The core of this paper was delivered at a conference at the Lorentz Center in Leiden in June of 2... more The core of this paper was delivered at a conference at the Lorentz Center in Leiden in June of 2013. I especially want to thank my collaborator John D. Morgan, whose perceptive comments have been invaluable. I also wish to thank the Department of Classics at Case Western Reserve University, the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Cyrus Taylor, the Freedman Center for Digital Scholarship, and the Baker Nord Center for the Humanities for their moral and financial support.
In this paper, the history, purpose and importance of the Packard Humanities Institute (PHI) Gree... more In this paper, the history, purpose and importance of the Packard Humanities Institute (PHI) Greek Epigraphy Project arc discussed.
Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 2021
Abstract:This article presents editions of 42 inscribed fragments belonging to 37 different Greek... more Abstract:This article presents editions of 42 inscribed fragments belonging to 37 different Greek and Latin inscriptions unearthed between 1968 and 1978 on Temple Hill in ancient Corinth. They date from the early 6th century B.C. to the 6th century A.D. and include a new fragment of a previously published sacrificial calendar on stone, a new fragmentary sacrificial calendar on lead, eight new decrees, and several new fragments that join to, or can be associated with, previously published decrees or other kinds of public documents.
Tables 2 and 4 contained an incorrect set of values for the mean lunar latitudes associated with ... more Tables 2 and 4 contained an incorrect set of values for the mean lunar latitudes associated with the tabulated eclipse possibilities. We here give the correct tables. The graphs in the article are based on the correct values. The authors are indebted to John D. Morgan for pointing out our error (Tables 2 and 4).
This paper presents a new edition of the Back Plate Inscription (BPI) of the Antikythera Mechanis... more This paper presents a new edition of the Back Plate Inscription (BPI) of the Antikythera Mechanism, a series of descriptions of circumstances associated with eclipses indicated cyclically by the inscriptions of the Mechanism's Saros Dial Scale. Our edition features several significant new readings as well as the confirmation of a disputed reading pertaining to one of the index letters by which the BPI's paragraphs are linked to the specific eclipse glyphs of the Saros Dial. On the basis of the new text, we deduce a revision of the established models for determining which lunar months of the Saros cycle had solar and lunar eclipse possibilities (EPs) and for assigning the solar EPs to paragraphs of the BPI. We further confirm that the entire extant part of the BPI comprises consecutive paragraphs concerning the solar EPs, all inscribed along the right side of the Mechanism's Back Plate, and we revisit the questions of what the BPI's predictions mean and how they relate to the model for the solar EPs. Abbreviations IG Inscriptiones Graecae IGUR Inscriptiones Graecae Urbis Romae PLond Greek Papyri in the British Museum POxy. astr. Jones 1999 Communicated by Jed Buchwald. Iversen is primarily responsible for Sects. 2 and 3, and Jones for Sect. 4, though both authors have made contributions to each other's sections.
This talk will focus on the reading and historical implications of some lines from P. Oxy. X 1235... more This talk will focus on the reading and historical implications of some lines from P. Oxy. X 1235, a fragmentary didascalic notice to Menander’s Imbrioi that mentions Lachares the Tyrant in the context of the Dionysia of 302/1 BCE. The widespread interpretation that this fragment says that the Dionysia were cancelled that year (or ever) because of Lachares’ tyranny will be seen as the product of a sloppy interpretation; rather the fragment only implies that Lachares blocked Menander’s Imbrioi from appearing at the Dionysia of 302/1 BCE, an assertion that is plausible. The lines in question (105-112) read:ταύτην [ἔγρα]- ψeν ἐπὶ Νικοκλέο[υς - - -]- την καὶ ἑβδομηκοστ[ὴν κἀξ]- έδωκeν eἰς ἐργασίαν [eἰς] Διονύσια, οὐκ ἐγένeτο δ[ὲ διὰ] Λαχάρην τὸν τύραννο[ν· eἶ]- τα ὑπeκρίνeτο Κάλ[λιπ]- πος Ἀθηναῖος. This [comedy the Imbrioi] he [Menander] wrotein the