Tuesday, August 08, 2023
Periplus
Aristophanes, Frogs 112-115 (Dionysus to Heracles, asking directions to the Underworld; tr. Matthew Dillon):
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Describe to me the harbours, bakers' shops,K.J. Dover on line 113:
brothels, rest stops, detours, springs, and roads,
the towns, their customs, and the inns
where there are fewest bugs.
τούτους φράσον μοι, λιμένας ἀρτοπώλια
πορνεῖ᾽ ἀναπαύλας ἐκτροπὰς κρήνας ὁδοὺς
πόλεις διαίτας πανδοκευτρίας, ὅπου
κόρεις ὀλίγιστοι. 115
113 κρήνας: κρημνούς v.l. ap. sch. E
κρημνούς, 'cliffs', is probably a simple slip; in this list of things to be sought an item to be avoided would strike a false note.A periplus lists both, places to be avoided as well as places to be sought. See e.g. (although admittedly from a much later date) the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea 20 (tr. G.W.B. Huntingford):
Thus, on the whole, this voyage along the coast of the Arabian mainland is dangerous, the country being without harbours, with bad anchorages and a foul shore, unapproachable by reason of rocks, and in every way formidable.Could Aristophanes' lines be a parody of a periplus?
