Posidippus, Hippica AB 82: the hippic victories of the Ptolemaic princess Berenice Syra at the Nemean games
Title
Posidippus, Hippica AB 82: the hippic victories of the Ptolemaic princess Berenice Syra at the Nemean games
Date
3rd century BCE
Type
Victory epigram
Source Type
Literary source
Commentary
The epigram refers to a victory of Berenice’s horses (or chariot?) at the Isthmian games, which she apparently attended with her father, Ptolemy II.
Translation
[…] of Berenice
[…] horse on the race-tracks;
the venerable water of the Peirene admired,
near Acrocorinth, the […] Macedonian girl,
together with her father, Ptolemy. Since you have, on the Isthmus,
so often proclaimed your house winner, the only queen (to do so).
[…] horse on the race-tracks;
the venerable water of the Peirene admired,
near Acrocorinth, the […] Macedonian girl,
together with her father, Ptolemy. Since you have, on the Isthmus,
so often proclaimed your house winner, the only queen (to do so).
Translation used
translation by Christoph Begass for the Cynisca project
Text
ε̣[..].[ ±16 ]γατον Βερενίκηϲ
.[.]κ̣[ ±15 ]. ἵ̣π̣π̣ο̣ν̣ ἐ̣π̣ὶ̣ ϲταδίων,
τὴ̣ν̣ δὲ̣ [ ±10 ]νον Μακέτην πέλαϲ ̣Ἀ̣κ̣ρ̣[ο]κ̣[ο]ρ̣ί̣ν̣θ̣[ο]υ̣
παῖδα τὸ Πε̣ι[ρήνηϲ ϲε]μ̣νὸν ἐθαύμαϲ’ ὕδωρ
ϲὺ‹ν› πατρὶ Π[τολ]ε̣[μ]α̣ίωι· ἐκήρυξαϲ γὰρ ἐν Ἰϲθμῶι
τοϲϲάκιϲ ἀθ̣λ̣[οφ]ό̣ρον δῶμα μόνη βαϲιλίϲ.
.[.]κ̣[ ±15 ]. ἵ̣π̣π̣ο̣ν̣ ἐ̣π̣ὶ̣ ϲταδίων,
τὴ̣ν̣ δὲ̣ [ ±10 ]νον Μακέτην πέλαϲ ̣Ἀ̣κ̣ρ̣[ο]κ̣[ο]ρ̣ί̣ν̣θ̣[ο]υ̣
παῖδα τὸ Πε̣ι[ρήνηϲ ϲε]μ̣νὸν ἐθαύμαϲ’ ὕδωρ
ϲὺ‹ν› πατρὶ Π[τολ]ε̣[μ]α̣ίωι· ἐκήρυξαϲ γὰρ ἐν Ἰϲθμῶι
τοϲϲάκιϲ ἀθ̣λ̣[οφ]ό̣ρον δῶμα μόνη βαϲιλίϲ.
Edition used
F. Angiò – M. Cuypers – B. Acosta-Hughes – Elizabeth Kosmetatou (eds.), New Poems attributed to Posidippus: a text in progress, 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), Könige, Poleis und Athleten in hellenistischer Zeit, 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), The Expression of Identities in Hellenistic Victor Epigrams, 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.
Mann, C. (2018), Könige, Poleis und Athleten in hellenistischer Zeit, 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), The Expression of Identities in Hellenistic Victor Epigrams, 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.
Collection
Citation
“Posidippus, Hippica AB 82: the hippic victories of the Ptolemaic princess Berenice Syra at the Nemean games,” Cynisca: Documenting Women and Girls in Ancient Greek Sports, accessed December 22, 2024, https://fdz.bib.uni-mannheim.de/cynisca/items/show/175.