Set III-5-oly-002. A collection of selected literary quotations associated with "Olympias" as the main subject. The entries are organised chronologically, from the the earliest to the latest. The intentionally omitted textual fragments are indicated by an ellipsis placed inside angle brackets. The translator's notes and curator's commentaries are placed inside square brackets and indicated by the quartz colour. Direct mentions of the main subject are indicated by the azure colour. Direct mentions of snakes/serpents and their derivatives are indicated by the amber colour and complemented by references to the sources' original language and the words' lemmas. Important descriptive details that inform the artefacts' iconographic interpretation are indicated by the malachite colour.
------------------------------------------------- « ● Selected Classical Quotations ● » --------------------------------------------------
“
⟨...⟩ intricate snake [δράκων] of solid gold ⟨...⟩
„
| Author: |
Work/Anthology: |
Verse/Fragment: |
Translator(s): |
Collection & Publisher: |
Alcman
(c. 600s BC) |
(Fragments) |
● 66-67 |
David A. Campbell |
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 143) © Harvard
University Press, 1988 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------- « ● ● ● » ---------------------------------------------------------------------
“
Giving the serpents [ὄφις] something to drink ⟨...⟩ pouring with a golden cup.
„
| Author: |
Work/Anthology: |
Verse/Fragment: |
Translator(s): |
Collection & Publisher: |
Cratinus
(519-422 BC) |
Laws |
● 132 (via Athenaeus, The Learned Ban-queters XI, 502 B) |
Ian C. Storey |
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 513) © Harvard
University Press, 2011 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------- « ● ● ● » ---------------------------------------------------------------------
“
HERMES: ⟨...⟩ There is a famous Greek city [Athens] which takes its name from Pallas, goddess of the golden spear [Athena]. Here Phoebus [Apollo] made forcible love to Creusa, daughter of Erechtheus, at the place where under Pallas' acropolis stand Athens' northern cliffs, the Long Cliffs, as the lords of Attica call them. Without her father's knowledge (for so the god wished it) she carried to term the burden of her belly. When her time came, Creusa gave birth in the house, then carried the child to the same cave where she was ravished by the god, and left him to die in the round hollow of a cradle. She kept the custom of her ancestors and of Erichthonius the earthborn. For Zeus's daughter [Athena] gave him two serpents [δράκων] to guard his body when she handed him for safe keeping to the daughters of Aglauros [Wife of Cecrops, an early king of Athens, with whom she had three daughters: Aglauros, Herse, and Pandrosos]. And that is why the Athenians have the custom of rearing their children adorned with serpents [ὄφις] of beaten gold. Well, the girl put upon the child what adornment she possessed, thinking he would die, and left him.
„
| Author: |
Work/Anthology: |
Verse/Fragment: |
Translator(s): |
Collection & Publisher: |
Euripides
(c. 480-406 BC) |
Ion |
● 8-27 |
David Kovacs |
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 010) © Harvard
University Press, 1999 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------- « ● ● ● » ---------------------------------------------------------------------
“
⟨...⟩ the cup which he [Euxenippus] allowed Olympias to dedicate to the statue of Health [Hygieia]. [Translator's note: Olympias, mother of Alexander the Great [356-323 BC; r. 336-323 BC], was sent by him about 331 BC to Epirus, where her brother Alexander [Alexander I of Epirus (Alexander Molossus), r. 343/2-331 BC] was king. On the death of the latter she became regent for the young prince Neoptolemus [Neoptolemus II of Epirus, r. 302-297 BC] and so controlled Molossia, which had been attached to the kingdom by Philip [Philip II of Macedon, r. 359-336 BC] in 343 BC. The statue of Health [Hygieia] stood on the Acropolis. (See Pausanias Description of Greece I. Attica xxiii, 5.) It is not known how Euxenippus was connected with this affair.]
„
| Author: |
Work/Anthology: |
Verse/Fragment: |
Translator(s): |
Collection & Publisher: |
Hypereides
(c. 390-322 BC) |
In Defence of Euxenippus |
● 19 |
John Ormiston Burtt |
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 395) © Harvard
University Press, 1954 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------- « ● ● ● » ---------------------------------------------------------------------
“
While as to other animals, such as snakes [ὄφις], lizards and the like, it is plain that they go without drink.
„
| Author: |
Work/Anthology: |
Verse/Fragment: |
Translator(s): |
Collection & Publisher: |
Theophrastus
(c. 371- 287 BC) |
Enquiry into Plants |
● IV: iii, 6 |
Arthur Fenton Hort |
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 070) © Harvard
University Press, 1916 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------- « ● ● ● » ---------------------------------------------------------------------
“
To Aphrodite the Heavenly we girl companions, all of one age, give these gifts: ⟨...⟩ the daughter of Aristotle, who bears her father's name [Aristoteleia], her coiled snake [δράκων], the gold ornament of her slender ankles.
