The vocabulary of erogenous zones in the Palatine Anthology
Abstract
It has often been said that the poetry of the Hellenistic and Imperial periods was intended for a cultured audience and distanced itself from popular language. This is partially true, but in the erotic corpus of the Palatine Anthology, a certain closeness to popular language is observed. This paper is a semantic and philological study of the use of traditional imagery with a novel context in the vocabulary of erogenous zones in the epigrammatists of the Palatine Anthology, but also of the use of common words never before attested in Greek with an obscene meaning. One can observe, on the one hand, the use of terms belonging to popular vocabulary, but, on the other, also sophisticated language, which includes technical terms from the field of medicine. Also, the use of onomastic games, sometimes prone to misunderstanding, amphibologies, euphemisms, the use of hapax, and unusual meanings demonstrates the excellence of the poetic level of the epigrammatists of the Palatine Anthology.
References
ADAMS, J. N. (1982): The Latin Sexual Vocabulary, Duckworth, London.
ANDRÉS ALBA, I. (2024): «El uso anatómico de ταῦρος según los lexicógrafos: ¿una metáfora inexistente?», Minerva 37: 15-27.
AUBRETON, R. (1972): Anthologie Grecque. Première partie. Anthologie Palatine. Tome X (Livre XI), Belles Lettres, Paris.
AUBRETON, R. (1994): Anthologie Grecque. Première partie. Anthologie Palatine.Tome XI (Livre XII), Belles Lettres, Paris.
BAIN, D. (1991): «Six Greek Verb of Sexual Congress (βινῶ, κινῶ, πυγίζω, ληκῶ, οἴφω, λαικάζω)», CQ 41: 51-77. BAIN, D. (2014): «Praefanda: the lexicography of Ancient aischrologia», Eikasmos 25: 391-416.
BEEKES, R. (2010): Etymological Dictionary of Greek, I-II, Brill, Leiden - Boston.
BRIOSO SÁNCHEZ, M. (1991): «Machon, fr. XVI 327-332 Gow», QUCC 39: 115-118.
BUFFIÈRE, F. (2007): Éros adolescent. La pédérastie dans la Grèce Antique, Belles Lettres, Paris [1ªed. 1980].
CAROLI, M. (2017): Il velo delle parole. L’eufemismo nella lingua en ella storia dei Greci, Levante Editori, Bari.
CHANTRAINE, P. (1968-80): Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque, Klincksieck, Paris.
CLARKE, W. M. (1994): «Phallic Vocabulary in Straton», Mnemosyne 4: 466-472.
CLARKE, J. R. (2014): «Sexuality and Visual Representation», Th. K. HUBBARD (ed.), A Companion to Greek and Roman Sexualities, Wiley-Blackwell, Malden, MA -Oxford - Chichester, pp. 509-533.
CORRÊA, P. (2009): «Musical instruments and the Paean in Archilochus», Synthesis 16: 99-112.
DEGANI, E. (1963): «Anth. Pal. XI, 329», Philologus 107: 151-153.
DI GIGLIO, A. (1999): «Eufemismi e metafore musicali», F. DE MARTINO - A. H. SOMMERSTEIN (eds.), Studi sul ’eufemismo, Levante Editori, Bari, pp. 85-98.
DOVER, K. J. (2008): Homosexualidad griega, El Cobre, Barcelona [1ª ed. Harvard 1978].
DURLING, R. J. (1993): A Dictionary of Medical Terms in Galen, Brill, Leiden - New York - Köln.
FISHER, N. (2014): «Athletics and Sexuality», Th. K. HUBBARD (ed.), A Companion to Greek and Roman Sexualities, Wiley-Blackwell, Malden, MA - Oxford - Chichester, pp. 244-264.
FLORIDI, L. (2007): Stratone di Sardi. Epigrammi, Edizioni dell’Orso, Alessandria.
FRIEDRICH, J. (1935): «Zwei kleinasiatische Lallwörter», Glotta 23: 207-213.
FURIANI, P. L. (1987): «Omofilia e androcracia nella società maschile di Stratone di Sardi», Euphrosyne 15: 217-226.
GALÁN VIOQUE, G. (2001): Dioscórides. Epigramas, Universidad de Huelva, Huelva.
GALÁN VIOQUE, G. (2004): Antología Palatina. II. La Guirnalda de Filipo, Gredos, Madrid.
GALÁN VIOQUE, G. - MÁRQUEZ GUERRERO, M. Á. (2001): Epigramas eróticos griegos. Antología Palatina (Libros V y XII), Alianza Editorial, Madrid.
GONZÁLEZ DELGADO, R. (2011): Poemas de amor efébico. Antología Palatina, libro XII, Akal, Madrid.
GONZÁLEZ RINCÓN, M. (1993): «A.P. 12.252 (Estratón) y Teócrito 14.47-56», EPhil 3: 47-54.
GONZÁLEZ RINCÓN, M. (1996): Estratón de Sardes. Epigramas, Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla.
GOW, A. S. F. - PAGE, D. L. (1968): The Greek Anthology. The Garland of Philip and Some Contemporary Epigrams, II, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
HENDERSON, J. (1987): Aristophanes. Lysistrata, Oxford Clarendon Press, Oxford.
HENDERSON, J. (1991): The Maculate Muse. Obscene Language in Attic Comedy, Oxford University Press, New York - Oxford [1ª ed. New Haven 1975].
