5 .

T h e D a u g h t e r o f t h e O l d M a n o f t h e S e a

( A l c m a n , P M G F 1 D a v i e s

= f r . 3 C a l a m e , v v . 1 6 - 2 1 )

J a u m e P ò r t u l a s

( U n i v e r s i t a t d e B a r c e l o n a )

To Paco Cuartero

The objective of the following pages is quite modest. It is to revisit a passage

from the Louvre Partheneion which poses certain problems in the interpreta-tion of mythology. This passage is a much debated one, as almost all the passages of this famous composition. My purpose is to review some of the solutions that have been given to it over time. I would have liked to present personal and original solutions, but I’m afraid that this will not be the case. I believe, however, that I shall not entirely disappoint my friend Jordi Pàmias who, in inviting me to participate in this volume, said it would be good if I attempted to present the current state of certain issues, as a first step towards more effective solutions.

The passage in question is the following:1

] ] ] [ ] '

* This work is partially integrated into the Research Project FFI2009-13747. My friends Montserrat Reig, Xavier Riu (Universitat de Barcelona) and Jesús Carruesco (Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona) read a draft of this text and made useful comments, which I tried to take into account. Final responsibility is mine: they cannot be said to share all the views detailed hereafter.

1 PLouvre E 3320, col. I = Mertens & Pack3 78 = PMGF 1, vv. 16-21.

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] ... ] [ ]

]

If, to make the text more legible, we accept some of the exempli gratia sup-plements which have received more support among scholars, the recon-structed text would approximately read as follows:2

]

] ] [ ] '

] · ] [ ]

] · Most supplements are from Blass, except the of v. 21, pro-

posed by Page.3 Campbell, in the Loeb edition (1988), proposes the following translation:

Let no man fly to heaven or attempt to marry Aphrodite, the (Cyprian) queen, nor some… nor a daughter of Porcus (of the sea)… ; it is the Graces with love in their eyes who (frequent?) the house of Zeus.4

However, as this article does not focus on textual issues, we shall not evalu-ate these supplements, or the various alternatives which have been proposed. We shall limit ourselves to two points that could be important to our discus-sion: 1. the hypothetical reconstruction of v. 17; and 2. the supplement of v. 19.

1. THE RECONSTRUCTION OF V. 17 It should be pointed out, albeit quickly, that Gloria Ferrari, in her recent

monograph on the Partheneion, suggests a very different reconstruction of v. 17 (regarding the meaning, with only a minimal textual change) from the

2 This is the text printed, for example, by Campbell in his excellent anthology ([1967] 1982),

and in his edition of the Loeb Classical Library (1988). 3 In v. 18, another proposal of Page, instead of , also seems worth mentioning

(but see, contra, Cuartero 1972, 41, n. 57). 4 This is the version of Calame (1983, 270): “(Qu’aucun) parmi les hommes n’aspire au ciel,

(qu’aucun) ne tente d’épouser Aphrodite… la maîtresse ou quelque… ou un enfant de (Porcos)… les Charites… aux yeux qui inspirent l’amour… la maison de Zeus”. The version in verse by M. L. West (1993) is not devoid of charm: “Let no man seek to fly / to heaven, possess in love / fair Aphrodite, or the queen of gods / or some delicious nymph; / but sweet-eyed Graces of music may go in / to the hall of Zeus”.

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commonly accepted one. According to Ferrari, the gnomic passage does not warn against the temptation of wanting to marry Aphrodite, but rather against rejecting the sexual advances of the goddess. Consequently, Ferrari writes vv. 16-17 as follows:5

]

' ] Let no] mortal fly to the sky not flee from] marrying Aphrodite

In certain mythical tales, indeed, Aphrodite, offended and piqued by the

rejection of a mortal, can become a serious danger to the one who rejected her. Ferrari’s reading rests on the hypothesis, vigorously defended by her, that one of the myths which lies hidden in the lost passages of the Louvre papyrus is no other than that of Phaeton.6 However, despite my admiration for the work of Ferrari —a work which, as Podlecki says,7 “present(s) a coherent theory that will explain most if not all of the mysterious features of this marvellous, peculiar, literary artifact from archaic Sparta”— it must be said that the presence of the myth of Phaeton in the Partheneion is not demon-strated in any way; rather, it seems downright improbable.8 A reviewer of this book is quite right to say:9 “I doubt that many scholars will follow F[errari] and read the myth of Phaethon into this passage.”10 But it seemed appropriate to mention at the beginning Ferrari’s conjecture on v. 17, to underline that her general interpretation of the passage seems unacceptable. We shall stick to the usual interpretation, namely that the meaning of the is that, for all mortal beings, striving to marry Aphrodite or any other deity is a reckless action: a crime of hybris, as we might say, in a conventional manner.

