The Mortar of Leukadian Artemis Huxley, George Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies; Fall 1972; 13, 3; ProQuest pg. 309

Two Notes on Hellenistic Poems 

George Huxley 

I 

The Mortar of Leukadian Artemis 

ONE OF THE SUBJECTS discussed by Kallimachos in the Aitia was 
the reason why the goavov of Artemis in Leukas wore a 
mortar on the head. The Diegesis to fr.31b-e Pfeiffer (P.Oxy. 

2263 fr.1 ii 9-30) quotes the poet's initial words of enquiry to the Muses 
and then gives the explanation. 

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309 



310 TWO NOTES ON HELLENISTIC POEMS 

The order of events is for the most part clear. Epeirotes raid Leukas. 
They enter the sanctuary of Artemis and see the goddess crowned 
with a golden wreath. Mockingly they replace it with a mortar in 
which they had pounded their garlic. The Leukadians remove the 
mortar and put a new wreath in place. When it falls off, they nail it 
to the g6avov, but it falls off again. It is put back again after three days 
but does not stay in place (line 30 Mil (.t£[t]va[v }TO[C). The last event is 
not clearly fixed in the sequence, since the text of Kallimachos him­
self suggests that the crown was found in the morning of three 
successive days at the foot of the statue before the Leukadians decided 
to consult Apollo.1 But (.t£8' ~(.t€pac Tp£'iC could mean <two days later' 
here. 

