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A Community of Workers in Leonidas of Tarentum

Une communauté de travailleurs à Léonidas de Tarente
Una comunità di lavoratori in Leonida di Tarento
Claire-Emmanuelle Nardone

Résumés

L’épigrammiste hellénistique Léonidas de Tarente a hérité de la représentation des travailleurs qui a été façonnée par la culture et la poésie grecques archaïques et classiques, notamment par Homère. Cette représentation comprenait des catégories de professionnels clairement distinctes et séparées, et un statut spécifique du travailleur dans l’oikos et dans la société. Cependant, comme cet épigrammatiste redéfinit les traditions littéraires en représentant des personnages humbles en tant que classe d’individus, il crée une nouvelle représentation d’une communauté de professionnels. Cet article se concentrera sur deux aspects de cette représentation qui sont distincts de leur modèle homérique, mais permettent à l’épigrammatiste de s’y référer : la présence chez Léonidas d’allusions à des réseaux de personnes qui pratiquent le même métier et le fait que ces réseaux font partie d’une plus grande communauté de professionnels, qui transcende les frontières traditionnelles, professionnelles et/ou de genre.

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1While lower-class characters were rarely present in archaic and classical Greek poetry, they enjoyed popularity among hellenistic artists and poets, such as the epigrammatist Leonidas of Tarentum. Close to half of his epigrams deal with humble characters and themes.

2Many of these epigrams explicitly commemorate rustic or urban workers, such as fishermen, hunters, carpenters, and weavers. Leonidas inherited the representations of professionals which were shaped by archaic and classical Greek culture and poetry and describes their activities with a highly refined style and constant references to Homer. However, he reshapes their representation by creating a “community of workers,” whose originality I would like to highlight through a comparison with the Homeric representation of professional activity. I will focus first on professional communities as horizontal social networks in Leonidas, and then on the creation of a community of professionals which transcends traditional professional boundaries.

  • 1 J.‑P. Vernant, Mythe et pensée chez les Grecs. Études de psychologie historique, nouv. éd. rev. et (...)

3The Homeric world is not the same as Leonidas’ Hellenistic one, and the specific reception of Homer by Leonidas is partly caused by the social differences between the Archaic and Hellenistic worlds. As Vernant asserts, only craftmanship was considered as a profession1 during the archaic and classical periods. Fishing, hunting, agriculture, and weaving, for example, do not appear in Homer as professional activities. Leonidas thus deals both with professions which were evoked as such by Homer, but also with professions which were not, such as those of professional hunters, fishermen, or gardeners. Thus, in order to compare the way Leonidas and Homer deal with the notion of community in the representation of professional activity, I will focus on Homer’s representation of craftsmen’s activity.

From vertical to horizontal social networks

  • 2 Cf. K. A. Raaflaub, “Homeric Society,” in I. Morris, B. Powell (eds.), A New Companion to Homer, Le (...)
  • 3 Od., III, 425–438: “εἷς δ᾽ αὖ χρυσοχόον Λαέρκεα δεῦρο κελέσθω / ἐλθεῖν, ὄφρα βοὸς χρυσὸν κέρασιν πε (...)

4Professional community in Leonidas takes the place of the specific community or oikos professionals are members of in Homeric society, when they are not represented as demiourgoi, that is persons who travel individually from town to town.2 Indeed, professionals in Homer work under the orders of a master and take part to the fate of the community through the good they make: this is particularly obvious in the case of the gilder Laerkes, who gilds the horns of an animal under Nestor’s orders, so that the sacrifice may be approved by the divinity and may have positive consequences for all the community.3

  • 4 Concerning social networks in ancient Greek world, I refer to C. Taylor, K. Vlassopoulos (eds.), Co (...)

5Leonidas, on the contrary, does not mention any vertical structure. He inserts professionals into a horizontal network of persons4 who practise the same profession, by highlighting their solidarity and mentioning little groups of colleagues.

  • 5 I refer to A. S. F. Gow, D. L. Page, The Greek Anthology. Hellenistic Epigrams, Cambridge, CUP, 196 (...)

6The solidarity of persons who practise the same profession is alluded to in the funerary context. It takes the place of family bonds for Theris, an aged fisherman who survived the perils of the sea to die of old age in his hut5 (20 GP = AP VII, 295):

Θῆριν τὸν τριγέροντα, τὸν εὐάγρων ἀπὸ κύρτων
      ζῶντα, τὸν αἰθυίης πλείονα νηξάμενον,
ἰχθυσιληιστῆρα, σαγηνέα, χηραμοδύτην,
      οὐχὶ πολυσκάλμου πλώτορα ναυτιλίης,
ἔμπης οὔτ᾿ Ἀρκτοῦρος ἀπώλεσεν οὔτε καταιγίς                                5
      ἤλασε τὰς πολλὰς τῶν ἐτέων δεκάδας,
ἀλλ᾿ ἔθαν᾿ ἐν καλύβῃ σχοινίτιδι, λύχνος ὁποῖα,
      τῷ μακρῷ σβεσθεὶς ἐν χρόνῳ αὐτόματος·
σῆμα δὲ τοῦτ᾿ οὐ παῖδες ἐφήρμοσαν οὐδ᾿ ὁμόλεκτρος
      ἀλλὰ συνεργατίνης ἰχθυβόλων θίασος.                                   10

  • 6 Translations: The Greek Anthology, trans. W. R. Paton, Cambridge, Harvard University Press, The Loe (...)

