Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-tj2md Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T05:58:53.969Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Textual Fluctuations and Cosmic Streams: Ocean and Acheloios*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 February 2012

G.B. D'Alessio
G.B. D'Alessio
Affiliation:
University of Messina
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

According to the ancient commentaries, Iliad 21.195 was omitted by some sources, thereby making Acheloios, instead of Ocean, the origin of all waters, including the sea: the reasons for and the date of such a version of the text have been debated. In this paper I argue that the version without line 195 actually represents the earlier textual stage. This role of Acheloios is paralleled in the poem interpreted in the Derveni papyrus, and some features of Acheloios' cosmological function, as well as his iconography, find interesting parallels in the Near East. As a ‘cosmic’ figure, Acheloios was in competition with Ocean, and is only rarely so represented in later preserved texts. His function as the origin of all fresh water and the source of all springs was more persistent, probably due also to his cultic role in Dodona: this, too, is probably reflected in another ancient variant for the text of Il. 16.234.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Hellenic Studies , Volume 124 , November 2004 , pp. 16 - 37
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies 2004

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Allen, T.W. (1900) ‘New Homeric papyri’, CR 14, 14–18Google Scholar
Apthorp, M. J. (1980) The Manuscript Evidence for Interpolation in Homer (Heidelberg)Google Scholar
Austin, C. and Bastianini, G. (2002) Posidippi Pellaei quae supersunt omnia (Milan)Google Scholar
Bernabé, A. (1988) Poetae Epici Graeci. Testimonia et fragmenta 1 (Leipzig)Google Scholar
Bernabé, A. (2000) ‘Nuovi frammenti orfici e una nuova edizione degli Ὀρφικά’, in Ghidini, M. Tortorelli, Marino, A. Storchi, Visconti, A. (eds), Tra Orfeo e Pitagora. Origini e incontri di culture nell'antichità (Naples) 43–80Google Scholar
Bernabé, A. (2003) ‘Autour du mythe orphique sur Dionysos et les Titans. Quelques notes critiques’, in Accorinti, D. and Chuvin, P. (eds), Des Géants à Dionysos. Mélanges offerts à F. Vian (Alessandria) 25–39Google Scholar
Böck, B. and Rowe, I. Márquez (1999–2000) ‘MM 818: a new fragment of Atra-ḫasīs I’, Aula Orientalis 17–18, 167–77Google Scholar
Bolling, G.M. (1925) The External Evidence for Interpolations in Homer (Oxford)Google Scholar
Bordreuil, P. and Pardee, D. (1993) ‘Le combat de Ba'lu avec Yammu d'après les textes ougaritiques’, MARI 7, 63–70Google Scholar
Bottéro, J. (1991) ‘L'anthropogonie mésopotamienne et l'élément divin en l'homme’, in Borgeaud, P. (ed.), Orphisme et Orphée en l'honneur de J. Rudhardt (Geneva) 211–25Google Scholar
Bremmer, J.N. (2003) ‘Remember the Titans’, in Auffarth, C. and Stuckenbruck, L. (eds), The Fall of the Angels (Leiden) 35–61Google Scholar
Brenk, F.E. (1991) ‘The Herakles myth and the literary texts relating to the myth of Ninurta’, in Musti, D. and others (eds), La transizione dal miceneo all'alto arcaismo. Dal palazzo alla città (Rome) 507–26Google Scholar
Brisson, L. (1992) ‘Le corps “dionysiaque”: l'anthropogonie décrite dans le Commentaire sur le Phédon de Platon (1, par. 3–6), attribué à Olympiodore est-elle orphique?’, in σΟΦΙΗσ ΜΑΙΗΤΟΡΕσ. Chercheurs de sagesse: Hommage à J. Pépin (Paris) 481–99 = Orphée et l'Orphisme dans l'Antiquité gréco-romaine (Aldershot 1995) ch.7Google Scholar
Brisson, L. (2003) ‘Sky, sex and sun. The meanings of αἰδοĩος and αἰδοĩον in the Derveni papyrus’, ZPE 144, 19–29Google Scholar
