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Invocatio and Imprecatio: the Hymn to the Greatest Kouros from Palaikastro and the oath in ancient Crete*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 February 2012

Paula J. Perlman
Paula J. Perlman
Affiliation:
University of Texas at Austin
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Extract

The hymn to the Greatest Kouros from Palaikastro, Crete, has occasioned considerable debate among students of choral lyric and ancient Greek religion since its discovery in 1904. The god invoked as the greatest kouros has been identified with Zeus Diktaios in whose sanctuary at Palaikastro the hymn was discovered. The hymn as we have it is a second or third century AD copy of a late fourth or third century BC composition. As is so often the case in Cretan studies, Minoan antecedents for the cult of Zeus Diktaios at Palaikastro and for the hymn have been suggested and explored.

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Notes
Information
The Journal of Hellenic Studies , Volume 115 , November 1995 , pp. 161 - 167
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies 1995

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References

1 I have followed the text of Guarducci, M., IC iii 2.2Google Scholar, and ‘Ancora sull’inno cretese a Zeus Dicteo’, in Antichità Cretesi: studi in onore di Doro Levi ii (Catania 1974) 36–38 (for the new restorations in strophe 5).

2 See Murray, G., ‘The hymn of the Kouretes’, BSA xv (1908–1909) 364–65.Google ScholarCf. von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, U., Griechische Verskunst2 (repr. Darmstadt 1958) 502Google Scholar and Bowra, C.M., On Greek margins (Oxford 1970) 197.Google Scholar

3 Nilsson, M.P., Minoan-Mycenaean religion and its survival in Greek religion (Lund 1950) 533–83Google Scholar, esp. 546–56; Bowra (n. 2) 196; West, M.L., ‘The Dictaean hymn to the Kouros’, JHS lxxxv (1965) 156–57Google Scholar; Warren, P., ‘Minoan Crete and ecstatic religion’, in Sanctuaries and cults in the Aegean Bronze Age: proceedings of the first international symposium at the Swedish Institute in Athens, ed. Hägg, R. and Marinatos, N. (Stockholm 1981) 164.Google ScholarCf. Verbruggen, H., Le Zeus crétois (Paris 1981) 105.Google Scholar

4 Harrison, J.E., ‘The Kouretes and Zeus Kouros; a study in prehistoric sociology’, BSA xv (1908–1909) 308–38.Google Scholar

5 Willetts, R.F., Cretan cults and festivals (New York 1962) 211–14Google Scholar; Ancient Crete: a social history (London/Toronto 1965) 120–24.

6 Willetts 1962 (n. 5) 116–17.

7 Koehl, R.B., ‘The Chieftain Cup and a Minoan rite of passage’, JHS cvi (1986) 99–110CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Sackett, H. and MacGillivray, S., ‘Boyhood of a god’, Archaeology xlii (1989) 31.Google Scholar

8 Bremer, J.M., ‘Greek hymns’, in Faith, hope and worship: aspects of religious mentality in the ancient world, ed. Versnel, H.S. (Leiden 1981) 193–215, esp. 193–97CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Race, W.H., ‘Aspects of rhetoric and form in Greek hymns’, GRBS xxiii (1982) 5–14.Google Scholar

9 Guarducci's restoration of followed by in strophe 5 has been controversial. West (n. 3) 150, 153–54, believed this sequence to be redundant and preferred instead Murray's (n. 2) 358, 361, followed by But Guarducci pointed out that the adjective suggests that the focus is on the product (wool versus meat and milk) rather than on the producer and so the two referents are not redundant. refers to all animals which provide meat and milk, more narrowly to sheep which provide wool. For a review of the restorations which have been proposed for this strophe, see Guarducci 1974 (n. 1) 36–37.

10 ‘Leap for’: Murray (n. 2) 359, 361; Harrison (n. 4) 337–38; ‘leap into’ or impregnate: Latte, K., De saltationibus Graecorum capita quinque (Giessen 1913) 49Google Scholar; Nilsson (n. 3) 549–50; Bowra (n. 2) 193–95; Guarducci 1974 (n. 9) 36–38; Bremer (n. 8) 206; ‘hasten’: Verbruggen (n. 3) 106–07; ‘spring up into’: West (n. 3) 157–59.

