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Brill's New JacobyBrill's New Jacoby

Hippias of Elis (6)Hippias of Elis (6)

T 1 SudaSuda, s.v. ( 543 Adler), s.v. ( 543 Adler) TranslationTranslation

Subject: Genre: BiographyGenre: BiographySource Date: 10th century AD10th century ADHistorian's Date: 5th-4th century BC5th-4th century BC,4th century BC4th century BCHistorical Period: 5th-4th century BC5th-4th century BC,4th century BC4th century BC

, . .

The son of DiopeithesDiopeithes, from ElisElis, sophistand philosopher, a disciple ofHegesidamosHegesidamos; he set up self-sufficiencyas the goal [sc. of human existence]; wrotea lot.

Commentary

(= 86 A 1 DK = Untersteiner 8 A 1) For HippiasHippiass background, his life and career, see theBiographical essayBiographical essay below (for his works, see below, esp. comm. on T 2T 2 and on F 4F 4). We knownothing in particular about Hippiass alleged teacher HegesidamosHegesidamos (pace C. Mller, FHG 2.59 n.**,the mysterious HegesidemusHegesidemus in Pliny, Pliny, Naturalis historiaNaturalis historia 9.8 (27) is certainly someone else, cf.F. Jacoby, Hegesidemos, RE 6 (1912), cols. 2608-2609), hence the temptation to change this nameinto that of HippodamosHippodamos (e.g. E. Wellmann, Hippias (13), RE 8.2 (1913), col. 1706); in principle,the famous architect interested also in constitutional issues might seem a plausible candidate, but thishypothesis is superfluous. The syntax of the entry is ambiguous, but the subordinate clause logicallyrefers to the subject of the entry, i.e. Hippias, not to Hegesidamos. The wording (... ) is perhaps due to a technical usage of later doxographic literature, probablystemming from DemokritosDemokritos treatise (68 B 4 DK) (in general, cf. Clement ofClement ofAlexandria, Alexandria, StromateisStromateis 2.127.1-131.1, esp. 130.4-5 (p. 184.10 Sthlin), on the AbderitesAbderites,including Hekataios of AbderaHekataios of Abdera (73 A 4 DK = FHG 2.396 (sedis incertae 20)) who also definedthe in terms of ). There is no scholarly agreement as to the value of this testimonyand to the meaning of autarkeia here (which is of course not the Cynico-Stoic ideal of self-sufficiency through renouncement and self-control; for a stimulating interpretation of autarkeia ingeneral, see G.W. Most, The Strangers Stratagem: Self-disclosure and self-sufficiency in Greekculture JHS 109 (1989)esp. 127-30). For some students, the mention of autarkeia in the Suda isnegligible for our understanding of Hippiass thought (either as based solely on a highly ironic andanecdotal passage by PlatoPlato (below, T 2T 2) or as attributed to Hegesidamos, not Hippias). Others,considering Platos view of Hippiass technical skills (again, T 2T 2 below), understand this autarkeia asa purely technical one (or as a common term, cf. Demokritos, 68 B 246, B 210, and B 209 (?) DK) before its ultimate interiorization and moralization in later philosophy. M. Untersteiner (comm. adloc.) argued that the notion of autarkeia may be related to Hippiass doctrine of cognition, whereasW. Nestle, Vom Mythos zum Logos (Stuttgart 1940), 369 took this term as referring to the sophistsideal of the independence of an individual from the community. It is perhaps better, however, tounderstand it along the lines of (Hippiass younger contemporary) ThucydidesThucydides (2.41.1, with K.Raaflaub, The Discovery of Freedom in Ancient Greece (Chicago London 2004), 184-187, 274,338-339 n. 95-100, esp. n. 98), namely as the ideal of a citizens exceptional versatility and

by Marek Wcowski

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338-339 n. 95-100, esp. n. 98), namely as the ideal of a citizens exceptional versatility andindividual success in diverse aspects of his life and his activity within the polis (cf. esp. Plato,Plato,Hippias maiorHippias maior 295e296a and 304a-b; the context of Platos colorful T 2T 2, below, may, to someextent, be a radical parody of this ideal). Elaborating on that, one could interpret Hippiass autarkeiaas related to his polumathia and to his broader intellectual design: what renders a wise-man versatileand self-sufficient are his skills and his knowledge based on his encyclopedic project (on which seebelow, comm. on T 2T 2). Hippiass autarkeia is also to be linked with his ideal of the natural kinshipof the sages (in Plato, Plato, ProtagorasProtagoras 337c-d; cf. E. Schtrumpf, Kosmopolitismus oderPanhellenismus? Zur Interpretation des Ausspruchs von Hippias in Platons Protagoras (337c ff.)Hermes 100 (1972), 529; in general, cf. also W.K.C. Guthrie, A History of Greek Philosophy 3(Cambridge 1969), 118-120, 138). Meanwhile, his ideal of life in Plato (Hippias maiorHippias maior 291d-e)looks much more traditional, nay pedestrian: wealth, health, great renown among the GreeksGreeks, happyold age, and a sumptuous funeral which may well be due to Platos overall unfairness to Hippias.In general, for autarkeia in the fifth century BC, see e.g. Thucydides 2.41.1-2 (cf. 2.36.3-4); contrasta pessimistic view (ascribed to SolonSolon) in HerodotosHerodotos 1.32 (esp. 1.32.8; cf. Thucydides 2.51.3, withT.F. Scanlon, Echoes of Herodotus in Thucydides: Self-Sufficiency, Admiration, and Law Historia43 (1994), 143176).

