Aristeas

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Aristeas of Prokonnesos ( ancient Greek Ἀριστέας Aristéas , Latinized Aristeas Proconnesius ) was an ancient Greek poet and magician . He lived in the 7th century BC. Chr.

The journey and the epic

Born as the son of a Kaystrobios on the island of Prokonnesos in the Marmara Sea , Aristeas, " driven by Apollo's ecstasy", allegedly undertook a long journey to the Scythian and Issedonian countries north of the Black Sea . In his epic Arimaspeia (Greek Ἀριμάσπεια, roughly: poem about the Arimaspen ) he gave a mythically decorated account of the peoples still living further away, about the mythical, one-eyed Arimaspen , the (fictional) gold-guarding griffins and the "over the north wind", that is, on the edge of the world up to the Oceanos living Hyperboreans .

The most important witness for the poem, which has been lost except for a few fragments, is Herodotus .

Aristeas as a shaman

Herodotus also reports on Aristeas' personality, which is reminiscent of shamanism . He is said to have come to a fulling mill in Prokonnesos and suddenly died. But while the walker set out to inform Aristeas' relatives and the news was spreading in the city, a traveler who had just arrived reported that he had met Aristeas on the way to Kyzikos and had a chat with him. When they checked the Walker's house, no body was actually found. It was not until “in the seventh year” that Aristeas appeared again in Prokonnesos and wrote his Arimaspeia as a travel report .

Thereupon Aristeas disappeared again and appeared 240 (!) Years later in Metapont in southern Italy, whose inhabitants he ordered to erect an Apollo Altar and next to it to erect his statue with the name inscription "Aristeas of Prokonnesos". In Italy Apollo came to Metaponton alone and he, Aristeas, was a raven as the companion of the god. When the Metapontians asked the oracle of Delphi , Apollo actually commanded them through the mouth of his priests to obey the apparition, so that in Herodotus' time the altar and statue stood on the agora of Metapont.

Source collections and text editions

literature

  • James DP Bolton: Aristeas of Proconnesus . Clarendon Press, Oxford 1962 (authoritative monograph, contains fragments)
  • Hermann Fränkel : Poetry and philosophy of the early Greek culture. 5th edition, CH Beck, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-406-37716-5 , pp. 277-279

Remarks

  1. ↑ Herodotus IV 13.
  2. ↑ Herodotus IV 13-15.
  3. ↑ Herodotus IV 14.
  4. ↑ Herodotus IV 15.
personal data
SURNAME Aristeas
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Aristeas of Prokonnesus; Aristeas Proconnesius (Latin); Ἀριστέας (ancient Greek)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Greek poet and magician
DATE OF BIRTH 8th century BC BC or 7th century BC Chr.
PLACE OF BIRTH Prokonnesos
DATE OF DEATH 7th century BC BC or 6th century BC Chr.