240

Eupolis

we know about Eupolis’ comedy, is unclear.132 Hemsterhuis (followed by
Fritzsche) thought that the chorus was made up of men who worked in the
dyeing industry, which is the obvious sense of βάπτης but is difficult to square
with the clear implication in test, i-ii that an important role was taken in the
play by effeminate transvestite men associated with the cult of Kotyto, except
that such celebrants might have worn elaborately dyed garments. Casaubon
and Gesner thought that βάπται meant instead “baptizers”, i. e. “those who
dip [a person in water]”, the reference being to rites of purification associated
hypothetically but not unreasonably with Kotyto’s cult, to which the chorus
must then have belonged. This is not a standard meaning of βάπτω, and the
evidence for rites of purification via immersion in water (to be distinguished
from bathing and washing of various sorts) in the classical period appears
to be thin or non-existent.133 In any case, the objection that, were the thesis
right, the play should have been called Βαφθέντες (“the Baptized”) falters on
the fact that the emphasis might well have been on their missionary efforts,
i. e. the chorus’ eagerness to initiate others into their cult via baptism rather
than the fact that they themselves had once been baptised. Meineke, finally,
suggested that the chorus might have dyed their hair or beards in an effort
to make themselves more attractive, although in this case one would in fact
expect a noun with a middle or passive sense rather than an active one.134
For choruses made up of religious celebrants and/or effeminate men, cf.
Cratinus’ Thraittai and Malthakoi, Phrynichus’ Mystai, Aristophanes’ Daitales,
Aristomenes’ Bakchai (also the title of plays by Lysippus and Antiphanes),
Autocrates’ Tympanistai and Philippides’ Adoniazusai. For choruses made up

132 Storey 2003. 94 notes that βάπτης is attested only in reference to Eupolis’ play
and suggests that he may have coined the word. But men had certainly worked
in the dyeing industry well before the 410s BCE, and they must have been called
something. This is thus much less likely evidence of linguistic innovation than of
the degree to which certain classes of words are under-represented in the material
that has come down to us. Cf. frr. 192kk n.; 434 βάπτρια with n.
133 See Ginouves 1962. 397-8. Initiates at Eleusis apparently entered the sea there, sc.
to bathe. But this seems to be a self-administered rite of preliminary purification
rather than cultic immersion carried out by an official functionary of the sort
known to the modern Western reader above all else from Christianity. For the verb
itself, see Dale 1867. xi-xxii; Chadwick 1996. 59-62.
134 Storey 2003. 98 suggests in addition that “we might suspect a sensus obscenus
in ‘Baptai’, ‘dippers’ meaning those practicing active anal intercourse’”. But (1)
the word and its cognates have this sense nowhere else, including at Ar. fr. 237
(seemingly cited by Storey in defense of his thesis); and (2) test, ii leaves no doubt
that Kotyto’s celebrants were represented as sexually passive, not sexually active.