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DOI :10.30842/ielcp230690152246
M. N. Kazanskaya WHAT WAS THE NAME OF MIMNERMUS' FATHER?
Имя отца Мимнерма сохранилось в биографической справке Суды (р 1077), в которой поэт представляется как Mipvsppo; Лгуирхиабои; ни один другой источник имени отца поэта не сохраняет. Несмотря на то, что a priori серьезных причин подвергать это имя сомнению нет, его сложно сочетать с солоновским обращением к Мимнерму Лгуиаахабп^ (Sol. fr. 20 West = Diog. Laert. 1, 61; cf. Sud. p 1077) -обращение, которое очевидно представляет комплимент Мимнерму, но, как кажется, обыгрывает имя не самого поэта, а его отца. В статье разбираются сильные и слабые стороны существующих подходов к этому вопросу и предлагается новое решение: имя Лгуирхиабп^ следует интерпретировать не как имя отца Мимнерма, а как архаический патроним на -абп;.
Ключевые слова. Мимнерм, Лигиртиад (Лгуирхиаб^^), Солон, патроним, Суда, Диоген Лаэрций, античная филология, ономастика Малой Азии.
The only source to preserve the name of Mimnermus' father is the Suda lexicon which mentions it, together with the information on the elegist's birthplace, date and poems, in a short biographical entry1:
Mipvsppo; Лгуирхиабои, KoXo9®vioc; ц Lpupvaio; ц AaxunaXaisoc;, sXsysionoio;. Tsyovs 6' sni xfl; 'ОХиряшбо;, ю; npoxspsosiv x®v Z' ao9®v- xivs; 6s auxoi; Kai auyxpovsiv Xsyouaiv. 'EKaXsixo 6s Kai Л^иаахабпс; 6ia то sppsXs; Kai Xiyo. "Eypays Pi6Xia fxarna noMaf (Suda, p 1077 = III, p. 397, l. 20-24 Adler2)
20 Mipsppog G Mivsppog F КоХофйУод GF 21 ysyovs-24 яоНа om. F 23 ed. pr. cf. Laert. 1, 61 : Лгувгаатабп? GVM Лгугатгабп? A 24 таита om. G ; врютгка та coni. Berhardy navu Gutschmid
"Mimnermus, son of Ligyrtyades, from Colophon, or Smyrna, or Astypalaea, an elegiac poet. He lived3 in the 37th Olympiad (i.e.
1 Suda's entry on Mimnermus is usually placed at the head of the testimonia in editions of Mimnermus, so that this text is also cited as Test. 1 Gentili-Prato, Test. 1 Allen, Test. 1 Gerber, but Test. 77 Szadeczky-Kardoss.
2 References to manuscripts of Suda follow those used by Ada Adler in her edition: G - codex Parisinus 2622, V - codex Vossianus Fol. 2, M - codex Marcianus 448, F - codex Laurentianus 55, 1.
3 The verb yeyove could be used to designate broadly the age in which a person lived, and as such is close to, but less pointed than ^Kpaoev (floruit). On the ancient estimates of Mimnermus' date, see below.
632-629 BCE), so that he precedes the Seven Sages; however, some say he was their contemporary. He was also called AiyuaaxdSn^, because of his melodiousness and clearness (of voice). He wrote books..."
The end of this passage is damaged beyond correction4, and there are variant readings for Mimnermus' alternative name (¿Ka^stxo §8 Kai Aiyuaoxd§n?) rendered as AiysiaoxdSn? or Aiyioxid§n? in the manuscripts (these variants will be discussed below). The beginning of the entry, on the other hand, is well preserved with only minor divergences in the manuscripts. Thus, according to the Suda, Mimnermus' father was called Aiyupxud§n^. The manuscripts are in perfect accord as to the name, giving no variant readings, and a priori there would be little reason to doubt this information: no other source survives to contradict the Suda, and the obscurity of the name (as to the inner form) can be used in itself as an argument in favor of the compiler's accuracy5. This being said, modern scholars for the most part do not seem to be at ease with the name Ligyrtyades: it is never mentioned without a pointed reference to Suda and as often as not omitted altogether6. Neither is this uneasiness dispelled, when Ligyrtyades is compared with the poetic pseudo-patronym by which Solon addresses Mimnermus, urging him to modify the verse where he expressed his wish to die at sixty (Sol. fr. 20 West = fr. 26 Gentili-Prato):
AXX' e'i poi Kai vov sxi neiaeai, e^eXe xowo,
psyaip', oxi ceo Xroov ene^paaapnv, Kai pexanoi^oov, AiyuaaxaSn, 5' aei5e-"'OySroKovxaexn poipa Kixoi Oavaxou".
\ • 1 2 1 Kai vuv Thiersch : Kav vuv BPF touto BF : toutov PF2 2 aso West :
asu B a' sti PF Xroov Boissonade : toiov BPF 3 AiyuaaTa5n Diels,
AiyuaaTa5n Bergk, AiyiaaTa5n West : aiyiaaTa5n B : aiyiaaTa5i F :
aiyiaaTa5i P1 : ayuiag Ta5i Px 7
4 For a list of corrections proposed for ßiöXia fxawa noXXaf, see Allen (1993: 23); for the full discussion of the number of books in the Alexandrian edition of Mimnermus, see Müller (1988).
5 Cf. Allen (1993: 16): "it is more likely that the mock patronymic plays on a real name, and AiyupxuaSn^ has an authentic Anatolian ring to it".
