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Search results for alpha,1289 in Adler number:
Headword:
Alkman
Adler number: alpha,1289
Translated headword: Alkman, Alcman
Vetting Status: high
Translation: A Laconian from Messoa; but according to
Crates[1] -- who is mistaken[2] -- a Lydian out of
Sardis; a lyric poet, son of Damas or Titaros. He was born in the 27th Olympiad,[3] when Ardys, the father of Alyattes, was king of
Lydia;[4] and being an especially passionate man, he was the inventor of love poetry.[5] His parents were slaves; he wrote six books: lyric poetry and
Diving Women.[6] He was the first to introduce singing in meters other than the hexameter. He used a Doric dialect, as Spartans [do]. There is also another
Alcman, one of the lyric poets, born in Messene. And the plural [is] "Alcmanes".[7]
Alkman: Lakôn apo Messoas: kata de ton Kratêta ptaionta Ludos ek Sardeôn: lurikos, huios Damantos ê Titarou. ên de epi tês kz# Olumpiados, basileuontos Ludôn Arduos, tou Aluattou patros: kai ôn erôtikos panu heuretês gegone tôn erôtikôn melôn. apo oiketôn de: egrapse biblia hex, melê kai Kolumbôsas. prôtos de eisêgage to mê hexametrois melôidein. kechrêtai de Dôridi dialektôi, kathaper Lakedaimonioi. esti de kai heteros Alkman, heis tôn lurikôn, hon ênenken hê Messênê. kai to plêthuntikon Alkmanes.
Notes:
OCD(4) s.v.
Alcman (p.54).
See also
alpha 1290.
[1]
Crates of Mallus (fl. 168 BCE). See Campbell (1988) 337 n.3.
[2] This translates what is transmitted, the participle
ptai/onta in agreement with the name
Crates, but Adler (addenda) notes the attempts of several scholars to emend it into something quite different, e.g.
patro/qen (Schneider),
peri\ poihtw=n (Bernhardy).
[3] 672-669 BCE.
[4] The chronology is hotly disputed. Campbell (1994, 192) suggests "Sadyattes" for the reading "Alyattes" in the mss. According to
Herodotus (1.16.1), Ardys' son was Sadyattes, who passed the kingship on to his son Alyattes. For a full discussion of the problem with the chronology as it relates to
Alcman's dates, see Davison 178.
[5] See
PMG 58, 59 for a hint of
Alcman's love poetry.
[6] The sentence is problematic. Did
Alcman write 6 books of lyric poetry and a poem called
Diving Women? Or was
Diving Women the sixth book? The contributor of the OCD entry, C. Carey, leaves the question open. Whatever the case may be, nothing more than the title
Diving Women is preserved, so its contents remain a mystery. (Adler [addenda] notes Flach's suggestion that 'and Diving Women' belongs with
alpha 1284, q.v.)
[7] This final sentence, from the grammarians, is added in the margin of ms. A.
Calame, Claude, Choruses of Young Women in Ancient Greece (Lanham MD 1997)
Campbell, David A., Greek Lyric vol. 2 (Cambridge MA, 1988); text and translations
Campbell, David A., Greek Lyric Poetry (London 1994)
Davison, John A., From Archilochus to Pindar (London 1968)
Page, Denys L., Alcman: the Partheneion (Oxford 1951)
See also web address 1.
Associated internet address:
Web address 1
Keywords: biography; chronology; dialects, grammar, and etymology; geography; meter and music; poetry; women
Translated by: Samuel Huskey on 9 June 2000@18:23:01.
Vetted by:
No. of records found: 1
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