INTRODUCTION
1. Date and Life
Apollonius Rhodius was a true citizen of the Mediterranean world which came into existence after the conquests of Alexander. The meagre evidence about his life tells that he was born in either Alexandria or Naucratis and that he had some association with Rhodes.[1] Naucratis (the ‘city that has power over ships’ or ‘rules by means of ships’) conducted a considerable amount of trade with Rhodes. Many amphora handles stamped with the Rhodian mark[2] have been found there,[3] showing that the commercial and naval links between the cities were very close.[4] Even if the story of Apollonius’ self-imposed exile on the island after a failed first recitation of the poem is attributed to the imagination of the ancient biographers, a scenario of a peripatetic, academic and poet travelling between Egypt and Rhodes in search of employment and, possibly, inspiration seems a plausible alternative.[5] The distance of 325 miles could be covered in three and a half days, while the 275 mile leg from Athens to Rhodes took four.[6] This, together with the fact that sailing was apparently possible throughout the year between Egypt and Rhodes,[7]means that Apollonius could easily have made a career as a freelance scholar, travelling between two important centres of the enlarged Greek world.
One tentatively established point in Apollonius’ career is his appointment as Librarian of the Museum of Alexandria in the period 270–45 BC.[8] This possibly places him in the reigns of Ptolemy II Philadelphus and Ptolemy III Euergetes, the time of the First and Second Syrian Wars which confirmed the Ptolemaic kingdom’s position as the foremost naval power in the eastern Mediterranean, with Rhodes a close second. Thus, for him to write an epic based on a myth about Greek naval prowess and the eternal desire to explore seems a very natural thing to do, especially when we consider the environment of the Ptolemaic court in it was created: a society which owed its existence to the eternal Greek urge to explore, conquer and colonise, while, at the same time maintaining its cultural traditions.
2. Apollonius’ poetry
Although Apollonius would have written and spoken the Koine in his everyday life, his Argonautica is written in a literary language, which imitates that of the Iliad and the Odyssey, together with the influences of lyric poetry and Attic tragedy. The Hellenistic poets rejected the uniformity that the Koine imposed and turned to the dialects and genres of early Greek literature in search of linguistic variety. They seemed to be proud to continue the diglossia that has always been a part of the Greek language.[9]
‘Longinus’ called him faultless,[10] though not quite achieving the standard of 'sublimity’ set by Homer. Virgil was a great admirer and thoughtful critic.[11] Moreover, judging from the papyri,[12] there were plenty of manuscripts of the Argonautica circulating in Egypt well into the Roman period, showing that Apollonius was popular as well as highly esteemed. There are a number of reasons why this might be so for an ancient (and modern) audience. The poem functions on many different levels: set in the form of a exciting quest, it contains a range of characters whose actions and personal traits are susceptible to varying and different interpretation. It is also the work of a creative artist who was both textual scholar and interpretator of his own language and literary, determined to carry on a tradition in an innovatory way which constantly challenges his readers’ critical faculties. The following sections attempt to analyse the features which make the Argonautica such a ‘chimera-like’ epic poem. [more to follow]
[1] The main sources for Apollonius' life are P.Oxy. 1241 col. ii (2nd century A.D.), a miscellaneous handbook, listing the librarians of the royal library at Alexandria (but see 2 n. 8), two biographical notes transmitted with the MSS, and an entry in the Suda, summarised at Hunter (1989) 1–3.
[2] For details of the nature of this mark see Biers (1992) 70.
[3] See further Petrie (1886) 49, Lloyd (1988) 225–6, Boardman (1999) 122.
[4] Berthold (1984) 50–3.
[5] Lefkowitz (2001) 52.
[6] Gabrielsen (1997) 72, quoting Casson (1971) 287–9.
[7] See further Beresford (2013) 17, 18, 45, 268, quoting primary sources about sailing between Egypt and Rhodes.
[8] See further Hunter, R. (1989) 4 but Murray (2012) has recently argued that P.Oxy. 1241 is not a reliable list of Librarians but part of a parody of contemporary scholarly catalogues and (2013) that the publication of the Argonautica is to be placed in 238 B. C. at the beginning of Euergetes’ reign; see further p. 27.
[9] For the term with relation to Greek see Horrocks (1997) 5–6.
[10] Longinus 33.1–4 calls A. ἄπτωτος . . . ποιητής and categorises the Argonautica along side poems which are σύμμετρον ὲν ἐν τοῖς κατορθώμασιν ὑγιὲς δὲ πάντη καὶ ἀδιάπτωτον, ‘symmetrical in their successes and entirely sound and infallible.’
[11] Cf. 3.755–9 πυκνὰ δέ οἱ κραδίη στηθέων ἔντοσθεν ἔθυιεν, / ἠελίου ὥς τίς τε δόμοις ἐνιπάλλεται αἴγλη / ὕδατος ἐξανιοῦσα, τὸ δὴ νέον ἠὲ λέβητι / ἠέ που ἐν γαυλῷ κέχυται, ἡ δ' ἔνθα καὶ ἔνθα / ὠκείῃ στροφάλιγγι τινάσσεται ἀίσσουσα with Virg. Aen. 8. 22–5 sicut aquae tremulum labris ubi lumen aenis / sole repercussum aut radiantis imagine lunae / omnia pervolitat late loca, iamque sun auras / erigitur summique ferit laquearia tecti where Virgil perhaps found ἐν γαυλῷ, ‘in a pitcher’, to be too homely in tone; see further Nelis (2001) 331. on this passage and in general on Virgil's use of the Argonautica. as a model.
[12] There are twenty papyri of Apollonius online at http://www.papyrology.ox.ac.uk/POxy/. For a full list of Apollonian papyri see Vian (1974) lxxxvii–xc.