5 Ferrari 2008, 66 ff.; 151 ff. and passim. 6 Ferrari 2008, 53-67 and passim. 7 Podlecki 2009. 8 Even in purely theorical terms, after the injunction not to pretend to “fly to heaven”, an

allusion to, for instance, Bellerophon or Ixion could be expected rather than to Phaethon. The (generic) parallels that Ferrari strives to build are as weak as unconvincing. Among the first reviewers of Ferrari’s book, Ladianou (2009, 527) merely mentions this hypothesis without any comment; Podlecki and Eckerman are skeptical. Only Humble (2010, 103-104) approves: “Much is necessarily conjecture here (Phaethon is not named) but the resources F. draws on to establish her reading of the text are legion […] F. argues that this cosmic setting further supports the suggestion that the myth of Phaethon […] is evident in the earlier lines”.

9 Eckerman 2011, 245. 10 Podlecki (2009) himself comments, regarding the hypothetical presence of the myth of

Phaeton in the text of Alcman: “when we find Ferrari trying to bolster her theory by citing mentions of the Pleiades and the swan singing on the streams of Okeanos in the parodos of Euripides’s Phaethon, a faint scent of special pleading begins to creep in”.

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2. THE SUPPLEMENT OF V. 19 To us, however, the most serious textual issue concerns the supplement

of v. 19. The difficulties surrounding this verse are well known. As reminded, for example, by Hutchinson, who synthesizes and resumes the remarks of many previous scholars, “the usual reading is not impos-sible, but unattractive as an account of the first three letters; the seems very dubious.”11 The comment by Calame already said more or less the same: “Les traces que portent le papyrus permettent à peine de restituer le communément admis par les interprètes du fr. ; cf. toutefois le test. VI.”12 Almost everyone acknowledges that, from a paleographic point of view, this supplement is rather unsatisfactory. The problem (even leaving aside the difficulty of finding any better solution) lies in the fact that it is strongly defended by the test. VI Calame, that is, the entry of the Lexicon of Hesychius, which reads as follows: .

.13 This information has not only been crucial to reconstitute and interpret this verse; in fact, it may very well refer specifically to it, although it cannot be excluded that other alcmanic passages may also refer to this mythical figure, roughly identifiable with the Panhellenic Nereus.

In other words, it seems advisable, at least for now, to keep the reading Porcus in v. 19, despite the already mentioned paleographic difficulties. Let us now explore a bit more the obscure figure of this sea god and his female descendants.

From the discussion of Page,14 complemented with Calame15 and Martin

West’ Commentary on Hesiod’s Theogony,16 it is clear that Porcus must have been an epichoric Laconian version of an important figure in ancient Greek mythology and religion —the Old Man of the Sea. A number of deities, not always distinct from each other, such as Proteus, Nereus, Phorcys, Glaucos, and perhaps even Triton, are different avatars of this figure.17 It was an object

11 Hutchinson 2001, 83. 12 Calame 1983, 319. 13 The same identification —Phorcos interpreted as Nereus— is to be found in the Scholia at

Lycophron’s Alexandra 477, p. 305 and 402 Leone (see Page 1951, 39, n. 12). 14 Page 1951, 38-42. 15 Calame 1977, 61-62. 16 West 1966, 232-235; 244. See also the note of Stephanie West in Heubeck; West; Hainsworth

1988, 215 (ad Od. 4.349). 17 See West 1966, 233: “Nereus is one of the names given to the ‘Old Man of the Sea’ [...] a

figure who is properly anonymous, and usually is so in cult”. On these figures of ‘Old Men of the Sea’ see, for example, Weicker (1910), Herzog-Hauser (1936), Lesky (1947, 139-151), Nilsson (1955, 240-244), Wilamowitz (1959, 219), Detienne ([1967] 1994, 71-95), Rudhardt (1981, 336-337), Carruesco (1995).

