Menander Rhetor and Alexander Claudius in a Papyrus Letter Maehler, Herwig Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies; Fall 1974; 15, 3; ProQuest pg. 305

Menander Rhetar and Alexander 
Claudius in a Papyrus Letter 

Herwig M aehler 

ft;.0NG THE NUMEROUS PAPYRI both documentary and literary 
that came to light in Otto Rubensohn's excavationsl at 
Ashmounein (Hermupolis) between 1903 and 1906, there 

is a letter which turns out to be of considerable interest (P.Berol. 
21849). The papyrus is of fairly poor quality and is damaged at the top 
so that the ends of the first two lines are missing, and at the bottom 
where the last two lines are incomplete. Its measurements are: height 
12 cm., width 17.3 cm. The author started writing his letter across the 
fibres on the smoother side of the leaf, then turned it over and added 
a postscript in a corner of the verso side, also across the fibres. On the 
same side, running more or less through the middle, is the address, 
written along the fibres in rather stylized narrow uncials but probably 
by the same hand (see PLATE 10). The handwriting on the recto is a 
practised but inelegant cursive which resembles P.Merton II 95. I 
would assign it to the second half of the fifth rather than to the sixth 
century. 

Tep KVptttJ f-t0[ v 
Jvap~TttJ &DEA# [GhoYVdJCTttJ 

B£KTC!>P. x(alpEw) 
KaTa[t"t ]OVTW TJ c~ AoytoTY}c DtDOVat • HAt'f 
77[ . ] . vAw Tep 77atDL TOU KVP£OV TOU ypaf-tf-taTt-

5 KOU TO f3tf3Alov 07TEP SESwKa Tfj cfj &­
D€A4>oTY}Tt TvYXaVOvTt €77L TfjC <Epf-tOV7T9-
AtTWV- olSEv yttp 0 ()E6c, &vaYKa'0f-tat {a} 
OvX WC ETVXEV / ECTtV DE 'AA€gavDpov IDav-

10 Slov TW [ ] EtC LJ1Jf.L0c(J€vr}V TOV p~Top[a 
[ ] M€vav8pov T~~YnY €V TaXt[ 

IOn which see now BGUXII, Introduction xiv ff. The letter published here (P.Berol. 21849) 
was found on 24 January 1905. It is now in the papyrus collection of the Egyptian Museum 
in West Berlin (Schloss-Str. 70, D-1 Berlin 19). 

305 



306 MENANDER RHETOR AND ALEXANDER CLAUDIUS 

VERSO (in the top lefthand corner, across the fibres): 

Address (along the fibres): 

.p YIIOMNHETIKON IIP(6c) (?JEorN!}· 
ETON ll(ap?x)BIKTOP(oc) 

TRANSLATION 
. (Recto) «To my lord and virtuous brother Theognostus, greetings 
(from) Victor. 
«May your eloquence deign to give Elias P .. ylus (?), the school· 
master's slave, the book which I gave your brotherliness when you 
were in Hermupolis-for God knows, I am in dire need !-namely (the 
commentary) on the orator Demosthenes by Alexander Claudius .... 
(and) Menander's 'Art', quickly 
(Verso) Hand the 'Methods' and the 'Eulogies', quickly." 
(Address) «Reminder to Theognostus from Victor" 

NOTES ON THE TEXT 
2. (8hoyvwCTlp is supplied from the address on the verso. 
4. ~ c~ Aoyt<~T'Y]c: an honorary title often applied to advocates (cxoAcxcruco{) 

and defensores (EKSLKOL), e.g. in P.Oxy. VI 902; see P. Koch, Die by~antini­
schen Beamtentitel (Diss. Jena 1903) 84f; O. Hornickel, Ehren- und Rangpriidi­
kate in den Papyrusurkunden (Diss. Giessen 1930) 27f; A. Claus, '0 
ExoAcxCTLKOC (Diss. K6ln 1965) 59 n.5 and 85. It is also used informally 
in private letters, e.g. in SB V 8003.8 and in P.Ross.Georg. III 9.19. 

