperto. Creative Commons Attribuzione (CCBY)
Dimensione 223.28 kB
Formato Adobe PDF
223.28 kB Adobe PDF Visualizza/Apri

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11585/832200
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus 1
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 0
social impact