Contest of Cithaeron and Helicon: Difference between revisions
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[[File:Frederic Leighton - Corinna of Tanagra.jpg|thumb|right|Corinna, by [[Frederick Leighton]]]] |
[[File:Frederic Leighton - Corinna of Tanagra.jpg|thumb|right|Corinna, by [[Frederick Leighton]]]] |
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The '''"Contest of Cithaeron and Helicon"''' ('''PMG 654''') is a fragment of a poem by [[Corinna]]. |
The '''"Contest of Cithaeron and Helicon"''' ('''PMG 654''') is a fragment of a poem by [[Corinna]]. Preserved on a second-century AD papyrus discovered at [[Hermopolis]] in Egypt, the poem tells the story of a singing competition between two mountains, [[Cithaeron]] and [[Mount Helicon|Helicon]], which was apparently won by Mount Cithaeron. |
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==Preservation== |
==Preservation== |
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Revision as of 21:54, 15 February 2022
The "Contest of Cithaeron and Helicon" (PMG 654) is a fragment of a poem by Corinna. Preserved on a second-century AD papyrus discovered at Hermopolis in Egypt, the poem tells the story of a singing competition between two mountains, Cithaeron and Helicon, which was apparently won by Mount Cithaeron.
Preservation
The poem is preserved on a second-century AD piece of papyrus, P.Berol. 13284.[1] The papyrus was discovered by Otto Rubensohn at Hermopolis in 1906. The papyrus also preserves part of Corinna's poem on the daughters of Asopus.[2]
Poem
The contest poem is about a singing contest between Cithaeron and Helicon; conflict between these two mountains is known from other sources, but Corinna's poem is the only known mention of a singing contest between the two.[3] In Corinna's poem, Cithaeron apparently wins the contest; in other versions of the story, Helicon is the victor.[4]
The surviving part of the poem begins with one of the singers – generally thought to be Cithaeron[5] – concluding his song, which tells the myth of how the titan Rhea hid her youngest child, Zeus, from Cronus.[6] The poem continues with the gods voting on the winner of the contest, and awarding the victory to Cithaeron.[7] Next, Helicon throws a down boulder in his anger, which breaks into ten thousand pieces.[6] John Heath reads this episode as an example of a characteristic sense of humour in Corinna's poetry.[8]
Corinna's use of the story of Rhea and the birth of Zeus in the poem is apparently influenced by Hesiod's account of the same myth in Theogony.[9] There are several verbal echoes of Hesiod in Corinna's version of the story, though she also adds her own innovations – such as the inclusion of the Curetes, which are not mentioned in the Theogony.[10] Corinna's version of the poem emphasises the role of Rhea, and Diane Rayor argues that this is an example of Corinna writing for a specifically female audience.[11]
Performance
Corinna's poems were probably mostly written for choral performance in connection with local festivals.[12] The contest poem may have been written for performance at the Daedala, a festival in honour of Hera at Plataea, which was held in part at the summit of Mount Cithaeron.[13]
References
- ^ Page 1962, pp. 326–327.
- ^ Berliner Papyrusdatenbank.
- ^ Campbell 1967, p. 411.
- ^ Henderson 1995, p. 35.
- ^ Heath 2017, p. 99, n. 44.
- ^ a b Henderson 1995, p. 33.
- ^ Corinna, 654 PMG ll.18–27
- ^ Heath 2017, pp. 98–99.
- ^ Collins 2006, pp. 26–28.
- ^ Vergados 2012, p. 102.
- ^ Rayor 1993, p. 226.
- ^ Larmour 2005, p. 41.
- ^ Larmour 2005, p. 37.
Works cited
- "P. Berol 13284".
- Campbell, David A. (1967). Greek Lyric Poetry: A Selection of Early Greek Lyric, Elegiac and Iambic Poetry. Macmillan.
- Collins, Derek (2006). "Corinna and Mythological Innovation". The Classical Quarterly. 56 (1): 19–32. doi:10.1017/S0009838806000036. S2CID 171018980.
- Heath, John (2017). "Corinna's 'Old Wives' Tales'". Harvard Studies in Classical Philology. 109.
- Henderson, W. J. (1995). "Corinna of Tanagra on Poetry". Acta Classica. 38.
- Larmour, David H. J. (2005). "Corinna's Metis and the Epinikian Tradition". In Greene, Ellen (ed.). Women Poets in Ancient Greece and Rome. University of Oklahoma Press.
- Page, Denys (1962). Poetae Melici Graeci. Oxford University Press.
- Rayor, Diane (1993). "Korinna: Gender and the Narrative Tradition". Arethusa. 26 (3).
- Vergados, Athanassios (2012). "Corinna's Poetic Mountains: PMG 654 col. i 1–34 and Hesiodic Reception". Classical Philology. 107 (2): 101–118. doi:10.1086/664026. S2CID 162346852.