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Part II: Lyric Poetry

Domestic and Political Order in the ‘Foundation Myths’ of Partheneia

Vasiliki Kousoulini

Note: This research is co-financed by Greece and the European Union (European Social Fund-ESF) through the Operational Programme ‘Human Resources Development, Education and Lifelong Learning’ in the context of the project ‘Reinforcement of Postdoctoral Researchers – 2nd Cycle’ (MIS-5033021), implemented by the State Scholarships Foundation.

Abstract

Foundation myths contain narratives of the recent history of their poleis and play an important role in the dynamics of identity construction and the negotiation of diplomatic relationships between communities. They often appear in ancient Greek literature in different poetic genres, including choral poetry. In this chapter, I focus on how partheneia could incorporate narratives of the origins of a city. Fragments of partheneia, a rather elusive genre, seem to contain myths dealing with violence between men and the abduction and/or rape of women. This chapter aims to demonstrate that in the existing fragmentary corpus of partheneia we can discover traces of myths that contain the history of the origins of many Greek cities. In these myths, it is implied that the domestic and political order are closely interwoven.

Introduction

During antiquity, myth and history had a complex and nuanced relationship.¹ It is attractive for a contemporary scholar to examine whether or not Greek lyric poetry contains traces of the political and military history of a Greek polis, or, in other words, whether Greek lyric poetry could have played any part during the early stage of the development of Greek historiography.²

In this chapter, I focus on the foundation myths encountered in the extremely fragmentary corpus of partheneia. My approach takes as a premise that the foundation myths encountered in partheneia are – to some extent – social and literary constructs, or that they should be situated in the time in which these songs were composed and circulated.³ More specifically, I suggest that the composers of partheneia altered well-known myths in order not only to relate them to their contemporary political reality, but mostly to situate them within the foundation history of their poleis.⁴

The Corpus of Partheneia

The detection of foundation myths in existing partheneia is a difficult endeavor and not only because of their fragmentary condition. During the time of their composition, partheneia were not a well-defined lyric genre and consequently did not have very strict compositional rules.⁵

For the purposes of this chapter, I consider that the corpus of partheneia consists of the majority of Alcman’s fragments and the compositions of women poets such as Telesilla.⁶ I also regard Corinna as having composed poems for choruses of young women, but I agree with many contemporary scholars who regard her as a Hellenistic poet.⁷ Even though partheneia did not seem to have had strict compositional rules, at least judging from Alcman’s partheneia, we can be certain that they did contain a mythical part. I suggest that the myths narrated in partheneia were primarily foundation myths.

Foundation Myths in Partheneia

Foundation myths are accounts of the development of cities and nations. They describe the origins of a ritual or the founding of a city presented as a genealogy. More specifically, they have as a premise that the creation of a city is a human achievement.⁸

The creation of a city in foundation myths is, usually, attributed to a hero. This hero is often the mythical ancestor of a royal dynasty. The hero enters into conflict with wild, untamed forces that prevent civilization. He eventually exercises control over them and, by mixing with local women, he creates a long line of royal descendants.⁹ The role of women is vital in many foundation myths.¹⁰ Male competition and conflict over them lead to the foundation of the existing political order. The death of the male hero usually leads to the creation of a hero cult.¹¹ Royal dynasties encourage his worship, and young members of a polis adopt him as the model of the future citizen they wish to become.¹²

Foundation myths were told across the ancient world in many different ways, and they appeared in literature in different poetic genres, but choral poetry, in particular, provided an excellent civic performative context, well suited to the ongoing reenactment and public negotiation of the story of a city’s origins and the construction of civic identity.¹³ In the case of partheneia, the performance of a choral song by a group of maidens was part of a ritual; thus, partheneia provided an excellent opportunity for the narration of a foundation myth of local interest.¹⁴

Aristophanes seems to regard partheneia as a genre that could incorporate narratives of the origins of a city.¹⁵ Partheneia as ritual songs are connected to the ritual aspect of foundation myths; their mythical part provides an aition for the worship of a local hero by the community for which the partheneion was composed.¹⁶ These choral songs also serve educational purposes, as many scholars have suggested;¹⁷ that is, the preparation for the performance of a partheneion involved deliberate instruction and was a significant element in the education of young women in many ancient Greek communities. Their myths could also function as an example for the rest of the community, especially for the young male members of that community, as it is highly possible that partheneia were, in most cases, performed in front of the whole city.¹⁸ ‘Foundation myths’ could have formed part of the education of these young people.

Fragments of partheneia seem to contain myths dealing with violence between men, abduction and/or rape of women, as other scholars have noted.¹⁹ More specifically, they seem to contain different versions of the well-known scenario of the abduction of a beautiful maiden by a god or hero.²⁰ These myths have a similar structure and are focused on conflicts over women. These women are either abducted and reclaimed by male heroes who are the mythical ancestors of the ruling dynasties of ancient Greek cities, or they are taken by a god who bears great significance for this particular community and by mixing with him they create a series of descendants. In this sense, the stories of the abducted women who procreate with a god or a local hero are ‘foundation myths’ for these communities.