5. 7T[.]. VAW: this seems to be either Elias' second name or an adjective used 
as a nickname. Unfortunately, the letter before v can not be identified 
with certainty: it looks like y or 7', but K cannot be ruled out; it was 

. certainly not 0 or cx. If this is a name it might be ll[e]KvAcp, cf. P.Oxy. 
XIV 1751.2 and P.Berl.Zilliacus 12.14 (the form lleKvAAocis more frequent, 
see Preisigke, Namenbuch s.v.). Ifit is a nickname I would suggest 7T[L]Tt5Acp 
'mad', 'raving' (although in this case one would expect the article), or 
perhaps 7T[W]KVAcp poculumr Slaves often had two names, the second 
of which was sometimes a kind of pet name like lloAVSevKT)C €7TLKE­
KA(T)JLtvoc) "Epwc in BGU II 447.25 and 'ICLSwpcx ~ Kcxi 'HSCCTT) in P.Meyer 
9.12, or f/>t.\tTCXLPOC and OutTAoC (vitulus) in BGU IV 1114.7-8, or "AvLAAcx 
(anilla 'little mother'?) in P.Oxy. VI 903.32 and P.Mich. IX 546.11, or some 



HERWIG MAEHLER 307 

auspicious name like IIadwv <> ()£(X AOYWV EV'TvXr/c and "'AP7TaAOC <> ()£(X 

AOYWV NLK'T]rpOpOC in P.Meyer 9.11, or 'Aya01}fLEpOC and 'EmlyaOoc in 
BGU IV 1033.10-18, or AlACCVOVC ovofLccn KCCAT)fL€PCC in SB V 8007.4, or 
'AfMcKCCVTOC in P.Mich. IX 549.7.2 Occasionally, however, we do find 
slaves called by genuine nicknames like Philargyrus in Petronius 70.10 
and in BGU IV 1116.40, or L:Tvrrrras and the slave-girl • EfLrr6pLov in 

P.Lille I 27 (=Wilcken, Chrestomathie 199).3 

6-7. 'Tfj cfj aOEArpoT'T]TL: this formula does not occur before the fourth century.4 
It does not, of course, imply that Victor and Theognostus were brothers 
in the literal sense; it does imply, however, that they were Christians: 
see I Pet. 2.17 and 5.9. 

8. OlOEV yap 0 OEOC: this Christian formula of affirmation is found fairly 
frequently in letters from the third century onwards. Ii avccYKa'ofLccL: Victor 
first wrote avccYKcc~OfLEOCC, then corrected EO to CCL but forgot to delete the 
last cc. For the meaning of avccYKcf~ECOCCL in its (rare) absolute usc, cf. 
Thuc. 8.99; Sophocles, Greek Lexicon of the Roman and Byzantine Periods, 
s.v., quotes Achmet, Oneirocrit. 186 p.144.24 Drexl el fL€V ECTL {3CCCLAEvC 0 
lowv, avOpw7ToVC ~VCCYKCCCfL'VOVC XaP07TOL1}CEL ('in distress) 

9. ~CTLV 8' 'namely', 'to wit', does not affect the syntax (see Mayser, Gram­
matik der griech. Papyri II 1 §18.3 on 0 ECTLV), so the following accusatives 
still depend on OLOOVCCL in line 3. 

10. TW [: the uncertain letter is most likely T Gust possibly I/J). There is a 
blank space after the w, then a gap for 2-3 letters. One might suggest 

2 Cf. 'Aj3acKaVTOC 6.7TfiA€v8€poc in P.Oxy. IV 716 and SB V 7515.390; the ill-behaved slave 
Ethvx~e in P.Mich.Michael 28, and EVTVX~C 6.1T€A€v8€poe in P.Rein. II 100.1; the slave-girls 
TvXapovc in P.Oxy. III 634 and Tvx:rJ ?j Kat Tarra€te in P.Mich. V 322a.14, etc. There are many 
more examples of this kind in the latest list of papyri concerning slaves in Oxyrhynchus 
compiled by J. F. Fichman, "Sklaven und Sklavenarbeit im spatromischen Oxyrhynchos," 
Jahrbuch fur Wirtschaftsgeschichte 1973 pt.2, 156ft". On slave names in classical Athens, see 
H. Philipp, Tektonon daidala (Berlin 1968) 78. 

3 On double names, see Rita Calderini, Aegyptus 21 (1941) 221-260 and Aegyptus 22 (1942) 
3-45; on double names of slaves in particular, see her remarks Aegyptus 21 p.247. For lists 
of slave names, cf. P.Li/le I 27; BGUIV 1114; P.Oxy. VIII 1110; P.Flor. I 4 (=Wilcken, Chresto­
mathie 206), and the evidence collected by Fichman, loc.cit. For nicknames, cf. e.g. SB X 
10277.20 Eapa1Tlwv <> gTJpoe; P.Tebt. II 283.8 IIaTvvLc <> J1TLKaAOVfL€VOC KW</>OC and 414.7 IIfiCLc 

<> KOPV</>OC (the latter is explained by the scholion on Theocr. 62j63a p. 152 Wendel Ot";TW Ka~ 

1Tapa 'AA€gav8p€vn Kopv</>oe MYETlJ.t <> we KOPT} ol</>wfLHoe, as was pointed out by B. Olsson, 
Papyrusbriefe aus der fruhesten Romerzeit [Uppsala 1925] no.36.1-2 note). 

