This paper argues that the mention of Niobe turned into a stone in Philemon fr. 102 K.–A. is not merely a reference to the myth, but an allusion of the famous Aeschylean Niobe. After presenting and discussing the comic fragment, the author provides sections about the popularity of the Niobe myth and the reasons why Aeschylus’ Niobe was so significant already in antiquity, which was mainly owing to the dramatist’ s presentation of Niobe as silent until an advanced point of the performance. Niobe’ s silence is not attested in other literary or mythographical sources. Next the author discusses the rationalization of Niobe’ s metamorphosis in the fragment by Philemon, pointing out that it focuses precisely on the silence of the woman, while other versions by different authors refer to different aspects (linguistic misunderstandings, immobility, insensibility). Lastly, a short meta-linguistic survey of the association stone/silence shows that this was not the only possible nor the most expected outcome in Greek.
Filemone, fr. 102 K.–A. e la reviviscenza tragica di una metafora mitica
VIRGINIA MASTELLARI
2022-01-01
Abstract
This paper argues that the mention of Niobe turned into a stone in Philemon fr. 102 K.–A. is not merely a reference to the myth, but an allusion of the famous Aeschylean Niobe. After presenting and discussing the comic fragment, the author provides sections about the popularity of the Niobe myth and the reasons why Aeschylus’ Niobe was so significant already in antiquity, which was mainly owing to the dramatist’ s presentation of Niobe as silent until an advanced point of the performance. Niobe’ s silence is not attested in other literary or mythographical sources. Next the author discusses the rationalization of Niobe’ s metamorphosis in the fragment by Philemon, pointing out that it focuses precisely on the silence of the woman, while other versions by different authors refer to different aspects (linguistic misunderstandings, immobility, insensibility). Lastly, a short meta-linguistic survey of the association stone/silence shows that this was not the only possible nor the most expected outcome in Greek.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