“Theris, the old man who got his living from his lucky weels, who rode on the sea more than a gull, the preyer on fishes, the seine-hauler, the prober of crevices in the rocks, who sailed on no many-oared ship, in spite of all owed not his end to Arcturus, nor did any tempest drive to death his many decades, but he died in his reed hut, going out like a lamp of his own accord owing to his length of years. This tomb was not set up by his children or wife, but by the guild of his fellow fishermen.”6

  • 7 G. Zanker, “Characterization in Hellenistic Epigram,” in P. Bing, J. Bruss (eds.), Brill’s Companio (...)
  • 8 A. S. F. Gow, D. L. Page, The Greek Anthology, op. cit., II, p. 330. Cf. P. Ismard, La cité des rés (...)

7Theris was not buried by his children or his wife (v. 9), but by a guild of fellow fishermen, συνεργατίνης ἰχθυβόλων θίασος (v. 10), who also commissioned the epigram.7 The word θίασος here is probably used to refer to an association or companionship with no religious structure,8 and the hapax συνεργατίνης highlights the element its members have in common, that is their profession. This kind of informal association seems to develop during the Hellenistic period. Such a professional group seems to be embodied by a single person in the epigram about the fisherman Parmis (66 GP = AP VII, 504), in a context which also alludes to solidarity:

Πάρμις ὁ Καλλιγνώτου ἐπακταῖος καλαμευτής
ἄκρος καὶ κίχλης καὶ σκάρου ἰχθυβολεύς
καὶ λάβρου πέρκης δελεάρπαγος ὅσσα τε κοίλας
σήραγγας πέτρας τ᾿ ἐμβυθίους νέμεται
ἄγρης ἐκ πρώτης ποτ᾿ ἰουλίδα πετρήεσσαν                                5
δακνάζων ὀλοὴν ἐξ ἁλὸς ἀράμενος
ἔφθιτ᾿· ὀλισθηρὴ γὰρ ὑπὲκ χερὸς ἀίξασα
ᾤχετ᾿ ἐπὶ στεινὸν παλλομένη φάρυγα.
χὠ μὲν μηρίνθων καὶ δούνακος ἀγκίστρων τε
ἐγγὺς ἀπὸ πνοιὴν ἧκε κυλινδόμενος.                                      10
νήματ᾿ ἀναπλήσας ἐπιμοίρια· τοῦ δὲ θανόντος
Γρίπων ὁ γριπεὺς τοῦτον ἔχωσε τάφον.

“Parmis, Callignotus’ son, the shore-fisher, a first class hand at catching wrasse and scaros and the perch, greedy seizer of the bait, and all fish that live in crevices and on rocky bottoms, met his death by biting a rock-dwelling iulis from his first catch of the day, a fish he lifted from the sea for his destruction; for slipping from his fingers, it went wriggling down his narrow gullet. So breathed he his last, rolling over in agony, near his lines, rod, and hooks, fulfilling the doom the destinies spun for him, and Gripôn the fisherman built him this tomb.”

  • 9 Cf. A. S. F. Gow, D. L. Page, The Greek Anthology, op. cit., II, p. 328.

8The deceased is buried by “Gripôn the fisherman” (Γρίπων ὁ γριπεὺc, v. 12), that is to say “Fisher the fisherman. Paradoxically,” the proper name seems to have been chosen in order to turn the mourner into a personification of the whole profession. The deceased of other professional fields are buried or honoured by their colleagues as well, for example: shepherds9 (19 GP = AP VII, 657), and sailors (65 GP = AP VII, 506).

9Daily companionship is also alluded to in Leonidas’ votive epigrams: small groups of colleagues, who actually work together, are mentioned within the context of communal dedications. What seems to be the largest group of this kind is mentioned in the case of goatherds making a communal dedication to Zeus after being spared by a lion (53 GP = AP VI, 221). More frequently, the group includes only a few individualized workers, for example three (42 GP = AP VI, 289) and four (41 GP = AP VI, 288) female wool workers, or two musicians (43 GP = AP V, 206). The companionship often corresponds to a family bond.