4 For instance in P.Herm.Rees 45.1; cf. G. W. H. Lampe, A Patristic Greek Lexicon, S.V., and 
H. Zilliacus, Untersuchungen zu den abstrakten Anredeformen und Hoflichkeitstiteln im Griechi­
schen (Helsinki 1949) 47. 

5 P.land. II 11.10; PSI VIII 895; P.Oxy. VI 903.37; P.Strassb. I 35.14; BGU IV 1035.12; SB I 
4323.8; P.Oxy. VIII 1165.8; similar expressions like fLapTVp€, J.LOt & 8€oc and the like are 
listed by L. Eisner on P.land. 11.10. See H. I. Bell, HTR 37 (1944) 197, and M. Naldini, II 
cristianesimo in Egitto (Firenze 1968) 14. 



308 MEN ANDER RHETOR AND ALEXANDER CLAUDIUS 

something like TW[V {nr(oJLV'Y}JLcXTWV), abbreviated h] Etc JT}JLOcfUV'Y}v TOV 

P~'TOp[ a 'TO a' (exempli gratia), although the blank space after TW would be 
against it. Other possibilities involve emendations of TW, e.g. TO [thr(6JL­
V7JJLa)] Elc J., or TOV [cocfo(tCTOV)] dc J.G The gap at the end of this 
line, after PT}TOp[, may have contained 5-6 letters. 

11. There is a blank space before MEVav8pov. 

That the addressee of this letter, Theognostus, was an orator and a 
lawyer is indicated by the formula ~ c~ Aoytch7Jc in line 4 which alludes 
to Theognostus' erudition. It is obvious that the writer, Victor, is of 
the same profession. He had lent some books to his friend and col­
league who had stayed with him at Hermupolis, possibly on his way 
down to Alexandria. But now Victor himself needs these books very 
urgently (lines 8-9), so he reminds7 Theognostus to send them back 
through Elias the schoolmaster's slave. At first he seems to have 
thought of only one book (TO fN3Mov, line 6), namely the commen­
tary ({nroJ1-v7JJ1-u?, see on line 10) on Demosthenes by Alexander 
Claudius. 

This author is clearly to be identified with the sophist Alexander also 
called Claudius mentioned in the Suda (A 1128) where he is disting­
uished from the 'sophist' Alexander son of Numenius.8 We now learn 
that this Alexander wrote a book on Demosthenes which was still 
found useful, evidently for practical purposes, by lawyers in fifth­
century Egypt. Now, the scholia on Demosthenes9 mention a com­
mentator Alexander whom Dindorflo identified with Alexander, 
Numenius' son, also listed in the Suda.l1 Although it is of course 
theoretically possible that this identification is correct, the new papy-

II For the spelling mistake w instead of 0 or OV, see S. Kapsomenakis, Voruntersuchungen:{u 
einer Grammatik der Papyri der nachchristlichen Zeit (MunchBeitr 28, 1938) 117. 

7 In the address on the verso, he calls his letter a 'reminder' or commonitorium (V-rrOfLVT}CTtKOV) ; 
for the meaning, cf. P.Med. 87.3; P. Vindob. Worp23.3; P.Gen. 79.1; P.Fouad 74.1; P.Ant. II 92.1. 
The Latin equivalent commonitorium is used by Symmachus (e.g. Ep. 5.21) and other 
authors of this period in exactly the same way; see S. Prete, uIl commonitorium nella 
letteratura cristiana antica," Studi e ricerche 6 (Bologna 1962) 8-9 and the passages quoted 
there. 

8 Suda A 1128 ed. Adler: ... Ecn Se Ka~ E'TEPOC 'AM[avSpoc 'AcfopoSLCLEVC, cfoLAococfooc' Ka~ 
IDoc & NOVfL7Jvfov, COcfoLC-n]C" Ka~ IDoc, IDavSwc XP7JfLa'Tfcac, COcfoLC-n]C. 

