“Starting from the Immortal Father”: The Incipit of the First Homeric Hymn to Dionysus

: I propose a plausible supplement for the incipit of the Homeric Hymn to Dionysus (1) that is meant to illuminate the priamel structure of Fragment A. Consequently, I give a full account of how ring composition works in the surviving fragments of the opening and the end of the Hymn . I argue that the Nyse variant is corroborated in way concomitant with another Homeric Hymn to Dionysus (26). The hymnic instance is supported through recourse to interformular occurrences in the Homeric Hymns , in Nonnus’ Dionysiaca , in Callimachus’ Hymn to Zeus . I conclude with an appreciation of contextual parameters that make the priamel structurally cohere.

• I n 1994, André Hurst brought to light fragments of the First Homeric Hymn to Dionysus preserved in the Geneva papyrus 432.Fragment A, part of which was known through indirect transmission,1 deals with Dionysus' birth from Zeus' thigh at Nyse2 in the frame of a priamel that valorises this variant as true one among several competing birthplaces it disqualifies as false (hBacch.1A.7 ψευδόμενοι).3The priamel structure may overwhelm the opening section of the Hymn, but the actual incipit is missing, except for four letters that leave much to figure out.In this article, I do not set out to supplement the text exempli gratia as is usually the case in similar situations.On the contrary, I use intertextual evidence from the Homeric Hymns, signs of interformularity in the discourse of early Greek epic and hymn, and, finally, contextual cues that accentuate structural conformity.
[A] The way to conceptualise intertextuality is by specifying the relation of an epigonic text to its predecessor.4Current philological criticism uses an entire taxonomy of concepts in order to describe varying forms of connection between texts, such as allusion, echo, parallel, model, reminiscence/recollection, evocation, cue.In the Homeric Hymns to Dionysus, intertextuality warrants a category of verbal connections (however one may wish to call them) with other poetic compositions of a literate, rather than oral,5 song-culture, which proves itself by the sheer fact that the story at hand competes with the existence of a plethora of further known (therefore, obviously well-attested in written form) story variants6 about the birth of this particular deity.7 [B] Interformularity is "[s]peech […] introduced in a way of signaling that a number of events [here: of discursive instantiations] are judged to be similar to each other.No single instance […] has primacy in the sense that it is "first", a prototype "quoted" by other, secondary, instances […]".8I shall argue that interformular connections are a mean to the end of construing associative thinking expressed through the medium of typified language.[C] Context denotes 'a joining together', a conjunction, which consists of a number of components.It "is […] a frame that surrounds the event being examined and provides resources for its appropriate interpretation".9Understanding context in hymnic narration designates how individual narrative segments are put together in the form of a sequence, and the reasons that underlie them.Hence, my method of doing textual criticism is one that reduces the degree of idiosyncratic textual conjecture, and thus draws on structural plausibility in ways that render a supplement consonant with intertextual, interformular, and contextual environments.
Given the sorry state of the opening line in the First Homeric Hymn to Dionysus, I supplement it in the following way by taking heed of several respects, which I discuss in detail below: In my apprehension, the hymnic narrator affectedly wonders how he should commit to the task of praising a deity as dubious as Dionysus.Since the succeeding part of the narration gives an account of the Nyse variant of Dionysus' birth from Zeus' 5 Based on surveys that draw attention to linguistic commonality between archaic literature of Homeric and Hesiodic origin and Homeric Hymns (Janko 1982, 99-187;Vergados 2013, 40-73), I come to the conclusion that literacy is undisputed because: [1] word-recurrence is a phenomenon explained through application of generic prescriptions that exceed memorational capacity and conform to tradition, which is reasonably beyond memorational command; [2] structure is per definitionem the outcome of meticulous thought-process that segues into complexity, therefore exclusive of orally geared compositional impulse; [3] epicisation is accomplished through recourse to standard features (episodic division, occurrence of typical scenes, figures of special provenance and traits) in manner that makes its impressive consistence alien to orality due to the high degree of cohesion; [4] hymnicity in particular derives from epicity with mythic tenor in a way that attests to validation of the aforementioned points.Due to this cognateness of archaic epic poetry and Homeric Hymns, chronological proximity is plausible.
