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The Bird that Became a Cleonymus-Tree: Pindar’s Olympian 12.13-6 and Aristophanes’ Birds 1473-81 * )

The Bird that Became a Cleonymus-Tree: Pindar’s Olympian 12.13-6 and Aristophanes’ Birds 1473-81 * ) In 414 BC Aristophanes was perusing his Pindar—or walking over it, as he himself would say ( Av . 471, cf. Pl. Phdr . 273a)—looking for snatches of verse to bestow on the Pindaric (cf. Av . 939) poet whom he intended to create for his work-in-progress, Birds , as one of five visitors to Nephelococcugia who would petition Peisetaerus for access to the new city (lines 903-1057). 1) One of Pindar’s poems Aristophanes likely read, for Birds 908-10 echoes its metre (Dunbar 1995, 524; Parker 1997, 328), is Olympian 12 of 466 for Ergoteles, son of Diphilus of Himera, victor several times in the δόλιχος (‘long race’). 2) I will argue in this paper that the image of the Cleonymus-tree in Ar. Av . 1473-81 was inspired by Pindar O . 12.13-6. We may assume that Aristophanes was, as so often, on the qui vive for new mud to sling at the ‘hapless’ (Dover 1968, 148 ad Nu. 353) Cleonymus, the gluttonous ( Eq. 956-8, 1290-9), fat ( Ach. 88, V. 592), effeminate ( Nu. 673-80) and blustering politician ( Ach. 844, Nu. 400, Pax 675), protégé of the detested Cleon, 3) who, probably by pulling strings http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Mnemosyne Brill

The Bird that Became a Cleonymus-Tree: Pindar’s Olympian 12.13-6 and Aristophanes’ Birds 1473-81 * )

Mnemosyne , Volume 65 (2): 279 – Jan 1, 2012

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References (5)

Publisher
Brill
Copyright
© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
Subject
Miscellanea
ISSN
0026-7074
eISSN
1568-525X
DOI
10.1163/156852512X585205
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

In 414 BC Aristophanes was perusing his Pindar—or walking over it, as he himself would say ( Av . 471, cf. Pl. Phdr . 273a)—looking for snatches of verse to bestow on the Pindaric (cf. Av . 939) poet whom he intended to create for his work-in-progress, Birds , as one of five visitors to Nephelococcugia who would petition Peisetaerus for access to the new city (lines 903-1057). 1) One of Pindar’s poems Aristophanes likely read, for Birds 908-10 echoes its metre (Dunbar 1995, 524; Parker 1997, 328), is Olympian 12 of 466 for Ergoteles, son of Diphilus of Himera, victor several times in the δόλιχος (‘long race’). 2) I will argue in this paper that the image of the Cleonymus-tree in Ar. Av . 1473-81 was inspired by Pindar O . 12.13-6. We may assume that Aristophanes was, as so often, on the qui vive for new mud to sling at the ‘hapless’ (Dover 1968, 148 ad Nu. 353) Cleonymus, the gluttonous ( Eq. 956-8, 1290-9), fat ( Ach. 88, V. 592), effeminate ( Nu. 673-80) and blustering politician ( Ach. 844, Nu. 400, Pax 675), protégé of the detested Cleon, 3) who, probably by pulling strings

Journal

MnemosyneBrill

Published: Jan 1, 2012

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