D Cf. schol. ad 10.131.1 p.191.8 Dindorf (on Ka'Ta rJJt>..f7T7TOV S'): cfoad Se o[ av-rof, 'AM[avSpoc 

Ka~ ,,::hOCKOPOC Ka~ Z1}vwv 0 7TOAV(JpVAT}'TOC • •• , and 20.462.13 p.468.10 Dindorf 'AM,avSpoc JLev 
~f'rYovfLEV6c cfoTJCLV OTt ESEL K'TA. 

10 Demosthenis opera ed. G. Dindorf, VIII (Oxford 1850) xviii. 
11 See supra n.8. 



HERWIG MAEHLER 309 

rus makes it virtually certain that the commentator quoted by the 
scholia on Demosthenes is Alexander Claudius and not Alexander, 
Numenius' son. 

This is obviously the book which Victor needs most urgently. 
Having asked Theognostus to send it back, he remembers that besides 
this one he had lent his colleague several other books as well and adds 
the titles of these in the last line of the recto, which is crammed into 
the narrow lower margin, and a kind of postscript in a corner of the 
back side. These other books are apparently all by Menander-no 
doubt the well-known rhetor from Laodiceia in Phrygia, near 
modern Denizli, who lived in the second half of the third century 
-namely the <Art' (TlxvYJ), the <Methods' (MlOooot), and the <Eulogies' 
(,EYKWfLta,). 

This is a valuable new piece of information because hitherto we 
knew very little about Menander's writings. Only two of his rhetorical 
treatises have survived, both of them dealing with <speeches for dis­
play' ('E7TLOHK'TLKO~ '\6yot). The first is cited as MEvavopov p~TOpOC 
YEVE8'\LWV (7TpOC rEvIO,\wv 1) LJ t(XLPECLC TWV E7TLOHK'TLKWV,12 the second as 
M 1 \:' ., n \ '\:' ~ dIn \ I • EVCXVOpOV PT}TOpOC EpL E7TtoHK'TLKWV an a so as EpL TEXVT}C PT}TO-
ptKfjCP We may therefore assume that Menander's TlxvYJ which 
Theognostlls had borrowed from Victor was in fact this second 
treatise II EP~ l7TL8HKTtKWV. 

As for the other two titles, we are in a more difficult position. As 
they are mentioned separately in the postscript on the verso we must 
assume that they refer to writings not contained in the TlxvYJ. The 
first one (MI8oo0L) recalls the title of the then most famous treatise 
on the subject, Hermogenes' IIEpt fLE8680v oHv6TYJTOC.14 Now, Men­
ander himself in his LJ LCXLPECLC TWV E7TLOHK'TLK<7JJl refers to a f3 Lf3Mov in 
which he wanted to set out theoretically the 'method' which he had 

12 Rhetores graeci ed. L. Spengel, III (Leipzig 1856) 331-67; an improved text was edited by 
C. Bursian, "Oer Rhetor Menandros und seine Schriften," AbhMunchen 16.3 (1882), on 
which W. Kroll suggested further emendations in RhM 66 (1911) 169-74. On Menander, see 
L. Radermacher, RE 15 (1931) 762-64 S.v. MENANDROS 16; T. C. Burgess, "Epideictic Litera­
ture," University of Chicago Studies in Classical Philology 3 (1902) 89-261, especially 107 n.l and 
109-113 on ll"p' J1TLS".KTLKUJV. 

13 Rhetores graeci ed. Spengel III 368ff, referred to by the Anonymus ll£p' Toil T£'Adov 'Aoyov 
(Rhetores graeci III 572.22-24 Walz): 7T£pl AaA.ac BE Kal TWV TOtoVTWV fLa8Tlc 7TAaTV'TEpOV Jv Toic 

TOU M€vavSpov, a J1TLyparpoVTa. M€vavSpov P~TOpOC 7T£P' T£XV'rIC PTJTOP'KijC. 
14 Hermogenes ed. Rabe (Leipzig 1913) pp.414ff. The plural fL£80So. as a title is curiolls 

but not unparalleled; see e.g. Aristides' TExva. PTJ'TOp'Kat. 



310 MENANDER RHETOR AND ALEXANDER CLAUDIUS 

adopted in composing his hymn to Apollo,ls and we may now infer 
from Victor's letter that Menander did in fact write such a book, 
probably not only on how to compose vjLvo£ KA:1]nKol but other kinds 
of hymns and speeches as well, and hence known as Ml(JoSo£. 