[ 
[ ].[ 

7}o'ioc 7TPO 7T09WV[ 
" "\ , ..... [ 7](.taT £7T£t TP~~ TOVT9 

5 1}Av80v' wV9Mcp[v 

[ 

~~~9~ rii KOVpYl [ 

£p,[ 

In fr.31c line 6 Apollo perhaps is explaining that Artemis does not 
desire to wear a wreath any more, now that the original has been 
taken; or even that she likes to wear the mortar. 

On coins of Leukas after 168 B.C. a statue of Artemis is represented 
with a stag.2 There is a crescent moon above her head, but she wears 
no mortar, and Pfeiffer remarks "fabula adhuc ignota erat." 

A version of the tale can however be traced to Aristotle through 
the Excerpta Politiarum of Herakleides Lembos (45, p.l8 Dilts): 
1\6 \ ' ~, ~ 'A I ~ \ I ,.,' ~ l:. I ~ lY.lOI\OTTOt u£ T7]C pT£(.tWOC CVI\7]caVT£C TO t£pOV Kat TOV ~oavov XPVCOVV 
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, II I A' IQ \ • ll' , " • 'll H h £7TW£VTWV, TOVTova7T£/"al\£V 7] u£OC KCt.t Xa(.tCt.t KH(.t£VOC £Vp£U7]. ere t e 
raiders are specifically Molottians, not Epeirotes, and the statue is 

1 R. Pfeiffer, Callimachus II (Oxford 1953) 109 and 111. 
a Pfeiffer, op.at. 111, rejecting the idea ofE. Curtius (Hermes 10 [1876] 243) that the goddess 

on the coins is 'A,ppo8lT"f/ Alv£tck Curtius was followed by B. V. Head, Historia Numcrum3 

(Oxford 1911) 330-31. For coins ofLeukadian Artemis see also B.M. Catalogue of Greek Coins. 
Thessaly to Aetolia (London 1883, repro Bologna 1963) 179-82. 



GEORGE HUXLEY 311 

venerated by Kephallenians. not by Leukadians. (}v€tav from (}vctav 

is an easy correction.3 The Herakleidean excerpts are notoriously 
inconsequential, but enough is preserved to show that Aristotle had 
already given a version of the tale found in Kallimachos. In the Aitia 
the story is set in Leukas. but Aristotle brings the Molottians to 
Kephallenia-or just possibly to a mainland sanctuary to which the 
Kephallenians had access. 

An epithet of Artemis common in northwestern Greece (notably 
at Kalydon) is Laphria. Aristotle's Kephallenian Artemis is almost 
certainly Artemis Laphria. because Antoninus Liberalis (40.2. p.66 
Papathomopoulos) identifies the Laphria of the Kephallenians with 
Britomartis, who is the equivalent of Artemis. 

To conclude: in northwest Greek lore a statue of Artemis lost its 
wreath to Molottian or Epeirote raiders. who put a mortar on the 
head of the goddess. The wreath substituted by the Leukadians or 
the Kephallenians could not be kept on the head of the goavov and 
it became clear, perhaps after Apollo had been consulted. that the 
goddess did not want the substitute. Versions of the tale were given 
by Aristotle and Kallimachos, both of whom explained that the 
goddess wore a mortar because the raiders had put one on her head 
in jest.4 

3 As suggested by W. H. Willis. 
4 For the possibility that the mortar was made of lead see Pfeiffer, op.cit. (supra n.1) 109, 

on fr.31d. Kallim. fr.605, iv' ''Tpl.pavro p.vcw'T6v, E. Lobel suggests, may come from the story 
of the mortar (p.Oxy. xx p.129). 



Midas and Odonia (Nicander fr. 74.11-13) Huxley, George Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies; Fall 1972; 13, 3; ProQuest pg. 312

312 TWO NOTES ON HELLENISTIC POEMS 

II 
Midas and Odonia (Nicander fr.74.11-13) 

I N BOOK XV Athenaios quotes from Nicander's Georgika Book II a 
long fragment describing flowers which are suitable for wreaths 
(683A-684D=fr.74 Schneider). The poet recommends the cutting 

of rose shoots and the planting of them in trenches (lines 9-10). Next 
he mentions famous kinds of rose-Emathian, Nisaian of Megara, 
Phaselite, and the roses of Magnesia ad Maeandrum. The Emathian 
roses are specially praised (lines 11-13): 

7TpW'Ta /LEV' QSov{7]{}€ M{S7]c a7T€p 'ActSoc &:px~v 
\' '\ , "'/" 'H {} , 1\€t7TWV €V KI\7]potCW aVE'Tp€'f'EV /La LOLCW 

" • 'c 1 'c' 1\ aLEV €C €c;7]KOV'Ta 7TEpLC; KO/LOWV'Ta 7TE'T7]I\otC 

11 'Q8ovLr]flE Schweighauser, 'Q80VL'T}CO€ A. 12 'Hp.aO{oLcLV Weston, ~p.a'Tt­
OLCLV A. 

Gow and Scholfield in their edition! comment, "On the <gardens 
of Midas' in eastern Macedonia and their lOO-petalled roses see Hdt. 
8.138, Theophr. H.P. 6.6.4. The Odones appear to be the same as the 
Edones, but Emathia is some way west of their district." The Edones 
or Odones belong to the neighbourhood of Mount Pangaion in Thrace. 
Their name is found in various forms: 'H8wVEC, 'HSwvo{ and "080VEC, 
the last in the BaccapLKa of Dionysios (fr.8 Heitsch) as well as in the 
r€WPYLKa of Nicander. The old name 'OSWv{c2 of Thasos shows that 
Edonians or Odonians were thought to have settled in the island, but 
there seems to be no substance to the theory in the Lykophron scholia 
(419, 2.154 Scheer), according to which 'HSWVEC occupied the coast 
and 'H8wvo{ the hinterland of Thrace. 

The <gardens of Midas' in Macedonia lay at the northwestern 
extremity of the Emathian plain and the foot of the Bermian range.3 

1 Nicander, Poems and Poetical Fragments, ed. A. S. F. Cow and A. F. Scholfield (Cambridge 
1953) 211. 

a Hesych. s.v. 'OSwvtc ('gSovlc Meineke)· ~ eacoc T~ 1TaACU, and see Chr. Danoff in Der 
kleine Pauly II (1967) 201 s.v. EnONES. 

3 For the situation of the 'gardens of Midas· in the neighbourhood of Edessa see A. J. 
Toynbee, Some Problems of Greek History (London 1969) 145. Midas also had mines here­
abouts: Kallisthenes, FGrHist 124 F 54. 



GEORGE HUXLEY 313 

Here, according to Herodotos (8.138.2-3), roses grow wild, of them­
selves (avTb}L(X:ra); they have sixty petals each,4 and are sweeter 
smelling than any other roses. 

In the passage of the Historia Plantarum (6.6.4) mentioned by Cow 
and Scholfield, Theophrastos describes how the people of Philippi, 
having gathered roses on Mount Pangaion, used to grow them in 
their gardens. So Nicander's reference to both Odonia and Emathia 