Female beauty provokes uncontrolled male desire and creates, as a result, the violation of domestic order. Women are taken without the permission of their male relatives. The sanctioned circulation of women, which is one of the elementary means by which social groups are bound to each other in order to constitute lasting societies, is prevented.²¹ This is also how the political order is violated.²² In partheneia, mythical heroes bring an end to this violation usually by retrieving the abducted girls. The alternative is that the young woman becomes the mother of demigods and her male relatives are somehow compensated. In this way, political order is also reconstituted.

The Texts

Alcman’s 1 PMGF, saved on papyrus Louvre E 3320, contains elements of a once more substantial mythical part of a partheneion. Unfortunately, the papyrus is heavily mutilated. In the opening lines, the chorus of maidens seems to narrate two different myths. The theme of the first myth is the conflict between Hercules and the sons of Hippocoon. The myth of Hippocoon is well known from other sources.²³ Hippocoon became king of Sparta upon the death of his father and he exiled his brothers. He fathered many sons, with Enarsphorus being the best-known, because of his uncontrolled desire for young Helen (Plut. Th. 31.1).

According to the ancient sources, Hercules became Hippocoon’s enemy and chose to march on Sparta gaining assistance from Cepheus and his sons. The war between the army of Hercules and the Spartans was a fierce one, but the hero managed to prevail. With the throne of Sparta now vacant after the death of Hippocoon, Hercules placed Tyndareus upon it. A version or a part of this myth is located in lines 1–21 of Alcman’s 1 PMGF:

] Πωλυδεύκης·

οὐκ ἐγὼ]ν Λύκαισον ἐν καμοῦσιν ἀλέγω

Ἐνα]ρσφόρον τε καὶ Σέβρον ποδώκη

]ν τε τὸν βιατὰν

]. τε τὸν κορυστὰν5

Εὐτείχη] τε Ϝάνακτά τ’ Ἀρήιον

]ά τ’ ἔξοχον ἡμισίων·

καὶ ]ν τὸν ἀγρέταν

] μέγαν Εὔρυτόν τε

Ἄρεος ἂν] πώρω κλόνον10

Ἀλκωνά] τε τὼς ἀρίστως

οὐδ’ ἁμῶς] παρήσομες·

κράτησε γ]αρ Αἶσα παντῶν

καὶ Πόρος] γεραιτάτοι,

λύθη δ’ ἀπ]έδιλος ἀλκὰ.15

μή τις ἀνθ]ρώπων ἐς ὠρανὸν ποτήσθω

μηδὲ πη]ρήτω γαμῆν τὰν Ἀφροδίταν

Κυπριάν Ϝ]άν[α]σσαν ἤ τιν’

] ἢ παίδα Πόρκω

εἰναλίω· Χά]ριτες δὲ Διὸς δόμον20

ἀμφιέπου]σιν ἐρογλεφάροι·

Pollux: I do not reckon Lycaethus among the dead but Enarsphorus and swift-footed Sebrus and … the violent and … the helmeted and Euteiches and lord Areius and … outstanding among demigods; and great …, gatherer (of the army), and Eurytus in the hurly-burly (of blind Ares?) and Alcon, finest warriors, we shall by no means pass over: Fate and Poros, those ancient ones, conquered them all, and their valour which was without foundation collapsed.

Let no man fly to heaven or attempt to marry Aphrodite, the (Cyprian) queen, nor some … nor a daughter of Porcus (of the sea) … ; it is the Graces with love in their eyes who (frequent?) the house of Zeus.²⁴

The text speaks of Pollux, one of the Dioscuri. It also mentions some of the names of the sons of Hippocoon and their ill fate. Their evil deeds have to do with the transgression of human limits (lines 15–21). Nonetheless, the Hippocoontids are described by the use of epic epithets, which attest to their braveness and their martial valor: Sebrus is swift-footed, someone is ferocious, another has a great helmet, Areius is a nobleman, someone else is outstanding among the demigods, another is great and a gatherer of the army; all of them are fine warriors (lines 3–11). The Hippocoontids were heroes of the Spartan pantheon. Even in this context, they are not completely villainized. Nonetheless, Alcman aims to show that their valor has limits.²⁵

The sons of Hippocoon have taken in this version of the myth the part of the transgressors who are eventually brought to justice. The Dioscuri are, probably, depicted as fighting at the side of Hercules.²⁶ Regrettably, the name of Hercules does not appear in the text. Nonetheless, it is possible that Hercules was mentioned in this partheneion. Alcman also refers to Lycaethus, who is identified in the scholia as a son of Derites, and who was, like Oebalus, a son of Amyclas creating a most complex state of affairs within the text.²⁷ As Davison rightly stresses, the mention of the son (or sons) of Derites and most of all, the sons of Tyndareus with Pollux may point to a greater emphasis on internal strife between various Spartan heroes.²⁸ Alcman also mentioned other mythical figures who were traditionally involved in this fight in other fragments, such as Cepheus (74 PMGF) and Perieres (79 PMGF).

The conflict between Castor and Pollux and the sons of Hippocoon was probably over women.²⁹ This is reinforced not only by extratextual evidence but also by intratextual clues. It is not only that the Enarsphorus mentioned in line 3, according to Plutarch (Thes. 31.1), attempted to abduct Helen when she was still a child;³⁰ more specifically, the relevance to the gnome that follows in lines 16–21 is a powerful indication that the version that Alcman chose had to do with erotic violence.

