170

Όδυσσεύς (fr. 35)

Ιερόν Γάμον Following Meineke (cf. Bliimner 1891. 114-15), this phrase
has often been taken as a reference to a festival celebrating or imitating the
marriage of Zeus and Hera (cf. Phot, i 57 ιερόν γάμον· Αθηναίοι εορτήν Διός
άγουσι καιΉρας, ιερόν γάμον καλοϋντες; Hsch. ι 322; ΕΜ ρ. 468.56; Men. fr.
225; Klinz 1933. 97); Deubner 1932. 177-8 briefly discusses the evidence and
places the festival on 24 Gamelion.64 The ιερός γάμος may have been part of
another festival, however, rather than comprising its own; one possibility is
the marriage of Dionysus and the wife of the archon basileus, which took
place on the second day of the Anthesteria (cf. [D.] 59.73, 74-8 with Kapparis
1999 ad loc.; Hamilton 1992. 53-6). Although Athenaeus seems to suggest a
specifically Athenian context for the fragment, the term itself could seemingly
refer to an event encompassed by a wide variety of festivals or celebrations
held throughout Greece and beyond; cf. Klinz 1933; Klinz 1935; Nilsson 1967-
1974 1.120-2; Cremer 1982. In any event, the point of the nickname is that the
namer finds the person so described wildly attractive and sexually appealing.
3 άνθρώπιον The word generally indicates scorn or contempt (e. g. E.
Cyc. 185 with Seaford 1984 ad loc.·, D. 18.242 with Wankel 1976 ad loc.·, X. Mem.
2.3.16; Cyr. 5.1.14; contrast Ar. Pax 263 with Olson 1998 ad loc.\ Here it may
have a touch of scorn, but for the most part it simply emphasizes further the
man’s tiny stature (already emphasized by παντελώς).
Σταλαγμόν A σταλαγμός is a drop (e. g. A. Th. 61 [foam from a horse’s
mouth]; S. fr. 370.2 [myrrh]; E. Ion 351 [blood]), but the word can be used
metaphorically for a tiny amount of anything (Ar. Ach. 1033 σταλαγμόν
ειρήνης [although peace is actually represented here by wine]; Diog. Sinop.
TGrF88 F 2.1 τύχης σταλαγμόν [cf. Snell 1986 ad loc. for further occurrences
of this phrase]); cf. Schmidt 1876-1886 11.267. Stalagmos is the name of a slave
in Plaut. Capt. and the title of a play by Naevius, presumably named for an
eponymous character (cf. Schmidt 1902. 207). For this and similar names, see
Bechtel 1898. 11-12; Fick-Bechtel 1894. 330.
4-10 For the absence of εί vel sim., cf. Kuhner-Gerth 1898-1904 11.233—4;
van Leeuwen 1902a on Ar. Av. 78; Handley 1965 on Men. Dysc. 57ff. (p. 141
under (iii)) and 493-7.
4 λαμπρός Why someone who is λαμπρός should be called effeminate
(cf. on Όλολυς) is unclear. If a man has retained a youthful look into adulthood,
he could rightly be so called (e. g. Agathon at Ar. Th. 191-2; cf. on fr. 9.6 for
the word used of physical attractiveness). But λαμπρός is not so unequivocal
a word that it seems capable of bearing such a meaning without further

64 Mikalson 1975. 105 reports no evidence for events, civil or sacred, on 24 Gamelion.