KernosRevue internationale et pluridisciplinaire de religion

grecque antique

14 | 2001

Varia

Rhapsodizing Orpheus

Richard P. Martin

Electronic version

URL: http://journals.openedition.org/kernos/764DOI: 10.4000/kernos.764ISSN: 2034-7871

Publisher

Centre international d'étude de la religion grecque antique

Printed version

Date of publication: 1 January 2001Number of pages: 23-33ISSN: 0776-3824

Electronic reference

Richard P. Martin, « Rhapsodizing Orpheus », Kernos [Online], 14 | 2001, Online since 14 April 2011,connection on 30 April 2019. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/kernos/764 ; DOI : 10.4000/kernos.764

Kernos

Kernos, 14 (2001), p. 23-33.

Rhapsodizing Orpheus

Orpheus- we know him as a poet, a musician,and a myth. Yet we mustrecall that aIl threeof thesemedia- poetry, musie,and myth - arise,at somepoint, out of an act of performance.The last-mentioned,muthas,can in factbe describedfrom Homeron as the very paradigmfor performancein archaicGreece:a public utterancethat seeksthroughpersuasivemeans to negotiateauthority before a critieal audience.1 In this connection,it should be worthasking: exactly what sorts of performancesoriginated and transmittedthefigure of Orpheuë

To beginwith, it is clear that, in archaieGreece,cult andritual providedasite for audiencesand performersto commenton this multivalent figure.Suchoccasionsevenmadeuse of hymnie poetry that had beenattributedtothe Thraciansinger.Thereare a numberof testimonia,suchas the report byPausanias(IX, 27, 2; cf IX, 30, 12) that the Lykomidai of Phlya sangOrphiehymns to accompanyrituals. Fritz Graf has thoroughlyinvestigatedtheinterrelationof Orpheus,Musaios,and the Eumolpidaiat Eleusis.3 However,we might be misled by the ancient evidence into thinking that privategatherings,thiasai, or initiate groupswere the only or eventhe major locusto featureOrphie poetieperformances.4 But thisneednot be the full pieture.1 will argue instead that Orphie poetry, whatever its private affiliations,formed part of the rhapsode'srepertoire.If we assumeOrphie poemsplayeda part in this very public kind of performance,it canhelp clarify and explainseveralhithertounconnectedphenomenain ancientmyth and poeties.

To sharpenthe point about performance,let me first juxtapose twoquotations,one from Martin West, the other from Plato. While discussingtheapparentlyunusual status of the Derveni commentator,West makes the

See R. MARTIN, The Languageof Heroes: Speechand Performancein the Iliad.Ithaca, 1989; C. CALAME, "Muthos, logos et histoire", L'HQmme 147 (998), p. 127-149;G. NAGY, HometicQuestions,Austin, 1996, p. 113-152.

2 This paperoriginatedas a contribution to the annual gatheringof the Coralie con-sortium, held May 24-26, 2000, at Lausanne.It is a pleasureto thank Claude Calameandthe membersof this scholarly thiasosfor advice and encouragement.

3 Fr. GRAF, Eteusis und die OIphischeDichtung Athens in vorhellenistischerZeit,Berlin, 1974.

4 On these,seeM. WEST, TheOlphicPoems,Oxford, 1983,p. 79, 260-263.

24 R.P. MARTIN

following more generalstatement:"While not secret,Orphic poemsseemtohavehad a very limited circulation. They were not a matterof generalpublicinterest. They were not taught in school or recited for public or socialentertainment.,,5West, of course, approachesthe Orphie material from arelentlesslyliterary point-of-view. He thinks in terms of texts, in terms ofcirculation of scrolls, and in terms of copying and borrowing from books.Even his imagined historieal sketchfor the intrusion of messyAsiatic ritesinto Greece caUs to mind descriptionsof the advent of a genteel neo-paganismin prim EdwardianBritain. Perhapswe needto apply a somewhatless anachronistiemode!. If, as West argues,Orphie poetry was so private,we must then ask: how can Plato describeit in terms of a broadaudience'scompetenceto judge performances?For this is what Plato seemsto be sayingat Ion 533b-c:

