218

Eupolis

Interpretation If the references are to the same passage, and if both accu-
rately report the action in Marikas, at some point in Eupolis’ play
(1) Hyperboles’ mother (cf. test, i n.) was compared to a telia (because she was
presented as a bread-woman, as perhaps a year or two later in Hermippus’
Artopdlides?; or because she was tall and flat-chested or the like?);100
(2) Hyperboles was treated at some point in the play as dead; and
(3) afterward his bones were cast on/onto his mother.
Sonnino 1997. 53 takes the point to be that Hyperbolos found himself in a
desperate situation (cf. fr. *203) and took his chances (i. e. “cast the dice”), and
that his fate—called “his bones”, but with an allusion to the use of astragaloi
(fr. 47 n.) in gambling—somehow depended on his mother. Alternatively, one
might hypothesize that some or all of this information has been garbled in
transmission, given that even the source that cites it seems unable to explain
what it means.
At Ar. Pl. 1037, a τηλία (etymology uncertain) resembles a ring (δακτύλιος)
but is considerably larger, and the reference is generally taken to be to the
outer frame of a flour-sieve (cf. Hsch. a 2904 άλευρόττησις- τηλία, εις ήν τά
άλευρα διασήθουσιν, “ aleurottesis: a telia into which they sieve flour (aleurd)”
~ Phot, a 931 = Synag. B a 964; Hsch. τ 772 τηλία- σηλία, έν ή διαμάττεται
τά άλευρα, ή περιφέρεια κοσκίνου, “telia: a selia, in which flour is worked.
Or the periphery of a sieve”). Elsewhere in the classical period, the word is
used to refer to a board used to cover the smoke-hole in a roof (Ar. V. 147
with Biles-Olson 2015 ad loc.); something—a counter or the like—from which
one makes purchases (Pherecr. fr. 132 τό παιδίον / τό πολλαγόρασον καπό
πολλών τηλιών, “the child/slave who buys a lot and from many teZia”; cf. Suda
τ 496 (~ Phot, τ 246) τηλία- περίφραγμα σανίδων έν τη αγορά, έν ώ άλφιτα
έπιπράσκοντο, “telia: a framework made of boards in the marketplace, in
which they used to sell barley groats”, i. e. a collapsible container rather than
a mere board?); and a board or enclosure on or in which cocks were made to
fight (Aeschin. 1.53; cf. Poll. 7.203; 10.150, where a τηλία is twice included in
lists of objects associated with gambling; Phot, τ 246, which reports that it
was used for cock-fighting; and Suda τ 496, which associates it instead with
quail-fighting).

100 Sonnino 1997. 49 compares the mocking description of one of the three sexually
aggressive hags at Ar. Ec. 991 as a κρησέρα (perhaps “flour-sieve”; see Poll. 6.74;
10.114), and suggests that Hyperbolos’ mother too wore a white mask.