Βάπται (fr. 95)

281

μυστικά μέν έστιν έπιφθέγματα ... άφ’ ού καί ό Σαβάζιος Διόνυσος, “these
are cries associated with mystery cult... whence Dionysus is called Sabazios”,
originally glossing D. 18.260), while the former is associated with the cult of
Dionysus at Ar. Th. 994a; S. Tr. 219; E. Ba. 141 (cf. Harp. p. 141.6-7 = E 163
Keaney, glossing D. 18.260). Cf. Taillardat 1997. 212. Kaibel noted that Sabazios
was originally a Thracian deity, like Kotyto (see the general introduction to
Baptai), so perhaps the same cries were used in the cults of both—or at least
in literary imaginings of them.

fr. 95 K.-A. (86 K.)
χαλκω παρά κοττάβω
χαλκω περί κοττάβω Fritzsche παρά Meineke : περί Σ fort, κοτταβείω
beside a bronze kottabos vessel
ΣνΓ Ar. Pax 1244
κότταβος δέ εκαλείτο καί τό τιθέμενον άθλον τοΐς νικώσιν έν τω πότω καί τό άγγος
εις δ ένέβαλλον τάς λάταγας, ώς Κρατΐνος έν Νεμέσει (fr. 124) δείκνυσιν. δτι δέ καί
χαλκοϋν ήν, Εΰπολις Βάπταις λέγει--. Πλάτων δέ έν Διί κακουμένω (fr. 46) παιδιάς
είδος παροίνιον τον κότταβον είναι άποδίδωσιν, έν ή έξίσταντο καί τών σκευαρίων
οί δυσκυβεύοντες (sic Ath. 15.666d : διακυβεύοντες Σ)
Kottabos was the name for both the prize that was set for the winners in the drinking
and the vessel into which they tried to throw their lees, as Cratinus shows in Nemesis
(fr. 124). Eupolis in Baptai says that it was actually made of bronze:-. And Plato in
Zeus kakoumenos (fr. 46) proves that kottabos was a drunken type of game, in which
those who threw unsuccessfully (thus Ath. 15.666d : “threw with one another” Σ) in
fact lost their property

Meter Perhaps iambic trimeter, e. g.
-
although the word-order suggests elevated style and thus lyric of some sort.
See also Text.
Discussion Fritzsche 1835. 216; Meineke 1839 11.454; Delneri 2006. 347-8
Citation context A scholion on Ar. Pax 1244 γενήσεταί σοι τών κατακτών
κοττάβων (“it will be one of the sinking kottaboi for you”, i. e. “you can use it
as a sinking kottabos’) almost word-for-word identical with Ath. 15.666b-d,
667b-c, d-e, 668a-c, except that the scholion includes the reference to Eupolis,