HENDRY,M.(1997):«An Abysmal pun: Marcus Argentarius VI G.-P. (AP 5.104)», Mnemosyne 50: 325-328.
JOHNSON, M. - RYAN,T. (2005): Sexuality in Greek and Roman Society and Literature, Routledge, London.
LANDFESTER, M. (2019): Aristophanes. Lysistrate, De Gruyter, Berlin - Boston.
LEAR, A. - CANTARELLA, E. (2008): Images of Ancient Greek Pederasty: Boys Were Their Gods, Routledge, London - New York.
LEAR, A. (2014): «Ancient Pederasty. An Introduction», Th. K. HUBBARD (ed.), A Companion to Greek and Roman Sexualities, Wiley-Blackwell, Malden, MA - Oxford - Chichester, pp. 102-127.
LÓPEZ FÉREZ, J. A. (1999): «Eufemismos y vocabulario técnico en el Corpus Hippocraticum», F. DE MARTINO, - A. H. SOMMERSTEIN (eds.), Studi sul’eufemismo, Levante Editori, Bari, pp. 219-257.
MARTOS MONTIEL, J. F. (2014): «La influencia griega en el léxico erótico latino», Ágora 16: 105-136.
MARTOS MONTIEL, J. F. (2018): «Una propuesta de estudio del léxico sexual griego: los textos astrológicos», ExClass 22: 65-90.
MAXWELL-STUART, P. G. (1972): «Strato and the Musa Puerilis», Hermes 100: 215-240.
MAXWELL-STUART, P. G. (1975): «Further Notes on Strato’s Musa Puerilis», Hermes 103: 379-382.
MICHAELIDES, S. (1978): The Music of Ancient Greece. An Encyclopaedia, Faber and Faber, London.
MILNE, M. J. - BOTHMER, D. VON (1953): «Καταπύγων, καταπύγαινα», Hesperia 22: 215-224.
MONTERO CARTELLE, E. (1991): El latín erótico. Aspectos léxicos y literarios, Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla [2ª ed.].
MONTES CALA, J. G. (1989): Calímaco. Hécale, Universidad de Cádiz, Cádiz.
MURGATROYD, P. (1985): «Strato A.P. 12, 252», Hermes 113: 253-255.
OBERMAYER, H. P. (1998): Martial und der Diskurs über männliche “Homosexualität”, Günter Narr Verlag, Tübingen.
O’CONNOR, E. M. (1984): Dominant Themes in Greco-Roman Priapic Poetry [Diss.], University of California, Santa Barbara.
ORTEGA VILLARO, B. (2006): Poemas griegos de vino y burla. Antología Palatina, libro XI, Cátedra, Madrid.
PAGE, D. L. (1978): The Epigrams of Rufinus, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
PAGE, D. L. (1981): Further Greek Epigrams, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
POLIAKOFF, M. B. (1986): Studies in theTerminology of the Greek Combat Sports, Hain, Frankfurt am Main.
PROCTOR, F. A. (1919): «Anth. Pal. XII 3», CR 33: 25.
ROBERT, L. (1963): Noms indigènes dans l’Asie Mineur grèco-romaine, Maisonneuve, Paris.
ROCCONI, E. (2002): Le parole delle Muse. La formazione del lessico tecnico musicale nella Grecia antica, Edizioni Quasar, Roma.
SCHATZMANN, A. (2012): Nikarchos II: Epigrammata. Einleitung, Texte, Kommentar, Vandenhoeck - Ruprecht, Göttingen.
SIDER, D. (1997): The Epigrams of Philodemus, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
SIEMS, K. (1974): Aischrologia. Das sexuell-hässliche im antiken Epigramm [Diss.], Göttingen.
SKODA, F. (1988): Médecine ancienne et métaphore. Le vocabulaire de l’anatomie et de la pathologie en grec ancien, Peeters, Paris.
SMALL, S. G. P. (1942): The Epigrams of Marcus Argentarius. Introduction, revised text, commentary [Diss.], University of Cincinnati.
SOMMERSTEIN, A. H. (1999): «The Anatomy of Euphemism in Aristophanic Comedy», F. DE MARTINO - A. H. SOMMERSTEIN (eds.), Studi sul’eufemismo, Levante Editori, Bari, pp. 181-217.
TAILLARDAT, J. (1965): Les images d’Aristophane. Études de langue et de style, Belles Lettres, Paris.
THOMAS, R. F. (1991): «Death, Doxography, and the ‘Termerian Evil’ (Philodemus, Epigr. 27 Page = A.P. 11.30)», CQ 41: 130-137.
VETTA, M. (1989): Aristofane. Le donne all’assemblea, Mondadori, Milano.
VIANSINO, G. (1963): Paolo Silenziario. Epigrammi, Loescher, Torino.
WALTZ, P. (1960): Anthologie Grecque. Première partie. Anthologie Palatine.Tome II (Livre V), Belles Lettres, Paris.
Copyright (c) 2025 Fortunatae
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Authors retain copyright and grant the journal the right to be the first publication of the work as well as license it under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with acknowledgment of authorship of the work and initial publication in this magazine.
Authors may separately establish additional agreements for the non-exclusive distribution of the version of the work published in the journal (for example, placing it in an institutional repository or publishing it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.
