Matron of Pitane

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Matron von Pitane ( Old Greek Μάτρων ) (* in the 4th century BC ; † in the 4th or 3rd century BC ) was a Greek parodic poet of the late 4th century BC. Chr.

life and work

Matron's life data can only be inferred indirectly. In the surviving fragments he mentions several historical personalities who all lived in the second half of the fourth century BC: Euboius of Paros, Xenocles, son of Xeinis of Athens, Stratocles, son of Euthydemos of Athens, Chairephon of Athens, Astyanax of Miletus and Antenor of Miletus or Athens who was a successful sportsman. It is not certain whether Matron himself lived in Athens.

Matron apparently wrote several works, at least in Athenaios of Naukratis , to whom the transmission of the surviving parts of the text is due, speaks of παρῳδίαις. Since Athenaios never speaks of several (numbered) books, it can be assumed that the complete works of Matrons only comprised one scroll, i.e. probably no more than about 1500 verses.

Several shorter fragments ( SH 535-540) and a longer text of 122 verses have come down to us from Matron through Athenaios , the so-called Attic meal (ἀττικὸν δεῖπνον) (SH 534) at least since late antiquity . In these hexameters numerous dishes of a sumptuous meal are enumerated. They begin with the words δεῖπνά μοι ἔννεπε, Μοῦσα, πολύτροφα καὶ μάλα πολλά (name the food, muse, the plentifully nourishing and very many) and thus parody not only the beginning of the Odyssey in general , but perhaps also the Deipnon literature .

A total of 142 verses have been preserved from Matron's works. Whether and how the shorter fragments can be classified in longer works is controversial.

literature

  • S. Douglas Olson, Alexander Sens: Matro of Pitane and the Tradition of Epic Parody in the Fourth Century BCE. Text, Translation, and Commentary. Oxford, Oxford University Press 1999 (American Philological Association American Classical Studies Series), ISBN 978-0788506154 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Sabine Föllinger , Fish or Meat? Intertextuality as a constituent of ancient gastronomic literature
  2. ^ S. Douglas Olson, Alexander Sens: Matro of Pitane and the Tradition of Epic Parody in the Fourth Century BCE. Text, Translation, and Commentary , Oxford University Press 1999 (American Philological Association American Classical Studies Series), ISBN 978-0788506154 , pp. 3-5.
personal data
SURNAME Matron of Pitane
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Matro Pitanaeus; Matro Parodius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Greek writer
DATE OF BIRTH 4th century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 4th century BC BC or 3rd century BC Chr.