Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Epikouros and epikouroi in early Greek literature and history Lavelle, Brian M Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies; Fall 1997; 38, 3; ProQuest pg. 229 Epikouros and epikouroi in Early Greek Literature and History Brian M. Lavelle ON APPEARANCES, one might simply assume that the Greek word E1tilcou poe; (" ally," or perhaps more precisely, "fighter alongside") was an early elaboration of KOUpOe; (i.e., KOpOe;. "male youth").1 Both words describe younger males, ko-wo (korwos) and e-pi-ko-wo are to be read upon Linear B tablets, and the hostile sense of E1tl might be taken readily to explain how the prefix transforms its root into a mili­ tary term. 2 Moreover, KOUPTln:e; (Dor. KroPllU:e;. "young war­ riors"), whose ritual connotations suggest that it was also of great age and which Homer uses to describe some warriors in the Iliad, might be reckoned a link between the two. 3 In fact, 1 On \Copoc;/1(Qupo~ see A. Vanicek, Griechisch-Lateinisches Etymologisches Worterbuch II (Leipzig 1877) 1082f; E. Boisacq, Dictionnaire itymologique de la langue grecque 4 (Heidelberg 1950) 497; P. Chant raine, Dictionnaire itymologique de la langue grecque: Histoire des mots, I (Paris 1968) 567; H. Frisk, Griechisches etymologisches Worterbuch I (Heidelberg 1960) 920f S.v. \coPT\; on bcitrou~ see Vanicek 1083; Boisacq 266; Chantraine 359; Frisk 537f; cf M. Negri, "'Eltl\cOUPO~," RendIstLomb 111 (1977) 228-36; and n.8 infra; cf also nn.2-3 infra. 2 On Linear B instances of koros (kouros) and epikouros see J. Chadwick and L. Baumbach, "The Myceanean Greek Vocabulary," Glotta 41 (1963) 192, 211; cf H. Miihlestein, Die oka- Tafeln von Pylos. Ein mykenischer Schiffskatalog? (Basel 1956) 35 n.3; L. Deroy, "Une nouvelle interpn!tation des tablettes 'oka' de Pylos," in A. Bartonek, ed., Studia Mycenaea. Proceedings of the Mycenaean Symposium, Brno, April 1966 (Bmo 1968) 96; on the hostile sense of Eltl, e.g. Il. 5.590; cf LSJ S.v. Eltl C.4; H. W. Smyth, Greek Grammar (Cambridge [Mass.] 1920) 379 (1689.3.d); on o-pi/ e-pi cf Miihlestein; A. Uchitel, ·On the 'Military' Character of the o-ka Tablets," Kadmos 23 (1984) 137 with n.11; cf also n.10 infra. 3 \COUPll'tE~ in Homer: Il. 19.193, 248 (here synonymous with kouroi ?); cf H. Ebeling, Lexicon Homericum I (Leipzig 1885) 875f; M. W. Edwards, The lliad:A Commentary, V: Books 17-20 (Cambridge 1991) 257: "the word is no doubt much older than Homer ... it is not just a lengthened version of the formula \cOUpOl 'AXmwv (7 x fl., 2 x Od.), but retains the specific sense of 'young men' "; and B. HAINSWORTH, The Iliad: A Commentary III: Books 9- 229 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 230 EPIKOUROS AND EPIKOUROI however, connections between KOUPOt; and E7ttKOUpOt; break down from here, with a resulting confusion in interpreting sig­ nificant passages in Greek literature. By way of clarifying the problem, we shall discuss examples of specific usage of epi­ kouros in Homer, Archilochus, and Herodotus, ending with some general conclusions and speculations. I The earliest usages of epikouros in Greek literature are found in the Iliad, where the word's connotation is quite distinct from either that of kouros or kouretes. 4 Epikouros in Homer has really nothing to do with age-designation nor does it possess 12 (Cambridge 1993: hereafter 'Hainsworth') 132f: "As a common noun with proparoxytone accent, l(OUPEU<;. the word means simply 'young warriors'''). The KOUPllU<; are mentioned as a tribe of earlier generation Achaean warriors by Phoenix (/l. 9.529ff): these once inhabited the land around Pleuron but were ejected by the Aetolians: Strab. 10.3.6; see also R. Merkelbach and M. West, Fragmenta Hesiodea (Oxford 1967) 60; Hainsworth 132; H. VAN WEES, Status Warriors (Amsterdam 1992: 'van Wees') 192f. Cretan kouretes were especially associated with Zeus as armed attendants: cf Hes. fro 123 (=Strab. 10.3.19; Merkelbach and West 60); Eur. Bacch. 120, fro 472.14; on the "Hymn of the Kouretes," in which Zeus is addressed as "greatest kouros" repeatedly: see J. U. Powell, Collectanea Alexandrina (Oxford 1925) 160f; E. Diehl, An­ thologia Lyrica Craeca II (Leipzig 1925) 279ff; Callim. lO'lJ. 52ff; cf G. R. McLennan, Calli mach us, Hymn to Zeus (Rome 1977) 86; Strab. 10.3.7f, 11; Apollod. BibL 1.5; cf Vanicek (supra n.1) 1082; Chantraine (supra n.1) 567; on Cretan kouretes see W. Burkert, Creek Religion, tr. J. Raffan (Cambridge [Mass.] 1985) 102, 127,261£, although we may dissent from his inference (261£) that the kouretes of Crete are by their name "just the young warriors"; cf n.15 infra. Anatolian kouretes were attendants or helpers of Artemis and Apollo on Mt Solmissos near Ephesus, a special place of assembly for them (Strab. 14.1.20; SIC 353.1; cf Burkert 173). These connections are of interest as the Anatolian kouretes protected the newborn offspring of Leto from the evil intent of another god (scil. Hera) in the same way that the Cretan ones protected Zeus from Kronos (Strab. 