  • 10 See also ἔργατις (workwoman), which qualifies the weavers’ shuttle in 42 GP (= AP VI, 289), and συρ (...)

10Moreover, one can observe that work tools are occasionally referred to as work companions for female professionals, especially thanks to personification: for example, the spindle (ἄτρακτος) is a “fellow-worker” (συνέριθος, v. 3) for Platthis, an old woman who works alone10 (72 GP = AP VII, 726):

Ἑσπέριον κἠῷον ἀπώσατο πολλάκις ὕπνον
      ἡ γρηῢς πενίην Πλατθὶς ἀμυνομένη,
καί τι πρὸς ἠλακάτην καὶ τὸν συνέριθον ἄτρακτον
      ἤεισεν πολιοῦ γήραος ἀγχίθυρος
καί τι παριστίδιος δινευμένη ἄχρις ἐπ᾿ ἠοῦς                                5
      κεῖνον Ἀθηναίης σὺν Χάρισιν δόλιχον,
ἢ ῥικνή ῥικνοῦ περὶ γούνατος ἄρκιον ἱστῷ
      χειρὶ στρογγύλλους᾿ ἱμερόεσσα κρόκην·
ὀγδωκονταέτις δ᾿ Ἀχερούσιον ηὔγασεν ὕδωρ
      ἡ καλὰ καὶ καλῶς Πλατθὶς ὑφηναμένη.                              10

“Old Platthis often repelled from her her evening and morning sleep, keeping poverty away, and near the door of gray old age used to sing a tune to her spindle and familiar distaff. Still by the loom until the dawn she revolved in company with the Graces that long task of Pallas, or, a wrinkled and loveable figure, smoothed with her hand on her wrinkled knee the thread sufficient for the loom. Aged eighty years comely Platthis who wove so well set eyes on the lake of Acheron.”

  • 11 K. Gutzwiller, Poetic Garlands. Hellenistic Epigrams in Context, Berkeley, University of California (...)

11On a larger scale, one may also suggest that in the context of a poetry book, professional companionship may be alluded to also through the presence within the collection of different poems dealing with the same profession, even if each of these poems concern a single character:11 this may be the case, for example, of the epigrams about carpenters (7 GP = AP VI, 204 and 8 GP = AP VI, 205), fishermen, hunters, and sailors. In each of these categories, it comes as no surprise that communal lexical and thematic elements link the epigrams, especially concerning work tools: for example, many sailors in Leonidas use small boats and both carpenters use the τρύπανον (borer) and the πέλεκυς (axe).

12The context of professional work is thus generally characterised by companionship, be it actual or imaginary, mentioned or alluded to.

   

  • 12 F. Tönnies, Gemeinschaft und Gesellschaft. Abhandlung des Communismus und des Socialismus als empir (...)
  • 13 L. Rossi, The Epigrams Ascribed to Theocritus. A Method of Approach, Leuven, Peeters, Hellenistica (...)
  • 14 A. S. F. Gow, D. L. Page, The Greek Anthology, op. cit., II, p. 353.

13Are these groups communities? If one refers to the sociological vocabulary, at first sight these groups seem to be professional associations or societies, as shown by the expression συνεργατίνης θίασος, which are based more on rational economic considerations, than communities.12 The division of labour which appears in the case of the wool workers seems to confirm the idea that the professional group is brought together by rational interests of efficiency. However, very little is said in the epigrams about the economic and rational aspects of these organisations. When Leonidas evokes the bonds which link the professionals together, he does not evoke the economic interests one would expect, but mentions family bonds or presents colleagues as substitutes for family. This affective aspect, which evokes rather the organic aspect of a community than the structure of an association, is underlined by the pathetic context of funerary epigrams. Moreover, as it happens in the case of communities, the workers are characterised as members of a professional type more than as individuals,13 as is shown, in some cases, by their names: for example Gripôn for a fisherman (66 GP = AP VII, 504), or Satyra and Melô (the second name probably alludes to the apple as love token) for musicians and hetairai14 (43 GP = AP V, 206).

14Thus, these groups are represented as horizontal communities whose members share communal fate, social conditions, daily work and are in solidarity with each other.

15The representation of these communities and the way their members socialize with each other seem to be modelled on the modes of elite socialisation in Homer.

  • 15 Il., XXIV, 538-542: ἀλλ᾽ ἐπὶ καὶ τῷ θῆκε θεὸς κακόν, ὅττί οἱ οὔ τι / παίδων ἐν μεγάροισι γονὴ γένετ (...)

