The Technê of Aratus’ Leptê Acrostich

Abstract

This paper sets out to re-approach the famous lepte acrostich in Aratus’ Phaenomena (783-87) by confronting it with other early Greek acrostichs and the discourse of techne and sophia , which has been shown to play an important role in a gamut of Greek literary texts, including texts very much relevant for the study of Aratus’ acrostich. In particular, there is a tantalizing connection between the acrostich in Aratus’ poem that poeticized Eudoxus’ astronomical work and the so-called Ars Eudoxi , a (pseudo-)Eudoxian acrostich sphragis from a second-century BC papyrus.