6 Thus, the name Ligyrtyades is mentioned by Szadeczky-Kardoss (1968: 940), Schmid, Stählin (1929: 361 n. 6), Bagordo (2011: 165), but omitted by Barron, Easterling (1984: 133-134), Gerber (1997: 108-109).
7 References to manuscripts follow those used by Tiziano Dorandi in his edition: B - codex Neapolitanus III B 29; P - codex Parisinus gr. 1759; F -codex Laurentianus 69.13.
"But should you believe me now as well, remove it, and begrudge me not that I surpassed you by my inventiveness, and change it, AiyuaaxdSn^ 'o clear singing one', and sing thus: 'Might the fated death overtake me at the age of eighty'".
This fragment (together with Mimnermus' distich that prompted Solon's response) is preserved by Diogenes Laertius and is one of the best-known poetic dialogues in ancient literature. As may be seen from the apparatus criticus, the transmitted text has prompted a number of emendations8: as there are numerous discussions of the text, we will only examine the reconstruction of the apostrophe, as relevant for the needs of this article. The scribes seem to have been confused as to its form, so that the manuscripts read with minor variations AiriAZTAAH (-1)9, with one attempt at correcting the unintelligible combination of letters into words (ayuia^ xa§i). However, early on Suda's information that Mimnermus was also called AiysiaoxdSn? or Aiyioxid§n? (ms. reading), was connected with the Solonian fragment and used to reconstruct Solon's apostrophe to Mimnermus. Thus, Bergk accepted the correction Aiyuaoxa§n? which had already been proposed for the Suda entry ^ 1077 by the lexicon's first editor, Demetrios Chancondylas, as a reconstruction from the compiler's gloss, 8ia to Kai ^iyu;
Bergk accordingly incorporated the emended form into his edition of the Solonian fragment in the vocative, AiyuaoraSn10. Later Diels introduced a minor correction, AiyuaoraSn (with the iota subscriptum), thereby connecting Solon's coinage with ^iyu a§8iv and establishing a pun between the apostrophe and following
8 For the discussion of the textual variants and proposed corrections, see Tuomi (1986: passim), Noussia-Fantuzzi (2010: 402-404). More particularly on the much debated question of whether Kav vov should be modified to Kai vov, add arguments in favour of Kav vov in Masaracchia (1958: 335) and Perrotta, Gentili (1965: 27), as well as West's defence of Kai vov (1974: 182). The correction Kai vov is also endorsed by Dovatour (1982), and even becomes an important point in his argument, but the preference is left unexplained.
The reading of ms. B is given as vaiyiaaxa§n in Gentili and Prato's edition (1979: 118); however, it is clearly a dittograph of the ending the previous word, pexanoinoov, and Dorandi (2013: 102) simplifies it to aiyiaaxa§n in his apparatus criticus.
10 See Bergk (1843: 331) who is followed by Hudson-Williams (1926: 67) and Edmonds (1931: 136). After Edmonds, the reconstruction AiyuaoxdSnc; has been largely neglected for some decades but was recently defended by Hagen (2007: 94) who suggested that the suffix in the apostrophe coined by Solon may actually be reinterpreted as a second root associated with the word family av5dv©/^5u^.
imperative, ю8г S' aetSe: this reconstruction is widely accepted and has become the predominant reading in editions of elegiac poets11. However, there are obvious risks in relying on a corrected text in order to emend manuscript readings of another text, and M. L. West, in order to escape the trap of a circular argument, reconstructed for Solon's address to Mimnermus (fr. 20, 3 W.) the form Лфяотабп solely on the basis of paleographical data12. West is followed by Marcovich (1999: 41), but most editors only mention the proposed variant in their apparatus. The implications of West's approach will be discussed below; let us just note, for the moment, that in this case, prudence is counterintuitive, as it neglects Suda's gloss §ta то ка! Aayu and eliminates any idea of wordplay in Solon's apostrophe.
Thus, of the three proposed corrections for Solon's address to Mimnermus, Л1уиаота§п seems the most probable. However, whichever one chooses to retain, one detail remains unchanged: Solon's address to Mimnermus, leaving aside its probable poeto-logical implications, carried a patronymic suffix and must
have played on the poet's real patronym. But a form of this kind is hard to reconcile with Suda's report that Mimnermus' father was named Л1уиртиа§п? - unless one would be willing to assume that Л1уиртиа§т1с could be both the father's personal name and the son's patronymic13, which runs counter to the practice observed in ancient texts and documents. As personal names in and became more frequent in Greece, the language took steps to prevent confusion with former adjectival patronyms with the same suffix. Thus, in most dialects, when a father bears a name of this type, the
11 For the first suggestion, see Diels (1902: 482); the correction was accepted by Diehl (1954: 40), Masaracchia (1958: 335), Gentili and Perrotta (1965: 27), Campbell (1967: 36), Gentili and Prato (1979: 118), Gerber (1995: 140), Noussia-Fantuzzi (2010: 110; cf. 403-404 with argumentation). Sometimes the apostrophe is printed as a common word, not a name - XiyuaaxaSn (cf. Gentili, Perrotta 1965: 27; Diehl 1954: 40).
12 The form appeared in the first 1972 edition of Iambi et elegi Graeci, and was retained by West in his second, reworked edition (West 1992: 152), as well as in his Delectus ex iambis et elegis Graecis (West 1980: 172). West explained his editorial decision in the following way: "I have given the patronymic in the form presupposed by the tradition (D.L. + Suda). Obviously Aiyu- is the slightest of changes; but I do not regard the rest of the name as clear. I would be disturbed to meet such a form as aaxn^ in early poetry. Xiy' iaaxi is no more plausible as analysis" (West 1974: 182).
