Hecataeus of Abdera: Hyperboreans, Egypt, and the "Interpretatio Graeca" Author(s): John Dillery Source: Historia: Zeitschrift fr Alte

Geschichte, Bd. 47, H. 3 (3rd Qtr., 1998), pp. 255-275 Published by: Franz Steiner Verlag Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4436508 . Accessed: 03/09/2011 11:34
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HECATAEUS OF ABDERA: HYPERBOREANS, EGYPT,

AND THE INTERPRETATIO GRAECA

In examiningthe work of a historianwhose subject is the history of a culturenot his own, questionsinevitablyariseconcerning the limitationsinherent to his enterprise.How, for instance,can a Greekwriterof the Hellenistic information withoutintentionperiodacquireandtransmit genuinenon-Greek it in to 'erase' ally or unintentionally such a way as or irretrievably shaping deformit? Most scholarsseem to employa modelof interaction betweenGreek andnon-Greek thatis essentiallyunidirectional: the Hellenistichistoalthough rianoften managesto transmit a not insignificant amountof 'local/barbarian' knowledgeto his putativeGreekaudience,the manner of presentation andthe framework of interpretation is necessarilyGreek,rendering the entireproduction fundamentally Greek in outlook. In the following paperI would like to complicate this view by looking at the work of one such Greek historian/ ethnographer, Hecataeus of Abdera. I will focus in particular on Hecataeusas a writerof utopias.At first glance I thinkit is fair to say that with utopiaswe encounter an articulation of idealsandhopesthatis specific to the culturefrom whichthe author comes;theremay well be borrowings fromotherculturesthat help with the fashioningof certainideas,butthe chief anddetermining concern is with the reconstruction or even neutralization of the world thatthe utopian 1 Hence,whenHecataeus writerinhabits. attempts the description of an emphatically Greekidealpolity,it wouldseema placewherewe wouldwantto ruleout the possibilitythata morethansuperficialnon-Greek orientation is presentin his work;andyet, I believe thatit is preciselyin this areawherea case can be made that Hecataeusrelied heavily on a non-Greekcultureto help with the mobilization of his utopianaims. Hecataeus(floruit end of 4th BC) is a figureof extraordinary importance for the study of Greek and non-Greekin the Hellenistic period. Testimonia considerhim a 'philosopher who was also calledin additiona criticalgrammarian' (Tptkoo(po; iai KpXtTto;ypaggaatic6q, FGrHist264 T 1).2 og e Knelckn
1 Cf. F. Jameson, 'Of Islandsand Trenches:Neutralization and the Productionof Utopian Discourse,' Diacritics 7.2 (1977) 2-21 = TheIdeologies of Theory:Essays 1971-1989 2 (Minneapolis 1988) 75-101, and S. Hutchinson,'MappingUtopias,' Modem Philology 85 (1987) 170-185. Cf. P. Parsons, 'Identitiesin Diversity,' in A. Bulloch, E. S. Gruen,A. A. Long, and A. Stewart(eds.), Imagesand Ideologies: Self-definitionin the HellenisticWorld(Berkeley, Los Angeles and London 1993) 156. Historia,Band XLVII/3(1998) ? FranzSteinerVerlag WiesbadenGmbH,Sitz Stuttgart

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Significantly, he came from Abdera, first founded as a colony of Clazomenae, and later resettled by Teos. A tradingcity in the north of Greece (Thrace), it had old and established ties both to Egypt and the Near East.3 In this connection it is useful to remember that Hecataeus' most important work was his history of Egypt, the Aegyptiaca.4 Abdera was also the home of Protagoras and Democritus; Hecataeus owes an obvious debt to the latter for his way of viewing the world.5 Democritus' views were in turnprobably shaped to an importantdegree by non-Greeks resident in Abdera.6Hecataeus made his way to Thebes in Egypt and was a member of the court of Ptolemy Soter, the first Greek dynast of Egypt, and evidently resided there for some time (F 25 = Diod. 1.46.8).7 Hecataeus is important to the study of the interaction between Greeks and 'others' because, with his History of Egypt, he is thought to have established the essential structure that later Hellenistic ethnographic histories were to follow. Thus, it is frequently argued that his division of his Aegyptiaca into (i) the 'prehistory' or cosmogony/theology of Egypt, (ii) its geography, (iii) famous

3 4

J.M.F. May, The Coinage of Abdera (London 1966) 2-4; A.J. Graham,'Abderaand Teos,' JHS 112 (1992) 44-73. Kingship,' The exact title is not known.0. Murray,'Hecataeusof Abderaand Pharaonic JEA56 (1970) 142 n. 5 speculatesOn the Egyptians (Peri Aegyption); it is most commonly referredto as Aegyptiaca.The work is normallydated to some time around300 BC; see M. Sternand 0. Murray,'Hecataeus note thatMurray'searly datingis controversial: of Abdera and Theophrastuson Jews and Egyptians,' JEA 59 (1973) 159-168. - A betweenDiodorus considerabledebatehas developedconcerningthe preciserelationship 1 and Hecataeus' Aegyptiaca. W. Spoerri, Spathellenistische Berichte uber Welt, Kultur und Gotter(Basel 1959) has arguedthatDiodorusdrewon a numberof sourcesfor Book view. In this he was followed 1, ratherthan primarilyHecataeus,againstthe traditional by, e.g., J.G. Griffiths,Plutarch's De Iside et Osiride(Cardiff 1970) 81, and A. Burton,
Diodorus Siculus Book l. A Commentary (Leiden 1972) 1-34. Their arguments have not,

however, won wide acceptance: see, e.g., F. Walbank, 'Monarchies and Monarchic Ideas,' CAH27.1 (1984) 77 n. 46, and D. Mendels, The Land of Israel as a Political Conceptin HasmoneanLiterature (Tubingen1987) 63 n. 17. In generalit seems reasonable to modifythe notionthatDiodorusfollows exclusively one sourcefor a given portion
of his history, but not to abandon it: cf. J. Dillery, Xenophon and the History of His Times

6 7

(London and New York 1995) 129 and nn. 18-20. For a useful parallel, consider the of His History(Princemethodof Livy as describedby T.J. Luce, Livy.TheComposition ton 1977) esp. 139-184. See esp. T. Cole, Democritus and the Sources of Greek Anthropology2 (Atlanta1990) 11, 'Hekataiosvon AbderaundDemokrit,' 159-60, following the suggestionof K. Reinhardt, der Antike(Gottingen 1966) 114-132. See Hermes 47 (1912) 492-5 13 = Vermachtnis in Diodorus,'AJP67 (1946) 51-9 = Studiesin Greek also G. Vlastos, 'On the Pre-History Philosophyvol. 1 (Princeton1995) 351-358. in Thrace VS 10;see B. Isaac,TheGreekSettlements Diogenes Laertius9.34, Philostratus until the MacedonianConquest(Leiden 1986) 90 n. 97. See in general P. Fraser,PtolemaicAlexandria(Oxford 1972) I 496 and II 719 n. 7. Cf. also Murray,'Hecataeus' 1970 (see n. 4) 142-144.

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rulers, and (iv) nomima or local customs became paradigmatic for later writers

such as Megasthenes, BerossusandManetho.8 while clearly indebted Further, to earlierGreektreatments of Egypt,especiallyHerodotus (Book 2), Hecataeus is often creditedwith combininggenuinelocal knowledge,specificallyinformationderivedfromEgyptian priests(cf. Diod. 1.46.8),with a Greektheoretical framework involvingnotionssuch as ideal kingship,especiallythe 'benevolent' and 'fair' king (pacjzXE'; 6epye'Trnt, eltic;), and self-sufficiency