archonship of Nikokles (302/1 BCE),his seventy-[? and he]issued it for production [at the]Dionysia, but it didn’t air [because of]Lachares “The Tyran[t”; later]Kallippos the Athenian waslead actor.Ever since Hunt published this fragmentary papyrus in 1914, it has been claimed that its evidence is uncomfortably incongruous because Lachares could not have been tyrant as early as 302/1 BCE (cf. O’Sullivan, GRBS 49, 2009, 53-79). While it is true that Lachares could not have been tyrant as early as Nikokles’ archonship in 302/1, it will be argued that within this papyrus the words τὸν τύραννο[ν] are functioning as a proleptic epithet and thus do not mean that Lachares was tyrant when he interfered with the production of Imbrioi (restorations in lines 110-111 of the participial forms τυραννή-[σαν]|τα by Gronewald, ZPE 93, 1992, 20-21, and τυραννe[ύον]|τα by Luppe, ZPE 96, 1993, 9-10, will also be rejected). Furthermore, it has been assumed that this papyrus states that the tyranny of Lachares was responsible for the cancellation of the City Dionysia, which led to the cancellation of the Imbrioi (there is considerable body of literature about the date of when the Dionysia were cancelled by Lachares’ tyranny based upon this papyrus; most place this imagined event in the spring of 295 when Demetrios Poliorketes ousted Lachares from Athens – see for example Thonemann, Oriens et Occidens 11, 2005, 63-86). But the papyrus does not say that Lachares blocked the Dionysia, rather it implies he blocked only the Imbrioi (i.e., the grammatical subject of οὐκ ἐγένeτο in line 109 are not the Διονύσια, but the understood referent of the ταύτην in line 105, i.e. the κωμῳδία Imbrioi). While we know precious little about Lachares’ career, Pausanias (1.25.7) informs us he was involved in politics as an ardent member of the democrats before he became Kassander’s new strong man in Athens (ca. 298/7?). We also know that in 307/6 Menander was prosecuted by the democrats upon Demetrios of Phaleron’s ouster from Athens (Diog. Laert. 5.79), so it is entirely plausible that in 302/1 Lachares, as a member of the Stratoklean wing of the democratic party, successfully censured Menander.
Page 1. 182 A Rediscovered Fragment of GIBM 343 (Cos) In 1990, Th. Fischer, Liste von Spendern, Z... more Page 1. 182 A Rediscovered Fragment of GIBM 343 (Cos) In 1990, Th. Fischer, Liste von Spendern, ZPE 82, 1990, 182 and Tafel Vic, published a small fragment from a private collection at Rome as follows: Buchstabenreste IY]NYIQI-[ 1YA?TOZ? ...
This paper discusses the logic, history and development of lunisolar calendars, including the oct... more This paper discusses the logic, history and development of lunisolar calendars, including the octaëteris, the Metonic Cycle and Callippic Cycle periods (particularly how the latter two are employed on the Antikythera Mechanism), as well as the years, season, history and events of the Halieia games of Rhodes (which are also attested on the Antikythera Mechanism). It will also discuss the order and seasons of the months and the day-nomenclature of the calendars of Rhodes and Kos as well as their semester systems. Here it will be argued that there were two separate calendars in operation with different starting points at both these city-states -- an Eponymous Calendar-Year and a Bouleutic Calendar-Year. The paper will also discuss the intercalary month Πάναμος δεύτερος at Rhodes along with various theories concerning the Διπανάμια festival there. Finally, the paper will conclude by analyzing the years in which several Rhodian festivals were celebrated, based upon which several Rhodian inscriptions will be redated.
Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 2021
This article presents editions of 42 inscribed fragments belonging to 37 different Greek and Lati... more This article presents editions of 42 inscribed fragments belonging to 37 different Greek and Latin inscriptions unearthed between 1968 and 1978 on Temple Hill in ancient Corinth. They date from the early 6th century b.c. to the 6th century a.d. and include a new fragment of a previously published sacrificial calendar on stone, a new fragmentary sacrificial calendar on lead, eight new decrees, and several new fragments that join to, or can be associated with, previously published decrees or other kinds of public documents.