„
| Author: |
Work/Anthology: |
Verse/Fragment: |
Translator(s): |
Collection & Publisher: |
Antipater of Sidon
(c. 150-100 BC) |
(The Greek Antholo-gy, VI. The Dedica-tory Epigrams) |
● 206 |
William Roger Paton; Revised by Michael A. Tueller |
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 067) © Harvard
University Press, 2014 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------- « ● ● ● » ---------------------------------------------------------------------
“
⟨...⟩ Aristoteleia, who bears her father's name [Aristotle], [gave as a gift to Aphrodite?] the snake [δράκων], her beautiful anklet.
„
| Author: |
Work/Anthology: |
Verse/Fragment: |
Translator(s): |
Collection & Publisher: |
Archias
(c. 120-60 BC ?) |
(The Greek Antholo-gy, VI. The Dedica-tory Epigrams) |
● 207 |
William Roger Paton; Revised by Michael A. Tueller |
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 067) © Harvard
University Press, 2014 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------- « ● ● ● » ---------------------------------------------------------------------
“
⟨...⟩ Alexander's [Alexander the Great's, 356-323 BC; r. 336-323 BC] dream, which, to my surprise, my dear Quintus, you passed by without notice: Alexander's intimate friend, Ptolemaeus [c. 367-282 BC], had been struck in battle by a poisoned arrow and was at the point of death from his wound and suffering the most excruciating agony. Alexander, while sitting by the bedside of his friend, fell fast asleep. Thereupon, so the story goes, he dreamed that the pet serpent [draco] of his mother Olympias appeared to him carrying a root in its mouth and, at the same time, gave him the name of a place close by where it said the root grew. This root, the serpent [Ø] told him, was of such great virtue that it would effect the speedy cure of Ptolemaeus. As soon as Alexander awoke he related his dream to his friends and men were sent to find the root. It is said that when the root was found it worked the cure not only of Ptolemaeus, but also of many soldiers who had been wounded by the same kind of arrow.
„
| Author: |
Work/Anthology: |
Verse/Fragment: |
Translator(s): |
Collection & Publisher: |
Marcus Tullius Cicero
(106-43 BC) |
On Divination |
● II: lxvi, 135 |
William Armistead Falconer |
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 154) © Harvard
University Press, 1923 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------- « ● ● ● » ---------------------------------------------------------------------
“
⟨...⟩ sweeping huge coils along the ground, does the scaly snake [anguis] with his vast train wind himself into a spiral.
„
| Author: |
Work/Anthology: |
Verse/Fragment: |
Translator(s): |
Collection & Publisher: |
Publius Vergilius Maro
(70-19 BC) |
Georgics |
● II: 153-154 |
Henry Rushton Fairclough; Revised by George Patrick Goold |
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 063) © Harvard
University Press, 1999 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------- « ● ● ● » ---------------------------------------------------------------------
“
⟨...⟩ Allecto, steeped in Gorgonian venom, first seeks Latium and the high halls of the Laurentine king, and sits down before the silent threshold of Amata, who, with a woman's distress, a woman's passion, was seething with frenzy over the Teucrian's coming and Turnus' marriage. On her the goddess flings a snake [anguis] from her dusky tresses, and thrusts it into her bosom, into her inmost heart, that maddened by the pest she may embroil all the house. Gliding between her raiment and smooth breasts, it winds its way unfelt and, unseen by the frenzied woman, breathes into her its viperous [vipera] breath. The huge snake [coluber] becomes the collar of twisted gold about her neck, becomes the festoon of the long fillet, entwines itself into her hair, and slides smoothly over her limbs.
„
| Author: |
Work/Anthology: |
Verse/Fragment: |
Translator(s): |
Collection & Publisher: |
Publius Vergilius Maro
(70-19 BC) |
Aeneid |
● VII: 341-353 |
Henry Rushton Fairclough; Revised by George Patrick Goold |
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 064) © Harvard
University Press, 2001 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------- « ● ● ● » ---------------------------------------------------------------------
“
⟨...⟩ the rumor earlier circulated about Alexander the Great [356-323 BC; r. 336-323 BC] (a[n] ⟨...⟩ fatuous piece of fiction) that his conception came from sexual union with a huge snake [anguis], that this miraculous creature was often seen in his mother's [Olympia's] bedroom, and that it immediately slithered away and vanished from sight when people arrived on the scene.
„
| Author: |
Work/Anthology: |
Verse/Fragment: |
Translator(s): |
Collection & Publisher: |
Titus Livius
(c. 64/59 BC-
12/17 AD) |
History of Rome |
● XXVI: ix, 7-8 |
J. C. Yardley |
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 367) © Harvard
University Press, 2020 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------- « ● ● ● » ---------------------------------------------------------------------
“
You were a neat-herd, Phoebus, and Poseidon was a nag, Zeus was a swan, and famous Ammon a snake [ὄφις] [Translator's note: Apollo became a herd for the sake of Admetus, Poseidon a horse for that of Demeter, Zeus a swan for Leda, Ammon a snake to lie with Olympias and beget Alexander [Alexander the Great, 356-323 BC; r. 336-323 BC].] (they did it for the sake of girls, but you, Apollo, were after a boy), all to conceal your identity; for you all enjoy by force and not by persuasion.
