Manuello, Rec. a O. Olivieri, Miti e Culti Tebani Nella Poesia Di Pindaro

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O. Olivieri Miti e culti tebani nella poesia diPindaro. (Filologia e Critica 89.) Pp. 244, maps.Pisa and Rome: Fabrizio Serra Editore, 2011. Paper,

76 (Cased, 152). ISBN: 978-88-6227-438-8(978-88-6227-439-5 hbk).

Patrick Manuello

The Classical Review / Volume 63 / Issue 01 / April 2013, pp 20 - 22DOI: 10.1017/S0009840X12002156, Published online: 01 March 2013

Link to this article: http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0009840X12002156

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T H E B A N M Y T H S A N D C U L T S

O L I V I E R I ( O . ) Miti e culti tebani nella poesia di Pindaro. (Filologia e

Critica 89.) Pp. 244, maps. Pisa and Rome: Fabrizio Serra Editore, 2011.

Paper, E76 (Cased, E152). ISBN: 978-88-6227-438-8 (978-88-6227-

439-5 hbk).doi:10.1017/S0009840X12002156

This volume (215 pages excluding the bibliography and indexes) provides a detailed exam-

ination of the presence of Theban cults and myths in Pindars works. Although this aspect

could seem obvious or banal for an author of Theban origin, O.s book deepens a problem

which scholarship has not studied enough. O. analyses Pindars corpus from the point of

view of a specific polis according to a geographical approach to Pindars world which

dates back to 1922, when Wilamowitz focussed on Boeotia (U. Von

Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, Pindaros [1922], pp. 1261). Since scholarship has clearly

demonstrated that Pindars odes, far from being a mere literary artefact, may contain pre-

cise allusions to different aspects of contemporary religious rites and ceremonies, O.s aim

is to investigate Pindars poems as a document of real cults and Theban traditions. The

book is divided into five dense chapters, each dealing with relevant myths connected

with Theban history. O. does not limit her research to Pindar, but critically presents the

non-Pindaric mythographic tradition, underlining and trying to explain the remarkable

differences. As the books structure suggests, O. approaches Pindars works thematically

rather than on the basis of the classification of extant compositions. This approach will

benefit both scholars of Pindar and those dealing with a wider range of related disciplines

(history, mythology, religion, archaeology). Although O. presents each problem exhaus-

tively and critically, the book is accessible to non-specialists as the texts discussed include

an Italian translation, and O. explains clearly the intricate legends and rites.

Chapter 1 discusses the myth of the founding of Thebes. Archaic and classical authors

testify to the existence of two complementary legends centred on Cadmus and the twins

Amphion and Zethus. The first, probably reflecting Theban tales, names Cadmus as the

founder, a hero who introduced new cults and was considered responsible for introducing

the Greek alphabet from Phoenicia. A problematic passage in the Nekyia in the Odyssey

(11.2605), however, ascribes the foundation of the city to Amphion and Zethus (263:

hoi protoi Thebes hedos ektisan heptapyloio). These apparently discordant versions (the

second one has Boeotian origins) were taken by the ancients (see Paus. 9.5.67) as repre-

senting two building phases (a hypothesis which seems to be confirmed by archaeology.

Cf. A. Dakouri-Hild, The House of Kadmos in Mycenaean Thebes Reconsidered:Architecture, Chronology, and Context, Ann. Brit. School Athens 96 [2001], 81122):

Cadmus was the founder of the Cadmea (the acropolis), whereas Amphion and Zethus

later built the lower part of Thebes surrounded by walls and doors.

O. observes that in Pindars extant works there is a clear preference for the myth of

Cadmus. He plays an important role as founder (Isthm. 6.75; Pyth. 8.47, 9.83) and

Pindar treats some thematic nuclei of his story: the wedding of Cadmus with Harmonia

(frr. 29, 70b; Pyth. 3.8995); the daughters of Cadmus and Harmonia (Ol. 2.2530;

Pyth. 11.17); the destiny of Cadmus after death (Ol. 2.6878). Concerning the other tra-

dition, although Pindar does not mention Amphion, a passage ofPaean 9 may allude to

both founding myths (line 44 Kadmou straton an Zeathou po[lin).Chapter 2 is concerned with two eminent prophets in Theban history: Tiresias and

Amphiaraus. If tragic poetry emphasises the role of Tiresias as prophet of the misfortunes

of the Labdacids, Pindar prefers to depict the blind prophet in connection with the glory of

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Heracles. In the firstNemeanfor Chromius of Etna Pindar, reminding the audience of the

story of the infant Heracles strangling the snakes sent by Hera (a legend not attested before

Pindar), describes the prophecy of Tiresias (lines 6072), who had been summoned by

Amphitryon, about the future of the child. The Pindaric Tiresias, who is different from

the Apollonian priest depicted by Attic tragedy, acts as prophet of Zeus in the sanctuary

of Zeus Hypsistus erected on the southern extremity of the Cadmea near the PylaiHypsistai. O. examines fr. 198b (two lines about the Boeotian spring Tilphussa), recon-

structing the context and persuasively hypothesising a connection with the death of

Tiresias. Regarding the presence of Amphiaraus, there is an interesting analysis ofPyth.

8.3860, an important and controversial passage which may contain an allusion to a

Theban cult of the prophet/warrior Amphiaraus.

Chapter 3 focusses on the Theban biography of Heracles. O. emphasises the signifi-

cance of Isthm. 4.6172b: Pindar is the only Greek author who takes a stand on

Heracles infanticide, exonerating the hero from blame. According to Pindar the eight

sons of Heracles are adult and have died in battle (line 63 chalkoaran okto thanonton).

