Paean

"From Euripides’ tragedy to Plato’s philosophy, up to the erudite Callimachean poetry, an interesting association can be observed between mentions of Delos and its swans and the transition from the threnodic expression of sorrow to the liberating, healing power of paean. This article begins with a brief excursus into the Homeric epic, to discover the most ancient coexistence between threnos and paean, and into archaic liric poetry and Homeric Hymns, to find the origins of the swan connotated as the Apollinean bird of poetry; the focus then shifts to some passages in Euripides (Heracles, Ion and Iphigenia in Tauris), Plato (Phaedo) and Callimachus (Hymn to Delos and Hymn to Apollo), in which the swan lake of Delos is mentioned, trying to understand its significance and permanent features."

This paper argues that the interplay between the narrative and performance of Pindar’s eighth paean embeds it within the physical environment of Delphi, at the site of the Alcmaeonid temple for which it was composed. The use of choreographic and musical images to describe the temple’s mythical predecessors merges with the chorus’s own choreia, which thus has a doubling effect, visually and acoustically overlaying the Alcmaeonid temple with these older structures in a complex interaction of real and imagined space.

The antistrophic section of Ion’s monody (Eur. Ion 112-143) is formally a paean, but on the level of the content paean’s traditional elements are used in a peculiar way, intermingled with other ones that are unusual for this choral genre. Strophe and antistrophe display structural analogies and oppositions, but in both of them the main point is Ion. Ion’s service to Apollo is at the same time reason for gratitude, thanksgiving, praise of the god and object of request;
its characteristic feature is continuity in time. Through the solo performance and the emphasis on “Ich-Paian” the paean becomes a description of the relationship between Ion and Apollo.

The paper is the first part of S. Barbantani’s contribution "Lyric for the Rulers, Lyric for the People: The Transformation of Some Lyric Subgenres in Hellenistic Poetry", in E. Sistakou (ed.), "Hellenistic Lyricism: Traditions and Transformations of a Literary Mode"
(Trends in Classics 9, 2), Berlin - Boston 2017, pp. 339-399 (which discusses encomiastic lyric, epinikion in Callimachus, Posidippus and inscriptional epigram, literary epithalamia, threnoi and epikedeia, poems in stichic lyric meters, Carmina popularia, anthologies for symposiastic use and mimes). This contribution analyses how some of the main lyric
genres developed in archaic and classical Greek poetry underwent transformation in the Hellenistic period, following social, political and cultural changes. The paper specifically explores lyric poetry produced ‘for the gods’ (hymns, esp. paeans, preserved on stone and on papyrus).

Η υγειονομική και κοινωνική κρίση λόγω της πανδημίας COVID-19, ανέδειξε την
ανομοιογενή κι υφέρπουσα ευαλωτότητα στον πλανήτη. Ταυτόχρονα, την ανάγκη να «συμβαδίσει»
η ανθρωπότητα για την αντιμετώπιση της. Η πανδημία αυτή δεν υπήρξε η πρώτη στην ιστορία.
Ενάντια στις νόσους, ο άνθρωπος αναζήτησε πρακτικές ίασης, εξαγνισμού, καθαρμού. Η πανάρχαια
ελληνική κληρονομιά αποδεικνύει τη συστηματοποίηση της ιατρικής από την Εποχή του Χαλκού. Η
ύπαρξη της λέξης γιατρός στην Γραμμική Α και Β και της λέξης Παιάν, όνομα του θεϊκού γιατρού -
γνωστό προσωνύμιο του Απόλλωνος και η παιάνια ωδή του, αποδεικνύουν τις παμπάλαιες εναγώνιες
προσπάθειες του ανθρώπου να απαλλαχθεί από τα δεινά. Επιπλέον, και την ανάγκη του για καλή
αρχή εγχειρημάτων, εξύμνησης του θριάμβου και της ευγνωμοσύνης προς τον/τους θεραπευτή/ές
θεό/ούς. Έφτασε ως τις μέρες μας ως εμβατήριο. Ο παιάνας για χιλιάδες χρόνια συνοδεύει ποιητικά
και ρυθμικά τον «βηματισμό» της εξέλιξης, ρίχνοντας «ηχηρό» και ενίοτε «εκκωφαντικό» φως κατά
των συμφορών της ανθρωπότητας.