16Indeed, the way Leonidas evokes in a funerary context companionship and solidarity of colleagues who share a common experience and fate may allude to the funerary context in which, in the Iliad, the elite community gathers, particularly through the organisation of games and funeral rites. The common fate of heroes is also alluded to in a funerary context in Homer, as is the case in the meeting between Priam and Achilles, when the Achean hero alludes to his imminent death.15

17Concerning the weaver Platthis, Leonidas alludes to Nausicaa’s companions by using the word συνέριθος to qualify the spindle. Indeed, this word was used in Homer to qualify Athena who, when speaking with Nausicaa, takes the appearance of one of her friends and advises the princess to go to the river: Athena tells her she will be her συνέριθος by helping her to wash the cloths and prepare for wedding. In Leonidas, the humble spindle symbolizes a coworker that fully replaces the prestigious companionship of an elite friend who wants to escort a young princess to a river. Similarly, through daily companionship, the spindle will escort the old woman to the river Acheron, which is referred to at the end of Leonidas’ epigram.

18In the case of the musicians, Satyra’s syrinx is described as a “fellow-banqueter” (σύγκωμος, v. 6) and a fellow “syrinx-player” (συριστήρ, v. 7) for Satyra, a musician who plays the syrinx during banquets and κῶμοι (43 GP = AP V, 206):

Μηλὼ καὶ Σατύρη τανυήλικες, Ἀντιγενείδεω
      παῖδες, ταὶ Μουσέων εὔκολοι ἐργάτιδες,
Μηλὼ μὲν Μούσαις Πιμπληίσι τοὺς ταχυχειλεῖς
      αὐλοὺς καὶ ταύτην πύξινον αὐλοδόκην,
ἡ φίλερως Σατύρη δὲ τὸν ἕσπερον οἰνοποτήρων                        5
      σύγκωμον κηρῷ τευξαμένη δόνακα,
ἡδὺν συριστῆρα, σὺν ᾧ πανεπόρφνιος ἠῶ
      ηὔγασεν αὐλείοις ἐγκροτέουσα θύραις.

“Melo and Satyra, the daughters of Antigenides, now advanced in age, the willing work-women of the Muses, dedicate to the Pimpleian Muses, the one her swift-lipped flute and this its box-wood case, and Satyra, the friend of love, her pipe that she joined with wax, the evening companion of banqueters, the sweet whistler, with which all night long she waited to see the day dawn, knocking at the portals.”

  • 16 Od., VIII, 454-457: τὸν δ᾽ ἐπεὶ οὖν δμῳαὶ λοῦσαν καὶ χρῖσαν ἐλαίῳ, / ἀμφὶ δέ μιν χλαῖναν καλὴν βάλο (...)

19The rare word σύγκωμος is used by Homer to qualify the persons who take part in the banquet in Alkinoos’ castle.16 The syrinx may be qualified in this way because by its production of charming music, it functions as a companion for people who enjoy the banquets the epigram deals with. However, the syrinx is also defined as a συριστήρ, that is, Satyra’s exact equal, and thus as a professional and a colleague. Thus, the allusion to phaeacian elite socialization seems to be introduced by the epigrammatist in order to model the professional companionship of musicians on these refined Homeric practices.

No more objects: community beyond professional boundaries

  • 17 J.-P. Vernant, Mythe et pensée chez les Grecs, op. cit., p. 297.
  • 18 M. Ndoye, Groupes sociaux et idéologie du travail…, op. cit., pp. 147–148. Od., XIX, 53–59: ἡ δ᾽ ἴε (...)

20The non-mention of the goods which are produced by the professional in Leonidas seems to be particularly meaningful. Indeed, as Vernant asserts, in ancient Greek thought, workers existed only for the good they make, just as their work tools.17 They produce it and are praised for its quality and usefulness. In Homer, in the case of Icmalios, for example, who made Penelope’s throne, the worker is exclusively mentioned as the maker of an object and his name is inserted in its description.18 The object thus becomes the sign of the worker’s status in the community.

21Leonidas chooses not to mention the good produced, and thus the social and economical contexts which are, so to speak, outside the workshop, but to focus on the tasks which are accomplished by professionals and, thus, on the conditions of their daily labour: in the case of Platthis, as fabric is a traditional symbol of life and as the epigram alludes to the metaphor of death as the end of weaving, her life may be the real work of art Leonidas wants to deal with. In this way, Leonidas cuts across professional distinctions to underline the similarities of different professions, mainly through communal social characteristics, such as poverty, old age and continual labour.

22The mention of these similarities allows him to transcend gender boundaries even if he deals with traditional figures as, for example, farmers and weavers. Indeed, Platthis’ male counterpart is the farmer Cleithon, who died at the age of eighty just as her, after a whole life of hard labour (87 GP = AP VI, 226):

Τοῦτ᾿ ὀ(λίγον) Κλείτωνος ἐπαύλιον †ἥ τ᾿ ὀλιγαῦλαξ
      σπείρεσθαι† λιτός θ᾿ ὁ σχεδὸν ἀμπελεών
τοῦτό τε †ρω παίειν† ὀλιγόξυλον· ἀλλ᾿ ἐπὶ τούτοις
      Κλείτων ὀγδώκοντ᾿ ἐξεπέρης᾿ ἔτεα.