Scholars are divided as to the origin of this story, but two not mutually exclusive hypoth-eses could account for it: Pindar deliberately modifies the myth in order to rehabilitate the

hero or simply reflects a peculiar Theban variant of the myth. The latter is more probable

considering that, as the passage suggests, this ode may have been composed and per-

formed during an important Theban festival connected with Heracles and his sons

(Heracleia).

Chapter 4 presents an exhaustive overview of the ambivalent and complex figure of

Dionysus, explaining the peculiarities of his representation by Pindar. The relationship

between Dionysus and Thebes is significant because, according to the dominant legend

(accepted by Pindar), he was born at Thebes and was conceived by Zeus and Semele,

the daughter of Cadmus. The topography of the cult of Dionysus and his mother includesthe Cadmean acropolis, where the god was worshipped as Cadmeius or Pericionius (sur-

rounded by columns), and the temple of Dionysus Lysius (Liberator) near the Proetidian

gate. Most allusions to Dionysus come from the Dithyrambs. O. analyses the Dionysian

digression ofDithyramb 2 (fr. 70b lines 523) composed for the Thebans probably after

470 B.C. The description of the celebration in honour of Dionysus on Olympus (line 6

Bromiou [tele]tan) could reflect a precise earthly ceremony, perhaps the nocturnal orgiastic

rite on Mt Cithaeron, and is emblematic for the understanding of the relationship between

Pindars poetry and real performance. This critical approach to Dithyramb 2 reveals the

assimilation of the Magna Mater to Demetra (of whom Pindar seems to have been a devo-

tee) at Thebes and, as a comparison with Isthm. 7.34 may suggest, the fact that Demetra

was worshipped on the Cadmea in a sanctuary close to Dionysius Cadmeius.

Chapter 5 describes the characteristics of the Theban cult of Apollo in Pindars poetry.

Outside the walls of Thebes, on the south-east side beyond the door of Helen and by the

river Ismenus, Apollo Ismenius was venerated in a sanctuary famous for its influential ora-

cle. The temple was the destination of the Daphnephoria procession and the receptacle of

the tripods offered to the god. O. clarifies the ritual of the Daphnephoria, comparing the

accounts of Proclus (Chrest. ap. Phot. Bibl. 321b 2332) and Pausanias (9.10.4) with

the fragment ofParthenion 2 (fr. 94b), and discusses other fragments dealing with the

rite of the tripodephoria (frr. 5760, 66). Pindars ninthPaean(A1 Rutherford), dedicated

to Apollo Ismenius and composed probably after the eclipse of 463 B.C., shows Pindar as

spokesman of the entire city in an effort to avert the consequence of the threatening

phenomenon. This dense chapter closes with a discussion of the cult of Apollo Ptoius

which includes a careful discussion of the fragments belonging to the so-called Hymn to

Apollo Ptoio (frr. 51AD).

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This book is an excellent contribution not only to Pindaric scholarship but also to the

religious history of ancient Thebes.

State University of Sassari P A T R I C K M A N U E L L O

[email protected]

G R E E K M U S I C

H A G E L ( S . ) Ancient Greek Music. A New Technical History. Pp. xx +

484, figs. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010. Cased, 65, US

$115. ISBN: 978-0-521-51764-5.doi:10.1017/S0009840X12002168

H.s subtitle, A New Technical History, could mean both that this book is an updated

history of ancient Greek music written from a technical perspective, and that this book

is a history of ancient Greek music that has updated the technical perspective that wasestablished one and one half centuries ago. What it does not make clear is that this is

an intricate history written somewhat from the inside out or from finish to start. If it did

not expound a brilliant empirical analysis supported by an ample scholarly apparatus

and unparalleled technical expertise, one might even call it a mystery, the resolution of

which is discovered only in the last few of its 453 pages of text. Those in a hurry may

want to start at the end and work backwards, chapter by chapter, until the assumptions

and conclusions proved or at least amply and forcibly argued by the end of the book

can be applied to what had seemed to be unsupported premises at the outset. Those not

in a hurry and who have previously attempted to penetrate not just the technical aspects

of ancient Greek music theory but also allof the several dozen musical fragments in the2001 Phlmann/West DAGM and remaining fragments of string and wind instruments

should begin at the beginning and savour the revolutionary approach H. applies to a

host of traditionally thorny problems and the irrefutable, persuasive or at least plausible

solutions he demonstrates and illustrates throughout the book. Indeed, H. has rethought

so many of the assumptions scholars have compiled and used since Bellermann in the

1840s, his book almost requires a commentary to help the unprepared reader comprehend

the importance of his contribution and how it fits into the history of scholarship in this rela-

tively arcane and somewhat forbidding field. Those of us who have been following H.s

contributions to this field (he has made important contributions elsewhere) over the past

decade or so have been eagerly anticipating this book, and it does surely offer a dazzling,compelling and comprehensive overview of ancient Greek music, music theory and

organology.

H. has demonstrated repeatedly that he has a command of both the material, mechan-

ical, and acoustical properties of ancient wind instruments, and the two prominent musical

notational systems schematised and discussed to a limited extent in our extant theoretical

sources and employed in our five dozen or so musical fragments. Fluent in handling the

latter and practised in the former, he has developed into what could be described as the

best ancient Greek musician since the dissipation of Greco-Roman culture. His facility

with the actual production of authentically reproduced Greek instrumental music has

enabled him to revolutionise the way modern scholarship understands the origins anddevelopment of ancient Greek music and music theory. While traditional and contempor-

ary scholarship in ancient Greek music has understandably established its preliminary

assumptions that the music that accompanied the poetry of Homer, Sappho, Pindar and

T H E C L A S SI C A L R E V I E W22

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mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]

Manuello, Rec. a O. Olivieri, Miti e Culti Tebani Nella Poesia Di Pindaro

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