Table Of ContentWarsaw Studies in Classical Literature and Culture 4 4 Warsaw Studies in Classical Literature and Culture 4
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Julia Doroszewska r
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The Monstrous World a
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Revenants, oracular heads, hermaphrodites, sex-changers, human-animal children, J
Julia Doroszewska
multiple pregnancies, births, body features … This is just a sample of subjects that
Phlegon of Tralles explored in the 2nd century AD in his Mirabilia. This study identifies d
the common motifs of Phlegon’s text and determines his criterion of selection: using the rl The Monstrous World
cultural category of monster, it argues that Phlegon exclusively collected stories of either o
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hybrid creatures or human “record-breakers“ with respect to scale, size and multiplicity of
their corporeal features. In this light, the Mirabilia appear to be a book on monsters and s
u Corporeal Discourses in Phlegon
the monstrous that corresponds with a general fondness for marvels and oddities during o
the Roman imperial period. r
t of Tralles’ Mirabilia
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The Author M
Julia Doroszewska is Assistant Professor of Classical Philology at the University of Silesia,
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Poland. Her field of interest is the literature of the Roman Empire and more particularly the h
writings of Phlegon of Tralles. T
ISBN 978-3-631-65626-6 www.peterlang.com
WSCL 04_265626_Doroszewska_AM_A5HC PLA.indd 1 26.07.16 KW 30 11:05
Warsaw Studies in Classical Literature and Culture 4 4 Warsaw Studies in Classical Literature and Culture 4
a
k
s
w
e
z
s
o
Julia Doroszewska r
o
D
The Monstrous World a
i
l
u
Revenants, oracular heads, hermaphrodites, sex-changers, human-animal children, J
Julia Doroszewska
multiple pregnancies, births, body features … This is just a sample of subjects that
Phlegon of Tralles explored in the 2nd century AD in his Mirabilia. This study identifies d
the common motifs of Phlegon’s text and determines his criterion of selection: using the rl The Monstrous World
cultural category of monster, it argues that Phlegon exclusively collected stories of either o
W
hybrid creatures or human “record-breakers“ with respect to scale, size and multiplicity of
their corporeal features. In this light, the Mirabilia appear to be a book on monsters and s
u Corporeal Discourses in Phlegon
the monstrous that corresponds with a general fondness for marvels and oddities during o
the Roman imperial period. r
t of Tralles’ Mirabilia
s
n
o
The Author M
Julia Doroszewska is Assistant Professor of Classical Philology at the University of Silesia,
e
Poland. Her field of interest is the literature of the Roman Empire and more particularly the h
writings of Phlegon of Tralles. T
www.peterlang.com
WSCL 04_265626_Doroszewska_AM_A5HC PLA.indd 1 26.07.16 KW 30 11:05
The Monstrous World
Warsaw Studies in Classical Literature and Culture
Edited by Mikołaj Szymański and Mariusz Zagórski
Volume 4
Julia Doroszewska
The Monstrous World
Corporeal Discourses in Phlegon
of Tralles’ Mirabilia
Bibliographic Information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche
Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data is available in the internet at
http://dnb.d-nb.de.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Doroszewska, Julia, 1981-
The monstrous world : corporeal discourses in Phlegon of Tralles' Mirabilia /
Julia Doroszewska.
pages cm. – (Warsaw studies in classical literature and culture ; Volume 4)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-3-631-65626-6 (alk. paper) – ISBN 978-3-653-04870-4 (e-Book)
1. Phlegon, of Tralles. Book of marvels. 2. Curiosities and wonders–Early works to
1900. 3. Monsters–Folklore. I. Title.
PA4273.P3B6634 2015
398.20938–dc23
2015017509
This publication was financially supported by
the Institute of Classical Studies of the University of Warsaw.
ISSN 2196-9779
ISBN 978-3-631-65626-6 (Print)
E-ISBN 978-3-653-04870-4 (E-PDF)
E-ISBN 978-3-631-69579-1 (EPUB)
E-ISBN 978-3-631-69580-7 (MOBI)
DOI 10.3726/978-3-653-04870-4
© Peter Lang GmbH
Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften
Frankfurt am Main 2016
All rights reserved.
PL Academic Research is an Imprint of Peter Lang GmbH.