13 A strand of ancient exegetical tradition which could be used to corroborate of the idea that names in and could occasionally replace patronyms, will be examined in the Appendix to this article.
son's parentage can only be expressed by a genitive: e.g. Asivooxpa-xo^ AsiviaSou "Deinostratos son of Deiniades" (IG II 223, line 4); [HpaK]^si§n? XapiS^ou ion MnxpoSropou | [Ka]i nrccp ion uion r^auKiou ion 'HpaK^siSou "Heracleides son of Charidemos, grandson of Metrodoros [contributed], as well as on behalf of his son, Glaucios son of Heracleides" (CIG 3141 = ISmyrn. 688, lines 10-11). The Thessalian dialect, on the other hand, which used adjectival patronymics, took care to distinguish these forms by a special suffix: thus, [r]aupia8a[?] AoxoKpaxsi[od, | [A]oxoKpaxnc raupia§aio^ "Gauriades son of Astocratos, Astocratos son of Gauriades" (IG IX.2, 696, col. 6, lines 1-2), [Ao]K^arcia8a<; Av|§p8i^onvsio^, AvSpsi^ouv AoK^arcia8aio<; "Asclepiades son of Adreimon, Andreimon son of Asclepiades" (IG IX.2, 517, lines 6364); in both cases where the names recur in every second generation.
Although this discrepancy in the sources is rarely emphasized by scholars, attempts have been made to explain it away. The most popular solution, proposed already by Diels, postulates that by Aiyuaoxa§n, "of the clear-voiced singer(s)", Solon is referring to the fact that Mimnermus belonged to a poetic group or a professional guild14, as nicknames formed with suffix of adjectival
patronyms are frequent in poetry. Thus, Diels and Noussia-Fantuzzi found resemblance with Aeschylus' apostrophe to Dionysus in the Frogs, on '^8 xanx', ro oxro^u^ioou^sKxa8n / Kai nxroxonois Kai paKioouppanxa§n; "Is that how you speak of me, you gossip-gleaner, you creator of misers, you rag-stitcher?" (Aristoph. Ran. 841-842)15; given the mocking tone of the passage, this might not be the ideal parallel for Solon's compliment. Perotta and Gentili (1965: 28), on the other hand, cite a parallel from a fragment of Sophocles' Inachus that may seem closer from the point of view of tonality to the affection (albeit tinged with gentle irony) of Solon's apostrophe: rcoAn rco^ui8pi8a<; / oxi^ o8s rcpoxsprov / ovo^' sn o' sBposi "he was of very very astute stock, whoever it was among our forefathers who
14 Diels (1902: 482): "Das patronymische Suffix, das an Xiyuaoxn; antritt, soll die Zugehörigkeit zur Zunft der ,hellen Sänger' bezeichnen".
15 See Diels (1902: 482), Noussia-Fantuzzi (2010: 402-404). However, when one compares Dover's note on the formation, the stylistic connotations do not seem to match well. Dover (1993: 297-298, on v. 841) explains that "-iSn;, -dSn; and -idSn;, common in proper names, are used to characterize types of people [...] The formation is an inheritance from early iambic poetry [...], and appears in satyr drama".
rightly spoke of your name..." 16. Finally, Gerber and Allen interpreted the compound as referring to Mimnermus' actual descent
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from a family of singers . It should be noted, however, that the nicknames in and never actually seem to refer to
parentage, but rather to the idea that the person is a worthy representative of his class, group, or profession18. Thus, while the parallels explain the dynamics of Solon's wordplay, the reasons why he chose to make the name of Mimnermus' father rather than the poet's own name or patronymic the focus of his pun remain unclear. Indeed, Meyer when commenting on Solon's coinage, does not even mention its resemblance to the name Ligyrtyades transmitted by the Suda.
With a twist on the previous explanation, M. Noussia-Fantuzzi sees in the apostrophe Atyuaoxd§n an indication that Solon was not actually addressing Mimnermus but replying, in the context of a poetic play at a banquet, to a fellow symposiast who had just quoted Mimnermus' verse, and that his word-play was meant to acknowledge Mimnermus' authorship of the verse, while the apostrophe could be applied to any reciter19. While this approach tries to escape the question of whether an actual poetic dialogue could be possible between the two poets (the problem will be discussed below), it also dissociates the apostrophe Atyuaoxd§n from Mimnermus; but even so, the resemblance of the apostrophe to the name of Mimnermus' father, and not to the poet's patronymic remains unexplained.
16 P. Tebt. 692, lines 16-18: for the text, see Carden (1974: 73), who also identifies the tonality of the fragment and of the use of the -iSn; coinage as "jocular" (cf. Carden 1974: 82). As regards the Solonian fragment, the tone of the apostrophe AiyuaoxaSn has been assessed in very different ways, ranging from "mocking" (thus, Tuomi 1986: 10-14) to "full of reverence" (thus, Steffen 1955: 44).
7 Thus, "[XiyuaaxdSn;] is presumably a compound of Xiy6; and aoxn;, hence literally 'son of a clear singer' " (Gerber 1970: 138); cf. "[Solon] addresses Mimnermus, not as the son of a particular father, but as a poet who belongs to a family of clear-voiced singers" (Allen 1993: 15-16).
18 As Meyer (1923: 116) explains the basic semantic nuance proper to this type of word formations, "die Endung -iSn; (-aSnc) gibt dem Kompositum den Wert von etwas Dauerndem weil ,erheblich von Geschlecht zu Geschlecht Weitergegebenem'; d.h. etwas von Hause aus Angeborenem".
