The Tradition of Quoting Homer as a Way of Identification in the Inscriptions of Southern Asia Minor
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17072/2073-6681-2024-3-81-90Keywords:
Tarsus; Sidyma; Telmessos; Termessos; Adada; Homer; Hellenization; epitaph; quoting Homer; education in the Roman province.Abstract
After the conquests of Alexander the Great, many Greeks migrated to the southern regions of Asia Minor, including Lycia, Pisidia, Pamphylia, and Cilicia. They brought along their cultural traditions, which gradually merged over several centuries with the most enduring aspects of the indigenous culture. The ancient Greek language completely supplanted the Lycian, Pisidian, and other Anatolian languages. Education followed the established Greek canons, with Homer’s poems serving as primary texts. But, while the ruins of cities that have survived to this day provide an opportunity to gain an idea of the Hellenization of architecture, it is much more difficult to assess the extent to which the Anatolian population was able to familiarize itself with the Greek education system. The author of the article aims to establish the level of familiarity of the inhabitants of southern Asia Minor with the poems of Homer, to determine their personal attitude toward this poet, and argues that only inscriptions found in this region can be the material for such research, namely inscriptions written not in prose, but in hexameter or elegiac distich. Epigraphic material usually stands outside the scope of literary studies. Therefore, the relevance of this work lies not only in the formulation of the research problem but also in the choice of material for research. The article examines in detail four epitaphs. Their text indicates a very close familiarity of their creators with Homer’s poems. But even more sticking is the fact that there were quotations from the Iliad or the Odyssey in these epitaphs, and these quotations served to identify or even self-identify the one to whom these short poems were dedicated. One such quotation even appears in a prose inscription from the Adada city territory. These examples signify that during the Roman Empire, Homer evolved into an undisputed authority for the descendants of the original inhabitants of Anatolia, the same as he had always been for the ancient Greeks themselves.References
Приходько Е. В. «Суровые боги» становятся «Справедливыми богами», или Об одном местном культе высокогорий Кибиратиды, Милиады и северной Ликии // Индоевропейское языкознание и классическая филология XXVII (2) (чтения памяти И. М. Тронского): материалы Междунар. конф., (26–28 июня 2023 г.) / гл. ред. Н. Н. Казанский. СПб.: ИЛИ РАН, 2023. С. 946–994.
Arroyo-Quirce H. Glorious Solymi. Homer and a Neglected Inscription Concerning Pisidian Termessos at Rome // Epigraphica Anatolica. 2017. Heft 50. P. 129–132.
Delemen İ. Anatolian Rider-Gods. A Study on Stone Finds from the Regions of Lycia, Pisidia, Isauria, Lycaonia, Phrygia, Lydia and Caria in the Late Roman Period. (Asia Minor Studien. Bd. 35). Bonn: Dr. Rudolf Habelt GMBH, 1999. 228 p.
Horsley G. H. R. Homer in Pisidia: Aspects of the History of Greek Education in a Remote Roman Province // Antichthon. 2000. Vol. 34. P. 46–81.
IGUR – Inscriptiones Graecae Urbis Romae / Curavit L. Moretti. Vol. 1–4. Rome: Instituto Italiano per la Storia Antica, 1968–1990.
Işın G. The Sanctuaries and the Cult of Apollo in Southern Pisidia // Anadolu / Anatolia. 2014. Bd. 40. P. 87–104.
Labarre G. Les origines et la diffusion du culte de Men // Bru H., Lebreton S., Kirbilher F. (éds.). L’Asie Mineure dans l’Antiquité: échanges, populations et territoires. Regards actuels sur une péninsule. Rennes: Presses universitaires de Rennes, 2009. P. 389–414.
Marksteiner Th., Stark B., Wörrle M., Yener-Marksteiner B. Der Yalak Başı auf dem Bonda Tepesi in Ostlykien. Eine dörfliche Siedlung und ein ländlicher Kultplatz im Umland von Limyra // Chiron. 2007. Bd. 37. S. 243–292.
Merkelbach R., Stauber J. Steinepigramme aus dem Griechischen Osten. Bd. 4. Die Südküste Kleinasiens, Syrien und Palaestina. München; Leipzig: K. G. Saur Verlag, 2002. 471 S.
Nollé J. Kleinasiatische Losorakel. Astragal- und Alphabetchresmologien der hochkaiserzeitlichen Orakelrenaissance. München: Verlag C. H. Beck, 2007. 331 S.
