The Demon Mosquito

Author(s): Kathryn Gutzwiller

Source: Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik, Bd. 174 (2010), pp. 133-138
Published by: Dr. Rudolf Habelt GmbH
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 133

The Demon Mosquito

Ancientwitnessesto the textof Meleager, like otherGreek authors,are usually foundonly on papyri.
The delightfulAP 5.152 (HE 34), in whicha mosquitois dispatchedto summonZenophila to the poet's
bed, seems to have been one of Meleager's most popular epigrams,since it occurs on two papyri.1In
addition,a small stonerelieffromEgypt,publishedby U. and D. Hagedornin thisjournal in 1983, bears
theinscriptioncb^fjOapye(pi^owxcoveuSeiq, whichtheeditorsidentifiedas partof themessage thatthe
mosquitois to deliverin Meleager's epigram:2
TotxvgayyeXog,ovaai 8' aKpoiq
jlioi,K(bvco'|/,
7tTour|<;
ZrjvocpiX-aq xa8e*
'|/or6aa<;7tpoa'|/i0{>pi£e
'aypDTtvoqjuijiiveiae* oi) 8', cb^r|0apye cpiAxxovxcov,
euSeiq.' da, ketev va(, cpiAojioDae,ketev
r'ov%a 8e cpGey^ai,|Lif| mi auyicoixoveyeipaq
Kivriariqek ejnoi£r|ta)xt)7ioD<;oSwaq.
8'
r'v ayayriqxrjv;caT8a, 8opa ax£'|/co ae Xeovto<;,
Kal Scoccg%£ipicpepeivponakov.
kcovcg'|/,
Fly for me, mosquito,swiftmessenger,and just grazingthetip
of Zenophila's ears,whisperthis,
"Awake, he waitsforyou,butyou,ever forgetful of yourlovers,
just sleep." Come now, lover of song,fly,fly.
Do speak softly,so thatyou don't also wake hercompanion
and provokeblows ofjealousy againstme.
If you manage to bringthegirl,I'll crownyou witha lion's skin,
mosquito,and give you a club to carryin yourhand.
Since thattime,theinscriptionon thereliefhas notbeen mentionedin any edition,and to myknowledge
has received no discussion in any publishedsource. My goal is to providearchaeologicalparallels that
were unknownto the Hagedorns and to expand upon theirsuggestionthatthe link betweenthe object
and Meleager's epigrammay have to do withmagic.
The limestonerelief(1 1.5 cm wide, 6.5 cm high,3 cm thickon the lower edge and 1 cm on the up-
per edge) containsrepresentations of two figures(fig. 1). One is a nude female lyingon her leftside,
apparentlyrestingon a bed; herrightarm stretchesdownwardalong her side forminga curvedupperarc
for her body, and her leftarm is bent over her waist; her legs and feet are held stifflytogetherin a
stylizedpose. Her hair (or wig?) is done up in a bouffantstyle,and she wears a necklace on her chest,
braceletson herrightarm,and ankletson herleftleg, all paintedin red.3The second figure,about a third
of her size, appears on the left,upright,at a rightangle to her body, touchingher lower rightleg. The
exact natureof the creatureis unclear: its head seems to have humanoidfeatures,while its torso and
arms (?) are elongatedand indistinct.A set of grooves appears on the rightleg of the sleeping female
wherethe second figure'sbody intersectswithhers.The Hagedornssaw a botchedattempton thepartof
theartistto representthelegs of thefigureas if sittingon thewoman's shin.Alternately, as theysuggest,

1P.Berol.
10571,BKT5.1.76(1stc. AD) andP.Oxy.3324(1stc. BC /1st c. AD).
U. Hagedorn andD. Hagedorn, 'Anthologia V 152inbildlicher
Palatina ZPE 51 (1983)61-64,Taf.Ill
Darstellung?'
(SEG 33.1546).I thank theHagedorns forgraciously additional
supplying informationandphotographs
oftherelief,
which
theyholdin theirprivate I also appreciate
collection. thebenefit
ofcorrespondence withAlexandra
VillingoftheBritish
Museum andHelenWhitehouse oftheAshmolean Museum.
3Red is visible
as wellonthe ofthe andina pattern
secondfigure ofconnected abovetheinscription.
paint body rings