(aura'piKcta).9 Another relatedachievement of Hecataeus in the areaof Hellenistic inter-cultural contact is the probability that he was the very first Greek authorto write extensivelyaboutthe Jews;'0again,as with Egypt,Greekand 'other'are thoughtto be brought togetherin Hecataeus'account.1rl But despitethe acknowledgment thatHecataeus'workon Egypt,as well as that on the Jews, containselementsof genuinenon-Greekinformation, most
8 See, e.g., Murray,'Hecataeus' 1970 (see n. 4) 167, id. 'Herodotusand Hellenistic Culture,' CQ 22 (1972) 207, A. Momigliano,Alien Wisdom.The Limits of Hellenization (Cambridge1975) 92, J. Hornblower, Hieronymus of Cardia(Oxford 1981) 138 and 152, and A. Kuhrt,'Berossus' Babyloniakaand Seleucid Rule in Babylonia,' in A. Kuhrtand S. Sherwin-White (eds.), Hellenismin the East (London 1987) 55-56. 9 E. Schwartz, 'Hekataeos von Teos,' RhM 40 (1885) 225-227, W. Otto, Priester und Tempelim hellenistischenAgypten2 (Leipzig and Berlin 1905-1908) 227 and n. 1, F. Jacoby, 'Hekataios' no. 4, RE 7.2 (1912) 2754 and 2760-2761, id., Die Fragmenteder griechischen Historiker.Kommentar 3a (Leiden 1923-1958) 84-85, C.B. Welles, 'The PtolemaicAdministration in Egypt,' JJP 3 (1949) 44, 0. Murray, rev. of H. Strasburger, Die Wesenbestimmung der Geschichtedurchdie antike Geschichtsschreibung (Frankfurt 1966), CR 18 (1968) 220, id., 'Hecataeus'1970 (see n. 4) 151, Hornblower, Hieronymus (see n. 8) 55 and n. 118, and S.M. Burstein,'Hecataeusof Abdera'sHistoryof Egypt,' in J.H. Johnson(ed.), Life in a Multi-Cultural Society:EgyptfromCambysesto Constantine and Beyond (Chicago 1992) 46. 10 See, e.g., H. Lewy, 'Hekataiosvon Abdera i?piVIou6aicov,' ZNTW31 (1932) 117-118, W. Jaeger, 'Greeks and the Jews: the First Greek Records of Jewish Religion and Civilization,' JR 18 (1938) 127-143, E. Bickerman, From Ezra to the Last of the Maccabees (New York 1962) 47, J.G. Gager,Moses in Greco-Roman Paganism (Nashville and New York 1972) 26, M. Stern,Greekand LatinAuthorson Jews and Judaism 1 (Jerusalem 1974) 20-24, and M. Goodman in E. Schurer, The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ(175 BC-AD 135) 3.1 (Edinburgh1986) 671. Of the fragmentsin FGrHist 264 dealing with the Jews, only F 6 = Diod. 40.3, on the Jewish politeia, is securely attributedto Hecataeus- resting on a likely emendationat Diod. 40.3.8 of 1cepi p?v Trv'Ioxzaiov EcaxcCtoq 6 MtkXjctoq raira iaxopn1Cev to 6 AP8npiM;; 'On the Jews' (FF 21-23) and 'On Abraham'(F 24) are thoughtto be more problematic, the formerperhapsbeing genuine but later revised by a Jew, and the latteras certainly spurious:see Goodman,History of the Jewish People 672-675 and B. Schaller, 'Hekataios von Abderauberdie Juden,'ZNTW 54 (1963) 15-31. See now the comprehensive treatment of B. Bar-Kochva,Pseudo-Hecataeus'On the Jews' (Berkeley 1996). 11 For a summaryof the variouspositions regardingHecataeusas a combinationof Greek and Jewish notions, see D. Mendels, 'Hecataeusof Abderaand a Jewishpatrios politeia of the PersianPeriod(DiodorusSiculus XL, 3),' ZATW 95 (1983) 97-98.

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would maintain that in the last analysis his work is profoundly Greek in outlook. While many are willing to see a significant non-Greek component, the interpretive framework of Hecataeus' work - that is to say the feature of it that betrays its most comprehensive orientation - is thought to be Greek. Indeed, it is often suggested that Hecataeus maps a Greek utopia on to his Egyptian and Jewish material; Murray sums up the position well in just a few words, '[t]he phenomenon may be partly Egyptian; the reason for it is that of a Greek philosopher' (my emphasis).12This view forms the cornerstone of what is often called the interpretatio Graeca - the 'Greek interpretation', or the fashioning, and often deformation through explanation, of a 'foreign fact' in order for it to make sense to a Greek audience. The thinking that lies behind this view shares intriguing points of contact with the difficulties modern anthropologists encounter in their own ethnographic writing. As James Clifford has recently noted, '[elthnographic texts are inescapably allegorical,' primarily because a 'common ground' between 'observer' and 'observed' has to exist for ethnographers to bring what must be their own meanings to the 'strange' items they are reporting from the 'other' culture - hence the inevitability of the allegorical perspective, or what may also be called deformation, since the 'observed' must be given new (that is, non-native) meanings for the 'observer' to understandit. 13 Acting as an adjunct to the view that Hecataeus' work could not but be fundamentally Greek in outlook is the further suggestion that he was a 'court historian,' a writer who produced a 'command performance' - a work intended for the Greek ruler of a barbarianland.'4 It is felt that while authentic 'local' knowledge could be (and very likely was) transmittedby Hecataeus to Ptolemy, the charge to provide his Greek master with sensible and useful information about a local non-Greek people precluded a meaningful non-Greek orientation to his enterprise. A work designed to provide a Greek ruler with information about his non-Greek subjects would, one suspects, be aimed ultimately at the extension and maintenance of that ruler's authority, as well as at the documentation of potential for material exploitation; and such a work would almost have to be 'orientalist' in its perspective, constructing the new subject people and their culture in terms thatjustified Greek rule.15This orientalist tendency would

12 Murray,'Hecataeus' 1970 (see n. 4) 152; see also 158-159. 13 J. Clifford, 'On Ethnographic Allegory,' in J. Cliffordand G.E. Marcus(eds.), Writing (Berkeley, Los Angeles and London Culture.The Poetics and Politics of Ethnography 1986) 99-101. (see 14 The description'command performance' is fromWelles, 'PtolemaicAdministration' n. 9) 44; the concept of the 'commandperformance'is widespread:cf., e.g., Kuhrton Berossus, 'Berossus' Babyloniaka' (see n. 8) 55, and more generally, S. Hornblower, (Oxford 1994) 42. 'Introduction,' in S. Hornblower (ed.), GreekHistoriography performance' mightbe the 'ColdWararea15 A modernanalogto the Hellenistic 'command (New York 1978) 296. studies approach'thatE. Said discusses in Orientalism

Hecataeusof Abdera:Hyperboreans, Graeca Egypt, and the Interpretatio

259

presumably be especially felt in Hecataeus as opposed to the other ethnographers that are thought to have followed his lead. In the case of Berossus and Manetho, they were non-Greeks both writing for a Greek audience and yet also acting as advocates for their own native cultures.16In the case of Megasthenes and his description of Chandragupta'sIndia, he was Greek to be sure, but his purpose was evidently to discourage, not encourage, the subjugation of a nonGreek people.'7 Yet to assume that a Greek 'court historian' would necessarily be prevented from presenting meaningful and genuine non-Greek material relating to the lives and history of a non-Greek people ought not to be taken as axiomatic. Recent studies have shown in relation to both the Egyptians and Jews that the acquisition and reporting of more than superficial or badly understood realities regarding non-Greeks was possible. For the Jews the case has been made that the ideal patrios politeia which Hecataeus reports may have points of significant contact with near-contemporaryJewish ideas at the end of the 4th century BC.18 On the Egyptian side, importantadvances have been made in connection with understanding the dynamics of Ptolemaic rule. While the new kings of Egypt governed their land as one that had been 'won by the spear' (5opicthto;), and accordingly enlisted Greek notions of kingship to help them articulate and justify their sovereignty, they also had to make themselves understood to their new subjects as pharaoh. A document such as the famous Rosetta Stone shows precisely how an interpretation that maintains that there was only a superficial interplay between Egyptian and Greek is both simplistic and woefully inadequate: both worlds, and the codes of meaning they observed, had to find expression. Greek and Egyptian cultures remained distinct, but each tradition had to communicate with the other, making the 'erasure' of the Egyptian an impossibility. 19

