APIS Translation (English)
Lines 1-3: "Althaia killed Meleagros with the pitiless firebrand. Polydeukes prevailed over Amykos, the chief of the Bebrykes. Perseus lopped off the head of the direful Gorgon."
Trismegistos 64120 = LDAB 5338 = michigan.apis.2353
Catalog Record: michigan.apis.2353 [xml]
| Title | School poem on mythology |
|---|---|
| Author | Euthychides, son of Kalopos |
| Summary | The papyrus preserves part of a poem which was put to use as a writing exercise. The format is familiar: a teacher supplies a writing model and a pupil's copy follows. Here the pupil fails to finish his assignment. He stops writing before quite completing to copy the first verse in line 5.;Each of the three complete hexameters in the writing model deals with a different mythological event. The lines are arranged so as to form an alphabetical acrostic. We know of numerous such abecadaria designed to aid in the teaching of various subjects, and one of them closely resembles our text in that it deals with mythological subjects as well. It is recorded in the 'Notebook of Papnouthion", lines 18-37. Formally, it differs from the present poem in three ways. First, it is written in iambic trimeters, rather than hexameters; second, the alphabetic pattern is alpha omega, beta psi, gamma chi etc.; and finally, these pairs of verses, rather than individual hexameters, each treat an incident in myth or legend. |
| Citations | Cribiore R, Writing, Teachers, and Students in Graeco-Roman Egypt, 1996, p. 206; Here also, she has corrected the ed. princ.'s note that the "text written across the fibers on the back of a fragment" having put the sign -> rightly for both sides. Daniel RW, Diss, 100-3, 1981, Pl Ic Daniel RW, ZPE 49, 43-4, 1982, Pl Ic |
| Inv. Id | P.Mich.inv. 4953 |
| Support/Dimensions | 1 papyrus ; 11.5 x 9.3 cm. |
| Condition | This medium to dark brown papyrus is broken off to the right, but the text can be easily reconstructed. |
| Lines | 1-6 |
| Recto/Verso | Source of description: Verso |
| Hands | The schoolmaster's hand is a moderately skilled semi-cursive characteristic of the middle or late third century A.D; cp. P. Flor. II 148 (= Schubart, Gr. Pal., pl. 50) of 266/267 A.D. Euychides' hand (hd. 2) falters noticeably as he attempts to reproduce these letter forms. By comparison, his signature, which is written in uncial letters, is neat and confident. The style changes much as does that of a "slow writer" when his model changes. It would seem that, in contrast to the semi-cursive before him, Eutychides had in his mind's eye, as a model for his signature, the basic letter forms he had first learned in school. He had now reached that stage in his writing lessons when he was supposed to change the model and proceed from block letters to cursive. The text is written along the fibers. |
| Origin | unknown |
| Language | Greek |
| Date | III century A.D. |
| Note (general) | Location: Ann Arbor |
| Note (general) | Pub. status: Verso; Recto contains a now nearly illegible account written along the fibers. |
| Note (related) | - |
| Subjects | -; Greek language--Writing--Study and teaching.; Greek language--Writing;vProblems, exercises, etc.; Mythology, Greek.; Iambic trimeter.; Papyrus; literary |
| Associated Names | Althaia; Meleagros; Polydeukes; Amykos; Perseus; Euthychides, son of Kalopos |
| Images | Verso thumbnail |
| Images | Verso medium |
| Images | Verso large |
| License |  This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 License. |
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