Alcman, in lines 22–35, is likely to refer to the Gigantomachy, the battle fought between the Giants and the Olympian gods for supremacy of the cosmos.³¹ Hercules took part in the Gigantomachy, as we know from other sources.³² Giants were a race of great strength and aggression, sometimes associated with the rape of women.³³ It has already been convincingly argued that Alcman here could have referred not to the assault of Otus and Ephialtes on heaven, but to their assault on Artemis and their punishment (Alcman 1.22–35 PMGF):³⁴

]τάτοι

]τ̣α δαίμων

]ι φίλοις

ἐδ]ωκε δῶρα25

]γαρέον

]ώλεσ’ ἥβα

]ρονον

μα]ταίας

]έβα· τῶν δ’ ἄλλος ἰῶι30

]μαρμάρωι μυλάκρωι

].εν Ἀΐδας

]αυτοι

]πον· ἄλαστα δὲ

Ϝέργα πάσον κακὰ μησαμένοι·35

god … to friends … gave gifts … youth lost … throne … vain … went; one of them (died) by an arrow, (another) by a marble millstone … Hades … ; and unforgettably they suffered, since they plotted evil.

Alcman refers to many female figures who were the victims of rape or abduction in several other fragments. In Alcman’s fr. 8 PMGF we learn that the Leucippides (or one of them) were the cause of the death of their husband/s (1. ἀν]δροδάμα[ / 2. Φοίβη κα[ὶ Ἱλάειρα / 3.]ται Ἀπόλλ[ων / 4.]στροφε τον[ / 5. συλληπτικ[ / 6. θεῶν̣[, – “… man taming … Phoebe and (Hilaeira) … (Apollo?) … comprehensive(ly) … of gods”).³⁵ According to the best-known version of this myth, the Leucippides were the cause of the animosity between the Dioscuri and their cousins, the Aphareides. The Leucippides were betrothed to Lynceus and Idas, but the Dioscuri carried them off to Sparta.³⁶ In the fight that followed, one of the Dioscuri and both of the Aphareides were killed.³⁷ Alcman likely referred to this myth in a cultic song.³⁸

We learn in a fragment that has come down to us by the indirect tradition (fr. 21 PMGF) that Alcman also referred to the abduction of Helen by Theseus. According to the most diffused version of this myth,³⁹ Theseus wanted to marry a divine wife and chose Helen. Theseus took Helen and left her at Aphidnae. Helen’s abduction caused an invasion of Athens by Castor and Pollux, who returned their sister to Sparta. According to Pausanias who quotes this fragment (1.41.4), this myth is found in a song Alcman composed for the Dioscuri, that is, in a cultic song. The Scholiast of Homer (Schol. A Hom. Il. 3.242) attests that Alcman referred to the same story.

It is not impossible that Alcman described both Paris and Peleus as the abductors of Helen and Thetis, respectively, although the condition of the fragments at hand (fr. 70b, 77, 5 PMGF) leaves room only for mere speculations. In fr. 70b PMGF, we read that someone became subdued to Alexander (τεὶ γὰρ Ἀλεξάνδρωι δαμάσαι). It is not impossible that Alcman referred to Helen’s abduction by Paris,⁴⁰ for whom he draws a grim picture in fr. 77 PMGF. In fr. 5 PMGF fr. 2 col. iii PMGF, the abduction of Thetis⁴¹ by Peleus could have been referred to in the context of a partheneion.⁴²

Telesilla, who was probably a composer of partheneia, refers to the same subject in fr. 717 PMG:

ἁ δ’ ῎Αρτεμις ὦ κόραι. φεύγοισα τὸν Ἀλφεόν …

But Artemis, o maidens, fleeing from Alpheus …⁴³

The virgin goddess Artemis flees from the river Alpheus. According to some ancient sources,⁴⁴ Artemis was led to Letrini in Elis and here she covered her face and those of her companions (nymphs) with mud, so that Alpheus could not discover or distinguish her, and was obliged to return. This occasioned the building of a temple of Artemis Alphaea at Letrini.⁴⁵ Nonetheless, in the most well-diffused version of this myth, the nymph Arethusa and not Artemis is the love-interest of Alpheus.⁴⁶

A great number of Corinna’s fragments which seem to belong to choral songs performed by maidens refer to the abduction of young girls. They all seem to contain at least an epichoric twist to well-known myths.⁴⁷ All of them are in an extremely fragmentary condition. Corinna’s fr. 654 col. iii. (lines 12–26) is the most substantial of them.