10.3.11); cf n.15 infra. On kouroi and kouretes see H. Jeanmaire, Couroi et couretes (Lille 1939); cf. also D. FOURGOUS, "L'invention des armes en Grece ancienne," AnnPisa 3, 6.4 (1976: 'Fourgous') 1129ff. 4 Epikouros: Il. 2.130, 803, 815; 3.188, 451, 456; 4.379; 5.473, 477f, 491; 6.111, 227; 7.348, 368, 477; 8.497; 9.233; 10.420; 11.220,564; 12.61,101. 108; 13.755; 16.538; 17.14,212,220,335,362; 18.229; 21.431; cf 5.614. The word does not appear in the Odyssey. Cf Ebeling (supra n.3) 456; see also n.5 infra; on kouros in Homer see Ebeling 878f; see also n.12 infra. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. BRIAN M. LAVELLE 231 any of the tribal or ritual connotations associated with kouretes. 5 Rather, in the Iliad, epikouroi are, for the most part, mature males: seasoned warriors who fight for others as their allies; they are thus neither "youths," "youthful fighters," nor "armed youths who act as servant-protectors for Zeus or other gods." "Fighter for pay," epikouros' other Classical Greek connota­ tion, is not altogether out of line with Homer's usage, but is an even farther cry from the basic meaning of kouros. Conse­ quently, we assume that no later than Homer-and perhaps much earlier-epikouros had already developed its distinctive, more restricted military sense of a "fighting ally."6 The mean­ ings of kouros and epikouros thus seem to diverge substantially early on. In fact, some attempts to etymologize epikouros have alto­ gether abandoned linking it to kouros (=*KoPF-o-c;) and its commonly assumed Indo-European root *ker (e.g. Latin cres­ cere).? Solmsen, for example, suggested that the root of bd.­ KOUp0C; was really ~'krs-o (=*-KOPcr-O-c;; e.g. Latin currere) and that epikouros' originOal meaning was therefore Zulau/er. 8 Ven­ tris, Chadwick, and Baumbach, on the other hand, linked My­ cenaean e-pi-ko-wo to Greek KOEtV, making those famously dis­ patched from Pylos to the coast near the end of the Bronze Age 5 Cf Hesch. S.'tI. btiKO\lp<><;; H. ERBSE, Scholia Graeca in Homerum (Berlin 1969: hereafter 'Erbse') 208; Edwards (supra n.3); cf n.15 infra, however, on Sarpedon and Zeus. 6 Cf Chantraine (supra n.1) 359; Deroy (above n.2); and M. BETIALLl. I mer­ cenari nel mondo greco (Pis a 1995: hereafter 'Bettalli') 39f. Deroy proposed that the e-pi-ko-wo of the Pylian o-ka Tablets (An 657, etc.; cf M. Ventris and J. Chadwick, Documents in Mycenaean Greek [Cambridge 1956] 184ff; T. Palaima, The Scribes of Py/m [Rome 1988] 47f) were military allies or auxil­ iaries (cf Negri [n.10 infra], who more thoroughly studied the word; cf also Miihlestein [supra n.2]). Although that proposal rests upon little more than anachronism of epikouros' meaning from the Iliad, it would seem superior to the less philologically grounded suggestions of Ventris, Chadwick, and Baum­ bach (n.9 infra) and the surmise of Uchitel (n.10 infra). Cf also n.65 infra. 7 Cf Frisk (supra n.1) 538; Chantraine (supra n.1) 359. See also n.8 infra. B F. Solmsen, " Etymologien. 1. Gr. btl1coupo~,» ZfVergleichSprachforsch 30 (1890) 600f; cf P. Kretschmer, " Literaturbericht fiir das Jahr 1911," Glotta 5 (1913) 264; E. Kretschmer, "Beitrage zur Wortgeographie der altgriechischen Dialekte," Glotta 5 (1913) 99; Boisacq (supra n.l) 266; cf Chantraine (supra n.l) 359. On :+ qU;[5o see further H. Hiibschmann, "Echtarmenische Worter," Armenische Grammatik I: Armenische Etymologie (Leipzig 1897) 458; F. Froehde, "Zur lateinsichen Lautlehre," BeitrKundelndogermSprach 14 (1901) 105. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 232 EPIKOUROS AND EPIKOUROI "watchers" rather than "reinforcements." 9 Miihlestein, Deroy, and Negri, however, rejected such etymologies, proposing instead that Mycenaean e-pi-ko-wo connoted essentially the same thing as Homeric epikouros-in Deroy's words, "l'homme de renfort, l'auxiliare qui accrolt l'effectif."10 What­ ever validity we attach to such etymologies, most scholars seem to agree that kouros and epikouros possessed rather distinct meanings even in Mycenaean Greek. To proceed further, we must return to Homer, whose usage of epikouros could be rooted in the Bronze Age. Homer em­ ploys epikouros in the Iliad invariably to mean "ally" (i.e., "figh­ ter alongside"). He does not use the word for "youth" or "youthful fighter" nor, in fact, does he ever use it to mean "mer­ cenary" or "fighter for pay." This consistency supports the no­ tion that something like "fighter alongside" was in fact the basic sense of the word. There are further reasons to believe that it was. t1 Forms of epikouros are used most often in the Iliad for the non-Greek fighting allies of the Trojans, in particular, the Lycians of southwestern Anatolia, their most important sup­ porters. 