Aldhelm’s Aenigmata, Greek riddles, and the Hisperica famina

Abstract

ABSTRACT When Aldhelm came to compose a collection of Latin riddles in the late seventh century, the riddle was already an established literary genre in Greek and Latin. Although Aldhelm’s main source was the Latin Aenigmata of Symphosius, he introduced a number of innovations that transformed the genre. To account for these innovations, it has been suggested that Aldhelm also knew and was influenced by Greek riddles, which are otherwise unattested in Anglo-Saxon England. This article first reviews the evidence for Aldhelm’s knowledge of Greek riddles, especially in his Aenigma 32 about a writing tablet. It then argues that the peculiar features of Aenigma 32 were not derived from Greek riddles but rather from the Hisperica famina, a work that Aldhelm very likely knew. His transformation of the genre therefore can be accounted for by his use of Latin sources available in seventh-century England without appealing to speculative Greek ones.