„
| Author: |
Work/Anthology: |
Verse/Fragment: |
Translator(s): |
Collection & Publisher: |
Antipater of Thessalonica
(fl. late first century BC-early first century AD) |
(The Greek Antholo-gy: IX. The Decla-matory Epigrams) |
● 241 |
William Roger Paton |
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 084) © Harvard
University Press, 1917 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------- « ● ● ● » ---------------------------------------------------------------------
“
It is certain that sterility may result from sufferings at child-birth. This kind of barrenness, we are assured by Olympias of Thebes [fl. first century BC; a prominent midwife and medical writer], is cured by bull's gall, serpents' [serpens] fat, copper rust and honey, rubbed on the parts before intercourse.
„
| Author: |
Work/Anthology: |
Verse/Fragment: |
Translator(s): |
Collection & Publisher: |
Gaius Plinius Secundus
(23-79 AD) |
Natural History |
● XXVIII: lxxvii, 253 |
William Henry Samuel Jones |
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 418) © Harvard
University Press, 1963 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------- « ● ● ● » ---------------------------------------------------------------------
“
Pomponia [as ghost] now stood near. The secret love of Jupiter had made her Scipio's [Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus, 236/235-183 BC; consul 205, 194 BC] mother. For, when Venus learnt that the arms of Carthage were rising against Rome, she strove to anticipate the wiles of Juno, and entrapped her father's heart with a slow-spreading flame. But for this foresight, a Carthaginian virgin would now be kindling the altars of Ilium [Translator's note: The fire of Vesta.]. So, when the ghost had tasted of the blood and the Sibyl had informed her and suffered the pair to recognize one another, Scipio thus began: "Dear mother, as sacred to me as a mighty god, how gladly would I even have died and so entered the Stygian darkness, for a sight of you! What a lot was mine! The first day of my life was a day of disaster that snatched you from me and laid you in the grave." His mother replied: "My son, no suffering attended my death [Translator's note: Pomponia died in childbirth.]: when I was delivered of the divine burden I carried, the god born on Cyllene [Translator's note: Mercury] conducted me with gentle hand by the command of Jupiter and gave me a place of equal honour in Elysium, where Leda and the great mother of Alcides [Hercules] are permitted by the god to dwell. But mark me, my son, and at last you shall learn what I am permitted to disclose - the secret of your birth; then no wars will affright you, and you may be confident of rising to heaven by your achievements. It chanced that I was alone at midday, enjoying the sleep that my weariness required, when suddenly I was clasped in an embrace - no common and familiar union, as when my husband came to me; and then in radiant light, though my half-closed eyes were full of sleep, I saw - doubt me not - I saw Jupiter! Nor was I deceived by the god's disguise; for he had changed himself into a serpent [anguis] covered with scales and drew his coils after him in huge curves. But I was not permitted to live on after my delivery. What grief was mine, that my spirit departed before I could tell you these things!" Hearing this, Scipio strove eagerly to embrace his mother; but thrice the unsubstantial ghost eluded his grasp.
„
| Author: |
Work/Anthology: |
Verse/Fragment: |
Translator(s): |
Collection & Publisher: |
Tiberius Catius Asconius Silius Italicus
(c. 25-101 AD) |
Punica |
● XIII: 615-649 |
James Duff Duff |
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 278) © Harvard
University Press, 1934 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------- « ● ● ● » ---------------------------------------------------------------------
“
He [Delian priest] spoke, and set the final feast on the leafy altars, and poured libation; forthwith peaceful snakes [anguis], the ministers of the shades, seized it with their quick-darting tongues.
„
“
Next came Bisalta's legion and Colaxes its chief, himself too of the seed of gods, begotten by Jupiter in Scythian land by green Myrace and the mouths of Tibisis, enchanted, if the tale is worthy of belief, by a nymph's half-human body nor afraid of her twin snakes [anguis] [Translator's note: Valerius has combined the legends in Herodotus IV, 5 and IV, 9, in which Colaxais is the grandson of Jupiter by a nymph, and Hercules begets sons by a woman whose lower half is serpent; he also makes her end in two snakes instead of one, if that is the point of "geminos".].
„
“
Thereon had he himself joined serpents [draco] of gold, in likeness of Hora his mother; from either hand did the snakes' [serpens] tongues meet, darting wounds upon a shapely gem [Translator's note: The snakes are represented as facing one another, and darting their tongues upon a jewel placed between them.].
„
| Author: |
Work/Anthology: |
Verse/Fragment: |
Translator(s): |
Collection & Publisher: |
Gaius Valerius Flaccus
(c. 45-95 AD) |
Argonautica |
● III: 456-458
● VI: 48-52
● VI: 57-59 |
J. H. Mozley |
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 286) © Harvard
University Press, 1934 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------- « ● ● ● » ---------------------------------------------------------------------
“
Alexander's [Alexander the Great's, 356-323 BC; r. 336-323 BC] birth was preceded and attended by portents. Many even believed that he was the son of Jupiter [Zeus], who had assumed the form of a serpent [Ø] and lain with Olympias.
