Resumen

We have seen that neither of the ‘main’ names appears very early; on the other hand, minor figures with speaking names are present right from the start. At least two, probably three out of the six characters who appear in the opening scene, the meeting of the Athenian Assem-bly, are significantly named. The names mark the different stages of the action of the scene and create a broader comic setting, meant as a vivid satire of Athenian public life.

)lv¸heor is perhaps the most important character in the play after Dikaiopolis and Lamachos, not least because of his name. Its meaning

‘god from both sides’,¹²¹ which justifies his capacity as the gods’ chosen peace-negotiator (51 – 2), provides Dikaiopolis with a way of action.¹²² Such a meaning certainly sounded funny (perhaps with a mock-religious undertone), and is further exploited for comic purposes in the hilarious exchange (45 – 51) between the Herald, and Amphitheos who proves the name appropriate against all expectation (cf. 51;!h²matºr eQl’).

119 In Kydathenaion, the poet’s own deme (mid-fourth century, see LGPN IIA).

120 Coqc_arwas by far the commonest (LGPN IIA). NotablyCoqc~was used as a feminine personal name at various places, including Athens. coqcok|va, used by the chorus for Lamachos (567; title of Athena at Eq. 1181) has the sound of a proper name; cf.Keuj|kovor, name of a real Athenian mentioned by Aris-tophanes (Ec. 644, Ra. 1513), on whom see Dover 1993: 383, Sommerstein 1998: 195. This may be an abbreviation of Leukolophides (used for the same person in other sources), but Leukolophos has three further fourth century Attic attestations (LGPN IIA).

121 Sommerstein (1980: 160) translates ‘Godschild’. Van Daele (Coulon’s edition) offered the less accurate meaning ‘demi-god’ (demi-dieu).

122 The dramatic importance of the name is emphasised by Edmunds (1980: 4):

‘The whole action of Acharnians thus ensues from Dikaiopolis’ taking literally the name Amphitheos.’

JG. T¸r !coqe¼eim bo¼ketai.

AL. 9c¾.

JG. T¸r ¥m.

AL. )lv¸heor.

JG. Oqj %mhqypor.¹²³

AL. Ou,

!kk( !h²mator…

The comic function of the name may have been enhanced by historical connotations. The name of Amphitheos’ grandmother, Vaimaq´tg, is suggestive of Sokrates, and in that context also the father’s name, Kuj? -mor, though common at Athens (LGPN IIA), might have sounded rel-evant to the philosopher as a ‘speaking’ name, reminiscent of the Ly-keion, the famous gymnasium which was a favourite spot for Sokrates and is mentioned often in Plato’s dialogues. Mockery of Sokrates (who is parodied by Aristophanes in Av. 1555, Ra. 1491 and mainly in Clouds), is certainly more likely here than the difficult assumption of numerous commentators, new and old,¹²⁴ that the target was one of Sokrates’ pupils, Hermogenes, one of the main speakers in Plato’s Cratylus, son of Hipponikos and brother of Kallias.¹²⁵

The name Amphitheos must have alluded to a fellow-demesman, probably an acquaintance of Aristophanes. It is attested in an inscription on a cult-table of the fourth century (IG II²2343),¹²⁶which lists sixteen

123 It has been suggested that%mhqyporcould be read as a personal name (Griffith 1974: 367 – 9).-mhqyporwas the name of an Olympic victor of 456 (Arist. EN 1147 b 34), probably from S.Italy, where a couple more attestations of the name are found; see LGPN IIIA. However, a personal name in this context is not likely, not just because it would be hardly relevant, but mainly because it would considerably weaken the joke, which largely depends on the Herald’s failure to realise that)lv¸heoris actually a name and on the subsequent play be-tween ‘god’ (in the name) and ‘(not) man’ (in the Herald’s understanding of it).

124 Edmunds (1980: 3), following Müller-Strübing (1873: 697 – 9) and Van Leeu-wen (1901: 15 – 6).

125 A speech by Kallias in 371 (X. HG 6.3.4 – 6) suggests that the family had close relations with Sparta and favoured peace. Kallias was often the target of com-edy, but mainly for his extravagance and promiscuity: cf. Eupolis’ Kolakes (in 421), Aristophanes Av. 283 – 6 (in 414) and probably also Ra. 433 (in 405).

He is also said to have accepted bribes on embassy (D. 19.273, Herman 1987: 76). There is no mention of Hermogenes in Aristophanes.

