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Semonides of Amorgos

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For the lyric poet, seeSimonides of Ceos.

Semonides ofAmorgos(/sɪˈmɒnɪˌdiːz/;Greek:Σημωνίδης ὁ Ἀμοργῖνος,variantlyΣιμωνίδης;fl. 7th century BC) was aGreekiambicandelegiacpoet who is believed to have lived during the seventh century BC. Fragments of his poetry survive as quotations in other ancient authors, the most extensive and well known of which is asatiric account of different types of womenwhich is often cited in discussions ofmisogynyinArchaic Greece.The poem takes the form of a catalogue, with each type of woman represented by an animal whose characteristics—in the poet's scheme—are also characteristic of a large body of the female population.

Other fragments belong to the registers ofgnomic poetryandwisdom literaturein which theHesiodicWorks and Daysand theTheognideaare classed, and reflect a similarly pessimistic view of the human experience. There is also evidence that Semonides composed the sort of personal invective found in the work of his near contemporary iambographerArchilochusand the laterHipponax,but no surviving fragment can be securely attributed to such a poem.

Name and biography[edit]

The name "Semonides" (Σημωνίδης,Sēmōnídes) is attested by an entry transmitted in two ancient lexica—theEtymologicum GenuinumandEtymologicum Magnum—which apparently hadChoeroboscusas its immediate source:

The lyric poet mentioned herein isSimonides of Ceos(6th–5th centuries BC). Despite the testimony of the etymologica, every source that quotes the iambic poet spells his name identically with that of his more famous namesake,[2]and the only other author who uses the form "Semonides" isPhilodemus.[3]Whatever the poet's name actually was, modern scholarship has adopted Choeroboscus' distinction between the two forms as a means of distinguishing the two poets.[4]Still, the homophony of their names in ancient quotations leaves open the possibility that some fragments attributed to Simonides might actually belong to Semonides.[5]

Two notices in the tenth-century encyclopedia known as theSudaprovide most of the extant details of Semonides' life. His primary lemma reads: "Simonides [sic], son of Crines, ofAmorgos,iambic writer. He wrote elegiac poetry in two books and iambics. He was born (or 'flourished':γέγονε) 490 years after theTrojan War[i.e. 693 BC]. He was the first to write iambics according to some. "[6]Further information has been conflated with the entry onSimmias of Rhodes;the relevant portion is:

He was originally a Samian, but in the colonisation of Amorgos he was sent as leader by the Samians. He founded Amorgos in three cities, Minoa, Aegialus and Arcesime. He was born (or "flourished" ) 406 years after the Trojan War [i.e. 777 BC]. According to some he was the first writer of iambics, and wrote various other things including anEarly History of Samos.[7]

Other contradictory dates for Semonides' birth orfloruitare found in the chronographic tradition relying uponEusebius'Chronicon(Olympiad29.1 = 664 BC),Cyril of Alexandria(29th Olympiad = 664–661), andClement of Alexandria(20th Olympiad = 700–697).[8]Semonides' role in the colonisation of Amorgos and his identification as a contemporary ofArchilochusin the ancient testimonia recommend accepting the later dates of Eusebius and Cyril, and today he is almost universally considered to have lived in the middle and latter half of the seventh century.[9]

Based upon a perceived allusion to Archilochus at Semonidesfr.7.51–2 some have refined the chronology further, arguing that Semonides either lived after Archilochus or was his younger contemporary.[10]If theSuda's testimony that Semonides participated in thecolonizationof Amorgos is true, he likely had a political career similar to that of Archilochus, who was among the colonists ofThasos.[11]

Poetry[edit]

Although theSudastates that Semonides composed elegy as well iambus, none of his elegiac poetry has survived.[12]If the encyclopedia's information is to be trusted, it is probable that the first entry's "elegiac poetry in two books" refers to theEarly History of Samosin the second.[13]This work would belong to the genre ofktisis( "foundation" ) poetry whichMimnermus' elegiacSmyrneismight also have represented.[14]