11 Two inscribed gold lamellae recently discovered in a late fourth century BC tomb in the vicinity of ancient Pelinna, Thessaly (Tsantsanoglou, K. and Parassoglou, G.M., ‘Two gold leaves from Thessaly’, Ἑλληνικά xxxviii [1987] 3–16Google Scholar; SEG xxxvii 497), provide intriguing comparanda for the use of in a ritual matrix which does not stress fertility. The two new leaves preserve an expanded variation of the previously attested formula The new leaves read Tsantsanoglou and Parassoglou translate both and ‘rush towards’. They suggest that the lines refer either to the conduct of the deceased as a newborn animal or to the deification and union of the deceased with the theriomorphic god, Dionysus. Although Aly's identification of the hymn to the Greatest Kouros as an Orphic document has met with little support, Nilsson suggested that the Orphic Dionysos was a later reflex of the Minoan divine child and as such was similar in function to the Cretan Zeus (Zeus Diktaios or Kretagenes). See Aly, W., ‘Ursprung und Entwicklung der kretischen Zeusreligion’, Philologus lxxi (1912) 457–78, esp. 472Google Scholar; Nilsson (n. 3) 564–83, esp. 579.

12 Nilsson (n. 3) 549–50 suggested that the use of the formula in strophe 5 was meant to be understood literally while in strophe 6 the use was figurative. See also Bowra (n. 2) 194–95. Cf. Verbruggen (n. 3) 106–07 and West (n. 3) 158, ‘It is evident that “spring up” has become (sc. in the Hellenistic period) a stereotyped prayer in the cult of the Kouros, and that his influence has outgrown its original bounds.’

13 The inscriptions have been dated on the basis of letter forms. But Spyridakis, S., Ptolemaic ltanos and Hellenistic Crete (Berkeley, Los Angeles, London 1970) 73–75Google Scholar, may well be right to connect the crisis reflected in the oath with the civil unrest at Itanos which is mentioned in the Itanian decrees in honor of Patroklos, the strategos of Ptolemy II Philadelphos, for his help in preserving the Itanian regime (IC iii 4.2, lines 13–15; 3, lines 5–6). Patroklos' expedition to Crete is dated to the period 270–260 BC. See Guarducci, M., IC iii, p. 81Google Scholar; Spyridakis 70, n. 5.

14 The order is reversed: hymn: flocks, earth, household; oath: household, earth, flocks.

15 See IC i 9.1, lines 75–94; ii 5.23; iii 3.5, lines 22–26; 6.7, lines 36–39; iv 174, lines 83–85; BE, (1970) 471. For an abbreviated formula, see IC i 16.5, lines 82–83; 18.9C, lines 14–15; ii 17.1, lines 20–22; iii 3 3A, lines 89–90; 3B, lines 23–25; iv 185, line 5; SEG xxvi 1049, lines 89–90.

16 For promissory clauses in alliance oaths from Crete, see IC i 16.5, lines 76–82; i 18.9C, lines 7–14; iii 3.3B, lines 15–17, 21–23; iii 3.5, lines 15–22; iii 6.7, lines 17–23; iv 174, lines 77–82; iv 185, lines 1–5; SEG xxiii 547, lines 54–59; xxiii 563, lines 16–18; xxvi 1049, lines 86–89; BE 1970, no. 471B, lines 12–17.

17 The listing order of gods in oaths seems to reflect the relative importance of those gods in the community. See e.g. Willetts 1962 (n. 5) 206–08. Zeus Diktaios occupies a leading position in the lists of oath gods from two other east Cretan poleis. His name heads the list of gods in an alliance oath of Praisos (IC iii 6.7A, lines 15–16) and comes third in the alliance oaths of Hierapytna (IC iii 3.5, lines 11–12; SEG xxvi 1049, line 83).

18 Humphreys, S.C., The family, women and death (London 1983) 1.Google Scholar Oaths of office and dicasts' oaths performed a similar function.