τᾶν δὲ πήδω[ν τρῖ[ς µ]ὲν ἔχι

Δεὺς πατεὶ[ρ πάντω]ν βασιλεύς,

τρῖς δὲ πόντ[ω γᾶµε] µέδων

Π[οτιδάων, τ]ᾶν δὲ δουῖν 15

Φῦβος λέκτ[ρα] κρατούνι,

τὰν δ’ ἴαν Μή[ας] ἀγαθὸς

πῆς Ἑρµᾶς· οὕ[τ]ω γὰρ Ἔρως

κὴ Κούπρις πιθέταν, τιὼς

ἐν δόµως βάντας κρουφάδαν 20

κώρας ἐννί’ ἑλέσθη·

τή ποκ’ εἱρώων γενέθλαν

ἐσγεννάσονθ’ εἱµ[ιθί]ων,

κἄσσονθη π[ο]λου[σπ]ερίες

τ’ ἀγείρω τ’ ἐς [µ]α[ντοσ]ούνω 25

τρίποδος ὥιτ[ …

Of your daughters, three are possessed by Zeus the Father King of all; three the Lord of Ocean took to wife, Poseidon; Phoebus rules over the beds of two of them, the one is held by the brave son of Maea, Hermes. For so did Eros and the Cyprian prevail, that the Gods go in secret to your House, and take for themselves your maidens nine. They shall give birth hereafter to a breed of heroes half-divine; fruitful they shall be and ageless. Such is my teaching from the seat oracular …⁴⁸

This fragment contains a part of a speech by a prophet of the Ptoan oracle, Acraephen, addressed to Asopus, the eponymous demigod of the Boeotian River. Acraephen describes the fates of the abducted daughters of Asopus. Nine have been abducted from Asopus’ house by the gods Zeus, Poseidon, Apollo and Hermes. Acraephen advises Asopus to rejoice and be proud to be the father of the brides of gods (lines 44–46). Asopus is promised that his daughters will be fruitful and ageless and that they will give birth to a breed of half-divine heroes.

There have been some scholarly attempts to restore some of the lost part of this poem (654 col. ii.33–40, ὧν Ἤγ[ιναν γε]νέθλαν / Δεὺς [ ἀ]γαθῶν / πατρ̣ο̣[ ]ς / Κορκού[ραν δὲ κὴ Σαλαµῖ-] / ν’ εἰδ[’ Εὔβοιαν ἐράνναν] / Ποτ̣ι[δάων κλέψε πα]τείρ· / Σιν[ώπαν ]ς / Θέσ[πιαν ]σ̣τ̣ιν ἔχων) and to read the names of some of the daughters of Asopus. Page notes that only Corcyra’s name can be read, but he also restores the names of the other daughters of Asopus.⁴⁹ He attributes the islands Corcyra, Salamis and Euboea to Poseidon and Thespia and her sister Sinope to Apollo. Although he does not add her name, Page supposes that Tanagra, Corinna’s hometown, might be the missing daughter that Hermes, the principal god of the town of Tanagra, abducted.

In fr. 655 PMG Corinna speaks of Kephisos, a Boeotian river god, whom she calls ‘ancestor’ (fr. 655.12–13 PMG, πο]λλὰ μὲν Καφ[ισὸν ἱών- / ἀρχ]αγόν, κόσμ[εισα λόγυ]ς). In the same fragment, Corinna mentions Orion’s intercourse with nymphs and the fifty strong children they bore (fr. 655.14–16 PMG, Ὠρ[ίωνα] μέγαν / κὴ πεντεί[κοντ’] οὑψιβίας / πῆδα[ς οὕς νού]μφησι μιγ[ί]ς – “often great Orion and the fifty sons of high strength whom [he fathered] by intercourse with the nymphs”). Although the rest of the poem is lost, the reference to an ancestor and to sexual activity and procreation implies that this could have been another ‘foundation myth’ performed by a chorus of maidens.

Corinna seems to have composed poems dedicated to groups of maidens.⁵⁰ Some of these maidens were related to the mythic figures mentioned in the catalog of the seers of the Ptoan oracle found in fr. 654 PMG, and thus related to Acraephen’s ancestors. Fragment 656 PMG refers to the daughters of Orion, but we do not know in what context.⁵¹ In fr. 660 PMG, Corinna refers to the daughters of Euonymus. In a narrative in the third-person singular, a mother reacts to something (πῆδα ϝὸν θέλωσα φίλης / ἀγκάλησ’ ἑλέσθαι – ‘wishing to take her son in her loving arms’). It is impossible to know who the mother and the child are. I can only speculate that in Corinna’s telling, one of the daughters of Euonymus was either abducted by a god or that she experienced difficulties during the troubled period when her father was expelled from Boeotia and wanted to seize her child in her arms.⁵² I suspect that the strongest candidate is Aulis, who gave her name to the city Aulis, Boeotia, but there are no decisive clues. Corinna in fr. 665 PMG, refers to the Minyades, the daughters of Minyas, but we do not know in what context.⁵³

History of Greek Cities and ‘Foundation Myths’ in Partheneia

I have already stressed that what I call ‘foundation myths’ encountered in partheneia, that is, epichoric version of myths of the abduction or rape of maidens by local heroes or gods that, usually, culminate in the birth of their offspring, could have had a paedeutic function. By learning and narrating these myths the maidens and their audience learned what they thought to be the early history of their communities, that is, how the descendants of these unions, their rulers, came into being. They also learned that male violence was a common response to female sexuality; therefore, female sexuality was a force that had to be put under control or else it could endanger their whole community. In other words, they learned how domestic order was tightly interwoven with political order. But did ‘foundation myths’ encountered in archaic, classical or even Hellenistic partheneia reflect contemporary historical events? Finally, did partheneia play any part in the early development of Greek historiography?