„
| Author: |
Work/Anthology: |
Verse/Fragment: |
Translator(s): |
Collection & Publisher: |
Quintus Curtius Rufus
(c. first century AD) |
History of Alexander |
● I (Summary) |
John Carew Rolfe |
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 368) © Harvard
University Press, 1946 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------- « ● ● ● » ---------------------------------------------------------------------
“
Philip [Philip II of Macedon, r. 359-336 BC] next asked him [Alexander the Great, 356-323 BC; r. 336-323 BC]: "But as for you, Alexander, would you like to have been Agamemnon or Achilles or any one of the heroes of those days, or Homer?" "No, indeed," said Alexander, "but I should like to go far beyond Achilles and the others. For you are not inferior to Peleus, in my opinion; nor is Macedonia less powerful than Phthia [Translator's note: Country and city in the south-east of Thessaly, ruled over by Peleus, father of Achilles.]; nor would I admit that Olympus [Translator's note: The Thessalian mountain on the border of Macedonia.] is a less famous mountain than Pelion [Translator's note: Here Peleus wooed and won Thetis, the mother of Achilles, and here Cheiron, the tutor of Achilles, had his cave.]; and, besides, the education I have gained under Aristotle is not inferior to that which Achilles derived from Amyntor's son, Phoenix, an exiled man and estranged from his father. Then, too, Achilles had to take orders from others and was sent with a small force of which he was not in sole command, since he was to share the expedition with another. I, however, could never submit to any mortal whatsoever being king over me." Whereupon Philip almost became angry with him and said: "But I am king and you are subject to me, Alexander." "Not I," said he, "for I hearken to you, not as king, but as father." "I suppose you will not go on and say, will you, that your mother was a goddess, as Achilles did," said Philip; "or do you presume to compare Olympias with Thetis?" At this Alexander smiled slightly and said, "To me, father, she seems more courageous than any Nereid." Whereupon Philip laughed and said, "Not merely more courageous, my son, but also more warlike; at least she never ceases making war on me." So far did they both go in mingling jest with earnest.
„
| Author: |
Work/Anthology: |
Verse/Fragment: |
Translator(s): |
Collection & Publisher: |
Dio Cocceianus Chrysostomus
(c. 40-115 AD) |
The Second Discourse on Kingship |
● 14-17 |
James Wilfred Cohoon |
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 257) © Harvard
University Press, 1932 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------- « ● ● ● » ---------------------------------------------------------------------
“
⟨...⟩ is it not Olympias who said that Philip [Philip II of Macedon, r. 359-336 BC] is not your [Alexander the Great's, 356-323 BC; r. 336-323 BC] father, as it happens, but a dragon [δράκων] or Ammon or some god or other or demigod or wild animal?
„
| Author: |
Work/Anthology: |
Verse/Fragment: |
Translator(s): |
Collection & Publisher: |
Dio Cocceianus Chrysostomus
(c. 40-115 AD) |
The Fourth Discourse on Kingship |
● 19 |
James Wilfred Cohoon |
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 257) © Harvard
University Press, 1932 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------- « ● ● ● » ---------------------------------------------------------------------
“
As for the lineage of Alexander [Alexander the Great's, 356-323 BC; r. 336-323 BC], on his father's side he was a descendant of Heracles through Caranus, and on his mother's side a descendant of Aeacus through Neoptolemus; this is accepted without any question. And we are told that Philip [Philip II of Macedon, r. 359-336 BC], after being initiated into the mysteries of Samothrace at the same time with Olympias, he himself being still a youth and she an orphan child, fell in love with her and betrothed himself to her at once with the consent of her brother, Arymbas. Well, then, the night before that on which the marriage was consummated, the bride dreamed that there was a peal of thunder and that a thunder-bolt fell upon her womb, and that thereby much fire was kindled, which broke into flames that travelled all about, and then was extinguished. At a later time, too, after the marriage, Philip dreamed that he was putting a seal upon his wife's womb; and the device of the seal, as he thought, was the figure of a lion. The other seers, now, were led by the vision to suspect that Philip needed to put a closer watch upon his marriage relations; but Aristander of Telmessus [fl. c. 300s BC] said that the woman was pregnant, since no seal was put upon what was empty, and pregnant of a son whose nature would be bold and lion-like. Moreover, a serpent [δράκων] was once seen lying stretched out by the side of Olympias as she slept, and we are told that this, more than anything else, dulled the ardour of Philip's attentions to his wife, so that he no longer came often to sleep by her side, either because he feared that some spells and enchantments might be practised upon him by her, or because he shrank from her embraces in the conviction that she was the partner of a superior being. But concerning these matters there is another story to this effect: all the women of these parts were addicted to the Orphic rites and the orgies of Dionysus from very ancient times (being called Klodones and Mimallones) [Translator's note: Macedonian names for Bacchantes.], and imitated in many ways the practices of the Edonian women and the Thracian women about Mount Haemus, from whom, as it would seem, the word "threskeuein" came to be applied to the celebration of extravagant and superstitious ceremonies. Now Olympias, who affected these divine possessions more zealously than other women, and carried out these divine inspirations in wilder fashion, used to provide the revelling companies with great tame serpents [ὄφις], which would often lift their heads from out the ivy and the mystic winnowing-baskets [cista mystica], or coil themselves about the wands and garlands of the women, thus terrifying the men.