'AÀÀà IllJV, ooç y' èyro otllat, ouù' èv aUÀlJcret ye ouùèèv lCteaptcretoùùèèvｬｃｴ･｡ｰｱ＾ｬｾ ouùèèv ｰ｡｜ｖｱ＾ｬｾ ouùmc01to't'etùeçavùpaocr'ttç 1tept Ilèv 'oMIl1to\lùetVoç ècr'ttv èçllyeîcreatｾ 1tept 8aIlUPO\l ｾ 1tept 'OpcpÉroç ｾ 1tept <I>lllllO\l 'toû'lealCllcrlo\l pa\lfq>8oû, 1tept ùè 'toû 'Ecpecrlo\l [pa\lfq>ùoû] à1topeî lCat OUlC ËXet｣ｲ｜ｬｬｬｾ｡｣ｲ･｡ｴ a'teet> pa\lfq>ùeîlCataIllJ.

But sureIy, 1 think, you neversaw a man, when it cameto auios-playing,kithara-playing, singing to the kithara or rhapsodizingwho is clever atperforming an expIanation Cexêgeistbai)about Olympos or Thamyris orOrpheus or Phemios the Ithacan rhapsodeyet is clueless about Ion ofEphesosand cannot find anything to say concerningwhat he rhapsodizeswell andwhat not.

Are we meantto assumethat Socratesin the Ion is talking abouta muchmore elite esotericart of proto-literarycriticism? If so, how do we reconcilehis commentwith the obvious point he is making - that Ion, a publicrhapsodieperformer, who acts in front of perhaps20,000 people, can bejudgedon the samelevel as the legendarystarsof kitharodieand aulic art? Itis far easierto interpret this passageas an allusion to the practiceswithincontemporary"performances"by players and singerswho attributed theirmaterials- howeverthey might have creativelychangedthem - to the big-name artists of the mythic pasto 'The inclusion of au/os performanceinSocrates'commentis the key pieceof evidencefor this argument,for evenifmusicalnotationexisted,how could anyonein the late 5th centuryBeE havejudgedthe performanceof a given player, unlessthis performancecontinuedto be something live, that is to say a re-performance that projected itselfbackonto an Olympos,Orpheusor Thamyris?We shall return to this point atthe end,when1cometo talk of othermythie projections.

It may be true that we lack direct evidencethat tells us unequivocallyhow rhapsodesincludedOrphie poetry in their performances.But this does

WEST, a.c.

RhapsodizingOrpheus 25

not preventus from interrogatingthe indirect evidencethat exists. In whatfoIlows, 1 shaIl take an oblique approachta the problem, by looking first atpoetry we certainly know was in the rhapsodierepertoire- Homeric andHesiodieverse.1will be focussingin partieularon the "cataloguesof women"that appearin both corpora, and on sorne relatedcodieologiealevidence.Thenwe might return to Orpheus,the performerandthe myth.

The indirect approachforces us to touch briefly on a larger theoretiealissue: intertextuality.The problemsand delights arising from intertextuality,so familiar from later literature, appearwithin archaieGreekpoetry as weIl,although this poetry in aIl likelihood is the result of oral composition-in-performance.Unfortunately, two modes have dominatedthe criticism ofsuchpoetry, and affectedespeciaIlythe issueof intertextualrelations.In thespecifie caseswhere Homer and Hesiod show close resemblanceswe canfind: 1) a positivist, "genetie" approachthat insists on reconstructinginflu-encesand uses textuality as its paradigm(Homer "read" Hesiod or viceversa)and 2) a genericapproach- for example,one could claim that HomerandHesiodboth madeuseof pre-existing"cataloguepoetry".6

Both approachesof coursehavea perfectlylegitimateancestrywithin ourdiscipline - theseare, after aIl, the working assumptionsbehindstemmato-logy and dialectology. In the study of poetics they leave somethingto bedesired.While the secondmethodis a gooddealbetterthan the first, it is stillnot as fruitful as a third possibleavenueof approach- which 1proposenow- Le. the studyof intertextualeffectsvia performance.Or, if we needa moreappropriate term, "performanceinteraction."By this 1 meanthat, evenin thecontextof live oral composition,it is possiblefor oneperformerto "aIlude" toand even "quote" other traditions known to him and recognizedby theaudience.Furthermore,it is possiblein suchsituationsto makea point by theuseof the "quoted" materialin question.Again, 1am arguingthat aIl this canbe donewithout any textualization.7

ln OdysseyXI, 225ff. generationsof critics haveseenresemblancesto thestyle of the Hesiodic Catalogueof Women.Sornepassagesmatch scrapsofthe Catalogue verbatim. Take, for example, the conversationbetweenPoseidonandhis lover Tyro (fr. 31 M-W):

