Diktys of Crete

Gainsford, Peter

doi:10.1017/s1750270512000012

Cited by 8 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…55 Here, the documents are described as being written in Greek, but in a different script. Earlier in the letter, Septimius states that the text was written in litteris Punicis, which were introduced by Cadmus and Agenor and were quite widespread in the days of the Trojan War: 50 For discussions of this intriguing text and its transmission, see Merkle (1989); Horsfall (2008Horsfall ( -2009; Gainsford (2012); Ní Mheallaigh (2012) 184; Dowden (2016). 51 Horsfall (200851 Horsfall ( -2009 43 n.10.…”

Section: Lydians and Ioniansmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Deconstructing the Phoenician myth: ‘Cadmus and the palm-leaf tablets’ revisited

Waal

2022

J. Hell. Stud.

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According to Herodotus, the expression phoinikeia grammata means ‘Phoenician letters’ and refers to the Phoenician origins of the Greek alphabet. This account has found general acceptance, but it is not the only interpretation possible and other theories circulated in antiquity. The adjective φοῖνιξ does not only mean ‘Phoenician’; it can also refer to a palm tree or the colour red. This article argues that the expression phoinikeia grammata did not originally refer to the alphabet, but to Linear B writing on palm leaves, as already suggested by Frederick Ahl. It is shown that the account of Herodotus is the result of a ‘learned reinterpretation’, triggered by the ambiguity of the word φοῖνιξ. The new understanding of phoinikeia grammata proposeds here has some important consequences: it implies that Linear B, as has long been suspected, was primarily written on palm leaves (hence ‘palm-leaf writing’) and that in classical antiquity there was at least a limited historical awareness of the existence of pre-alphabetic writing systems in the Aegean. This paper adduces additional evidence to substantiate these claims. Lastly, a case will be made that Herodotus’ incorrect reinterpretation has led to the ‘Phoenicianization’ of Cadmus, who was originally a Greek hero.

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Section: Lydians and Ioniansmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…60 Hansen 2003; see also Ní Mheallaigh ( 2008) 406-14. 61 See, for example, Gainsford (2012) 63. Compare also Horsfall (2008Horsfall ( -2009 49, who considers the use of mysterious letters typical of the genre.…”

Section: Lydians and Ioniansmentioning

confidence: 99%

Deconstructing the Phoenician myth: ‘Cadmus and the palm-leaf tablets’ revisited

Waal

2022

J. Hell. Stud.

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“…Regarding the existence of different versions of Chariton's novel, see Sanz 2009. 58Merkle 1989, Pellé 2002, Hatzilambrou 2009and Hatzilambrou and Obbink 2009, Luppe 2010a, 2010b, 2010c, Lelli 2015and Gómez-Peinado 2015 On Dictys and Dares:Pavano 1998, Merkle 1999, Garbugino 2011, Gainsford 2012, Movellán-Luis 2015, Gómez-Peinado 2015, and López-Martínez 2019c. Regarding the Tabula Iliaca Capitolina, cf.Squire 2011, amongst others.…”

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confidence: 99%

Yawning matters: What can hiatus tell us about the lost Greek novels? What can the heroon in honor of Kineas on the Banks of the Oxus River tell us about <i>The wonders beyond Thule</i>?

Martínez¹

2022

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The aim of this study is to contextualize the fragments of the The Wonders beyond Thule in the set of lost Greek novels that have come to us in papyri paying special attention to the treatment of hiatus. The literary ambitions of Callirrhoe, Ninus, Parthenope, and The wonders beyond are similar and their ‘implicit readers’ would have belonged to the educated elite known by the term of pepaideumenoi and pepaideumenai. Other conclusion is that hiatus is a license that depends on the style of the author, but it can sometimes be attributed to an error by the scribe or a decision of the modern editor. The study includes value information about novel fragments since 1998 (edition by López-Martínez) and a hypothesis regarding archaeological materials (papyri and inscriptions) found in a Hellenistic city on the Banks of the Oxus River in Afghanistan, Ai Khanoum, which offer us tantalizing paralells for the fictional mise en scène of Diogenes’ novel.

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“…Gainsford (2012) provides a lucid and masterful account of the text's transmission. 4 For discussion, seeMerkle (1989) 91-101.…”

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confidence: 99%

“… 37 Winiarczyk (2002) 157 presents a case for the influence of Euhemerism on the Troika of Sisyphus of Cos, a source connected with Dictys. Gainsford (2012) argues that Sisyphus did not exist independently, but was another pseudo-documentary source of the Dictys-text, parallel to Dictys himself. …”

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confidence: 99%

The ‘Phoenician Letters’ of Dictys of Crete and Dionysius Scytobrachion

Mheallaigh

2012

Camb. class. j.

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Dictys of Crete's Journal of the Trojan War seems to invite the reader to imagine two different versions of the imaginary ancient Ur-text: one that was written in Phoenician language and script, and another that was written using ‘Phoenician letters’ but whose language was Greek. What is the meaning of the text's different fantasies of its own origins? And how is the reader to understand the puzzlingly implausible Punico-Greek text that is envisaged in Septimius' prefatory letter? This article examines first why the Journal's fantasy Ur-text changed as the Dictys-text itself evolved, and what the text's fiction of its own origins can tell us, not only about its readers' contemporary context, but also about their fantasies about their own literary past – and future as well. Secondly, comparison with the work of Dionysius Skytobrachion, himself the author of a pseudo-documentary Troy-history, offers a new interpretation of what, precisely, Septimius' ‘Punic letters’ may have represented in ancient readers' minds, and opens up a new (imaginary) literary hinterland in the heroic past for the fictional author Dictys and his text.

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Diktys of Crete

Cited by 8 publications

References 28 publications

Deconstructing the Phoenician myth: ‘Cadmus and the palm-leaf tablets’ revisited

Deconstructing the Phoenician myth: ‘Cadmus and the palm-leaf tablets’ revisited

Yawning matters: What can hiatus tell us about the lost Greek novels? What can the heroon in honor of Kineas on the Banks of the Oxus River tell us about <i>The wonders beyond Thule</i>?

The ‘Phoenician Letters’ of Dictys of Crete and Dionysius Scytobrachion

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