Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Victresses Description An account of the resource Women who have won a contest; in practice this is the same as attested participants since the preserved sources only inform us about successful women. Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Commentary The epigram's narrator is probably Berenice Syra who won the tethrippon in an unknown Olympiad between 264 and 256 BCE; some scholars, however, identify her as Berenice II. It celebrates three generations of victorious Ptolemaic royals at the Olympic chariot races: Berenice herself; her parents, Ptolemy II and Arsinoe (probably the stepmother Arsinoe II); her grandparents, Ptolemy I and Berenice I. <a href="https://fdz.bib.uni-mannheim.de/cynisca/items/show/56">Plinius Maior, Naturalis Historia 7.133</a> shows that such exceptional family success across three generations was indeed greatly admired (note that the Berenice who is mentioned there is not to be confused with any of the Ptolemaic royals of that name). The poem implies that the Ptolemies drove their chariots themselves, but this should not be taken literally (as is explained <a href="http://ancientolympics.arts.kuleuven.be/eng/TC008EN.html">here</a>). The Pisaeans are the people of <a href="http://ancientolympics.arts.kuleuven.be/eng/TA020EN.html">Pisa</a>, a small town near Olympia that originally was in charge of the games. Here the word is merely used as a poetic synonym. The poem is only preserved on papyrus and some parts are no longer legible. For a translation including a tentative reconstruction of the lost parts, click <a href="https://chs.harvard.edu/english-hippika/">here</a>. Translation Sing of my fame, all you singers, [...] proclaiming what is known, because my reputation [...] My grandfather Ptolemy won with the chariot when he drove his horse on the racecourse of the Pisaeans, as did Berenice, the mother of my father. Likewise with the chariot my father seized victory, a king who bears his royal father’s name. All three victories with the four-horse team Arsinoe won at a single edition of the contest. [...] holy line [...] of women [...] maidenly [...]. These [...] Olympia saw from a single family, children of children victorious with the chariot. Sing of the victory wreath of Queen Berenice, in the four-horse race with adult animals, you Macedonians. Translation used translation by Alexander Meeus for the Cynisca project Text Any textual data included in the document ε]ἴπατε, πάντεϲ ἀοι̣δ̣ο̣ί, ἐ̣μὸν̣ [κ]λέο̣ϲ̣ ε[.].[       γ̣νωϲτὰ λέγειν, ὅτι̣ μοι δ̣ό̣ξ̣[α ἅρματι μὲ‹ν› γάρ μοι προπάτω̣[ρ Πτολεμ]α̣ῖοϲ ἐν̣[ίκα       Πιϲαίων ἐλάϲαϲ ἵππον ἐπὶ ϲτα[δίων, καὶ μήτηρ Βερενίκη ἐμοῦ πατ[ρόϲ· ἅ]ρ̣[μ]ατι δ’ αὖτ̣[ιϲ       νίκην εἷλε πατὴ̣ρ̣ ἐ̣‹κ› βαϲιλ̣έω̣[ϲ] βαϲ[̣ι]λεὺϲ πατρὸϲ ἔχων ὄνομα· ζευκτ[̣ὰϲ δ’] ἐξ̣ή̣ρατο̣ πάϲαϲ       Ἀρϲ̣ινόη νίκαϲ τρεῖϲ ἑνὸϲ ἐξ ἀέ̣[θλου· π.[ ±13 ] γένοϲ ἱερὸν [... γυ]ν̣αικῶν       κε[ ±12 ] παρθένιοϲ [......]ϲ. τα̣[ῦ]τ[̣α] μ̣ὲ̣[ν ..... ἐ]π̣εῖδεν Ὀλυ̣[μπ]ί̣α̣ [ἐξ ἑ]νὸϲ οἴκ̣ο̣υ̣       ἅρ̣μαϲι καὶ παίδων παῖδαϲ ἀεθ̣λ̣ο̣φόρο̣[υ]ϲ̣· τεθρίππου δὲ τελείο‹υ› ἀείδετε τὸν Βερ[ε]ν̣ί̣κ̣η̣[ϲ       τ̣ῆϲ βαϲιλευούϲηϲ, ὦ Μακέτα[ι], ϲτέφανο̣ν. Edition used F. Angiò – M. Cuypers – B. Acosta-Hughes – Elizabeth Kosmetatou (eds.), <a href="https://classics-at.chs.harvard.edu/classics1-epigrams/">New Poems attributed to Posidippus: a text in progress</a>, Version 15, July 2024. Bibliography Kainz, L. (2016), “We are the best, we are one, and we are Greeks!” Reflections on the Ptolemies’ participation in the Agones, in: C. Mann – S. Remijsen – S. Scharff (eds.), Athletics in the Hellenistic World. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner, 331–53. Mann, C. (2018), <a href="https://doi.org/10.1515/klio-2018-0103">Könige, Poleis und Athleten in hellenistischer Zeit</a>, Klio 100, 447–79. Meaker, M. (2024), Women at the Races: Female Victors at Greek hippikoi agones, in: C. Frank – G. Gilles – C. Plastow – L. Webb (eds.), Female Agency in the Ancient Mediterranean, Liverpool, 49–82. Remijsen, S. – S. Scharff (2015), <a href="https://classics-at.chs.harvard.edu/classics13-remijsen-and-scharff/">The Expression of Identities in Hellenistic Victor Epigrams</a>, in: T. F. Scanlon (ed.), Greek Sport and Poetry (Classics@ 13), online. Thompson, D.J. (2005), Posidippus, Poet of the Ptolemies, in: K.J. Gutzwiller (ed.), The New Posidippus: A Hellenistic Poetry Book, Oxford, 269–283. Source Type Physical type of source Literary source Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Posidippus, Hippica AB 78: three generations of victorious Ptolemaic royal women in the Olympic chariot-races Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 3rd century BCE Type The nature or genre of the resource Victory epigram chariot race family grandparents king king Ptolemy I king Ptolemy II Olympic games parents princess Berenice Syra Ptolemies queen queen Arsinoe II queen Berenice I tethrippon