This long inscription of the Res-gestae type is now known as ISyr I 1. L.D. Reynolds and N.G. Wilson mention this text briefly in Scribes and Scholars and give some bibliography (OUP, 1991^3): 200-1 and 297.
A text with vocabulary can be found in Allen Wikgren (ed.), with the collaboration of Ernest Cadman Colwell and Ralph Marcus, Hellenistic Greek Texts (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1947) 137-140.
The
vocabularly (pp. 211-271) is for the whole volume (not a running
vocabulary for this inscription); a glossary proper names (pp. 271-275).
There is a translation, commentary, and bibliography in F.W. Danker, Benefactor: an epigraphic study of a Graeco-Roman and New Testament semantic field (1982): 236-248 (no. 41).
Eduard Norden described its style as "bacchantic dithyrambic prose".
A search for Nemrud Dagh in LSJ returns more than one either for Nimrud Dagh or for OGI 383.
The British Museum has a statement about one of the reduced scale versions of one of the reliefs that constitutes this monument. It notes the damage that resulted from subsequent re-use. P.M. Fraser discussed this stone in relation to OGI 404 in ABSA 47 (1952) 96-101.
Showing posts with label Mithridates. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mithridates. Show all posts
Wednesday, 5 August 2015
Tuesday, 19 August 2014
Quintilian on masters of multiple languages and of several varieties of Greek
Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria XI.2.50-51:
Ceterum quantum natura studioque valeat memoria vel Themistocles testis, quem unum intra annum optime locutum esse Persice constat, vel Mithridates, cui duas et viginti linguas, quot nationibus imperabat, traditur notas fuisse, vel Crassus ille dives, qui cum Asiae praeesset quinque Graeci sermonis differentias sic tenuit ut qua quisque apud eum lingua postulasset eadem ius sibi redditum ferret, vel Cyrus, quem omnium militum tenuisse creditum est nomina: quin semel auditos quamlibet multos versus protinus dicitur reddidisse Theodectes. Dicebantur etiam nunc esse qui facerent, sed mihi numquam ut ipse interessem contigit: habenda tamen fides est vel in hoc, ut qui crediderit et speret.
For the rest there are many historical examples of the power to which memory may be developed by natural aptitude and application. Themistocles is said to have spoken excellently in Persian after a year's study; Mithridates is recorded to have known twenty-two languages, that being the number of the different nations included in his empire [cf. Pliny the Elder, Natural History VII 24]; Crassus, surnamed the Rich [cos. 131 BC, was the commander in the war against Aristonicus of Pergamum, was defeated and was killed], when commanding in Asia had such a complete mastery of five different Greek dialects, that he would give judgement in the dialect employed by the plaintiff in putting forward his suit; Cyrus is believed to have known the name of every soldier in his army, [51] while Theodectes is actually said to have been able to repeat any number of verses after only a single hearing. I remember that it used to be alleged that there were persons still living who could do the same, though I never had the good fortune to be present at such a performance. Still, we shall do well to have faith in such miracles, if only that he who believes may also hope to achieve the like. (Loeb: H.E. Butler, 1922)
For Mithridates VI of Pontus as a polyglot, see: Aulus Gellius 17.17, Pliny the Elder 7.24.88-90 and 25.3.6-7, Valerius Maximus 8.7, and, for a claim to knowledge of fifty languages, Aurelius Victor '(AD 360)'. These references are from Adrienne Mayor, The Poison King:The Life and Legend of Mithradates, Rome's Deadliest Enemy (Princeton University Press: 2009) 254 and 408n. 36.
The reference to Aurelius Victor is probably de viribus illustribus 76.1 ('incerti auctoris'): Mithridates rex Ponti oriundus a septem Persis, magna ui animi et corporis, ut sexiuges equos regeret quinquaginta gentium ore loqueretur.
Xenophon Cyrus 5 is cited for Cyrus the Great's knowledge of the names of his officers and satraps. This must be Cyropedia 5.3.47.
OLD s.v. differentia -ae f. 2 b a different kind, quotes only this passage and explains '-as (i.e. dialects)'. Quintilian, Inst.IX.4.18 uses dialectos -i f. (OLD s.v. also cites Suet.Tib.56 and Maur.649 but no other instances): "As regards Herodotus, while his flow, in my opinion, is always gentle, his dialect has such a sweetness of its own that it even seems to contain a certain rhythmical power hidden within itself."
Terentianus Maurus (GL vi) line 649 reads: Aeolica dialectos autem mixta ferme est Italae. The context is a discussion of the digammon and ensuing Greek and Latin cognates.