“This is Clito’s little cottage, this his little strip of land to sow, and the scanty vineyard hard by, this is his little wood, but here Clito passed eighty years.”

23Leonidas seems to follow the principles according to which women have to deal with domestic work, in the oikos, whereas men practise outdoor activities. However, the similar characterization and the fact no element of the oikos or of a domestic life is mentioned in the case of Platthis allow the reader to consider both characters as equivalents. Leonidas’ originality in this case is highlighted by the fact aged women are dealt with in a different way by his contemporaries Callimachus and Posidippus: old Hekale, in Callimachus, and Batis the weaver in Posidippus (AB 46) are both valorized in a domestic context, and relationships with children and youngs are mentioned, in a more traditional perspective.

  • 19 K. Gutzwiller, Poetic Garlands, op. cit., p. 93 n. 114.
  • 20 E. Magnelli, “Meter and Diction: From Refinement to Mannerism,” in P. Bing, J. Bruss (eds.), Brill’ (...)
  • 21 See also C.‑E. Nardone, “Métiers,” in D. Meyer, C. Urlacher-Becht (eds.), Dictionnaire de l’épigram (...)

24Leonidas underlines these similarities also through the way he deals with work tools. Indeed, the formal pattern of dedication of work tools particularly contributes to link different professions, for example that of carpenters and weavers, by means of shared stylistic features, such as accumulation and the catalogue structure, and repeated votive expressions.19 As it seems to have been created by Leonidas,20 the use of this new poetic form to deal with different professions may have been a particularly striking way to level them.21

  • 22 Cf. É. Prioux, “Le motif de la chasse dans les épigrammes de l’Anthologie Grecque,” in J. Trinquier (...)

25Moreover, in Leonidas, workers who practise different professions may use the same work tools. This is particularly the case for hunters, fowlers and fishermen, as is shown by the epigram which concerns the dedication of nets to Pan by three brothers (46 GP = AP VI, 13): a hunter, a fowler and a fisherman. Thanks to this communal dedication, Leonidas introduces a tension based on the levelling and the distinction between these three professions, which have in common the use of δίκτυα. The poetic game based on the levelling of these specific activities, which represent the whole world (earth, water, air) when mentioned together, was greatly developed by Leonidas’ many imitators.22

26But the use of similar work tools also characterizes professionals who practise much more different activities. For example, in 2 GP (= AP VI, 211), Leonidas uses the word σαγηνευτήρ to qualify a comb, κτείς, which, with other objects, is dedicated to Aphrodite:

Τὸν ἀργυροῦν Ἔρωτα καὶ περίσφυρον
πέζαν τὸ πορφυρεῦν τε Λεσβίδος κόμης
ἕλιγμα καὶ μηλοῦχον ὑαλόχροα
τὸ χάλκεόν τ᾿ ἔσοπτρον ἠδὲ τὸν πλατύν
τριχῶν σαγηνευτῆρα, πύξινον κτένα,                               5
ὧν ἤθελεν τυχοῦσα, γνησία Κύπρι,
ἐν σαῖς τίθησι Καλλίκλεια παστάσιν.

“Calliclea, her wish having been granted, dedicates in thy porch, true Cypris, the silver statuette of Love, her anklet, the purple caul of her Lesbian hair, her pale-blue bosom-band, her bronze mirror, and the broad box-wood comb that gathered in her locks.”

  • 23 A. S. F. Gow, D. L. Page, The Greek Anthology, op. cit., II, p. 311.

27The noun σαγηνευτήρ means « one who fishes with the seine » and is used, as such, in 20 GP (= AP VII, 295) to qualify the fisherman Theris (σαγηνέα). According to Gow, it is used in 2 GP as a “fanciful description” of the comb, probably because “the net is drawn through the water as a comb through the hair.”23 If one follows the editors who maintain the idea that Callicleia is a former hetaira who is now regularly married, the comb appears as a work tool which is characteristic of her former activity, just like the transparent breast-band, the mirror and the silver statuette of Eros. The action of dressing her hair with the comb to be more attractive, which also alludes to Aphrodite’s gesture, is thus assimilated to the professional gesture of fishermen. The allusion to the context of the sea may be otherwise justified by the link between the themes of sea and love.

  • 24 Od., XXIII, 192–201: τῷ δ᾽ ἐγὼ ἀμφιβαλὼν θάλαμον δέμον, ὄφρ᾽ ἐτέλεσσα, / πυκνῇσιν λιθάδεσσι, καὶ εὖ (...)
  • 25 Cf. Il., XVIII, 468–473 (bellows); A. Marcinkowski, J. Wilgaux, “Automates et créatures artificiell (...)