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of worship in Laconia, and it could very well be that this worship adopted a local and idiosyncratic dimension;18 but we have no way of finding out what these hypothetical local peculiarities may have been. In this regard, a passage of Pausanias, often quoted in connection with Alcman’s Partheneion,19 awakens our curiosity; but it only mentions the quickly, without any details:20

Him whom the people of Gythium name the ‘Old Man’ ( ), saying that he lives in the sea, I found ( ) to be Nereus. They got this name originally ( ) from Homer, from Thetis’ words in the Iliad:

Into the broad expanse, and into the bosom of ocean Plunge, to behold the old man of the sea and the home of your fa-ther.21

The Periegetes is describing the city of Gythium, ancient port and arsenal of

Sparta, on the coast of the Gulf of Laconia. In the immediately preceding sentence, he mentions among the treasures of the old city, a statue of Posei-don . The comment of Musti and Torelli ad locum says: “Di un certo interesse l’immagine di Nereo (il cui nome popolare di «Vecchio del Mare» è correttamente spiegato con il luogo omerico [...] sconosciuto a Sparta e raramente raffigurato in arte antica [...]; l’immagine, non sappiamo se scolpita o dipinta, doveva trovarsi nel santuario di Posidone che Pausania ricorda subito prima”.22

But then, who could Porcus’ daughter be? A possible answer, favoured by some scholars, would be that since Porcus can be identified, to a certain extent, with Nereus, Porcus’ daughter may simply be an avatar of the most famous of the Nereids —that is, Thetis, who also married a mortal, though not without conflict.23 But the objections to this view carry a lot of weight. Despite

18 See Page (1951, 40): “Laconian cults of sea-divinities are notoriously eccentric; Porcus and

his daughters in Alcman are not to be judged by ordinary standards”; Garzya 1954, 32: “Tutta la mitologia marina della Laconia è piuttosto autonoma dal resto della Grecia”. See especially Wide 1893, 226 ff.

19 For example by Page 1951, 39, n. 13; Garzya 1954, 32: Cuartero 1972, 42, n. 58; etc. 20 Paus. 3.21.9. 21 Cf. Hom. Il. 18.140-141. Translation by Lattimore 1951. 22 Cf. Musti & Torelli 1991, 266. 23 Herbet W. Smyth already tended to favour this option (see Smyth 1900, 178: “Is there a

reference to the marriage of Thetis and Peleus?”). In the same vein, Farina (1950, 17 ff.) and, especially, Marzullo (1964, 174-210, specially 183-184). Contra, Campbell 1982, 200: “Page argues most convincingly that Porcus was a primitive Laconian sea-god. Alcman cannot have equated him with Nereus, however, since Nereus’ daughter Thetis was notoriously the bride of a mortal. His reference to Porcus suggests that he did not hesitate to mention a deity who was either obscure or extremely provincial”. Calame (1977, 62) does not take sides: “…l’une

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the serious setbacks surrounding the of Thetis and Peleus, it seems surprising to picture precisely this myth as a warning against the temptation to marry a goddess; the tale would rather point in the opposite direction. As Cuartero wrote years ago, “en la historia de Tetis y Peleo no se ve que ninguna desgracia aqueje al cónyuge mortal en el mismo grado que a Pirítoo, Adonis, Atis o Hipólito”.24 To counter this objection, it is not enough to point to the choleric temper of Thetis (as discussed e. g. by Laura Slatkin),25 a temper that at times makes her look like Demeter herself. It could also be conjectured that the epichoric Laconian myths on Thetis might have been very different from those in mainstream circulation and that the mythical and religious features of the Nereid diverged much from her Panhellenic counterparts. This argu-ment, though not unlikely, remains very hazardous and conjectural.26 Such hypotheses may find some support in the explanations by Pausanias, about the sanctuary and the worship of Thetis in Sparta itself:27

The sanctuary of Thetis was set up, they say, for the following reason. The Spartans were making war against the Messenians, who had re-volted, and their king Anaxander, having invaded Messenia, took prison-ers certain women, and among them Cleo, priestess of Thetis. The wife of Anaxander, [Leandris], asked for this Cleo from her husband, and dis-covering that she had the wooden image ( ) of Thetis, she set up with her a temple for the goddess. Leandris did so because of a vision in a dream. The wooden image of Thetis is guarded in secret.

Musti and Torelli’s commentary ad locum clarifies that the connection to Messenia was probably invoked to explain the presence of a cult of Thetis in a place as far from the sea as the city of Sparta.28 Pausanias also mentions some

des Néréides, peut-être même Thétis qui était vénérée dans un sanctuaire à Sparte” (italics mine). For the sanctuary of Thetis at Sparta, see below.