„
“
However, after his vision, as we are told, Philip sent Chaeron of Megalopolis to Delphi, by whom an oracle was brought him from Apollo, who bade him sacrifice to Ammon and hold that god in greatest reverence, but told him he was to lose that one of his eyes which he had applied to the chink in the door when he espied the god, in the form of a serpent [δράκων], sharing the couch of his wife. Moreover, Olympias, as Eratosthenes [c. 276-194 BC] says, when she sent Alexander forth upon his great expedition, told him, and him alone, the secret of his begetting, and bade him have purposes worthy of his birth. Others, on the contrary, say that she repudiated the idea, and said: "Alexander must cease slandering me to Hera" [Translator's note: The lawful spouse of Zeus Ammon.]. Be that as it may, Alexander was born early in the month Hecatombaeon, the Macedonian name for which is Loüs, on the sixth day of the month, and on this day the temple of Ephesian Artemis was burnt. It was apropos of this that Hegesias the Magnesian [fl. c. 300 BC] made an utterance frigid enough to have extinguished that great conflagration. He said, namely, it was no wonder that the temple of Artemis was burned down, since the goddess was busy bringing Alexander into the world. But all the Magi who were then at Ephesus, looking upon the temple's disaster as a sign of further disaster, ran about beating their faces and crying aloud that woe and great calamity for Asia had that day been born. To Philip, however, who had just taken Potidaea, there came three messages at the same time: the first that Parmenio had conquered the Illyrians in a great battle, the second that his race-horse had won a victory at the Olympic games, while a third announced the birth of Alexander. These things delighted him, of course, and the seers raised his spirits still higher by declaring that the son whose birth coincided with three victories would be always victorious.
„
“
Arrhidaeus [Philip III Arrhidaeus of Macedon, r. 323-317 BC] was Philip's [Philip II of Macedon's, r. 359-336 BC] son by an obscure and common woman named Philinna, and was deficient in intellect owing to bodily disease. This, however, did not come upon him in the course of nature or of its own accord, indeed, it is said that as a boy he displayed an exceedingly gifted and noble disposition: but afterwards Olympias gave him drugs which injured his body and ruined his mind.
„
| Author: |
Work/Anthology: |
Verse/Fragment: |
Translator(s): |
Collection & Publisher: |
Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus
(c. 46-120 AD) |
Parallel Lives VII: Alexander |
● II, 1-6
● III, 1-5
● LXXVII, 5 |
Bernadotte Perrin |
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 099) © Harvard
University Press, 1919 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------- « ● ● ● » ---------------------------------------------------------------------
“
In ancient days, when a part of the wall of Velitrae had been struck by lightning, the prediction was made that a citizen of that town would one day rule the world. Through their confidence in this the people of Velitrae had at once made war on the Roman people and fought with them many times after that almost to their utter destruction; but at last long afterward the event proved that the omen had foretold the rule of Augustus [Caesar Augustus (Gaius Octavius), 63 BC-14 AD; r. 27 BC-14 AD]. According to Julius Marathus [fl. first century BC], a few months before Augustus was born a portent was generally observed at Rome, which gave warning that nature was pregnant with a king for the Roman people; thereupon the senate in consternation decreed that no male child born that year should be reared; but those whose wives were with child saw to it that the decree was not filed in the treasury, since each one appropriated the prediction to his own family. I have read the following story in the books of Asclepias of Mendes [?] entitled Theologumena [Translator's note: I.e. "Discourses about the Gods". Aristotle [384-322 BC] wrote a work with the same title.]. When Atia [Atia Balba Caesonia, 85-43 BC] had come in the middle of the night to the solemn service of Apollo, she had her litter set down in the temple and fell asleep, while the rest of the matrons also slept. On a sudden a serpent [draco] [Translator's note: The genius, or familiar spirit (see note on Chapter lx), was often represented by a serpent, and those of husband and wife by two serpents; e.g. in Pompeian frescoes.] glided up to her and shortly went away. When she awoke, she purified herself [Translator's note: To avoid profanation of the sacred rites.], as if after the embraces of her husband, and at once there appeared on her body a mark in colours like a serpent [draco], and she could never get rid of it; so that presently she ceased ever to go to the public baths. In the tenth month after that Augustus was born and was therefore regarded as the son of Apollo. Atia too, before she gave him birth, dreamed that her vitals were borne up to the stars and spread over the whole extent of land and sea, while [Gaius] Octavius [c. 100-59 BC; father of Caesar Augustus] dreamed that the sun rose from Atia's womb.
