eul_wid: guo-aa
DOI 10.5281/zenodo.20335421 PDFMarkdown

Boeotian Histories and Legends by Aristophanes of Boeotia

The Boeotian Histories and Legends by Aristophanes of Boeotia is a fragmentary Hellenistic work of local history and mythography. Its eight surviving fragments, preserved in later authors such as Strabo and Harpocration, compile the region’s traditions, myths, and historical accounts. The fragments address characteristic topics of local historiography, including Boeotian heroic mythology with figures like Orion, foundation stories for cities such as Chaeronea, and descriptions of local cults, topographical features, and antiquities, notably the cult of the Cabiri at Thebes. The work survives only indirectly through these quotations and is collected in modern fragment collections with no independent manuscript tradition. As a source for later compilers, the fragments provide valuable evidence for Boeotian regional identity and the preservation of local traditions, making them crucial for the modern study of Hellenistic local historiography and the interplay of myth and history.

ΟΡΟΙ ΘΗΒΑΙΩΝ.

Στέφανος ὁ Βυζάντιος Ἀντικονδυλεῖς, οἱ ἐν Βοιωτίᾳ Κολοίφρυγες, ὡς Ἀριστοφάνης ὁ τοὺς Θηβαίους ὅρους γεγραφώς.

ΒΟΙΩΤΙΚΑ.

Στέφανος ὁ Βυζάντιος Χαιρώνεια πόλις πρὸς τοῖς ὅροις Φωκίδος ... Ἀριστοφάνης ἐν Βοιωτικῶν δευτέρῳ· «Λέγεται δʼ οἰκιστὴν γενέσθαι τοῦ πολίσματος Χαίρωνα. Τοῦτον δὲ μυθολογοῦσιν Ἀπόλλωνος καὶ Θηροῦς, ὡς Ἑλλάνικος ἐν δευτέρῳ Ἱερέων Ἥρας. … Ἀθηναῖοι καὶ οἱ μετʼ αὐτῶν ἐπὶ τοὺς Ὀρχομενίζοντας τῶν Βοιωτῶν ἐπερχόμενοι Χαιρώνειαν πόλιν Ὀρχομενίων εἷλον.»

Ἀριστοφάνης ἐν τῇ βʹ βίβλῳ λέγει· «Ἀμφιτρύων γενναιότερον αὐτοῦ παῖδα γεννᾷ, ὅτε ἐπηυξήθη.»

Πλούταρχος Ἀριστοφάνους δὲ τοῦ Βοιωτοῦ γράψαντος, ὅτι χρήματα μὲν αἰτήσας οὐκ ἔλαβε παρὰ Θηβαίων, ἐπιχειρῶν δὲ τοῖς νέοις διαλέγεσθαι καὶ συσχολάζειν, ὑπὸ τῶν ἀρχόντων ἐκωλύθη διʼ ἀγροικίαν αὐτῶν καὶ μισολογίαν, ἄλλο μὲν οὐδέν ἐστι τεκμήριον· ὁ δὲ Ἡρόδοτος τῷ Ἀριστοφάνει μεμαρτύρηκε, διʼ ὧν τὰ μὲν ψευδῶς, τὰ δὲ διὰ … τὰ δὲ ὡς μισῶν καὶ διαφερόμενος τοῖς Θηβαίοις ἐγκέκληκε.

Οὔτε Λεοντιάδης ἐν Θερμοπύλαις ἦν στρατηγὸς, ἀλλʼ Ἀνάξανδρος, ὡς Ἀριστοφάνης ἐκ τῶν κατὰ ἄρχοντας ὑπομνημάτων ἱστόρησε, καὶ Νίκανδρος ὁ Κολοφώνιος· οὔτε γιγνώσκει τις ἀνθρώπων πρὸ Ἡροδότου στιχθέντας ὑπὸ Ξέρξου Θηβαίους.

Ἀριστοφάνους Σχόλια Δοκεῖ δὲ ἡ τυραννὶς τῶν Πεισιστρατιδῶν καταστῆναι, ὥς φησιν Ἐρατοσθένης, ἐπὶ ἔτη νʹ, τοῦ ἀκριβοῦς διαμαρτάνων, Ἀριστοφάνους μὲν τεσσαράκοντα καὶ ἓν φήσαντος, Ἡροδότου δὲ ἓξ καὶ τριάκοντα.