12 The Lycians, who have come from afar to fight the 9 Ventris and Chadwick (supra n.6) 188f ad An 657: "(e-pi-ko-wo) will mean 'watchers, lookouts'. Not=otl1(()\)pm 'allies'''; 392: "E1th:o'\Jpo~ 'ally' is probably excluded, *epikorsos, not *epikorwos. "Cf Chadwick and Baum­ bach (supra n.2); L. R. Palmer, Mycenaean Greek Documents (Oxford 1963) 149ff. Cf, however, n.65 infra. 10 Cf Miihlestein (supra n.2): "'Hilfstruppen (von auswarts)'" (cf IL 5.478); Deroy (supra n.2); and Negri (supra n.l) 236: "'il combattente insieme'." Contra Negri (235), kouroi is not synonymous with "warriors": see supra text. For Uchitel (supra n.2: 137), "o-9i-ko-wo means 'those in charge of boys,' hence 'foremen.' E-pi-ko-wo may easily be the phonetic variant of the word." But this assumption, ostensibly driven by the author's attempt to disprove the military nature of the o-ka Tablets, ignores the prevalent military connota­ tions of epi- kouros in other Greek literature (viz. Iliad; cf nn.11-12 infra). On the Pylian o-ka Tablets see Miihlestein 1-51; Uchitel 136-63; and M. Lang, -The aka Tablets Again," Kadmos 29 (1990) 113-25. Cf supra nn.2, 4, 6, 9, and n.65 infra. 11 Although the possibility that epikouros connoted "mercenary" even in Homer's day cannot be ruled out altogether, it can be said to be most un­ likely. Homer applies epikouros to the most honorable and noble contingents at Troy who explicitly advocate fighting for glory and honor and abjure material gain: see text and nn.12, 14-18 infra. 12 Cf supra n.4. Lycians explicitly termed epikouroi: 5.477, 478, 491; 12.101; 16.538; their identification as epikouroi is distinctly implied at 2.803,815; 5.473; 6.111, 227; 12.61; 17.212 and 220, where they or their leaders have been or will Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. BRIAN M. LAVELLE 233 Greeks, are conspicuous throughout the Iliad as warriors, but are most outstanding for their nobility: abandoning their homes and families, they have come to wage war explicitly for honor and glory, 13 Their leader, the great hero Sarpedon, stands out for his arete not only among the Trojans and their allies, but also among the AchaeansY In the Iliad, the Lycian chief is actually­ and rather remarkably for a Greek epic poem-the veritable paragon of Homeric heroism. Though sired by Zeus, Sarpedon is notable for his human excellence: valiant unto death, he is in fact the soldier's soldier of the epic,ls be more immediately mentioned. It may be implied at 2.130; 3,451, 456; 7.348, 368,477; 8,497; 9.233; 10,420; 11.220, 564; 12.108; 13.755; 17.14,362; and 18.229, especially as at 5,473ff and 6.78 the Lycians are emphatically linked to the Trojans as epikouroi and are their obviously most significant allies: cf G. S. KIRK, The Iliad: A Commentary I: Books 1-4 (Cambridge 1985: hereafter 'Kirk 1') 262; A. B. Wace, A Companion to Homer (London 1962) 306: Kthe frequent phrase TpolEl; Kat A\)KWl suggests that they [scil. the Lycians] are, in fact, next to the Trojans themselves in importance." No other allies, Greek or Trojan, are as explicitly and frequently termed epikouroi as they. Homer uses epikouros once to describe a young Priam on campaign (3.188; cf Kirk 291f); once for Aphrodite when she assists Ares (21.431, a comical application? cf N. Richardson, The Iliad: A Commentary VI: Books 21-24 [Cambridge 1985] 90); and once of the fighters entreated of the Mycenaeans by Tydeus and Poly­ neices for use against Eteocles and the Thebans (4.379; cf Kirk I 369). \3 On the Lycians in Homer see e.g. L. Malten, KHomer und die lykischen Fiirsten," Hermes 79 (1944) 1-12; P. Frei, "Die Lykier bei Homer," in ProclntCongCIArch X (Ankara 1978) 819-27; and T. R. Bryce, The Lycians I: The Lycians in Literary and Epigraphic Sources (Copenhagen 1986) 12ff; see also nn.15, 18 infra. 14 On the Trojan side, Sarpedon is ostensibly second only to Hector in arete: cf !l. 5.480f; M. M. Willcock. A Commentary on Homer's Iliad, I-VI (London 1970) 173; Kirk I 262; and Hainsworth 349. In fact, he is second to none in the purity of his motivation: see text infra and nn.15-18. 15 Sarpedon is a 'special' hero to be sure: the connections beween Sarpedon's excellence as a warrior (supra n.14; nn.16-17 infra), his relationship to Zeus (5.631,6.199; cf G. S. KIRK, The Iliad: A Commentary II: Books 5-8 [Cam­ bridge 1990: hereafter 'Kirk II'] 122), the kouretes as special armed servants of Zeus (supra n.3), and epikouroi as a description attaching especially to the Lycians in the Iliad (supra n.12), cannot all be fortuitous and so should not go unrecognized. The nature of those connections, however, is quite unclear and they are perhaps inconsequential for the Iliad, as Homer does not ex­ plicitly make them. Indeed, although kouretes and epikouroi imply warriors and warfare and both appear in the Iliad, Sarpedon is not once explicitly in­ cluded among the kouretes. Homer's Sarpedon is much more human than he is divine or even superhuman: cf.!l. 5,480; and n.17 infra. On Sarpedon cf G. Nagy, KThe Death of Sarpcdon and the Question of Homeric Uniqueness," in Greek Mythology and Poetics (Ithaca 1990) 122ff; Kirk II 125 (on Sarpedon's Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 234 EPIKOUROS AND EPIKOUROI Homer characterizes the Lycians in their leaders' statements and actions. Sarpedon declares outright that he left great wealth behind him-certainly every material thing he could ever need -on the banks of "whirling Xanthos" far to the south when he came to Troy to fight on behalf of the Trojans. 