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134 KathrynGutzwiller

Fig. 1: Femalefigurerestingon a bed witha smallerfigureat rightangle,

limestonerelieffromGraeco-RomanEgypt(PrivateCollectionin Cologne)

thegrooves may representhands restingon the female's leg, as if the second figurestandsbehind the
sleeper.The carefullywritten
inscriptionextendsto therightof theuprightfigure,parallelto thewoman's
body.Based on analysisof the letters,theeditorsdate it to the imperialperiod.Althoughthe Hagedorns
identifiedthe quotationfromMeleager, theywere puzzled by its presenceon an object whichtheycon-
sideredunique.

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 The Demon Mosquito 135

The inscribedreliefis closely paralleled by a groupof small limestoneobjects fromNaucratis,ex-

cavated in the late nineteenthcentury.4In publishingthe 1903 season, Edgar describesthiscategoryof
findas follows: "Among the minorstone objects which are characteristicof the site, one of the most
commonis a representation of a naked woman lyingon a bed, perfectlystiffand straight, witha child at
rightangles to herfeet.The child is sometimesomitted.The woman usually lies on herleftside withher
leftarmacrossherwaist,sometimeson herback withherarmsby hersides."5
These reliefsare generallyconsideredarchaicin date,and an example in theAshmolean,remarkably
similarin shape and size to theHagedornobject (althoughlackinga figure),is so labeled.6No examples
with inscriptionsare reportedin the literature.Some of the reliefs were found in trenches,though
apparentlynot fromthe deposits at sanctuaries;as a result,the archaeologicalrecorddoes not provide
reliable datingor contexts.The objects have been interpreted as childbirthex-votos,7but the figuresac-
companying the women in published examples do not look like children,and some seem scarcely
humanoid,representedmostlyby grooves.8In anotherinterpretive approach,developed fromcompari-
son with statuettesfound in Egyptiangraves, the female figureshave been consideredsubstitutesfor
wives in the otherworld.9The Naucratitereliefs,however,are apparentlynot fromtombs,and their
significanceshould be considered in conjunctionwith otherstatuettesfound at the site, which show
Greek,Cypriot,and Phoenicianinfluences.More fruitful seems the recentsuggestionof Moller thatthe
female figuresare a variantof the standingAstarte,reinterpreted as Aphrodite,and thattheyhave an
associationwithprostitution.10
The Egyptianemporiumat Naucratis,a portof call forsailorsfromall over theeasternMediterrane-
an, was famedforits prostitutes. Herodotusclaims thattheprostitutes of Naucratiswere especiallyallur-
ing, and he cites as evidence Rhodopis, also called Doricha, with whom Sappho's brotherCharaxus fell
in love when bringingLesbian wine to the marketat Naucratis,11and, froma laterera, Archidice,who
was celebratedin song throughout Greece (2.134-35). Naucratishad an important sanctuaryof Aphrodi-
in
te, whereshe was worshipedas Pandemos.12Inscriptionsbeginning the archaicperiodshow thatboth
men and women made dedicationsof ceramics and stone figurines,which include standingdraped fe-
males, perhapsthegoddess, as well as some male figures.Our main source of information about thecult
itselfcomes froma passage fromOn Aphroditeby Polycharmusof Naucratis,cited by Athenaeusto ex-
plain the originof the Naucratitewreath(15.675f-676c [FHG 4.480]). Polycharmusreportsthatin the
seventhcentury(seeminglytoo early) a NaucratitenamedHerostratuspurchasedat Paphos on Cyprusan
ocya^jidTiovof Aphrodite,a span in heightand in an old artisticstyle,and carriedit on his returnvoyage