Semonides' poetry, as is the case with archaic elegy and iambus in general, is composed in a literaryIonic dialectlargely reminiscent ofHomeric Greekand occasionally includes echoes ofHomericandHesiodicpoetry.[15]The extant fragments are written iniambic trimeters,astichicverse form also employed by Archilochus which would later be the primary meter of dialogue intragedy.To judge from the admittedly small sample of his work, Semonides was a conservative metrician: in 180 lines there is not a single certain instance ofresolution.[16]

Editions, translations and commentaries[edit]

  • Campbell, D.A. (1982),Greek Lyric Poetry(2nd ed.), London,ISBN0-86292-008-6{{citation}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link).— Text and commentary on select fragments.
  • Diehl, E. (1949–52),Anthologia lyrica Graeca(3rd ed.), Leipzig{{citation}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link).— Critical edition of the Greek.
  • Gerber, D.E. (1999),Greek Iambic Poetry,Loeb Classical Library(2nd ed.), Cambridge, MA,ISBN978-0674995819{{citation}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link).— Translation with facing Greek text,
  • Lloyd-Jones, H.(1975),Females of the Species: Semonides on Women,London{{citation}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link).— Translation with Greek text and commentary.
  • Verdenius, W.J.(1969a), "Semonides über die Frauen. Ein Kommentar zu Fr. 7",Mnemosyne,21(2/3): 132–58,doi:10.1163/156852568X00806,JSTOR4429627.— Commentary keyed to the text ofDiehl.
  • West, M.L.(1992),Iambi et Elegi Graeci ante Alexandrum cantati,vol. ii (2nd ed.), Oxford,ISBN0-19-814096-7{{citation}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link).— Critical edition of the Greek.

References[edit]

  1. ^The entry is identical in theEt. Gen.andEt. Mag.,save for the attribution to Choeroboscus which is only found in the latter (West (1992,p. 98)).
  2. ^Barron, Easterling & Knox (1985,p. 153 n. 1).
  3. ^Philodemus,On Poems,quoted byAsmis (1995,pp. 172–3).
  4. ^Campbell (1982,p. 184).
  5. ^Barron, Easterling & Knox (1985,pp. 153–4); cf.West (1992,p. 114).
  6. ^Sudas.v.Σιμωνίδης (Σ446),trans.Campbell (1982,pp. 183–4).
  7. ^Sudas.v.Σιμμίας (Σ431),trans. afterCampbell (1982,p. 184). One manuscript of gives the year of Semonides' floruit as 490 years after the Trojan War, matching the entry quoted above (West (1992,p. 99)).
  8. ^The Eusebian date is found inJerome'stranslation,the Armenian text of Eusebius gives the year 665; Cyril,Contra Iulianum1.14; Clement,Stromata1.21.131.
  9. ^West (1996),Bowie (2008),Campbell (1982,p. 184),Barron, Easterling & Knox (1985,p. 154).Hubbard (1994)believes that the ancient testimonia represent pure conjecture and argues that Semonides lived in the late sixth century on the basis of what he perceives as modish (relatively speaking) thought in a passage of Semonides fr. 7.
  10. ^Cf.Campbell (1982,p. 184).
  11. ^Campbell (1982,p. 184).
  12. ^An elegiac quotation inStobaeuswas formerly attributed to Semonides by some (e.g.Campbell (1982,pp. 184, 191)), but is now known to be the work ofSimonidesby virtue of its overlapping the text of apapyrusfragment securely assigned to that poet. The text now stands as Simonides frr. 19 and 20.5–12 inWest's edition;cf.Bowie (2008).Hubbard (1996)alone has continued to argue that, despite the papyrological evidence, this fragment is the work of Semonides.
  13. ^Bowie (1986,p. 31).
  14. ^Bowie (1986,pp. 28 n. 78, 31).
  15. ^Campbell (1982,p. 184).
  16. ^West (1983,p. 41).

Sources[edit]

External links[edit]

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