From goya@racine.vjf.cnrs.fr Fri Dec 20 09:09:26 2002 Received: from mailscan4.cac.washington.edu (mailscan4.cac.washington.edu [140.142.33.15]) by lists.u.washington.edu (8.12.1+UW01.12/8.12.1+UW02.12) with SMTP id gBKH9QCK041420 for ; Fri, 20 Dec 2002 09:09:26 -0800 Received: FROM mxu5.u.washington.edu BY mailscan4.cac.washington.edu ; Fri Dec 20 09:09:25 2002 -0800 Received: from smtp.noos.fr (nan-smtp-09.noos.net [212.198.2.80]) by mxu5.u.washington.edu (8.12.1+UW01.12/8.12.1+UW02.12) with ESMTP id gBKH9L6t027657 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=EDH-RSA-DES-CBC3-SHA bits=168 verify=FAIL) for ; Fri, 20 Dec 2002 09:09:23 -0800 Received: (qmail 4783634 invoked by uid 0); 20 Dec 2002 17:09:17 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO [212.198.103.116]) ([212.198.103.116]) (envelope-sender ) by 212.198.2.80 (qmail-ldap-1.03) with SMTP for ; 20 Dec 2002 17:09:17 -0000 Mime-Version: 1.0 Message-Id: In-Reply-To: References: Date: Fri, 20 Dec 2002 18:09:21 +0200 To: classics@u.washington.edu From: Michael Chase Subject: Re: Mark of the Spartoi Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" ; format="flowed" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-Uwash-Spam: Gauge=XXII, Probability=22%, Report="IN_REP_TO, NO_MX_FOR_FROM, REFERENCES, __EVITE_CTYPE" >Hyginus in his fabula 72 (which may or may not depend on Euripides' >lost Antigona) writes of an _insigne_ by which Creon recognizes the >son of Antigone and Haemon, a mark found on all those born of the >dragon's descent (ex draconteo genere omnes). > >Aristotle (Poetics 1454b [[1]]) identifies the mark by which the >Spartoi could be distinguished as spear-shaped. However, Carlos >Parada [[2]] and Robert Graves [[3]] say that it was dragon- or >serpent-shaped. I didn't find it identified in Gantz either in the >section on the Spartoi at pp. 467ff. nor on p. 521 where he >summarizes Hyginus' account in fab. 72. If Graves were not supported >by Parada I'd be inclined to let it go as one of his elaborations, >but does anyone have references to specific ancient sources for the >serpent/dragon shape? M.C.: I suspect, although I have no proof, that Graves' interpretation comes from the text of Hyginus : hunc Creon rex quod ex Draconteo genere omnes in corpore insigne habebant cognovit. If we had no other source, it would be pretty reasonable to assume, I think, that a sign that allowed Creon to conclude its bearer's descent *ex Draconteo genere* was itself a serpent, dragon, or some such device. Dio Chrysostom (4, 23) confirms that the mark was spear-shaped, although he is probably just following Aristotle -- Michael Chase (goya@vjf.cnrs.fr) CNRS UPR 76/l'Ann=E9e Philologique Villejuif-Paris, France .