24 Cuartero 1972, 42, n. 60. 25 See Slatkin 1991 passim, specially 85-105. I owe this remark to Montserrat Reig. Dr. Reig

pointed out to me that the connection between Thetis and the Exacters of Justice ( ) mentioned by Pausanias (3.22.2; see below) might refer to very archaic forms of justice, in a way which would not be inappropriate for the daughter of the Old Man of the Sea. There is also a small number of myths emphasizing the vindictive nature of the Nereids. We may recall e. g. their revenge against Andromeda in order to punish the hybris of her mother Kassiepeia (a story told by Eratosthenes’ Catasterismi from Sophocles’ Andromeda; see Pàmias 2004, 139, n. 142; 224, nn. 323-324).

26 It should be borne in mind (whatever the value of this remark may be) that in the cata-logues of the Nereids by both Homer (Il. 18.39-49) and Hesiod (Th. 240-264), several figures have compound names based on : Kalianassa, Lyssianassa, etc. This might be related to the to be read in the mutilated v. 18 of Alcman’s Partheneion.

27 Paus. 3.14.4-5. 28 Cf. Musti & Torelli 1991, 214. See Wide 1893, 223. In fact, as underlined by Musti and Torelli,

the cult of Thetis is not well documented in Messenia, its alleged place of origin. They also

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other Laconian cults in honour of Thetis and the Nereids, her sisters, but always in the coastal region. A few kilometers from the already mentioned city of Gythium, before the stone of Zeus Capotas (linked to the memory of the legend of Orestes), there is, according to the Periegetes, a small island called Cranae.29 People say that Paris and Helen had intercourse there for the first time after the abduction of Menelaus’ wife. Opposite to the island, on the coast of Laconia, stands the sanctuary of Aphrodite Migonitis ‘of the sexual union’, which would have been built by Paris himself, and the whole region is called Migonium. A little further,

When Menelaus had taken Ilium and had returned safe home eight years after the sack of Troy, he set up near the sanctuary of Migonitis an image of Thetis and the goddesses ‘Exacters of Justice’.

All these myths and (probable) cults are undoubtedly related to each other

in a way that requires a much deeper analysis —an analysis which should resume and update the old monograph of Wide on Laconian cults. But the presence and role of the goddess Thetis within this system seems mainly linked to her usual characterization as a sea goddess and, of course, to her deep involvement in the Trojan epic. The vicinity of Thetis and Aphrodite Migonitis in the same sacred place is obviously very remarkable, bearing in mind the warning of Alcman not to strive “to marry Aphrodite ... or Porcus’ daughter”. But the connection is rather tenuous, and so far all this reasoning does not bring us very far.

The same could certainly be said of the of the other holy place in honour of the Nereids on the coast of Laconia. According to Pausanias,30 this

was close to Cardamyle and commemorated that the Nereus’ daughters came out of the sea to meet Pyrrhus-Neoptolemus, the son of Achilles, when he headed for Sparta to marry Hermione, the daughter of Menelaus. Once more the sea and the characters of the Trojan epic are found together. But even if the legend of Thetis, in the archaic polis of Sparta, might have been very different from the Panhellenic version of the tale, it appears that our rather insufficient sources do not help much to clarify the enigmatic verses of the Partheneion. It may be worthwhile to explore other directions as well.31

mention, in rather favourable terms, the hypothesis of Ziehen (1929, 1492), that Thetis would simply be here a hypocoristic form of (Musti & Torelli 1991, 214). A mystery cult of Thetis is not so frequent, but Pausanias’ fascination for this kind of religious forms is well known.

29 Paus. 3.22.1. 30 Paus. 3.26.7. 31 We shall not explore, however, the hypothesis, sometimes pointed out (see e. g. Page 1951,

40), that Porcus’ daughter can be identified with the Nereid Psamathe —the only daughter of

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It has also sometimes been attempted to identify the daughter of Porcus with a Siren. Calame writes: “Si au contraire on voit dans une forme dialectale laconienne de , la fille de Phorcys pourra être identifiée avec l’une des Sirènes, peut-être avec l’une de celles qui sont mentionnées dans le même poème au v. 96”.32 And he adds, in a note:33 “Si la première solution est plus probable que la seconde, on notera cependant que les v. 96ss. […] pour-raient constituer un rappel de la morale exprimée ici”.34 Indeed, as pointed out by Calame, this identification is as exciting as it is difficult to substantiate. This does not mean that the identification of Porcus’ daughter with a Siren cannot be documented, at least to some extent. In a fragment of Sophocles,35 also quoted by Calame, Odysseus —and who could know better than him?— states that both Sirens were daughters of Phorcos.36 The text of Sophocles is quoted by Plutarch,37 when discussing the role given to the Sirens by Plato, in the eschatological myth at the end of the Republic:38