Peter Lang – Frankfurt am Main ∙ Bern ∙ Bruxelles ∙ New York ∙
Oxford ∙ Warszawa ∙ Wien
All parts of this publication are protected by copyright. Any
utilisation outside the strict limits of the copyright law, without
the permission of the publisher, is forbidden and liable to
prosecution. This applies in particular to reproductions,
translations, microfilming, and storage and processing in
electronic retrieval systems.
This publication has been peer reviewed.
www.peterlang.com
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments..................................................................................................7
I. Introduction .....................................................................................................9
I.1 Aims .............................................................................................................10
I.2 Method. Monster as the Key and the Key to the Monster ....................12
I.3 The Author and the Work. A Few Facts and
Even Fewer Pieces of Gossip .....................................................................15
I.4 Survey of scholarly literature ....................................................................20
II. Phlegon’s Monstrous World .....................................................................23
II.1 Monsters ......................................................................................................23
II.1.1 Neither Dead Nor Alive ...................................................................24
II.1.1.1 Revenants or Walking Corpses ........................................24
Philinnion: The Story of a Proto-Vampire .....................................30
Speaking in Riddles: The Plot of the Story .....................................31
“Farewell!” The Epistolary Form of the Narrative .........................33
Peeking through the Keyhole: Philinnion from the Folktale .......35
“Neither properly dead, nor properly alive”.
Why do the dead return? .................................................................41
Was Philinnion a Demon? ...............................................................48
Monstrous Identity, Monstrous Desires .........................................56
The Revenant Anthropophagous vs. the Oracular Head:
The Story of Polycritus .....................................................................57
When Locrian Women Gave Birth to Monsters ...........................59
“Unharmed by the Stones” ...............................................................62
Revenant, Red Wolf and More Oracles: Buplagus and His Story .....67
Not Haunting, Just Warning.............................................................71
Monstrous Corpses ...........................................................................73
II.1.1.2 The Oracular Head ............................................................74
Among Monstrous Divine Mouthpieces: Conclusions ................78
5
II.1.2 Neither a Woman nor a Man ...........................................................79
II.1.2.1 Hermaphrodites. The God vs. the Monsters ...................81
The Monster. The Child of Polycritus and Others ........................81
The God ..............................................................................................92
II.1.2.2 Sex-changers .......................................................................93
Women who became Monsters. Conclusions ............................110
II.1.2.3 The World Reversed: Births from Males .......................111
II.1.3 Neither Human Nor Animal .........................................................115
II.1.3.1 Monstrous Births .............................................................115
II.1.3.3 Hippocentaurs: Humanoids? ..........................................122
II.2 The Monstrous ........................................................................................128
Monstrously Old, Monstrously Big: Giant Bones ...................................129
Two Heads, Four Heads: Monstrous Redundancy .................................138
Monstrous Multiples ..................................................................................140
Monstrously Productive Couples .............................................................142
Juvenile Mothers and Young Old Men: Monstrously Fast Maturation ....144
Monstrous Longevity: Phlegon’s Macrobii ..............................................146
Phlegon’s Monstrous World. Conclusions ...............................................146
III. Phlegon and the Monsters in Context .............................................155
The Emperor as a Patron of Monsters ...........................................................156
Monsters for Sale, Monsters on Display: Deformed Slaves ........................162
Monstrous Literature: Paradoxographers and Others .................................167
Conclusions ......................................................................................................170
IV. Bibliography ................................................................................................173
Abbreviations ....................................................................................................173
Books and Articles ...........................................................................................173
Editions of Phlegon’s Mirabilia .......................................................................186
Translations without the Greek Text .............................................................187
Editions of ancient authors .............................................................................187
6
Acknowledgments
I am especially indebted to and thank Professor William Hansen, whose fas-
cinating book on the Mirabilia was my source of inspiration and guide in my
adventure with Phlegon of Tralles, and whose support and aid I enjoyed dur-
ing my research stay at Indiana University of Bloomington. I am also happy
to express my gratitude to Professor Gościwit Malinowski for all of his critical
remarks which contributed to improving this book. Last but not least, I would
like to thank my husband Filip for his love and understanding during the best
and worst moments of my work.
7