The poor condition of these fragments does not allow us to draw a final conclusion. Nevertheless, I will create a hypothesis regarding their relationship with history. More specifically, I suggest that these myths allow us a glimpse into the process of creating a community, especially in Alcman’s case. At the same time, they are used to legitimize and appropriate contemporary political order in their communities.

‘Foundation myths’ of Alcman’s partheneia seem to follow a specific pattern: there are quarrels between heroes who belong to the archaic Spartan pantheon, that seem to have as a cause the violation of domestic order. The heroes who were not only the object of worship in Sparta but were also regarded as the ancestors of the two ruling dynasties, the Agiads and the Eurypontides⁵⁴ – win and restore both the domestic and the political order.⁵⁵ This is the case for Hercules⁵⁶ and the Dioscuri⁵⁷ and perhaps for Menelaus.⁵⁸ Women are retrieved, and the transgressors of domestic order are severely punished. Legitimate children are produced at some point and legitimacy upon the claim of their descendants to rule is offered. ‘Foundation myths’ of Alcman’s partheneia may reflect not only the process of the creation of the Spartan community, but also the antagonism between Sparta and its neighbors – as they depict some of the heroes of the Spartan pantheon as transgressors – or even the antagonism between the two Spartan ruling dynasties. Unfortunately, the condition of these texts and the uncertainty of their exact dating do not allow us to draw a decisive conclusion.

Telesilla, who lived in classical Argos, offers a tale of appropriation of the worship of Artemis in her city. She may also offer a tale of relief from the tension created by the political chaos caused by the crushing defeat of Argos at the hands of its regional rival, Sparta, at the Battle of Sepeia (495 BC).⁵⁹ Artemis was not violated by Alpheus; she had to go through the process of transformation. As Petracca observes, this defeat can be considered an opportunity for rebirth, the starting point for democratic development in Argos.⁶⁰ It is also possible that the defeat of Argos at Sepeia allowed women to claim a prominent position in various religious ceremonies.⁶¹ The violation of domestic order was prevented and so was the complete violation of political order.

Corinna legitimizes the power of the seers of the Ptoan oracle in fr. 654 PMG. By legitimizing Acraephen’s voice, Corinna adds credibility to the ‘foundation myth’ narrated by him in fr. 654 PMG. Asopus’ daughters were abducted by the gods. Nonetheless, domestic order was not violated. The gods were not violent transgressors; they were persuaded by Eros and Aphrodite to act as they did (οὕ[τ]ω γὰρ Ἔρως / κὴ Κούπρις πιθέταν, lines 18–9). Asopus was compensated⁶² and legitimate children were produced (τή ποκ’ εἱρώων γενέθλαν / ἐσγεννάσονθ’ εἱµ[ιθί]ων, / κἄσσονθη π[ο]λου[σπ]ερίες, lines 23–26). Tanagra, her hometown, might have had a privileged relationship with the god worshiped in the area, Hermes. Furthermore, as I mentioned above, Corinna depicts Tanagra and her descendants as blood relatives of many Greek cities, if the additions to the papyrus are correct. Page believes that the transplantation of Asopus’ daughters can be a symbol of the “long-forgotten colonial or commercial expansion from Corcyra to Sinope, from Thebes to Salamis and beyond”.⁶³ Moreover, within the poem, several Greek cities are presented as blood-relatives that are equal to each other. I would like to suggest that Corinna might have drawn a parallel to the close-knit confederacy of the sovereign states in Boeotia,⁶⁴ that is, to the Boeotian league,⁶⁵ but the uncertainty of Corinna’s dating prevents me from doing so.

‘Foundation myths’ of partheneia aided the young citizens who comprised their audience and their young performers, to internalize mostly epichoric tales of their community’s past that connected domestic and political order and legitimized contemporary political order. These ‘foundation myths’ demonstrate the process of the creation of their communities, especially in Alcman’s case and they may comment on their contemporary historical reality. In this sense, they might have been an attempt at recording ancient Greek history.

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Notes

See, for example, Calame (2003) 1–8; Brillante (2014) 93–112. See also the Preface to the present volume for further discussion.

There have been many other attempts. See e.g. Dougherty (1994); Bowie (2001); (2010); (2012). There are also many readings of early Greek choral poetry that situate it with history (see e.g. Duchemin [1970]; Gostoli [1999]; Athanassaki [2003]; Franzen [2009]; Foster [2013]; Morgan [2015]).

In this regard, my reading of Greek myth is influenced by structuralistic approaches (see e.g. Lévi-Strauss [1963]; [1978]; Vernant [1988]) and by some of the semiotic approaches (see Calame [1990a, b]; [2003]; [2009]), but does not follow them closely.

I read the alterations in well-known myths as politically motivated. See on this also Calame (2009) 4–5; Brillante (2014) 91–112.

On partheneia as a genre, see Calame (1983a), 149–176; (1997) 3, 88; Klinck (2008) 24–25; see Swift (2010) 174–175, 185; Kousoulini (2019) 5–8, 52–55.