16 His honor and Homer's appreciation of it are most distinctly measured in Sarpedon's celebrated address to Glaucus (12.310-28), which amounts essentially to a precis of the heroic ethos. In that brief statement, Sarpedon establishes why warriors with any claim to honor must fight in the forefront. Because of what he says here, which is underscored by what he does throughout the epic, Sarpedon comes to epitomize the ideal warrior. In fact he is unrivalled for nobility and martial character. 17 Homer's portrayal of Sarpedon's second-in-command inten­ sifies the impression of Lycian heroism. Glaucus' encounter with Diomedes on the battlefield (6.119-236), wherein, during the melee, he and Diomedes evince remarkable chivalry, adds to the favorable impression of Lycian epikouroi. Glaucus' nobility is similar to Sarpedon's. At 6.207ff, Glaucus states that his father commanded him repeatedly to excel other warriors and thus to bring honor to his family. For Glaucus, as for Sarpedon, material gain from warfare counts for nothing: he cheerfully exchanges his costly armor for Diomedes', although he loses much by the gesture.18 name); on the antiquity of the Sarpedon myth-and Homer's difficulty with it-see P. Walthelet, Les Troyens de l'Iliade (Paris 1985) 82; see also nn,42-44, 50 infra for some further complications affecting Homer's treatment of the Lycians; cf Hainsworth 350; Walthelet 80-84. Glaucus, whose name is not Lycian (so Hainsworth 350) is also 'special': see H. C. Avery, KGlaucus, A God? Iliad Z 128-43," Hermes 122 (1994) 498-503; see also supra nn.13-14 and text infra with nn.17-18. 16/L 5,478-81; Kirk II 110; cf 12.310-14; and B. Fenik, Typical Battle Scenes in the Iliad (=Hermes Einzelschriften 21 [Wiesebaden 1968]) 51, who notes of the Lycian leader: ·Sarpedon, however, continues to fight even though Troy's fall would mean no personal loss to himself." 17 Cf Hainsworth 352: -These famous verses constitute the clearest state­ ment in the Iliad of the imperatives that govern the heroic life and their justification. It is, as Sarpedon puts it, a kind of social contract: valour in ex­ change for honour. ... " Cf van Wees (supra n.3) 72. It is true that Sarpedon links possessions and status to fighting, but he also says that undying reputation can only be achieved fighting in the forefront: if. n.18 infra. 18 Of the words spoken to Glaucus by his father, Kirk (II: 187) observes that ·the same typically heroic advice" was given to Achilles by Peleus (11.783ff; cf Hainsworth 30M). Cf Avery (supra n.15) 498-503. On the en- Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. BRIAN M. LAVELLE 235 The Lycians are thus the noblest of all contingents at Troy, barbarian or Greek, for even the Greeks are depicted as coming to Troy for plunder (el 3.286; Kirk [supra n.12] 306). Because Homer treats the Lycians so favorably, and so frequently describes them as epikouroi, we must assume that he attached distinctly positive values to the epithet.19 By the same token, the connotation "mercenary" for epikouros seems to be ruled out here, as Homer's characterization of the Lycians is incompatible with any notion that they would fight for anything so sordid as pay: in fact, the Lycians at Troy expressly distance themselves from material gain. We should conclude that epikouros did not conote "mercenary" for Homer's audience, for such a connota­ tion would not only conflict with the poet's otherwise uniform portrayal of the Lycians as above gain, but would subvert Ho­ mer's depiction of them as nobly motivated by contradicting and making nonsense of it. Indeed, "fighters for pay" are absent in the Iliad and that absence, together with other information to be introduced below, may be taken to indicate that Greek mercenaries did not exist in Homer's time eel Bettalli 39f). II The term epikouros appears in Archilochus frr. 15 and 216 West. It should be emphasized at the outset that Archilochus' use of epikouros does not automatically indicate that he was counter of Glaucus and Diomedes see Kirk 171 ff. This is not the place to address the dichotomy of the real and imaginary in the Homeric poems (van Wees 6ff). Noone would argue that the Lycians are not idealized in the Iliad: cf supra nn.14-17 and 45 infra. On the other hand, no one would deny that "by far the most prominent male excellence [sci!. in the