Warsaw Studies in Classical Literature and Culture 4 4 Warsaw Studies in Classical Literature and Culture 4 a k s w e z s o Julia Doroszewska r o D The Monstrous World a i l u Revenants, oracular heads, hermaphrodites, sex-changers, human-animal children, J Julia Doroszewska multiple pregnancies, births, body features … This is just a sample of subjects that Phlegon of Tralles explored in the 2nd century AD in his Mirabilia. This study identifies d the common motifs of Phlegon’s text and determines his criterion of selection: using the rl The Monstrous World cultural category of monster, it argues that Phlegon exclusively collected stories of either o W hybrid creatures or human “record-breakers“ with respect to scale, size and multiplicity of their corporeal features. In this light, the Mirabilia appear to be a book on monsters and s u Corporeal Discourses in Phlegon the monstrous that corresponds with a general fondness for marvels and oddities during o the Roman imperial period. r t of Tralles’ Mirabilia s n o The Author M Julia Doroszewska is Assistant Professor of Classical Philology at the University of Silesia, e Poland. Her field of interest is the literature of the Roman Empire and more particularly the h writings of Phlegon of Tralles. T ISBN 978-3-631-65626-6 www.peterlang.com WSCL 04_265626_Doroszewska_AM_A5HC PLA.indd 1 26.07.16 KW 30 11:05 Warsaw Studies in Classical Literature and Culture 4 4 Warsaw Studies in Classical Literature and Culture 4 a k s w e z s o Julia Doroszewska r o D The Monstrous World a i l u Revenants, oracular heads, hermaphrodites, sex-changers, human-animal children, J Julia Doroszewska multiple pregnancies, births, body features … This is just a sample of subjects that Phlegon of Tralles explored in the 2nd century AD in his Mirabilia. This study identifies d the common motifs of Phlegon’s text and determines his criterion of selection: using the rl The Monstrous World cultural category of monster, it argues that Phlegon exclusively collected stories of either o W hybrid creatures or human “record-breakers“ with respect to scale, size and multiplicity of their corporeal features. In this light, the Mirabilia appear to be a book on monsters and s u Corporeal Discourses in Phlegon the monstrous that corresponds with a general fondness for marvels and oddities during o the Roman imperial period. r t of Tralles’ Mirabilia s n o The Author M Julia Doroszewska is Assistant Professor of Classical Philology at the University of Silesia, e Poland. Her field of interest is the literature of the Roman Empire and more particularly the h writings of Phlegon of Tralles. T www.peterlang.com WSCL 04_265626_Doroszewska_AM_A5HC PLA.indd 1 26.07.16 KW 30 11:05 The Monstrous World Warsaw Studies in Classical Literature and Culture Edited by Mikołaj Szymański and Mariusz Zagórski Volume 4 Julia Doroszewska The Monstrous World Corporeal Discourses in Phlegon of Tralles’ Mirabilia Bibliographic Information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data is available in the internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Doroszewska, Julia, 1981- The monstrous world : corporeal discourses in Phlegon of Tralles' Mirabilia / Julia Doroszewska. pages cm. – (Warsaw studies in classical literature and culture ; Volume 4) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-3-631-65626-6 (alk. paper) – ISBN 978-3-653-04870-4 (e-Book) 1. Phlegon, of Tralles. Book of marvels. 2. Curiosities and wonders–Early works to 1900. 3. Monsters–Folklore. I. Title. PA4273.P3B6634 2015 398.20938–dc23 2015017509 This publication was financially supported by the Institute of Classical Studies of the University of Warsaw. ISSN 2196-9779 ISBN 978-3-631-65626-6 (Print) E-ISBN 978-3-653-04870-4 (E-PDF) E-ISBN 978-3-631-69579-1 (EPUB) E-ISBN 978-3-631-69580-7 (MOBI) DOI 10.3726/978-3-653-04870-4 © Peter Lang GmbH Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften Frankfurt am Main 2016 All rights reserved. PL Academic Research is an Imprint of Peter Lang GmbH. Peter Lang – Frankfurt am Main ∙ Bern ∙ Bruxelles ∙ New York ∙ Oxford ∙ Warszawa ∙ Wien All parts of this publication are protected by copyright. Any utilisation outside the strict limits of the copyright law, without the permission of the publisher, is forbidden and liable to prosecution. This applies in particular to reproductions, translations, microfilming, and storage and processing in electronic retrieval systems. This publication has been peer reviewed. www.peterlang.com Table of Contents Acknowledgments..................................................................................................7 I. Introduction .....................................................................................................9 I.1 Aims .............................................................................................................10 I.2 Method. Monster as the Key and the Key to the Monster ....................12 I.3 The Author and the Work. A Few Facts and Even Fewer Pieces of Gossip .....................................................................15 I.4 Survey of