Danezis E., Theodossiou E., Stathopoulou M. and Grammenos Th.

University of Athens, Department of Physics, Section of Astrophysics-Astronomy and Mechanics, Panepistimiopolis, GR-15784 Zografos, Athens, Greece.

Abstract: Up to now, Alcman was known as one of the greatest lyric poets of the ancientworld (650 B.C.). However, the publication of the Oxyrynchus papyrus No 2390 in 1957 caused a great amount of astronishment. This papyrus from the 2nd century A.D. contains parts of a comment written in prose, with implies that, in one of his poems, Alcman deals with a kind of a god-created cosmogony. Undoubtedly, that cosmogonical view formulated by Alcman in the midth of the 7th century B.C., describles much older consideration which resemble certain modern cosmological conjectures. According to the latter, the observable universe has emerged out of a point singularity interior to a white hole which, due to the time symmetry of Einstein' s field equations, can be considered as a time-reversed black hole

On of the most important Greek lyric poets of antiquity, who has shaped “choral” poetry in Sparta as a special literary form in the midst of the 7^th century B.C., has been Alcman, son of Damas or Titarus (Βουτιερίδης Η.). Due to his incomparable art, Alcman held the first position in the Alexandrian “canon”. According to Athenaeus:

“Alcman was the best of the erotic poets” (Σκιαδάς 1981).

The name “Alcman” is an adjustment to the doric idiom of the ionic name Alcmaeon, but it shoyld not be confused with the Pythagorean Alcmaeon (ca. 500 B.C.), son of Perithos from Kroton, the Greek colony in South Italy.

As A. D. Skiadas (1981) reports, according to Souda (under the lemma “Alcman”), the poet has lived during the 24^th Olympiade (672-668 B. C.), when Ardys was governor of Lydia, while according to the ecclesiastic writer Eusebious, Alcman flourished around 659 B. C. Similarly, in a fragment of the Oxyrynchus Papyrus No 2390 it is reported that Alcman mentions “Leotychis”, king of Sparta, by name.

Apparently, we can assume that Alcman has lived during the second half of the 7^th century B. C. According to Souda (A. P. 7, 709, Alexandros Aetolos), Alcman’ s descent was the Greek Ionia (the city of Sardes in Lydia) wherefrom he went over to Sparta.

This view can be found in a memorandum, maintained in the Oxyrynchus Papyrus No 29 [P. Oxy. XXIX fr. 1, col III, 30 κ. ε. (=10(α), 30 κ. ε. P.)], which states:

“…then, the Lacedaemonians appoited Alcman, descending from Lydia, as a teacher (tutor) to the daughters and ephebes…”

However, this view may not hold, since the Oxyrynchus Papyrus No 2389 [P. Oxy. 2389, fr. 9 col. 1(=13(α), Ρ.στ. 11 κ. ε.)] contains a comment according to which, the great poet comes not from Lydia:

As for the disagreement concerning the birthplace of Alcman, Antiparus from Thessalonike (Souda A. P. 7, 18, 5) remarks, that the claim on the descent by a number of big cities was a very common practice in antiquity:

Pausanias (III, 15, 2) certifies that at Servion, a region lying to the right of Sparta and called “Road”, next to the altars of the Hippokontides and Hercules there was a memorial to the honour of Alcman until the 2^nd century B. C.

To Alcman we own the information according to which, the more ancient Hellenes were called “Graeke”, as it is concluded by the lexicographer Stephanus Bysantius (5-6^th century A. D.), who writes (Bουτιερίδης Η.):

Alcman’ work (according to Souda ap. 158P) has been classified by the Alexandrians into six or seven books and it contained hymns, paeans and parthenia (hymnes sung by young virgins for worship purposes):

The latter work probably constitutes an unknown seventh work of the poet (see: Davison Notes 61, pp. 35-38 and G. Huxley, Alcman’ s «Κολυμβώσαι», 1964, pp 26-28).

The language used by Alcman is mainly the doric idiom of his time, mixed with elements from the ionic and aeolian idiom. Pausanias calls this language «ήκιστα εύφωνον», i. e. “least euphonic”.

Only a few fragments have been found from the work of the great lyric poet. In 1855, the French egyptologist Mariette discovered in a tomb near the second great Pyramid*, a papyrus containing 100 verses from one of his parthenian-hymns (in honour of Orthia (standing) Artemis). This fragment was published for the first time by professor Egger in 1863.

However, the big surprise came in 1957, after the publication of Oxyrynchus Papyrus No 2390, which is dated back to the 2^nd century A. D. This papyrus contains parts of a comment written in prose, according to which, Alcman dealt a kind of theogonic cosmology in one of his poems.

The central part of this comment, presented in the following, also contains “lemmas” i. e. short phrases by Alcman himself.