T 2 Plato, Plato, Hippias minorHippias minor 368 B -D 368 B -D TranslationTranslation

Subject: GenreGenreSource Date: 5th-4th century BC5th-4th century BC, 4th4thcentury BCcentury BCHistorian's Date: 5th-4th century BC5th-4th century BC,4th century BC4th century BCHistorical Period: 5th-4th century BC5th-4th century BC,4th century BC4th century BC

, , , , .

You said that once, when you went toOlympiaOlympia, everything you had on yourperson was your own work ... And inaddition you said that you brought withyou poems, both epics and tragedies anddithyrambs, and many writings of all sortscomposed in prose; and that you werethere excelling all others in knowledge ofthe arts of which I was speaking just now,and of the correctness of rhythms and inknowledge of harmonies and letters, andmany other things besides... (tr. W.R.M.Lamb, adapted)

Commentary

(cf. 86 A 12 DK = Untersteiner 8 A 12) On the sophists, including HippiasHippias (cf. Hippias minorHippias minor363c364a; Lucian, Lucian, HerodotusHerodotus 3; PausaniasPausanias 5.25.4, on which below), at the festivals inOlympiaOlympia, DelphiDelphi, and elsewhere, see W.K.C. Guthrie, A History of Greek Philosophy 3(Cambridge 1969), 42-44. The anecdotal portrait of Hippias in Olympia with his hand-madesandals, cloak, tunic, girdle, ring, seal, strigil, and oil-flask (skipped by Jacoby in T 2) should beread alongside PlatoPlatos general criticism of the sophists in ProtagorasProtagoras 313c314d (esp. 313d: thosewho take their doctrines the round of our cities, hawking them about to any odd purchaser whodesires them, commend everything that they sell (tr. W.R.M. Lamb)). In T 2, Hippias is just thearch-sophist excessively proud of his merchandise (cf. also Hippias maiorHippias maior 294a). There is no wayto know whether Hippias was indeed so skilled in all the handicrafts involved or a part of the list isjust another tour de force of Platos irony (cf. the preceding sentence in the dialogue: Hippias shows

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just another tour de force of Platos irony (cf. the preceding sentence in the dialogue: Hippias showshis wisdom off in the market-place at the tables of the moneychangers; see, however, RespublicaRespublica596c). At any rate, it is risky to claim, based on this testimony, that Hippias was the first to re-evaluate physical work against the traditional aristocratic system of values (thus, e.g., A.Momigliano, Ideali di vita nella sofistica: Ippia e Crizia eiusdem, Quarto contributo alla storia deglistudi classici e del mondo antico (Roma 1969), 149 (originally published in 1930)). Be it as it may, itis the variety of Hippiass literary display-pieces brought to Olympia that fulfills his ideal ofautarkeia (cf. above, T 1). The encompass here both his epics (totally unknown) and his elegiacs(Hippiass dedicative couplets accompanying a statuary group in Olympia, by the sculptor Kalon ofKalon ofElisElis, in honor of a boy-choir from MessanaMessana, is mentioned by PausaniasPausanias. 5.25.4 (= 86 B 1 DK =Untersteiner 8 B 1, with a comm. ad loc.)). Other sophists excelling in poetry (elegiacs, epics andiambics) included Euenus of ParosEuenus of Paros (see M. Wests edition in IEG 2); cf. also the literary activity ofIon of ChiosIon of Chios and of Kritias of AthensKritias of Athens. Nothing is known of Hippiass tragedies and dithyrambs.(Incidentally, Platos irony here may not be devoid of some autobiographic, and self-mocking,undertones: cf. D.L. 3.5, on Platos juvenile poetic productions.) As far as Hippiass works in proseparaded in Olympia are concerned, Plato emphasizes their variety. Although the wording of thepassage (cf. also Hippias minorHippias minor 363c) recalls thecrucial passage of Hippiass F 4 (see below, comm. ad loc.) and so may ironically allude to hisCollectionCollection, one would expect the sophist to carry with him some epideictic logoi rather thanexcerpts from his erudite works (for which see below, comm. on T 3T 3 and on F 1-13). Among thenon-extant epideictic speeches, one is known to us well enough, namely the so-called TrojanTrojanSpeechSpeech delivered in SpartaSparta and envisioned also for AthensAthens (see Hippias maiorHippias maior 286a (= 86 A 9DK = Untersteiner 8 A 9, with his comm.); cf. Philostratos, Philostratos, Vitae sophistarumVitae sophistarum 1.11.4 (= 86 A 2DK = Untersteiner 8 A 2, with comm.)), a didactic speech addressed to NeoptolemosNeoptolemos by NestorNestor inthe wake of the Trojan War. Its underlying intellectual program makes it a sort of epideicticcounterpart of the antiquarian treatise SunagogeSunagoge (see below, F 4F 4 with comm.) and its generalimport as well as its setting link it with the time-honoured Greek wisdom tradition sometimesdubbed HupothekaiHupothekai, or InstructionsInstructions, in verse and in prose alike (see Isocrates, Isocrates, To NicoclesTo Nicocles13, and 42-43; cf. already Ed. Norden, Die Composition und Litteraturgattung der horazischenEpistula ad Pisones Hermes 50 (1905), 521524; in general, cf. P. Friedlnder, Hermes 48 (1913), 558616). Another important oration, an Olympian SpeechOlympian Speech, can reasonably bepostulated (cf. E. Schtrumpf, Kosmopolitismus oder Panhellenismus? Zur Interpretation desAusspruchs von Hippias in Platons Protagoras (337c ff.) Hermes 100 (1972)esp. 28). Hippiassteaching about the correctness of rhythms and harmonies must have touched upon the rules ofaccentuation and not the melody of song (see Untersteiner, 8 A 11, comm., referring to DissoiDissoilogoilogoi 90 DK 5.11-12; cf. Plato, Plato, KratylosKratylos 416b, 424c; cf. also below, comm. on F 6F 6). The mentionof the correctness of letters most probably alludes to his studies on the qualitative and quantitativevalue of the syllables (cf. Hippias maior 285b-d). For a contrary view, however, see R. Pfeiffer,History of Classical Scholarship. From the beginnings to the end of the Hellenistic Age (Oxford1968), 53 with n. 7.

