Sunday, March 19, 2017

Philostratus

|9.1 Listen to such stories now, my guest [xenos]. Protesilaos lies buried not at Troy but here on the Chersonesus. This large tumulus [kolōnos] over here on the left no doubt contains him. The nymphs generated [phuein] these elms [that you see here] around the tumulus [kolōnos], and they wrote, so to speak, the following decree concerning these trees: |9.2 “Those branches that turn toward Ilion [= Troy] will blossom early and will then immediately shed their leaves and perish before their season [hōrā]—for this was also the life experience [pathos] of Protesilaos—but a tree on its other side will live and prosper.” |9.3 All the trees that do not stand around the tomb [sēma], such as these trees [that you see right over here] in the grove, have strength in all their branches and flourish according to their particular nature.
Philostratus Hērōikos 9.1-3


The key word for is kolōnos, Prof Nagy introduces different uses of this word and its relationship to the hero. The key word is miasma, "meaning ‘pollution, miasma’, a noun derived from the verb miainein, meaning ‘pollute’."