6 Examples of the first abound in Analyst critiques of Homer; 1 have tried thesecond, "generic", approachin order to resolve a problem in Hesiod Works and Daysand OdysseyBk. VIII: seeR. MARTIN, "Hesiod, Odysseus,and the Instruction of Princes",TAPhA 114 (1984), p. 29-48, with further bibliographyon both methods.

7 Furtherwork on this set of issuesincludes P. PUCC!, OdysseusPolutropos, Ithaca,1987; R. MARTIN, "Wrapping Homer Up", in A. SHARROCK, H. MORALES (eds.), Intratextual-ity, Oxford, 2000, p. 43-65; M. KORENJAK, "HomerischeIntertextualitatohne Formeln?",MD40 (1998), p. 133-143. Less confident about the sort of procedure1 am sketching isK. DOWDEN, "Homer'sSenseof Text", JHS 116 (1996), p. 47-61.

26 R.P. MARTIN

P. Tebt. 271, ed. Grenfell-Hunt

...............................].[.] .. IToO'EtMcov Â.[ｴｾｅｴￇ 0' àyÂ.aà tÉK]va, ｾ ｮ ￋ ｴ OÙK ￠Ｑｴｾ｣ｰ｣ｏ｛ￂＮｴｯｴ Eùvalà8avàtcov' O'ù oè t]oùç KOJ,lÉEtv àttta[Â.Â.ÉJ,lEVa{ tE...............................] Yv' àyÂ.aà tÉKVa t[EK-...........................] taVEJ,lEO'O'11tOt tE[mç d1trov 0 J,lèv a1)ttç] àyaO'tovCOt EJ,l[

]• ＧｾｦｬＧ ｾＮ 1 s: [' 8................................... 1) Epll OtKOVuE VEEO' at

Grenfell and Hunt, the original editorsof the papyrus,thoughtin fact thatthis was a scrapof prosecommentaryon the Odyssry;Vitelli believedit wasa piece of cyclie epie; in 1937Pfeiffer identified it on the basisof contentandstyle as coming from the Hesiodie Catalogue.Already in 1884, however,Wilamowitz, working from other transmittedfragments and sorne Berlinpapyri, had seen the resemblancesbetweenthe Hesiodie and HomerieFrauenkatalogeand had begunthe gameof assigningpriority: he favoredHesiodas the sourcefor Homersincehe claimedthat the Cataloguewas notmotivatedwithin the Odysseyepisodeand had no inherentconnectionwiththe hero.8

We cannot enter into the century-Iongdebatethat ensued.Given themethodsimplicit in priority-hunting (subjectiveevaluationbasedon impres-sions of style, dating by assumptionsabout contentand attitude, etc.) wecan expect indefinite results. And that is what we are given in Heubeck'scontribution to the Oxford Odysseycommentary.In brief, he thinks thecatalogueis probablyan interpolation,but to removeit would requiredeepercuts into the fabrie of the narrative.9

If we shift methodology,however,and follow a performanceapproach,the Cataloguestyle in Odysseus'recountingof his katabasisbecomessome-thing rather new. Insteadof a sign of textual untidiness,to be excusedormopped up, it is a key moment where the poet characterizeshis ownperformanceat the sametime as he representsthe ability and cunningof hisinternaI narrator,Odysseus.And this will be relevantto our view of Orphiepoetryaswell.

No one, it seems,has aske"dwhat it meansthat the character/narratorOdysseus is representedas peiforming precisely this kind of cataloguepoetry within the Odyssey.Sorneexcellentwork, has beendone, however,on the pragmatiesof the so-called"intermezzo."Lillian Doherty makesthepoint that the catalogueof heroinesis calculatedto pleasethe Phaeacian

8 D. VON WILAMOWITZ-MoELLENDORFF, Homerische Untersuchungen,Berlin, 1884;R. PFEIFFER,"Hesiodischesund Homerisches",Philologus92 (1937), p. 1-18. In generalseeM. WEST, TheHesiodicCatalogueof \Vomen,Oxford, 1985, ad loc.