Broggiato, M. (2001) Cratete di Mallo. I frammenti, ed. with introduction and notes (La Spezia)Google Scholar
Burkert, W. (1986) ‘Der Autor von Derveni: Stesimbrotos Περὶ τελετῶν?’, ZPE 62, 1–5Google Scholar
Burkert, W. (1987) ‘Oriental and Greek mythology: the meeting of parallels’, in Bremmer, J. (ed.), Interpretations of Greek Mythology (London) 10–40Google Scholar
Burkert, W. (1992) The Orientalizing Revolution. Near-Eastern Influence on Greek Culture in the Early Archaic Age (Cambridge, MA) (revised translation of Die orientalisierende Epoche in der griechischen Religion und Literatur (Heidelberg 1984))Google Scholar
Burkert, W. (1994) ‘Orientalische und griechische Weltmodelle von Assur bis Anaximander’, WS 107, 179–86Google Scholar
Burkert, W. (1999) Da Omero ai Magi. La tradizione orientale nella cultura greca (Venice)Google Scholar
Cappelletto, P. (1999) ‘Le due Dodone e l'esegesi della preghiera di Achille (Il. 16.233–5) da Zenodoto a Stefano di Bisanzio’, Sileno 25, 241–52Google Scholar
Caquot, A., Sznycer, M., Herdner, A. (1974) Textes ougaritiques 1 : Mythes et légendes (Paris)Google Scholar
Carroccio, B. (2000) ‘Il toro androprosopo, la cicala e l'incuso reggino’, NAC 29, 47–69Google Scholar
Cooper, J. (1978) The Return of Ninurta to Nippur (Rome)Google Scholar
Costabile, F. (ed.) (1991) I ninfei di Locri Epizefiri (Catanzaro)Google Scholar
Currie, B. (2002) ‘Euthymos of Locri: a case study in heroization in the classical period’, JHS 122, 24–44CrossRefGoogle Scholar
D'Alessio, G.B. (2004) ‘Argo e l'Argolide nei canti cultuali di Pindaro’, in Bernardini, P. Angeli (ed.), La città di Argo. Mito, storia, tradizioni poetiche (Rome) 107–25Google Scholar
Dalley, S. (2000) Myths from Mesopotamia. Creation, The Flood, Gilgamesh, and Others (2nd edn, Oxford)Google Scholar
Day, J. (1985) God's Conflict with the Dragon and the Sea. Echoes of a Canaanite Myth in the Old Testament (Cambridge)Google Scholar
Detienne, M. (1989) L'Écriture d'Orphée (Paris)Google Scholar
Dijk, J. van (1983) LUGΑL UD ME-LÀΜ-ΒΙ ΝΙR-ǦÀL (Leiden)Google Scholar
Di Marco, M. (1998) Sapienza italica. Studi su Senofane, Empedocle, Ippone (Rome)Google Scholar
Durand, J.-.M. (1993) ‘Le mythologème du combat entre le dieu de l'orage et la mer en Mésopotamie’, MARI 7, 41–61Google Scholar
Ebeling, E. (1931) Tod und Leben nach den Vorstellungen der Babylonier (Berlin and Leipzig)Google Scholar
Edmonds, R. (1999) ‘Tearing apart the Zagreus: a few disparaging remarks on Orphism and the original sin’, ClAnt 18, 35–73Google Scholar
Ellinger, P. (1993) La légende nationale phocidienne. Artémis, les situations extrêmes et les récits de guerre d'anéantissement (Paris)Google Scholar
Engel, B.J. (1987) Darstellungen von Dämonen und Tieren in assyrischen Palästen und Tempeln nach den schriftlichen Quellen (Mönchengladbach)Google Scholar
Erbse, H. (1977) Scholia graeca in Homeri Iliadem 5 (Berlin)Google Scholar
Ferrari, F. (1988) ‘P.Berol. inv. 13270: i canti di Elefantina’, SCO 38, 181–227Google Scholar
Fontenrose, J. (1959) Python. A Study of Delphic Myth and its Origins (Berkeley and Los Angeles)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Funghi, S. (1997) ‘The Derveni papyrus’, in Laks and Most (1997) 25–37CrossRefGoogle Scholar
George, A.R. and Al-Rawi, F.N.H. (1996) ‘Tablets from the Sippar Library VI. Atra-ḫasîs’, Iraq 58, 147–90CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grenfell, G.P. and Hunt, A.S. (1899) The Oxyrhynchus Papyri 2 (London)Google Scholar
Grenfell, G.P. and Hunt, A.S. (1904) The Oxyrhynchus Papyri 4 (London)Google Scholar
Haider, P.W. (1996) ‘Griechen im Vorderen Orient und in Ägypten bis ca. 590 v. Chr’, in Ulf (1996) 59–115Google Scholar
Hajnal, I. (1995) Studien zum mykenischen Kasussystem (Berlin and New York)Google Scholar