4 F. Naukratis PartI 1884-5(1886)40-41,PI. xix.7-9;also illustrated in D. G. Hogarth,C. C. Edgar,andC.

Petrie,
Gutch, "Excavatons atNaukratis," BSA5 (1898-99)PI. xiv.1-5; J.Boardman, TheGreeks Overseas
, 4thed.(1999)126,fig.
145.
5InD. G. H. L. Lorimer, andC. C. Edgar,"Naukratis
Hogarth, 1903,"JHS25 (1905)127.Reliefs ofthistypehavebeen
little
studied,although stonestatuettes fromNaucratis havereceived recent G. Nick,Zypro-ionische
analysis: aus
Kleinplastik
Kalkstein undAlabaster (2006);U. Hockmann, Zyprisch-griechische (2007).
Kleinplastik
6 Ashm.1896-1908 inHogarth
G.1011,illustrated etal. (1898-99)PL xiv.4.H. Whitehouse hasconfirmed thatthereis
nopossibility ofa missing secondfigure onthisrelief.
7 Petrie
(1886)40, whocomments that"itis rather
strange thatnoneshouldrepresenta childbeingsuckled"; see too
Gutch inHogarth etal. (1898-99)82.
8See Petrie
especially (1886)PI.xix.7;Hogarth etal. (1898-99)PI.xiv.3;andBoardman (1999)fig.145.
9 Onthe wifefigures, whichwereplacedoncouchesintombs, seeEdgarinHogarth etal. (1905)128;F. Pe-
Egyptian
trie,TheFuneralFurniture ofEgypt (1937)8-9.
10A. Naukratis
Moller, (2000) 159.Cf.theillustration ofAstarte inC. Bonnet,Astarte:Dossierdocumentaire etper-
spectives ( 1996)PI. vi.2.
historiques
11On seetooSapph.5, 15;Posid.17Gow-Page Strab.17.1.33;Ov.Her.15.63-68;
Rhodopis, (122Austin-Bastianini);
Ath.13.596b-d.
12 from Naucratis arepublished inA. Bernand, Le Deltaegyptien
Inscriptions d'apresles textesgrecs(1970);thegod-
dessis calledxrje(v)NocDKpdxi once,inno.419,andndv5r||iO(; innos.467,470,577(?),630.

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136 KathrynGutzwiller

to Naucratis.When a stormarose and the sailors prayedto the goddess to save them,she filledthe ship
withsweet-smellingmyrtle;suddenlythe stormbrokeand theiranchoragewas in sight.Herostratusthen
dedicated both the statuetteand the myrtlein Aphrodite'stemple.This storyindicatesthatAphrodite's
importanceat Naucratishad to do, at least in part,withherconnectionto thesea and herrole as saviorof
sailors.Anotherpiece of literaryevidence about theAphroditecult at Naucratisis late Hellenisticin date
and concernsherrole as goddess of sexuality.13 In a dedicatoryepigramby Antipaterof Sidon (.AP 6.206
[HE 6]), five youngwomen, friendsof the same age, offergiftsto CyprisOurania,and Archiasreveals
in his variationof this poem (AP 6.207 [GP 9]) thatthe five lived at Naucratisand were preparingto
marry.14 Elsewhere as well AphroditeOurania is the goddess of sexual happinessin marriage,15 and it
seems highlyprobablethatat NaucratisPandemos and Ourania were complementary epithetsfora deity
who servedbothprostitutes and women who could become wives.16The reliefswithrecumbentwomen
do not seem to have been dedicatedin the Aphroditesanctuary,as were the small stonefigurinesoften
associated withtheHerostratusstory,buttheirarchaicstyleand small size suggestthattheytoo played a
culturalrole at Naucratisrelatedto practicesconcerningAphrodite.Probablynot representing the god-
dess herself,theylikelydepictherhumanrepresentatives, whethertheprostituteswho providedcomfort
to sailors or local women of a differentsocial class, such as the devotees of Ourania memorializedby
Antipaterand Archias.
Given thediscoveryof thesesimilarobjects,thereis no reasonto doubttheauthenticity of theHage-
dornreliefas an ancientobject fromEgypt,presumablyfromNaucratis.The presenceof the inscribed
phrase froman epigramnot composed beforethe late second or the early firstcenturyB.C. remains,
however,problematic. (fig.2) is a deliberatequotationfromMeleager's epigram,and
That the inscription

