Problems in Greek historyMahaffy, J. P. (John Pentland)
History
Problems in Greek history
Mahaffy, J. P. (John Pentland)
Greece -- Historiography; Greece -- History
'The order of the festivals, as Aristotle makes out the list,
is: first, the _Eleusinia_ in honour of the fruit of Demeter;
second, the _Panathenæa_ to commemorate the slaying of the
giant Aster by Athene; third, that which Danaos established at
Argos at the marriage of his daughters; fourth, that of Lykaon
in Arcadia, and called _Lykæa_; fifth, that in Iolkos ordained
by Akastos for his father Pelias; sixth, that ordained by
Sisyphos (_Isthmian?_) in honour of Melikertes: seventh, the
_Olympian_, ordained by Herakles in honour of Pelops; eighth,
that at Nemea, which the Seven against Thebes established in
honour of Archemorus; ninth, that at Troy, which Achilles
celebrated for Patroklos; tenth, the _Pythian_, which the
Amphiktyons established to commemorate the death of the
Python. This is the order which Aristotle, who composed the
treatise called [Greek: Peploi], set out of the ancient
festivals and games.'
This quotation is from a scholiast to Aristides, who is not the only
grammarian who refers to the [Greek: Peploi]: there seems no reason to
question the authenticity of the reference to this book as the work of
Aristotle. It seems to be on the strength of these _Peploi_, with its
only extract now cited, that modern historians have claimed the
authority of the great critic for the Olympian Register! Was there ever
so strange an inference? Is this indeed the _wissenschaftliche
Bearbeitung_ which was begun by Hippias of Elis? Any calm critic free of
prejudice will rather conclude from it that on questions of early
chronology and mythical history Aristotle was a firm believer in legend,
and that he understood his duty to be that of a classifier and arranger
of these stories rather than that of a destructive critic. It is but
another case of acquiescence in a sceptic, such as I have described in
the text above. This being Aristotle's attitude as regards the
foundation of the feast, his authority as to the beginning of the
Register would be probably worthless. But as a matter of fact we know
nothing about it.
These considerations are, however, of great importance in dealing with
an objection or reservation made to my argument by Mr. Bury, who, while
he accepts my conclusions as regards the Olympiads, thinks that the
early dates for the Sicilian settlements rest on better evidence, seeing
that they are sanctioned by the much older and greater authority of
Thucydides, who was certainly critical about many of his dates, and
cautious in expressing a positive opinion.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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