Πρωτογένης

Protogenes

Translated by David Whitehead29 Jun 2001Vetting: high5 revisions

3 notes · 72 words
Artist, from Xanthos [Myth, Place] in Lykia.1 The man famous for his knowledge of painting; the man who [sc. pictorially] told the story of Dionysos2 in Rhodes -- the strange and wonderful artefact which so amazed even Demetrios the Besieger when he laid siege to Rhodes for two whole years, deploying a thousand ships and an army of more than fifty-five thousand men.3 [Protogenes wrote] 2 volumes On Graphic Art and Figures.

Greek original · Adler’s text

Πρωτογένης, ζωγράφος, Ξάνθιος ἐκ Λυκίας· ὁ κατὰ τὴν γραφικὴν διαβόητος ἐπιστήμην, ὁ τὸ ἐν Ῥόδῳ Διονύσιον ἱστορήσας, τὸ ξένον καὶ θαυμαστὸν ἔργον, ὃ καὶ Δημήτριος ὁ Πολιορκητὴς μεγάλως ἐθαύμασεν, ὅτε τὴν Ῥόδον ἐπολιόρκησεν ὅλοις ἐν δυσὶν ἔτεσι, χιλίας ναῦς ἐπαγόμενος καὶ στρατὸν ὁπλίτην μυριάδας ὑπὲρ τὰς πέντε καὶ πεντακισχιλίους. Περὶ γραφικῆς καὶ σχημάτων βιβλία βʹ.

Betacode
*prwtoge/nhs, zwgra/fos, *ca/nqios e)k *luki/as: o( kata\ th\n grafikh\n diabo/htos e)pisth/mhn, o( to\ e)n *(ro/dw| *dionu/sion i(storh/sas, to\ ce/non kai\ qaumasto\n e)/rgon, o(\ kai\ *dhmh/trios o( *poliorkhth\s mega/lws e)qau/masen, o(/te th\n *(ro/don e)polio/rkhsen o(/lois e)n dusi\n e)/tesi, xili/as nau=s e)pago/menos kai\ strato\n o(pli/thn muria/das u(pe\r ta\s pe/nte kai\ pentakisxili/ous. *peri\ grafikh=s kai\ sxhma/twn bibli/a b#.

Notes (3)

  1. For Protogenes see in brief OCD4 s.v.; more fully (e.g.) J.J. Pollitt, The Art of Ancient Greece: sources and documents (Cambridge 1990) 171-3 and passim.
  2. 1An alternative tradition (Pliny, Plutarch: see n.3) said Kaunos, which is near Lykia but actually in Karia. ↩
  3. 2Given the other sources on the episode (see n.3) there seems to be something wrong with the text here. Bernhardy postulated a lacuna; Leopardi took the direct route and emended "Dionysos" to "Ialysos". ↩
  4. 3An absurd figure, but otherwise this is recognizably the episode mentioned by the two principal sources on Protogenes: Pliny, Natural History 35.101-6, and Plutarch, Life of Demetrios 22. King Demetrios Poliorketes famously besieged Rhodes in 305/4 BCE (i.e. c.one full year, not two). At the time Protogenes was there, working on his painting of Ialysos, the eponymous hero of the Rhodian city of that name. Both writers assert, with variations of detail, that Demetrios was reluctant to do anything to damage either picture or artist; and Pliny goes as far as to identify this aesthetically-driven act of restraint (cf. Alexander the Great and the house of Pindar in Thebes) as the reason why the siege failed. ↩

Neighbouring entries

π2961ΠρωτεσίλαοςProtesilaosπ2962Πρωτείωνfirst prizesπ2963ΠρωτογένηςProtogenesπ2964Πρωτοκλισίαfirst-couch rightsπ2965Πρωτόλειαfirst-spoils
Revision history5 revisions · last 11 Dec 2021
  1. tweaked translation — Catharine Roth
  2. Revised — David Whitehead
  3. tweaks — David Whitehead
  4. cosmetics — David Whitehead
  5. cosmetics, status — Catharine Roth
  6. Translated — David Whitehead

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