Pindar was a composer of partheneia according to the ancient tradition (see Pind. Vita Ambrosiana; Schol. Ar., Ach. 720; Schol. Theoc. 2.10; Ps-Plut. De mus. 1136 f; Anecd. Ox. 3.189.24–30 Cramer). Some of his partheneia survive, but nothing of the mythical part does, if there was any. On Pindar’s partheneia, see Sbordone (1940) 30; Webster (1970) 97–98; Lehnus (1984); Calame (1997) 60–61. I have to underline that both Telesilla and Praxilla have been regarded by modern scholars as composers of partheneia (see Smyth [1963] cxxxii; Webster [1970] 97; Calame [1983a] 174; McIntosh-Snyder [1989] 60). Anacreon and Simonides have been credited by the ancient tradition as composers of partheneia (Anacreon is considered a composer of partheneia by Athenaeus [13.600d-e] and Lucian [Ver. Hist. 2.15]). Simonides is considered to have composed partheneia according to Ps-Plutarch (De mus. 1136 f), but almost nothing survives. For Anacreon’s and Simonides’ partheneia, see Calame (1983a) 174–175 with more bibliography; Kousoulini (2019) 64–67.

There has been much debate regarding Corinna’s date. The dominant view is the third century BC (see Page [1953] 65; Segal [1975] 6–7; West [1990] 553; Kousoulini [2016] 107–110), although there are arguments against this date. The most serious argument in favor of an earlier date (no later than the fourth century) cites Tatian’s attribution of a statue of Corinna to Silanion. See Steward (1998) 271–282; Schachter (2005) 275–283. This attribution, however, has also been disputed (see Kalkmann [1987] 489–524; Plant [2004] 92; Fuchs [2010] 12–22). Palumbo Stracca believes that Corinna lived during the fifth century (see Palumbo Stracca [1993] 411–412).

Foundation myths or narratives are embedded in different genres during the archaic and classical times. See Dougherty (1994); Hall (2008) 402. Their narrative patterns, metaphors and language are informed by aspects of contemporary culture. See on this Dougherty (1993) 15. On foundation myths and narratives in the ancient world, see also the contributions in McSweeney (2015).

For a summary of the most common foundational activities encountered in Greek literature, see Malkin (1987); Dougherty (1993).

See Dougherty (1993) 60–76. For the similarities between the process of colonization and marriage, see Pl. Leg. 776a-b. For examples of marriages in foundation narratives, see Ion of Chios’ description of Poseidon’s affair with the nymph Chios (Paus. Description of Greece 7.4.8), Poseidon and Ascra (Paus. Description of Greece 9.29.1), Zeus with Thebes and Aegina in Pindar’s Isthm. 8.16–23. For the strong geopolitical aspect of genealogical accounts, see Calame (2009) 119–122.

See Malkin (1987) 193–194. Examples of hero-cult of an oikist can be found in ancient Greek literature (see, for example, Pindar Pyth. 5.93–97 for Battos’ cult in Cyrene and Thucydides (5.11.1) for Brasidas’ cult in Amphipolis). Hero-cult is often the cause of ‘localizing’ Panhellenic myth. See on this Currie (2005) 56; Nagy (2005) 80–81, 107, 113; Nagy (2012) 34–35, 38, 47.

See especially Calame (1990a).

See Dougherty (1993) 84; Gould (2001); Bowie (2012) 56–57. According to Burkert, ancient Greek rituals were bound to prominent local groups and hence to specific localities (see Burkert [1983] 83).

For the use of epichoric myths or myths with an epichoric twist in partheneia, see Page (1953) 82–83; West (1970) 283; West (1990) 553–557; Robbins (1994) 13; Gerber (1997) 215–216; Bowie (2011); D’Alessio (2005) 238 n. 83. See for a different view Collins (2006) 19–32; Berman (2010) 41–62; Vergados (2012) 109–110. For the Panhellenic elements of Alcman’s partheneia, see Carey (2011) 44 and for Corinna’s see Kousoulini (2016).

See Ar. Av. 917–919. On this issue, see also Dougherty (1993) 84.

As it regards the relationship between myth and ritual, I follow Calame who believes that myth and ritual become similar expressions of the one and same symbolic process in society. In his opinion, both have to be understood as texts with specific signs which function as symbols for constitutive features of society and its ideology. In linguistic terms, myth and ritual are symbolic expressions; the relation between signifier in the mythological legend and signified in the cult is not congruent but arbitrary based on partial contiguity and has to be understood as a metonymy or metaphor. See Calame (1990b) 9–15.

For the strong educational aspect of partheneia, see Calame (1997) 221–231; Bierl (2011) 416–417, with more bibliography; Ingalls (2000); Too (1997) 14–17.

See Bowman (2004) 10, 12–14. Stehle is also of the opinion that Alcman’s partheneia must have been performed in front of the whole community and not in the presence of an all-female audience (see Stehle [1997] 73–93). There are also intratextual indications that the performance of fr. 3 PMGF was public (3.8 PMGF). On the latter, see also De Martino (1996) 168; Peponi (2007); Calame (1983b) 313, 414.

See Too (1997) 12–27.

This is a traditional story-pattern that is often encountered in archaic epic and lyric poetry. Abductions of beautiful maidens, sometimes when they perform a choral song, are depicted in ancient Greek literature (e.g. H. Hymn Dem. II.15–25; H. Hymn Aphr. V.117–130). In the Iliad (16.179–192). Hermes sleeps with Polymele after watching her dance. See on this issue Calame (1997) 72–73; Bathrellou (2012) 174–178; Budelmann (2015) 267, 278, 285, 289–290. See also Calame (1999) 66–68, with more bibliography and Topper (2007) 82–85 for the iconographic evidence.