19 For the extent of the temenos and sanctuary of Zeus Diktaios, see Crowther, C., ‘A note on Minoan Dikta’, BSA lxxxiii (1988) 43–44.Google Scholar In the Hellenistic period the boundary of the sanctuary was clearly articulated by a peribolos wall (IC iii 4.9, lines 69–71) stretches of which have been uncovered (Bosanquet, R.C., ‘Excavations at Palaikastro. IV. 8. The temple of Dictaean Zeus’, BSA xi [1904–1905] 298–99).Google Scholar

20 Per ep. James Whitley. The date is based on the typology of bronze votive tripod handles from the sanctuary.

21 MacGillivray, J.A., Sackett, L.H. et al. , ‘Excavations at Palaikastro, 1987’, BSA lxxxiii (1988) 267Google Scholar; MacGillivray, J.A., Sackett, L.H. et al. , ‘Excavations at Palaikastro, 1988’, BSA lxxxiv (1989) 426–27Google Scholar; Sackett and MacGillivray (n. 7) 27–29; MacGillivray, J.A., ‘The Therans and Dikta’, in Hardy, D.A. et al. eds., Thera and the Aegean world III. vol. i Archaeology: proceedings of the Third International Congress. Santorini. Greece. 3–9 September 1989 (London 1990) 366–68.Google Scholar

22 MacGillivray and Sacken 1989 (n. 22) 444–45.

23 Crowther (n. 20) 37–44.

24 Et. Mag. sv.

25 Brelich, A., Guerre, agoni e culti nella grecia arcaica (Bonn 1961) 60–73Google Scholar; Spyridakis (n. 13) 53–54; Van Effenterre, H., ‘Les frontieres de Lato’, KrChr xxi (1969) 48Google Scholar; Chaniotis, A., ‘Habgierige Götter, habgierige Städte. Heiligtumsbesitz und Gebietsanspruch in den kretischen Staatsverträgen’, Ktema xiii [1988] (1992) 21–39.Google Scholar

26 de Polignac, F., La naissance de la cité grecque (Paris 1984) 41–92.Google Scholar

27 Bosanquet, R.C., ‘The Palaikastro hymn of the Kouretes,’ BSA xv (1908–1909) 351Google Scholar; ‘Dicte and the temples of Dictaean Zeus,’ BSA xl (1939–1940) 60–77. As pointed out by Duhoux, Y., L'Éteocrétois: les textes, la langue (Amsterdam 1982) 59Google Scholar, settlement at Praisos was sparse before the eighth century BC.

28 See e.g. Guarducci, M., IC iii, p. 135.Google Scholar J. Whitley confirms per ep. that there is no compelling argument in favor of the attribution of the cult on Altar Hill to Zeus Diktaios.

29 Bosanquet 1939–1940 (n. 28) 66. M. Prent and S. Thome inform me that architectural terracottas from the same molds as those found at Praisos and Palaikastro have been identified at sites in central Crete as well. Their observation suggests that the similarity in architectural terracottas may not bear the political implications which Bosanquet favored.

30 Jacoby, FGH iiia comm., pp. 211–12, placed Staphylos of Naucratis in the first half of the third century BC. Staphylos' interest in the organization of east Crete is intriguing in light of Ptolemaic influence in the region at that time.

31 The southern border of the territory of Itanos followed the course of the Sedamnos river (modern Kochlakies?) which emptied into Karumes bay about five kilometers south of Palaikastro. For the location of Dragmos and of the border of Itanos, see Faure, P., ‘Nouvelles localisations de villes Crétoises’, KrChr xvii (1963) 18.Google Scholar

32 M. Guarducci, iii, pp. 91–92; Spyridakis (n. 13) 56–57.

33 Seen. 13.

34 IC iii 6.7 has been dated by letter form to the early third century BC. Praisos emerges as the dominant party in this agreement. See Gschnitzer, F., ‘Zu einem Geschäftstyp des griechischen Völkerrechts’, Symposion 1971 (Köln/Vienna 1975) 79–102.Google Scholar

35 See e.g. Warren (n. 3) 164, ‘Just such a purpose (sc. to promote the annual renewal of the fertility of the natural world) also lay behind the orgiastic dancing rituals of the god of fertility so fully described in the Palaikastro Hymn to Diktaian Zeus…’ For the connection between the Kouretes, the myth of Zeus’ birth and childhood and the discovery of the see schol Pind. Pyth. ii 127; Str. x 3.7. 4–16. Cf. POxy 1241, col. v, lines 22–28: Nik. Dam. FGrH iia 90F103.