19 "In his reference to AiyuaaxaSn; [in v. 3] Solon would not have been addressing the real Mimnermus by name (indeed what Solon utters is not Mimnermus' name), but rather he would have been signaling - outside of the fiction - that he was going to introduce a quotation from 'Mimnermus' " (Noussia-Fantuzzi 2010: 400-401).
A more radical solution for the problem that the unexpected resemblance of the poetic pseudo-patronym and the name of Mimnermus' father poses is to postulate a corruption in the form Л1уиртиа§ои at the beginning of Suda's entry. This position can be stated explicitly , but more often than not it is implied, as, for example, or when Dihle says, without elaborating, that the apostrophe was based on "a patronym"21. This approach has an evident disadvantage, as it gives a simpler, more transparent form preference over a more complex one; moreover, it implies that the name of Mimnermus' father could have been known to the compiler of the Suda entry solely from Solon's fragment, which, in our view, should not be taken for granted.
Finally, it has been suggested that the apostrophe in Solon fr. 20, 3 might be Mimnermus' actual patronym. Thus, when West reconstructs Лфяотабп, his editorial choice testifies above all to his doubts as concerns the text transmitted by manuscripts of Suda and Diogenes Laertius; however, since he makes no mention whatsoever of the form Л1уиртиа§ои, it is fair to assume that he considered Лфяотабп as the closest we can get to recovering Mimnermus' patronymic. Hudson-Williams was more explicit: he suggested that Л1уиаота§п? (the form he took over from Bergk) might have been Mimnermus' real patronymic, which allowed him to surmise that Mimnermus' father was called Ligyastes22. In spite of all their differences, these attempts have two major drawbacks: (a) they are based on the assumption that there is no wordplay in Solon's fr. 20, 3, which runs counter to the spirit of the Solonian fragment; and (b) they ignore Suda's statement гка^гТто §8 ка! Л1уиаота§п? that must mean that the nickname Л1уиаота§п? sounded different from Mimnermus' name and patronymic - unless, of course, one is
20
Thus, e.g., Maas (1932: 1725): "fAiyupxuaSou Suid., mißverstanden aus Solon frg. 2 D.". However, scholars stop short of proposing a correction for Suda's AiyupxuaSou.
21 Cf. Dihle (1962: 265 n. 1): "die einem Patronymikon nachgebildete und an seine Stelle stehende, vielleicht ironisch-scherzhafte Anrede XiyuaaxaSn^, die Solon (fr. 22) gebildet hat".
22 Hudson-Williams (1926: 127): "the poet may really have been the son of Ligyastas". The idea is mentioned critically by Noussia-Fantuzzi (2010: 404), but ignored by most other scholars. Edmonds (1931: 137) seems to have been the only scholar to have shared Hudson-William's approach, as in his Loeb edition, he leaves the apostrophe AiyuaaxaSn without translation, rendering it simply as 'Ligyastades'; however, in the absence of a note, this is only a guess.
willing to suppress altogether the form Aiyupxudöou from the beginning of the Suda entry on Mimnermus.
Neither of these approaches recommends itself: one proposes a largely unwarranted modification to Suda's entry, and the other fails to tackle the resemblance of Solon's AiynaoxdSn to Aiyupxudön?, the name of Mimnermus' father as transmitted by the tradition. We are thus left with the question with which Szadecky-Kardoss ended his brief summary of the problem: "Wie und warum hätte man die Benennung des Sohnes (Aiynaoxdön?) auf den Vater (in entstellter Form) übertragen?" (Szadecky-Kardoss 1968: 940).
There is one solution that has not been hitherto proposed and which would eschew the disadvantages of the approaches outlined above. However, before presenting it, a few words must be said about Mimnermus' biography in the Suda (^ 1077) and on the sources used by its compiler. Its contents and structure of this entry are simple and straightforward, incorporating essential data on Mimnermus (father's name, place of birth, date, writings). However, the introduction of an alternative date, and especially the wording, xiv8^ Sc anxoi^ Kai ouyxpovsiv ^syonoiv, shows clearly that the compiler relied on two distinct biographical sources on Mimnermus' life. One of these (preferred by the compiler) dated Mimnermus around 40 years (i.e. ten Olympiads) before the Seven Sages23, whereas the second made Mimnermus their contemporary: there can be little doubt that the later date stems from Solon's biographical tradition and was invented to account for the impression of a direct dialogue between the two poets that Solons' fr. 20 W. leaves. The same biographical source would have provided the information that Mimnermus was also called AiynaoxdSn? (obviously taken directly from Sol. fr. 20 West24). However, other data manifestly come from an independent biographical tradition: thus, the compiler is unsure about Mimnermus' place of birth, giving three possibilities, Ko^o^rovio^ ^ 2^upvaio^ ^ ÄGxnna^aisn^, of which the last, as M. L. West has shown, must be a misunderstood periphrastic reference to Smyrna as the old city25, and the remaining alternatives probably
On this calculation, see Sanz-Morales (2011: 34-35), who builds on an old idea briefly mentioned by Diels (1902: 482-483).
24 For the idea that the Suda entry on Mimnermus relies on a combination of two traditions, see V. de Marco in della Corte et al. (1971: 23); cf. Wilamowitz (1913: 280, n. 1). Unfortunately, I was not able to consult de Marco (1939/40).
25 See West (1974: 72), who is followed by Allen (1993: 13 n. 17), Gerber (1997: 109), Bagordo (2011: 165).
reflect Mimnermus' elusive self-identification (as exemplified by Mimn. fr. 9 W.)26; the information on the elegist's œuvre, despite the corrupt state of the text in this passage, no doubt goes back to the organization of Mimnermus' Alexandrian edition27.
