Comic value may be derived from the invocation of Zeus with the form F\m (570). This may be dialectal (Cretan?), but is strongly reminiscent of the form F\r used by Pherecydes, a philosophical author who tried to improve on traditional names of gods aiming for ‘correctness’.549 Ap-parently the name had an inherent funny sound, meant to contribute to the abasement of the king of the gods, whose cult is now declared to take second place after that of the king-bird.
The name of the goddessPamd~qa(971) suits the idea that the ora-cle-monger, who is about to sacrifice to her, is hoping to receive gifts;
these are enumerated in 972 – 9. The play between the name Pandora and d_qagoes back to Hesiod (Op. 80 – 2 amºlgme d³ t¶mde cuma?ja /
546 See Hornblower 1996: 347; Flensted-Jensen in Hansen – Nielsen 2004: 833 – 4 no. 587.
547 Cf. Dunbar (1995: 571) who alleged that the poet may have also thought of the epic adjeciveakovudm|r‘lamenting’ (e. g. Il. 5.683).
548 A verb used mainly in tragedy (LSJ). Aristophanes has jolp\slata ‘boasts’
(Ra. 940).
549 See Willi 2003: 102 – 3 (with references) and Dunbar’s note (1995: 384).
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Pamd¾qgm% fti p²mter ik¼lpia d¾lat’ 5womter/ d_qom 1d¾qgsam).550 Hesiod’s Pandora is the first woman, while the one in Birds seems more relevant to the known chthonic goddess (cf. Hippon. fr. 104.48 W);551but the fact that a Pandora cult is not otherwise attested for Ath-ens implies that Aristophanes chiefly uses the name for its appropriate meaning.552 The name was not in use as a common personal name, at least until much later.553
Peisetairos’ hostility to Iris finds expression in a pun on the plural form Yq_dym (1222). The plural of the name would have the meaning
‘of persons like Iris’, which probably denotes the hero’s contempt for the goddess (cf. 1701 Coqc¸ai te ja· V¸kippoi and the three plurals of 558 – 9 [)kjl¶mar, )kºpar, Sel´kar] which refer generally to mortal women seduced by gods).554If the word is taken as a noun ‘rainbows’,555 the pun would have the rather perplexing implication that the punish-ment of Iris in Peisetairos’ threat would be more deserved than the pun-ishment of other rainbows.
Prometheus’ allusion to the foreign gods Tqibakko_ (also the name of a Thraco-Illyrian people)556 inspires a word-play (1529 – 30), as Pei-setairos thinks that in this name he has found the origin of the swear-word1pitqibe_gr‘may you be crushed’ (cf. Th. 557). The similarity be-tween the two is meagre, even for a time when the rigid principles of
‘scientific’ etymology were not applied, and since the gods’ name is of foreign origin, the suggested etymological connection must be
550 The meaning is not clear: the gods ‘gave her a gift’ or ‘gave her as gift’ – the latter is perhaps preferable sinced_qomis used of her in the following lines (85, 86); thus West 1978: 166 – 7.
551 The Hesiodic Pandora, who plays a part in the ancestry of mankind, may be derived from the chthonic goddess ; see West 1978: 164 – 6.
552 Thus Dunbar 1995: 546.
553 The only two known attestations of it come from Rome of the imperial period, see Solin 20032: 604; one of the two was a slave. There is a likely single attes-tation of the masculine form of the name (P\mdy[qor], Athens, ca. AD 200, LGPN IIA).
554 Cf. Dunbar 1995: 620.
555 Thus only Sommerstein among recent editors. This is one of two possibilities allowed by the Scholia:pa¸fei d³ C ¢r toO !´qor poij¸kar ]qidar poioOmtor,C
!mt· toO eQpe?m heaim_m.
556 An early allusion to them is found in Herodotus (4.49; cf. Th. 2.96.4, 4.101.5 with Hornblower 1991: 372; see further Papazoglu 1978: 9 ff.). For Triballos as their eponymous god see RE s.v. Triballos (2) (Karl Keyssner).
meant to amuse the audience.557Triballians were associated with all sorts of uncivilised behaviour,558and the appearance (at 1565) of a god named Triballos (1627) suggests a savage nature; this adds further ridicule to the sequence of events in which he is threatened and eventually submits to the wishes of the gluttonous Herakles.
Basileia (Bas_keia, 1536) is a personification of the power of Zeus, built out of the concept ofbasike_a‘kingdom’, ‘reign’. Peisetairos’ mar-riage to her is a symbol of the transfer of Zeus’ kingship to the birds, as Trygaios’ to Opora symbolised return of prosperity in Peace. This bride, too, like Opora, has a name used for real-life women: its oldest attesta-tion is at Athens (fourth century).559There is a small amount of evidence for an independent cult-figure called Basileia, but Peisetairos’ question about her identity (1537) suggests that she was not too familiar to the audience as such. She may have been reminiscent of the better attested Bas_kg, a minor deity worshipped at Athens as a symbol of sovereignty and of autochthonous Athenian origins.560Perhaps the name also allud-ed to the title Basileia, usallud-ed for invoking Hera (as the wife of Zeusbasi -ke}r) and other goddesses; Aristophanes uses it for the Clouds (palba -s_keiai, Nu. 357) and the goddess Peace (Peace 974).561
557 For a similar comic etymology see Nu. 394 with Dover (1968: 151) who notes the sophistic interest in etymological practice; comic etymologising may hide an allusion to them. The standard ‘Greek’ etymology of Triballoi is visible in another Aristophanic name, Tqiv\kgr, name and hero of a lost comedy, on which see Appendix 1.
558 Cf. Alexis fr. 243 with Arnott 1996: 683 – 4; Isoc. 8.50. This explains the pe-jorative sense the term acquired at Athens: Triballoi was a slang term for mis-behaving young men (D. 54.39; see also Kakridis 1982: 264); a mischievous dwarf in a comedy by Cratinus (fr. 13) is called Triballos, and Eubulus (fr. 75.3) coined the word tqibakkopam|hqepta for young men trained by Pan in promiscuity. Tribal(l)os was probably used as a slave-name at Athens (Fragiadakis 1986: 152).
559 The rest of the attestations (thirteen in total) are scattered (LGPN).
560 Outside Aristophanes Basileia appears on an inscribed votive relief of the fourth century and together with Basile on a fifth century Attic red-figure pyxis. See RE s.v. Basileia (5) (Kern), Shapiro 1986: 134 – 6 and Dunbar’s note (1995:
703 – 4). Basileia is the name of a prominent daughter of Ouranos and mother of Helios and Selene by Hyperion in D.S. 3.57.1 – 4.
561 For a summary of older, mostly unconvincing views (some quite fanciful) of the figure of Basileia see Kakridis 1982: 264 – 5.
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