Ilia1..0.1)1(', btl.leoupoC; o.vTtp 'toO'O'ov cptAOC; £O'le£ lluXTl'tat {"Glaucus, an epikouros man is a friend as long as he fights").21 Epikouros could be translated here as either "ally" or "mercenary"; neither is entirely excluded as a possibility. If by epikouros Archilochus meant "fighter along­ side," then he could have been emphasizing a modern, albeit more subtle, distance from what Homer's use of the word im­ plies. For Archilochus, no epikouros, whatever the honorable implications of that title, is a philos without acting the part, i.e., 20 Cf D. CAMPBELL, Greek Lyric Poetry (London 1967: hereafter 'Camp­ bell') 136: "There is little evidence for the commonly held view that he [Ar­ chilochus] became a mercenary soldier"; D. GERBER, Euterpe (Amsterdam 1970: 'Gerber') 24: "It is often stated on the basis of [sci!. fro 216] and on allu­ sions supposedly found in other passges that Archilochus at some time in his life became a mercenary. There is no concrete evidence to support this view." Among those who have uncritically accepted that Archilochus was a mercen­ ary are e.g.: H. W. Parke, Greek Mercenary Soldiers (Oxford 1933) 4; F. Las­ serre and A. Bonnard, Archiloque. Fragments (Paris 1958) 3, 9; M. Treu, Ar­ chiiochos (Munich 1959) 195; A. R. Burn, The Lyric Age of Greece (London 1960) 167; G. Davenport, Carmina Archilochi (Berkeley 1964) 33; A. J. Podlecki, "Three Greek Soldier Poets: Archilochos, Alcaeus, and Solon," CW 63 (1969) 75; H. D. RANKIN, Archilochus of Paros (Park Ridge [NJ] 1977: 'Rankin') 43; V. N. Jarcho, "Noch einmal zur sozialen Position des Archil­ ochos," Klio 64 (1982) 316; A. P. BURNETT, Three Archaic Poets (Cambridge [Mass.] 1983: 'Burnett') 41 n.22; and A. M. Miller, Greek Lyric: An Anthology in Translation (Indianapolis 1996) 1; Cf Bettalli 106£; see also nn. 26, 28-29 infra. 21 Cf F. Lasserre, Les Epodes d'Archiloque (Paris 1955) 105f; Lasserre and Bonnard (supra n.20); Treu (supra n.20); G. Tarditi, Archilochus. Fragmenta (Rome 1968) 71; Burnett 44; cf. e.g. M. West, Greek Lyric Poetry (Oxford 1993) 14: -Glaucus, an auxiliary's a buddy for just so long as he's prepared to fight"; Bettalli 106 n.16: "Glauco, un epikouros e amico sole finche combatte"; cf. also Burnett 44; Miller (supra n.20) 3. Well off the mark is the translation of Davenport (supra n.20) 33: «Keep a mercenary for a friend, Glaukos, to stand by in battle." On Glaucus, the friend of Archilochus, see J. Pouilloux, ·Glaucos, fils de Leptine, Parien," BCH 79 (1955) 75-86. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. BRIAN M. LAVELLE 237 without actually" fighting alongside.'" In this case, the poet uses an apparently gnomic conjunction of epikouros and philos-'il conjunction found elsewhere in Greek literature 22-but dis­ rupts it by its qualifying dependence upon action. For Archilo­ chus, an epikouros was in fact not immediately a philos, as Glau­ cus (or someone else) might uncritically infer from Homer's use of epikouros. 23 Such a reading has much to recommend it. First, it would ex­ plain the redundancy of clvi}p, with which Archilochus qualifies epikouros to underscore it as an epithet. Second, Archilochus' tone is didactic, as if pointing out something not completely ob­ vious. In fact the sentiments of the line parallel those found at fro 114: 'appearances, you should know, Glaucus, are quite dif­ ferent from realities; in this case, words are different from deeds'.24 Epikouros (=philos) is no more than fine sounding un­ less backed by action, especially when action is needed, viz., during a fight. '" Archilochus' message is thus based in Homer, yet becomes another comment on the difference between Homer's heroic world and Archilochus' far less ideal one. Perhaps some of Archilochus' contemporaries were claiming to be like Homer's famous epikouroi, and Archilochus deemed it necessary to correct impressions for his friend, a namesake of the famous Lycian in the Iliad. We shall see other grounds for this reading. If, however, epikouros had already come to possess its more cynical, militarily more precise connotation of "mercenary'" and Archilochus used the word in that way, then he could be ob­ serving a more substantial difference in the meaning of the 22 Cf Eur. Andr. 509: J,loi.r. q>tAol<; bttJwupo<;; IA 1241: aOt:AcpE, J,llKpO<; J.Li:v tAot<; KuAa{; 1300: rAe' £1t{KOUpOV £J,lo'iO't CPlAotO'l1tllv'tco<;; Rhes. 937: £!tElO'uv £AeE'iv KU1ttKouPllO'Ut cptAot<;. Less distinct conjunctions: IA 1018-27; Or. 306; Rhes. 955f. 23 The gnomic conjunctions (supra n.22) seem to be rooted ultimately in Homeric epikouros, Homer's portrayal of epikouroi, and the word's implicit attachment to philos and philoi in the Iliad (cf e.g. Eur. Rhes. 937, 955f): cf also Eur. Rhes. 753, where Rhesus is described as an epikouros of the Trojans. See also text infra. 