*In the region at the western bank of the Nile, was the city of Lower Egypt called Oxyrynchus, capital of the county of Oxyrynchus. Today, the village of Vachnasa lies near the ruines of the ancient city. In excavations of this Ptolemaeic city, a big number of papyruses has been found, containing Greek texts in the majority. These papyruses, among the most important of which are Aristoteles «Αθηναίων Πολιτεία», Sophocles’ drama «Ιχνευταί» and Alcman’s «Τα Παρθένια», are named after the name of the city, accompanied by a code number.

According to the previous text, we can summarize Alcman’ s cosmogonic model as follows:

1. Initially, matter was stirred and formless and neither the Sun, nor the Moon and hence the stellar Universe was created by non-observable, uncreated and formless material which was preexistent.

2. Then, within the space which was full by that invisible and non-observable material (non-matter), someone who arranged everything was born (Thetis, Θέτις, whose name comes from the root of τιθέναι, θέσθαι, meaning “to put” or “set in order”), as a worker.

The involvement of Thetis, a sea goddess worshipped in Sparta, leads to the thought that we can probably identify the situation holding before the creation of the observable Universe with that of the primordial Ocean, which, according to Aristoteles (Metaphysics A’3, 983 b 27) was, together with Tethys, the father of the world:

“ there are people who believe that the post ancient, the very first indeed, who thought about the gods long before the present time, set the same assumption about nature, since they wrote that Ocean and Tethys were the parents of the world and that theoath of the gods is water, what the poets call Styga, as whatever is the most ancient it is also the most respectful and the most respectful serves as oath…”

The assumptio, that the Ocean was the father of the world, denotes, according to Kirk (1990), the existence of non-greek cosmogonic considerations and reminds us of the babylonian view, that the mainland emerged out of the primordial waters (from the Creation Epos, Pritchard, Ancient Near Eastern Texts, p. 60)

3. Then, in the space of non-matter, a pore (narrow passage, West 1963) was created which served as the beginning. In other words, this narrow passage constituted an exit cord for the stirred, formless and non-observable matter, from the space of the initial, perceivable non-existence to the perceivable space of the observable Universe.

4. The creation of a bound (τέκμωρ) followed, which according to West (1963), was a leading mark inside the pore or, according to Vernant (1980), inside the stars. Apparently, the τέκμωρ was the end of the situation which existed before the perceivable by humans, Universe. This means, that when the nucreated and formless matter passed through this bound, it automatically became shaped and perceivable, as it could form perceivable objects like the Sun and the Moon. According to Kirk (1990), τέκμωρ as a bound can be probably identified with the notion of infinity given by Anaximandros, who visited Sparta after a generation.

5. The pore and the bound coexisted with darkness as one set of discrete events. Of course, as it is implied by what follows, the whole system of poros-bound-darkness, was lying exterior to the perceivable Universe (Kirk 1990). According to Page (1968), the pore can be probably identified with Hesiodos’ Chaos, in the sense of the darkness, something rejected by Kirk (1990), as he adopts the view that the pore as a passage cannot be identified with Chaos or darkness, or the formless matter, but it should succeed them or act upon them.

6. After the bound (τέκμωρ), the day (probably the luminous part of it and hence the Sun), the Moon and the darkness (probably the night, the non luminous, dark part of the day) were created.

7. The daylight (radiation) was not dense, but it was assisted by the Sun’ s radiation. At this point, it is worth noting, that the commentator denotes that the daylight (radiation) was «assisted» by the Sun, meaning that the latter was not the «unique» source of the daylight. This fact lead us to conclude, that the Day, at this point of the comment, is probably not identified with the luminous part of the solar day, but rather with the modern, generalized notion of the radiation, i.e. with the concept of light.

Of course, the previous cosmogonic consideration, stated by Alcman in the midst of 7^th century B.C., describes much more older views, which can be identified with certain modern cosmological hypotheses. According to the latter, the observable stellar Universe was born out of a point singularity interior to a white hole, which can by considered –due to the time symmetry of Einstein’s equations- as a reversed in time black hole (Novikov 1989).

Let us remark, that similar conjectures had been already stated in the midst of the 60’s according to which the possibly existing white holes constitute regions of the Universe where the Big Bang takes placa with a time delay (Novikov 1964, Neeman 1965). Conceptually, Alcman’s “pore” can be identified with the Einstein-Rosen bridge (Neeman 1965), the point singularity with the bound (τέκμωρ), and the antiparallel universe interior to which the bridge begins, with the space of the uncreated, formless and unperceivable matter.

However, as Einstein’s equations determine the local but not the global geometry or topology of spacetime, the Einstein-Rosen bridge can considered as connecting either two different universes, or two different (asymptotically flat) terion of the same universe. It is possible to discard this second version on physical grounds (Ohanian 1976), while the dynamics of the Einstein-rosen bridge raises certain questions about a more general interpretation, which stil remain unanswered (Minser 1973).