Generally speaking, Platos portrait of Hippias in Hippias minor (leaving aside its inherent antipathyto the haughty sophist) hits the right note as it stresses his versatility and encyclopedic interests. Hisself-proclaimed and indeed original wisdom is based on his wide erudition in a variety of subjects(cf. esp. Hippias minor 363c-d) contrasting with that of the majority of the sophists including hiselder contemporary ProtagorasProtagoras, who offers his disciples diverse rhetorical and indeed eristic toolsto cope with their potential antagonists (see Plato, Plato, SophistaSophista 232b-e), but typically disdainserudition (Plato, Plato, ProtagorasProtagoras 318d-e). In a word, polymathy is Hippiass widely acknowledgedtrademark, closely linked with his pride in intellectual novelties (see esp. below, F 4 ad fin. andXenophon, Xenophon, MemorabiliaMemorabilia 4.4.6 (= 86 A 14 DK); cf. also the late testimony of Cicero, Cicero, DeDeoratoreoratore 3.32 (127), absent from DK), and was practicable only thanks to his proverbial mnemoniccapacities and his mnemonic techniques (see the very next sentence in the dialogue: Hippias minor368d; cf. Hippias minor 363c-d; Hippias maior 258e; Respublica 350e; EpinomisEpinomis 976b-c (?);Xenophon, Xenophon, SymposionSymposion 4.62; Philostratos, Philostratos, Vitae sophistarumVitae sophistarum 1.11.1 (= 86 A 2 DK =Untersteiner 8 A 2, with comm.); Amm.Marc. 16.5.8; in general cf. H. Blum, Die antikeMnemotechnik, diss. phil. (Tbingen 1964), 48-55). Such polumathia was abhorrent to Plato and theAcademy as directly opposed to the true episteme (apart from the Hippian dialogues referred toabove, see e.g. LawsLaws 811a-b, 819a; AlcibiadesAlcibiades II 147a-b; Ps.-Platonic LoversLovers 133c, 137b, 139a),but the intellectual attitude characteristic of Hippias (in this respect reaching back to the perceptionof the mythical LinusLinus by HesiodHesiod, F 306 MerkelbachWest) had already been under attack for some

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of the mythical LinusLinus by HesiodHesiod, F 306 MerkelbachWest) had already been under attack for sometime, esp. beginning with HerakleitosHerakleitos (22 B 40 DK (against HesiodHesiod, XenophanesXenophanes, PythagorasPythagoras,and HekataiosHekataios); B 41 DK; cf. the spurious B 129 DK (against Pythagoras); cf. also DemokritosDemokritosof Abderaof Abdera (?), 68 B 64, and 65 DK). In a word, then, Hippias is one of the protagonist in thedebate between the advocates of the pluralistic wisdom, on the one hand, and those of themonistic one, on the other (however, for a certain unity of the world-view behind Hippiasspolumathia, see perhaps Plato, Plato, Hippias maiorHippias maior 301b). As I have tried to show elsewhere (M.Wcowski, The Hedgehog and the Fox. Form and Meaning in the Prologue of Herodotus JHS 124(2004), 143164), some characteristics of HerodotosHerodotos program stem from the ideal of polumathiaas associated at the time especially with antiquarian and historical inquiries. For polumathia, seefurther below, comm. on T 3.

T 3 Plato, Plato, Hippias maiorHippias maior 285 D 285 D TranslationTranslation

Subject: Genre: GenealogyGenre: Genealogy, Genre:Genre:AntiquitiesAntiquitiesSource Date: 5th-4th century BC5th-4th century BC, 4th4thcentury BCcentury BCHistorian's Date: 5th-4th century BC5th-4th century BC,4th century BC4th century BCHistorical Period: 5th-4th century BC5th-4th century BC,4th century BC4th century BC

, , , , (sc. ), .

They are very fond of hearing about thegenealogies of heroes and men, SokratesSokrates,and the foundations of cities in ancienttimes and, in short, about antiquity ingeneral, so that for their sake I have beenobliged to learn all that sort of thing byheart and practise it thoroughly. (tr.W.R.M. Lamb)

Commentary

(cf. 86 A 11 DK = Untersteiner 8 A 11) This testimony is crucial to our assessment of HippiasHippiassimportance for ancient antiquarianism and historiography. Alas, the flavor of the whole context ofthis passage in PlatoPlato is once again highly ironic (cf. above, comm. on T 1T 1 and T 2T 2), so in principleit may be deceptive. In a more general vein, a large part of the dialogue was intended as a piece ofmocking, merciless but also quite detailed criticism of Hippiass intellectual design. Hence,interpreting this passage in its wider context seems worthwhile. At this juncture in the dialogue,Hippias enumerates the elements of his teaching that did not gain public acclaim among theSpartansSpartans (285a-d: his practical paideia, astronomy, geometry, mathematics, metrics etc.), only tostress his ultimate success in SpartaSparta when dealing (in epideictic speeches?) with all kinds ofantiquities. SokratesSokrates sums it up, not very politely, as childish fairy-tales (286a), and goes on, in theconsecutive development, attacking diverse elements of Hippiass wisdom. This includes a reductioad absurdum of one of Hippiass arguments in the very sphere of (mythical) genealogy (292e-293b).Furthermore, I posit that the whole intervening discussion about beauty contains quite a few ironicreferences (287e, 289a, 289e, 290d) to what might figured in Hippiass CollectionCollection (for this work,see below, comm. on F 3 and 4). All in all, I would argue that the mention of genealogies,foundations of cities and antiquities in general also hints at a crucial element of Hippiass broaderintellectual project incarnated in his SunagogeSunagoge. Just as the mention of the Trojan DialogueTrojan Dialogue,immediately following our passage in Hippias maiorHippias maior 286a (86 A 9 DK = Untersteiner 8 A 9),gives us a solid basis for the reconstruction of its original content, probably quotes its opening andpreserves some idiosyncrasies of Hippiass style (cf. Untersteiner, ad loc.), so in my view does thistestimony have good chances to follow quite closely the proem of the Sunagoge (see further below,comm. on F 4F 4). The immediate context of this passage is important too, since antiquities are yet

