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Anth. Pal. 9. 235: Juba II, Cleopatra Selene and the Course of the Nile

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

D. Braund
D. Braund
Affiliation:
University of Exeter
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Extract

Who is the author of this poem and what is its historical context?

Gow and Page are convinced that the author is Crinagoras. Manuscript authority, in the person of the so-called ‘corrector’, supports the attribution. Yet, at first sight at least, the attribution of this poem to Crinagoras raises something of a problem. It does so because the poem evidently relates to what seems to be a contemporary marriage linking the royal families of Egypt and Libya respectively: if the author is indeed Crinagoras, what marriage can this be? Only one such marriage is available: as Gow and Page accurately observe, ‘It is generally agreed that this epigram refers to the marriage of Cleopatra Selene and Juba II’.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Classical Quarterly , Volume 34 , Issue 1 , May 1984 , pp. 175 - 178
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 1984

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References

1 Garland ii. 233.

2 On the history of Juba II and Cleopatra Selene see in general Gsell, S., Histoire ancienne de l' Afrique du nord (1928), vii and viiGoogle Scholar. On their marriage in particular, Plut, . Ant. 87Google Scholar; Dio 51. 15. 6. As to the date of the marriage, a coin bearing the heads of Juba and Cleopatra Selene is dated to 20/19 B.C., indicating a terminus ante quern for their wedding: see Mazard, J., Corpus nummorum Numidiae Mauretaniaeque (1955), no. 357Google Scholar; cf. also no. 297 with Mazard ad loc. It is worth noting that Augustus is said to have favoured such marriages (Suet, . Aug. 48Google Scholar); this one must have had his blessing, as Dio 51. 15.6 states. According to Plut, . Ant. 87Google Scholar Octavia also played a part in the union.

3 So, notably, Gsell (1928), viii. 221, followed by Macurdy, G. H., Vassal Queens (1937), p. 54Google Scholar.

4 Dio 49. 41. 3.

5 Dio 51. 15. 6; for Juba's antecedents see, most conveniently, ILS 840.

6 AJ 17. 349; BJ 2. 115; cf. Garland ii. 234.

7 Garland ii. 233.

8 Plin, . NH 5. 16Google Scholar. The evidence is conveniently collected and discussed in Gsell, S., ‘Juba II, savant et écrivain’, JdS 68 (1927), 169–97 = Gsell (1928) viii. 251–76Google Scholar. Cf. the poetry of Polemo II of Pontus, (or possibly Polemo I): Garland i. 371Google Scholar. On the scholarly interests of Hellenistic royalty see Préaux, C., Le monde hellénistique (1978), i. 212–20Google Scholar.

9 On the history of the view see Gsell (1927), p. 172 = (1928), viii. 254. Note also that Hdt. 2. 33—4 envisages the Nile as running horizontally across North Africa from west to east, which would accord with the view that the source of the Nile was in Mauretania: see Lloyd, A. B., Herodotus Book II: Commentary, 1–98 (1976), pp. 135–46, esp. p. 136Google Scholar.

10 Paton, W. R., The Greek Anthology (Loeb, 1915), iii. 123Google Scholar.

11 Garland ii. 234.

12 Adams, W. Y., Nubia, Corridor to Africa (1977)Google Scholar, considers the geography and history of the whole area: see especially his maps on pp. 14 and 57.

13 See Plato, , Politicus 280 BGoogle Scholar.

14 cf. Arr, . Anab. 6. 1. 2Google Scholar, who states that when Alexander saw crocodiles in India, he thought at first that he had found the source of the Nile there.

15 Paus. 1. 17. 2 with Graindor, P., Athènes sous Auguste (1927), p. 82Google Scholar.

16 cf. Roullet, A., The Egyptian and Egyptianizing Monuments of Imperial Rome (1972)Google Scholar, and De Vos, M., L'egittomania in pitture e mosaici romano-campani della prima età imperiale (1980)Google Scholar.

17 OGIS 197 = EJ 164.

18 Fishwick, D., ‘The annexation of Mauretania’, Historia 20 (1971), 467–87Google Scholar with idem and B. D. Shaw, ‘Ptolemy of Mauretania and the conspiracy of Gaetulicus’, Historia 25 (1976), 491–4. Cf. Faur, J.-C., ‘Caligula et la Maurétanie: la fin de Ptolémée’, Klio 55 (1973), 249–71Google Scholar.

19 The precise scope of these negotiations remains unclear: see Magie, D., Roman Rule in Asia Minor (1950), p. 1203 n. 1Google Scholar; cf. Glew, D., ‘Between the wars: Mithridates Eupator and Rome, 85–73 B.C.’, Chiron 11 (1981), 109–30Google Scholar.

20 See, most recently, Huzar, E. G., Mark Antony (1978), pp. 196–200Google Scholar.

21 I am most grateful to Su Braund, Richard Seaford, Peter Wiseman and the editors for their valuable suggestions. All responsibility of course remains with me.