9 A. HEUBECK, A. HOEKSTRA, A Commentaryon Homer's OdysseyII, Oxford, 1989CItalian original: Rome 1983) ad loc.; seealso D. PAGE, TheHomeric Odyssey,Oxford, 1955,p. 20-51.

RhapsodizingOrpheus 27

queenArete; Odysseus'interruptionof his narrative,and his suggestionthatit is time for aIl ta go ta bed, promptsher (ratherthanher husband)ta get thePhaeaciansta offer more guest gifts. Doherty compares OdysseustaScheherezade.There are no dire consequencesin this version, but the herodoes end up playing on the audience'scuriosity preciselyta reap rewards;becauseOdysseusknowshis audienceis a genderedone,he slyly producesastory with specialemphasison the fates andvirtuesof women.lO

William Wyatt makesa similar point: he further adducesevidencefrom19th century Istanbul about wanderingminstrels, the mettagh,who collecttheir money just when the action of the narrative is becomingintense- taseewhetherthe audienceis seriouslyinterestedin getting ta the really goodstaries. We might view this behavior as a classic hustle. For Wyatt, theenthralling material comprises the coming encounterwith Trojan Warveterans; the Catalogue itself is more of a tease. Bath he and Dohertyrecognizethat the nice detail of a story-tellergetting paid inside the poemhasa certainresonancefor a real audiencefacing a real performer.11

More details could be addedfrom comparative studiesta show howclosely Odysseus'strategyresemblesan oral poet's.12But let us explore thecontextualhints a bit further here. When we take into considerationtheprecise deploymentof motifs and their timing within OdysseyBk. 11, itemergesthat Odysseusresemblesnot just any genericoral poet: he workslike a rhapsode.For Odysseususesa Catalogueof Womenin the way thatreal rhapsodesmust have been using the genre in actual performances,probably around the end of the 6th century. In referring ta rhapsodesascreative interpretersand re-performersof a poetic tradition, 1 am followingthe leadof GregoryNagy, who hasexaminedthe evidencein full. 13

We know that cataloguematerial in generalhad a sort of optional statusfor sorne later scribes.A small group of Iliad papyri and manuscripts,forinstance- but one that includes the important Townleianus- omits theCatalogueof Shipsaltogether;threemanuscriptsplaceit after Book 24 of thepoem.14 The Townleianus,meanwhile,preservesa scholion that indicates

10 1. DOHERTY, "The InternaI and Implied Audiencesof Odyssey11", Arethusa24(991), p. 145-176.

11 W. WYATT, "The Intermezzoof Odyssey11 and the PoetsHomer and Odysseus",SMEA 27 (989), p. 235-253;seealso on the thematicsof the Catalogue,seeJ.HOULIHAN,"Incorporatingthe Other: The Catalogueof Women in Odyssey11", EleetronieAntiquity 2(994).

12 Most relevant are D. REYNOLDS, Heroie poets, poetie heroes: the ethnographyofpelformaneein an Arabie oral epie tradition, Ithaca, 1995, and S. SLYOMOVICS, TheMerehantofArt: an EgyptianHi/ali oral epiepoet in peiformance,Berkeley, 1987.

13 On rhapsodesas recomposers-in-performance,see G. NAGY, Pindar's Homer,Baltimore, 1990, p. 21-29 and ID., PoetryasPelformance,Cambridge,1996, p. 59-86.

14 Seethe apparatusin MONRO andALLEN'S Oxford editio minor (920) ad Il. II, 484ff.

28 RP. MARTIN

sorneversionsof the Iliad seguedinto the Aithiopis.15 Closer to the texts athandin this discussion:the HesiodieTheogonyin at leasta few manuscriptsdoes not end sharply,but insteadcontinueswith what we recognizeas noneother than the CatalogueofWomenOines 1021-1022in West'sedition). Westin the caseof the Theogonywants to see this as a mechaniealimportation,perhapsfrom a scholionor ancientbook tag.16 But l suggestinsteadthat ina11 thesecaseswhat we are seeingis neither scribal nor editorial practice(whieh at any rate it would be hard to motivate).Theseseguesand omissionsbear the marks of actual performanceconditions; they could well beremnantsof rhapsodiepractice, the live-performance"stitching together"ofsongsthat is a11udedto in the contestof Homerand Hesiod, and to whieh fr.357 M-W mustreferY

Èv ｌￎｾｃｏｴ 'tO'tE 1tpÔl'tOV f:tW Ka1. "OIl'llPOÇ àot801.lléÀ1tOIlEV, Èv VEapoîç ÜIlVOtÇ pa'l'av'tEç ￠ ｯ ｴ Ｘ ｾ ｶ Ｌ

<I>oîpov 'A1toÀÀcova xpucraopov, ov 'tÉKE A'll'tro.