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comm. on F 4F 4). The immediate context of this passage is important too, since antiquities are yetanother illustration of the utility of Hippiass teaching for the LacedaemoniansLacedaemonians, who stand here(however amusingly), as often in Plato, for a society of sages (cf. ProtagorasProtagoras 342a-e). For Hippias,the value of his antiquities is somehow comparable to that of his epideictic Trojan Dialogue whichhe considers a perfect display of manifold and most beautiful customs ( , Hippias maior 286b) designed for the instruction of the young (see above, comm. on T 2T 2),for its underlying wisdom tradition) and performed in Sparta, too. In a word, then, Hippiassantiquarian studies seem not a disinterested antiquarianism, but were closely related to his concept ofencyclopedic knowledge as a means to acquire true wisdom and practical success (cf. below, comm.on F 4).

The logic of the dialogue suggests that antiquarian interests are not quite what one would expect of asophist (cf. esp. 285e). Indeed, Hippias appears to be the only one to pursue this kind of activity, inthe tradition of both some archaic and classical poets and of the so-called logographers, whendealing, on the one hand, with genealogiai and, on the other, with ktiseis. The possibility (above)that our testimony may closely follow the proem of Hippiass Sunagoge is strengthened by the factthat here he indistinctly hints at two subject-matters with both poetic and prosaic antecedents; onthis hypothesis, this assertion was further rounded off (in the extant F 4) by the clear distinctionbetween the poetic and prosaic sources of Hippiass knowledge. The traditional heritage behindHippiass genealogical studies goes back to HomerHomer (esp. in OdysseyOdyssey 11) and to HesiodHesiodsTheogonyTheogony, and esp. to its model achievement in the Ps.-Hesiodic Catalogue of WomenCatalogue of Women (cf. M.L.West, The Hesiodic Catalogue of Women: Its Nature, Structure, and Origins (Oxford 1985), esp. 1-30, on the nature of Greek genealogies in a comparative perspective). Methodical gathering, criticalanalysis, chronological reevaluation, systematization and rationalization of genealogical traditionswere tasks undertaken by the so-called logographers from Hekataios of MiletosHekataios of Miletos (BNJ 1 F 1-35)onwards, with Akousilaus of ArgosAkousilaus of Argos (BNJBNJ2 T 12 T 1, 4, 6; F 1-43), Pherekydes of AthensPherekydes of Athens (BNJ3 T7; see esp. F 2), Hellanikos of LesbosHellanikos of Lesbos (BNJ 4), and many others. For Hippiass genealogicalworks see also below, comm. on F 1F 1. In the present context, it is possible although by no meanssure that Hippias dealt in Sparta among other things with Spartan genealogical traditions (such astheir king lists and, say, genealogies of the families whose representatives figured prominently in hisCatalogue of the Olympic victorsCatalogue of the Olympic victors, esp. in the years 720-576 BC). For the first sample of thefoundation poetry in nuce, see already Homer, Homer, IliadIliad 2.661-669 (cf. OdysseyOdyssey 6.4-12). The poeticantecedents of Hippiass treatises include the elegiacs by Kallinos of EphesosKallinos of Ephesos (cf. F 7 West2) aswell as by the ColophoniansColophonians MimnermosMimnermos (cf. F 9 and 10 West2) and XenophanesXenophanes (cf. D.L. 9.20= BNJBNJ 450 T 1 450 T 1, but see F. Jacoby ad loc.: a late forgery by LobonLobon), and possibly by SemonidesSemonidesof Amorgosof Amorgos (Archaeology of the SamiansArchaeology of the Samians (?) in the SudaSuda, s.v. (360.7 Adler =BNJ 534 T 1 ), but see F. Jacoby, FGrHist IIIb (Kommentar: Text), 456 (with n. 8a)); perhaps alsothe epics (in pentameter) by PanyassisPanyassis (cf. T 1 Bernab (= Suda, s.v. ( 248 Adler))). Itis not clear, however, whether ktiseis formed a separate poetic genre or were just a literary topospracticable in diverse poetic genres and at different occasions (cf. C. Dougherty, Archaic Greekfoundation poetry: questions of genre and occasion JHS 114 (1994), 3546). In general, see nowE.L. Bowie, Ancestors of Historiography in Early Greek Elegiac and Iambic Poetry? N. Luraghi(ed.), The Historians Craft in the Age of Herodotus (Oxford 2001), 4566. The ktiseis in prosestarted not long before Hippias, with Ion of ChiosIon of Chios (BNJBNJ 392 T 1 392 T 1 and 2, F 1-3), HellanikosHellanikos (BNJ4 F 71a-c) and Charon of LampsakosCharon of Lampsakos (BNJ 262 T 1; if it is right to date Charon so early). Now,the common denominator of the inquiries in the two spheres, genealogies and foundations (for theclassical genre of mythography, cf. R.L. Fowler, Early Greek Mythography, I: Texts (Oxford2000), esp. xxvii-xxxviii; for early archaiologiai in general, cf. A. Corcella, The New Genre and itsBoundaries: Poets and Logographers A. Rengakos and A. Tsakmakis (eds), Brills Companion toThucydides (Leiden 2006), 33-56), is the typically antiquarian interest in aitia, or origins ofparticular gods and their domains, of heroes, human families, cities, peoples, tribes etc. (often with afocus on first founders and eponyms). This presupposes intensive investigation into Greek localtraditions; immediately after having mentioned his antiquarian inquiries Hippias stresses the need tomemorize this mass of information (285e). Hippiass originality as compared to his prosepredecessors was his rather passive attitude towards the traditions at his disposal, attitude consistingin gathering erudite minutiae and in their categorization subordinated to his underlying ambitiousintellectual design (in the SunagogeSunagoge, cf. below, F 3 and 4), but surely without seeking, in the veinof HekataiosHekataios or Hellanikos, chronological (and logical) consistency of the traditions employed (butcontrast his Olympic VictorsOlympic Victors, comm. on F 2). Because of the theoretical foundation of hisvariegated inquiries, Hippias may be considered one of the legitimate founding fathers of ancient

