Herodotos, I, 78 and 84 : Which Telmessos ?
1991; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês
10.4000/kernos.304
ISSN2034-7871
Autores Tópico(s)Botanical Research and Chemistry
ResumoDedicated to the memory ofAlan HallStrange things sometimes happened at Sardis, if we are to believe Herodotos.Shortly before the city was besieged by Cyrus in the 540s, the suburbs swarmed with snakes.The horses promptly left their usual grazing-grounds, and ate them up (l, 78).At an earlier date, not specified by Herodotos, but before the VIIth centuryl, King Mëlës' concubine had given birth to a lion (l, 84, 3).In both cases, the men of Telmessos 2 were consulted : Croesus sent messengers (theopropoi) to Telmessos to discover the meaning of the portent, but by the time that they returned to Sardis, the city had fallen; Mëlës was advised by the Telmessians to carry his beastly son around the wall of the akropolis at Sardis, in order to make it impregnable.1 am not concerned here with the plausibility of these stories 3 , but with a less interesting question.There are two places called Telmessos : one in Karia, 60 stades (8 or 9 km) west of Halikarnassos, modern Gürice 4 , which we will calI TK; and another on the western coast of * 2 3 4 Works listed in the Bibliography are referred to by author's name only.Gyges succeeded Kandaules c. 680 RC.; the names of Kandaules' predecessors (other than Agron) are not given by HEROOOTOS (l, 7), but we must assume that Mëlës was amongst them -though he may be an entirely mythological character.HEROOOTOS writes at l, 84 as if the reader will know who this king is, although he has not mentioned him before.Clearly chs.7 and 84 were written independently of each other.This is how HEROOOTOS spells it; Telmissos and Telemessos are also found : RUGE, col.409, 410-411.On ch.78, 1 have been informed by experienced members of the British Horse Society both that it is possible that horses might eat snakes, if they were short of protein and the snakes were small and non-poisonous, and that it is impossible, since their teeth are not adapted to them.On ch.84, see Stephanie WEST, Sham Shahs, to he published in a forthcoming
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