P.Oxy. 4711 (from a papyrus codex of the sixth century AD) contains elegiacs with at least three metamorphosis myths (Adonis, Asterie, Narcisssus). In this article I argue against the suggestion by (among others) the first editor of this papyrus that the verses might be by Parthenius. I do so by examining the evidence for Parthenian authorship (especially the presumed imitations by Ovid and Gregory of Nazianzus) and by comparing the style of the new piece with what we actually possess of Parthenian poetry (especially with fr. 28 Lightfoot, which might come from the Metamorphoseis). Instead I suggest a late date of composition and would regard the fragments as a collection of the-matically arranged διηέματα in verse which are related to the production of progymnasmata in schools.

Although we are fairly well informed about the general organization and important events of the dramatic competitions in Athens, there remain significant gaps in our knowledge on many points of detail. In no place is this more true than with regard to the epinikian celebration honouring members of the victorious performance, about which scarcely any unambiguous testimony has come down to us. This study aims to provide new insights into the problem by demonstrating a connection between the iconography preserved in several sculpted reliefs of the Roman period commonly referred to as Dionysos' visit to Ikarios and the representation of a celebration for poetic victory in Plato's Symposium. Central to the combined testimony of these sources is the ideal of Dionysos’ epiphany to the poet in order to acknowledge and honour his victory in person. So identified as an element of victory celebration, related articulations of this imagined moment can then be detected in several additional representations on vases and in Aristophanic comedy, in both of which other independent elements likewise suggest the activation of an epinikian syntax. Practical matters about the celebration still elude us; what we gain, however, is a clearer sense of the religious ideals that were conveyed through these celebrations in connection with the worship of Dionysos, which formed a nucleus for the dramatic festivals.

A large number of the most informative fragments of the Hellenistic Greek historians are transmitted by Athenaeus. Unlike the frequently jejune evidence provided by scholiasts, lexicographers and the like, these texts allow us to draw historiographical conclusions about lost writers: on this basis, scholars have posited, for example, the place of a given author in the Hellenistic ‘schools’ of history. The importance of Athenaeus as a source for history-writing between Xenophon and Diodorus calls for detailed study of the Deipnosophist's method of citing these lost authors. The present article focuses on Athenaeus' testimony concerning the downfall of Archaic Sybaris through luxury and excess in order to show that certain phrases, sentence patterns and even trains of thought can be reliably identified as belonging to Athenaeus rather than the cited authority. This discovery entails surprising results: traditions ascribing the destruction of Sybaris to morally corrosive luxury are late and of little historical value. More generally, the debilitating effects of luxury cannot serve as an exemplum supporting the claim that Hellenistic writers tended to explain historical events through moral causes; apparent evidence for this causal nexus is better assigned to Athenaeus than to the historians he names. In view of these conclusions, a cautious reassessment of all Athenaeus’ testimony on fragmentary historians is appropriate.

Following the lead of Walter Burkert, scholars have believed that the ancient Greeks required that sacrificial animals assent to being killed, or at least appear to assent. The literary evidence for this view, however, is weak, being confined mostly to dramatic scholia and Pythagorean sources, and ample visual evidence suggests an alternate view: the Greeks required that sacrificial animals make some display of vitality that would show that they were fit to present to a god. The Greek practice of inspecting sacrificial animals supports this alternate view.

This article presents a comprehensive study of the offence of trauma ek pronoias(intentional wounding) in Athenian law. Part I catalogues every occurrence of the words τραùμα and τιρώσκω in the Attic orators and concludes that the requisite physical element of trauma ek pronoias was the use of a weapon. Part II analyses all attested trauma lawsuits and concludes that the requisite mental element of the offence was a bare intent to wound. Part III addresses the procedural evidence for trauma ek pronoias and concludes that the action for trauma was a graphê, not a dikê. Two appendices discuss the use of the terms trauma and pronoia in Plato's Laws and Aristotle's Rhetoric (Appendix A) and a reference to trauma ek pronoias in Lucian's Timon (Appendix B).

The Old Academy developed in an unplanned fashion and, as its structure evolved, changes in leadership and institutional culture were mirrored by shifting Academic historical traditions. As the Old Academy became an institution that presented a systematized philosophy, its leadership placed increased emphasis upon traditions about Plato and other Academic leaders that illustrated the power and practical application of this Academic teaching. This suggests a conscious attempt by the scholarchs of the Old Academy to craft a distinctive institutional identity centred as much upon the character and exemplary lifestyle of its leadership as upon its specific doctrinal teaching.

The chorus' depiction of Ares as a ‘gold-changer of bodies’ and trader in precious metals underscores the increased intersection of finances and war in fifth-century Athens. The metaphor's details point to three contemporary developments (in addition to the patrios nomos allusion noted by Fraenkel): the increased conscription of citizens, the institution of pay for military service, and the payment of financial support for war orphans. And as leader of the Delian League, Athens itself resembled the war-god, establishing equivalents between men and money, and profiting from its acceptance of tribute payments in a variety of currencies. Taken together, the metaphor's contemporary dimensions probably had an unsettling effect on the Athenian audience.

This article argues against the traditional dating of the attack of Prusias I of Bithynia on Heraclea Pontica to the 190s, that is to the time before the Apamean settlement (188). The following re-examination of the only surviving literary source to refer directly to this event (Photius’ excerpts of the history of Heraclea Pontica by Memnon), together with relevant information from several other literary and inscriptional texts, allows us to connect the attack of Prusias with the war between the Bithynian and Pergamene kingdoms, which would then be dated to c. 184–183. The other major conclusion presented is that this war had no direct relation to the outcome of the Apamean settlement, as has been the majority opinion.

This article argues that the Homeric scholia preserve the title of a lost monograph by the second-century BC Alexandrian scholar Aristarchus on the date of Hesiod's life. Apparent references to the contents of this monograph occur in the Homeric as well as the Hesiodic scholia, and demonstrate that Aristarchus compared the works of the two poets and concluded that Hesiod had lived sometime near 700 BC.

Although he was one of the most famous musicians of Classical antiquity, the pipe-player (auletes) Pronomos of Thebes has never attracted serious scholarly attention in his own right. This contribution seeks to address this neglect by attempting to establish a basic chronological framework for his life. In doing so, it introduces a new item of evidence, the inscribed funerary monument of one Potamon of Thebes, a contemporary and colleague of Pronomos in the art of auletike. A close relationship is shown to exist between the epigram on this funerary monument, found in Athens, and that which accompanied the statue on the Theban akropolis, erected in honour of Pronomos.