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variegated inquiries, Hippias may be considered one of the legitimate founding fathers of ancientantiquarianism (and was himself well aware of his originality, see F 4). The logic of SokratesSokratesreaction to the claims of Hippias (285e 3-6) suggests that lists of eponymic officials (our archontsbeginning with SolonSolon) belonged at the time to the broadly conceived antiquities alongsidegenealogiai and ktiseis, but were not specifically treated by Hippias (but cf. below, comm. on F 2),unless we take it as a hint at his interest in the lists of the Spartan kings and ephors (cf. above) butnot in the Athenian officials.

The term appears here for the first time, so it is natural to ask whether this abstractumwas Hippiass or Platos own invention. Ed. Norden, Agnostos theos (Leipzig Berlin 1913), 373rightly points to some analogous sophistic formations (cf. Plato, Plato, PhaidrosPhaidros 272a: ,). It may well be that Platos role here was similar to that in the history of the termphilosophia (cf. the disputable F of HerakleitosHerakleitos, 22 B 35 DK; Hdt. 1.30.2; and Thuc. 2.40.1), i.e.ultimately conceptualizing and sanctioning the use of the preexistent word (for philosophia, cf.recently W. Burkert, "Platon oder Pythagoras? Zum Ursprung des Wortes "Philosophie'", eiusdem,Kleine Schriften III: Mystica, Orphica, Pythagorica (Gttingen 2006), 217-235). Be it as it may, forPlato Hippiass dealing with antiquities is a futile intellectual activity, analogous to mythologizingin the sense of storytelling (Hippias maiorHippias maior 286a 1-2; cf. RespublicaRespublica 350e 2-3; cf. esp. TimaeusTimaeus22a 4b 3 and 23b 3-5). On Platos attitude to the study of the past in general, cf. e.g. R. Weil,Larchologie de Platon (Paris 1959); on archaiologia (sensu lato) in the Sophistic movement, seealready Ed. Norden, Agnostos theos, 370-374. For Hippias, antiquities encompass diverse types ofantiquarian subjects (here: mythography, i.e. genealogy and ktiseis, but also, by implication,horography and chronography), not just local antiquitates of particular cities, peoples, or nations (seefurther below, comm. on F 4). The meaning of in ThucydidesThucydides 7.69.2 is ambiguous(speaking in an old-fashioned manner or speaking of well-known issues?); at any rate it concernsrhetorical topoi and not some kind of inquiries into the past, so may reflect a pre-specialized usage(note, however, that the whole passage may well be a late interpolation).

Hippiass multiple visits in Sparta on his diplomatic missions are well attested (Plato, Plato, HippiasHippiasmaiormaior 281a; 286e); at these occasions, he certainly gave some lectures. Platos picture of the sophisttrying to lecture on diverse scientific issues, and in particular to teach the SpartansSpartans his practicalpaideia is highly ironic (cf. esp. ProtagorasProtagoras 342c-d). Their remarkable interest in the intellectualspeculation (as opposed, I would assume, to their own time-honored traditions) about antiquarianmatters might seem surprising given the traditional modern view of the Spartan culture at the time.Already in antiquity purely utilitarian motives behind the Spartan curiosity have been suggested(Philostratos, Philostratos, Vitae sophistarumVitae sophistarum 1.11.3; cf. also Untersteiner 8 A 2, comm. ad loc.: somecultural interests in Sparta, but limited to practical political aims). Philostratos guess (Hippiassantiquarian erudition as potentially serving the Spartan hegemony) may not be absurd, for diplomaticarguments based on genealogiai and ktiseis often operated in Greek (and Graeco-barbarian) inter-state relations (both notions bring us to sungeneiai, or legendary kinships between diverse citiesand peoples). However, the traditional opinion about Sparta as a cultural desert in the classicalperiod is of course highly exaggerated. On the other hand, Hippiass use of the notion of the naturalkinship of all the Greeks in his pan-Hellenic ideal (in general, cf. E. Schtrumpf, Kosmopolitismusoder Panhellenismus? Zur Interpretation des Ausspruchs von Hippias in Platons Protagoras (337cff.) Hermes 100 (1972), 5-29) makes it possible that his epideictic speeches in Sparta about thegenealogies of heroes and men and the foundations of cities in ancient times (eventually pointing tothe common ancestry of the HellenesHellenes, and of the DoriansDorians in particular) should perhaps be read inthe context of his diplomatic missions with a view to stop the Lakedaimonian hostilities against ElisElis(in 421 BC? or maybe rather in 410-399 BC? cf. below, Biographical Essay and comm. on F 2).