Hansen, D.P. (2001) ‘The reclining human-faced bison sculpture from Area SS’, in Oates, D., Oates, J. and McDonald, H. (eds), Excavations at Tell Brak 2: Nagar in the Third Millennium BC (Cambridge and London) 257–63Google Scholar
Haslam, M. (1997) ‘Homeric papyri and transmission of the text’, in Morris, I. and Powell, B. (eds), A New Companion to Homer (Leiden and New York) 55–100CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hopkinson, N. (1984) Callimachus. Hymn to Demeter (Cambridge)Google Scholar
Isler, H.P. (1970) Acheloos (Bern)Google Scholar
Isler, H.P. (1981) ‘Acheloos’, LIMC 1.1 12–36Google Scholar
Jacobsen, T. (1968) ‘The battle between Marduk and Tiamat’, JOAS 88, 104–8Google Scholar
Janko, R. (1992) The Iliad: A Commentary 4: Books 13–16 (Cambridge)Google Scholar
Janko, R. (1997) ‘The physicist as hierophant: Aristophanes, Socrates and the authorship of the Derveni papyrus’, ZPE 118, 61–94Google Scholar
Janko, R. (2000) Philodemus. On Poems. Book One (Oxford)Google Scholar
Janko, R. (2001) ‘The Derveni papyrus (Diagoras of Melos, Apopyrgizontes logoi?): a new translation’, CPh 96, 1–32Google Scholar
Janko, R. (2002a) ‘The Derveni papyrus: an interim text’, ZPE 141, 1–62Google Scholar
Janko, R. (2002b) ‘Seduta di chiusura’, in Montanari, F. and Ascheri, P. (eds), Omero tremila anni dopo (Rome) 653–66Google Scholar
Kranz, W. (1938) ‘Kosmos und Mensch in der Vorstellung frühen Griechentums’, NGG 2, 121–61 = Studien zur antiken Literatur und ihrem Nachwirken (Heidelberg 1967) 165–96Google Scholar
Laks, A. and Most, G. (eds) (1997) Studies on the Derveni Papyrus (Oxford)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lapini, W. (2000) [2003] Osservazioni sul nuovo Posidippo (P.Mil. Vogl. VIII 309)’, Lexis 20, 35–60Google Scholar
Lesky, A. (1947) Thalatta. Der Weg der Griechen zum Meer (Vienna)Google Scholar
Livingstone, A. (1986) Mystical and Mythological Explanatory Works of Assyrian and Babylonian Scholars (Oxford)Google Scholar
Livingstone, A. (1989) Court Poetry and Literary Miscellanea (State Archives of Assyria 3, Helsinki)Google Scholar
Lloyd-Jones, H. (1985) ‘Pindar and the afterlife’, repr. with a 1989 addition in Greek Epic, Lyric and Tragedy. The Academic Papers of Sir H. Lloyd-Jones (Oxford 1990) 80–109Google Scholar
Loscalzo, D. (1989) ‘Pindaro e la canna auletica della palude Copaide’, QUCC n.s. 33, 17–24Google Scholar
Manetti, D. and Montanari, F. (1999) in Corpus dei Papiri Filosofici Greci e Latini, I.1.3 (Florence) s.v. ‘Xenophanes’, 2T (dub.), 878–9Google Scholar
Matthews, V.J. (1974) Panyassis of Halikarnassos. Text and Commentary (Leiden)Google Scholar
Montanari, F. (1998) ‘Zenodotus, Aristarchus and the ekdosis of Homer’, in Most, G.W. (ed.), Editing Texts–Texte edieren (Göttingen) 1–21Google Scholar
Mühmelt, M. (1965) Griechische Grammatik in der Vergilerklärung (Munich)Google Scholar
Müller, O.M. (1913) Über den Papyruskommentar zum Φ der Ilias (Ox. Pap. II 56 ss.) (diss. Munich)Google Scholar
Murgia, C.E. (1970) ‘Avienus's supposed iambic version of Livy’, CSCA 3, 185–97Google Scholar
Mussini, E. (2002) ‘La diffusione dell'iconografia di Acheloo in Magna Grecia e Sicilia. Tracce per l'individuazione di un culto’, SE ser. 3, 65–8, 91–119Google Scholar
Nickau, K. (1977) Untersuchungen zur textkritischen Methode des Zenodotos von Ephesos (Berlin and New York)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Niemeier, W.-D. (2001) ‘Archaic Greeks in the Orient: textual and archaeological evidence’, BASOR 322, 11–32Google Scholar
Obbink, D. (1994) ‘A quotation of the Derveni papyrus in Philodemus' On Piety’, CronErc 24, 111–35Google Scholar
Pasquali, G. (1934) Storia della tradizione e critica del testo (Florence)Google Scholar