Nereus, together with Thetis and Amphitrite, who had offspring. Cuartero (1972, 42, n. 60) mentions this possibility, but calls it “more unlikely”. Psamathe was the lover of Aeacus and gave birth to a son, Phocus; the legitimate Aeacidae, Peleus and Telamon, probably induced by their mother, killed their stepbrother during an athletic contest. Due to this crime, Aeacus banished them from Aegina. The story appeared in Hesiod (Th. 260, 1004; see West 1966, 241; 431-432); in the Alkmaionis (fr. 1 Bernabé); in Pindar (N. 5.12 ff.; Schol. Pi. N. 5.25 Drachmann); in Euripides (Andr. 687; Hel. 6 ff.) etc. It is obvious that the love of Aeacus and Psamathe had a disastrous outcome; but it seems that the nature of this tale (a rather obscure one) doesn’t support appropriately the of the vv. 16-17 of the Partheneion. We shall explore neither the Hesiodic descent of Phorcys nor of other figures who, to put it with the ironic words of Garzya (1954, 32) “allontanano da sé gli… ammiratori senza bisogno di avvertimenti di poeta” (See, in the same vein, Page 1951, 39).

32 Calame 1977, 62. 33 Calame 1977, 62, n. 33. 34 Both passages contain an admonition against . See Calame (1977, 82): “Ces vers [sc. 96

ff.] font donc intervenir le précepte éthique exposé aux v. 16ss.: la chorège […] semble s’envoler vers le ciel, mais elle reste une mortelle, il serait dangereux de la comparer à une divinité”. It needs to be remembered, however, that both passages are not identical: the second one is about poetic performance; in the first one, the context is erotic and focuses on the (dangerous) desire to marry a goddess.

35 S. fr. 861 Radt. 36 Burkert (1972, 364, n. 74) notes that “there may be some significance in the fact that

Homer (Od. 12.52, 167) speaks unmistakably of two Sirens”. In our passage, Sophocles sticks to the Homeric tradition. But not always: in fragment 852 Radt, the tragedian of Colonus talks of only one Siren (as in Alcman fr. PMGF 30 = fr. 86 Calame). See below, n. 48.

37 Plu. 745f [Quaestiones conuiuales 9.14]. 38 The passage of Plato (R. 617b-c) is discussed, in connection with the Siren of Alcman, by

West (1967) and also by Ferrari (2008, 6-7; 97-100). The note of Leroux (2002, 728-729, n. 78) on the passage of the Republic reads as follows: “Figures poétiques, perchées sur le rebord des sphères, elles produisent la musique des sphères, laquelle correspond dans le système pythagoricien aux notes de l’heptacorde. Ce thème est devenu classique dans la tradition cosmologique, et en particulier dans le platonisme…”. About Sirens in the Pythagorean traditions, see e. g. Burkert (1972, 170; 187; 351; 364) and also Buschor 1944.

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... ‘ ’ , < >

‘ , .’

But Plato seems to me […] to have named the Muses Sirens, as delivering divine things and speaking to the people below, as Ulysses in Sophocles says of the Sirens:39

I came to the Sirens, daughters of Phorcus, singing the songs of Hades.40

Note how one of the interlocutors of Plutarch’s dialogue, in order to link as

closely as possible the Muses and the Sirens, attempts this strange etymologi-cal game —needless to say, devoid of any serious linguistic basis— ‘Siren’ <

. The final part of this article will discuss briefly the three following issues: 1.

the Sirens (or Siren in singular) as a source of poetic inspiration; 2. The tale of a competition between Muses and Sirens; 3. The possible relationship —as pointed out by Calame— within the Louvre Partheneion, between the mention of the and the of v. 96.