16 For Berossus in this connection,see esp. Kuhrt,'Berossus' Babyloniaka'(see n. 8) 5456; for Manetho,D. Mendels, 'The PolemicalCharacter of Manetho'sAegyptiaca.'in H. Verdin, G. Schepens, and E. de Keyser (eds.), Purposes of History. Studies in Greek Historiography from the 4th to the 2nd CenturiesBC, Studia Hellenistica 30 (Leuven 1990) 91-110. I should note that neither scholar holds the view that Berossus and Manethowere strictlyopposition-writers. 17 S. Sherwin-Whiteand A. Kuhrt,From Samarkhand to Sardis. A New Approachto the SeleucidEmpire(BerkeleyandLos Angeles 1993) 93-97, esp. 97: '[Megasthenes'lwork should be readas a legitimizationof Seleucus' non-conquest'(my stress);cf. Hornblower, 'Introduction' (see n. 14) 42. 18 See Mendels, 'Hecataeusof Abderaand a Jewishpatrios politeia' (see n. II) 96-1 10. 19 See esp. L. Koenen, 'The Ptolemaic King as a Religious Figure,' in A. Bultoch, E.S. Gruen,A.A. Long, and A. Stewart(eds.), Images and Ideologies: Self-definitionin the Hellenistic World(see n. 2) 25-115, esp. 29; for the discussion of the RosettaStone and the Ptolemaiclanguageof authority in particular, see 46-66. Cf. L. Koenen, 'Die Adaptation agyptischerKonigsideologieam Ptolemaerhof,' in E. Van't Dack, P. Van Dessel, and

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What I will argue is that, similarly, there are details in Hecataeus' work that can be regarded as very Greek in character, and at the same time, Egyptian: for example, the amnesty granted by the legendary king Sesoosis from the Aegyptiaca (F 25 = Diod. 1.54.2) looks like it derives from Hellenistic notions of benevolent kingship, but it may in fact also reflect pharaonic kingship ritual.20 In such a case, ratherthan decide which culture influenced Hecataeus more (a difficult and ultimately futile procedure), we should assume that he recognized the convergence of ideas himself; and that, furthermore,he intended his history of Egypt to be sensible from both a Greek and Egyptian perspective. Instead of an 'erasure' of culture, we have coexistence of cultures. And ratherthan limit this understandingto the Aegyptiaca, it seems reasonable to extend it to the On the Hyperboreans, where elements are found that can be interpreted as both Greek and Egyptian. Although such a text is probably targeted primarily at Greek readers, Egyptian ideas also play a part in the shaping of Hecataeus' vision to such a degree that interpretatio Graeca is no longer a useful term. At a fundamental level, even a representationof 'the ideal way of life' such as one gets in an utopia can at the same time be both Greek and Egyptian.21 Hecataeus and the HyperboreansI: Some Generalities In keeping with this new and more balanced approachto the study of Greek and non-Greek interaction, I would like to turn to Hecataeus and utopian writing - an area that one might at first think to be a quintessential Greek enterprise. Utopian elements in Hecataeus' work on Egypt have long been recognized.22 He also wrote a separate treatise on an ideal and completely fictitious polity, the land of the Hyperboreans,surviving to us only in fragments (FF 7-14). Hence, a link in orientation between the two works has sometimes been felt.23 What has not been sufficiently appreciated, however, is the degree
W. Van Gucht (eds.), Egypt and the Hellenistic World,StudiaHellenistica 27 (Leuven 1983) 155 n. 36.
20 L. Koenen, Eine ptolemaische Konigsurkunde (P. Kroll), Klassisch-philologische Stu-

dien 19 (Wiesbaden1957) 20. und Standewesenin Agypten,' Sitz.-Ber. 21 Cf. E. Meyer, 'Gottesstaat,Militarherrschaft im und Staatsrecht 'Staatstheorie H. 1, and Braunert, 529-53 1928) (Berlin Preu,J. Akad.
Hellenismus,' in Politik, Recht und Gesellschaft in der griechisch-romischen Antike

(Stuttgart1980) 165-90, esp. 178ff. Both arguethatthe role of the priests in the running of ideal governof pharaonicEgypt profoundlyinfluenced Hecataeus' understanding 'erased' Greek that thought to mean Egyptian be taken not should course, ment. This, of in Hecataeus'thinking. (see n. 9) 38-44, Murray,'Hecataeus'1970 22 So, e.g., Welles, 'PtolemaicAdministration'
(see n. 4) 158.

23 Thus Schwartz,'Hekataeos'(see n. 9) 250, and Murray,'Hecataeus' 1970 (see n. 4) 148 and n. 3.

Graeca Egypt, and the Interpretatio Hecataeusof Abdera:Hyperboreans,

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to which Hecataeus' account of the land of the Hyperboreans differs from earlier Greek accounts, and that this difference may be explained by a reliance on Egyptian features and even modes of understandingin the description of this utopia. Before examining Hecataeus' utopia in detail, it is important to note a methodological point of some importance. In saying that there may be Egyptian elements in Hecataeus' Land of the Hyperboreans, and hence evidence of Egyptian influence on his thinking, it may seem I am claiming something unexceptional. After all, in creating fantasies about the Golden Age the Greeks had often placed their ideal communities not only in a remote time but also in remote places.24 However, a distinction must be made: it is one thing to idealize the life and society of Ethiopians or Scythians, Indians or Babylonians; it is quite another to do the same regarding a place that does not exist, an 'outright fiction.'25 The idealization of a foreign people may correspond, even if only at several removes, to features of historical reality; places like the Land of the Hyperboreansobviously do not. Hence the presence of non-Greek elements in a completely fictional Greek utopia is something that deserves our attention. But having stressed the completely fictive natureof Hecataeus' Land of the Hyperboreans, it is important also to note that he seems actually to have claimed that he visited the place, an island called Elixoa (F I la = Steph. Byz. s.v.). The scholiast to Apollonius of Rhodes 2.675 (F 10) adds the further testimony that whereas Herodotus denied the existence of the Hyperboreans altogether (cf. Hdt. 4.36),26 Hecataeus maintained that they had survived to his own day and that he also wrote a book about them called On the Hyperboreans. Additionally, the autoptic natureof much of his account, as well as the fact that he seems to provide a route to the island of the Hyperboreans(FF 8, 11, 13. 14: see below), have suggested to many that Hecataeus actually statedi that he travelled to the place.27 Indeed, providing a route to the Hyperboreans: was an innovation. Earlier writers specifically state that direct passage to their land was impossible (see, e.g., Pindar P.10.29-30).28

24

See, e.g., K. Trudinger, Studien zur Geschichte der griechisch-romischen Ethnographie

(Diss. Basel 1918) 133-146, andmorerecently,E. Hall, Inventingthe Barbarian(Oxford 1989) 149; cf. Dillery, Xenophon(see n. 4) 45.
25 Cf. C. Fornara, The Nature of History in Ancient Greece and Rome (Berkeley, Los

Angeles and London 1983) 177. 26 It is a matterof disputewhetherHerodotusin fact denies the existence of the Hyperboreans; see J. Romm, 'Herodotusand Mythic Geography:the Case of the Hyperboreans,' TAPA119 (1989) 97-113. 27 See, e.g., J.D.P. Bolton, Aristeasof Proconnesus(Oxford 1962) 24 and 73, and Fornara, TheNatureof History (see n. 25) 177. Cf. Murray,'Hecataeus' 1970 (see n. 4) 148 n. 3. 28 Note also PindarP. 10.48-50: Perseus'tripis a thaumathatproves divine assistance(48: 15ausa6at), and hence reaffirms the impossibility of travel to the Hyperboreansby

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In addition to causing modern readers of Hecataeus considerable embarrassment,29this first feature of interest regardingthe Hyperboreansshould alert us to a considerable interpretiveproblem. Did Hecataeus, as Lucian was later to do in his Verae Historiae, invite us to view his fabulous journey as in fact completely fictional, inasmuch as the claim was clearly preposterous?30Perhaps. But it may be that he was attempting to claim for his Land of the Hyperboreans a status similar to that of Egypt. In terms of manner of presentation, then, there may have been very little formal difference that distinguished the utopia of his Land of the Hyperboreans from his utopian Egypt. We need, however, to proceed with caution. That Hecataeus may have wanted to obscure the fact that his utopia was in fact imaginary ought not distract from the fact that the place was in fact completely fictional, and hence different from the ideal communities placed among real, known peoples at the edges of the earth. As with other writers, Hecataeus places the Land of the Hyperboreanson an island to the far north, 'beyond the north wind' (F 7 = Diod. 2.47.1) and the river Carambyx (F 11), across the Frozen Sea (F 14 = Pliny NH 4.94). Further, he is quite specific about its size and quality. Two fragments (FF 7 and 1la) report that the island of the Hyperboreansis not smaller than Sicily. And as one might expect of a utopia, the land is good, producing all manner of crops F (ia popov) twice a year, due in part to the mildness of its climate (eU'Kpaaitq 7 = Diod. 2.47.1). However, with this said, what Hecataeus does not say about the physical circumstances of the Land of the Hyperboreansis as interesting as what he does say. In the most detailed description we have that predates Hecataeus, Pindar P. 10, of the standard features of a Golden Age utopia we hear only that the Hyperboreans know no sickness, old age, toil or warfare (lines 41-42);31 there is no mention of the unusual fecundity of the land. This difference would not mean much by itself (one utopian detail can imply the presence of others) but for the interesting resonance between Hecataeus' report of Hyperborea and his description of Egypt.32It turns out that the Delta is also like Sicily (Diod. 1.34.1), and the land there brings forth every variety of plant; while it is true that nat4(popo;is a common word in Diodorus,33the fertility of the Delta is a detail that is repeated to such an extent that it is difficult to believe that the concept was not prominent in his source (the concept is found no less nav-o61t6nv, nagpopa, navthan four times at Diod. 1.34.2-4: navTobanou',
normalmeans;cf. E.L. Bundy,StudiaPindarica(Berkeleyand Los Angeles 1986) 3 and 14. At Hdt. 4.32-35 the journeyis made to seem so lengthy as to be impossible. in another 29 I plantto discuss whetherHecataeusclaimedto have visited the Hyperboreans paper. Mass. 1986) 52-53. 30 VH 1.2-3; cf. C.P. Jones, Cultureand Society in Lucian(Cambridge,
3 1 Cf. Pherenicus, S[upplementumJ H[ellenisticuml 67 1.