T 4 Philostratos, Philostratos, Vitae sophistarumVitae sophistarum I.11 I.11 TranslationTranslation

Subject: Genre: BiographyGenre: BiographySource Date: 2nd -3rd century AD2nd -3rd century AD, 3rd3rdcentury ADcentury ADHistorian's Date: 5th-4th century BC5th-4th century BC,4th century BC4th century BCHistorical Period: 5th-4th century BC5th-4th century BC,4th century BC4th century BC

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4th century BC4th century BC

.

He also lectured on painting and onsculpture.

Commentary

(cf. 86 A 2 DK = Untersteiner 8 A 2) This may be yet another example of HippiasHippiass polumathia, onwhich see above, comm. on T 2T 2. However, the value of this testimony is disputable, since thismention is, as far as I can see, the only one in PhilostratosPhilostratos longer treatment of Hippias (VitaeVitaesophistarumsophistarum 1.11.1-8) that seems independent from PlatoPlatos picture of the sophist. DoesPhilostratos draw here from another early source, or is it a mere speculation based on the nature ofclassical and Hellenistic erudition? Impossible to say in the current state of our evidence.

F 1 Scholia ad Apollonium RhodiumScholia ad Apollonium Rhodium3.11793.1179

TranslationTranslation

Subject: Genre: EthnographyGenre: EthnographySource Date: VariousVariousHistorian's Date: 5th-4th century BC5th-4th century BC,4th century BC4th century BCHistorical Period: 5th-4th century BC5th-4th century BC,4th century BC4th century BC

.

In his Names of PeoplesNames of Peoples, Hippias ofHippias ofElisElis says that a certain tribe was calledSpartoiSpartoi; in the same vein AtrometosAtrometos(VI). s. 3 F 22.

Commentary

(86 B 2 DK = Untersteiner 8 B 2) This work was not a part of HippiasHippiass SunagogeSunagoge (cf. below,comm. on F 4). M. Untersteiner hypothetically linked this F (following F. Jacoby ad loc. (FGrHist Ip. 477)) with Platos mention of the genealogical issues treated by Hippias in T 3 (see above). Iwould rather think that Hippiass genealogical interests might have been realized, among otherthings, in his Sunagoge and were not limited to his Names of PeoplesNames of Peoples. It is true that names ofcities and peoples prominently figured in the early prose genealogies, closely neighboring at thetime to the domain of geography (witness Hekataios of MiletosHekataios of Miletos, BNJBNJ 1 F 10-12, all cited byStephanos of ByzantiumStephanos of Byzantium). However, among the titles attributed to Hippiass elder contemporaryHellanikos of LesbosHellanikos of Lesbos, we hear of two distinct categories of works: on the one hand, his Names ofPeoples (BNJ 4 F 66-70; otherwise known as On PeoplesOn Peoples, or as Origins of Cities andOrigins of Cities andPeoplesPeoples), on the other, his abundant mythographical and therefore genealogical production (forwhich see now esp. R.L. Fowler, EGM). The former class might have included some amount of dataregarding the barbarian world, whereas the latter one naturally focused in particular on Greektraditions. In Hippiass times both categories seem, then, more specialized than at the beginning ofthe fifth century BC (cf. also one of Hippiass contemporaries, and (perhaps) a disciple ofHellanikosHellanikos, Damastes of SigeionDamastes of Sigeion (BNJ 5 F 1): Catalogue of peoples and citiesCatalogue of peoples and cities, or OnOnPeoplesPeoples, but known also as PeriplousPeriplous). Hippias might have been active in both fields, so the titlementioned in this F looks very plausible as a self-standing antiquarian treatise.

For the legend about the origins of the Theban SpartoiSpartoi, see Pherekydes of AthensPherekydes of Athens, BNJ 3 F 22(=EGM F 22, of which our F is a part). Hippias clearly rationalizes traditional accounts whenidentifying the Spartoi not with the mythical fratricide fighters sown by KadmosKadmos, but with ahuman tribe (a pre-Greek one? thus e.g. R. Fowler in EGM I, xxxiii, n. 9), perhaps in some corner ofBoeotiaBoeotia (thus also Dionysius of SamosDionysius of Samos (Kyklographos), BNJBNJ 15 F 9 15 F 9 (= scholia onEuripidesEuripidess PhoenissaePhoenissae 670)). It cannot be excluded that Hippias tried to etymologize the nameof Spartoi in the vein of Androtion of AthensAndrotion of Athens, BNJ 324 F 60b (= scholia on PindarPindars IsthmianIsthmian

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of Spartoi in the vein of Androtion of AthensAndrotion of Athens, BNJ 324 F 60b (= scholia on PindarPindars IsthmianIsthmianOdeOde 7.13: of the Cadmean fugitives from PhoeniciaPhoenicia; cf. scholia onEuripidesEuripidess PhoenissaePhoenissae 938-943). AtrometosAtrometos is an otherwise unknown mythographer (thispersonal name is well attested but rare enough, so it is superfluous to emend it here to, say,AmometosAmometos (BNJBNJ 645 645)).

F 2 Plutarch, Plutarch, NumaNuma 1.6 1.6 TranslationTranslation

Subject: Genre: BiographyGenre: BiographySource Date: 1st -2nd century AD1st -2nd century AD, 2nd2ndcentury ADcentury ADHistorian's Date: 5th-4th century BC5th-4th century BC,4th century BC4th century BCHistorical Period: n.a.n.a.

. , .

It is difficult to establish thesechronological matters [sc. relating toNumaNumas lifetime] with exactitude and inparticular if one resorts to the chronologyof the Olympic victors, whose list we aretold had been published late by HippiasHippiasof Elisof Elis, who was unable to base it on anycogent data.