„
| Author: |
Work/Anthology: |
Verse/Fragment: |
Translator(s): |
Collection & Publisher: |
Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus
(c. 69-120s AD) |
Lives of the Caesars |
● II. The Deified Augustus: xciv, 2-4 |
John Carew Rolfe |
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 031) © Harvard
University Press, 1914 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------- « ● ● ● » ---------------------------------------------------------------------
“
⟨...⟩ when Claudius [r. 41-54 AD] became emperor, Nero [r. 54-68 AD] not only recovered his father's [Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus's, 2 BC-41 AD] property, but was also enriched by an inheritance from his stepfather, [Gaius Sallustius] Passienus Crispus [fl. first century AD; consul 44 AD; d. 47 AD]. When his mother [(Julia) Agrippina the Younger, 15-59 AD] was recalled from banishment and reinstated, he became so prominent through her influence that it leaked out that [Valeria] Messalina [c. 17/20-48 AD], wife of Claudius [r. 41-54 AD], had sent emissaries to strangle him as he was taking his noon-day nap, regarding him as a rival of Britannicus [Claudius's son, 41-55 AD]. An addition to this bit of gossip is that the would-be assassins were frightened away by a snake [draco] which darted out from under his pillow. The only foundation for this tale was that there was found in his bed near the pillow the slough of a serpent [serpens]; but nevertheless [Translator's note: That is, as if the story had a better foundation, and the serpent had really saved his life through divine agency.] at his mother's desire he had the skin enclosed in a golden bracelet, and wore it for a long time on his right arm. But when at last the memory of his mother grew hateful to him, he threw it away, and afterwards in the time of his extremity sought it again in vain.
„
| Author: |
Work/Anthology: |
Verse/Fragment: |
Translator(s): |
Collection & Publisher: |
Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus
(c. 69-120s AD) |
Lives of the Caesars |
● VI. Nero: vi, 4 |
John Carew Rolfe |
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 038) © Harvard
University Press, 1914 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------- « ● ● ● » ---------------------------------------------------------------------
“
⟨...⟩ Aristomenes [fl. 660s-650s BC], who to this day is worshipped as a hero among the Messenians. They think that even the circumstances of his birth were notable, for they assert that a spirit or a god united with his mother, Nicoteleia, in the form of a serpent [δράκων]. I know that the Macedonians tell a similar story about Olympias, and the Sicyonians about Aristodama, but there is this difference: The Messenians do not make Aristomenes the son of Heracles or of Zeus, as the Macedonians do with Alexander [Alexander the Great, 356-323 BC; r. 336-323 BC] and Ammon, and the Sicyonians with Aratus and Asclepius.
„
| Author: |
Work/Anthology: |
Verse/Fragment: |
Translator(s): |
Collection & Publisher: |
Pausanias
(c. 110-180 AD) |
Description
of Greece |
● IV. Messenia:
xv, 7-8 |
Henry Ardene Ormerod |
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 188) © Harvard
University Press, 1926 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------- « ● ● ● » ---------------------------------------------------------------------
“
Some remarkable stories about the elder Publius Africanus [Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus, 236/235-183 BC; consul 205, 194 BC], drawn from the annals. The tale which in Grecian history is told of Olympias, wife of king Philip [Philip II of Macedon, r. 359-336 BC] and mother of Alexander [Alexander the Great, 356-323 BC; r. 336-323 BC], is also recorded of the mother of that Publius Scipio who was the first to be called Africanus. For both Gaius Oppius [fl. first century BC] and [Gaius] Julius Hyginus [c. 64 BC-17 AD], as well as others who have written of the life and deeds of Africanus, declare that his mother was for a long time thought to be barren, and that Publius [Cornelius] Scipio [consul 218 BC; d. 211 BC], her husband, had also given up hope of offspring; that afterwards, in her own room and bed, when she was lying alone in the absence of her husband and had fallen asleep, of a sudden a huge serpent [anguis] was seen lying by her side; and that when those who had seen it were frightened and cried out, the snake [Ø] glided away and could not be found. It is said that Publius Scipio himself consulted soothsayers about the occurrence; that they, after offering sacrifice, declared that he would have children, and not many days after that serpent [anguis] had been seen in her bed, the woman began to experience the indications and sensation of conception [Translator's note: A similar story is told of Augustus (Suetonius Augustus xciv, 4) as well as of Alexander the Great (§ 1 and Livy History of Rome XXVI: xix, 7).]. Afterwards, in the tenth month, she gave birth to that Publius Scipio who conquered Hannibal [247-183/181 BC] and the Carthaginians in Africa in the second Punic war [Translator's note: At Zama, 202 BC.]. But it was far more because of his exploits than because of that prodigy that he too [Translator's note: As well as Alexander and Augustus [Caesar Augustus (Gaius Octavius), 63 BC-14 AD; r. 27 BC-14 AD].] was believed to be a man of godlike excellence. This too I venture to relate, which the same writers that I mentioned before have put on record: This Scipio Africanus used often to go to the Capitolium in the latter part of the night, before the break of day, give orders that the shrine of Jupiter be opened [Translator's note: The name Capitolium was applied to the southern summit of the Capitoline Hill, and also to the temple of Juppiter Optimus Maximus. The temple contained three shrines, to Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva.], and remain there a long time alone, apparently consulting Jupiter about matters of state; and the guardians of the temple were often amazed that on his coming to the Capitolium alone at such an hour the dogs, that flew at all other intruders, neither barked at him nor molested him.