Powell, J.U. (1925) Collectanea Alexandrina (Oxford)Google Scholar
Rengakos, A. (1993) Der Homertext und die hellenistischen Dichter (Stuttgart)Google Scholar
Reynolds, F. (1999) ‘Stellar representations of Tiāmat and Qingu in a learned calendar text’, in van Lerberghe, K. and Voet, G. (eds), Languages and Cultures in Contact. At the Crossroads of Civilizations in the Syro-Mesopotamian Realm (Leuven) 369–78Google Scholar
Richardson, N. (1993) The Iliad: A Commentary 6: Books 20–24 (Cambridge)Google Scholar
Riedweg, C. (1995) ‘Orphisches bei Empedokles’, AuA 41, 34–59Google Scholar
Robertson, N. (2003) ‘Orphic Mysteries and Dionysiac ritual’, in Cosmopoulos, M.B. (ed.), Greek Mysteries. The Archaeology and Ritual of Ancient Greek Secret Cults (London and New York) 218–40Google Scholar
Rocchi, M. (1980) ‘I neura di Zeus’, SMEA 72, 353–75Google Scholar
Rollinger, R. (1996) ‘Altorientalische Motivik in der frühgriechischen Literatur am Beispiele der homerischen Epen. Elemente des Kampfes in der Ilias und in der altorientalischen Literatur (nebst Überlegungen zur Präsenz altorientalischer Wanderpriester im früharchaischen Griechenland)’, in Ulf (1996) 156–210Google Scholar
Rutherford, I. (2001) ‘The song of the Sea (ŠA A.AB.BA SÌR): thoughts on KUB 45.63’, in Wilhelm, G. (ed), Akten des IV. Internationalen Kongresses für Hethitologie. Würzburg, 4.-8. Oktober 1999 (Wiesbaden) 598–609Google Scholar
Schmidt, M. (1976) Die Erklärungen zum Weltbild Homers und zur Kultur der Heroenzeit in den bT-Scholien zur Ilias (Munich)Google Scholar
Shipp, G.P. (1961) Essays in Mycenaean and Homeric Greek (London, New York and Sydney)Google Scholar
Soden, W. von (1995) Grundriss der akkadischen Grammatik (3rd edn, Rome)Google Scholar
Thomas, R.F. (1997) ‘Vestigia Ruris: urbane rusticity in Virgil's Georgics’, HSCP 97, 197–214 = Reading Virgil and his Texts. Studies in Intertextuality (Ann Arbor 1999) 229–45Google Scholar
Ulf, C. (ed.) (1996) Wege zur Genese griechischer Identität. Die Bedeutung der früharchaischen Zeit (Berlin)Google Scholar
van der Valk, M. (1963–1964) Researches on the Text and Scholia of the Iliad (Leiden)Google Scholar
van Windekens, A.J. (1952) Le Pélasgique (Leuven)Google Scholar
van Windekens, A.J. (1960) Études Pélasgiques (Leuven)Google Scholar
Wakeman, M.K. (1973) God's Battle with the Monster. A Study in Biblical Imagery (Leiden)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weiler, I. (1996) ‘Soziogenese und soziale Mobilität im archaischen Griechenland. Gedanken zur Begegnung mt den Völkern des Alten Orients’, in Ulf (1996) 211–39Google Scholar
Weiss, C. (1984) Griechische Flussgottheiten in vorhellenistischer Zeit. Ikonographie und Bedeutung (Würzburg)Google Scholar
Weiss, C. (1988) ‘Fluvii’, LIMC 4.1 139–48Google Scholar
West, M.L. (1971) ‘The cosmology of ‘Hippocrates’, De Hebdomadibus’, CQ n.s. 21, 365–88CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
West, M.L. (1976) review of Matthews (1974), CPA 71, 172–4Google Scholar
West, M.L. (1983) The Orphic Poems (Oxford)Google Scholar
West, M.L. (1997a) The East Face of Helicon (Oxford)Google Scholar
West, M.L. (1997b) ‘Hocus-pocus in East and West’, in Laks and Most (1997) 81–90CrossRefGoogle Scholar
West, M.L. (2001) Studies in the Text and Transmission of the Iliad (Munich and Leipzig)Google Scholar
West, M.L. (2003) Greek Epic Fragments (Cambridge, MA and London)Google Scholar
Wiggermann, F.A.M. (1986) Babylonian Prophylactic Figures. The Ritual Texts (Amsterdam)Google Scholar
Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, U. von (1900) review of Grenfell and Hunt (1899), GGA 162, 29–58Google Scholar
Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, U. von (1931–1932) Der Glaube der Hellenen (Berlin)Google Scholar