Commentary

(86 B 3 DK = Untersteiner 8 B 3; cf. BNJ 416 T 3 (Zur Olympionikenliste)) This work of HippiasHippias,the most important of all his achievements for the consecutive development of ancient historiography(esp. chronography), is yet another title to his paternity of ancient antiquarianism (cf. above, comm.on T 3). It was not a section of the SunagogeSunagoge (cf. below, comm. on F 4F 4), but a book apart. It listedvictorious athletes of the one stadion race, from Hippiass first Olympic Games, of the yearcorresponding to our 776/5 BC (see below on this date), onwards. F. Jacoby (comm. ad loc.) stressesthat this work did not have the universal scope and import of HellanikosHellanikos Priestesses of Hera inPriestesses of Hera inArgosArgos (BNJ 4 F 74-84; cf. A. Mller, The Beginnings of Chronography: Hellanicus Hiereiai N.Luraghi (ed.), The Historians Craft in the Age of Herodotus (Oxford 2001), 241262). For Jacoby,it was a compilation of local data in the simple form of a prose catalogue (in general, cf. O.Regenbogen, RE 20 (1950), esp. cols. 1412-1414), devoid of mythical/historical notes orsynchronisms from the outside world (but cf. below). Jacoby assumed (FGrHist IIIb (Kommentar:Noten), XVIII. Elis und Olympia, 147 (n. 24 and 27)) that the catalogue itself could have beenpreceded by a historical introduction (in the vein of Phlegon of TrallesPhlegon of Tralles, BNJ 257 F 1, mostprobably stemming ultimately from Hippias, or PausaniasPausanias 5.7.6-5.8.5). Well, such an eruditeexercise combined with the dull list is very likely, esp. given Hippiass predilection for new andmultiform genres (cf. below, F 4). It is here in the prologue, where Hippias might have advertisedhis (fictitious) patriotic discovery, the ancient sacred neutrality of ElisElis, perhaps mentioning itsmemorable violations by diverse enemies of the EleansEleans up to the Spartan intervention in ca. 401-399 BC (cf. EphorosEphoros, BNJ 70 F 115, 10-14 (ap. Str. 8.3.33 (C 357 ad fin.358)) and D.S. 14.17.4-12, 14.34.1-2; with R. Bilik, Hippias von Elis als Quelle von Diodors Bericht ber den elisch-spartanichen Krieg? AncSoc 29 (1998-99), 2147; cf. also PhlegonPhlegon and Pausanias mentionedabove). Hippias most probably tellingly ascribed to LykuourgosLykuourgos, partnered by Iphitos of ElisIphitos of Elis, thefoundation of the Games (or rather their re-founding, long after the first contest organized byHeraklesHerakles), the decision to entrust their organization for all times to the Eleans, and the idea of thesacred neutrality, i.e. inviolability, of Elis. So the incentive to write the prologue, and perhaps topublish the whole work at some point at the beginning of the fourth century (cf. below), mighthave been provided by Hippiass likely involvement in the conflict between Elis and SpartaSparta(endangering the Elean control over OlympiaOlympia) in 401-399 BC (?) and perhaps already in 421 BC.This, however, is very unlikely to explain the decision to compile the CatalogueCatalogue itself (pace P.

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This, however, is very unlikely to explain the decision to compile the CatalogueCatalogue itself (pace P.Christesen, Olympic Victor Lists and Ancient Greek History (Cambridge 2007), esp. 56-57), alaborious work lasting, I believe, at least two decades (see below) and stemming above all fromHippiass antiquarian interests. After all, Hippiass epideictic speeches on his diplomatic missions toSparta, not to mention backstairs negotiations with Spartan leaders, must have served his patrioticgoals much better (in general, see below, Biographical EssayBiographical Essay and above, comm. on T 3).

If Hippias was really incited to get down working on the catalogue by the publication of HellanikosPriestesses of Hera in Argos (as I think he was, cf. below), the terminus post quem for the beginningof his Olympic enquiries would be sometime after 423 BC (cf. ThucydidesThucydides 4.133) or at a minimumafter 429 BC (cf. Thucydides 2.2.1), which well agrees with the beginning of the period when theOlympic Games and its presidency became a hotly debated issue (cf. above). Be it as it may, theOlympionikaiOlympionikai must have been published, or at least won acclaim, at some point between the timewhen Thucydides was writing his Peloponnesian WarPeloponnesian War ca. 400 BC (no Olympic date at 2.2.1; theGames, when referred to, defined using alternatively the stadion or the pankration winners: 3.8.1;5.49.1) and the formative period of PhilistosPhilistos of SyracuseSyracuse SykelikaSykelika in the eighties of the fourthcentury (BNJ 556 F 2 (= Stephanus Byzantinus s.v. ): a stadion winner from DymeDyme labelingthe Olympiad of 756/2 BC). Hippiass authority was universally acknowledged and his achievement(enhanced by AristotleAristotle, cf. P. Christesen, Olympic Victor Lists, esp. 11, 24, and 170-173) adoptedby the whole chronographic tradition of antiquity. On the offspring of Hippiass work and therelative uniformity of the ancient transmission of the list, see F. Jacoby, FGrHist IIIb (Kommentar:Text), 222-225. In general, see now P. Christesen, Olympic Victor Lists, passim, esp. 45-160. Forthe catalogue of the Olympic winners, see L. Moretti, Olympionikai, i vincitori degli agoniolimpici, Atti dellAccademia dei Lincei. Memorie 8.2 (1957), 55-198; eiusdem, Supplemento alcatalogo degli Olympionikai Klio 52 (1970), 295303; L. Moretti, Nuovo supplemento al catalogodegli Olympionikai Miscellanea greca e romana 14 (1987), 6791.

