Research Article

Crops and Envy in Cilicia

Volume: 16 November 15, 2018
  • Robert Parker
TR EN

Crops and Envy in Cilicia

Abstract

Günder and Ender Varinlioğlu have recently published a short verse text from rough Cilicia, apparently engraved on a door post and dated to the 3rd/4th c. AD. It reads ‘For my masters I bring [or, protect: κομίζω] produce; but to the envious, a penis!᾿. A phallus is carved below it. The editors identify the speaker as the god Priapus. This article discusses the problem of translating κομίζω, and goes on to illustrate Priapus’ power against the evil eye of the envious, and to discuss his relation to garden produce: does he merely protect it, or also help it to grow? But it then presents an alternative interpretation suggested by G. O. Hutchinson: the speaker on this view would be not Priapus but the building itself on which the line was inscribed, a warehouse of some kind. Phallic symbols could avert the evil eye whether associated with Priapus or not: the editors of the new inscription have helpfully collected many further examples of phalli inscribed on doorposts or lintels in the same region (where Priapus is otherwise unattested). On either view it is likely that the verse was not composed for this context but was a protective formula of broader use like the widely-attested ‘Victorious Heracles son of Zeus lives here. Let no evil enter!’.

Keywords

References

  1. C. Austin – G. Bastianini, Posidippi Pellaei quae Supersunt Omnia, Milan 2002.
  2. S. Brock, The Syriac Version of the Pseudo-Nonnos Mythological Scholia, Cambridge 1971.
  3. P. Chantraine, Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque, Paris 1968-1980.
  4. L. Cavalier, Horrea d’Andriake et Patara, REA 109, 2007, 51-65.
  5. V. Chankowski – X. Lafon – C. Virlouvet (eds.), Entrepôts et circuits de distribution en Méditerranee antique, Paris 2018.
  6. F. Ellendt, Lexicon Sophocleum (ed. 2, rev. H. Genthe), Berlin 1872.
  7. A. Ernout, Recueil de textes latins archaïques, Paris 1957.
  8. V. O. Hanson, The Other Greeks: the Family Farm and the Agrarian Roots of Western Civilization, New York 1995.

Details

Primary Language

English

Subjects

-

Journal Section

Research Article

Authors

Robert Parker This is me
United Kingdom

Publication Date

November 15, 2018

Submission Date

July 3, 2018

Acceptance Date

October 17, 2018

Published in Issue

Year 2018 Volume: 16

APA
Parker, R. (2018). Crops and Envy in Cilicia. Gephyra, 16, 167-172. https://doi.org/10.37095/gephyra.480066
AMA
1.Parker R. Crops and Envy in Cilicia. GEPHYRA. 2018;16:167-172. doi:10.37095/gephyra.480066
Chicago
Parker, Robert. 2018. “Crops and Envy in Cilicia”. Gephyra 16 (November): 167-72. https://doi.org/10.37095/gephyra.480066.
EndNote
Parker R (November 1, 2018) Crops and Envy in Cilicia. Gephyra 16 167–172.
IEEE
[1]R. Parker, “Crops and Envy in Cilicia”, GEPHYRA, vol. 16, pp. 167–172, Nov. 2018, doi: 10.37095/gephyra.480066.
ISNAD
Parker, Robert. “Crops and Envy in Cilicia”. Gephyra 16 (November 1, 2018): 167-172. https://doi.org/10.37095/gephyra.480066.
JAMA
1.Parker R. Crops and Envy in Cilicia. GEPHYRA. 2018;16:167–172.
MLA
Parker, Robert. “Crops and Envy in Cilicia”. Gephyra, vol. 16, Nov. 2018, pp. 167-72, doi:10.37095/gephyra.480066.
Vancouver
1.Robert Parker. Crops and Envy in Cilicia. GEPHYRA. 2018 Nov. 1;16:167-72. doi:10.37095/gephyra.480066