this is not ancientusage. for 'Landof the Hyperboreans;' 32 I use the term 'Hyperborea' 33 Cf. Diod. 3.45 and 4.35.

Hecataeusof Abdera:Hyperboreans, Egypt, and the InterpretatioGraeca

263

toa:ali).34 Of course it may well be that earlier descriptions of Hyperborea focus on the utopian bliss of its inhabitants rather than the extraordinary properties of the land. But this is itself a noteworthy point: with Hecataeus the utopian quality of the Hyperboreans is suggested by the quality of their land, not their own health and freedom from age and war. For Hecataeus, in two fundamental features - namely similarity to Sicily and quality of its soil (a detail absent from earlier accounts) - the Land of the Hyperboreans is like the Delta of Egypt. In one very important regard Hecataeus is in complete accord with earlier authors: the piety of the Hyperboreans. Again, Pindar is the most detailed of Hecataeus' predecessors: they are a 'sacred' race (irpa ye?ve4 P. 10.42) in whose continuous celebrationsthe god Apollo especially takes delight (P. 10.3435; cf. 0. 3.16).35 Their celebrations consist, according to Pindar, of choruses of maidens who dance to the sound of the lyre and aulos (P. 10.38-39), and a sacrifice of asses (ib.36) - evidently a detail of some interest to later writers.36 As for their civic space, the Hyperboreans are said to have houses (&gata P. 10.32) and a 'gathering place' (ayciiva ib.30, which I says = aipotya);37 Pindar also tells us that there is a temple to Apollo (Pae. 8.63), which later authors describe in somewhat greaterdetail: the Hyperboreans are said to dwell in close proximity to the temple (vi9x v5i' Pherenicus SH 671.2), which in turn is thought to have been oracular (e.g. [Boeo] CA 1), built out of beeswax, and sent from Delphi (Paus. 10.5.9). The hero Perseus is thought to have dined in the houses of the Hyperboreans (Pindar P. 10.31, cf. Simmias CA 1.2), although of course it is most commonly the god Apollo who is associated with them. Regarding this connection between the Hyperboreans and Apollo, Alcaeus is perhaps the most helpful: a much later writer, Himerius (4th AD), reports that Alcaeus composed a paean in which Zeus gives to Apollo a chariot driven by swans, with instructions that he go to Delphi and there give laws to men; Apollo goes to the Hyperboreans instead and lives with them for a year, giving them laws; he then goes to Delphi where he fulfills his charge. Importantly,Himerius
34 It shouldbe pointedout thatat F 21 = Josephusc. Ap. 1.195 Hecataeusdescribesthe land T of the Jews asriq pi6paj; Kat rap popcordrqg.The tendency to compare regions to Sicily could of course be due to Diodorus'ownlocal pride, and hence is not from Hecataeus' work.
35
6v rYneppopkov] fcAiatc;

4ure8ov I eupaRiai; re gXator' 'An6kkXv IXaipei (P. 10.34-

'YiepIop?cov... Ai6XXovo; 1Epa1OvTa (0.3.16). Forthe meaning 'constant35); S&jgov ly' or 'continuously'for 4ue5ov, see W. Slater,Lexiconto Pindar(Berlin 1969) s. v., and cf. the Y.to P. 10.34: iov Y1Yeppopkov ,tadXra 3qw6VEt6 dat; 5Upyriiat; Kcaiv-5oXiat; see T.to Xaipt 6 i5c6;. On the widespreadbelief in the sacrednessof the Hyperboreans, 0.3.28a: navraXoi) 68 oi'YnrepIp6peoi iEpoi AnoXXcovo;. 36 See Call. F 492, 186.10 [Pf.J and Simias, C[ollectaneal A[lexandrinal 2; cf. U. von Wilamowitz,Pindaros (Berlin 1922) 127 and n. 2. 37 Cf. Slater,Lexicon(see n. 35) s.v.

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was evidently troubled by the fact that Alcaeus had birds sing at some point in his poem; as he says, '[during the height of summer] nightingales sing for [Apollo] the sort of song which it is reasonable for birds to sing in Alcaeus, and both swallows and cicadas sing, not reporting their own fate which they have among men, but in all their songs celebrating their god.'38 Hecataeus' Land of the Hyperboreansoverlaps significantly with this earlier Greek tradition.39There are, however, major differences. Indeed, I believe that it is with these differences that we may see an Egyptian influence at work in Hecataeus, an influence stemming from his stay in Egypt.40 Euhemerus and Callimachus will be enlisted as a useful points of comparison. But before turning to Hecataeus' Land of the Hyperboreansand the possibility of Egyptian influence, it is useful to review some ideas associated with the Hyperboreans that might have encouraged such a connection. As Herodotus' famous attackon the existence of the Hyperboreanssuggests (4.36), they were thoughtto dwell in the furthestnorthernpartof the earth. Hence they were not infrequently connected to those who dwelt in the furthest south, the Ethiopians.41 Sometimes writers would connect the Hyperboreans less precisely with Egypt and 'points beyond' as well: so, in the Homeric Hymn to Dionysus, the captain believes that deity to be traveling either to Egypt, Cyprus or the land of the Hyperboreans (h.Bacch. 28-29); and Pindar, when stressing the extent to which his praise of the Aeginetans will go, states that it will extend beyond the springs of the Nile and through the Land of the Hyperboreans (1. 6.23). Related to the idea that they were the proverbial 'ends of the earth' is also the detail that in legend the hero Perseus visited both places; he was a hero associated with margins, both because of the circumstances of his childhood,42
t&; 38 Lobel-Page 307.1c: Qowsi 1iiv di86vc; aOri 6no3iovCiKo6; ciaai nap' 'AkKaiw T.TV%V MV CV ctvtEp6pvtt0a;, ado8out 8 cai XeXt56ve5; cait rETne(; O) qv taiYrOv xd giXq Kcata ft,o qpcyy6gicvat. For this translation nva 6Sroi; dtyyeXXoiaa aAAaXX&

39

40 41 42

cf. F. Dubner,HimeriSophistaeDeclamationes(Paris 1878) 73. - For the Hyperboreans (Princeton1992) in general,consultJ. Romm,TheEdges of the Earthin AncientThought 60-67; see also 0. Crusius, 'Hyperboreer,'Roscher 1.2 (1886-1890) 2805-2835, H. Archiv RE 9.1 (1914) 258-279, 0. Schroeder,'Hyperboreer,' Daebritz, 'Hyperboreer,' 8 (1905) 69-84, F. Ahl, 'Amber,Avallon, and Apollo's Singfur Religionswissenschaft ing Swan,' AJP 103 (1982) 373-41 1. I realize thatsome of the materialI have cited actuallypostdatesHecataeus;nonetheless, I think that later authorsare chiefly following writerssuch as Pindarand Alcaeus, not exception- see below. Hecataeusof Abdera;Callimachusmay be an important Cf. Schwartz,'Hekataeos'(see n. 9) 250 and R. von Pohlmann,Geschichteder sozialen Frage und des Sozialismusin der antikenWelt2 (Munchen1925) 291. Cf. Romm,Edges of the Earth(see n. 38) 60. HomoNecans, trans.P. Bing (Berkeley,Los Angeles and London 1983) See W. Burkert, 209-2 10. Admittedly,Ethiopiawas thoughtof as furtheraway thanEgypt; nonetheless, Egypt was often thought of as opposed to everythingthe Greeks knew, and hence in essence a 'marginal'people: see, famously,Hdt. 2.35.