1. Date and Life
Apollonius Rhodius was a true citizen of the Mediterranean world which came into existence after the conquests of Alexander. The meagre evidence about his life tells that he was born in either Alexandria or Naucratis and that he had some association with Rhodes.[1] Naucratis (the ‘city that has power over ships’ or ‘rules by means of ships’) conducted a considerable amount of trade with Rhodes. Many amphora handles stamped with the Rhodian mark[2] have been found there,[3] showing that the commercial and naval links between the cities were very close.[4] Even if the story of Apollonius’ self-imposed exile on the island after a failed first recitation of the poem is attributed to the imagination of the ancient biographers, a scenario of a peripatetic, academic and poet travelling between Egypt and Rhodes in search of employment and, possibly, inspiration seems a plausible alternative.[5] The distance of 325 miles could be covered in three and a half days, while the 275 mile leg from Athens to Rhodes took four.[6] This, together with the fact that sailing was apparently possible throughout the year between Egypt and Rhodes,[7]means that Apollonius could easily have made a career as a freelance scholar, travelling between two important centres of the enlarged Greek world.
One tentatively established point in Apollonius’ career is his appointment as Librarian of the Museum of Alexandria in the period 270–45 BC.[8] This possibly places him in the reigns of Ptolemy II Philadelphus and Ptolemy III Euergetes, the time of the First and Second Syrian Wars which confirmed the Ptolemaic kingdom’s position as the foremost naval power in the eastern Mediterranean, with Rhodes a close second. Thus, for him to write an epic based on a myth about Greek naval prowess and the eternal desire to explore seems a very natural thing to do, especially when we consider the environment of the Ptolemaic court in it was created: a society which owed its existence to the eternal Greek urge to explore, conquer and colonise, while, at the same time maintaining its cultural traditions.
2. Apollonius’ poetry
Although Apollonius would have written and spoken the Koine in his everyday life, his Argonautica is written in a literary language, which imitates that of the Iliad and the Odyssey, together with the influences of lyric poetry and Attic tragedy. The Hellenistic poets rejected the uniformity that the Koine imposed and turned to the dialects and genres of early Greek literature in search of linguistic variety. They seemed to be proud to continue the diglossia that has always been a part of the Greek language.[9]
‘Longinus’ called him faultless,[10] though not quite achieving the standard of 'sublimity’ set by Homer. Virgil was a great admirer and thoughtful critic.[11] Moreover, judging from the papyri,[12] there were plenty of manuscripts of the Argonautica circulating in Egypt well into the Roman period, showing that Apollonius was popular as well as highly esteemed. There are a number of reasons why this might be so for an ancient (and modern) audience. The poem functions on many different levels: set in the form of a exciting quest, it contains a range of characters whose actions and personal traits are susceptible to varying and different interpretation. It is also the work of a creative artist who was both textual scholar and interpretator of his own language and literary, determined to carry on a tradition in an innovatory way which constantly challenges his readers’ critical faculties. The following sections attempt to analyse the features which make the Argonautica such a ‘chimera-like’ epic poem. [more to follow]
[1] The main sources for Apollonius' life are P.Oxy. 1241 col. ii (2nd century A.D.), a miscellaneous handbook, listing the librarians of the royal library at Alexandria (but see 2 n. 8), two biographical notes transmitted with the MSS, and an entry in the Suda, summarised at Hunter (1989) 1–3.
[2] For details of the nature of this mark see Biers (1992) 70.
[3] See further Petrie (1886) 49, Lloyd (1988) 225–6, Boardman (1999) 122.
[4] Berthold (1984) 50–3.
[5] Lefkowitz (2001) 52.
[6] Gabrielsen (1997) 72, quoting Casson (1971) 287–9.
[7] See further Beresford (2013) 17, 18, 45, 268, quoting primary sources about sailing between Egypt and Rhodes.
[8] See further Hunter, R. (1989) 4 but Murray (2012) has recently argued that P.Oxy. 1241 is not a reliable list of Librarians but part of a parody of contemporary scholarly catalogues and (2013) that the publication of the Argonautica is to be placed in 238 B. C. at the beginning of Euergetes’ reign; see further p. 27.
[9] For the term with relation to Greek see Horrocks (1997) 5–6.
[10] Longinus 33.1–4 calls A. ἄπτωτος . . . ποιητής and categorises the Argonautica along side poems which are σύμμετρον ὲν ἐν τοῖς κατορθώμασιν ὑγιὲς δὲ πάντη καὶ ἀδιάπτωτον, ‘symmetrical in their successes and entirely sound and infallible.’
[11] Cf. 3.755–9 πυκνὰ δέ οἱ κραδίη στηθέων ἔντοσθεν ἔθυιεν, / ἠελίου ὥς τίς τε δόμοις ἐνιπάλλεται αἴγλη / ὕδατος ἐξανιοῦσα, τὸ δὴ νέον ἠὲ λέβητι / ἠέ που ἐν γαυλῷ κέχυται, ἡ δ' ἔνθα καὶ ἔνθα / ὠκείῃ στροφάλιγγι τινάσσεται ἀίσσουσα with Virg. Aen. 8. 22–5 sicut aquae tremulum labris ubi lumen aenis / sole repercussum aut radiantis imagine lunae / omnia pervolitat late loca, iamque sun auras / erigitur summique ferit laquearia tecti where Virgil perhaps found ἐν γαυλῷ, ‘in a pitcher’, to be too homely in tone; see further Nelis (2001) 331. on this passage and in general on Virgil's use of the Argonautica. as a model.
[12] There are twenty papyri of Apollonius online at http://www.papyrology.ox.ac.uk/POxy/. For a full list of Apollonian papyri see Vian (1974) lxxxvii–xc.