Returning to the question of the name of Mimnermus' father, it seems plausible that Atyupxuàônç also stems from a biographical tradition on Mimnermus which could have learnt it either from an independent source or directly from the poet's writings. A look at the testimonia in modern editions of Mimnermus shows that hardly any of the meager details on the poet's life can be shown to have been preserved independently of Mimnermus' verses; this, as well as the fact that Solon had to know the name in order to create the pun Atyuaoxdônç, makes it much more likely that the name Atyupxuaônç can be traced back to Mimnermus' own verses .
There is, in fact, one type of context where Mimnermus could have mentioned the name of his father - in a poetic sphragis to a large poem (such as the Smyrneis) or a book of poetry2 . That Mimnermus might have "signed" his work is actually very probable. Pausanias tells us that the elegy on the Smyrneans' battle with the army of Gyges opened with a proem which spoke of two generations of Muses (Paus. 9, 29, 4 = Mimn. fr. 14 Allen = fr. 13 West), a precious testimony which shows that Mimnermus payed attention to the formal framing of his work. A formalized proem of this kind (or, perhaps, an equally formalized closure of the book of poetry or a large poem) would be a perfect opportunity for inserting a
"2 A
sphragis. Now, in a context of this kind the name of the father would most certainly have appeared in the genitive form - in other words, we assume that the form Atyupxuaôou, transmitted unanimously by the Suda manuscripts, was taken directly from Mimnermus' verses. If we further assume that Mimnermus' own
26 See West (1974: 72), Allen (1993: 13-14), Gerber (1997: 109).
27 On the reconstructions of Mimnermus' Alexandrian edition, see Müller 21988: esp. 206-208); Allen (1993: 19-23).
8 The idea that the name Ligyrtyades could not have been mentioned by Mimnermus himself is sometimes presented as a self-evident premise (thus, Maas 1932: 1725), but, in our view, would need to be argued.
29 On the sphragides in Greek poetry, see the seminal article by Kranz (1961), as well as discussions of seals of particular authors, such as Woodbury (1952), Hubbard (2007), Nisbet, Hubbard (1978: 335) and others.
OA
As Walter Kranz has shown, the form of invocation to the Muses (the K^nxiKoc; fipvo;) in particular is associated with the poet's introduction of himself (Kranz 1961: 4-5).
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name was in the genitive, as is often the case in seals , the combination of name and patronymic might have sounded as *Mi^vsp^ou - ^ AiyupTudSsro (this reconstruction is suited for a pentameter but is not the only possibility). In that case AiyuprudSou would in fact have been an adjectival patronymic in -d§nc, which the compiler of the Suda or his source had interpreted as the father's name (on the reasons why such an interpretation seemed possible, see the Appendix to this article). In that case, Mimnermus' father would have actually been called Aiynpxnn^32.
Now, Aiyuprunc is not transparent as to its inner form, and its ending in -tinc is not typical for Greek names. However, names in -unc / -uac are fairly well attested in Greek inscriptions of Asia Minor 3, e. g., Tounc (in Cilician and Pamphylian context)34, naK-xnnc (in Lydian and Carian context; cf. the Pactyes who appears in
31 The most famous sphragis of this kind is, of course, Theognis' seal: &5e 5e na; tic; epei- "©eoyviSo; eaciv enn / tou Meyape©; navca; 5e KaT' avOpronouc; ovopaaco;" (Theogn. 22-23) "Thus will everyone say: 'These are the verses of Theognis, the poet from Megara, and his name is known among all men". Cf. also Kai coSe 0©KuXi5ou "this also belongs to Phocylides" at the beginning of fragments 1-5 Gentili-Prato and Kai coSe AnpoSoKou "this too belongs to Demodocus" (Demodoc. fr. 2 W.; cf. Hubbard 2007: 203-204). In Hellenistic poetry, particularly close is tou Kupnvaiou tout' 'EpaToaOeveo; "this is the work of Eratosthenes of Cyrene" (Eratosthen. fr. 18, 35; cf. Nic. Ther. 957-958; cf. Alex. 629-630).
32 The idea that Suda's Mipveppo; AiyupcuaSou resulted from a misinterpretation of an actual patronymic was already suggested by N. Bach; he used it, however, to argue that AiyupcuaSn; was no patronymic, but signaled Mimnermus' belonging to a group of singers: "Mimnermus non filius Ligyrtiadae cujusdam, verum ipse AiyupciaSn; sive AiyuaciaSn; appelletur, forma quidem patronymica, illa tamen ad artem referenda, eadem prorsus ratione, qua Homeridae, Daedalidae aliique dicuntur" (Bach 1826: 8). The same idea also prompted Hudson-Williams' suggestion that Mimnermus' father was called Aiyuaacn; (see above); cf. Dihle (1962: 265 n. 1).
The names in -un; were gathered from the reverse index in the Lexicon of Greek Personal Names, vol. V.B (Frazer, Matthews 2013), but the list can be certainly expanded: cf. a certain niXaKua; mentioned in a papyrus from Cairo and identified as a Pisidian by Louis Robert (1963: 428). We follow the editors of the Lexicon in leaving most of the names unaccented; an exception will be made for naKTon;, attested in Herodotus.
34 Fraser, Matthews (2013: 412, s.v. Toun;), Zgusta (1964: 520, 1585-4). The name can be identified with the Hittite name Duwa attested in several inscriptions (Laroche 1966: 193, no. 1398; the Hittite does not distinguish between /d/ and /t/), but also as part of compound names in Duwayalla, Tuwakili, Tuwastili, Tuwattaziti, etc. (for the list and references, see Laroche 1966: 193-194).