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and because of his extraordinary mobility.43 Evidently traveling the earth as later euhemerist 'culture heroes' would do (see below; cf., e.g., Sesoosis F 25 = Diod. 1.53-58), Perseus (as I mentioned above) went to the land of the Hyperboreans. It is interesting, then, to note that from Herodotus we learn (Hdt. 2.9 1) that although the most reluctant of all people to accept the nomoi of others (contrast the Persians, Hdt. 1.135), the Egyptians also know Perseus: they have a sanctuary at Chemmis in honor of him, and they declare that the hero visits there often, leaving behind a sandal; the Egyptians even hold naked athletic games in Perseus' honor, of course a quintessential Greek practice. A connection, therefore, between Egypt and the Land of the Hyperboreans was a natural one for a Greek to make: Perseus, the great traveler, met both peoples at the edges of the earth.44 But while there are precedents for the connection in Greek authors who predate him, it was Hecataeus who first deployed concepts and items specifically derived from Egyptian culture in the creation of his utopia. What leads me to this claim are the differences between Hecataeus and earlier accounts of the Hyperboreans. And these dissimilarities reside not so much in differences of substance, but of scale and detail: since his description appears to have been fuller than any that came before, it contains familiar features, but ones that also appearexaggerated, as well as telling details that expand upon earlier elements. There are also a few completely innovative components.

Hecataeus and the HyperboreansII: The People, Their Precinct, Their God As mentioned above, the Hyperboreansof Hecataeus are a sacred people, in keeping with earlier views of them.45Evidently, though, he went even further and made all of them into quasi-priests of Apollo: as Diodorus reports, 'they are just like priests of Apollo because they hymnize this god daily in continuous song and honor him especially' (F 7 = Diod. 2.47.2).46 This is a very important detail. To style a whole people priests of a god suggests Egypt. To be sure, the whole race of Egyptians was always thought of as pious (see, e.g., Hdt. 2.37.1).47 But in Hecataeus' understandingfully one third of Egypt was given over to the priestly class (F 25 = Diod. 1.21.7; cf. 1.73.2).48 This mark of privilege
43 Cf. G. Kirk, The Nature of Greek Myths (Harmondsworth 1974) 149-150.

44 For otherconnectionsinvolving Chemmis,see below p. 273-274. 45 See, e.g., E. Rohde,Der griechische Roman(Leipzig 1914) 229.
46 ?1tvat 5' ai)roi; Yepqp6o] dEp iepel;

toi)tov xat' fl 47

pav 1nx' avCowvv6veitotat

gET' 65i;

rtvaq 'Ank6Xvo; 61a r6 r6v 0e6v Kai q&aat ta&pearuvEXCi Kat

p6v,rw. Cf. C. Froidefond, Le mirage egyptien dans la litte'rature grecque d'Homere a Aristote

(Paris 1971) 175. 48 See Otto,PriesterundTempel (see n. 9) 1 262-3. Cf. Burton,Diodorus(see n. 4) ad 1.21.7.

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JOHN DILLERY

underscores the prominence the priests have in his account of Egypt: although we hear about other classes (Diod. 1.73.2; cf. Hdt. 2.164. 1), it is the priests that clearly fascinate him and take up the bulk of his report.It may seem a small step to us to make a sacred people into a sacerdotal people, but it in fact is quite telling. No one in the Greek world was only a priest, for there was no class of priests: indeed, Greek religion has been called 'a religion without priests.'49 Further,those who worshipped every day, all day long, were not thought of as pious, but rather as superstitious or too pious (see esp. the 6StactSaitcov, Theophrastus Char. 16). When Hecataeus thought of the piety of the Hyperboreans, it was not Greek piety he had in mind so much as Egyptian.50 The buildings and civic space of Hecataeus' Hyperboreansare very significant. As noted above, other writers could speak of them having houses and something approaching an agora; their temple to Apollo was also prominent, but we are not told much about it other than that it was the so-called second temple from Delphi and that the people lived in close proximity to it. From Hecataeus we learn more: there is also on the island an exceptionally fine precinct to Apollo, and a remarkabletemple decoratedwith many dedications and sphericalin shape.51 There is also a city sacred (tepa'v) to this god,52 and the majority of the people who inhabit it are cithara players; they utter hymns in song for the god, continually playing their instruments in the temple, solemnizing his deeds (F 7 = Diod. 2.47.2-3).53 What is remarkable about this description is the fact that all the space described is sacred; although it is natural to view the temple and precinct as consecrated to Apollo, to add the city to this list of sacred places is noteworthy. At one level we can say that the uniform natureof the place is perhaps an analog

49 W. Burkert,Greek Religion, trans.J. Raffan (Cambridge,Mass. 1985) 95; cf. L. Bruit

Zaidman and P. Schmitt Pantel, Religion in the Ancient Greek City, trans. P. Cartledge

(Cambridge1992) 49-54. 50 See above, n. 21. shapesare commonin utopias:cf. Plato's Atlanrxx oxiniaX. Circular 51 Note cawatpoEt6i tis, Criti. I 13d, II 5c-l 17a. In the Greekworldthe circularshapefor sanctuarieswas not unknown, and became especially popularfrom the fourth century BC onward:see J. Pedley, The Sanctuary of Santa Venera at Paestum, Archaeologia Perusina 11 Part I (Rome 1993) 75-76 and nn. 43 and 44. 52 In anotherfragmentwe learnthatthe nameof the city is evidentlyCimmeris(F 8 = Strabo 7.3.6).
53
i)xdpX?1tv 6? KaWK& Kcai ?v vijaov

eEpv6EO X? 'AnAXwXvo; gsyaXoipFe-r;

TO)~qpZart. YUpLX1pOCh53 acitnrv
xot0,

dtA6oyov avaiOliaoi no)Xo0i; KEKOUglogEVOV,

iCaPXE1V

cai va6v Kai r6Atv gv

ECtval

iEpav c Kai

rotv
aU)oi

9o)

Trov,

t&)v

6E Ka?otKo1Jv?o)v
ViVOu)

7T6iTo1);

Kttoapta-;, 6lrooalIvV)vova4

GX)VEXCO ?V t0, VaCO KttapiCovtaq TgpdcEt;. rtt;

xXeC, IIX,p' XyEytvrCO

X6ns,

Hecataeusof Abdera:Hyperboreans, Graeca Egypt, and the Interpretatio

267

to the lives of the people who live there:just as they are occupied in the worship of the god all day long and have no other occupations, so the space they inhabit is given wholly over to their deity. However, while not ruled out in other descriptions of the Land of the Hyperboreans, the comprehensiveness of the sacred space in Hecataeus is something we do not see elsewhere. Again, Egypt may supply the inspiration. While it is of course true that the Greeks believed that cities had tutelary deities, and further that sometimes gods were even thought to have something like proprietary rights over them (an example of this would be Hera and her cities that she is willing to surrenderto Zeus, Iliad 4.50ff.), the notion that a city could be consecrated to one particular god is something that Hecataeus, like Herodotus (e.g. 2.59), seems to associate particularly with Egypt; so, for instance, he seems to believe that Egyptian Thebes was especially associated with Osiris (he thought the immortalized human of that name founded it, F 25 = Diod. 1. 15. 1), and Memphis with Isis (where she is thought to have been buried and where her shrine is located, Diod. 1.22.2). Furthermore, it should be pointed out that cities could of course be considered sacred in the Greek world - indeed from the second line of the Odyssey we learn that the city of Troy is sacred, Od. 1.2. However, there is always also human, or better 'profane' space in a Greek city.54 In Egypt, on the other hand, there were what can only be described as 'temple towns,'55 areas of humanhabitation given completely over to the sacred. Moreover, there were local gods who were 'town gods' (Egyptian ntr-njwtj) with specific associations to certain places.56 The gods in animal form were put on standards or strips of cloth to identify their territory;57 intriguingly, Hecataeus may be indirectly aware of this practice (F 25 = Diod. 1.86.4-5). As has been recently observed, the local god in Egypt was 'the protector and liege of all those dwelling in the settlement or its immediate bailiwick. His sphere of activity encompassed the entire range of the community's interests.'58 Such a description seems to fit the world of Hecataeus' Hyperboreans;it does not that of a Greek city. The description cited above of the temple and city of the Hyperboreans makes reference to the inhabitantscontinual worship of Apollo, a detail that we have seen before in Hecataeus and which is evidently also important to other writers. The description of the ritual of the Hyperboreans takes up a great deal

54 Cf. S. Scully, Homerand the Sacred City (Ithacaand London 1990) 40. 55 D. Thompson, Memphis Under the Ptolemies (Princeton 1988) 26-27 and n. 103; she cites H. Smith and D. Jeffreys, 'The North SaqqaraTemple-TownSurvey: Preliminary Reportfor 1976/77,' JEA 64 (1978) 10-21. 56 See E. Hornung,Conceptionsof God in AncientEgypt,trans.J. Baines (Ithacaand New York 1982) 73 and A.H. Gardiner, EgyptianGrammar3 (London 1957) ?79. 57 D. Redford,Egypt, Canaan,and Israel in AncientTimes(Princeton1992) 9 and n. 21. 58 Redford,Egypt(see n. 57) 9. Cf. Hornung,Conceptions(see n. 56) 166.