28Thus, even if Leonidas’ professionals are specialised, as is suitable for the Hellenistic society, the epigrammatist chooses to describe them by bringing together mentions of different kinds of professional activities. In this way, each professional character may allude to others and appear as the allegory of a larger community of professionals. The model for this representation of workers may be that of the most accomplished one, Ulysses, who is frequently alluded to in Leonidas. Indeed, the very talented hero is also a craftsman who is able to practise very different crafts and acts as a carpenter, a saddler and a jeweller with equal competence, for example when he makes his marital bedroom.24 Another leading figure may be that of Hephaistos, whose work tools act by themselves, just as the craftsmen’s ones seem to do in Leonidas,25 and whose techne has no limit.

29In conclusion, it appears that Leonidas reshapes the Homeric representation of professionals to make it coherent with the social organisation of work of his time, which was characterized by the emergence of professional associations and the professional practice by men and women of activities which were not considered as professions in Homer. Homer’s reception by Leonidas is thus a complex one: the poet leaves aside the vertical social network Homer inserts workers in and refers to prestigious epic figures of craftsmen and to epic elite companionship to represent and valorize a specific horizontal network, that of a community of professionals.

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Notes

1 J.‑P. Vernant, Mythe et pensée chez les Grecs. Études de psychologie historique, nouv. éd. rev. et augm., Paris, La Découverte, Fondations, 1985, pp. 296–297.

2 Cf. K. A. Raaflaub, “Homeric Society,” in I. Morris, B. Powell (eds.), A New Companion to Homer, Leiden, Brill, Mnemosyne. Suppl. 163, 1997, pp. 624–649 (p. 636); M. Ndoye, Groupes sociaux et idéologie du travail dans les mondes homérique et hésiodique, Besançon, Presses universitaires de Franche-Comté, 2010, pp. 147–149.

3 Od., III, 425–438: “εἷς δ᾽ αὖ χρυσοχόον Λαέρκεα δεῦρο κελέσθω / ἐλθεῖν, ὄφρα βοὸς χρυσὸν κέρασιν περιχεύῃ. / οἱ δ᾽ ἄλλοι μένετ᾽ αὐτοῦ ἀολλέες, εἴπατε δ᾽ εἴσω / δμῳῇσιν κατὰ δώματ᾽ ἀγακλυτὰ δαῖτα πένεσθαι, / ἕδρας τε ξύλα τ᾽ ἀμφὶ καὶ ἀγλαὸν οἰσέμεν ὕδωρ.” / ὣς ἔφαθ᾽, οἱ δ᾽ ἄρα πάντες ἐποίπνυον. ἦλθε μὲν ἂρ βοῦς / ἐκ πεδίου, ἦλθον δὲ θοῆς παρὰ νηὸς ἐίσης / Τηλεμάχου ἕταροι μεγαλήτορος, ἦλθε δὲ χαλκεὺς / ὅπλ᾽ ἐν χερσὶν ἔχων χαλκήια, πείρατα τέχνης, / ἄκμονά τε σφῦράν τ᾽ ἐυποίητόν τε πυράγρην, / οἷσίν τε χρυσὸν εἰργάζετο· ἦλθε δ᾽ Ἀθήνη / ἱρῶν ἀντιόωσα. γέρων δ᾽ ἱππηλάτα Νέστωρ / χρυσὸν ἔδωχ᾽· ὁ δ᾽ ἔπειτα βοὸς κέρασιν περίχευεν / ἀσκήσας, ἵν᾽ ἄγαλμα θεὰ κεχάροιτο ἰδοῦσα. “‘and let one again bid the goldsmith Laërces come hither, that he may overlay the heifer’s horns with gold. And do ye others abide here together; and bid the handmaids within to make ready a feast throughout our glorious halls, to fetch seats, and logs to set on either side of the altar, and to bring clear water.’ So he spoke, and they all set busily to work. The heifer came from the plain and from the swift, shapely ship came the comrades of great-hearted Telemachus; the smith came, bearing in his hands his tools of bronze, the implements of his craft, anvil and hammer and well-made tongs, wherewith he wrought the gold; and Athene came to accept the sacrifice. Then the old man, Nestor, the driver of chariots, gave gold, and the smith prepared it, and overlaid therewith the horns of the heifer, that the goddess might rejoice when she beheld the offering.” (trans. A. T. Murray, Cambridge, Harvard University Press, The Loeb Classical Library, 1945 [1919]).

4 Concerning social networks in ancient Greek world, I refer to C. Taylor, K. Vlassopoulos (eds.), Communities and Networks in the Ancient Greek World, Oxford, OUP, 2015.

