< Back to previous page

Project

The Fragments of the Grammarian Pius. Edition, Translation and Commentary

The aim of the thesis is to realize a critical edition, with a translation and a commentary, of the testimonies and the fragments attributed (or attributable) to the Greek grammarian Pius. Seventeen fragments from Pius’ work have come down to us, thanks to indirect tradition (scholia, Eustathius’ Commentaries and Byzantine etymological lexica). From the vast majority of the fragments it can be deduced that Pius dealt with both the Homeric poems; furthermore, two fragments are related to Sophocles’ Ajax. These fragments preserve observations of textual criticism, word explanations, grammatical and lexicographical remarks, content-related questions. Nowadays, Pius’ identity is still faded: many aspects, that until now have not been successfully explored, need to be deepened. First of all, the dating of his lifetime is still open to question. Secondly, Pius’ name has been recently connected with the authorship issue of the commentaries used as sources for the constitution of exegetical scholia to the Iliad. Therefore, it may be useful to reappraise the various hypotheses that have been advanced so far about Pius’ identity, work and cultural belonging. The only edition in which Pius’ fragments are collected is that by E. Hiller dating back to 1869, which has not yet been supplanted. However, Christodoulou (1977) added a new testimony to the material considered by Hiller and modern editions of the sources with surviving fragments have been published and others are still forthcoming. Hence the usefulness of a new and modern critical edition of these fragments. One intention of the commentary is to shed light on Pius’ historical and cultural background, in order to analyze his role in the field of ancient Homeric (and Sophoclean) scholarship to contextualise it and to assess it in comparison with that of his contemporaries and predecessors. It is thus to be expected that a careful study of this author will not only elucidate an almost forgotten aspect of Homeric scholarship but also contribute significantly to our knowledge of Greek scholarly communities and Greek intellectual history. It is also to be hoped that it will make a contribution to the ongoing discussion among Classicists and Ancient Historians about the various forms of grammatical and antiquarian literature.

Date:5 Feb 2019 →  6 Jul 2021
Keywords:Fragments, Homeric scholarship, Pius (grammarian), scholia
Disciplines:Ancient history
Project type:PhD project