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of what survived to us of Hecataeus' account. What gets the most attention is the participationof sacred swans in the celebrationof the god: large and exceptionally beautiful, they purify the temple with their wings and alight on the precinct wall; when the singers and cithara players strike up their song, the swans join in, singing in harmony with the humans 'as if they had taken a key-note from the conductor;' having honored and delighted the god, who is thought to be present, they depart (F 12 = Aelian NA 11.1). It is tempting to see in this worship of Apollo Egyptian elements as well - namely the special sacredness of animals in Egyptian religion,59 and the possible connection of the Apolline swan (recall the god's chariot; cf. h.Hymn 21.1) to Egyptian sacred geese.60 Furthermore, it should be pointed out that the ass-sacrifice that other writers seem to find so fascinating is also missing. When it comes to the animal life in the Land of the Hyperboreans, Hecataeus evidently chose to leave out the sacrifice that was proverbially associated with them, and instead preferred to privilege the animal that was only marginally associated with them in earlier treatments, via the chariot of the god Apollo. The singing of the swans among the Hyperboreans to greet their god is remarkable:Aristophanes too refers to swans who sing hymns to Apollo (Birds 769ff.), but the effect is comic, a shifting of familiar practice (human choruses) into an outlandish context (bird choruses).61The humor inherent in this shift suggests that what Hecataeus later did in his representation of the bird-choruses in Hyperborea was unusual; the humanized animals are precisely the point of interest, a point that finds contact with Egyptian religious views. One last point of considerable importance remains regarding the ritual of the Hyperboreans. In the same fragment where we hear about the strange swanchoruses (F 12), we learn the following: their arrival from the Rhipaean mountains is precisely timed,
59 The sacredness of animals in Egypt was proverbialin Greek circles: cf. Hdt. 2.65, HecataeusF 25 = Diod. 1.83. Note thatalthoughanimalscan be associatedwithparticular gods in the Greek world (e.g., eagles and Zeus, horses and Poseidon), we do not see behaviorin the activities of animalssuch as anythinglike the mimicryof human/divine swans. In Egypt, on the other hand, animals were we do with Hecataeus'Hyperborean of a deity's ba or essence, mummified;moreoverthey were regardedas the incarnations and were often accordeddivine respect; see Hornung,Conceptions of God in Ancient Egypt (see n. 56) 137-8 and E. Otto, Beitrage zur Geschichte der Stierkulte in Aegypten, Aegyptens 13 (Leipzig 1938). In zur Geschichte und Altertumskunde Untersuchungen "'Who knows not what monsters E.A. Hemelrijk, Smelik and K.A.D. consult general, Opinionson Egyptiananimalworshipin Antiquityas partof dementedEgyptworships?" the ancientconceptionof Egypt,' ANRWII.17.4(1984) 1852-1998. 60 The PrimevalBeing in the Egyptiancreationis a goose: see R. RundleClark,Myth and knows(2.72) of the XTivakSymbol in Ancient Egypt (London1959)55 and213. Herodotus Herodotus Book II (Leiden A.B. Cf. Lloyd, H'api. to the Nile god sacred or 'fox-goose,' dMi 1975-1988)ad loc. Aristophanes Birds (Oxford1995)477-8 ad 772. Cf. the famous,prophetic 61 See N. Dunbar, thatthiswas only sungby thebirdat death. ,swan-song,'PlatoPhd.84e-85b.Note, however,

Graeca Hecataeusof Abdera:Hyperboreans, Egypt, and the Interpretatio

269

when [the sons of Boreas and Chione] accomplish the customary (vevogtcin the aforementioned pEvT) rite at the usual time (TO6v cuvVq iccatpo6v) from the mountains...enormous clouds manner(-ujp vq), Rhipaean ipo?&pil of swans swoop down in a mass... The focus on the precise time and circumstance under which the ritual is performed, and hence the advent of the swans, is obviously exaggerated. Why? It could be that when engaged in fictive discourse the propensity to overcompensate in providing details in the hopes of creating a veristic feel is especially strong. This tendency may well be at work in Hecataeus. However, there is also something more. The regulation of the pharaoh by the priests of Egypt is something that draws Hecataeus' special interest. He is clearly fascinated by the extremely regimented life of the king, observing at one point, for there is not only a set time (icatpo Cbptap9vo;) for [pharaoh] to hold audience and renderjudgment, but also [set times] for taking walks, bathing, sleeping with his wife, and in general for all the activities regarding his life (F 25 = Diod. 1.70. 10). It may seem that rules for ritual are one thing, and the regulations of the pharaoh's lifestyle another. However, in the latter case what Hecataeus is describing is fundamentally an accurate picture of pharaonic religious ritual involving the preservation of Ma'at or the 'world order.'62It is not that different in kind from what he is describing in regard to Hyperborean ritual. And inasmuch as the regulation of pharaoh is also proof in Hecataeus' mind of the authority the priests wield in Egyptian government, it is perhaps useful to recall that all of Hyperboreans are thought of as priests. I believe that the regulation of the pharaoh is only the clearest articulation of a basic view which Hecataeus has of Egypt: from the time of Herodotus at least, to the Greek imagination Egyptian society had been thought of as a highly regulated one (cf., e.g., Hdt. 2.82 on the Egyptian calendar, hemerology, and omens), and Hecataeus seems especially to have felt this. Hence, the exaggerated sense of regimentation involved in Hyperboreanritual may find an explanation: when Hecataeus thought about his model utopia, what he perceived as an Egyptian concern with the regulation of the king's life and hence the stability of the world seemed a fitting expression of Hyperboreanstability as well.

Hecataeus and his Readers: the Legacy of Egyptian Utopia Two figures of enormous importance in the history of Greek thought in the Hellensitic period, Euhemerus and Callimachus, read Hecataeus and adapted his work in their own writings. Importantly,they make explicit the connection
62 Cf. Burton,Diodorus(see n. 4) 209-210 ad 1.70.1ff.

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between utopia and Egypt, rendering unambiguous what is sometimes obscure in their model: for Hecataeus, ideal polities would inevitably be at some level Egyptian. It is widely believed that Euhemerus of Messene, the eponymic 'founder' of 'euhemerism,' relied heavily on the work of Hecataeus when creating his own utopia of Panchaea, located comewhere in the Indian Ocean, especially in the elaboration of Egyptian details in his ideal state.63Indeed, some have even argued that Euhemerus was trying to outdo Hecataeus in the fashioning of Egyptian elements in his utopia.64 Although some would want to disagree, it seems that at the very least the all-important distinction Euhemerus makes between celestial gods (scar' ou'pavov or oupdvtot ieoi), who are thought of as eternally divine, and terrestrial gods (Cuiye?tot iOeoi), who were originally mortal and later deified for their services to humanity (FGrHist 63 F 2 = Diod. 6.1.2), is attributable to Hecataeus. And indeed, this distinction between the two types of divinity is basic to Hecataeus' understanding of the Egyptian pantheon (F 25 = Diod. 1.1 1-13).65 Further, when Euhemerus' utopia is examined in detail, a number of other distinctively Egyptian features are to be found. Most obviously, the deeds (ipad et;) of both Uranus and Zeus 'Triphylius' are located in the latter's temple,66 inscribed upon golden tablets 'in writing which the Egyptians call

63 See Fraser, Ptolemaic Alexandria (see n. 7) I 293 and II 454 n. 898 and J. Rusten, = PapyrologicaColoniensia10 (Opladen1982) 102-4 esp. 104 Dionysios Scytobrachion n. 20.; cf., e.g., Jacoby, 'Euemeros'no. 3, RE 6.1 (1907) 969, 0. Stahlinand W. Schmid,
Geschichte der griechischen Literatur 2.1 (Munchen 1920) 223 and 232 n. 4, T. Brown,

'Euhemerusand the Historians,'HTR39 (1946) 265, G. Vallauri, Origine e diffusione

dell'evemerismo nel pensiero classico, Pubb. della FacoltA di Lett. e Filo. Univ. di Torino

12.5 (Torino 1960) 6-16, and R. Bichler, 'ZurhistorischenBeurteilungder griechischen

Staatsutopie,' GB 11 (1984) 195. Cf. R. Reitzenstein, Zwei religionsgeschichtliche Fra-

gen (Strassburg1901) 89-90. ContrastM. Zumschlinge,Euhemerosstaatstheoretische

und staatsutopische Motive (Diss. Bonn 1976) 82-86.