Regarding the first issue, it is noteworthy that, in an isolated verse of Alcman (PMGF 30 = 86 Calame), the Siren (here in singular) is mentioned in the following terms: ' (“the Muse has raised her voice, the clear voiced Siren”). The proper understanding of this verse largely depends on the words with which its source —namely, the orator Aelius Aristides in his oration Concerning a Remark in Passing— introduces and com-ments on it. The passage of Aristides reads as follows:41

And you also have read where the Laconian poet says in respect to him-self and his chorus, “the Muse cries out, that clear-voiced Siren”42 [...] Add that, although the poet begged the Muse in the beginning, that he might be made active by her inspiration ( ' ' ), he next, as if in ecstasy, says that the chorus by itself has made this song its source of inspiration (

).

39 Plutarch quotes in indirect style; naturally, the editors of Sophocles restore the direct

style. It has been attempted to attribute these verses to the Odysseus Wounded by the Spine (Welcker) or to the Phaeacians (Brunck).

40 Translation by Lloyd-Jones 1996. 41 Aristid. Or. 28.51 Keil. Translation by Behr 1981. 42 Translation by Campbell 1988.

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The commentary by De Martino and Vox paraphrases it all in rather appro-

priate terms:43 “Dopo l’invocazione alla Musa, come spiega la fonte del fr. 30, progressivamente il coro si fa portavoce della divinità, si finge, con un tipico transfert, identico ad essa; il momento di trapasso in questo caso è come segnalato da una didascalia, in cui viene sorprendentemente enunciata l’identità canora fra Muse e Sirene”.44 This relationship between the Sirens and poetic inspiration (thus somehow in competition with the common task of the Muses) can be documented by a sentence of Pausanias:45

. Pausanias says this when mentioning the death of the poet Sophocles at the end of the Peloponnesian War. The Spartan general who besieged Athens was visited in dreams by Dionysus, who ordered him not to hinder the funeral honours due to the ‘New Siren’ ( ), i.e. Sophocles.46 Even the identification between Muse and Siren is not nearly as unusual as it might seem at first. We find it in a fragment of iambic trimeter quoted by Plutarch: .47 Plutarch is explaining that “wailing cries” are “the one Muse and Siren” for busybodies (the ) —“this is the sweetest music to their ears.” The old man of Chaeronea uses these words as if they were a proverbial phrase; and Wilamowitz thought to have rediscovered here a lost fragment of Sophocles.48

This tendency to bring together, to almost identify, in certain cases, Muses and Sirens, may be thought to be in sheer contrast with other mythical episodes of rough conflict ( ) between them. But this would be to ignore the logic of myth, where these are rather two sides of the same coin. Indeed, Pausanias, in another passage, writes about a direct confrontation between Muses and Sirens:49

A little lower down, is a sanctuary of Hera with an ancient image, the work of Pythodorus of Thebes; in her hand she carries Sirens. For the

43 De Martino & Vox 1996, 172. 44 Calame (1983, 467) expressed it in similar terms: “Au début de la récitation du poème, c’est

elle [la Muse, sc.] qui est active à travers la bouche du compositeur ; le départ donné, les choreutes se substituent ensuite à la Muse”. See also Garzya 1954, 86: “il poeta prendeva spunto dall’aver la Musa fatto eco alla sua invocazione per lodar le fanciulle del coro, che della Musa erano state strumento”.

45 Paus. 1.21.1. 46 The commentators of Pausanias (see e. g. Musti & Beschi 1982, 336) tend to point out that

“l’aneddoto è sorto della probabile presenza sulla stele di una Sirena, secondo consuetudini figurative già vive dalla fine del quinto secolo a.C.”.

47 Plu. 518c [= De curiositate 6] 48 S. fr. 852 Radt = adesp. 387 Nauck2. For the whole question, see Radt 1977, 558. 49 Paus. 9.34.3.

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story goes that the daughters of Achelous [sc. the Sirens] were persuaded by Hera to compete with the Muses in singing. The Muses won, plucked out the Sirens’ feathers (so they say) and made crowns for themselves out of them.

This tale has left a series of echoes, more or less muffled, in certain passages

of Greek literature. In a letter (very probably apocryphal) attributed to Emperor Julian, the author, after mentioning other opponents of Apollo and the Muses (Marsyas, Thamyris…), rhetorically wonders:50 “And should I mention the Sirens? Their feathers still adorn the front of their victors”.51 The most complete version of the tale (certainly enriched with late additions) is to be found in Stephen of Byzantium (s. u. ):

City of Crete which is so named because of the competition between the Muses and the Sirens, which took place there, in a place of the Muses be-tween the city and the sea. After the victory of the Muses, the Sirens took it badly: they pulled their wings off their shoulders, turned white and rushed into the sea. This is why the city is called Aptera (= 'without wings') and the neighbouring islands the ‘White Island’ ( ).