Fig. 2: Inscriptioncut intothelimestonerelief

not derivedfromsome commonsource,seems all butcertain.The phrasecbA-rjOapye (piAowxcoveuSeiq

is attestednowhereelse and the adjectivalAjiGapyo*;is rare(firstin Menander,fr.586 K-A), appearing
17
withthegenitivealso in anotherof Meleager's epigrams(AriGapyekcxkcov, AP 12.80.5 [HE 17.5]). The

13 sometimes known as Euploia(e.g.,Paus.1.1.3;cf.Posip.39.2,119.5Austin-Bastianini),hasa rolebothas

Aphrodite,
protectorofsailorsandas goddessofsexuality, a dualitycommonly expressedthrough the"seaoflove"metaphor. InPosid.
116Austin-Bastianini, boththe"puredaughters oftheHellenes" andthe"menwhoworkthesea"worship attheshrine of
Aphrodite-Arsinoe atZephyrium, setuptobea "goodharbor against
every wave."
14A. S. F. GowandD. L.
Page,TheGreek Anthology: TheGarland ofPhilip(1968)II: 438assumethatArchias' refer-
encetoNaucratis is "spurious realism."Archias may,however, havehadlegitimate informationabouttheyoungwomen for
whomAntipater wrote hisdedication,sincethetwomovedinsimilar socialcirclesatRomeandmayhaveknown eachother.
Justpossibly thetwoepigrams werewritten tobe inscribed together,likethepairbyAntipater andAntisthenes ofPaphosin-
scribedona statue baseatDelos(ID 2549).
15Cf.Theoc.AP 6.340 inherhomean imageofOopavia,whois
[HE 2] wherea "pure"wifeandmother dedicates
as a ox>
specified Kvnpiq mv5a|no(;.
16Thedualnature ofAphrodite as OuraniaandPandemos is setoutbyPlato(Symp . 180d-181c); see E. Simon,Die
Gotter derGriechen (4thed.,Munich1998)216-18.AtNaucratis, theepithet Pandemos hasusuallybeeninterpreted as a
referencetothecitizens ofvarious places whoworshipped but
there, A. Scholtz,"Aphrodite Pandemos at Naukratis," GRBS
43 (2002/3) 240-42arguesfora reference tothepractice Oneofthewomenwhodedicated
ofprostitution. an objectinthe
Aphrodite sanctuary wasnamed Iunx(no.363Bernand) andanother Galenion orGlenion (no.398Bernand), alllikelyhetaira
names.
17U. andD. andepigram recallsomemagicfor-
Hagedorn (1983)63-64suggest thattheinscription mayindependently
mula.Thephrase doesnot,however, appearinanyknown magictext, andtherarity of^Gapyoq,especially witha genitive,
this (as
speaksagainst theory theypoint outin n. 2). That a prosephrasefrom a magic formulashould be worked intoan
elegiaccouplet byMeleager and,independently,inscribedonthisrelief seemstomea highly improbablecoincidence.