64 E. Salin, Platon und die griechische Utopie (Munchenand Leipzig 1921) 225; cited by Fraser,PtolemaicAlexandria(see n. 7) II 454 n. 898. 65 Hecataeusmay well have borrowedthe distinctionfromProdicus:see Rusten,Dionysios cf. A. Henrichs,'Two DoxoScytobrachion(see n. 63) 103 and n. II with bibliography; graphicalNotes: DemocritusandProdicuson Religion,' HSCP79 (1975) 93-123, andid., to keep 'TheAtheismof Prodicus,'CronacheErcolanesi 14 (1976) 15-21. It is important in mind in this connectionthe use of divine namesfor naturalfeatures(Poseidon= Nile, Demeter = earth) in P.Michaelidae 4, which R. Merkelbachsuggests might be from Hecataeus'Aegyptiaca, 'LiterarischeTexte unterAusschluBder christlichen,'APF 16 (1958) 114. 66 Did Euhemerushave in mind somethingapproachingaretalogiesfor Uranusand Zeus (Leipzig 1906) 17. Triphylius?Cf. R. Reitzenstein,Hellenistische Wundererzahlungen This would be anotherEgyptian connection, though complicated by the fact that the aretalogyis a truehybridof Greekand Egyptiancultures,with rathermoreof the former

Graeca Hecataeusof Abdera:Hyperboreans, Egypt, and the Interpretatio

271

sacred' (Ta nrap' Aiyncriot; tpaz Kakololu4va, F 3 = Diod. 5.46.7; cf. Diod. 6.1.7 and 5.46.3); further,we are told that none other than 'Ammon' drove one of the three tribes of Panchaeans to their final home on the island (F 3 = Diod. 5.44.6-7). Among other 'Egyptianizing' details one could probably also securely add the prominence of priests in the running of the island (ot ... it; xxCv a'naivtwvi'oav ir i6ve; F 3 = Diod. 5.45.4), their high social status (Diod. 5.46.2), and their duties (Diod. 5.44.2); a related issue, the tripartite class division of the Panchaeans also can be seen as Egyptian (Diod. 5.45.3-5; cf. Hecataeus, Diod. 1.73.2);67 so, too, perhaps the importance of the sun in their worship (Diod. 5.44.3, 6.1.2), as well as the fauna of Panchaea (a wide variety of exotic animals, Diod. 5.45.1; cf. Hdt. 2.65-76).68 Less securely, the temple itself of Zeus Triphylius has an Egyptian aspect: a perfectly square building of massive dimensions, supported by large columns and decorative elements; enormous statues of the gods; dwellings for the priests; a monumental avenue, framed by rows of bronze vessels, leading directly to the river sacred to the sun (Diod. 5.44.1-4). To be sure, none of these elements has to be Egyptian;69 however, the precinct described does not seem very Greek either. Euhemerus no doubt acquired some of his knowledge of Egypt directly, not via Hecataeus; it must indeed be the case that he picked up much of what he
than the latter. Cf. A.D. Nock on Diod. 1.27: 'lilt representsan accommodationof the Egyptianstyle to Greek ideas,' Conversion(Oxford 1933) 40; see also Nock, 'GraecoEgyptianReligious Propaganda,' in Z. Stewart(ed.), Essays on Religion and the Ancient World(Oxford 1972)11 703-711. For an early exampleof Egyptianpraiseliterature,see the so-called Praise of Ptah in the 'MemphiteTheology', ANET3 5. The possibility of influence by the aretalogicaltraditionon Euihemerus is obviously relatedto the issue of the earliest date for the praisesof Isis: see P. Fraser,'Two Studies on the Cult of Sarapis in the Hellenistic World,' Opuscula Atheniensia3 (1960) 3-4 n. 1. - Recall that the Hyperboreans praisethe deeds (npd~uet)of Apollo (F 7), and thatpreservedin Diodorus 1 is an aretalogyto Isis (Diod. 1.27.4) thatbearsa directrelationto otherearly praisesof
Isis: D. Muller, Agypten ur.d die griechischen Isis-Aretalogien = Abh. der Sach. Akad.

53.1 (Berlin 1961) 12-14, and more recently,L. Zabkar. Hymnsto Isis in Her Templeat Philae (Hanoverand London 1988) 135-160. Of course, since both the Euhemerusand Hecataeuspassages in questioncome fromDiodorus,the similaritymay be due in partto
Diodorus (i.e. describing the acts of the gods as itpdet;).

67 See Braunert,'Staatstheorie und Staatsrecht im Hellenismus'(see n. 21) 174ff. 68 Some have speculatedthatthe nameof Euhemerus'utopianland, Panchaea,can have an Egyptian,as well as Greeketymology:see Braunert, 'Die heilige Insel des Euhemerosin der Diodor-Uberlieferung', in Politik, Rechtund Gesellschaft(see n. 21) 156-157 n. 15. 69 Cf., e.g., the templeof Amon-Re'at Karnak, or the mortuary templeof Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahri.Note thatHecataeusprovideda very accuratedescriptionof the Ramesseumand the Kadeshinscription(F 25 = Diod. 1.46.6-49.6): see C. LeBlanc, 'Diodore,le Tombeau d'Osymandyaset la Statuairedu Ramesseum,' in P. Posener-Krieger(ed.), Melanges GamalEddinMokhtar (Cairo 1985)11 69-82; cf. Burton,Diodorus(see n. 4) 150-151 ad 1.48.1, and more generallyBurstein,'Hecataeus'(see n. 9) 45-46, whose bibliographyI have relied on here.

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knew from his own stay in Alexandria.70 However, essential features of his utopia - its gods and society - are very close to what Hecataeus says of Egypt. But perhaps Euhemerus' dependence on Hecataeus' description of Egypt has nothing to do with Hecataeus' description of the Hyperboreans? In answer to this, I would point out that Euhemerus may well have gotten the idea of transferring Egyptian features to a utopian setting precisely from Hecataeus' own adaptation of Egypt in his description of Hyperborea. Euhemerus' work demonstrates clearly that thanks to Hecataeus, specifically Egyptian elements were finding their way into completely fictional Greek utopias, not just idealized accounts of Egypt itself.71 Callimachus of Cyrene knew of Euhemerus and his utopia; indeed, he attacked him in his First Iamb for 'fabricating' (nXdaa4) the 'PanchaeanZeus' in his wicked books (F [Pf.] 191.9-1 1).72 Yet Callimachus, too, seems to have relied heavily on Hecataeus when he had occasion to write about the Hyperboreans. Of course, since the time of Herodotus (4.33-35) and Bacchylides (3.5859), if not before,73 a connection was thought to exist between the Hyperboreans and the island of Delos (cf. Hecataeus F 7).74 In the first half of the third century, additional reasons were found to connect Egypt with the sacred island. Delos was a focus of Ptolemy II Philadelphus' attention, as the son of Soter sought to gain control over the Aegean against his enemies.75 Callimachus, for his part, celebrated Ptolemy II's control over the island, and thus helped to draw attention to the place as a military, economic, and religious center. And in a sense he, with his Hymn to Delos (4), repeated precisely what Hecataeus may have been doing shortly before, combining features of Ptolemaic Egypt with the Land of the Hyperboreans. It is widely assumed that Callimachus made use of the historian's description of Hyperboreawhen writing the hymn. So, for example, Hecataeus reports that Boreas and Chione had three sons who were priests of Apollo, said later in the same fragment to be the kings of the Hyperboreans (F 12); Callimachus names three daughters of Boreas (4.291ff.). Since in earlier descriptions only two Hyperborean maidens are ever named, it is clear that Callimachus is
70 Cf. Fraser,PtolemaicAlexandria(see n. 7) 1 293. 71 One shouldmention,in this connection,'Iambulus'as well. His utopia- the Islandsof the Sun - may also have Egyptianfeatures(Diod. 2.55-60): see esp. the centralityof the sun (Diod. 2.59.2 and 7). 72 See Pfeiffer ad loc., and D. Clayman,Callimachus'Iambi(Leiden 1980) 12. such as Abaris suggest that the connection goes 73 The stories regardingshaman-figures cf. Bolton, Aristeas(see n. 27) 196, and E.R. Dodds, The Greeksand back even further: the Irrational(Berkeley, Los Angeles, London 1951) 144-145. I 74 Note Bacch. 3.58-59: r6re AaXoyevh[; 'A6]XXwov (pIppov w;'Yneppop?o[v; y]jpovra [Croesus].Cf. Paus. 10.5.7. (Nancy 1979) I 75 See also Theoc. 17. Cf. E. Will, Histoirepolitiquedu mondehellenistique 90 (Munich1988)91-93. Muse,Hypomnemata 231-233. See also P. Bing, TheWell-Read