Instruments – Observations – Theories: Studies in the History of Astronomy in Honor of James Evans, 2020
It has long been suggested that the Antikythera Mechanism may have been built on the island of Rh... more It has long been suggested that the Antikythera Mechanism may have been built on the island of Rhodes, one of the few locations attested in ancient literary sources associated with the production of such celestial devices. This paper will strengthen the thesis of a Rhodian origin for the Mechanism by demonstrating that the as-of-2008-undeciphered set of games in Year 4 on the Games Dial were the Halieia of Rhodes, a relatively minor set of games that were, appropriately for the Mechanism, in honor of the sun-god, Helios (spelled Halios by the Doric Greeks). This paper will also discuss the palaeography of the inscriptions on the Mechanism and summarize an argument that the calendar on the Metonic Spiral cannot be that of Syracuse, and that it is, contrary to the assertions of a prominent scholar in Epirote studies, consistent with the Epirote calendar. This, coupled with the appearance of the extremely minor Naan games on the Games Dial, suggests that the Mechanism also had some connection with Epeiros.
Tables 2 and 4 contained an incorrect set of values for the mean lunar latitudes associated with ... more Tables 2 and 4 contained an incorrect set of values for the mean lunar latitudes associated with the tabulated eclipse possibilities. We here give the correct tables. The graphs in the article are based on the correct values. The authors are indebted to John D. Morgan for pointing out our error.
This paper presents a new edition of the Back Plate Inscription (BPI) of the Antikythera Mechanis... more This paper presents a new edition of the Back Plate Inscription (BPI) of the Antikythera Mechanism, a series of descriptions of circumstances associated with eclipses indicated cyclically by the inscriptions of the Mechanism's Saros Dial Scale. Our edition features several significant new readings as well as the confirmation of a disputed reading pertaining to one of the index letters by which the BPI's paragraphs are linked to the specific eclipse glyphs of the Saros Dial. On the basis of the new text, we deduce a revision of the established models for determining which lunar months of the Saros cycle had solar and lunar eclipse possibilities (EPs) and for assigning the solar EPs to paragraphs of the BPI. We further confirm that the entire extant part of the BPI comprises consecutive paragraphs concerning the solar EPs, all inscribed along the right side of the Mechanism's Back Plate, and we revisit the questions of what the BPI's predictions mean and how they relate to the model for the solar EPs.
The inscriptions published in this article were all found or studied as a part of the Isparta Arc... more The inscriptions published in this article were all found or studied as a part of the Isparta Archaeological Survey from 2009 to 2015.
This article explores the evidence for the Corinthian family of calendars, including the seasons ... more This article explores the evidence for the Corinthian family of calendars, including the seasons of the months, in light of the calendar recently discovered on the Metonic Spiral of the Antikythera Mechanism. Specifically, it will be argued that the calendar on the Antikythera Mechanism cannot be that of Syracuse (the home of Archimedes), and that it is likely to be the Epirote calendar (this helps explain why the relatively minor Naan games of Dodona appear on the Antikythera Mechanism’s Games Dial). It will further be argued that this calendar was probably adopted by the Epirotes from a Corinthian colony in Epiros, possibly from Ambrakia, whose inhabitants continued to use unchanged, or with very few changes, the calendar of their mother city, Corinth. It will also be argued that the first month of this calendar, Phoinikaios, was ideally the month in which the autumn equinox fell (although in some states it or its equivalent probably started a month earlier at times), and that the start-up of the calendar on the Metonic Spiral began shortly after the astronomical new moon of August 23, 205 B.C. (which chronology helps explain the ca. 32° clockwise off-set of the Exeligmos Dial). Along the way it will be noted that the sixth set of games on the Games Dial of the Antikythera Mechanism are the Halieia of Rhodes (which will be argued to have been celebrated in the Rhodian month of Panamos). This suggests that the Antikythera Mechanism, as had long been suspected by some, was built on Rhodes, possibly for a client from Epiros. Furthermore, it will be suggested that the Antikythera Mechanism was an adaptation of a prototype designed for the Rhodian calendar. Finally, there will be other observations on the Doric calendars of Argos, Epidauros and Rhodes.
The core of this paper was delivered at a conference at the Lorentz Center in Leiden in June of 2... more The core of this paper was delivered at a conference at the Lorentz Center in Leiden in June of 2013. I especially want to thank my collaborator John D. Morgan, whose perceptive comments have been invaluable. I also wish to thank the Department of Classics at Case Western Reserve University, the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Cyrus Taylor, the Freedman Center for Digital Scholarship, and the Baker Nord Center for the Humanities for their moral and financial support.