Ceterum quantum natura studioque valeat memoria vel Themistocles testis, quem unum intra annum optime locutum esse Persice constat, vel Mithridates, cui duas et viginti linguas, quot nationibus imperabat, traditur notas fuisse, vel Crassus ille dives, qui cum Asiae praeesset quinque Graeci sermonis differentias sic tenuit ut qua quisque apud eum lingua postulasset eadem ius sibi redditum ferret, vel Cyrus, quem omnium militum tenuisse creditum est nomina: quin semel auditos quamlibet multos versus protinus dicitur reddidisse Theodectes. Dicebantur etiam nunc esse qui facerent, sed mihi numquam ut ipse interessem contigit: habenda tamen fides est vel in hoc, ut qui crediderit et speret.
For the rest there are many historical examples of the power to which memory may be developed by natural aptitude and application. Themistocles is said to have spoken excellently in Persian after a year's study; Mithridates is recorded to have known twenty-two languages, that being the number of the different nations included in his empire [cf. Pliny the Elder, Natural History VII 24]; Crassus, surnamed the Rich [cos. 131 BC, was the commander in the war against Aristonicus of Pergamum, was defeated and was killed], when commanding in Asia had such a complete mastery of five different Greek dialects, that he would give judgement in the dialect employed by the plaintiff in putting forward his suit; Cyrus is believed to have known the name of every soldier in his army, [51] while Theodectes is actually said to have been able to repeat any number of verses after only a single hearing. I remember that it used to be alleged that there were persons still living who could do the same, though I never had the good fortune to be present at such a performance. Still, we shall do well to have faith in such miracles, if only that he who believes may also hope to achieve the like. (Loeb: H.E. Butler, 1922)
For Mithridates VI of Pontus as a polyglot, see: Aulus Gellius 17.17, Pliny the Elder 7.24.88-90 and 25.3.6-7, Valerius Maximus 8.7, and, for a claim to knowledge of fifty languages, Aurelius Victor '(AD 360)'. These references are from Adrienne Mayor, The Poison King:The Life and Legend of Mithradates, Rome's Deadliest Enemy (Princeton University Press: 2009) 254 and 408n. 36.
The reference to Aurelius Victor is probably de viribus illustribus 76.1 ('incerti auctoris'): Mithridates rex Ponti oriundus a septem Persis, magna ui animi et corporis, ut sexiuges equos regeret quinquaginta gentium ore loqueretur.
Xenophon Cyrus 5 is cited for Cyrus the Great's knowledge of the names of his officers and satraps. This must be Cyropedia 5.3.47.
OLD s.v. differentia -ae f. 2 b a different kind, quotes only this passage and explains '-as (i.e. dialects)'. Quintilian, Inst.IX.4.18 uses dialectos -i f. (OLD s.v. also cites Suet.Tib.56 and Maur.649 but no other instances): "As regards Herodotus, while his flow, in my opinion, is always gentle, his dialect has such a sweetness of its own that it even seems to contain a certain rhythmical power hidden within itself."
Terentianus Maurus (GL vi) line 649 reads: Aeolica dialectos autem mixta ferme est Italae. The context is a discussion of the digammon and ensuing Greek and Latin cognates.
Sunday, 27 April 2008
Harry 'Mithridates' Potter
Many obvious classical allusions in the Harry Potter novels stem from JK Rowling's undergraduate degree in Classics at the University of Exeter, causing classical intertexts to rub shoulders with the likes of The Worst Witch and the Narnia books. However, one of the most distinctive elements of the stories may not be original either.
'According to report, the Mithridates who made war against the Romans...was by far the greatest drinker among his contemporaries, and so was nicknamed Dionysus [which is unlikely to be the real reason]... Actually, when he was a baby, a bolt of lightning burned his swaddling-clothes, but did not touch his body, except for a trace of the fire which remained upon his forehead as a youth and was concealed by his hair.'
(Plutarch, Symposiaca 1.6.2, Loeb translation).
Plutarch goes on to say that as an adult, King Mithridates survived another lightning-bolt unharmed (except that the arrows in the quiver hanging over his head were charred). The people called him Dionysus, hinting that, like the god who survived incineration by lightning as a baby, Mithridates had been shown to be divine.
This explains why the scar on Harry Potter's head, caused by the survival of Voldemort's 'killing curse' when he was a baby, is in the shape of a bolt of lightning. Fans have not previously been able to explain this.
~Typhon
'According to report, the Mithridates who made war against the Romans...was by far the greatest drinker among his contemporaries, and so was nicknamed Dionysus [which is unlikely to be the real reason]... Actually, when he was a baby, a bolt of lightning burned his swaddling-clothes, but did not touch his body, except for a trace of the fire which remained upon his forehead as a youth and was concealed by his hair.'
(Plutarch, Symposiaca 1.6.2, Loeb translation).
Plutarch goes on to say that as an adult, King Mithridates survived another lightning-bolt unharmed (except that the arrows in the quiver hanging over his head were charred). The people called him Dionysus, hinting that, like the god who survived incineration by lightning as a baby, Mithridates had been shown to be divine.
This explains why the scar on Harry Potter's head, caused by the survival of Voldemort's 'killing curse' when he was a baby, is in the shape of a bolt of lightning. Fans have not previously been able to explain this.
~Typhon
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