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innovating; it is furtherspeculated that this innovation derives from Hecataeus' triad of sons.76 There are two other details Callimachus reports in connection with Delian matters that are also significant in regardto Hecataeus' Hyperboreans. At lines 250-1 of the hymn Callimachus describes the arrival of singing swans who circle (vbc-ui6c6aavto) Delos seven times before Apollo is born. Although xcicxk6ooat is a favorite term of Callimachus, and circling is to be found in other related texts, the resonance with Hecataeus' description of the swans who come for the festival of Apollo in Hyperborea is noteworthy.77 Secondly, in describing the gifts that the Hyperboreansbring to Delos, Callimachus specifies that they are agricultural in nature: KcacXdgiv ... iepat 6pyRacta ... I akiaXwov (4.283-4). Herodotus' description is less precise: offerings are brought to Delos wrapped in the straw of wheat only (4.33.1). It has been argued that the greater precision in Callimachus' account may derive from Hecataeus.78 Other items that less securely connect Hyperborea to Delos, and Delos to Egypt, is the detail in Hecataeus that Hyperboreais the site of Leto's birth (F 7), and further, that in Callimachus' hymn Delos is described as a floating island that becomes fixed after Apollo's birth (4.273). The place of Leto's birth is not attested before Hecataeus; all that is reported is that her father and mother are Koios and Phoibe, titans that have connections with the sea (Hesiod Th. 406; cf. h.Ap. 62, Apollonius Rh. 2.710). Hence, Hecataeus' placement of her birth on the island of the Hyperboreans is worth noting. It is tempting to suggest that he is associating Isis with the Land of the Hyperboreans and perhaps also Delos. Apollo is often regarded as the Greek equivalent of Horus, avenging son of Isis and Osiris; but Isis herself is thoughtof most commonly as Demeter in the Greek pantheon(see, e.g., Hdt.2.59.2).79If, however,Hecataeus'corrected'earlierGreek views and made Leto the Greek representativeof Isis, inasmuch as she, and not Demeter, was the mother of the Greek equivalent of Horus, then the anomalous placement of Leto's birth in the Land of the Hyperboreansmay have an explanation, and further Delian/Egyptian connections may perhaps be illuminated. During the late period of pharaonic Egypt the term Isenkhebe, or 'Isis in Chemmis,' was very common.80 In Egyptian myth, Chemmis was an island in

76 See Fraser,Ptolemaic Alexandria (see n. 7) 11 720 n. 11 and W. Mineur, Callimachus Hymn to Delos (Leiden 1984) 231 ad 292. 77 Mineur,Hymn to Delos (see n. 76) 208 ad 250. Mineuralso points out thatcircling seven times may be a specifically Egyptianfeature. 78 Mineur,Hymn to Delos (see n. 76) 226 ad 283f. 79 Note, however, that at P.Oxy. 1380 col. iv 78-79 Isis is identified as Leto, no doubt because of the Letoon at Xanthus. 80 See M. Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature III. The Late Period (Berkeley, Los Angeles, London 1980) 58-59 and n. 1; cf. M. Munster,Untersuchungen zur Gottin Isis, MunchenerAgyptologischeStudien 11 (Munich 1968) 185.

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the Delta where Isis gave birth to Horus and hid him from Seth after the murder of Osiris.81 Curiously, Herodotus reports that he was told a story about Chemmis by Egyptian informants in which Isis gave Apollo to Leto, who in turn hid him on Chemmis in order to protect him from Typhon (2.156): it is thought that here 'Leto' stands for Wadjet, 'Apollo' Horus, and 'Typhon' Seth.82Importantly, Herodotus also reports in the same chapter that the Egyptians maintain the island floats, something Hecataeus of Miletus also knew (FGrHist 1 F 305). Although there are reasons to suspect that there may be some earlier Greek influence involved in making Chemmis a floating island,83 it was sufficiently well known among the Egyptians by Hecataeus' time. Callimachus seems to have made a connection between the floating islands of Delos and Chemmis;84 could it be that Hecataeus saw a connection as well, and what is more, drew it out further by placing Leto's birth in the Land of the Hyperboreans, thereby linking all three sacred islands? We do not know precisely how Callimachus perceived the similarity between Delos and Chemmis. Of course, he could have seen the link himself; but he may have been influenced by a more general association that Hecataeus first made, an authorwhose work on the Land of the Hyperboreans we know for other reasons had a considerable influence on his own.

Conclusions What emboldened Euhemerus to put Egyptian features in Panchaea was not so much Hecataeus' Aegyptiaca, but his treatise On the Hyperboreans. He took his cue from what he saw the older author doing: constructing a Greek utopia out of Egyptian elements. Of course, Euhemerus was inventing an entirely new place in the utopian tradition, whereas Hecataeus was modifying the description of a fantasy that had been imagined, or rather 'imaged,' for some time. And herein lies an importantpoint: Hecataeus may have been one of the first Greek authors to take the 'facts' of another, non-Greek culture, and deploy them in a completely fictional, other-worldly setting. Moreover, if true, this innovation implies that the exclusivity of the interpretatio Graeca - the notion that a writer

81 See Munster,Isis (see n. 80) 6, 10-12, 72-74, and RundleClark,Mythand Symbol(see n. 60) 186-195; note esp. from the Hymn to the Red Crown (Middle Kingdom), '[l]et your kas rejoice over this king - Sobk-Horusof Shedyt I as Isis rejoiced over her son HorusI when he was a child in Chemmis,'M. Lichtheim,AncientEgyptianLiteratureI. The Old and MiddleKingdoms(Berkeley,Los Angeles, London 1975) 201. 82 Lloyd, HerodotusBook II (see n. 60) ad loc. 83 Cf. Lloyd, HerodotusBook II ad loc. 84 Koenen, 'Agyptische Konigsideologie' (see n. 19) 175-177, and id., 'Ptolemaic King' Muse(see n. 75) 137-139. (see n. 19) 82; see also Bing, The Well-Read

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is necessarily locked within the interpretive world of his own culture - should be abandoned. Other, multi-directional and not unidirectional channels of significant Greek and non-Greek cultural interaction need to be considered. 'Foreign,' non-Greek facts, instead of being thought of as used only in the service of Greek ideas, should themselves be seen at times as changing or 'deforming' traditional Greek concepts, such as the Hyperboreans. I do not mean to claim for Hecataeus that he overcame the alterity - the 'otherness' - of Egypt and consequently could 'think like an Egyptian.' Rather I believe that, as with other texts from Ptolemaic Egypt, his work demonstrates the distinctness of Egyptian and Greek culture, and yet simultaneously how each could interpenetrate and interpretthe other in meaningful ways.85 University of Virginia, Charlottesville John Dillery

85 Cf. the conclusionsof Walbank,'Monarchies'(see n. 4) 79. In writingthis article,and in much else that is related,I have benefitedgreatlyfrom discussions with my teacherand friendLudwigKoenen;he shouldnot be blamedfor the views expressedhere. I have also profited from the generous advice of Brian Schmidt and Heinz Heinen. This essay developed out of a paperthatI deliveredat a conferenceon the Hellenistic periodheld in March 1994 at Ann Arbor,Michigan.