Ritti T. An Epigraphic Guide to Hierapolis (Pamukkale) / Translated from the Italian by P. Arthur. İstanbul: Ege Yayınları, 2006. 211 p.
Sterrett J. R. S. The Wolfe Expedition to Asia Minor (Papers of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. Vol. III. 1884–1885). Boston: Damrell und Upham, 1888. 448 p.
TAM – Tituli Asiae Minoris. Wien, 1901–.
References
Prikhod’ko E. V. ‘Surovye bogi’ stanovyatsya ‘Spravedlivymi bogami’, ili ob odnom mestnom kul’te vysokogoriy Kibiratidy, Miliady i severnoy Likii [The ‘Severe gods’ become the ‘Fair gods’, or about one local cult of the highlands of Kibyratis, Milyas and northern Lycia]. Indoevropeyskoe yazykoznanie i klassicheskaya filologiya XXVII (2) [Indo-European Linguistics and Classical Philology XXVII (2)]: Proceedings of the 27th Conference in Memory of Professor Joseph M. Tronsky, St. Petersburg, June 26–28, 2023. Ed. by N. N. Kazanskiy. St. Petersburg, Institute for Linguistic Studies, RAS Publ., 2023, pp. 946–994. (In Russ.)
Arroyo-Quirce H. Glorious Solymi. Homer and a neglected inscription concerning Pisidian Termessos at Rome. Epigraphica Anatolica, 2017, issue 50, pp. 129–132. (In Eng.)
Delemen İ. Anatolian Rider-Gods. A Study on Stone Finds from the Regions of Lycia, Pisidia, Isauria, Lycaonia, Phrygia, Lydia and Caria in the Late Roman Period. (Asia Minor Studien. Vol. 35). Bonn, Dr. Rudolf Habelt GMBH, 1999. 228 p. (In Eng.)
Horsley G. H. R. Homer in Pisidia: Aspects of the history of Greek education in a remote Roman province. Antichthon, 2000, vol. 34, pp. 46–81. (In Eng.)
IGUR – Inscriptiones Graecae Urbis Romae [Greek inscriptions of the city of Rome]. Ed. by L. Moretti. Rome, Instituto Italiano per la Storia Antica, 1968–1990, vols. 1–4. (In Ital.)
Işın G. The sanctuaries and the cult of Apollo in Southern Pisidia. Anadolu / Anatolia, 2014, vol. 40, pp. 87–104. (In Eng.)
Labarre G. Les origines et la diffusion du culte de Men [The origins and spread of the cult of Men]. Ed. by H. Bru, S. Lebreton, F. Kirbilher. L’Asie Mineure dans l’Antiquité: échanges, populations et territoires. Regards actuels sur une péninsule [Asia Minor in Antiquity: Exchanges, Populations and Territories. Current Views on the Peninsula]. Rennes, Presses universitaires de Rennes, 2009, pp. 389–414. (In Fr.)
Marksteiner Th., Stark B., Wörrle M., Yener-Marksteiner B. Der Yalak Başı auf dem Bonda Tepesi in Ostlykien. Eine dörfliche Siedlung und ein ländlicher Kultplatz im Umland von Limyra [The Yalak Başı on Bonda Tepesi in East Lycia. A rural settlement and a rural place of worship in the surrounding area of Limyra]. Chiron, 2007, vol. 37, pp. 243–292. (In Ger.)
Merkelbach R., Stauber J. Steinepigramme aus dem Griechischen Osten [Stone Epigrams from the Greek East]. Munich, Leipzig, K. G. Saur Verlag, 2002, vol. 4. Die Südküste Kleinasiens, Syrien und Palaestina [The Southern Coast of Asia Minor, Syria, and Palestine]. 471 p. (In Ger.)
Nollé J. Kleinasiatische Losorakel. Astragal- und Alphabetchresmologien der hochkaiserzeitlichen Orakelrenaissance [Asia Minor Dice Oracle. Astragal- and Alphabetical Oracles of the Oracle Renaissance in the Period of the Roman Emire]. Munich, Verlag C. H. Beck, 2007. 331 p. (In Ger.)
Ritti T. An Epigraphic Guide to Hierapolis (Pamukkale). Transl. from Italian by P. Arthur. Istanbul, Ege Yayınları, 2006. 211 p. (In Eng.)
Sterrett J. R. S. The Wolfe Expedition to Asia Minor (Papers of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. Vol. III. 1884–1885). Boston, Damrell und Upham, 1888. 448 p. (In Eng.)
TAM – Tituli Asiae Minoris [The Inscriptions of Asia Minor]. Wien, 1901–. (In Lat.)
