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Dionysius of Halicarnassus · Roman Antiquities §19.2.1-19.2.2

Artimedes' Foundation of Rhegium and Its Etymology

Passage 929 of 962 · Greek

Summary

On how Artimedes the Chalcidian occupied the territory of Rhegium and founded the city following an oracle, and the etymology of the city's name.

§19.2.1Ἀρτιμήδης ὁ Χαλκιδεὺς λόγιον εἶχεν, ἔνθʼ ἂν εὕρῃ τὸν ἄρρενα ὑπὸ τῆς θηλείας ὀπυιόμενον, αὐτόθι μένειν καὶ μηκέτι προσωτέρω πλεῖν·
Artimedes the Chalcidian had an oracle that wherever he should find the male being mounted by the female, there he should remain and sail no further.
πλεύσας δὲ περὶ τὸ Παλλάντιον τῆς Ἰταλίας καὶ ἰδὼν ἄμπελον. . . ἄρρενα δὲ τὸν ἐρινεόν, ὀχείαν δὲ τὴν πρόσφυσιν, τέλος ἔχειν τὸν χρησμὸν ὑπέλαβε· καὶ τοὺς κατέχοντας τὸν τόπον βαρβάρους ἐκβαλὼν οἰκεῖ.
Having sailed around Pallantium in Italy and having seen a vine [clinging to a wild fig tree], he supposed that the oracle was fulfilled, taking the wild fig tree as the male and the clinging as the copulation; and having expelled the barbarians who occupied the place, he settled there.
§19.2.2Ῥήγιον ὁ τόπος καλεῖται, εἴθʼ ὅτι σκόπελος ἦν ἀπορρώξ, εἴθʼ ὅτι κατὰ τοῦτον ἡ γῆ τὸν τόπον ἐρράγη καὶ διέστησεν ἀπὸ τῆς Ἰταλίας τὴν ἀντικρὺ Σικελίαν, εἴτε ἀπʼ ἀνδρὸς δυνάστου ταύτην ἔχοντος τὴν προσηγορίαν.
The place is called Rhegium, either because it was a sheer cliff, or because at this place the earth was ruptured and separated Sicily opposite from Italy, or from a ruling man who had this name.

Notes

  1. 17.3ὀπυιόμενον — Present passive participle of the verb ὀπύω (to take to wife, copulate with). Normally, the active voice is used of the male 'marrying' or 'mounting' the female, and the passive is used of the female. Here, however, accompanied by ὑπὸ τῆς θηλείας ('by the female'), it expresses an inverted situation (a riddle typical of oracles) where the male (τὸν ἄρρενα) is mounted by the female.
  2. 17.3ἄρρενα δὲ τὸν ἐρινεόν, ὀχείαν δὲ τὴν πρόσφυσιν — Accusative phrases following the lacuna (...), functioning as predicates/objects under the verb ὑπέλαβε ('supposed'). Contextually, they show that he identified the vine (ἄμπελος, feminine noun) as the 'female', the wild fig tree (ἐρινεός, masculine noun) as the 'male' (ἄρρενα), and their physical attachment (πρόσφυσις) as the 'copulation' (ὀχείαν).
  3. 17.3εἴθʼ ὅτι — Correlative construction of εἴτε... εἴτε... (either... or...). The first two options are causal clauses introduced by ὅτι ('because...'), whereas the third option is parallelized with a different grammatical structure, namely the prepositional phrase ἀπʼ ἀνδρὸς... ('from a man...').

Cite this passage

Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities §19.2.1-19.2.2. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:greekLit:tlg0081.tlg001.humanitext-grc2:19.2.1-19.2.2

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