In this paper, the history, purpose and importance of the Packard Humanities Institute (PHI) Gree... more In this paper, the history, purpose and importance of the Packard Humanities Institute (PHI) Greek Epigraphy Project arc discussed.
Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 2021
Abstract:This article presents editions of 42 inscribed fragments belonging to 37 different Greek... more Abstract:This article presents editions of 42 inscribed fragments belonging to 37 different Greek and Latin inscriptions unearthed between 1968 and 1978 on Temple Hill in ancient Corinth. They date from the early 6th century B.C. to the 6th century A.D. and include a new fragment of a previously published sacrificial calendar on stone, a new fragmentary sacrificial calendar on lead, eight new decrees, and several new fragments that join to, or can be associated with, previously published decrees or other kinds of public documents.
Tables 2 and 4 contained an incorrect set of values for the mean lunar latitudes associated with ... more Tables 2 and 4 contained an incorrect set of values for the mean lunar latitudes associated with the tabulated eclipse possibilities. We here give the correct tables. The graphs in the article are based on the correct values. The authors are indebted to John D. Morgan for pointing out our error (Tables 2 and 4).
This paper presents a new edition of the Back Plate Inscription (BPI) of the Antikythera Mechanis... more This paper presents a new edition of the Back Plate Inscription (BPI) of the Antikythera Mechanism, a series of descriptions of circumstances associated with eclipses indicated cyclically by the inscriptions of the Mechanism's Saros Dial Scale. Our edition features several significant new readings as well as the confirmation of a disputed reading pertaining to one of the index letters by which the BPI's paragraphs are linked to the specific eclipse glyphs of the Saros Dial. On the basis of the new text, we deduce a revision of the established models for determining which lunar months of the Saros cycle had solar and lunar eclipse possibilities (EPs) and for assigning the solar EPs to paragraphs of the BPI. We further confirm that the entire extant part of the BPI comprises consecutive paragraphs concerning the solar EPs, all inscribed along the right side of the Mechanism's Back Plate, and we revisit the questions of what the BPI's predictions mean and how they relate to the model for the solar EPs. Abbreviations IG Inscriptiones Graecae IGUR Inscriptiones Graecae Urbis Romae PLond Greek Papyri in the British Museum POxy. astr. Jones 1999 Communicated by Jed Buchwald. Iversen is primarily responsible for Sects. 2 and 3, and Jones for Sect. 4, though both authors have made contributions to each other's sections.
This talk will focus on the reading and historical implications of some lines from P. Oxy. X 1235... more This talk will focus on the reading and historical implications of some lines from P. Oxy. X 1235, a fragmentary didascalic notice to Menander’s Imbrioi that mentions Lachares the Tyrant in the context of the Dionysia of 302/1 BCE. The widespread interpretation that this fragment says that the Dionysia were cancelled that year (or ever) because of Lachares’ tyranny will be seen as the product of a sloppy interpretation; rather the fragment only implies that Lachares blocked Menander’s Imbrioi from appearing at the Dionysia of 302/1 BCE, an assertion that is plausible. The lines in question (105-112) read:ταύτην [ἔγρα]- ψeν ἐπὶ Νικοκλέο[υς - - -]- την καὶ ἑβδομηκοστ[ὴν κἀξ]- έδωκeν eἰς ἐργασίαν [eἰς] Διονύσια, οὐκ ἐγένeτο δ[ὲ διὰ] Λαχάρην τὸν τύραννο[ν· eἶ]- τα ὑπeκρίνeτο Κάλ[λιπ]- πος Ἀθηναῖος. This [comedy the Imbrioi] he [Menander] wrotein the archonship of Nikokles (302/1 BCE),his seventy-[? and he]issued it for production [at the]Dionysia, but it didn’t air [because of]Lachares “The Tyran[t”; later]Kallippos the Athenian waslead actor.Ever since Hunt published this fragmentary papyrus in 1914, it has been claimed that its evidence is uncomfortably