The title' EYKciJjLLa, on the other hand, suggests at first sight not a 
rhetorical treatise 7T€P~ EYKWjLlwv like the first chapter of Menander's 
T lxv'1] or n €pt E7TLS€LK'TLKWV, which deals with the EYKcfJjLLOV flaCL'Alwc, 16 

but a collection of laudatory speeches. If we accept this hypothesis it 
would mean that the rhetor Menander was famous not only for his 
theoretical treatises (which does not surprise us) but also for his 
laudatory speeches (of which so far we had heard nothing), so famous 
indeed that they still served as models in Byzantine Egypt two 
centuries later! This seems unlikely when one considers that from 
Cicero's time onwards the only orator who became more and more 
canonical as a model was Demosthenes, a development which culmi­
nated in Hermogenes' evaluation of Demosthenes as <> p~'TWp.17 Con­
sequently, I would not rule out the possibility that the title 'EYKcfJjLLa 

does after all refer to a treatise n€pt EYKWjLlwv rather than to actual 
EYKciJjLLa, although the form of the title would seem to suggest the 
latter. In the absence of further evidence, however, it seems unwise 
to settle on either of these conclusions. 

Having discussed what kind of books Theognostus had borrowed 
from Victor, we may perhaps ask one final question: why did Victor 
want them back so urgently? He was obviously under pressure and in 
a hurry to write a speech, and for this purpose a commentary on 
Demosthenes would have been useful to him in any case, no matter 
what sort of a speech he was about to write. But with Menander's 
writings, which he asks for with equal urgency, it is a different matter: 
all three of them refer to 'A6yo£ E7T£O€£KnKOl, not oLKavLKol, so that we 

15 Rhetcres graed III 33S.23 Spengel: OU xr(ipov S' 'lewe Ka~ -ri]v p.l80Sov, V K£xp~p.£8a ~p.de 
b Tc'jJ K>'1rnKc'jJ T01) 'A1ToMwvoe Vp.v~, {3,{3>.l~ '1Twe 8le8a,. 

18 Rhetcres graed III 368-77 Spengel; see L. Previale, "Teoria e prassi del panegirico 
bizantino," Emerita 17 (1949) 72-105 (esp. 80-83) and Emerita 18 (1950) 340-66; Burgess, 
op.dt. (supra n.12) 113ff and the passages quoted in 113 n.3. 

17 Hermogenes, [[£p' lS£wv p.Z1S.19fT Rabe; p.Z17.1zff Tel: y&p7o, T01) tJTJp.oe8€V'K01) >.O"OV 
Ka8a1T£p£t eTo'X£ta Ka~ apXae £l SlIV1]8dTJp.€V aKpt{3we aUTa €KaeTa Eif,' Eawwv 1Toea Tl EeT' S£tga, 
K~ o'1Tota Ka~ 01TWC ,,{V£Tat T{C T£ ~ 1TPOC cl\,\TJ>'a p,~LC aVTwv Kat T{ SOVavTat TOVS£ ~ TOVS£ 
p.tyvOp.€Va TOV TP01TOV, T&Xa av 1T£pl a1T&VTWV TWV >.6ywv £lPTJKOT£C £'lTJp.€V. p. 279.22. TOT£ p.aMov 

8avp.acToe <> >.o"oc y{v£Ta" OTav S,a TWV EvaVT{wv lS£wv £3 K£Kpap,lvoe '1T£pa{V'l/Tat· SveX£p1Je SE 
'r7 p,tg", Ka~ cX£Sov ouS£k oihw KMWC OUSE TWV apxa{wv ainti KlXP'Y}Tat WC 0 P~TWPJ p.mx y£ 
·Op,TJpov. Cf [[£pt p,£80Sov SftVOTTJTOC 33-34 pp.4SO-S2 Rabe. 



MAEHLER PLATE 10 

P.Rcral. 21 SOoN. recta: LETTER 01' \'IcrOR TO TJ-IEOC-"IOSTlS 

(Hemlllpo/is. \' W1L) 

P.Reral. 21 SOoN, rasa: E:'-ID OF LETTER .\:'-lD ADDRFSS 



HERWIG MAEHLER 311 

may suppose that Victor's aim was not to defend someone in court 
but to write a laudatory speech on some illustrious person, perhaps a 
prominent visitor to Hermupolis whose visit had been announced at 
short notice-but this is, of course, only a guess. 

AEGYPnSCHEs MUSEUM, WEST BERLIN 

February. 1974