„
| Author: |
Work/Anthology: |
Verse/Fragment: |
Translator(s): |
Collection & Publisher: |
Aulus Gellius
(c. 125-180 AD) |
Attic Nights |
● VI: i, 1-6 |
John Carew Rolfe |
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 200) © Harvard
University Press, 1927 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------- « ● ● ● » ---------------------------------------------------------------------
“
Alexander was just getting his beard when the death of the Tyanean put him in a bad way, since it coincided with the passing of his beauty, by which he might have supported himself. So he abandoned petty projects for ever. He formed a partnership with a Byzantine writer of choral songs, one of those who enter the public competitions, far more abominable than himself by nature - Cocconas, I think, was his nickname, - and they went about the country practising quackery and sorcery, and "trimming the fatheads" - for so they style the public in the traditional patter of magicians. Well, among these they hit upon a rich Macedonian woman, past her prime but still eager to be charming, and not only lined their purses fairly well at her expense, but went with her from Bithynia to Macedon. She came from Pella, a place once flourishing in the time of the kings of Macedon but now insignificant, with very few inhabitants. There they saw great serpents [δράκων], quite tame and gentle, so that they were kept by women, slept with children, let themselves be stepped upon, were not angry when they were stroked, and took milk from the breast just like babies. There are many such in the country, and that, probably, is what gave currency in former days to the story about Olympias; no doubt a serpent [δράκων] of that sort slept with her when she was carrying Alexander [Translator's note: The story was that Alexander [Alexander the Great, 356-323 BC; r. 336-323 BC] was the son of Zeus, who had visited Olympias in the form of a serpent.]. So they bought one of the reptiles [ἑρπετόν], the finest, for a few coppers; and, in the words of Thucydides [c. 460-400 BC]: "Here beginneth the war!"
„
| Author: |
Work/Anthology: |
Verse/Fragment: |
Translator(s): |
Collection & Publisher: |
Lucian of Samosata
(c. 120s-180s AD) |
Alexander the False Prophet |
● 6-8 |
Austin Morris Harmon |
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 162) © Harvard
University Press, 1925 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------- « ● ● ● » ---------------------------------------------------------------------
“
DIOGENES: What's this, Alexander [Alexander the Great, 356-323 BC; r. 336-323 BC]? Are you dead too, just like the rest of us? ALEXANDER: As you see, Diogenes. There's nothing strange in a human like me dying. DIOGENES: Ammon lied, then, when he said you were his son? You were Philip's [Philip II of Macedon's, r. 359-336 BC] son after all? ALEXANDER: Of course I was Philip's son. I shouldn't have died, if Ammon was my father. DIOGENES: And it was another lie about Olympias - that a serpent [δράκων] came to her and was seen in her bed, that that was how you came to be born, and that Philip was deceived in thinking that he was your father? ALEXANDER: I heard that too, just as you did, but now I see that there was not a word of truth in what my mother and the prophets of Ammon said. DIOGENES: But their lies weren't without practical advantage to you, Alexander. For many cowered down before you, thinking you a god. But tell me, to whom have you left your great empire? ALEXANDER: I don't know, Diogenes; I didn't give any instructions about it in time; I merely gave my ring to Perdiccas [c. 355-321 BC] when I died. But why do you laugh, Diogenes? DIOGENES: I'm only recalling how Greece treated you, flattering you from the moment you succeeded to your kingdom, and choosing you as her champion and leader against the barbarians, and how some even added you to the twelve gods, built you temples, and sacrificed to you, as the son of the serpent [δράκων]. But tell me, where did the Macedonians bury you? ALEXANDER: I've been lying in Babylon for a whole thirty days now, but my guardsman Ptolemy [c. 367-282 BC] promises that, whenever he gets a respite from the present disturbances, he'll take me away to Egypt and bury me there, so that I may become one of the gods of the Egyptians.
„
| Author: |
Work/Anthology: |
Verse/Fragment: |
Translator(s): |
Collection & Publisher: |
Lucian of Samosata
(c. 120s-180s AD) |
Dialogues of
the Dead |
● 13 (13) Diogenes and Alexander: 1-3 |
Matthew Donald Macleod |
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 431) © Harvard
University Press, 1961 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------- « ● ● ● » ---------------------------------------------------------------------
“
Halia, the daughter of Sybaris, was entering a grove of Artemis (the grove was in Phrygia) when a divine serpent [δράκων] appeared to her - it was of immense size - and lay with her. And from this union sprang the Ophiogeneis (snake-born) [ὄφις] of the first generation.
