Abstract

Abstract This paper deals with the epigram of Herodicus (apud Ath. 5.222a). First it is examined as a piece of Greek literature—with a history, a number of imitators, a Greek intellectual and scholarly context, and the expressive resources of the Greek language. Several cruces are discussed, but the meaning of the final two words of the poem—θεόπαις Βαβυλών—is of particular importance. The internal syntactic structure of the compound adjective θεό-παις is analysed using comparative evidence from Greek. But the actual comparandum that is argued to be crucial for establishing its meaning is an epithet of Babylon found in Akkadian and Sumerian. The basis for the relevance of this is the existence of Akkadian texts in Greek script (the ‘Graeco-Babyloniaca’), which are reviewed in full as part of the evidence for cultural contact in Hellenistic Babylon.

Highlights

  • The notion that Graeco-Roman—‘classical’—literature benefits from being set into a global context is an old and new insight

  • This paper deals with the epigram of Herodicus

  • The actual comparandum that is argued to be crucial for establishing its meaning is an epithet of Babylon found in Akkadian and Sumerian

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Summary

Introduction

The notion that Graeco-Roman—‘classical’—literature benefits from being set into a global context is an old and new insight. This article aims to elucidate this puzzling epigram again, bringing evidence for its interpretation from Greek literature, but from the Sumero-Akkadian tradition, and disrupting the interpretations of the epigram that focus solely on the scholarly activity of the Hellenic world. Such evidence is of obvious intrinsic interest, since it permits us to glimpse into the workings of intellectual cultural contact. A lesser but still valuable goal, plainly, is the correct understanding of the epigram—in particular, the epigram’s final line This correct interpretation would be possible on the basis of Greek evidence alone; but it is confirmed by its links with the wider cultural context of Herodicus.. 1941; Kassel 1966, 11-12, and in the magisterial work on the school of Crates as a whole, Broggiato 2014, 41-106

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