In the treatise written by Theopompos, About the Treasures Stolen from Delphi, he says: To Chares the Athenian, sixty talents from Lysander. Out of them he provided the Athenians with feasts in the marketplace and sacrificed for his victories in the battle that was against Philip’s foreign mercenaries. Leading them was Adaios, nicknamed the Rooster […]
[…] And Theopompos in his About the Treasures Stolen from Delphi says Asopichos the beloved of Epaminondas emblazoned and carried the Leuktrian trophy on his shield, and he was incredibly bold, and he hung up the shield in Delphi in the stoa.
In the same treatise, Theopompos says Phaullos tyrant of Phokis loved women but Onomarchos loved boys. And from out of the god’s things, he gave favor to the son of Pythodoros the Sikyonian, who was accompanying his father and having his [coming-of-age] hair cut. After having sex, to the beauty went the offerings of the Sybarites: four little golden strigils. And Phaullos to the flute girl Bromias, daughter of Deiniades, a drinking cup of silver of the Phokaians and a crown of golden ivy of the Peparethians. And, [Theopompos] says, she was even about to play the flute in the Pythian games, if the crowd had not prevented her.
And to Lykolas of Trichoneion, for his son Physkidas who was beautiful, [Theopompos] says Onomarchos gave a crown of laurel, an offering of the Ephesians. This boy was brought to Philip by his father to be prostituted, but got nothing and was sent away. To Damippos son of Epilukos of Amphipolis who was beautiful, Onomarchos gave Pleisthenes’ offering.
To Pharsalia the Thessalian dancing girl, Philomelos gave a crown of golden laurel, an offering of the Lampsakenes. This Pharsalia in Metapontion, by the diviners in the marketplace, when a sound [or voice, φωνή] came from the bronze laurel – which the Metapontines set up during the visit of Aristeas of Prokonnessos, when he said he had been among the Hyperboreans – instantly when she was seen entering the marketplace, the diviners began raging and she was torn apart by them. And when people later investigated the cause, she was found to have been killed because of the god’s crown.
Author: Athenaios
Title of Work: The Learned Banqueters (or Deipnosophists)
Location in Work: 12.43/532d and 13.83/604f-605d
Date of Work: c. 200 CE
Original Language: Greek (Attic)
Original Text:
ἐν δὲ τῷ ἐπιγραφομένῳ τοῦ Θεοπόμπου συγγράμματι Περὶ τῶν ἐκ Δελφῶν Συληθέντων Χρημάτων, Χάρητι, φησί, τῷ Ἀθηναίῳ διὰ Λυσάνδρου τάλαντα ἑξήκοντα, ἀφ᾿ ὧν ἐδείπνισεν Ἀθηναίους ἐν τῇ ἀγορᾷ θύσας τὰ ἐπινίκια τῆς γενομένης μάχης πρὸς τοὺς Φιλίππου ξένους· ὧν ἡγεῖτο μὲν Ἀδαῖος ὁ Ἀλεκτρυὼν ἐπικαλούμενος, [...]
[...] Θεόπομπος δὲ ἐν τῷ Περὶ τῶν Συληθέντων ἐκ Δελφῶν Χρημάτων Ἀσώπιχόν φησι τὸν Ἐπαμινώνδου ἐρώμενον τὸ Λευκτρικὸν τρόπαιον ἐντετυπωμένον ἔχειν ἐπὶ τῆς ἀσπίδος καὶ θαυμαστῶς αὐτὸν κινδυνεύειν, ἀνακεῖσθαί τε τὴν ἀσπίδα ταύτην ἐν Δελφοῖς ἐν τῇ στοᾷ.
ἐν δὲ τῷ αὐτῷ συγγράμματι Θεόπομπος φιλογύναιον μέν φησι γεγονέναι Φάυλλον τὸν Φωκέων τύραννον, φιλόπαιδα δὲ Ὀνόμαρχον· καὶ ἐκ τῶν τοῦ θεοῦ χαρίσασθαι τοῦτον εἰς Δελφοὺς παραγενομένῳ τῷ Πυθοδώρου τοῦ Σικυωνίου υἱῷ ἀποκερουμένῳ τὴν κόμην, ὄντι καλῷ συγγενόμενον τὰ Συβαριτῶν ἀναθήματα, στλεγγίδια χρυσᾶ τέσσαρα· τῇ Δεινιάδου δὲ αὐλητρίδι Βρομιάδι Φάυλλος καρχήσιον ἀργυροῦν Φωκαέων καὶ σ[τέφα]νον χρυσοῦν κιττοῦ Πεπαρηθίων. αὕτη δέ, φησί, καὶ ἔμελλε τὰ Πύθια αὐλεῖν, εἰ μὴ ὑπὸ τοῦ πλήθους ἐκωλύθη.