Some scholars, such as Pollard, believe that these tales are irrelevant to

understand the figures and the role of the archaic Sirens.52 Calame,53 instead, quotes in favourable terms the classic monograph of Ronald F. Willetts on the Cretan cults and festivals, where it is argued that “that ‘wingless’ conception seems to lie at the root of the myth of the contest between the Sirens and the Muses which was supposed to have taken place at Aptera […] The myth in its literary form may be late, but it is unwise to dismiss its connexion with Aptera as “due to a mistaken etymology”, for the content betrays some familiar archaic features”.54

3. CONCLUSIONS Let us recapitulate. This article has presented two lines of identification for

the daughter of the Old Man of the Sea: a Nereid —Thetis herself?— or a Siren. None of them prevails with definitive and incontrovertible arguments. It has been shown that cults and temples associated with Thetis and/or the Nereids were to be found (quite expectedly) in coastal regions —with the exception of

50 Iul. Ep. 41 Hertlein [420D]. 51 See also the Schol. Lyc. 653: < > < >

(“Nightingales with feet of harpies: the Sirens, because of their melodious voice”). 52 Pollard 1952. 53 Calame 1977, 80, n. 66. 54 Willetts 1962, 189.

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the sanctuary of Thetis mentioned by Pausanias (3.14.4-5), which can be attributed to Messenian influences. A Nereid seems to fit better than a Siren with the gnomic exhortation of vv. 16 ff. that humans should not aspire to marry any deity, because we know of no episode involving Sirens which might have given rise to such an exhortation. But we have been unable to find any really fitting mythical exemplum involving a Nereid —except for the wedding of Thetis, which is very far from providing a truly adequate example (see above, n. 24). It seems doubtful whether much progress can be done, for now, in this area. The daughter of Porcus belongs to the epichoric Laconian my-thology, with strong idiosyncratic features which differentiate her from Panhellenic myths. This field, inevitably, is poorly known. On the other hand, the information on the Sirens gives us a hint about their role as deities of poetic and musical inspiration, and may allude to a context of conflict —or, alternatively, identification— with the main deities of song, the Muses.

We have also seen that Calame wanted to find “un rappel de la morale exprimée ici” in vv. 96 ff. of the Partheneion:

[ ] [ ,55

, [ ' [ ' ]

The Sirens can be deities of competitive poetry; and, in this passage, the

echo of some kind of poetic competition has often been traced. A remark of West can help us to apprehend these verses properly: “The Sirens are not the remote Lorelei-figures of Argonautic and Odyssean legend; implies forces active on the world of here and now, and fr. 30 ' shows that for Alcman they are alternatives to the Muses”.56 Perhaps another detail can still be added. The erotic connotations surrounding the Sirens fit particularly well with the erotized atmosphere of the Partheneion of Alcman.57

55 There is a lot to be said in favour of the supplement by Peter von der Mühll (1958),

defended by West (1967, 11), and also Ferrari (2008, 98, n. 76): [ . The translation by West (1993, 32-33) reads so: “The Sirens’ tone indeed / is music more than ours; / they are divine, and not eleven girls / but ten sing in this choir…”.

56 West 1965, 200. 57 About Sirens and eroticism, see, for instance, a revealing passage of Vermeule 1979, 203-

204: “The famous Siren Vase in London […] has on the reverse the three figures often called Erotes flying over seas […] These boys are not just the Erotes , love coming across the waves [...] but smug young winged Athenians.” However, it is undeniable that the connection of Aphrodite with the Nereids is much stronger than with the Sirens (Jesús Carruesco reminds me of the parallel of Sappho, fr. 5 Voigt: …).

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There is no way to determine, at least in the present stage of our know-ledge, to what extent the competitive nature of the Sirens was important for a better understanding of these verses, and of the whole Louvre Partheneion in general —as it is needless to say that most scholars believe that the per-formance of Hagesichora, Agido and their companions also had, in one way or another, a clear competitive nature. This does not suffice to say that, from all the identifications suggested for the female figure of v. 19, that of the Siren is more plausible than the others. This hypothesis (for which I have a hesitant and partially subjective preference) seems to be as strong —or perhaps, as weak— as the traditionally proposed identification with a Nereid. Going any further would certainly be unwise.

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