Ριανός ο Κρής: επικός ποιητής και γραμματικός του 3ου π.Χ. αιώνα (εισαγωγή - μετάφραση - υπόμνημα)

Abstract

My doctoral thesis focuses on the surviving fragments of the Hellenistic poet and grammarian Rhianus of Crete. Poetic and grammatical fragments were analysed in the form of a hermeneutic, critical, and linguistic commentary combined with an introduction and translation of the Greek text in Greek. According to the Suda (ρ 158 Adler), Rhianus came from Bene (or Lebene) or Ceraea of Crete and his possible date of floruit was in the second half of the third century BC (at the time of Ptolemy III Euergetes). What is more, it has been conjectured that he was born as a slave, though this is probably a literary motif of theancient biographies (cf. Parthenius), and later he was a janitor of "palaestra". Then he became free and a grammarian, after he received an education (FGrHist 265 T1a). Rhianus draws his epic context partly from the mythological and historical - ethnographical tradition, and mainly from Homer. In his mythological epic "Heracleia" (fourteen books) the poet narrates the deeds of the legendary Hercules. Rhianus also wrote ethnographical poetry such as the "Achaica" (four books), the "Eliaca" (three books), the "Thessalica" (sixteen books) and the historical epic "Μesseniaca" (six books), where he narrates the heroic deeds of the Messenian Aristomenes during the Second Messenian War (670 BC). I proposed that Rhianus chooses places and local myths that Greeks, and especially immigrants from Egypt, Syria, or Italy, would enjoy reading because they reminded them of Greece and of their Greek identity. In addition, Stobaeus transmitted Rhianus' short fragment "Ate" with twenty onehexameters survived, where the epic poet describes human's greed and their subsequent punishment from Ate (FGrHist 265 F 60 = fr. 1 Powell), alluding to Hesiod's didactic poetry and ethics. Rhianus also wrote eleven epigrams in a homoerotic context (Palatine Anthology), prefering erotic motifs, such as the Graces and hunting (cf. the Art of variation). A single hexameter from a lost epic (or elegiac) poem entitled "Feme" (Fame in English) survived and demonstrates Rhianus' polyeideia in a hymnographical, epic and elegiac context. The Suda mentions that Rhianus was also a scholar (FGrHist 265 T1). In fact, works ofclassical antiquity in Alexandria of the third century BC weren't read only for aesthetic purposes, but were additionally used for academic and philological interpretations. Rhianus was well known for his Homeric edition attested in the Homeric scholia with the title "he Rhianou" or "kata Rhianon" ("of Rhianus" or "by Rhianus"). From Rhianus' critical edition thirteen fragments in "Iliad" and thirty three fragments in Odyssey survived, from which I suggested that the grammarian possessed a copy of the Homeric text, he transmitted and changed scribes, proposing his own points of view about the Homeric prototype. In general,Rhianus is a "poietes hama kai kritikos" (a poet and a scholar), an admirer not only of Homer, but of the Alexandrian poetry and of Hellenistic Aesthetics, as I clearly showed in my interpration of Rhianus' narrative techniques, intertextuality (cf. Theognis), and vocabulary (cf. Rhianus Homeric words and the poet's hapax legomena). I proposed that he probably was a wandering poet that took part in Panhellenic festivals, presenting his poems (cf. allusions to Delphic Soteria in "Feme"). My critical edition of Rhianus' text contains modern contributions and suggestions, drawing from the valuable editions of Billerbeck on StephanusByzantius, H. Erbse on the scholia of Iliad and F.-M. Pontani on the scholia of Odyssey. Two main indexes include a comparison of P.Oxy. 1794 with "Ate", recalling Callimachean style, and Cavafes' allusions to Rhianus homoerotic epigrams in his poem"Neoi tes Sidonos" (400 AD) (Sidonian youngs).

Η παρούσα διατριβή εστιάζει στα σωζόμενα αποσπάσματα του ελληνιστικού ποιητή και γραμματικού Ριανού από την Κρήτη (δεύτερο μισό του τρίτου π.Χ. αιώνα). Η ανάλυση των αποσπασμάτων θα γίνει με την μορφή ενός υπομνήματος που θα συνοδεύει εισαγωγή και μετάφραση του αρχαίου κειμένου στα Νέα ελληνικά. Ο Ριανός έγραψε επικά ποιήματα και άντλησε την θεματολογία του από την μυθολογική και την ιστορική - εθνογραφική παράδοση. Μυθολογικό έπος θεωρείται η Ηράκλεια, στην οποία ο ποιητής εξιστορεί τα κατορθώματα και τις περιπέτειες του μυθικού Ηρακλή. Στα εθνογραφικά έπη ανήκουν τα Αχαϊκά, τα Ηλιακά και τα Θεσσαλικά. Ιστορικό έπος θεωρούνται τα Μεσσηνιακά, στα οποία εξυμνείται ο Αριστομένης και ο Δεύτερος Μεσσηνιακός Πόλεμος (670 π.Χ.). Επίσης, ο Στοβαίος αποδίδει στον Ριανό ένα απόσπασμα εικοσιένα εξάμετρων στίχων που τιτλοφορείται συμβολικά με το όνομα Άτη (απ. 1 Powell) και εξιστορεί γενικότερα την απληστία των ανθρώπων. Επιπλέον, στο ποιητικό έργο του Ριανού περιλαμβάνονται και ένδεκα επιγράμματα με ερωτική θεματολογία που σώζονται στην Παλατινή Ανθολογία. Παράλληλα, ο Σουΐδας αναφέρει ότι ο Ριανός ήταν και γραμματικός (FGrHist 265 T 1) εκτός από ποιητής. Πράγματι, ο Ριανός έγινε ιδιαίτερα γνωστός για την κριτική έκδοση των ομηρικών επών, την Ῥιανοῦ ή κατὰ Ῥιανόν έκδοση, από την οποία σώζονται μέσω του Δίδυμου δεκατρείς γραφές στην Ιλιάδα και τριάντα τρεις στην Οδύσσεια.