τῷ δὲ Λυκόλᾳ τῷ τοῦ Τριχωνέως υἱῷ Φυσκίδᾳ ὄντι καλῷ Ὀνόμαρχος ἔδωκε, φησί, στέφανον δάφνης, Ἐφεσίων ἀνάθημα. οὗτος ὁ παῖς πρὸς Φίλιππον ἀχθεὶς ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς κἀκεῖ προαγωγευόμενος οὐδὲν λαβὼν ἀπεστάλη. τῷ Ἐπιλύκου τοῦ Ἀμφιπολίτου υἱῷ ὄντι καλῷ Δαμίππῳ Πλεισθένους ἀνάθημα Ὀνόμαρχος ἔδωκε. Φαρσαλίᾳ τῇ Θεσσαλίδι ὀρχηστρίδι δάφνης στέφανον χρυσοῦν Φιλόμηλος ἔδωκε, Λαμψακηνῶν ἀνάθημα.
Φαρσαλίᾳ τῇ Θεσσαλίδι ὀρχηστρίδι δάφνης στέφανον χρυσοῦν Φιλόμηλος ἔδωκε, Λαμψακηνῶν ἀνάθημα. αὕτη ἡ Φαρσαλία ἐν Μεταποντίῳ ὑπὸ τῶν ἐν τῇ ἀγορᾷ μάντεων, γενομένης φωνῆς ἐκ τῆς δάφνης τῆς χαλκῆς ἣν ἔστησαν Μεταποντῖνοι κατὰ τὴν Ἀριστέα τοῦ Προκονησίου ἐπιδημίαν, ὅτ᾿ ἔφησεν ἐξ Ὑπερβορέων παραγεγονέναι, ὡς τάχιστα ὤφθη εἰς τὴν ἀγορὰν ἐμβαλοῦσα, ἐμμανῶν γενομένων τῶν μάντεων διεσπάσθη ὑπ᾿ αὐτῶν. καὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων ὕστερον ἀναζητούντων τὴν αἰτίαν εὑρέθη διὰ τὸν τοῦ θεοῦ στέφανον ἀνῃρημένη.
Reference Edition: Olson, Athenaeus.
Edition Notes: In τῷ δὲ Λυκόλᾳ τῷ τοῦ, Λυκόλᾳ is a novel emendation where the reference edition and mss. have Λυκόλα. Editors have seen multiple short lacunae in this text, but it seems likely it was just written in a highly abbreviated style.
Source of Date of Work: Olson, Athenaeus, v. 1, xi.
Commentary:
Phaullos, Onomarchos and Philomelos were leaders of Phokis during the Third Sacred War of 356-346 BCE, when they looted the sacred treasuries of Delphi to fund the war. Philip is Philip II of Macedon, an opponent of Phokis who eventually pressured the sides to settle (and the father of Alexander).
This text’s story about the sanctuary to Aristeas and Apollo in Metapontion includes two elements not present in Herodotos’ story about the shrine: the bronze laurel, and Aristeas’ statement during his visit that he had been among the Hyperboreans. The latter likely refers to where Aristeas had been during the long period of time between composing the Arimaspeia and flying to Metapontion, although it might just be a reference to his visit to Hyperborea described in the Arimaspeia.
The site of the sanctuary to Apollo and Aristeas was uncovered in excavations of the Metapontion’s central market area in the 1980s, and verified by the presence of a large number of bronze laurel leaves, a typical sign of Apollo worship at multiple Greek sanctuaries to Apollo in south Italy. The earliest structures of the site have been dated to the early 5th century BCE. Metapontine coins of the 5th century BCE depict a statue of Apollo holding a large laurel branch.
Plutarch told a shorter version of the story about Pharsalia (Moralia, The Oracles at Delphi, 8/397f-398a), which does not mention Aristeas and has different details: she was frolicking near the temple to Apollo rather than entering the market in which the sanctuary to Apollo was located; she was killed by a crowd of young men trying to steal her crown instead of by raging diviners; and the crown was an offering to Delphi by the Knidians instead of the Lampsakenes. Plutarch’s version might be corruptly derived from the treatise quoted by Athenaios, or both versions might derive from a common source.
Athenaios quoted abundantly from Theopompos’ history of the reign of Philip II, and he clearly believed the treatise About the Treasures Stolen from Delphi was written by the same author. But it’s impossible to be sure if that’s true, as these excerpts are all that survive of that treatise and no complete work of Theopompos survives. The characters were certainly familiar subjects for Theopompos, and the scathing, lampooning tone is similar to many of the extant fragments of his history of Philip. But this text’s unusually abbreviated style, its incidents of divine retribution and its portrayal of Philip behaving correctly do not match what we know of Theopompos. In any case the treatise About the Treasures Stolen from Delphi seems unlikely to have been written later than 200 BCE.
Concordance: EGEP Aristeas T10; BNJ/FGrH Theopompos (115) 247-249; EFG Aristeas T10; PEG Aristeas T9; Bolton, Aristeas T&F 18