scholarly literature ....................................................................20 II. Phlegon’s Monstrous World .....................................................................23 II.1 Monsters ......................................................................................................23 II.1.1 Neither Dead Nor Alive ...................................................................24 II.1.1.1 Revenants or Walking Corpses ........................................24 Philinnion: The Story of a Proto-Vampire .....................................30 Speaking in Riddles: The Plot of the Story .....................................31 “Farewell!” The Epistolary Form of the Narrative .........................33 Peeking through the Keyhole: Philinnion from the Folktale .......35 “Neither properly dead, nor properly alive”. Why do the dead return? .................................................................41 Was Philinnion a Demon? ...............................................................48 Monstrous Identity, Monstrous Desires .........................................56 The Revenant Anthropophagous vs. the Oracular Head: The Story of Polycritus .....................................................................57 When Locrian Women Gave Birth to Monsters ...........................59 “Unharmed by the Stones” ...............................................................62 Revenant, Red Wolf and More Oracles: Buplagus and His Story .....67 Not Haunting, Just Warning.............................................................71 Monstrous Corpses ...........................................................................73 II.1.1.2 The Oracular Head ............................................................74 Among Monstrous Divine Mouthpieces: Conclusions ................78 5 II.1.2 Neither a Woman nor a Man ...........................................................79 II.1.2.1 Hermaphrodites. The God vs. the Monsters ...................81 The Monster. The Child of Polycritus and Others ........................81 The God ..............................................................................................92 II.1.2.2 Sex-changers .......................................................................93 Women who became Monsters. Conclusions ............................110 II.1.2.3 The World Reversed: Births from Males .......................111 II.1.3 Neither Human Nor Animal .........................................................115 II.1.3.1 Monstrous Births .............................................................115 II.1.3.3 Hippocentaurs: Humanoids? ..........................................122 II.2 The Monstrous ........................................................................................128 Monstrously Old, Monstrously Big: Giant Bones ...................................129 Two Heads, Four Heads: Monstrous Redundancy .................................138 Monstrous Multiples ..................................................................................140 Monstrously Productive Couples .............................................................142 Juvenile Mothers and Young Old Men: Monstrously Fast Maturation ....144 Monstrous Longevity: Phlegon’s Macrobii ..............................................146 Phlegon’s Monstrous World. Conclusions ...............................................146 III. Phlegon and the Monsters in Context .............................................155 The Emperor as a Patron of Monsters ...........................................................156 Monsters for Sale, Monsters on Display: Deformed Slaves ........................162 Monstrous Literature: Paradoxographers and Others .................................167 Conclusions ......................................................................................................170 IV. Bibliography ................................................................................................173 Abbreviations ....................................................................................................173 Books and Articles ...........................................................................................173 Editions of Phlegon’s Mirabilia .......................................................................186 Translations without the Greek Text .............................................................187 Editions of ancient authors .............................................................................187 6 Acknowledgments I am especially indebted to and thank Professor William Hansen, whose fas- cinating book on the Mirabilia was my source of inspiration and guide in my adventure with Phlegon of Tralles, and whose support and aid I enjoyed dur- ing my research stay at Indiana University of Bloomington. I am also happy to express my gratitude to Professor Gościwit Malinowski for all of his critical remarks which contributed to improving this book. Last but not least, I would like to thank my husband Filip for his love and understanding during the best and worst moments of my work. 7