Nine Fragments in Search of an Author: Poetic Lines Attributed to Terpander

Abstract

An examination of the nine fragments attributed to Terpander (some in ancient sources, some by modern editors) suggests that none is securely assigned to him. Indeed, the evidence suggests that most circulated in citharodic prooimia, and that the attribution to Terpander was a metonymic process of identification of a genre with its traditional founder. This interpretation makes better sense both of the fragments themselves and of the uses to which they were put in our source-texts.