24 Cf Burnett (43f), who couples interpretation of fro 15 with fro 114 ("The Great General"). On fro 114 see also Campbell 151£; Gerber 27f; Burnett 42f; P. Toohey, • Archilochos' General (fr. 114 W): Where Did He Come From?" Eranos 86 (1988) 1-14; and E. L. Wheeler, "The General as Hoplite," in V. Hanson, ed., Hoplites (London 1991) 132. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 238 EPIKOUROS AND EPIKOUROI word in his own day. Once, in the bygone days of heroes, epikouros meant "fast ally who fought on behalf of friends"; the word implicitly connoted honorable motives and actions, as exemplified by Homer's Lycians. But these days, Glaucus, an epikouros is a philos only as long as the "mercenary" cares to make himself so, that is, as long as he cares to fight for his "friend." Archilochus' implication, which would seem then to pivot more upon philia than epikouros, would be that, although the words may have been synonymous in the past, epikouros' new connotation of "mercenary" means that neither in combin­ ation may be taken literally: a real ally who was a steadfast friend is now not more than a momentary "ally" and only a "friend" until the money runs out and he stops fighting or, more to the point, an epikouros (="mercenary") is no philos at all. In such a case, Archilochus' meaning would be more topical and obvious to Glaucus, who, one presumes, was also a warrior; it would not have been apparent to a more general audience though (see text infra). The sentiment would be much less interactive with Homer, who never used epikouros to mean "mercenary": it is then more a mere, rather banal "news of the day" notice than parodic poetry or artfully adjusted gnome. Indeed, Archilochus would be simply playing off epikouros' (apparent) neology against Homer rather than playing with Homer as he does so frequently and so pointedly elsewhere (el Rankin 39ff, esp. 43). Although neither of these two interpretations may be ruled out on present evidence, the latter has less to recommend it than the former, not least because it relies on Archilochus' wider audience to read the apparently less familiar connotation of "mercenary" into epikouros here. Though we have but one line, one imagines that a 'flag' of some sort would be present in the line, were Archilochus employing the word to mean "mer­ cenary": it is a complete sentiment after all. If epikouros ac­ quired the connotation of "mercenary," it did so between Ho­ mer's time and Archilochus', that is, fairly recently, and without some indication or prompting, Archilochus' audience would more reasonably have understood the standard epic meaning of epikouros than the relatively newer, more specialized one. 25 25 Cf Rankin 36: "The general familiarity of epic poetry in his time and its pervasion of all art made it difficult for him [scil. Archilochus] not to allude to its characteristic phrases in contexts not exactly appropriate to their original image .... "; 43: «Archilochos uses the phrases and themes which every decent man accepted as integral to poetry at that time .... n For a somewhat different view cf R. Fowler, The Nature of Greek Lyric Poetry: Three Prelimary Studies (Toronto 1997) 2off. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. BRIAN M. LAVELLE 239 Glaucus, on the other hand, would perhaps have known the new meaning all too well: what then was the point of Archil­ ochus' didactic tone? Although Archilochus addresses a "Glau­ cus," whose Homeric namesake was a famous friend and epi­ kouros, and he explicitly links "friendship" with epikouros, thus evoking the gnomic connection of the two, which may have originated in, or been strengthened by, the Iliad, he does not so much as hint at pay in the fragment. On the other hand, a contrast between phi/os and epikouros, already well-grounded in Homer, was nonetheless a subtler and more interesting construction, more informative to Glaucus and the general audience, and more in line with sentiments actually expressed elsewhere in Archilochus' verse (fr. 114). Un­ doubtedly Archilochus, conscious of Homeric epikouros and its application to the Lycians, adopted the didactic role (i. e., of Sarpedon) for his (coincidentally?) homonymous friend Glau­ cus. These resonances suggest that the poet was signalling defi­ nite interaction to his audience, especially as he gave them no in­ dication to the contrary. Interpretation of the fragment as interactive with Homer also accords with Aristotle's citation (Eth. Eud. 7.2.14, 1236a33), which he adduced to illustrate a type of friendship (chresimon): any connection of "mercenary" to the fragment would have vitiated Aristotle's point by making it nonsense. Aristotle's use of the fragment also suggests that nothing else in the poem linked it to mercenaries. Thus the evidence altogether points to the conclusion that Archilochus used epikouros in fro 15 to mean "ally," not "mercenary," trad­ ing more directly and yet more subtly upon Homer's use of epikouros.u, If so, fro 15 probably antedates fro 216 and