6 On story variants of the Homeric Hymn to Demeter see Currie 2012; of the Homeric Hymn to Apollo see Felson 2009; of the Homeric Hymn to Hermes see Vergados 2011, 88-93. 7 For intertextuality in archaic poems as early as the Homeric ones see Bakker 2001; Tsagalis 2008.On the textual fixity of the Homeric Hymns see Garner 2009, 389.For skepticism in the Homeric Hymns as "oral or literate composition[s]?"see Vergados 2013, 73-5. 8 Bakker 2013, 163. 9 Goodwin & Duranti 1992, 3. thigh, I foreground the distinctive aspect of his single-parented birth by referring to Zeus, the begetter of men and gods, through the periphrasis 'immortal father'.I also find it proper to infer that the divine laudandus' personal name occurs in the very beginning of the narration.I organise my argument along the lines of nine major points in order to be as lucid as possible about how I proceed with my belief that the Hymn opens in the way, which I suggested above: 1. objections to diplomatic transcription; 2. acknowledgment of Dionysus' birth from Zeus in fragment A; 3. ring composition in fragments A and D; 4. link with the Nyse variant in the Third Homeric Hymn to Dionysus; 5. naming of the divine laudandus in the opening line; 6. hymnic self-reference in the incipit through a form of ἀείδω; 7. intertextuality with Nonnus' Dionysiaca; 8. priamel as pointer to Callimachus' Hymn to Zeus; 9. etymological wordplay.
I regard these nine thematic aspects as tokens of cogency for my argument.
Here, I print the text together with the conjectured incipit: How should I sing of Dionysus, starting from the immortal father?For some say it was at Drakanos, some on windy Ikaros, some on Naxos, divine offspring, sewed-up, and some at Alpheios the deep-swirling river that Semele conceived and bore you to Zeus whose sport is the thunderbolt, while others, Lord, say that it was at Thebes you were born.
All false!The father of gods and men gave you birth far from humankind, to conceal you from white-armed Hera.
There is a place Nyse, a mountain most high, burgeoning in forest, in a distant part of Phoenicia, almost at the waters of the Nile.12Line 1 on the papyrus counts four letters, which are hard to discern.The photograph of the Geneva Library (P.Gen. 432, 3 118 recto)13 leaves several questions still open.14Contrary to popular opinion that reads Π, I take the first letter to be C whose lower sideline is written in unison with the following letter in manner similar to the sequence ΟΡΟCΑΝ in line 8. Lower and upper section of the preceding part of the papyrus are severely damaged.There could be remnants of the lower part of a horizontal stroke on the right side of a letter or signs of shading such as the ones above line 1 and elsewhere in the document.I cannot rule out the possibility of a round-shaped letter, given the squareness of Ο in the sequence ΜΕΝΟΕΙΚΕΑ in line 14.Upon this very possibility rests my interpretation ΠΑΤΡΟC, which is endorsed by the seemingly quadruple shape of the fifth letter, presumably Θ according to West, which is written in a high position compared to the other letters of the line, just as my conjectured Ο may be.Anyhow, Π is impossible due to dead-end solutions such as forms of ἐνέπω, παπταίνω, παππάζω or elision after Π. Second and third letter can be identified as Α and Π, judging from hand-writing in the rest of the document.Fourth letter resembles the contours of Α in micro-scale compared to the first one, though far less discernible.Scraps of a fifth letter have a curve on the left side, which points to Ο, Ε or Θ.My main quibble against the three propositions put forward so far has to do with an aspect entirely irrelevant for the reconstitution of the text: it focuses on the uncomplicated part of the diplomatic transcription that deals with the placement of words in the exact position designated by the papyrus with respect to the other lines, which are wholly transmitted.For instance, André Hurst, in the editio princeps, prints ]παπ.[approximately three letters after its original position, for the papyrus clearly reads that the in-between α is located directly above ο of οἱ δ' in the succeeding line: The priamel consists of five placenames that rival each other for the birth of the god (Dracanus, Icarus, Naxus, Alpheius, Thebes), and end up losing the contest over Nyse: the site, which is finally prioritised.The hymnic narrator disqualifies these five placenames as fake and goes on to approve the latter as the only true one.19 In spite of what appears to be a multifarious contest over Dionysus' birthplace, the actual rivalry concerns Thebes and Nyse, judging from the way these sites parallel each other in terms of discourse: whereas the periphrasis δῖον γένος εἰραφιῶτα "you, divine offspring, sewed-up" (hBacch.1A.3),20 which is placed after the first two variants, Dracanus and Icarus, alludes to the birth from Zeus, the Thebes variant deploys the verb 'beget' in order to designate the birth from Semele (hBacch.1A.6 ἄλλοι δ' ἐν Θήβηισιν ἄναξ σε λέγουσι γενέσθαι).The parallel γένος/γενέσθαι somewhat compromises the dynamic of the priamel because it sets up a narrative framework, which is marked by the allusion to Dionysus' birth from Zeus' thigh, on the 15 Hurst 1994, 319. 16 Schubert 1996, 18. 17 West 2001, 2, 10;2003, 26.Hurst and Schubert disregard the not clearly transmitted ι of Δρακάνωι, which is, however, logical to gather, as opposed to West, who does not fail to do so.
