Monica
BERTI Istros the Callimachean
The aim of this paper is to
present the project of the first edition with translation
in a modern language of the fragments of the works of
Istros the Callimachean (FHG, I, 418-427; FGrHist 334 FF 1-77; cfr. also Pearson
1942, 136-144). Istros flourished in the Great Library of
Alexandria around the second half of the III century B.C.
and, although born in Paphos on Cyprus, he was, almost
certainly, a slave and a pupil (doulos and gnorimos) of Kallimachos and became a
member of the Callimachean circle. Istros was a
syngrapheus, or antiquary, and seems to have
supplemented Kallimachos in the sphere of history as
Philostephanos did in geography and Hermippos did in
biography. But, like Kallimachos himself and the members
of his school, Istros was also a grammatikos: he collated material and texts from the
classical literature which was readily accessible
throughout the Library, and he made compilations of
various special topics writing more than seventeen works.
In particular Istros was the author of a work on Athens
(Synagoge ton Atthidon or Attika) and for this reason he is often considered
the last representative of the Atthidographic tradition.
Even though Felix Jacoby collated
six testimonia and seventy-seven fragments
pertaining to more than seventeen works of Istros
(FGrHist 334), the only extant monograph on the
Callimachean is the dissertation written by Wellmann in
1886 (De Istro Callimachio). The aim of an edition of the
fragments of Istros with critical text, translation and
commentary is to know an author so versatile, who
participated in that extraordinary cultural climate of
the Great Library of Alexandria.
Being not possible to present
every aspect of the production of Istros, the paper will
offer a brief panorama of the works of the Callimachean
and will focus on two important questions of his
activity, which are fundamental to begin a study on our
author: 1) the content and the character of Istros' books
on Athens; 2) the aim of the two works of Istros on
Egypt, the Apoikiai Aygyption and the books on Ptolemais (the Greek town in upper Egypt
founded by Ptolemaios Soter), thanks to which Istros can
be considered a representative of the Greek egyptography
but also a propagandist of the Ptolemaic court.
As far as concerns the first
question, the paper will deal with the different titles
under which the fragments of Istros on Athens have been
preserved and with their content, which treated for the
most part the 'Archaeology' and followed the
chronological sequence of the list of kings. The goal is
to show the deep difference between the work of Istros
and that of the Atthidographers, which is evident
considering the fact that the work of Istros is never
cited as Atthis and considering the cultural and political
context in which he was active.
As regards the egyptographic
production, Istros developed Hecataeus of Abdera's thesis
that the Egyptians were the oldest people and that the
valley of the Nile was the birth-place of mankind and
that consequently all other peoples were emigrants and
colonies of Egypt. He also dealt with the relations
between Sais and Athens, a topic on which the
Atthidographers contradicted the Egyptomaniacs.
Abstracts
Index