36 Harrison (n. 4); Themis (Cambridge 1927) 16–29; Willetts 1962 (n. 5) 221–220; 1965 (n. 5) 119–25; Koehl (n. 7) 104–08.

37 Approximately three lines are lost at the beginning of the decree. The first surviving lines contain the decree's enabling formula. The date of the enactment should probably be restored at the beginning as the decree mandates the timely performance of its provisions.

38 For a general discussion of the annual administration of the civic oath to the year's graduating ephebes, see Plescia, J., The oath and perjury in ancient Greece (Tallahassee 1970) 15–24.Google Scholar

39 The full pattern is preserved in IC i 8.13, lines 12–21 (agreement between Knossos and Hierapytna, second century BC); IC i 16.5, lines 20–30 (agreement between Lato and Olous, 111/110 BC); SEG xxvi 1049, lines 28–39 (agreement between Lato and Hierapytna, 111/110 BC); IC i 19.1, lines 16–26 (agreement between Lyttos and Malla, third century BC). Elements of the pattern are found in IC iii 3.1 B, lines 29–30 (agreement between Hierapytna and the Arkades, third century BC) and IC iv 183, lines 1–3 (agreement between Gortyn and Sybrita, second century BC). Cf. IC iii 6.7A, lines 13–15 (agreement between Praisos and Stalai, third century BC), a kosmos of Praisos is chosen annually to renew the alliance oath on behalf of the Stalitai.

40 Wilamowitz (n. 2) 501; accepted by M. Guarducci, IC iii, p. 17 and Willetts 1962 (n. 5) 210.

41 Spyridakis (n. 13) 25.

42 van Effenterre, H., La Crète et le monde grec (Paris 1948) 126–27.Google ScholarCf. Guarducci, M., IC iii, pp. 77, 80Google Scholar; Reinach, A.J., REG xxiv (1911) 390–91Google Scholar; Spyridakis (n. 13) 47. That Hierapytna was at one time interested in the maintenance of the sanctuary is indicated by a dedication of the kosmoi of Hierapytna recording repairs completed at the sanctuary under their direction (IC iii 2.1, late second century BC). For the attribution and date, see Guarducci, IC iii, p. 11. This text should perhaps be considered in connection with the disagreement between Itanos and Hierapytna which occasioned the intervention of Magnesia late in the second century BC (IC iii 4.9).

43 The agreements listed in n. 40 above provide that officials from the allied polis shall be on hand to witness the annual swearing of the alliance oath by their treaty partners.

44 De Polignac (n. 27) 66–85. Cf. the promise of the ephebes of Dreros to protect the guard posts presumably located at the borders of the polis (IC i 9.1, lines 52–53).

45 Hesiod's Golden Age: West (n. 3) 157–58; Verbrugghen (n. 3) 105–06; Orphic history: Bosanquet 1908–1909 (n. 30) 354–56; spirit of fifth century BC progressivism: Bowra (n. 2) 191.

46 The final three strophes of the hymn do seem to echo the advice given by Hesiod to his brother. Perses, in the Works and Days, lines 225–247. There, Peace attends where men give straight judgements and abide by what is just (cf. strophe 4). The earth bears abundant produce, the sheep are rich with wool and women are fertile (cf. strophe 5). When men fail to abide by what is just, famine, infertility and the utter destruction of the oikos result (cf. strophe 6).

47 If West's suggestion (n. 3) 156, n. 27, that means ‘at year's end’ is correct, the celebration of the festival is more likely to have been coordinated with the calendar than the agricultural year.