In Delos, then, first Homerand l as singersmademusic, stitching a song in new compositionsconcerningApollo of the golden dagger,whom Leto bore.

l am proposingthe following scenario:just as sorne performersof theTheogonycould prolong their singing or recitation with the CatalogueofWomen(as the textual evidencesuggests)so Odysseusthe performercreatessuspensein the midst of OdysseyXI using preciselythis kind of cataloguematerial. The intertextualeffect attunesan audienceto yet anotherexternalresemblance.For at this point in the poem, rather than looking like anitinerant story te11er or poet, Odysseus,to an audiencethat knows rhapsodierepertoires,looks like a rhapsode.If, as seemslikely, the performerof ourOdysseywas also, at sornestagein the transmission,a rhapsode,the ironiemirroring effect would be a11 the morestriking.

At this juncture, we are enabledto circle back to Orpheus.It is wellknown that at leastone poemca11edDescentto Hadeswas associatedwithhis name - perhapsseveral.In thesecompositions,whieh West thinks stemfrom the late 6th century, it appearsthe poet recounted,in the first person,a11 that he saw on the trip down to recoverhis deadwife.18 Obviously, theOdysseanNekuia offers para11elsin terms of theme.Wilamowitz long ago,followed more recently by Bohme, assertedthat the entire Nekuia was an

15 G.c. ad Il. XXIV, 804.

16 M. WEST, Hesiod: Theogony,Oxford, 1966,adlac.

17 On the implications of this fragment and on the stitching of verses,seeR. MARTIN,

"SynchronieAspectsof Homerie Performance:The Example of The Hymn to Apollo", inA. GONzALEZ DE TOBIA (ed.), Una nueva visi6n de la cultura griega antigua hacia el findei mi/enio, La Plata,Arg., 2000, p. 403-432,with further bibliography.

18 On the katabases,seeWEST, G1phicpoems(cit. n. 4).

Rhapsodizing01pheus 29

interpolation by an editor interestedin Orphism.19 By contrast, we canimagine a caseof "performanceinteraction" that would not dependon ascribe copying a pre-existing text, but on the fact of one performerrespondingto contemporaryand campetingrepertoire traditions.2o If theOrphic Descent ta Hades circulated not just privately, but in publicrhapsodieperformance,the very existenceof the Nekuia in Book 11 mayweIl representa responseto this competitive pressure.The much-noticedincongruitiesthat have led Analysts to seemassiveinterpolationmight thenbe the result of an Odysseyperformer'sattempt to appropriatethe latestpopularperformancetopies in his community.

While we have no direct evidence for such an appropriation (eventhoughit is a commonoccurrencein comparativeoral traditions), the dyna-mie of the Odysseyepisodeagain provides a lead. In Book XI, Odysseus's"catalogue"of womenfeaturesone crucial differencethat brings it doserto asacrednarrativeby a poetwho hasmadea descentto the underworld(as inthe supposedOrphie accounts).From the proemof the Hesiodiecatalogue,we can seethat the performercaUson the Musesin languagesimilar to thatin Iliad II, 484ff., the introductionto the Catalogueof Ships:

P. Oxy. 2354, ed. Lobel

Nûv ôÈyuvcm:Ôlv [cpû",ov àetCHX'te,MuÉ1tetatMoûcrat 'O"'uj.t1ttuôe(ç,KOÛpatLltOÇ aiytoxoto,aï'to't' aptcr'tatËcrav[ｾｨｰ｡ 't' à"'À.'6crav'to[j.ttcryoj.tevateeoîcr[IV .çuvaty&p 'to'te'ôa[î'tEçËcrav,ÇUVOt ôÈ eoroKOtàeavu'totçteee[oîcrtKa'taevTJ'toîç't' àvepal1totç.oùô'apacratrovecroj.t[ .àVÉpeçｾ yuvaîKeçe[ocrcroj.tev[ohcpp[ecrt]yÉp[açｯｾ j.tÈv ÔTJpove [ ]K [ｾ [é]eot,'toùç8'''dé[ap]e [à(e]&vatot[ve]o-nÏ't[ "ｾ｡ｲｯｶ ËcrnË1:eMtoûcrat?ocr[at]çｾ ｾ｡ｰ･ＢＧ｛｡ＧｴＧ o",u