„
| Author: |
Work/Anthology: |
Verse/Fragment: |
Translator(s): |
Collection & Publisher: |
Claudius Aelianus
(c. 175-235 AD) |
On the
Characteristics
of Animals |
● XII: 39 |
Alwyn Faber Scholfield |
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 449) © Harvard
University Press, 1959 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------- « ● ● ● » ---------------------------------------------------------------------
“
The word [potōria] is derived from posis ("drink"); compare the use of ekpōma ("drinking vessel") by Attic authors, who employ the verbs hudropotein ("to drink water") and oinopotein ("to drink wine"). Aristophanes [c. 446-386 BC] in Knights (198): a stupid blood-drinking (haimatopōtōs) serpent [δράκων] in its beak.
„
“
Sappho [c. 630-570 BC] (fr. 141, 4-6) mentions karchēsia in the following passage: So they all held karchasia and poured a libation; and they prayed that everything good might come to the bridegroom. Sophocles [c. 497/6-406/405 BC] in Tyro (fr. 660): to approach the middle of the table, around the food and the karchēsia, by which he meant that the snakes [δράκων] had come up the table and were in the vicinity of the food and the karchēsia; because the ancients, as Homer [700s-600s BC] represents them, made it a habit to set cups full of mixed wine on the table.
„
“
The Athenians refer to their silver (argurai) phialai as argurides, and to their gold (chrusai) phialai as chrusides. Pherecrates [fl. 440s BC] in Persians (fr. 135) mentions an arguris, as follows: Hey you - where are you taking this arguris? And Cratinus [519-422 BC] mentions a chrusis in Laws (fr. 132): pouring a libation with a chrusis ⟨...⟩ giving snakes [ὄφις] a drink.
„
| Author: |
Work/Anthology: |
Verse/Fragment: |
Translator(s): |
Collection & Publisher: |
Athenaeus
of Naucratis
(c. late 100s-early
200s AD) |
The Learned
Banqueters |
● XI: 460 C
● XI: 475 A-B
● XI: 502 A-B |
S. Douglas Olson |
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 274) © Harvard
University Press, 2009 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------- « ● ● ● » ---------------------------------------------------------------------
“
⟨...⟩ the snakes [δράκων] round the[ir] wrists and arms, which I wish were real snakes [δράκων] instead of gold.
„
| Author: |
Work/Anthology: |
Verse/Fragment: |
Translator(s): |
Collection & Publisher: |
Pseudo-Lucian
(c. early 300s AD) |
Affairs of the Heart (Amores) |
● 41 |
Matthew Donald Macleod |
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 432) © Harvard
University Press, 1967 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------- « ● ● ● » ---------------------------------------------------------------------
“
⟨...⟩ she [Bellona, the Roman goddess of war] had bound her locks into a coil that a polished circlet confined, and bidden her green snakes [anguis] turn to gold.
„
| Author: |
Work/Anthology: |
Verse/Fragment: |
Translator(s): |
Collection & Publisher: |
Claudius Claudianus
(c. 370-404 AD) |
Against Eutropius |
● II (XX): 185-186 |
Maurice Platnauer |
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 135) © Harvard
University Press, 1922 |
--------------------------------------------------------------------- « ● ● ● » ---------------------------------------------------------------------
“
The Median realms trembled, and Babylon, that had not closed her gates against the serpent-born [draco] foe [Translator's note: Alexander the Great [r. 336-323 BC]; see vv. 121-126. Babylon admitted Alexander without a struggle. Sidonius absurdly implies that she showed contempt for his impending attack by keeping her gates open. A similar idea occurs in v. 449 (unless we read strident).], now at last thought herself too widely opened.
„
“
⟨...⟩ Alexander the Great [356-323 BC; r. 336-323 BC] and Augustus [Caesar Augustus (Gaius Octavius), 63 BC-14 AD; r. 27 BC-14 AD] are deemed to have been conceived of a serpent [serpens] god, and they claimed between them Phoebus and Jupiter as their progenitors; for one of them sought his sire near the Cinyphian Syrtes, the other rejoiced that from his mother's marks he was deemed the offspring of Phoebus, and he vaunted the imprints [signum] of the healing serpent [draco] of Epidaurus [Translator's note: Alexander the Great claimed to be the son of Zeus Ammon, Augustus was rumoured to be the son of Apollo; these gods were said to have visited the mothers [Olympias and Atia] in the form of serpents. For accounts of Alexander's miraculous birth see, for example, Justin Epitome (Philippic History) xi, 11 and Plutarch Alexander ii, 1-6; iii, 1-5; for Augustus see Suetonius The Deified Augustus xciv, 2-4. From v. 126 it seems clear that Sidonius represents Augustus as claiming to be the son of Aesculapius, and therefore the grandson of Apollo.]. Many have been encircled by eagles [aquila], and a quick-formed ring of cringing plumage has playfully figured the crown that was to come.
„
| Author: |
Work/Anthology: |
Verse/Fragment: |
Translator(s): |
Collection & Publisher: |
Gaius Sollius Modestus Apollinaris Sidonius
(c. 430-485 AD) |
Poems |
● II. Panegyric on Anthemius, 79-81
● II. Panegyric on Anthemius, 121-126 |
William Blair Anderson |
Loeb Classical Library
(LCL 296) © Harvard
University Press, 1936 |
|
|
Search Functionality Demonstration