5 I refer to A. S. F. Gow, D. L. Page, The Greek Anthology. Hellenistic Epigrams, Cambridge, CUP, 1965, 2 vol.

6 Translations: The Greek Anthology, trans. W. R. Paton, Cambridge, Harvard University Press, The Loeb Classical Library, 1980 [1916].

7 G. Zanker, “Characterization in Hellenistic Epigram,” in P. Bing, J. Bruss (eds.), Brill’s Companion to Hellenistic Epigram, Leiden, Brill, 2007, pp. 233–249 (p. 242).

8 A. S. F. Gow, D. L. Page, The Greek Anthology, op. cit., II, p. 330. Cf. P. Ismard, La cité des réseaux. Athènes et ses associations, vie-ier siècle av. J.‑C., Paris, Publications de la Sorbonne, Histoire ancienne et médiévale 105, 2010, p. 346.

9 Cf. A. S. F. Gow, D. L. Page, The Greek Anthology, op. cit., II, p. 328.

10 See also ἔργατις (workwoman), which qualifies the weavers’ shuttle in 42 GP (= AP VI, 289), and συριστήρ (syrinx-player), which qualifies a syrinx-player’s instrument in 43 GP (= AP V, 206); the latter is also discussed below. Moreover, adjectives which allude to professional activities and apply more usually or naturally to living agents are attached to work tools in Leonidas, such as εἰροκόμος (“which looks after the wool”), for a basket (see A. S. F. Gow, D. L. Page, The Greek Anthology, op. cit., II, p. 352), or μιτοεργός (“yarn-making”), which does not occur elsewhere, for a spindle, in 42 GP (= AP VI, 289).

11 K. Gutzwiller, Poetic Garlands. Hellenistic Epigrams in Context, Berkeley, University of California Press, Hellenistic Culture and Society, 1998, p. 91, suggests the complementarity of the epigrams in the context of the collection concerning women’s life and low-class characters.

12 F. Tönnies, Gemeinschaft und Gesellschaft. Abhandlung des Communismus und des Socialismus als empirischer Culturformen, Leipzig, Fues, 1887.

13 L. Rossi, The Epigrams Ascribed to Theocritus. A Method of Approach, Leuven, Peeters, Hellenistica groningana 5, 2001, pp. 7–8.

14 A. S. F. Gow, D. L. Page, The Greek Anthology, op. cit., II, p. 353.

15 Il., XXIV, 538-542: ἀλλ᾽ ἐπὶ καὶ τῷ θῆκε θεὸς κακόν, ὅττί οἱ οὔ τι / παίδων ἐν μεγάροισι γονὴ γένετο κρειόντων, / ἀλλ᾽ ἕνα παῖδα τέκεν παναώριον: οὐδέ νυ τόν γε / γηράσκοντα κομίζω, ἐπεὶ μάλα τηλόθι πάτρης / ἧμαι ἐνὶ Τροίῃ, σέ τε κήδων ἠδὲ σὰ τέκνα, “Howbeit even upon him the gods brought evil, in that there nowise sprang up in his halls offspring of princely sons, but he begat one only son, doomed to an untimely fate. Neither may I tend him as he groweth old, seeing that far, far from mine own country I abide in the land of Troy, vexing thee and thy children” (trans. A. T. Murray, Cambridge, Harvard University Press, The Loeb Classical Library, 1924).

16 Od., VIII, 454-457: τὸν δ᾽ ἐπεὶ οὖν δμῳαὶ λοῦσαν καὶ χρῖσαν ἐλαίῳ, / ἀμφὶ δέ μιν χλαῖναν καλὴν βάλον ἠδὲ χιτῶνα, / ἔκ ῥ᾽ ἀσαμίνθου βὰς ἄνδρας μέτα οἰνοποτῆρας / ἤιε, “Now when the handmaids had bathed him and anointed him with oil, and had cast about him a fair cloak and a tunic, he came forth from the bath, and went to join the men at their wine.”

17 J.-P. Vernant, Mythe et pensée chez les Grecs, op. cit., p. 297.

18 M. Ndoye, Groupes sociaux et idéologie du travail…, op. cit., pp. 147–148. Od., XIX, 53–59: ἡ δ᾽ ἴεν ἐκ θαλάμοιο περίφρων Πηνελόπεια, / Ἀρτέμιδι ἰκέλη ἠὲ χρυσέῃ Ἀφροδίτῃ. / τῇ παρὰ μὲν κλισίην πυρὶ κάτθεσαν, ἔνθ᾽ ἄρ᾽ ἐφῖζε, / δινωτὴν ἐλέφαντι καὶ ἀργύρῳ· ἥν ποτε τέκτων / ποίησ᾽ Ἰκμάλιος, καὶ ὑπὸ θρῆνυν ποσὶν ἧκε / προσφυέ᾽ ἐξ αὐτῆς, ὅθ᾽ ἐπὶ μέγα βάλλετο κῶας. / ἔνθα καθέζετ᾽ ἔπειτα περίφρων Πηνελόπεια, “Then wise Penelope came forth from her chamber like unto Artemis or golden Aphrodite, and for her they set by the fire, where she was wont to sit, a chair inlaid with spirals of ivory and silver, which of old the craftsman Icmalius had made, and had set beneath it a foot-stool for the feet, that was part of the chair, and upon it a great fleece was wont to be laid. On this then wise Penelope sat down.”