-5 С
Herodotus, 1, 153-161) , 2а^6актоп<; (in Carian context; cf. пактип^36), nava^un^ (mostly in Carian inscriptions)37, Оирра^иа^
•5 О
(Pamphylian) , etc. Most of these names are compounds, sometimes also attested in inscriptions in Anatolian languages, and the second element (e.g. -тип^, -^un^) can be identified with an Anatolian root: the sense and etymology are uncertain for -тип^,
"2 Q
but -^un^ means "descendant of..." .
It should be added that names of a similar kind are also attested in Greek non-epigraphic sources. Thus, we are told that the name of Thales' father was Examyes40:
'Hv xoivuv о ©аХ^с;, юс; pcv Нробохо; каг Аойрц каг Апрокриос; фааг, яахро; pcv 'Е^арши, рпхро; КХеобоиАдуп;, ¿к xrov ©n^iSrov, oi siai Фомке;, suyevsaxaxoi xrov ало Каброи каг 'Ay^vopo; (Diog. Laert. 1, 22 Dorandi).
"Thales was, according to Herodotus, Douris and Democritus, son of Examyes and Cleobouline, and belonged to the Thelidae who are Phoenicians and noblest among the descendants of Cadmos and Agenor"
And among the testimonia on Mimnermus' life a poetic appraisal of the elegist's life in Hermesianax, another Examyes is mentioned as Mimnermus' companion at feasts - piece of information that undoubtedly was taken from Mimnermus' own writings:
raisxo psv ^woti;, noXi® §' ¿яг яоХХак Хюхф кпрюОегс; кюрои; sixs ouv 'Б^ар^
(Hermesian. fr. 3, 35-40 Lightfoot = Mimn. Test. 4 Allen).
35 See Zgusta (1964: 403-404, § 1193), Fraser, Matthews (2010: 353, s.v. naKx^nç), Fraser, Matthews (2013: 338, s.v. naKxunç).
36 Fraser, Matthews (2013: 377, s.v. LapôaKxunç); on LapnaKx^nç, see Zgusta (1964: 452, § 1364-2) who connects it with naKx^nç.
37 Fraser, Matthews (2013: 339, s.v. navapunç), Zgusta (1964: 405, § 1197-6). The name is attested as Panamuwa in Hittite (see Laroche 1966: 135, no. 927; cf. Punamuwa - Laroche 1996: 158, no. 1050).
38 See Fraser, Matthews (2013: 335, s.v. Ouppapuaç); the name resembles Lycian Onpapoaç (cf. Frazer, Matthews 2013: 329, s.v. Onpapoaç; Zgusta 1964: 378, § 1099-3), perhaps also attested in Cilician as Onpapouaç 3Frazer, Matthews 2013: 330, s.v. Onpapouaç).
9 Cf. Armamuwa "descendant of the Moon", Tiwatamuwa "descendant of the Sun", etc.; on these names see Laroche (1966: 290); it has been suggested that the literal meaning of -muwa seems to be "seed, seminal fluid" (cf. Gamkrelidze, Ivanov 1984: II, 818; Kazansky 2004: 89).
40 Cf. the name EKapunç attested in a Carian inscription from Labraunda; see Fraser, Matthews (2013: 130, s.v. EKapunç).
"He burned with passion for Nanno and often, muzzled onto his ancient flute, held revels with Examyes".
Names in -nn<;/-tia<; thus had a certain degree of diffusion in Greek cities of Asia Minor, and the presence of another person with a name of this kind in Mimnermus' immediate entourage is certainly striking. This being said, the reconstruction of a non-Greek name for Mimnermus' father should not lead us to draw any hasty conclusions as to Mimnermus' family. Onomastic data in general demand careful treatment, and we know too little of the sociographic situation in ancient Smyrna in Mimnermus' lifetime to warrant any unequivocal conclusions. Moreover, it cannot be excluded that Ligyrtyes may already be a partly Hellenized version of a indigenous name, modified to make it resemble the Greek adjective ^tyupo^. This type of Hellenization may also be suspected in other cases. The well attested name nava^nn^, also attested as nuva^ua^41, finds parallels in the Hittite and other Anatolian languages; however, predominance of the form nava^nn^ in the Greek inscriptions suggests that is was preferred because of the resemblance of the first root to Gk. na^, naoa, nav; and the name Ki§pa^na^ (Ki§pa^oua^, -n^) seems to have been modified into Ku§pa^na^ in some inscriptions, possibly to resemble ки§ро^42.
The proposed analysis of the name Л1уиртиа§п? as a proper patronymic, which had been mistakenly taken for the name of the poet's father, has the advantage of introducing minimal change in the tradition, while the more interesting part of the transmitted form Л1упртиа§ои is preserved. At the same time, it explains Solon's wordplay. In creating Л1уиаота§п^, he was using Mimnermus' actual patronym Лгуиртиаб^: if our suggestion that the patronym had been mentioned by Mimnermus in his sphragis is accepted, the patronym would have been known to at least a part of part of his audience that would be able to fully appreciate his pun. The first part of the father's name would have been associated with the adjective ^iynpo^ "clear-voiced", which permitted Solon to replace it with the the shorter variant, identical from the point of view of the
41 See Fraser, Matthews (2013: 371, s.v. nuvapuO; cf. Robert (1963: 515) and Robert, Robert (1953: 179-178, no. 202). It may have helped that puna- in Luwian and Lycian also meant "all"; Laroche viewed pana- as a variant of the same form, but this idea is disputed (cf. Adiego 2007: 337338, § 2.12).