Il. II, 484-487

"Ecr1te'tevûv j.tOt, Moûcrat 'O",uj.t1tlaôc.Oj.ta't'Ëxoucrat·1>j.teîçyàpeeatÉcr'te,1tupecr'tÉ'tE, lcr'tÉ 'te1tuv'ta,ｾｪＮｴ･￮ ôÈ KÀ.Éoç olov àKouoj.tevoùÔÉ'tt ïôj.tev·oï 'tIVeç ｾｹ･ｪＮｴｯｶ･ LlavaÔlv Kat KOtpaVOt ｾ｣ｲ｡ｶＧ

19 See R. BOHME, Orpheus: Der Sangerund seine Zeit, Bern, 1970, p. 31-59 withreferenceta earlier wade

20 For other indicationsof such responsiveness,see MARTIN, LanguageofHeroes (cit.n. 1), p. 225-230.

30 R.P. MARTIN

Contrast the opening of Odysseus'slist, with its stresson the auto-biographieal"1"

Od. XI, 225ff.

vlÎlï IlÈv mç È1tÉEcrcrtv ｡ｉｬｅｴｾＶｉｬｅ･ＧＬ ai 8ÈyuvaîKEçtîÀ,ueov,OO'tPUVEV 'Yàp ｡Ｇｙ｡ｵｾ IlEpcrE<jlovEta,ocrcrataptcr'tllcov&À,oxot Ecravit8È eÛ'Ya'tpEÇ.aï 8' all<jl' aIlla KEMtvàv aoÀ,À,ÉEçit'YEpÉeovw,o:'\),;àpÈ'Yro ｾｏￛＬｅｕｏｖＬ 01tCOçÈpÉotllt ÈKacrtllv.tî8E 8É IlOt Ka'tàeUllàv apicr'tll <jlaivE'to ｾｯｵｍ .cr1tacrcrallEvoç'tavûllKEÇ &op 1taXÉoç1tapàIl11POÛOÙK EtCOV 1tiVEtv allamxcraçaIlla KEÀ,atvov.ai 8È1tPOllvllcr'tîvatÈmlïcrav,it8È ÈKacrtllôv 'Yovov ÈÇa'Y0PEUEV'È'Yro 8' ÈpÉEtvOVèmacraç.EVe' TI'tot 1tplÎltllV Tuprot80v e1.l1ta'tÉpEtav,<jlaw ｾ｡Ｌｬｬ｣ｯｶｩｬｯ allûllovoÇ EK"fOVOÇ etvat,tî<jlil8È KpllGfloç ｹｵｶｾ EllllEVat AioÀ,iOao'

With his repeatedinsistenceon sight throughoutthe passage(XI, 235,260, 266, 271,281, 298, 306, 321, 326) Odysseusmakesthe daim of autopsythat the Iliad performer,in the spiendid recusatioof Iliad II, 484ff., dedinesto make, and that the Hesiodie performer also foregoes. In other words,Odysseustrumps both strategies.He hasbeento Hadesand back, and livedto tell. He hasseenwhat othersonly hearabout.

The phenomenonwould be parallel, in my understanding,to theassertionsthat the Iliad in Book II (N.B.: within anothercatalogue)makesabout the fate of the poet Thamyris. In the terms of Homerie poetry, incompetitionwith Heraklestraditions, the bard Thamyris, and by implicationpoetswho daim to recite his words, is defective,a loser to the Muses.21 Forthe evidencethat there must have existedsuch later performersof poetietraditions attributed directly to Thamyris, we can refer once more to thepassageof Plato'sIon with whieh l began.It is worth noting that the gigantieUnderworld painting by Polygnotosin the Cnidian Lescheat Delphi, datingto the mid-5th centuryBCE, portrayedThamyrisas blind and dejected,with abroken lyre at his feet. In the same part of the painting, says Pausanias,Orpheuswas depietedplaying a kithara, with an attentivegroup of hearersnearby.22This representation,l suspect,produceda similar messageof poetiedenigration concerningThamyris, but this time with Orpheusinstead ofHomeras the privilegedpoetof the pair.

