Much of our information about the poets, musicians, entertainers, and intellectuals who used to travel the seas and lands of Greece in the Hellenistic period derives from epigraphic sources. One century ago, a groundbreaking study by Guarducci,[1] analyzing a selected group of inscriptions, focused attention on a phenomenon whose cultural impact was recognized but still considered of minor relevance. The following studies continued along this path, acknowledging the existence of vastly attested artistic movements but never truly placing them at the center of a discussion. To elucidate the broader picture by reflecting on the rationale of different sets of data, this book shows how epigraphy can open new perspectives in reconstructing ancient literature and cultural life.
The author has previously published various contributions on the topic and here displays her expertise in the field of Hellenistic studies. The volume was awarded the Prize “G. Susini” VI edition 2022[2] and was enthusiastically assessed by the appointed Commission. The evaluators describe it as a work that, gathering for the first time all the relevant epigraphic evidence, carries out a very thorough and in-depth analysis of traveling artists and intellectuals in a particular chronological context (the Hellenistic period) and space (Delos and other Cyclades). One approaches this book with high expectations, reading the peer review: “Oltre all’indubbia originalità dell’impianto e dell’approccio, e alla sua impressionante esaustività, si segnala la capacità di valorizzare la documentazione epigrafica al fine di dotare di contorni più definiti una parte sommersa della produzione letteraria e più genericamente artistica della Grecia ellenistica.” In my opinion, this praise must be endorsed. ΠΤΑΝΟΙΣ ΠΟΣΙΝ is a book that fills a crucial gap in our knowledge of the Hellenistic culture. It also shows how epigraphy can be fruitfully used to achieve such a goal.
In the Prefazione the general principles sustaining the research are specified. Taking over the idea of submerged literature stated by L.E. Rossi,[3] the study of a cultural manifestation pivoting essentially on performativity and oral communication needs to be tackled starting from what is lost, i.e. the text, and uncovering all the contextual elements through the epigraphic documents. Then chronological and geographical criteria are defined, as well as the interdisciplinary approach bridging the variety of sources involved in the reconstruction of a socio-cultural phenomenon. Artistic mobility (suggested in the book title πτανοῖς ποσίν)[4] is one axis of the research, along with the whole context of festivals as well as the span of other celebrations. The Introduzione is dense as these concepts are detailed and interconnected with authorship, folk culture, professional specialization, and territoriality. Dealing with a matter whose importance has been underestimated, the author states that her goal is to reevaluate the “sistemi letterari e para-letterari” comprising this socio-cultural phenomenon and correlating them with the Hellenistic court literature. This approach is the result of the meticulous work of many years and of patient reflection on crucial questions. And for this reason, one still wishes for more.
The first section, “Delo e le Cicladi: per uno scenario complessivo” is the core of the whole book. A thorough discussion brings together and maintains the balance among the disparate threads deriving from epigraphical, literary, and archaeological evidence. The inscriptions are classified by area and typology, mostly consisting of honorary decrees, while the inscriptions from Delos are studied from a social, political, and historical point of view (types of rewards, evolution in terminology). A particular change is recognized regarding the evidence for the Second Athenian Domination (see the epigraphical lexicon and the discussion of the engagement of artists with institutions and society; the profile of Amphikles from Delos/Rheneia is exemplary). Justifiably, the author does not neglect the other Cyclades, although the scattered and sometimes hard-to-access evidential material leads towards more general contextual information.
As for Delos, a commendable effort is made at broader contextualization of historical matters and the cultural panorama of the period. There is also an attempt to discuss the purpose and function of the inscriptions in their context and to explore the space of Delos in correlation to artistic events and cultural life (useful tables are included in §1.5 and at the very end of the book).
The discussion of Delos developing relationships with the associations of the technitai of Dionysus and participating in an artistic route involving Athens and Delphi is exhaustive and shows the complexity of the author’s analysis, involving at various levels both the contexts of ἀγῶνες and other performative events (ἐπιδείξεις, ἀκροάσεις, etc.). It is easy to see that an open and dynamic cultural environment contributed to support Independent Delos at maintaining a central role in the Aegean throughout the 3rd century. Apart from the festivals, the sacred island profited from the presence of artists and intellectuals engaging at different levels within a vibrant cultural environment. But rather than being restricted to cultural terms, the benefits for Delos also concerned economic and political matters as shown by the impact of foreign kings and benefactors (see the cases of the technitai fund and their involvement in the festivals organized by the koinon of the Nesiotes, other than in local festivals; the monumental incidence of the Attalids in the Delian theatre). A substantial part of this chapter is dedicated to the study of the Tabulae archontum at the bottom of which performers/contestants to “no-name festivals” (ἐπιδείξεις/ἀγῶνες τῷ θεῷ), apparently enduring from the beginning of the 3rd to the mid-2nd centuries B.C, are recorded.
