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.) δ]ιῄρητα̣ι̣ δὲ α̣ὐ̣τ̣[ο]ῦ̣ τ̣[ὰ ποιήματα ὑπ’ Ἀριστοφάν]ους εἰς βιβλία ιζˊ· διθ̣[υ]ρά̣[μ]βων βˊ [προσοδίω]ν̣ βˊ παιάνων αˊ πα[ρ]θεν[εί]ων γ̣ˊ [ἐπινικίω]ν̣ δˊ ἐγκωμίων αˊ ἐν [ᾧ] κα̣ὶ [σκ]όλ̣[ια ±4 ὕμ]ν̣ων αˊ ὑ[π]ορχημάτων αˊ θρ̣[ήνων.| nisi aliter ind., omnia suppl. Lobel | 2 Ἀριστοφάν]ους Lobel e Vit. Pind. Vat. (q.v.) | 3 ἐν [ᾧ] κα̣ὶ [σκ]όλ̣[ια …. de Kreij : ἐν [ᾧ] κ[αὶ σκόλιά τινα vel ἐν [ᾧ] κ[αὶ σκόλιά ἐστι(ν) Gallo (1968, 73–4; 1969, 107) : ἐν [ᾧ] καὶ [παροίνια D'Alessio (2000) | 4 αˊ post θρ̣[ήνων coni. edd., fort. recte; an θρ̣[- βˊ?Vit. Pind. Vat. page 7.14–17 Dr. ὁ δὲ ἐπινίκιος οὗ ἡ ἀρχὴ “Ἄριστον μὲν ὕδωρ” προτέτακται ὑπὸ Ἀριστοφάνους τοῦ συντάξαντος τὰ Πινδαρικὰ διὰ τὸ περιέχειν τοῦ ἀγῶνος ἐγκώμιον καὶ τὰ περὶ τοῦ Πέλοπος, ὃς πρῶτος ἐν ῎Ηλιδι ἠγωνίσατο.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.

Highlights

  • It is impossible to establish with sufficient probability whether the figure αafter ὑπορχημάτων is mistaken6 or whether a reference to the seventeenth book of the edition, corresponding to the second volume of hyporchēmata, is lost in the gap following the mention of thrēnoi

  • A third, hitherto neglected, possibility is that the figure following θρ[̣ ήνων could have been βinstead of α, but this would introduce a further disagreement between the two lists, which seem otherwise pretty similar: though this option cannot be completely discarded, it does not seems to be very appealing

  • D’Alessio has pointed out that ‘Hellenistic and later quotations and papyri seem all to reflect the 17 books division present in the vita Ambrosiana and this must be due to the existence of a single authoritative edition

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Summary

Introduction

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.).

Results
Conclusion

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