A Conjecture on Aeschylus Agamemnon 985
Abstract
At Aeschylus Agamemnon 985 the manuscript reading ψαμμίας ἀκάτα is corrupt, giving neither meter nor sense. Wilamowitz’ conjecture ψάμμος ἄμπτα has met with some editorial approval, but its sense is dubious and should be rejected. I propose instead ψάλλον ἀκταῖς, “they were plucking on the shore”, referring to the performance of a paean on the lyre by the Greek fleet departing for, or, less likely, arriving at, Troy. The fleet’s departure would be an appropriate time for the soldiers to perform a paean, for which the lyre was a common accompaniment. Plucking a lyre without strumming, however, as ψάλλον implies, seems to have been a less common performance technique, sometimes culturally marked as ‘Asian’. While there is evidence that a paean with plucked accompaniment might have seemed unexceptional to a Greek audience, if Aeschylus did intend an Asian connotation, I suggest that the Chorus, having just witnessed Agamemnon tread on the purple cloths, would thereby portray the Greek army as already tainted by tryphe on their departure for Troy. Whether ‘Greek’ or ‘Trojan’, the conjectured army’s paean would form an effective counterpoint to the lyre-less threnos in the Chorus’ heart that dominates the ode.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank David Kovacs, Ivana Petrovic, Andrej Petrovic, and Carolyn Laferrière for their comments on several drafts of this article. I am also thankful to the anonymous readers, whose suggestions and criticism have greatly improved my argument.
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- A Conjecture on Aeschylus Agamemnon 985
- The Structure of Mythological Old Comedy
- Die „Libation des Gottes“ und die Blendung des Kyklopen – Überlegungen zu Euripides’ Kyklops 469–471
- The Allegory of the Cave, the Ending of the Republic, and the Stages of Moral Enlightenment
- Deictic Shifting in Greek Contractual Writing (I–IV AD)
- Les ânes chez Ulysse: à propos du sens et de l’étymologie de grec ancien μύκλος (Lycophron, Alexandra 771 et 816)
- A Lunar People: The Meaning of an Arcadian Epithet, or, Who is the Most Ancient of Them All?
- The Old Man and the Bee – Zur Entwicklung eines literarischen Motivs
- Miszelle
- Some Observations on the Text of Ps.-Zonaras
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- A Conjecture on Aeschylus Agamemnon 985
- The Structure of Mythological Old Comedy
- Die „Libation des Gottes“ und die Blendung des Kyklopen – Überlegungen zu Euripides’ Kyklops 469–471
- The Allegory of the Cave, the Ending of the Republic, and the Stages of Moral Enlightenment
- Deictic Shifting in Greek Contractual Writing (I–IV AD)
- Les ânes chez Ulysse: à propos du sens et de l’étymologie de grec ancien μύκλος (Lycophron, Alexandra 771 et 816)
- A Lunar People: The Meaning of an Arcadian Epithet, or, Who is the Most Ancient of Them All?
- The Old Man and the Bee – Zur Entwicklung eines literarischen Motivs
- Miszelle
- Some Observations on the Text of Ps.-Zonaras