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 The Demon Mosquito 137

letteringon thereliefappears morecarefullyworkedthanthecrudefigures,and it is quite possible,even

if such reliefscontinuedto be producedin an archaic stylefora long timeat Naucratis,thatthe inscrip-
tionwas added to an older,heirloomobject. If thisis correct,thentheinscriptiondoes notprovidedirect
evidence forthe originalsignificanceof the nude female and the odd figurethataccompanies her,but
rathersignals an interpretive readingmade in the late Hellenisticor early imperialage. I suggestthat
Meleager's literary use of magic practicesstandsbehindthe engravingof a quotationfromepigramon
therelief,whetheror nottheobject and inscriptionwere contemporary.
Meleager's requestto the mosquitoto awaken and summonZenophila (ayayriqxr'vnaiba, 7) with-
out arousingany lover presentlyin herbed playfullymimicstheformof a magic spell, called an ocycoyri,
designed to forcethe presenceof a desiredperson.18In these spells the lover,who is typicallymale in
themagic papyri,oftenasks a nefariousdeityto providea messengerwho will compel thedesiredwom-
an, even violently,to come to him (e.g., 8oq lepov ayye^ov ti 7tdpe8pov...,rai kzXevoov ayyeA,CG amX-
0£iv 7cpo<;xf|v8eiva, a^ai orornvxcovxpi%cbv, xcov7t[o]8oov,"Give me a sacred messengeror assistant
. . . , and commandthemessengerto go to Ms. So-and-So and to bringherby thehairor thefeet,"PMag
7.884-87). In the elaborate ritualcalled the Sword of Dardanus {PMag 4.1717-1927), the lover is to
make a wooden image of Eros, whichhe should take to the door of the victimand say, "Look, Ms. So-
and-So stayshere;you are to standbeside herand say whatI choose, makingyourselflook like whatever
god or demon she worships(ojioicoGeiqd) ae (3exai Gecor' 5ai|novi)" (1855-59). This typeof eroticincan-
tationis describedalso in Lucian's Lover ofLies (14-15) wherea "Hypoboreanmagician"is said to have
summoneda marriedwoman named Chrysisby using a littleclay Eros as messenger.19A skeptical
hearerof thisreportcommentssarcasticallythatChrysisis particularlysusceptibleto thiskind of spell
since, unlike ghosts,she is attractedto the sound of silver or bronze, insinuatingthatshe commonly
tradessex formoney.
Meleager's epigramalso recalls the "insomnia spell" (aycoyr]ayp')7wr|xiKr|),
which is designed to
make a woman unable to sleep throughburningdesirefortheman who bewitchesher{PMag 4.2943-66;
cf. 7.374-84). The carefullydrawn contrastbetween the poet's wakefulnessand Zenophila's lethargic
sleep in the second coupletis directlyrelatedto such magical concepts.The possibilityof a rivalis envi-
sioned in some incantations,as in PMag 4.2735-39: "Standingabove the head of Ms. So-and-So, take
away hersweet sleep, forbideyelidto stickto eyelid,and let herbe worriedwithwakeful((piAxxypimvoi-
oi) anxietiesover me. If she lies withsome otherman on herbreast,thenlet herthrowhimout and place
me in her heart,and leaving him rightaway let her standat my door, overcomein her soul by love and
desire for sex with me." As this formulashows, the practitionerof the spell normallydoes not know
whetherthe woman sleeps alone or has anotherlover, and the same seems truein Meleager's epigram
wheretheauyicoixoqneed be only a productof thelover'simagination.For thatreason,thepluralof the
participlein the phrase cb^rjGocpys (pitamvxcovis not as problematicas has been suggested,20 since the