The reliability of Hippiass list of the Olympic victors is a much debated problem which not only hasa direct bearing on the history of the Games in OlympiaOlympia, but also far-reaching consequences for thechronology of early Greek history in general. PlutarchPlutarchs skepticism is rather irrelevant given his apriori mistrust in chronography (cf. SolonSolon 27.1). F. Jacoby (ad loc.; FGrHist IIIb (Kommentar:Text), 224-225) argues that this assessment reflects at best a consecutive polemic (by AristotleAristotle,Timaios of TauromenionTimaios of Tauromenion, EratosthenesEratosthenes, and others) with diverse aspects of Hippiass work. Themodern debate on Hippiass credibility (for a convenient overview of the arguments, see R. Bilik,Die Zuverlssigkeit der frhen Olympionikenliste. Die Geschichte eines Forschungsproblems imchronologischen berblick Nikephoros 13 (2000), 4762; add the works listed in P. Christesen,Olympic victor lists, 76 n. 65) focus, on the one hand, on his possible sources, on the other, on thenature (method, goals etc.) of his CatalogueCatalogue. Most probably there was no comprehensive catalogueof the Olympic winners, i.e. one listing the victors of all the Games till the time of its recording,before Hippias (see now P. Christesen, Olympic victor lists, 76-122 and 461-465; cf. F. Jacobyspalinode of his earlier position in F. Jacoby, Atthis. The local chronicles of ancient Athens (Oxford1949), 353 n. 3). Early archival data for the victors is very unlikely on comparative grounds (thegenerally late recording of the eponymic officials and late compilations of winner lists of otherimportant games in GreeceGreece) and given the confused and chronologically divergent traditionssurrounding an early conflict between ElisElis and the PisatansPisatans over Olympia, testifying to the lack ofa uniform chronology of the Games in the eighth century BC. Previous existence of some partialepigraphic lists in Olympia (perhaps starting at some point with the Games won by the individualissuing the list in the gymnasion and then systematically continued or occasionally updated) dependson the dating of two EleansEleans (BNJ 416 T 1-2 = PausaniasPausanias 6.6.3 (ParaballonParaballon) and 6.8.1(EuanoridasEuanoridas)) believed to have inscribed such lists; it seems clear nowadays that they belong to thethird century BC (cf. recently G. Maddoli, M. Nafissi and V. Saladino (eds), Pausania. Guida dellaGrecia. Libro VI: LElide e Olimpia (Milano 2003), ad locc.). I take the mention that the Eleans didnot register (... ...) the Games presided over by Pheidon of ArgosPheidon of Argos (EphorosEphoros, BNJ70 F 115, 28-29 (apud Strabonem 8.3.33), the whole account probably stemming from the prologueof Hippiass work, cf. above) as either referring to some bare list of the officials in charge of theGames or as a hint by Ephoros at some systematization of the so-called anolympiads (seePausanias 6.22.2-3; cf. Pausanias 6.4.1-2) by Hippias or later on in Elean local traditions but not asevidencing an official catalogue of the winners used by Hippias. Be it as it may, fifth-centuryhistorians do not resort to the list of the winners (cf. the symptomatically mysterious chronologicalposition of Pheidon of ArgosPheidon of Argos, a character closely related to the chronology of the Games, inHerodotosHerodotos, Book 6; for Thucydides see above). The sources at Hippiass disposal (oral traditions of

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HerodotosHerodotos, Book 6; for Thucydides see above). The sources at Hippiass disposal (oral traditions ofElean aristocratic clans (including his own?) no doubt claiming some role in organizing andsupervising the Games in the past, various local and outside inscriptions commemorating individualOlympic victors, local collective memory, diverse extra-Elean traditions both oral and epigraphic cherishing the names of victorious compatriots, oral memories of Greek aristocratic families, variousliterary accounts etc.) must have been extremely rich but contradictory; the bulk of the epigraphicmaterial hardly reaching back far beyond the sixth century BC. Worse still, early history of theGames and of the region was a deeply political matter (old and new conflicts involving EleansEleans,PisatansPisatans, SpartansSpartans, ArcadiansArcadians etc.), so in want of any solid basis the inquirer was bound to relyon his own and his informants beliefs and sympathies, and/or anachronistically to project currentrealities (political, athletic etc.) into the distant past. However, it is far from sure that Hippiasworked ad maiorem gloriam of his fatherland Elis when compiling the catalogue itself (the Eleanappropriation of some mainstream Olympic traditions must have happened much earlier, followingthe annexation of Olympia in early sixth century (ca. 580 BC?)); his overtly patriotic historicalprogram was most probably limited to the prologue to the OlympionikaiOlympionikai (rather extensive andcontaining the material suitable for his epideictic speeches, too; cf. above). Neither is it obvious thathe arrived at his date of 776/5 BC for the first Games solely through an artificial backwardcalculation based on the date of the Games of 476 BC (or 576 BC) or just on some mythicalgenealogies (of IphitosIphitos and/or of LykourgosLykourgos, or of HeraklesHerakles). Even if, as it is likely (recently, seeP. Christesen, Olympic victor lists, esp. 147-151), Hippias used the figure of LykourgosLykourgos (and theSpartan king lists, to which he was traditionally related) to pinpoint this date, his reasoning was farfrom a simple genealogical calculation (on our current knowledge of the Spartan king lists, nostraightforward computation would make Lycurgus easily fit in with the date of ca. 776 BC). Thismust have been due to a laborious accumulation and combination of particular data (such as the so-called discus of Iphitos, a non-extant early sixth-century (?) forged inscription mentioningLykourgos, cf. Plutarch, Plutarch, LykourgosLykourgos 1.1 and Pausanias 5.20.1) and to a confrontation of divergentavailable chronological schemes; and the same hold true for ascribing the names of individualstadion winners to the particular Games from 776 BC onwards. On the whole, although the resultsof Hippiass work must have perforce largely been due to his imaginative speculation, somecharacteristics of the Olympionikai show a serious scholar at work. Witness the respective (dis-)app