The use of apotropaic prayers or wishes by female tragic choruses has not been left unnoticed by contemporary scholars.  In Aeschylus’ Seven against Thebes, the members of the female chorus sing apotropaic prayers for the salvation of the city (lines 104-80, 219-22, 251). In Euripides, there are many examples of apotropaic songs performed by female choruses (Med. 632-52; Hipp. 364-5, 525-9, 1111-9; Andr. 469-70; Hel. 361-2; I.A. 554-7, 785-6). In most of these cases, the members of the female chorus contrast their situation with the main hero or heroine who suffers, according to them, from excessive or manic love. They explicitly express their wish that they will be spared from this malady that is capable of causing mental confusion, domestic conflict, sorrow, and destroying their lives. As apotropaic songs face an inherent contradiction in that one must name the thing to be averted even though speaking words of negative meaning may be dangerous, these tragic passages are imbued with the language of lament  or the language of curses, as we encounter it in literary curses and erotic defixiones. The aim of this paper is to construct a reading of these tragic passages within the context of attested real-life apotropaic prayers (such as apotropaic paeans) and recited or sung verse (apotropaic iambics and hexameters), as well with ancient Greek laments for fallen cities and erotic defixiones. More specifically, I suggest that these passages are examples of tragedy’s religious exploration  and question the normative engagement of religious issues relating to apotropaic song.

"From Euripides’ tragedy to Plato’s philosophy, up to the erudite Callimachean poetry, an interesting association can be observed between mentions of Delos and its swans and the transition from the threnodic expression of sorrow to the liberating, healing power of paean. This article begins with a brief excursus into the Homeric epic, to discover the most ancient coexistence between threnos and paean, and into archaic liric poetry and Homeric Hymns, to find the origins of the swan connotated as the Apollinean bird of poetry; the focus then shifts to some passages in Euripides (Heracles, Ion and Iphigenia in Tauris), Plato (Phaedo) and Callimachus (Hymn to Delos and Hymn to Apollo), in which the swan lake of Delos is mentioned, trying to understand its significance and permanent features."

At Aeschylus Agamemnon 985 the manuscript reading ψαμμίας ἀκάτα is corrupt, giving neither meter nor sense. Wilamowitz’ conjecture ψάμμος ἄμπτα has met with some editorial approval, but its sense is dubious and should be rejected. I propose instead ψάλλον ἀκταῖς, “they were plucking on the shore”, referring to the performance of a paean on the lyre by the Greek fleet departing for, or, less likely, arriving at, Troy. The fleet’s departure would be an appropriate time for the soldiers to perform a paean, for which the lyre was a common accompaniment. Plucking a lyre without strumming, however, as ψάλλον implies, seems to have been a less common performance technique, sometimes culturally marked as ‘Asian’. While there is evidence that a paean with plucked accompaniment might have seemed unexceptional to a Greek audience, if Aeschylus did intend an Asian connotation, I suggest that the Chorus, having just witnessed Agamemnon tread on the purple cloths, would thereby portray the Greek army as already tainted by tryphe on their departure for Troy. Whether ‘Greek’ or ‘Trojan’, the conjectured army’s paean would form an effective counterpoint to the lyre-less threnos in the Chorus’ heart that dominates the ode.

Der Dionysus-Paian des Philodamos Scarphaeus, ein Beispiel epigraphicher Paiandichtung aus dem 4. Jahrhundert v. Chr., gilt im Rahmen der erhaltenen Paiane und in Bezug auf gängige Definitionen dieses Genres als atypischer Paian. Vor allem in Bezug auf eine Definition des Paians als Apollo's Hymne, kann die ungewöhnliche Wahl des Adressaten als interpretatives Problem betrachtet werden. Obwohl die Probleme einer einheitlichen Definition des Genres gut bekannt sind, muss die Wahl des Adressaten mindestens in Philodam's Zeit als Innovation gegolten haben, da im Text ein legitimierender Teil vorliegt. Selbstlegitimierung und Autoreferenzialität sind bedeutende Komponenten nicht nur dieses, sondern auch anderer epigraphischer Paiane, deshalb müssen sie als konstitutive Elemente dieses Paian-Typus betrachtet werden. In dieser Perspektive ist besonders der Paian an Apollo und Asklepios des Isyllos in den Vergleich einzubeziehen. Die Legitimierung des Adressaten und die Genre-Hybridisierung, die daraus hervorgeht, muss man wahrscheinlich als literarisches Mittel zu einem außertextuellen Zweck verstehen, in diesem Fall handelt es sich wahrscheinlich um Reformen in lokaler Glaubenspraxis. In Bezug auf diesen geplanten Synkretismus, der aus lokalen Gegebenheiten hervorgegangen sein könnte, und Unterschiede zu synkretistischen Prozesse im Hellenismus, scheint es angemessener, diesen Paian im Rahmen allgemeiner Charakteristiken der altgriechischen Glaubenswelt sowie einer zweckgebundenen Anwendung von Mythologie, als in einer historischen Perspektive (der Paian als Übergangspunkt zwischen klassicher und hellenistischer Literatur) zu verstehen.