We know that Hesiodiepoetry was in the rhapsodierepertoirej l havearguedthat the Homeric cataloguein Book XI respondsto the Hesiodieformof cataloguenarrativein a challenging,competitiveway. My suggestionnow

21 SeeMARTIN, o.c., p. 229f.

22 PAUSANIAS, X, 30; seeR. KEBRIC, ThePaintings in the Cnidian Lescheat Delphi andtheir Historical Context,Leiden, 1983, for full details and bibliography.

Rhapsodizing01pheus 31

is that the Odysseyalso respondsand rises to the challenge of Orphiematerial- the autobiographiealdescentof the poet- althoughthe full rangeof performanceeontextsfor suehpoetry is hiddenfrom our view. The otherevidenceto support my idea that Orphie poetry was rhapsodieis cireum-stantial. Leaving aside the questionof the late "rhapsodie" Theogonyas apuzzlewith an intriguing attribution, we might foeus insteadon an individualfirst, the infamous Onomakritos. Several testimonia associatehim withOrphiea, as also with a Peisistrateanprojeet to fix Homerie poetry.23Thequestionis: was he also a rhapsode?That he was a poet,at least,is arguedbyGregory Nagy who observesthat the story of Onomakritosbeing eaughtwhile forging oraclesfits with the assumptionthat he was a professionalrivalof the poetLasusof Hermione.24 In addition to this, 1 note that Onomakritosis explicitly associatedby Plutarehwith anothereharaeter,the mysteriousKunaithos. From the preciousseholionto Pindar, Nemean2 (le), we knowthat Kunaithoswas certainlya rhapsode:

"OOev 1tep lCat 'Olll1Pîùal' 'Olll1Pîùaç ËÂ.eyov 'to Ilf:V apxaîov 'toùç a1to 'toûＧｏｉｬｾｐｏｕ yévouç,oï lCat 'tt,v 1tOtll0'tV a1J1:0ÛÈlC olaooxfjçnoov' Ile'tà of: 'taûwlCat oïpml'cpootoUlCÉn 'to yÉvoç eiç "Olll1pOV avayov'teç.È1tl<paveîçof: ÈyÉvov'to o'i 1teptKuvat80v, oûç <pacrl 1toÂ.Â.à 'toov È1tOOV 1tOlｾ｣ｲ｡ｖＧｴ｡ ÈIlPaÂ.EÎv eiç 'tt,v Ｇｏｉｬｾｰｯｕ

1tOtllcrtv. ｾｶ of: b Kuvat80ç 'to yÉvoç Xîoç, oç lCat 'toov È1tlypa<p0IlÉvrov Ｇｏｉｬｾｰｯｕ

1tOllllllX'trov 'tov eiç 'A1toÂ.Â.rova yeypa<pcOç1>IlVOV ava'tÉ8etlCeVau'tép.o{)'toç o-ov bKuval80ç 1tpoo'tOç Èv LupalCoucratçÈpa\jfcP0llcre 'tà Ｇ ｏ ｉ ｬ ｾ ｐ ｏ ｕ Ë1tll lCa'tà 'tt,v 1;8''OÂ.U/llttaoa,roç 'I1t1tocr'tpa'toç<Pllcrtv .

From the point of ｶ ｩ ｾ ｷ of later generations,even in the 5th century, bywhieh time rhapsodizinghad beenstandardizedand subjeetto further rules,the expansionand experimentationon traditional material as done by aKunaithos and an Onomakritos couId only.be branded as forgery orfalsifieation - hencethe tone of the testimonia.It is signifieant that the oneinterpolationattributedto Onomakritoswithin the text of Homeras we haveit is precise1yin the OdysseyXI underworld seene,as mentionedin theseholiato line XI, 604:

Scholia to Od. XI, 604

1taîoaLÎlOÇ lleyaÂ.olO] 'toû'tov lmo 'OvollalCpt1:oU ÈIl1te1totfjcr8at<pacrtv. ｾＸＧｴｔ｝Ｇｴ｡ｴoÉ. ËVlOl of: ou 'tt,v oivoxoov "HPllv, aÂ.Â.à 'tt,v Éau'tOûavopeiav.