19 K. Gutzwiller, Poetic Garlands, op. cit., p. 93 n. 114.

20 E. Magnelli, “Meter and Diction: From Refinement to Mannerism,” in P. Bing, J. Bruss (eds.), Brill’s Companion to Hellenistic Epigram, Leiden, Brill, 2007, pp. 165–183.

21 See also C.‑E. Nardone, “Métiers,” in D. Meyer, C. Urlacher-Becht (eds.), Dictionnaire de l’épigramme littéraire dans l’antiquité grecque et latine, Turnhout, Brepols, forthcoming.

22 Cf. É. Prioux, “Le motif de la chasse dans les épigrammes de l’Anthologie Grecque,” in J. Trinquier, C. Vendries (eds.), Chasses antiques : pratiques et représentations dans le monde gréco-romain (iiie s. av. - ive s. apr. J.‑C.). Actes du colloque international de Rennes (Université Rennes II, 20-21 septembre 2007), Rennes, PUR, Archéologie & Culture, 2009, pp. 177–194.

23 A. S. F. Gow, D. L. Page, The Greek Anthology, op. cit., II, p. 311.

24 Od., XXIII, 192–201: τῷ δ᾽ ἐγὼ ἀμφιβαλὼν θάλαμον δέμον, ὄφρ᾽ ἐτέλεσσα, / πυκνῇσιν λιθάδεσσι, καὶ εὖ καθύπερθεν ἔρεψα, / κολλητὰς δ᾽ ἐπέθηκα θύρας, πυκινῶς ἀραρυίας. / καὶ τότ᾽ ἔπειτ᾽ ἀπέκοψα κόμην τανυφύλλου ἐλαίης, / κορμὸν δ᾽ ἐκ ῥίζης προταμὼν ἀμφέξεσα χαλκῷ / εὖ καὶ ἐπισταμένως, καὶ ἐπὶ στάθμην ἴθυνα, / ἑρμῖν᾽ ἀσκήσας, τέτρηνα δὲ πάντα τερέτρῳ. / ἐκ δὲ τοῦ ἀρχόμενος λέχος ἔξεον, ὄφρ᾽ ἐτέλεσσα, / δαιδάλλων χρυσῷ τε καὶ ἀργύρῳ ἠδ᾽ ἐλέφαντι: / ἐκ δ᾽ ἐτάνυσσα ἱμάντα βοὸς φοίνικι φαεινόν, “Round about this I built my chamber, till I had finished it, with close-set stones, and I roofed it over well, and added to it jointed doors, close-fitting. Thereafter I cut away the leafy branches of the long-leafed olive, and, trimming the trunk from the root, I smoothed it around with the adze well and cunningly, and made it straight to the line, thus fashioning the bed-post; and I bored it all with the augur. Beginning with this I hewed out my bed, till I had finished it, inlaying it with gold and silver and ivory, and I stretched on it a thong of ox-hide, bright with purple.”

25 Cf. Il., XVIII, 468–473 (bellows); A. Marcinkowski, J. Wilgaux, “Automates et créatures artificielles d’Héphaïstos : entre science et fiction,” Techniques & Culture 43–44, 2004, URL: http://journals.openedition.org/tc/1164, DOI: 10.4000/tc.1164.

This effect is achieved in Leonidas by using personifications, as mentioned before, but also by attaching to work tools adjectives or verbs which allude to motion or action: for example, the carpenter’s borers are said to be “easily turning” (εὐδίνητα) and his gimlets “quick” (ὠκήεντα) in 8 GP (= AP V, 205); the weavers’ spindle is “ever-revolving” (ἀειδίνητον) (42 GP = AP VI, 289) and their shuttle “separates” (κριναμέναν) threads (41 GP = AP VI, 288). In this way, the workers’ professional gestures are evoked not in a direct manner, but through the mention of the action or the motion of the work tools they dedicate.

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Claire-Emmanuelle Nardone, « A Community of Workers in Leonidas of Tarentum »Aitia [En ligne], 8.2 | 2018, mis en ligne le 01 décembre 2018, consulté le 29 mars 2024. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/aitia/2929 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/aitia.2929

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Claire-Emmanuelle Nardone

ENS de Lyon – Università degli Studi Roma Tre

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