Entry Version:

This is the English version of this article translated by Patrick Hogan. The original Italian version was written by Lara Pagani and first published on 29/05/2007.

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Grammarian:

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Biography:

A native son of Syracuse, the grammarian Leogoras is known thanks to two Latin testimonia related to the use of the diple diacritical sign in the text of Homer³⁴⁰⁶. His name varies in the sources between the forms Leogoras and Leagoras; the first of these is generally accepted by modern critics, with the sole exception of F. Schironi (L’Olimpo, 2001, p. 18), who defends Λεαγόρας, with an α, on the basis of his origin in a Doric³⁴⁰⁷-speaking area.

The dating of Leogoras is not certain: according to Usener (Leogoras, 1865), he should be dated before Aristarchus³⁴⁰⁸, at the end of Aristophanes of Byzantium’³⁴⁰⁹ period of activity, while Gudeman (Kritische Zeichen, RE 11, 2 [1922], 1919 and Leogoras [n. 3], RE 12, 2 [1925], 2000) considers him rather a student of Aristarchus himself.

What we know about Leogoras was contained in a Latin compendium known as the Anecdotum Parisinum, which was copied in the year 780 CE in the ms. Paris. Lat. 7530 and later taken up by Isidorus³⁴¹⁰ ( orig. 1, 21, 14) in a briefer form: Leogoras reportedly indicated “first” with the sign of the diple the Homeric passages pertaining to the exegetical problem of the name Ὄλυμπος, which is said to indicate in the poems always the mountain of Macedonia and never the sky as the seat of the gods. In support of this interpretation, Leogoras argued that the sky and Olympus appear in Homer with different and not interchangeable epithets (εὐρύς for the first and μακρός for the second).

The type of critical sign used by the grammarian is called in the Parisian codex the diple aperistictos, i.e., the simple diple, whose spread in critical-exegetical praxis is normally connected with the name of Aristarchus. But the manuscripts of Isidorus present an uncertain text, in which Schironi proposes to read “diplen peristicton”, to indicate a “punctuated” diple, i.e., one accompanied by a dot: Leogoras thus is thought to have personalized a critical sign to refer to the specific question of his own interest (Schironi, cit., pp. 19–21; on the role of the grammarian in the development of critical signs cf. Gudeman, Kritische Zeichen, RE 11, 2 [1922], 1919).

Leogoras is not cited elsewhere for his opinion in this regard, but both this and the arguments used to support it appear in different scholia of Aristonicus³⁴¹¹ (hence they are connected with the work of Aristarchus: Sch. Il. 1, 402. 2, 48a. 3, 364. 8, 199c. 15, 21c. 15, 192³⁴¹²); in two papyrus fragments containing texts of Homeric exegesis (PMed. inv. 71.82, 1^st c. BCE and PBrux. inv. E. 7162, 1^st c. CE³⁴¹³); and in a passage of the “Derveni papyrus” (XII 1–16³⁴¹⁴) (cf. Montanari, Discussioni su “Olimpo”, 2001 and Schironi, cit.): the connections between these materials and Leogoras’ research are unclear (Montanari, cit., p. 941), but clearly the topic that he studied was not at all out of place in ancient philological debate.

Lehr’s distrust (Aristarch. stud., 1882³, p. 332 n. 240) of the reliability of the testimonia regarding the grammarian seems to be founded principally on the supposition that they implied the existence of an edition of the Homeric text edited by him – which is hardly plausible. However, the work of Leogoras attested in the sources is not necessarily connected with the drawing up of an edition, but it can be envisioned within a syngramma dedicated to the subject (cf. Montanari, cit., p. 941).

In no way is it possible to verify whether this figure is the same as the Leagoras cited by the Suda for a gloss on the lemma αἴγλη (Sud. αι 64³⁴¹⁵; cf. Schironi, cit., p. 18 n. 53).

Bibliography:

Studies:

H. Usener, Leogoras von Syrakus, «RhM» 20 (1865), pp. 131–133.

K. Lehrs, De Aristarchi studiis Homericis, 3^rd ed., Leipzig 1882 (1^st ed. 1833; repr. Hildesheim 1964), p. 332 n. 240.

A. Gudeman, Kritische Zeichen, RE 11, 2 (1922), 1919.

A. Gudeman, Leogoras (n. 3), RE 12, 2 (1925), 2000.

O. Dreyer, Leogoras (n. 2), Kl.P. 3 (1969), 563.

F. Montanari, Leogoras (n. 2), N.P. 7 (1999), 53.

Montanari, Discussioni su “Olimpo”, 2001.

Schironi, L’Olimpo, 2001, pp. 11–21.

Sources:

Source 1: Anecd. Paris., in ms. Paris. Lat. 7530 (Lexicon Vindobonense, rec. et adn. critica instr. A. Nauck, Petersburg 1867 (rist. Hildesheim 1965), pp. 278–282)

> diplen aperisticton primus Leagoras Syracusanus apposuit Homericis versibus ad separationem Olympi a caelo, proprie Olympum ab eo pro monte positum adnotans, nusquam pro caelo, quod saepe οὐρανὸν εὐρύν dicat et μακρὸν Ὄλυμπον, neque e contrario epitheta permutet. ponebat autem tam ad montis significationes quam ad caeli, utrimque manifestatur voluntas eius.

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Source 2: Isid. orig. 1, 21, 14

·> diple περὶ στίχον (peristicon T: persticon B¹: plecticon C: persticon ex praesticon K et L: per(peri?)stincon A: περίστικτον Schironi, L’Olimpo, 2001, p. 20) hanc pri[m]us Leogoras Syracusanus posuit Homericis versibus ad separationem Olympi a caelo.

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Source 3: Sud. αι 64 (??)

αἴγλη: βόλος κυβευτικός, λαμπηδών, αὐγή. Κρατῖνος. καὶ ποπάνου εἶδος δηλοῖ, καὶ θυσίαν, ὥς φησι Λεαγόρας . […].

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