18Anearlier ofadapting suchaycoyai toliterary

textsis foundinTheocritus'
example Idyll2, whereSimaetha,whois
trying to regaintheloveofDelphiswithmagic,explains howtheaffair beganwhenshedispatched herslaveThestylis to
summon theyouth (95-101).ShebidThestylis towaitforhimatthepalaestra, tonodgently (aouxocveuoov)andsay"Si-
maetha callsyou"("XijiaiGatd Katai"),andthento leadDelphistoherhouse('xpayeoxeT8e). Meleager'srequestto the
mosquito, structurallysimilarto Simaetha'saccount, contains
similar such
phrasing, as 5e (5),
(p0ey£ai "aypi)7tvo<;
ae" (3), andt^v8fayayflc;
|ii|j.v£i rnvmi5a (7). Although Meleager mostprobably knewtheIdyll,bothpoemsmimic erotic
incantations ofthetypefound onthemagicpapyri.
19Theconstruction ofan Erosfigure as themessenger mayhelpexplainthefinalcouplet oftheepigram inwhichthe
mosquito is promised a lion'sskinandclub,likethoseofHeracles. As suggested byG. Giangrande, "Meleager unddieMli-
cke,"Mnemosyne 25 (1972)298-302, themosquito seemsa parodicversion oftheEroteswhoweredepicted withHeracles'
weaponsin Hellenistic/Roman art(LIMC"Eros,"nos.781,950-54;"Eros/Amor, Cupido,"nos.613-18;"Herakles," nos.
3419,3421,3423-31).
20F.
Jacobs,Anthologia graecasivepoetarum graecorum lusus(1794-1814) VI: 104proposesreading "utad
(piA,0i)VT0<;
unumMeleagrum referatur."TheHagedorns (1983)63-64suggest thepluralis an indication
thatbothMeleager andthe
engraver drewfrom a common sourceinwhich thepluralwasappropriate.

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138 KathrynGutzwiller

speakermay at firstimaginethatZenophila sleeps alone, indifferent to all who desire her,and only in
thethirdcoupletrealize thatshe perhapsalreadyhas a bed partner.21
I am proposingthatthe person who engraveda phrase fromAP 5.152 on a (pre-existing?)stone
reliefmay have viewed the object, not as a representation of Meleager's epigram,but as a depictionof
thetypeof demonicvisitationthatMeleager playfullyalludes to sendinga mosquitoas a "swiftmessen-
ger" to summonthewoman he desires.What we mustwonderis whetherthepresenceof theinscription,
encouragingthe viewerto read the reliefthroughthe lens of the epigram,is simplyan idiosyncraticin-
terpretation of the object or providesa clue to the significanceof such reliefsin the local traditionof
Naucratis.If the sleepingnaked womenon thereliefs,sometimesdecked out withjewelryand elaborate
hairstyles,depictthewomenof Naucratiswho mightbe thesubjectsof magic spells performedby desir-
ous men (whetherprostitutes or not),thentheodd creaturesoftenstandingat theirfeetperhapsrepresent
the demonic messengersthoughtcapable of compellingtheirsexual favors.The words thatMeleager
asks the mosquitoto speak to Zenophila, in thisplayfullyparodic versionof an eroticdycoyri, become
generic when placed on the relief,as the sortof thingthatsuch a messenger would speak to the sleeping
woman being summoned.22Even if the inscriptiondoes provideclues to the common meaningof such
objects at Naucratis,exactlyhow theyfunctionedin thesocietyremainsunknown.It is usefulto remem-
ber,however,thatthissettlement was unique in manyways, providingan amalgam of Greek,Egyptian,
Cypriot,and Phoeniciancultures,populatedby manytransienttradersand seamen, and home to a sig-
nificantnumberof women who made theirlivelihoodby providingsexual services.It is no wonderthat
these reliefs,which were apparentlyfoundin some quantityat the site,have unique characteristics not
easily explainedby parallels from elsewhere.

Departmentof Classics KathrynGutzwiller

Universityof Cincinnati Kathryn @uc .edu
.Gutzwiller
CincinnatiOH 45221-0226, USA

21The AP 5.151[HE 33],inwhichMeleager, himselfinbedwithZenophila, warns

poemhasa companion epigram,
mosquitoesnot
to her
disturb rest.
The in
gi>ykoito<;5.152takes
the placeofthepoetas in
lover thiscompanionpiece, that
so
thereaderwhois awareofthehumorous tomagicheremaywonder
allusions in5.151arenotalsotobe imag-
iftheinsects
sentbyanother
inedas messengers suitor.
22Similar
is Hor.Carm.1.25.7-8,metuolongaspereuntenoctes, wordsofan
as thetypical
Lydia,dormis,presented
exclususamator.

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