It would make senseif Onomakritos,as a rhapsodeof Orphie material,would havehadan interestin fine-tuning a sceneof katabasis.This does notimply, however,that Onomakritosas an "editor" interpolatedthe Nekuia.

23 SeeF. STOESSL, "Onomakritos",REXVIII (1939), col. 491-493.

24 NAGY, Pindar's Homer (cit. n. 13), p. 172-174and ID., Poet1yas peiformance(cit.n. 13), p. 104-105.

32 R.P. MARTIN

A secondpiece of circumstantialevidencefor the widespread,rhapsodieperformanceof Orphiea is one of the most obvious: the Orphie theogoniepassageof AristophanesBird (lines 693-702).25If such theogonymaterialwasin fact only in limited circulation for a literary elite, of the sort Westhypothesizes,how could Aristophaneshave expectedthe audienceof hiscomedyto get the point?Evenif it is, asWestargues,a questionof borrowedmotifs - how did people know the motifs? RhapsodizingOrpheus -assumingthat Orphie materialwas public, performed,and popular- couldprovide the answer.

The final piece of circumstantial evidence brings us to myth, andespecially mythie projection of performances.It has been convincinglyarguedby Nagy that muchof what we know from the testimoniaand poetryabout Homer and Hesiod is in fact a retrojectingstrategyemployedby thevery rhapsodietradition that transmitstheir poetry.26It so happensthat wehave severalintriguing storiesaboutOrpheusas well, specifieallyabouthisrole as poet. Aside from the stories that attest to the power of his kitharaplaying while he lived (and whieh are probably connectedto the lore andideology of actual kithara-performers) there are the post-mortemtales. Hisseveredheadkeepson singing; a shepherdwho sleepsby his tomb singswith the voiee of the deadpoet; the deadOrpheusor his headis creditedwith oracularpowers.27 As well as being a powerful imageof the survival oforal tradition, onewith rieh comparativeconnectionsin Irish and Indie lore,this myth complexcan equallybe a rhapsodieconstruct,the obverseof theway in whieh Homericpoetry tendsto denigrateThamyris. It is a strategyforgiving statusand a patina of prestige to one's performances.To say thatOrpheus'shead keepson singing is anotherway of expressinga sociopoetiefact, that audiencesand performers kept on singing and performing"Orpheus" storiesand poemsattributed to him. In fact, this was the daimthat Terpander, a key figure in the developmentand performanceofkitharodic epie, must have made in his own work, perhapsin the 7thcentury. ps-PlutarchDe Musica (5, 1132) citesAlexandros(273 F 77 Jacoby)to the effect that Terpander"took as models (ezêlôkenai) the hexameterversesof Homerand the melodiesof Orpheus."Again, there is no absolutelydirect evidence;one might object that Terpanderis not a rhapsode,but inthis story, it seemshe is quite doseto beingone.As an inventorof kitharodienomes,andsingerof hexameters,he might evenbe considereda genetielinkbetweenolder poets and 6th century performers.To make a mimesis ofOrpheus,as Terpanderdid, is to perform at the outer limits of influence, ineffect to be a first imitator: Orpheusmimed no one,we are told (De musica5, 1132).That senseof reconnectingwith a distantpast,an aboriginalsong,in

25 SeeN. DUNBAR, AristophanesBirds, Oxford, 1995,p. 437-447.

26 NAGY, Homeric Questions(cit. n. 1), passim.

27 For full details and comparativematerials,seeJ. NAGY, "Hierarchy, Heroes andHeads",in 1. EDMUNDS (ed.),Approachesto GreekMyth, Baltimore, 1990, p. 199-239.

RhapsodizingOrpheus 33

tum must havecasta glow over the muthos-makingpublic performancesofrhapsodesin archaic Greece. If a performer could manageto reproduceOrpheus,miming his melodies, then an audience,no matter how stolid,might respondas thoughcharmed- surelyawishthat any Ion might cherish.

RichardP. MARTIN

Dept. of CiassicsBidg. 20, Main QuadSTANFORD, CA 94305USA