126 Cf. Olson 2002: 83 – 4, Wilson 2007: 17. More on IG II²2343 in Dow 1969:

234 – 5.)lv_- is a common component of proper names (the commonest being )lvijk/r,)lv_kowor,)lvijq\tgr) but)lv¸heoris a highly unusual compound, 1.2 The opening scene : names in the Assembly 31

members of a Herakles cult from Kydathenaion, the poet’s own deme, including names of men connected with Aristophanes’ career (Philo-nides, known to have produced some of his plays, and Simon, the priest, a name that occurs also at Eq. 242; they may all be friends of the poet who portrayed them on stage for an unknown reason). Amphitheos ap-parently had a brother named)mt¸heor(LGPN IIA no.1= IG II²2343, 3; he may be identified with the Antitheos of Th. 898), ‘equal to the gods’, ‘godlike’ (!mt¸heor is a Homeric epithet for heroes), which may suggest that the Acharnians could be mocking this family’s ‘repeated nominal claim to semi-divine status’.¹²⁷

The next significantly named figure to appear on scene is a Persian am-bassador calledXeudaqt²bar(91), introduced by an anonymous¹²⁸ Athe-nian pqesbeut^r. He and the unintelligible message he delivers consti-tute a comic version of real visits of Persian officials, which must occa-sionally have occurred at Athens.¹²⁹ The name is obviously coined by the poet with the intention of sounding comically Persian, as it echoed real Persian names such as Artabazos and Artaxerxes (cf. Sch. 91).¹³⁰But for the sake of an even better joke, the poet very likely also intended the word_!qt²bgto be heard, the name of a Persian measure of capacity (cf.

Hdt. 1.192) – in that case Pseudartabas would mean ‘giver of false meas-ures’, ‘a cheat’¹³¹ (the first element of the name being xeud-). Such a name is very appropriate for an official who is supposed to be Persian with only one further attestation from Athens (LGPN IIA), one from Tenos (LGPN I), and one from Orchomenos (LGPN IIIB), all from the third century.

127 Thus Olson 2002: 84 (a convincing possibility, despite Sommerstein 1980:

160).

128 There seems to be no specific reason for his anonymity ; he may represent a character-type, but not every such character remains anonymous, and he is cer-tainly not insignificant, as he is active for more than 50 lines in an important scene. The explanation offered by Russo (1994: 37) that ‘the entire Persian del-egation exists on an unreal level’ does not seem relevant to the naming.

129 Cf. Olson 2002: 101.

130 Van Leeuwen (1901: 24) thought the name evoked a particular Persian, an Ar-taphernes who was apparently involved in an incident of alleged Persian inter-vention in the Peloponnesian war (Th. 4.50). However, it is doubtful that this Artaphernes was significant enough to be remembered by the audience at that point, especially since names from the root arta- (‘justice’, cf. arta¯van ‘right-eous’, ‘blessed’) were very common in Persian (see Kent 1950: 170).

131 Cf. Rogers 1910a: 17, Sommerstein 1980: 162 and Olson 2002: 101, who draws attention to a Baktrian commander in A. Pers. 317 named)qt\bgr.

and who deceives the Athenian people,¹³²and it carries a hint at the Per-sians’ hostile involvement in the politics of Greece. Further comic value might be extracted from the high importance which the Persians attach-ed to truth, something known from Herodotus (1.136.2, 138) and from the Behistun inscription.¹³³

The Persian’s appearance enables the use of a further name of comic significance, the ethnic _YaomaO (104, addressing the Assembly). Al-though Yauna ‘Ionia(n)’¹³⁴was the normal Persian term for the Greeks (cf. A. Pers. 178), its effect was comically insulting, since it is known that for the Athenians it had negative connotations (Hdt. 1.143.3), and Ar-istophanes only used it for non-Athenians and in contexts suggesting cowardice and effeminacy (cf. the comic repetitionY\omar by Dikaiop-olis at 107).¹³⁵The opportunity is further exploited for a joke about for-eign talk: _YaomaO is an abnormal variation of the vocative, where the final –aO(particularly frequent in the Laconian dialect, but only occa-sionally used by Aristophanes’ Attic characters¹³⁶) may sound comically emphatic.

The third individual with a potential speaking name is also an ambassa-dor, called H´yqor (134 ff.). He is fiercely attacked by Dikaiopolis, which comes as no surprise, especially after the mockery of the pqe -sbeut^r in 62 ff. It becomes clear that the poet’s attack on the group of Athenian ambassadors is based on their self-enrichment during the war at public expense (90), and Theoros’ name may somehow have been used with a similar purpose. The name was historical, and the character was identified by Bradeen with an %qwym toO mautijoO, but the identification is not based on any compelling arguments,¹³⁷ and is 132 Cf. a similar play on another Persian name,Lec\bafor, in Av. 484.

