"Kryptosphragiden" : eine neue Deutung von Theognis' σφρηγίς

Title: "Kryptosphragiden" : eine neue Deutung von Theognis' σφρηγίς
Source document: Graeco-Latina Brunensia. 2010, vol. 15, iss. 2, pp. [51]-67
Extent
[51]-67
  • ISSN
    1803-7402 (print)
    2336-4424 (online)
Type: Article
Language
License: Not specified license
 

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Abstract(s)
Attributing again the Halōsis Kōnstantinoupoleōs to the Rhodian 15th century poet Manolēs Limenitēs (formerly: Emm. Geōrgillas), I found out a method, by which Greek poets concealed their name within their texts. I called this method "cryptosphragis" ("Sprachlich-Philologisches zu M. Limenitēs; seine Autorschaft der Halōsis." In Origini della letteratura neogreca, Venice 1993, II 319–29, with a summary in Greek). Such a method in cases of anonymous poems may lead us to their authors' names. It was used by a great number of poets - including many well known by their names - over incredibly long epochs (Idem. "Die Kryptosphragis bei einigen byzantinischen Dichtern." In Zwischen Polis, Provinz und Peripherie, Wiesbaden 2005, 649–61). Very often Greek-writing Cretan poets at the time of the Venetian domination made use of it (Idem. "G. Chortátsis: Autor aller 14 nicht foskolosschen Intermezzi des Kretischen Theaters." In ΕΠΕΑ ΠΤΕΡΟΕΝΤΑ. Růženě Dostálové k narozeninám, Brno 2009, 107–28, with a summary in Czech.) But this method had already been known and used in antiquity! One of the first instances, as far as I know, relates to Theognis: In no less than 109 sequences (6 to 26 verses each) we find from the very beginning to the end of the Elegeia his cryptosphragides Θέογνις or Μεγαρεύς or ἑταῖρος (ten times the latter only), sometimes accompanied by the article, possessive pronoun (2nd person sing.) or the verb ἐποίει/ἐποίησε(ν). So I think, Theognis did not refer to the name of his lover, Kyrnos, by his "σφρηγίς" (seal, v. 19), as W. Kranz and J. Latacz argued, but by the "cryptosphragides" to his own name or ethnicon, whereof letters appear in each distichon.