The study of these documents, to be paired with the last chapter (see below, “ἀγωνιστικοὶ μουσικοί”), gives revealing insights to the artistic evolution of this festival over time, such as specialties involved (among them, some very difficult to detect elsewhere at institutional festivals, such as θαυματοποιός, νευροσπάστης, ῥωμαϊστής); artistic circuits concerning the same performers; the dramatic choruses and their interchangeable role over the comic and tragic representations (even through the economic records of the sanctuary). The extensive discussion about the synaulia in Delos and beyond exemplifies one particular strength of this book, which is to unite data from the literary tradition with the epigraphic material.
The interconnection of the inscriptions studied in the sections “Delo”, “Altre Cicladi” and “Prospettive interne” results in creating a concise interpretive framework in the first two introductory parts of the work. We find here a parade of poets, philosophers, historians, musicians, and other entertainers primarily—but not only—showing off outside the festivals. For each of the poeti vaganti acting in the Cycladic area, a document is arranged where the career-concerned sources are studied and discussed (one or more inscriptions, literary sources). Each inscription is equipped with bibliography and notes of apparatus criticus that are relevant to the discussion. The author tries to fill the lacunae based on parallel formulae (for example, for the inscriptions of the poets Demoteles of Andros and Kleagoras of Sikyon). Furthermore, the loci paralleli are a useful tool as they establish connections among the data that are not limited to this volume and show an intention to deal with the evidence as a whole. In some cases, more career steps and travels can be traced by means of multiple testimonies, as in the case of the tragedian Phanostratos of Halicarnassos or Satyros of Samos, on the actions of whom the author keeps developing her analysis.[5] Here the argumentation about a possible connection with the Ionian guild of Dionysian artists and the technites Kraton of Chalcedon is well-structured and convincing.
The section “Prospettive interne” is an attempt to interpret the cultural life of the Hellenistic Cyclades as a whole, thus including in the picture not only the travelling artists but also the (presumably) local ones who interacted with the sacred and educational spheres.
Another plus of this work are the tables in which all the relevant data are summarized, as in the case of the Delian decrees (pp. 261-267) and the lists of participants to the ἐπιδείξεις/ἀγῶνες τῷ θεῷ. These constitute the last section of the book, “ἀγωνιστικοὶ μουσικοί”, in which the profiles of crossed-attested contestants are drawn (among them renowned virtuosi, like the Theban aulos-players Kaphisias, who performed at the Susa weddings,[6] and Xenophantos, whose music animated the funerary ceremony of Demetrios Poliorketes[7]. This chapter is rounded off by a useful set of graphs, synthesizing the strands emerging in the agonistic sphere. Perhaps, the schematic outlook of this chapter detracts a little in the arrangement of the work as one would rather find contextual information about a topic so briefly and sporadically studied, as the Delian kermesses τῷ θεῷ, all in one place (it is instead divided between the introductory section and these chapter’s lists).
The book is provided with extensive indexes and a bibliography that is both substantial and assorted, a necessary tool to cover such a “multidirectional” set of documents.
The text is well written and the argumentation is presented with conciseness and caution. The text is well written and, in leading the argumentation, the author results both cautious and convincing. Perhaps, one point that is not stressed enough over the book is why the author has chosen to start her investigation from the Cyclades rather than any other cultural center of the Hellenism. It is clear that Delos was one of the axes of a more ample circuit through which the research about the poeti vaganti will continue (this is specified in the Prefazione) but, in my opinion, this is not emphasized enough over the discussion. My remarks, however, basically refer to choices and formal matters that do not jeopardize the architecture of this work, whose contribution to our reassessment of the cultural life of the Hellenistic Greece is indispensable. The result is a useful compendium for those dealing with the Hellenistic Period and the Cyclades as it draws together the epigraphic evidence on the poeti vaganti in the Cycladic context, along with copious reference material to contemporary literary sources which together contribute at reconstructing a panorama in its relevant aspects and at surveying changes over time and place. A single book concerning one region cannot be expected to offer a comprehensive view on the whole matter of artistic itineraries in the Hellenistic world. However, further volumes are promised, as the author announces in the Preface. In the view of the present reviewer, at least, they will be most welcome.
Notes
[1] M. Guarducci, Poeti vaganti e conferenzieri di età ellenistica: ricerche di epigrafia greca nel campo della letteratura e del costume, «Mem. Acc. Linc.» s. 6, vol. 2, 1927-1929, 629-665.
[2] https://www.epigraphica.it/2022/07/18/la-vi-edizione-del-premio-giancarlo-susini-vinta-da-angela-cinalli-col-libro-πτανοῖς-ποσίν-poeti-vaganti-musici-e-docente-di-eta-ellen/
[3] L.E. Rossi, L’autore e il controllo del testo nel mondo antico, «SemRom» 3. 1, 2000, 165-181 [= R. Nicolai – G. Colesanti (edd.), κηληθμῷ δ᾽ ἔσχοντο. Scritti editi e inediti, vol. 3: Critica Letteraria e Storia degli studi, Berlin-Boston 2020, 122-140].
[4] The expression appears in an epigram from Tanagra (IG VII 530).
[5] The author has already dedicated previous studies to this matter (see Bibliography).
[6] Ath. 12. 538f (=Char., FGrH 125 F4).
[7] Plut., Dem. 53.