Neven Jovanović (University of Zagreb) has written some notes for working with the XML edition of Athenaeus’ Deipnosophistae:
Practical problems with Athenaeus’ names.
This document has been prepared for the Athenaeus Hackathon held at the University of Leipzig on October 10-12, 2012.
The main issues are:
- Placeholders for names such as “alpha” (Α) and “beta” (Β), that are used to refer to unnamed speakers in fragments of tragedy and comedy quoted by Athenaeus. E.g., Ath., Deipn. 6.3 (= 6.223e-224b).
- Nicknames which are part of a person’s name, interspersed with articles. E.g., Ath., Deipn. 1.8 (1.5b): Ἀρτεμίδωρος ὁ Ψευδαριστοφάνειος (Artemidorus, who is falsely identified as a student of Aristophanes). Cf. Ath., Deipn. 4.80 (4.182d), where the same author is said ὁ Ἀριστοφάνειος.
- Name + ethnic + work. E.g., Ath., Deipn. 1.8 (1.5b): τοῦ Φιλοξένου δὲ τοῦ Λευκαδίου Δείπνου Πλάτων ὁ κωμῳδιοποιὸς μέμνηται (…) (the comic poet Plato mentions the Dinner Party of Philoxenus of Leucas).
- Titles and descriptions of ancient works:
- Titles that are difficult to be identified: e.g., Ath., Deipn. 3.7 (3.75b): Φερεκράτης ἐν Κραπατάλλοις (in Greek κραπαταλλός is the name of a worthless kind of fish).
- Different titles of the same work: e.g., Ath., Deipn. 3.64 (3.104d): Ἄλεξις μὲν οὖν αὐτὸν ἐν Δορκίδι ἢ Ποππυζούσῃ (…) (Alexis in fact reports in Dorcis or The Girl who Popped Her Lips).
- Not proper titles, but descriptions of the content: e.g., Ath., Deipn. 6.16 (6.229e): Ἡλιόδωρος ὁ Ἀθηναῖος ἐν τοῖς περὶ ἀκροπόλεως — πεντεκαίδεκα δ᾽ ἐστὶ ταῦτα βιβλία (…) (Heliodorus of Athens in his (books) on the Acropolis — the work consists of 15 books). This example is interesting because Athenaeus preserves also the number of books of the work written by Heliodorus.
- Titles that correspond to place names: e.g., Ath., Deipn. 3.73 (3.108f) Δημήτριος ὁ κωμῳδιοποιὸς ἐν τῷ ἐπιγραφομένῳ δράματι Σικελίᾳ (the comic poet Demetrius in his play entitled Sicily).
- Titles that correspond to person names: e.g., Ath., Deipn. 4.59 (4.165b): Φρύνιχος ὁ κωμῳδιοποιὸς ἐν τῷ Ἐφιάλτῃ (the comic poet Phrynichus in Ephialtes).
- Unnamed works: e.g., Ath., Deipn. 1.4 (1.2d): τὰ Πινδάρου (Pindar’s poems).