The notion of a white hole results from the fact, that the «τέκμωρ» as a bound of the «pore» is, according to Alcman the region of an «out of nowhere» manifestation of perseivable matter and of luminious energy as well, since the day has been born immediately hereafter.

We wish to express our thanks to the philologist Mr. L. Stergiou for his kind help in the accurate translation of all ancient greek text parts presented as well as the philologist Mrs I. Frantzi and Mrs K. Xanthopoulou, both librarians at the Classical Philology Department at the University of Athens, for their help in searching for the necessary bibliographic references concerning Alcman’s work and life.

1. Apicella, Gabriella R.: «La Cosmogonia di Alcmane» (QUCCN. S. 3.32. 1979, pp. 7-27).

2. Balash, M.: «Jodavia sobre la patria de Alcmane» (Emerita 41, 1973, pp. 309-322).

3. Bουτιερίδης, H.: «Aρχαίοι Ελληνες Λυρικοί». Εκδ. 3η, Eκδ. Δ. N. Παπαδήμα, Aθήνα, σ. 67.

4. Campell, D.A.: «Greek Lyric Poetry- A selection of Early Greek Lyric. Elegiac and Iambic Poetry». Ed. John H. Betts, First published by Macmillan Education Etd., 1967. Reprinted 1972 and 1976. Bristol Classical Pres 1982.

5. Dieht, E.: «Anthologia Lyrica Graeca». Leipzig, 1925.

6. D’ Iverno, R.: «Introduction Einstein’s Relativity». Clarendon Press, 1992, p. 232.

7. Harvey, F.D.: «Oxyrhynchus Papyrus 2390 and Early Spartan History (JHS 87, 1967, pp. 62-73).

8. Hofmann, J.B.: «Λεξικόν της Aρχαίας Eλληνικής», εξελληνισθέν υπό Aντωνίου Δ. Παπανικολάου. Aθήνα 1976. Εκδοση στα Γερμανικά Verlag von R. Oldenbourg, Munchen 1950.

9. Kirk, G.S., Raven, J.E., Schofield, M.: «Oι Προσωκρατικοί Φιλόσοφοι». Mορφωτικό Ιδρυμα Eθνικής Tραπέζης, Aθήνα 1990.

10. Lobel, E., Roberts, C.H., Turner, E.G., Barns,J.W.B.: «The Oxyrhynchus Papyri. Part XXIV», Graeco-Roman Memoirs, No 35, Egypt Exploration Society, London 1957.

11. Misner, C., Thorn, K., Wheeler, J.: «Gravitation». Ed. Freeman, 1973, pp. 838-40.

12. Novikov, I.D.: Sov. Astron.-A. J., 8, (1964), p. 857.

13. Novikov, I.D., Frolov, V.: «Physics of Black Holes»,. Kluwer Acad. Publ., 1989.

14. Neeman, Y.: Astrophys. J., 141, 1965, p. 1303.

15. Ohanian, H., C.: «Gravitation and Spacetime», W. W. Norton, 1976, p. 320.

16. Page D.L.:«Poetarum Melicorum Graecorum», Fragmenta Vol. I «Alcman. Stesichorus Ibycus». Ed. Malcolm Davies OXONII E. Typographeo Clarendoniano MCMXCI, 1991.

17 Page, D.A.: «Lyrica Graeca Selecta» . p. 6. Oxford 1968.

18. Page D. L., Litt, D.: «Poetae Melici Graeci», Oxford Clareston Press, 1962, p. 24.

19. Penwill, J. L.: «Alcman’ s Cosmogony» (Apeiron 8, 1974, pp.13-39).

20. Σκιαδάς A. Δ.: «Aρχαϊκός Λυρισμός-2». Aθήνα 1981.

21. Σούδα (Σουΐδα): Λεξικόν. IMM. BEKKER. (Suidae Lexicon, Ex Recognitione, Immanuelis Bekkeri. Berolini. Typis et impensis Georgii Reimeri. A. 1854). I. II. Γεωργιάδης. Bιβλιοθήκη των Eλλήνων. Aθήναι.

22. Σταματάκος, I.: «Λεξικόν της Aρχαίας Eλληνικής Γλώσσης, τόμ. 1, Eκδόσεις Π. Δημητράκου A. E., Aθήνα 1949.

23. Tσαντσάνογλου, K.: «Δύο Aλκμάνες-P. Oxy. 2802» (Eλληνικά 26, 1973, σελ. 107-112).

24. Vernant, J-P.: «Thetis et le poeme cosmogonique d’ Alcman» (Hommages a Marie Delcourt, Brussels 1970, pp. 38-39).

25. Vernant, J. P.: «Myth and Society in Ancient Greece». Aγγλική μετάφραση, Λονδίνο, 1980.

26. West, M. L.: «Three Presocratic cosmologies». CQN.S 13, pp. 154-176, 1963.

27. West, M. L.:«Alcman and Pythagoras» (Cl. Qu. N. S. 17, 1967, pp.1-15).