42 See Robert (1963: 409), with references; cf. Zgusta (1964: 260, § 767-1).
semantics, while the patronymic suffix was transformed into a separate root and linked with the verb а§ю.
Appendix
A few words need to be said about the reasons that led to the confusion of patronymic with the father's name in Mimnermus' biographical tradition. On the one hand, a name such as Лгуиртип^ would have sounded strange to a Greek reader, and if it was only attested as part of an adjectival patronymic Лгуиртиа§п? (and especially if, as we suggested, it was used in the genitive), grammarians would have been tempted to treat it as a proper name in -а§п^, as the suffix disguised to some extant what was unusual about the name, giving it a form that was closer to Greek. On the other hand, Solon's name for Mimnermus, Лгуиаота§п^, which was probably incorporated into the elegist's biographical tradition no later than early Hellenistic times 3, would have precluded the elimination of the -а§п? suffix from the form Лгуиртиа§п^.
But there was also a much more specific reason why the compiler of Mimnermus' biography would have been comfortable with giving the name of Mimnermus' father as Лгуиртиа§п^. The ancient scholia preserve a strand of exegesis which explained that in poetic language a father's name in -а§п? / -t&n? could also be used as his son's patronym. This explanation appears only sporadically and was in all likelihood invented as ad hoc explanation of some of the more problematic forms in -а§п? and -i§n^. In particular, this explanation was used, and probably invented, by Aristarchus:
"svO' oX6ioiaiv 'EppsviOaic;": ойк ало фи^л;, о Apiarnpxo; той
г л чг ?т-1 с* 5 г ?т-1 с* е с* >
кирши yap ovto; EppsviOou ойк av ysvovro EppsviOa; ^ 5s noi^TiK^ napsKTaai; каг axnpaTiapoi sni Trov Kupfov яатрю-vupiKrov sni та arnrov Tpsnopsva ovoparn, oiov ^pa^siOn; mi АакХпяшОпс; soti psv ax^paTi ^aTp^'opim, кирш 5s Tivrov. Ei Tic; otiv tov той ^pa^^Oou uiov ^aTp^'opi^c; PouXoito anpflvai, oprovoproc; av naXiv [лтрос;] 'HpaxXsiOnv ra^in (schol. BDEGQ in Pind. Pyth. 6, 5a Drachmann).
43 Diogenes Laertius writing in the III century AD who preserves Solon's dialogue with Mimnermus is the obvious terminus ante quem for the story's entry in the biographical tradition of the two poets. However, the revival of interest in Mimnermus at the beginning of the Hellenistic age renders an earlier date much more probable.
" 'There for the fortunate Emmenidai': [called thus] not from their clan44, as Aristarchus [argued]: for the original name being Emmenides, the derivative would not be Emmenides45. This is a poetic extension [of usage of the name] to their own names, producing a trope - as well as a formation based on actual patronyms, just as Heracleides and Asclepiades are, by their form, patronymics, but proper names of some people. And thus if someone wanted to designate Heracleides' son by a patronym, he would call him in his turn Heracleides, homonymously with his father"
Aristarchus considered Pindar's expression o^6ioioiv 'E^s-vi§ai^ problematic because of the general structure of Pythian 6. The ode celebrates a chariot victory of Xenocrates of Acragas, brother of Theron, the tyrant of Acragas, but besides the actual laudandus, Xenocrates, his son, Thrasybulus, receives an unexpected amount of attention and praise. The expression o^6ioioiv 'E^sviSai^ at the very beginning of the ode (Pyth. 6, 5) has to be understood as referring to the three family members. The origins of the family name 'E^eviSai were explained in different ways in Antiquity46, but Aristarchus obviously preferred the genealogy according to Theron's and Xenocrates' grandfather was called Emmenides. The fact that the descendants of an Emmenides were
themselves called 'E^eviSai went contrary to the accepted usage and had to be explained: thus, according to Aristarchus, the transfer of a name that was patronymic in form from the father to the son was a kind of poetic trope. The wording of the scholium shows that the homonymy of this kind could in no way be considered normal and suggests that the idea of rcorqxiK^ napsKiaoi^ may have been an exegetical subterfuge invented for this passage in particular (or a limited number of uncomfortable cases). There is one other case where it figures prominently - in Theocritus' short biography transmitted in the scholia:
©eoKpiTO^ o x©v poukoxik&v nov^c; LupaKotiaio; ^v to yevoc;, nmpoc; LipixiSou, awo; 'LipixiSa, na 5^ to peaapepiov
44 Given the scholiast's brevity, it is difficult to be sure of the exact meaning of фиХ'р in this context: Miller translates it as "tribe (?)", considering that "it should mean [Aristarchus] denied it was the name of any kind of descent or kinship group" (Miller 1970: 54). The remark ойк ало фиХ^; was probably polemic in nature, rejecting the explanation that the Emmenids were a фрахрга (schol. in Pind. Ol. 3, 67b, 68b Drachmann).
45 'EppeviSa; in the text of the scholium is manifestly a Doric form which we have rendered as the more regular form Emmenides in our translation.
46 For a list and analysis of the ancient sources on the origins of the name 'EppeviSai, see Miller (1970: 53-55).
noSac; eAxeic;;' evioi Se to 'LipixiSa' enrovupov eivai Xeyouai -SoKei yap aipo; eivai t^v npoaoyiv, - nmepa S' eax^Kevai npa^ayopav Kai p^Tepa OiXivav (schol. in Theocr. p. 1, l. 4-9 Wendel47).