quite possibly precedes Greeks employed as mercenaries. Fr. 216 with Kar qualifying epikouros might seem more help­ ful but is actually more problematic. Obviously, this fragment, too, must be understood in light of Homer: Kat oil '1tlKOUpOC; WCHE Kap KEKAllaoJlat ("And indeed [an] epikouros just like a Carian I shall be called)Y Many have taken epikouros to mean 26 The assumption that epikouros means "mercenary" in this fragment seems to have come about because (1) fro 216 associates Kar and epikouros (see text infra with n.27), (2) epikouros came to connote "mercenary" (el B. M. Lavelle, "epikouroi in Thucydides," AJP 110 [1989] 36), and (3) the Greeks later thought the Carians to be the inventors of the mercenary profession. See supra n.20 and text with nn.27-29 infra. 27 Ap. l:PI. Laeh. 187B; Lasserre and Bonnard (supra n.20) 9; Treu (supra n.20) 195; Tarditi (supra n.20) 83; Podlecki (supra n.20) 75; Gerber 24; cl Fourgous 1146; Jarcho (supra n.20) 316; Burnett 41 n.22; and Bettalli 106 n.17. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 240 EPIKOUROS AND EPIKOUROI "mercenary" here, as the Greeks charged the Carians specifical­ ly with inventing the mercenary profession and explicitly linked the invention to Archilochus' fragment.28 "Fighter for pay," a connotation of epikouros, surfaces as early as Herodotus, and Plutarch's reference to the military services of Arselis of Mylasa in Caria rendered to Gyges has been taken to mean that profes­ sional soldiering was established in the Greek world by Archilo­ chus' time.29 A modern negative appraisal of mercenary war­ fare, informed by subsequent examples and slights aimed at the Carians in Greek literature, have led some to construe the frag­ ment as Archilochus' exasperated, quite pessimistic assertion of 28 Ephorus, FGrHist 70F12 (=l:Pl. Lach. 187B); Ael. NA 12.30; cf Strabo 14.2.28; see also A. W. GOMME, A Historical Commentary on Thucydides I (Oxford 1945: hereafter 'Gomme') 106ff; M. M. AUSTIN, Greece and Egypt in the Archaic Age (Cambridge 1970: 'Austin') 17; Fourgous 1142ff; cf. O. Burcher, " Karer," RE 10.2 (1919) 1940; Tarditi (supra n.21) 83; and supra n.20. Notable dissenters are Campbell and Gerber (supra n.20). See also text infra with nn.46-47, 49. 29 Pluto Mor. 302A; cf G. Huxley, The Early Ionians (London 1966) 52; G. Bean, Turkey beyond the Maeander (London 1971) 31; and S. HORNBLOWER, Mausolus (Oxford 1982: hereafter 'Hornblower') 16 n.81, who mistakenly identifies Candaules as the recipient of Arselis' aid. Contra Huxley, Bean, Hornblower, et al., whose reasoning seems to be a priori (see supra n.26): the reference to Arselis as an epikouros of Gyges does not by any means auto­ matically make him a mercenary: cf e.g. Bettalli 75f: "L'aiuto concesso da Arselis, piu che un piego di forze mercenarie, ricorda comunque, nelle mo­ dalita con Ie quali venne effettuato, gli interventi di bthCO'upm che abbiamo trovato neU' Iliade, facenti parte di queUa catena di mutuo soccorso tra dinasti e aristocratici che si serviva di truppe composte dagli amici e dai clientes dei vari capi." Cf J. G. Pedley, "Carians in Sardis," IHS 94 (1974) 96-99, who suggests that the Carians were powerful independent allies, not vassals of the Lydians. Cf also F. C. Barrett, tr. Plutarch, Moralia (Loeb edition: Cambridge [Mass.] 1972) 233 and supra n.20. Later Mermnads, such as Alyattes, were apparently tied to Caria by marriage-alliance (cf Hdt. 1.92.3), and Arselis can have come to aid Gyges for political reasons or others rather than because he and his warriors were to be paid for fighting for the Lydian. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. BRIAN M. LAVELLE 241 his reality and even his identity.3D Quite another interpretation is possible however. It is true that weHE Kap seems unrelated to the prevalent Ho­ meric connotations of epikouros and the heroic, exemplary Lycians. The Carians, mentioned only briefly in the Iliad, are nevertheless portrayed as the very opposites of the Lycians. Nastes, the Carian leader, is treated with special derision in the Trojan Catalogue; he is among the worst fighters at Troy, Achaean or barbarian. 31 "He came to war wearing gold, just like a girl, the fool" (2.872f).32 Nastes' ridiculously overdressed image, equating him with a kore, suggests that he is no warrior at all but effeminate and cowardly, just like his overdressed Trojan counterpart Paris (cf II. 3.17f).33 Without any other form or feature in the Iliad, Nastes becomes for all time a gold­ bedecked maiden, the allusion to which was surely meant to conjure further images of tender brides and hymeneals for Homer's audience. Nastes is thus fositioned at the other, very negative extreme from the likes 0 Achilles and Sarpedon, for he is no more than a gaudily apparelled sham of a warrior, 30 Cf Biirchner (supra n.28) 1942; Burnett 44 n.22; Bettalli 106£. Negative reading of the assertion seems grounded first of all in the misunderstanding of a scholiast (ultimately Aristophanes of Byzantium?) on Il. 9.378: 'tiro oE f!tv EV KapO<; alan; cf l:PI. Euthyd. 