Women within Greek culture are like commodities to be traded among male agents. See, for example, the approaches of Wohl (1998); Lyons (2012).

Too also notices the parallels between the erotic violence of the myths narrated in partheneia and the emphasis on transgressions. According to her, this suggests that these myths are to be viewed as representative of a society that displays order and respect for authority. See Too (1997) 16–17.

For example, from ps.-Apollodorus Bibl. 3.10; Diod. Sic. Bibl. Hist. 4.33.5; Hyg. Fab. 10, 14.4; Paus. Description of Greece 3.14.6, 3.15.1.

I follow the text and the translation of Campbell (1988).

See Ferrari (2008) 22; Luginbill (2009) 33. According to Page, the standing of the Hippocoontids in Laconian history demanded their respectful treatment (see Page [1951] 31). Calame underlines that the Hippocoontids have their cult in Sparta and are important for the Spartan community. See Calame (1983a) 53–55.

See Calame (1983b) 313. For the Hippocoontids as erotic rivals (ἀντιμνηστῆρες) of the Dioscuri, see Sch. Clem. Alex. Protr. 2.30.5.

See Ferrari (2008) 22.

Davison argues that the mention of several different branches of the Spartan heroic pantheon is an indication that Alcman draw material from a local twist of this myth, possibly with the intention to emphasize the internal strife among Spartan royalty. See on this Davison (1968) 441–443.

See Davison (1968) 444; Calame (1983a) 52–59; Robbins (1994) 12–13; Too (1997) 12–13; Ingalls (2000) 7, 11; Luginbill (2009) 32–33; Lardinois (2011) 169.

Tyndareus, the father of the Dioscuri, is the defender of Helen in this case.

See Hanfmann (1937) 475–476; Vian (1988) 192; Calame (1983b) 320–321; Ferrari (2008) 28, 109.

See Eur. Heracl., 177–180; ps.-Apollodorus Bibl. 1.6.1–2. Pindar also refers to Hercules’ battle with Alcyoneus, one of the Giants, in Isthm. 6.30–35 and Nem. 4.24–30.

Ps.-Apollodorus Bibl. 1.6.2 (Hera was assaulted by Porphyrion on the battlefield).

See Calame (1983b) 320; Ingalls (2000) 7.

If Lobel’s addition ἀν]δροδάμα to the papyrus is correct. See Lobel (1957).

See, for example, ps.-Apollodorus Bibl. 3.11.2; Hyg. Fab. 80.

Theoc. Id. 22.137–223; Ov. Fast. 5.709–710.

See Calame (1983b) 384.

Ps.-Apollodorus Epit. 1.23; Diod. Sic. Bibl. Hist. 4.63.1–3 and Plut. Thes. 31.1–4. According to Stesichorus, Iphigenia was the daughter of Theseus and Helen (see Stesichorus fr. 191 PMG).

According to some ancient sources, Helen was abducted and not seduced by Paris (see e.g. Hdt. 2.118.2).

Peleus uses force to capture Thetis according to some sources (e.g. Pind. Nem. 3.33–36; Ps-Apollodorus Bibl. 3.13.5; Paus. Description of Greece 5.18.5; Quint. Smyrn. Fall of Troy 5.334).

I agree with Calame ([1983b] 442–443) that this fragment belongs to the mythical part of a partheneion.

I follow the translation of Snyder. See Snyder (1989).

Paus. Description of Greece 6.22.9.

Ingalls rightly suggests that this an aition, a myth which explains a ritual act performed at the shrine of Artemis Alpheionia. See Ingalls (2000) 15.

See, for example, Pind. Nem. 1.1; Strabo Geography 6.2.4.; Paus. Description of Greece 5.7.2.

For the local aspects of Corinna’s poetry, see Page (1953) 82–83; West (1990) 553–557; D’ Alessio (2005) 238 n. 83. West and Gerber attribute Corinna’s ‘parochialism’ to the fact that she composed partheneia (see West [1970] 280; Gerber [1997] 217). See for a different view Collins (2006) 19–32; Berman (2010) 41–62; Vergados (2012) 109–110; Kousoulini (2016).

For Corinna, I follow throughout the text and the translation of Page. See Page (1953).

See Page (1953) 26; Bowra (see Bowra [1938] 213) restored the four and thought that Tanagra and Thebe are probable. Corinna describes Thespia in fr. 674 PMG, praising her for her beautiful offspring, using a rare word (καλλιγένεθλε). According to Page (1953) 38, this epithet celebrates either the beauty of the dwellers in Thespiae or the beauty of the Muses who were honored in Thespiae (see Page [1953] 26). As he observes, Corinna is reported to have called her a daughter of Asopus (Paus. Description of Greece 9.20.2). This cannot be a coincidence.

For Corinna’s fragments that were dedicated to groups of maidens in catalog form, see also Kousoulini (2016).