incongruous because Lachares could not have been tyrant as early as 302/1 BCE (cf. O’Sullivan, GRBS 49, 2009, 53-79). While it is true that Lachares could not have been tyrant as early as Nikokles’ archonship in 302/1, it will be argued that within this papyrus the words τὸν τύραννο[ν] are functioning as a proleptic epithet and thus do not mean that Lachares was tyrant when he interfered with the production of Imbrioi (restorations in lines 110-111 of the participial forms τυραννή-[σαν]|τα by Gronewald, ZPE 93, 1992, 20-21, and τυραννe[ύον]|τα by Luppe, ZPE 96, 1993, 9-10, will also be rejected). Furthermore, it has been assumed that this papyrus states that the tyranny of Lachares was responsible for the cancellation of the City Dionysia, which led to the cancellation of the Imbrioi (there is considerable body of literature about the date of when the Dionysia were cancelled by Lachares’ tyranny based upon this papyrus; most place this imagined event in the spring of 295 when Demetrios Poliorketes ousted Lachares from Athens – see for example Thonemann, Oriens et Occidens 11, 2005, 63-86). But the papyrus does not say that Lachares blocked the Dionysia, rather it implies he blocked only the Imbrioi (i.e., the grammatical subject of οὐκ ἐγένeτο in line 109 are not the Διονύσια, but the understood referent of the ταύτην in line 105, i.e. the κωμῳδία Imbrioi). While we know precious little about Lachares’ career, Pausanias (1.25.7) informs us he was involved in politics as an ardent member of the democrats before he became Kassander’s new strong man in Athens (ca. 298/7?). We also know that in 307/6 Menander was prosecuted by the democrats upon Demetrios of Phaleron’s ouster from Athens (Diog. Laert. 5.79), so it is entirely plausible that in 302/1 Lachares, as a member of the Stratoklean wing of the democratic party, successfully censured Menander.
Page 1. 182 A Rediscovered Fragment of GIBM 343 (Cos) In 1990, Th. Fischer, Liste von Spendern, Z... more Page 1. 182 A Rediscovered Fragment of GIBM 343 (Cos) In 1990, Th. Fischer, Liste von Spendern, ZPE 82, 1990, 182 and Tafel Vic, published a small fragment from a private collection at Rome as follows: Buchstabenreste IY]NYIQI-[ 1YA?TOZ? ...
This paper discusses the logic, history and development of lunisolar calendars, including the oct... more This paper discusses the logic, history and development of lunisolar calendars, including the octaëteris, the Metonic Cycle and Callippic Cycle periods (particularly how the latter two are employed on the Antikythera Mechanism), as well as the years, season, history and events of the Halieia games of Rhodes (which are also attested on the Antikythera Mechanism). It will also discuss the order and seasons of the months and the day-nomenclature of the calendars of Rhodes and Kos as well as their semester systems. Here it will be argued that there were two separate calendars in operation with different starting points at both these city-states -- an Eponymous Calendar-Year and a Bouleutic Calendar-Year. The paper will also discuss the intercalary month Πάναμος δεύτερος at Rhodes along with various theories concerning the Διπανάμια festival there. Finally, the paper will conclude by analyzing the years in which several Rhodian festivals were celebrated, based upon which several Rhodian inscriptions will be redated.
Hesperia: The Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 2021
This article presents editions of 42 inscribed fragments belonging to 37 different Greek and Lati... more This article presents editions of 42 inscribed fragments belonging to 37 different Greek and Latin inscriptions unearthed between 1968 and 1978 on Temple Hill in ancient Corinth. They date from the early 6th century b.c. to the 6th century a.d. and include a new fragment of a previously published sacrificial calendar on stone, a new fragmentary sacrificial calendar on lead, eight new decrees, and several new fragments that join to, or can be associated with, previously published decrees or other kinds of public documents.