133 See Gera (1993: 80 – 1) with references.

134 Kent 1953: 204.

135 See Sommerstein 1980: 162, cf. Olson 2002: 106; 1998: 76 – 7, 247 (on Peace 46, 932 – 3) and Austin-Olson 2004: 112 (on Th. 163).

136 Willi 2003: 223 n. 83, Colvin 1999: 234; see also Scholia. Cf. the Scythian’s talk in Thesmophoriazusae (see below pp. 157 – 8).

137 Bradeen 1964: 48 ff. The identification, rejected by Olson 2002: 114, is based on the attestation of the name on a fragment of Pentelic marble which contains a list of Athenian casualties from the Dekelean war. Bradeen infers from the oc-currences of the name in Aristophanes that it must have belonged to a public figure of the late fifth century and assumes that this could well be a military fig-ure, all the more since the Theoros of the comedies is depicted as a supporter of Kleon’s party. However, this is not enough to show that the Aristophanic The-1.2 The opening scene : names in the Assembly 33

further hindered by the fact that the name was common in classical Ath-ens (LGPN IIA). The personal nameH´yqor involves a shift of the ac-cent onheyqºr,¹³⁸and it has long been noticed that the name might be a joke on this word,¹³⁹ the designation of an official representative of the city of Athens, usually to festivals and ceremonies at other cities.¹⁴⁰ An etymology fromheo-oqorsuggests the meaning ‘official consulter of an oracle= somebody who respects God’s will’;¹⁴¹this should include the sense of visiting and representing, which is part of the ambassador’s function, and perhaps the name was used ironically in the light of the man’s irresponsible behaviour. Alternatively, the name may evoke the roothea-=spectacle,¹⁴² which would allude to the function of an am-bassador as observer of the state of affairs at the city to which he had been dispatched, and indeed heyqe?m in the sense of ‘viewing’ had al-ready been used by Herodotus.¹⁴³The name does not seem to be signif-icant in other comedies, where Theoros appears with many different faces: as a flatterer of Kleon in Wasps (jºkan; 42, 418 – 9, 1236 – 42), a perjurer in Clouds (1p¸oqjor; 400), and again as a jºkan, loiw|r and pomgq|r in lost comedies (Sch. Eq. 608a-b).¹⁴⁴ The possibility that the

oros and the epigraphical one are the same person. The fact that the Theoros of the plays appears to be involved in public functions does not necessarily suggest that these were military in nature ; nor does his being a supporter of Kleon mean that he took an active part in the war.

138 On the accent see Marzullo 1953: 103, n.1 and Schwyzer (1950 – 71) vol.1:

380 f., 420; vol.2: 60. Also cf. !qwi/!qweh´yqor (And. 1.132, 4.29), a term used for the leader of the Athenian delegation to a panhellenic festival.

139 See Keck 1876: 68 f. Starkie (1909: 40) notes that ‘Theoros went to Thrace as heyqºr.’

140 Koller 1958: 273. Cf. Pl. Phd. 58 b ff., Thgn. 805 – 8. For more on the function of heyqo¸see Andrisano 1985/6: 73.

141 Koller 1958: 285 – 6.

142 The etymological question is not considered solved, see Chantraine 1999 s.v.

heyqºr.

143 See Powell 1938 s.v.heyqe?m; this does not necessarily imply that this usage had become widespread and would be known, remembered or recognised by the audience. A further difficulty may emerge from the possibility that the signifi-cance ‘to watch, to view, to consider’ was limited to the terms^heyq¸a,heyqe?m, heyqgtijºrand did not translate toheyqºr; see Koller (1958: 273).

144 Therefore Andrisano’s (1985/6: 77) view that the name Theoros was used by the poet to represent the class of Athenian ambassadors cannot stand; even less could the name have become the designation of a supposed comic type ‘ambas-sador’, because, apart from that single reference to an ambassador Theoros in Acharnians, there is no further occurrence of the name in this context, and

name might have become suggestive of unworthy characters is discour-aged by the great honour associated with the function of theoroi. Perhaps the jokes were directed against a real individual of that name,¹⁴⁵with the additional advantage that the name Theoros apparently lends itself to puns (cf. V. 45, 418).