is deliberate: Midas, travelling westwards from Asia, collects roses 
of Odonia on or near Mount Pangaion and later plants shoots from 
them in his Emathian gardens. Lines 11 to 13 of fr.7 4 therefore mean: 
"First those which Midas, when he left his kingdom in Asia, took 
from Odonia and raised in Emathia, ever crowned with full sixty 
petals in a ring."5 

It is a remarkable feature of the Midas tale in Nicander that the 
king migrates from Asia to Europe. In the original story Briges of 
Macedonia migrated into Asia, where, according to Herodotos, they 
changed their name to Phryges6 (some of them, however, the Bpvyot, 
stayed behind in Macedonia).7 An eastwards movement of Phrygians 
into Asia is also reported by Xanthos of Lydia (FGrHist 765 F 14), who 
dated it after the Trojan War. Justin-Trogus CEpit. 7.1.7), whose 
source for the Macedonian Midas story is almost certainly 
Theopompos of Chios,s related how Karanos the Argive expelled 
Midas from part of Macedonia-to Asia with Phrygians presumably; 
and Theopompos himself had told ofSilenos and his capture by Midas 
or Midas' shepherds in Macedonia.9 

4 Tertull. De Corona 31 believed them to be lOa-petalled: centenariis quoque rosis de horto 
Midae lectis (ch. xiv Migne). 

5 For the roses ofPangaios or Pangaion see also Plin. NH 21.17. Varieties of ancient roses 
and their cultivation are discussed in RE 7 (1910) 774-78 and by W. L. Carter, Antiquity 14 

(1940) 25off. Another Thracian mountain whereon roses grew was Rhodope, as its name 
implies. The Macedonian word for <rose' was afJayvov: see Hesych. s.v. afJayva' palla, 
MaK€llov€c. The reading of H in the previous line, a/-LapaVTWV (a 44 Latte), shows that palla 
<a/-Lapav-ra> is a possible supplement here. With a{1ayva P. Kretschmer compares the 
name ·YayvtC (Glotta 3 [1912] 157). Pierian roses (named after the Macedonian mountain) 
appear in literature as early as Sappho (fr.55 Lobel/Page). 

6 Hdt. 7.73, noted by Steph.Byz. S.v. Bp{y€c. According to Arabic versions of the pur­
ported letter of Aristotle to Alexander the Great an Attalos, seemingly a Macedonian, 
drove the Phrygians over to Asia. See S. M. Stern, Aristotle and the World State (Oxford 1968) 
6 and n.l. 

7 Hdt. 6.45; 7.1S5.2. 
8 See E. A. Fredricksmeyer, CP 56 (1961) 161-62, on Theopompos, FGrHist ll5 F 393. 
9 FGrHist 115 F 74b and 75a,b,c, and see Arist. fr.44 Rose. 



314 TWO NOTES ON HELLENISTIC POEMS 

Thus the pre-Hellenistic story of Midas and the Phrygians of 
Macedonia related how the king and his people migrated from the 
neighbourhood of the gardens by Mount Bermion to Asia Minor, 
but Nicander has Midas migrating in the opposite direction. Nor is 
he the only Hellenistic poet to bring him westwards from Asia. A 
westward migration is found also in Euphorion, who declared that 
there were Phrygians, Lydians and people who had crossed with 
Midas from Asia in the neighbourhood of Edessa (or Aigai) before 
Karanos settled there;lO and Lykophron (Alex. 1397-1408) has Midas 
campaigning in Thrace at least as far west as Pallene to avenge the 
wrong done to his Trojan kin in the sack of Troy.u There is no 
obligation to look for historical fact in this construction, but it is 
clear that Nicander in the three lines of Georgika II, in mentioning the 
migration of Midas to Macedonia, shares an elaborate theory with 
Euphorion and Lykophron. 

It is hard to say who invented the theory and what his motive was. 
The idea may well have appealed to Euphorion the Chalcidian, who 
became librarian at Antioch and could identify himself with the 
far-ranging ambitions of his Asiatic patron, Antiochos the Great, but 
the inventor of the theory remains unidentified. His motive was to 
provide more evidence for the continuous clash between East and 
West: the alleged migration of Midas to Emathia helped to fill the 
long gap between the sack of Troy and Persian wars, and so, it could 
be claimed, the Trojans did not have to wait until the time of Xerxes 
to be avenged by the Asiatics. Lykophron emphasises the alternating 
struggle of the continents when, between the invasions of Midas and 
Xerxes, he mentions the many blows of Ares (1409-11): 

, 'A 1;.'" , , ' t; I " t; 71"OI\/\WV 0 EVal\/\a~ 7T7]J.Larwv a7rap~ EraL 

Kavoatoc ~ MaJ.LEproC ~ rt Xp-YJ KaAEtV 
, f',I,. f I , 

roy aLJ.LO'f'vprov. EcnWJ.LEVOV J.LaXaLC; 

10 Euphor. fr.30 Scheidweiler (p.36, diss. Bonn 1908)=schol. Clem.Alex. Prot. 11.8. 
H Commenting on the words 0 tPpve 8' &8€}',pwv (v.I. &8€}.,pov) the scholiasts on line 1397 

note 7T€pt 7'OV Ml80v UY€I, OC7'lC 7ToMd: p.EfYTI Ka7'€8pap.€ rijc @pq.K7'Jc, ';;7'01 '7TOp(J7]C€. OVTOC ovv, 
,p7]d, 7'0 arp.a rijc IO.€07Ta7'paC 7'Ip.wpovp.€voc. E. Scheer (2.385 of his edition) and G. W. Mooney 
(in loco) find the reference to Kleopatra enigmatic. The allusion may be to the bloody 
blinding of the Phineidai, the two sons of Kleopatra, who as daughter of Boreas suits the 
Thracian context (for the sons see Jebb on Soph. Ant. 966, Pearson on Soph. fr.704 and 
Jacoby on Arrian 156 F 77). But it is easier to suppose, with Mooney (The Alexandra of 
Lycophron [London 1921] 151), that &8€}.,pov refers to the kinship of Phrygians and Trojans. 
For the kinship cf Steph.Byz. S.v. Bply€c ••• Ka~ Bplyla ~ TpWIK..]. 



GEORGE HUXLEY 315 

To conclude, Nicander uses one part (the westward journey of Midas 
into Macedonia) of an elaborate geopolitical myth to explain why 
there were roses in the C gardens of Midas' -the king transplanted 
them thither from Mount Pangaion. A version of the myth of 
perpetual struggle between Europeans and Asiatics is at least as old as 
Herodotos' first book, but its most exotic developments belong to 
the Hellenistic age. 

THE QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY OF BELFAST 

May, 1972