Instruments – Observations – Theories: Studies in the History of Astronomy in Honor of James Evans, 2020
It has long been suggested that the Antikythera Mechanism may have been built on the island of Rh... more It has long been suggested that the Antikythera Mechanism may have been built on the island of Rhodes, one of the few locations attested in ancient literary sources associated with the production of such celestial devices. This paper will strengthen the thesis of a Rhodian origin for the Mechanism by demonstrating that the as-of-2008-undeciphered set of games in Year 4 on the Games Dial were the Halieia of Rhodes, a relatively minor set of games that were, appropriately for the Mechanism, in honor of the sun-god, Helios (spelled Halios by the Doric Greeks). This paper will also discuss the palaeography of the inscriptions on the Mechanism and summarize an argument that the calendar on the Metonic Spiral cannot be that of Syracuse, and that it is, contrary to the assertions of a prominent scholar in Epirote studies, consistent with the Epirote calendar. This, coupled with the appearance of the extremely minor Naan games on the Games Dial, suggests that the Mechanism also had some connection with Epeiros.
Tables 2 and 4 contained an incorrect set of values for the mean lunar latitudes associated with ... more Tables 2 and 4 contained an incorrect set of values for the mean lunar latitudes associated with the tabulated eclipse possibilities. We here give the correct tables. The graphs in the article are based on the correct values. The authors are indebted to John D. Morgan for pointing out our error.
This paper presents a new edition of the Back Plate Inscription (BPI) of the Antikythera Mechanis... more This paper presents a new edition of the Back Plate Inscription (BPI) of the Antikythera Mechanism, a series of descriptions of circumstances associated with eclipses indicated cyclically by the inscriptions of the Mechanism's Saros Dial Scale. Our edition features several significant new readings as well as the confirmation of a disputed reading pertaining to one of the index letters by which the BPI's paragraphs are linked to the specific eclipse glyphs of the Saros Dial. On the basis of the new text, we deduce a revision of the established models for determining which lunar months of the Saros cycle had solar and lunar eclipse possibilities (EPs) and for assigning the solar EPs to paragraphs of the BPI. We further confirm that the entire extant part of the BPI comprises consecutive paragraphs concerning the solar EPs, all inscribed along the right side of the Mechanism's Back Plate, and we revisit the questions of what the BPI's predictions mean and how they relate to the model for the solar EPs.
The inscriptions published in this article were all found or studied as a part of the Isparta Arc... more The inscriptions published in this article were all found or studied as a part of the Isparta Archaeological Survey from 2009 to 2015.
This article explores the evidence for the Corinthian family of calendars, including the seasons ... more This article explores the evidence for the Corinthian family of calendars, including the seasons of the months, in light of the calendar recently discovered on the Metonic Spiral of the Antikythera Mechanism. Specifically, it will be argued that the calendar on the Antikythera Mechanism cannot be that of Syracuse (the home of Archimedes), and that it is likely to be the Epirote calendar (this helps explain why the relatively minor Naan games of Dodona appear on the Antikythera Mechanism’s Games Dial). It will further be argued that this calendar was probably adopted by the Epirotes from a Corinthian colony in Epiros, possibly from Ambrakia, whose inhabitants continued to use unchanged, or with very few changes, the calendar of their mother city, Corinth. It will also be argued that the first month of this calendar, Phoinikaios, was ideally the month in which the autumn equinox fell (although in some states it or its equivalent probably started a month earlier at times), and that the start-up of the calendar on the Metonic Spiral began shortly after the astronomical new moon of August 23, 205 B.C. (which chronology helps explain the ca. 32° clockwise off-set of the Exeligmos Dial). Along the way it will be noted that the sixth set of games on the Games Dial of the Antikythera Mechanism are the Halieia of Rhodes (which will be argued to have been celebrated in the Rhodian month of Panamos). This suggests that the Antikythera Mechanism, as had long been suspected by some, was built on Rhodes, possibly for a client from Epiros. Furthermore, it will be suggested that the Antikythera Mechanism was an adaptation of a prototype designed for the Rhodian calendar. Finally, there will be other observations on the Doric calendars of Argos, Epidauros and Rhodes.
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Finally, the paper will conclude by analyzing the years in which several Rhodian festivals were celebrated, based upon which several Rhodian inscriptions will be redated.
graphs in the article are based on the correct values. The authors are indebted to John D. Morgan for pointing out our error.
Survey from 2009 to 2015.
Finally, the paper will conclude by analyzing the years in which several Rhodian festivals were celebrated, based upon which several Rhodian inscriptions will be redated.
graphs in the article are based on the correct values. The authors are indebted to John D. Morgan for pointing out our error.
Survey from 2009 to 2015.