Saturday, November 14, 2015
The Seasons
Alcman, fragment 30 (tr. David A. Campbell):
Newer› ‹Older
and he created three seasons, summerDavid A. Campbell, Greek Lyric Poetry (1967; rpt. London: Bristol Classical Press, 1998), p. 216 (on this fragment):
and winter and the third, autumn,
and spring as a fourth, when
things grow but there is not enough to eat.
ὥρας δ᾿ ἔσηκε τρεῖς, θέρος
καὶ χεῖμα κὠπώραν τρίταν
καὶ τέτρατον τὸ ϝῆρ, ὅκα
σάλλει μέν, ἐσθίην δ᾿ ἄδαν
οὐκ ἔστι.
Homer generally recognises three seasons, ἔαρ, θέρος, χεῖμα. At Od. 11.192 θέρος τεθαλυῖά τ᾽ ὀπώρη there is no distinction between θέρος and ὀπώρη, but the two are distinct at Od. 12.76 οὔτ᾽ ἐν θέρει οὔτ᾽ ἐν ὀπώρῃ. Hesiod refers to three seasons only: the first clear appearance of four seasons is in Hippocrates, Aph. 1.18, E. fr. 990N2.
