La divinidad micénica i-pe-me-de-ja /Ipe-mēdeia-/ ‘la que frustra los planes’, hom. ἴψαο λαóν ‘afligiste a la hueste’, y la fórmula μάχης ἐπὶ μήδεα κείρει ‘trunca los planes de lucha

digital

Articolo

Rivista

Fascicolo

AEVUM ANTIQUUM - 2023 - 23. Callimaco a Roma dalla Repubblica ad Augusto. Simbologia, paesaggio, cultura

Titolo

La divinidad micénica i-pe-me-de-ja /Ipe-mēdeia-/ ‘la que frustra los planes’, hom. ἴψαο λαóν ‘afligiste a la hueste’, y la fórmula μάχης ἐπὶ μήδεα κείρει ‘trunca los planes de lucha

The Mycenaean divinity i-pe-me-de-ja /Ipe-mēdeia-/ ‘she who frustrates plans’ (rather than ‘she who troubles the mind’), Hom. ἴψαο λαóν ‘you afflicted the army’, and the formula μάχης ἐπὶ μήδεα κείρει ‘truncates the plans of battle’

Autore

José Luís García Ramón

Editore

Vita e Pensiero

Formato

Articolo |

Pdf

Pagine

Online da

12-2023

Doi

10.26350/020747_000116

Issn

1121-8932 (stampa) | 1827-7861 (digitale)

€ 6,00

Ebook in formato Pdf leggibile su questi device:

Computer
con Software:
- Adobe PDF Reader
Android
iPhone/Ipad
con App:
- Adobe PDF Reader
E-Book Reader
Ibs Tolino
Kobo

Descrizione

The name of i-pe-me-de-ja, a female divinity of minor rank in the tablet PY Tn 316, defies interpretation: -me-de-ja may conceal /°mēdeia-/ (cfr. μήδεα ‘plans’) or /°medeia-/ (: °μέδεια), but i-pe- remains obscure. An identification of i-pe-me-de-ja with Ἰφιμέδεια (Od. XI 305 +) is untenable: i-pe- cannot match Ἰφι° /wīphi°/. Starting from A. Heubeck’s interpretation of i-pe° as /ip-e°/ (cfr. aor. ἰψα- ‘to press hard, afflict’: Hom. ἴψαο λαòν Ἀχαιῶν Il. I 454, ἴψεται υἷας Ἀχαιῶν, II 193 with gods as the agents), and on the strength of the evidence for the synonyms of ἰψα-, ἰψο/ε- (namely βλάπτο/ε-, φθείρο/ε-, θέλγο/ε-, τύπτο/ε-) and μήδεα in Homer and in the Ancient reflection on the Homeric passages where they occur, the present paper makes the case for an interpretation of i-pe-me-de-ja /Ipe-mēdeia-/ as ‘she who truncates plans (sc. of battle)’ (cfr. the formula /μάχης ἐπὶ μήδεα κείρει # ‘cuts across our plans of battle’ Hom.) or, less probably, as ‘she who troubles, beats the mind’ (cf. βλάψε φρένας Hom.+, παρακόπτει φρένας Eur. + et sim.), whence ‘she who makes mad’ (as divinized Ἄτη ‘bewilderment’ or Λύσσσα ‘madness’ do). Both possible interpretations apply to i-pe-me-de-ja /Ipe-mēdeia-/ as the speaking name of a divinity who brings to nothing the plans of others and / or causes madness, two characteristics which are actually shared by Athena and by Hera. This does not mean, however, that i-pe-me-de-ja was a Mycenaean forerunner of Athena and Hera or that she was absorbed by one of them in post-Mycenaean times. There is no recognizable continuity between Myc. i-pe-me-de-ja and the Ἰφιμέδεια wife of Aloeus (Hom.) or the Ἰφιμέδη daughter of Agamemnon (Hsd.).