285c (E. H. Gifford, The Euthydemus of Plato [Oxford 1905] 33); Porph. p.137.5 Schrader: a1l0 'trov Kaprov, o~<; aet A.()lOoPEl (, 1IOtTj'tTt<;. otov EV f!oipa KapO<; OlOVEt OOUA.oU K'tA. Kap6<; was apparently mistaken for Kap6<; ("chip" or ·shaving": cf Hainsworth 112), but this was perhaps a natural mistake in view of (1) the problematic nature of Kap6<; (cf Hainsworth, Ebeling [supra n.3] 651; Frisk [supra n.1] 790f), and (2) a tradi­ tion of hostility toward the Carians, which probably derived mostly from Athenian sources of the later fifth century and after (cf Hornblower 29ff; cf also n.72 infra), all of which was coupled with fro 216 in antiquity (cf PI. Lach. 18h). Cf also Gerber (supra n.20) and Fourgous 1145f. 31 Cf Kirk I 250ff ad 2.87f; cf also text and nn.33-34 infra. 32 Although Aristarchus made Amphimachus, the other Carian leader, the antecedent of 15<; at line 873, Simonides understood it to be Nastes (see Erbse 351; cf R. Lattimore, tr., Homer, Iliad [Chicago 1951] 99). Cf Kirk I 261, whose note observing and correcting Simonides' -error" is nevertheless un­ clear; cf also Avery (supra n.15) 500f n.15. Whether Nastes or Amphimachus is meant-and with Simonides I take it to be Nastes-the slander of the "despised barbarians," i.e., the Carians (cf W. Leaf, The Iliad [London 1900] 115), is undiminished: cf Fourgous 1145; and nn.33, 34, 39 infra. 3J Contra Kirk I 267, Homer's description of Paris cannot be dismissed by proposing that the poet may be _ a little careless" here. Quite to the contrary, the poet is conjuring absolute disdain for Paris in his audience: cf J. Griffin, Homer on Life and Death (Oxford 1980) 3f, on warriors and effeminate clothing in Homer. Cf nn.36, 39 infra. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 242 EPIKOUROS AND EPIKOUROI another hapless, golden grainstalk to be harvested by the spear of a real hero like Achilles. 34 As the Carians entire are men­ tioned only once elsewhere in the Iliad (10.428) and there not in combat, the characterization of Nastes in the Trojan Cata­ logue amounts, as it was surely intended, to a quite negative collective description. The Carians are the opposites of the Lycians because their leader is the reverse of Sarpedon. The Lycians are formidable and admirable because valorous and honorable; the Carians, weak and ridiculous because garish and unmanly. At least ostensibly, that is what Homer wants his audience to make of them. This distinct polarity actually varies somewhat from the reali­ ties of Homer's own day. By then, Carians and Lycians had been neighbors in southwestern Anatolia for some time, pre­ sumably used the same armor, and fought in similar ways to survive against surrounding enemies. 35 In fact, as we shall see, the Carians were by reputation a far cry from Homer's unflat­ tering allusion to them as poor warriors. Rather Homer has gone well out of his way both to treat the Carians disparagingly and to portray the Lycians flatteringly; he has obviously polar­ ized them. Certainly, from the Iliad, no one would mistake one for the other, as the sentiments expressed or the actions taken by Sarpedon, Glaucus, and the Lycians are not for the Carians. Homer further negatively distinguishes the Carians from all other barbarian contingents at Troy by labelling them explicitly and uniquely barbarophonoi. 36 According to Apollodorus gram- H Griffin (supra n.33) 4 n.S: ·Such warriors [Paris and Nastes] exist only to be slain by proper heroes [such as Achilles and Aias]." In fact, Nastes' death in Book 21 (amidst the Paeonians? see 10.428; 21.209f; cf Kirk I 261), to which Homer alludes in the Trojan Catalogue (873£), is omitted from Achilles' aristeia perhaps showing that the encounter is beneath mention even there. See further Griffin 3ff (on effeminate clothing and collective, negative char­ acterization); Hall (n.39 infra). In view of Homer's treatment of the Carians, it is difficult to agree with Fourgous 1146: «Le Carien represente un type de guerrier magique, qui s'appuie sur une magique metallurgique, celie de I'or." 35 Herodotus' assumptions (1.171.1f) that the Carians were subjects of the Cretans (if they were not actually considered Cretans themselves: cf 1.172.1; Hornblower 12), that the Lycians were Cretans (1.173.1f), and that Lycian customs were part Cretan, part Carian (1.173.3), must have made them ·cousins," as it were, in Herodotus' thinking. Cf W. W. H ow and]. WELLS, A Commentary on Herodotus (Oxford 1912: hereafter 'How and Wells') I 130-34; nn.42-44, 53 infra. 36 Il. 2.867; Ebeling (supra n.3) 225. This unique and obviously significant adjective, the negative aspects of which are elaborated by Strabo (14.2.28: ~ AE)'OflEVC1)V n: ~ap~6.p(1)v. nil>,;; EflfAAfV dJ AEX6"crfcr6m 'to ~ap~apCO