18 For occurrences of this caesura in opening lines of early Greek poetry see Hom.Od. 19 Jacob 1998, 46 argues that the poet of the First Homeric Hymn to Dionysus emerges as claimant of self-esteem with regard to the untraditional stance toward established versions of the myth and defender of truth in a mouldable tradition.
20 The junction δῖον γένος, a Homeric hapax attributed to Artemis (Hom.Il. 9.538), is placed right after the text refers to how the Curetes fought against the Aetolians over Calydon (9.529-30) -apparently a rival setting, though fairly different in nature.one hand, and by the explicit attestation of his birth from Semele, on the other.It is most likely that the incipit accommodated the personal name Διόνυσος, followed by the circumlocution δῖον γένος in the second line, which serves as etymological explanation.In this way, the opening priamel makes sense for it answers the initial question of the hymnic narrator about how he ought to praise Dionysus' birth from his immortal father: by recounting the Nyse variant.
The conjectured incipit I put forward, forms a ring composition with the Nyse variant of Dionysus' birth, which is prioritised over others on the basis of veracity in 1A.9-10.The proposed junction πατρὸ]ς ἀπ' ἀθ[ανάτοιο "starting from the immortal father" that fits the four-letter-space from metrical and notional point of view, given that Homeric Hymns acknowledge the divine laudandus' parentage in their beginning,21 comes full circle in 1A.7 (σὲ δ' ἔτικτε πατὴρ ἀνδρῶν τε θεῶν τε)22 in which it is explicitly stated that the narration at issue privileges Dionysus' birth at Nyse from (the thigh of) Zeus, the father of men and gods, over several other discredited stories.I draw special attention to the structural conceit of ring composition because the surviving fragments of the narration itself pay tribute to this compositional strategy: κρατὸς ἀπ' ἀθανάτοιο,24 sets the stage for the focalisation of Dionysus' paternal descent, which constitutes the theme of fragment A.25 The priamel's structure juxtaposes Dionysus' birth from Zeus at Nyse (1A.7-10)26 to his birth from Semele at Thebes (1A.5-7), which is rejected as a lie next to further traditions.The reign of the father, the supreme authority of Zeus, which is exemplified through the singularity of paternal filiation, is what the narration of this particular hymnic instantiation, the First Homeric Hymn to Dionysus, recognises as truth.The conjectured junction πατρὸ]ς ἀπ' ἀθ[ανάτοιο should be viewed in context with the Nyse variant of the Third Homeric Hymn to Dionysus, which furnishes two references to Zeus as Dionysus' father: [1] nymphs receive Dionysus from the divine father to rear and foster (26.3 παρὰ πατρὸς ἄνακτος); [2] he grows up at a distance from his father in company of numerous immortals (26.5 πατρὸς ἕκητι).27The emphasis put on paternal filiation in the Nyse variant of the First Homeric Hymn to Dionysus28 is in accord with references to Zeus as father of Dionysus in the Third Homeric Hymn to Dionysus (26.2 Ζηνὸς [...] υἱόν; 26.5 πατρὸς ἕκητι) and justify the conjectured junction in the incipit in terms of thematically determined intertextuality.
29 See West 2003, 3;Nagy 2011, 327. 30 On Dionysus' polyonymy see Bierl 2013. 31 The majority of the Homeric Hymns name the laudandus in the first line.There are two exceptions to this general rule: [1] the Homeric Hymn to Pan, which addresses Hermes as father of Pan in (gen.) and the Thracian gloss νῦσος 'son', and, thus, to convey the sense 'son of Zeus'.32The junction δῖον γένος may acquire a Thracian connotation with a view to the etymology of Dionysus' name for a Thracian mountain clan bears the name Δῖοι 'offspring of Zeus'.33Note that Nyse was thought to be located, next to other places, in Thrace, a variant that is not supported here by the hymnic narration.34Thus, the junction δῖον γένος suggests a glossing of the name Διόνυσος as 'son of Zeus' against a Thracian linguistic backdrop, apart from its rendition as 'divine offspring' in the epic-Ionic discourse, especially since the follow-up appellation εἰραφιῶτα 'sewed-up' points to Dionysus' birth from the thigh of Zeus.