5 SipixiSa K SipixiSou cett. : Sipixou Ahrens ex Sud. (G 161) et schol. in Theocr. 3, 8-9a SipixiSa-sAxsig om. P 6 to psaapspiov codd. plerique: au psaapspiov T 8 rcaxspa-OiXivav codd. plerique ; aXXoi 5s auxov uiov npa^ayopou Kai OiXivag sivai Eb
"Theocritus, writer of bucolic poetry was Syracusian by his descent, son of Simichidas, as he says himself: 'Simichidas, where are you steering your steps this noon?' (Theocr. 7, 21). Others say that 'Simichidas' was his surname - for he seemed snub-nosed in his appearance, - whereas his father was Praxagoras and his mother Philinna".
We know from other ancient sources on Theocritus' life that the poet's parents were Praxagoras and Philinna48, but the compiler of this biography preferred the alternative version that stemmed from the equation of the narrator of Idyll 7, Simichidas, with Theocritus (as is evident from his quotation of Lycidas' address to him, Id. 7, 21). However, he failed to notice, or rather deliberately ignored, the contradiction between his own words naxpo^ Si^i^iSon and the use of Si^i^iSa as a patronymic in the quotation he uses to argue his version of Theocritus' parentage. Ahrens, suspecting an error in the manuscript reading 2i^i%i8on under the influence of the apostrophe Si^i^iSa, corrected it to Si^i^on, based on Theocritus' biography in the Suda (0 166 = II, p. 697, l. 18-19 Adler) and one of the scholia where the assumed father's name appears as 49. However,
2i^iXi§ou is visibly more than a lapsus calami (and, incidentally, should not perhaps be eliminated from the main text, if only for the interest that it has for the history of ancient literary criticism) - later on a scholiast goes out of his way (in his note on Id. 7, 21) to
AI
The abbreviation of manuscripts follows that used by C. Wendel in his edition: K - codex Ambrosianus 886; P - codex Laurentianus XXXII 37; T - codex Vaticanus 38; E - codex Vaticanus 42. The text and the apparatus criticus quoted above differ slightly from Wendel's edition: in particular, we reintroduced the ms. reading Lipixiôou in the main text and relegated Ahrens' correction Lipixou to the apparatus.
48 See Gow (1965: I, xvi and II, 128). The names of Praxagoras and Philinna appear in Theocritus' sphragis-epigram: uioç npa^ayopao nepiKXeixàç xe QiXivvaç (Theocr. Ep. 27, 3), and there is no reason to disbelieve this tradition.
49 Schol. in Theocr. Ahrens (1859: 1); this reading is accepted by Wendel (1914: 1) and Gow (1965: I, xv).
explain that there is nothing awkward in having the same name appear as the father's name and the son's patronymic:
sioi Kai naxprovupiKa ошю; anapaXXaKx®; Xsyopsva каг sni x®v uirov ю; Kai sni x®v naxsprov. юалер о ©soKpixoc; LipixiSa uio; ®v LipixiSav sauxov ovopaZsi naxprovupiK®;- Kai xov AaK^nniaSnv xov Lapiov noi^x^v LiKsXiSav Kai arnov KaXsi naiSa xivo; LiKsXiSa Xsyopevou xuyxavovxa (schol. PT in Theocr. 7, 21b Wendel).
"There exist patronyms that are used thus without modification of form both of the sons and of the fathers. Even as Theocritus, being the son of Simichidas, calls himself Simichidas in a patronymic way; and calls Asclepiades, poet from Samos, 'Sicelides', as h happened to be the son of a certain Sicelides".
This scholium uses one and the same approach to explain (which the scholiast wanted to stand for Theocritus) and 2гкгШа<; (for Asclepiades of Samos; cf. schol. in Theocr. 7, 40b). In neither case is his explanation a lucky one: the suggestion that Theocritus' father's name could be reconstructed as was
obviously questioned already in Antiquity; as for 2гкгШа<; - the form with the patronymic suffix was a fairly common designation of Asclepiades, but not as a patronym, but as a nickname50.
The existence of the idea that names in and could be used both as father's names and their son's patronymic seems to have allowed the compiler of the Suda entry on Mimnermus (or his source) to reconstruct the name of Mimnermus' father as Лгуирхиа§п?, with the understanding that this name could also be applied, as part of a пог^ик^ паргкхаок; in the words of Aristarchus, to Mimnermus himself. In that case there would have been no contradiction, in the eyes of the compiler of the Suda entry (or of an earlier biographer on whom the compiler relied), between the name Лгуирхиа§п? and the witty apostrophe Лгуиаоха§п? in Solon.
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Summary. The name of Mimnermus' father is transmitted by the Suda in a biographical entry (p 1077) that introduces the poet as Mipveppo^ AiyupxuaSou; the name of the poet's father is preserved by no other source. Although a priori there is little reason to doubt the transmitted form, it is difficult to reconcile it with Solon's address to Mimnermus as AiyuaaxaSn^ (Sol. fr. 20 West = Diog. Laert. 1, 61; cf. Sud. p 1077), which manifestly is a compliment to Mimnermus but seems to make the name of Mimnermus' father rather than the poet's own name the object of the pun. The article examines the advantages and the disadvantages of existing approaches to this problem and proposes a different solution, arguing that the transmitted form AiyupxudSn^ must be an adjectival patronymic, not the actual name of Mimnermus' father.
Key words. Mimnermus, Ligyrtyades (AiyupxuaSn^), Solon, patronymic, Suda, Diogenes Laertius, ancient scholarship, onomastics of Asia Minor.
