336

Eupolis

Context POxy. 2813 fr. 5.23-6 = Eup. fr. 259.125-8 K.-A.
125 ]ες κάπικήκαστον ε[
Σθενέ]βοια Προίτου τοΰ Κορι[νθίου
]ν αύτ(ήν) λέγει ούτος σ[
].[ ]νοντααρ.[
125 ]ες and reviled ε[
Stheneboia (nom.) (the wife) of Proitos of Corinth
]v this man says that she σ[
].[ ]νοντααρ.[
Interpretation The empty space equivalent to several letters that follows 125
]ες suggests that this is the end of a section of commentary, and that what
follows is a new lemma.
The two-termination adjective έπικήκαστος—here presumably feminine
accusative and referring to Stheneboia—is attested elsewhere only at Phot, ε
1579 = Eust. p. 1402.53 = i.37.16-17 έπικήκαστον· έπονείδιστον, καταγέλαστον
(“epikekaston: reproached, mocked”; probably from Paus.Gr. or Ael. Dion.),
which may be originally a gloss on this verse. For cognates, cf. Call. fr. 656
κηκάδι συν γλώσση (“with an abusive tongue”); Lyc. 545 κηκασμοΐσιν, 692
κηκασμόν, 1386 κηκάστμ [Hdn.J Epimerismoi p. 65.9-10 κηκάζω τό λοιδορώ·
κηκασμός ή λοιδορία; Hsch. ε 4371 έπεκεκήκαστο· έπωνείδιστο; κ 2482
κηκάδδει· λοιδορεί, χλευάζει; Phot, κ 658 κηκάζειν· κακολογεΐν; Suda κ 1499
κηκάς· ό λοίδορος. καί κηκασμός.
Stheneboia, the wife of Proitos of Argos or Tiryns—not elsewhere of
Corinth (which is instead where Bellerophontes came from), as the commen-
tator or scribe here would have it—attempted to seduce her husband’s guest
Bellerophontes and then, when Bellerophontes rejected her, accused him of
rape. In the Euripidean tragedy that bore his name, Bellerophontes punished
Stheneboia by luring her onto Pegasus’ back and then throwing her down
from the sky to her death. The story is told by Glaucus at II. 6.160-5, where
Proitos’ wife is however referred to as Anteia; cf. also Hes. fr. 129.16-25; Ar.
V. 111-12, 1074 (parodies of E. fr. 663 and 665, respectively, from Stheneboia)·,
Ra. 1043,1049 (Stheneboia as one of Euripides’ notorious “whores”); [Apollod.j
Bib. 2.25-6, 30; Gantz 1993. 311-16, esp. 313-15; Cropp in Collard, Cropp and
Lee 1995. 79-97 (on Euripides’ play);174 Ganshow, LIMC VII.l pp. 811-12.

174 Cropp 1995. 83 puts Stheneboia before Prospaltioi (which he dates to 429 BCE,
following the modern scholarly consensus) on the basis of this reference. This is
a bold move—there is no mention in the commentary of Euripides—but might be
right; the parodies in Aristophanes’ Wasps show only that the tragedy belongs