According to Antoninus Liberalis (Met. 25), Corinna and Nicander narrated the story of Metioche and Menippe, who sacrificed themselves to save their city, Orchomenus, from pestilence. Persephone and Hades created the stars to commemorate them and the Boeotians founded a temple and performed annual rites in their honor. The daughters of Orion were worshipped by maidens and young men under the name Koronides. Their story is also found in Ovid (Met. 13.685–699).

Apollonius Dyscolus (Pron. 136b, p.107 Schn.), giving a short quotation of Corinna’s account of the daughters of Euonymus, offers the title of the poem, the Euonymiae. Page (1953) 33 states that the Euonymiae are “inhabitants of a place Euonymon” or, more likely, the “daughters of Euonymus”. From the catalog of seers in fr. 654 PMG we know that Euonymus was the son of Cephisus and prophet of the oracle of Apollo Ptoios. Euonymus was the father of Aulis (D-schol. Il. 2.496), who was one of the Praxidikai; these were goddesses who watched over oaths (Suda π 2212). The Praxidikai were also said to be the daughters of the Boeotian king Ogygos (e.g. Paus. Description of Greece 9.33.3).

According to Antoninus Liberalis (Met. 10), Corinna and Nicander narrated the story of the daughters of Minyas. The story that Antoninus reports about the Minyades is similar to that found in the Bacchae of Euripides. Leucippe, Arsippe and Alcathoe, the daughters of Minyas, the son of Orchomenus, refused to join the other bacchantes in celebrating Dionysus. Dionysus first tempted and then terrified them by assuming different forms until they lost their minds. Leucippe, with the help of her sisters, tore her son Hippasus limb from limb. When they realized what they had done, they left their home and roamed the hills until Hermes turned them into birds. This story has many variants (see e.g. Ael. VH 3.42; Plut. Quaest. Gr. 38).

For Alcman’s relationship with these two dynasties, see Harvey (1967); West (1992).

Calame, to the best of my knowledge, was the first to argue that the myth of erotic violence and strife contained in 1 PMGF was a political myth destined to legitimize and at the same time found the Laconian political order. See Calame (1983a) 53. He also calls Alcman a ‘political poet’ (see Calame [2018] 183–185). See also Malkin’s objections to this (Malkin [1994] 24).

According to ancient legends, the Spartans were descendants of the Dorians. Several of these Dorians were the descendants of Hercules, the Heraclidae. The Spartans trace their lineage back through the ages to the Heraclidae, making all Spartan citizens officially the offspring of Hercules. See Tyrtaeus fr. 3.12–15 W.; ps.-Apollodorus Bibl. 2.8.2–4. Many ancient writers connect Hercules with Spartan royalty (e.g. Hdt. 7.205.2, 7.228.4; Thuc. 5.16.2). On Spartan genealogies, see Calame (1987); Malkin (1994) 18–26.

The two Spartan kings were thought to be descended from the Dioscuri. The divine twins, Castor and Pollux, were kinsmen of the Spartan kings, at once through Zeus and in the human line of the Heraclidae. The Dioscuri were the guiding stars of the Spartan army, who disappeared before the defeat of Leuctra (Paus. Description of Greece 4.26–27.3) and appeared upon Lysander’s victory at Aegospotami (Plut. Lys. 12.1).

Menelaus is a member of Sparta’s mythical royal family: he is Helen’s husband. If Alcman referred to Helen’s abduction to any of his fragments, Menelaus could have been portrayed as her savior.

Telesilla was credited by the ancient tradition with having taken part in the battle of Sepeia. When the Spartan king Cleomenes attacked the Argives at the river Sepeia and destroyed their army, the women of Argos armed themselves. Cleomenes gallantly refrained from attacking women and left the city untouched. The Argive women set up a statue of Enyalios, a god of war normally worshipped by men. See Plut. Mor. 231e, Mulierum Virtutes 245 c-f; Paus. Description of Greece 2.20.8–10. Nonetheless, it is far from certain that Telesilla has taken part in that battle. See Jacoby in FGrH vol. Illb (text) 45–7 (ad 310 F 6); Stadter (1965) 45–52; Tomlinson (1972) 209; Hendriks (1980) 341; Graf (1984) 247–248; Franchi (2012).

See Petracca (2016) 16. On the role that the battle of Sepeia played in the democratization of Argos, see also Bultrighini (1990) 11–128; Tuci (2006) 218.

See Petracca (2016) 20–25. According to Lewis, a new ritual reality was created after the battle of Sepeia. See Lewis (2019) 66.

The damaged fourth column preserves in line 16 the word ἕδνα (wedding gifts) which might have been given to Asopus as a compensation. See Lardinois (2011) 188; Kousoulini (2016) 84–88.

See Page (1953) 25–26.

On the role that choral poetry, especially Pindar’s compositions, played in the formation of a common Boeotian identity, see Kowalzig (2007). On the role that regional cults and foundation myths played in the shaping of this identity, see also Kühr (2006); Larson (2007); Beck (2014) 20–21. On the relationship between the myths encountered in Corinna’s fragments and this common Boeotian identity, see Larson (2007) 19–24, 29, 82, 126–127.

On how the tradition of a joint heroic pedigree of the Boeotians is related to the beginnings of the Boeotian league, see Larson (2007) 165–188.

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