Accademia Editoriale

Eros Ludens: Apollonius' Argonautica 3, 132-41

Author(s): Mary Louise B. Pendergraft
Source: Materiali e discussioni per l'analisi dei testi classici, No. 26 (1991), pp. 95-102
Published by: Fabrizio Serra editore
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Mary Louise .

Pendergraft

Eros Ludens:
Apollonius' Argonautica 3, 132-41
The third book of Apollonius' Argonauticaopens with a remarkable
scene that capturesits reader'simagination,for it displaysmany of the
most appealingcharacteristicsof this Hellenistic epic. Hera and Athena arriveat Aphrodite's house hoping to enlist her assistancein their
plan for Jason to acquire the golden fleece. This plan requires that
Eros cause Medea to fall in love with Jason: in other words, the prize
is to be won by craft, charm, and stealth - not by martialprowess1.
The poet prsentstheir embassyin a delightfulscene conflatingseveral
disparateyet typically Apollonian lments: the mighty Olympians
play roles closely akin to those found in the bourgeois comdies of
manners of Theocritus' Adoniazusae or Herodas' Mimiambs;the figures of Aphrodite and Eros hve become subtle allgories of the
psychology of desire; the languageis replte with telling allusions to
Iliad and Odyssey; perhaps we even hear echoes of an Orphie
Theogony2.Amid this farrago,one item commands special attention:
the golden ball with which Aphrodite bribes her spoiled and willful
son Eros when she seeks to win his aid for the proposed scheme.
Apollonius describesthe ball in some dtail (although,as we shall see,
commentatorsfind it difficult to agreon its appearanceand construction) in Aphrodite's speech to her son, as follows:
I will give you the beautiful toy of Zeus, which his dear
nurse Adrasteiamade for him while he was still a child in the
Idaean cave, a well-rounded sphre. You'd get no finer one
from the hands of Hephaestus. Its circles are wrought of

Riv. Fil. Istr. Class. 98, 1970, p. 17; Amy Rose,

1. D. N. Levin,
,
Clothing Imagery in Apollonius'sArgonautica,Quad. Urb. 50, 1985, pp. 29-44.
2. Ch. Rowan Beye, Epicand Romancein the Argonauticaof Apollonius,Carbondale
and Edwardsville1982, pp. 125-28; M. Campbell,Echoesand ImitationofEarly Epicin
ApolloniusRhodius, Leiden 1981, pp. 42-44; A. W. James,ApolloniusRhodiusand His
Sources:InterpretiveNotes on the Argonautica,Corolla Londiniensis1, 1981, pp. 5986; T. M. Klein, ApolloniusRhodius, vates ludens: Eros' Golden Ball (Arg. 3, 115-50),
Class. World 32, 1980-81, pp. 223-25; P. G. Lennox, Apollonius,Arg. 3, 1 ff. and
Homer, Hermes 108, 1980, pp. 45-73; M. L. West, The OrphiePoems,Oxford, 1984,
pp. 127-28, 131. In his commentary(Hildesheim 1983), Campbellremarksa propos of
this passage, Cypris*attemptsat child-disciplineare pitiful (p. 18).

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gold, and around each one twofold rings whirl in a circle.

The seams are hidden, and a dark blue spiral runs over them
all (3, 132-40).
Furthermore, this marvelous ball, when thrown, leaves a gleaming
trail, like a shooting star (
3, 140-41).
Students of th poem hve long suspected that this toy is not merely
a child's plaything. While they recognize that its significance is far
greater than the brief description might suggest (th bali never actually
appears in the poem), they characterize it differently. Accordingly, we
are told that the ball represents either th earth, th universe or
Planetenkreise und Sonnenkugel; or that its ornamention has sans
doute une signification astronomique3. Two associations hve quite
properly led them to recognize the ball's importance. First, in the
visual arts, a ball associated with the adult Zeus regularly symbolizes
his power over th universe4. Second, Adrasteia, the nurse who gave it
to him, frequently represents th inevitability of fate that her name
implies5. A third association will remove any doubt about the weight
we must accord this symbol, and that is the following fact.
Apollonius is alluding to a contemporary didactic poem, Aratus*
Phaenomena, in a fashion that makes it certain that the bail represents
the spherical cosmos. Recognizing this allusion clarifies two further
issues. First, it sheds light on the much-debated question of the ball's
physical appearance. Next, and more importantly, the implications of
Eros' control of the bail taken on startling - even alarming - force.
In the Phaenomena Aratus gives poetic life to the enumeration and
description of the constellations found in Eudoxus' prose work of the

3. Proposersof each explanationinclude, respectively,West (op. cit. n. 2) p. 33 n. 99;

George W. Mooney, The Argonauticaof ApolloniusRhodius,Amsterdam1964 (reprint
of Dublin 1912) p. 231, and M. M. Gillies, The Bail of Eros (. Rhod. III. 135 ff.),
Class. Rev. 38, 1924, pp.50-51, and ApolloniusRhodius: The Argonautica,Book III',
Hildesheim 1975 (reprintof Cambridge1928)p. 19; Tmpel,RE I (1893) 407 s.v. Adrasteia; FrancisVian, Apolloniusde Rhodes:Argonautica,Chant III, Paris, 1961, p. 41. To
this last remark,E. Livrea responds that it is semplicementeornamentale(review of
Vian's 1980 dition in the Bud sries, Gnomon 54, 1981, pp. 19-20).
4. KarlSittl, Der Adler und die Weltkugelals Attnbute des Zeusin dergriechischenund
rmischenKunst, Leipzig 1884, pp. 45-48; . . Cook, Zeus, New York 1964(reprintof
Cambridge1914), vol. I, pp. 41, 46-47, 51-52, 754; vol. II, pp. 95, 578, 948; vol. III, p.
948; Alois Schlchter,Der Globus:seine Enstehungund Verwendungin der Antike, ed.
FriedrichGisinger, Berlin and Leipzig 1927, (STOIXEIA 8) pp. 87-88.
Abhand5. H. Posnansky, Nemesis und Adrasteia:eine mythologisch-archologische
lung, BreslauerPhilol. Abhandl.5, 1890, pp. 68-91, esp. p. 69 for Argonauticapassage,
p. 82 for etymology of name; Tmpel, loc. cit.; Cook, op. cit. vol. I, p. 269 and n. 1;
West, op. cit. p. 195; Otto J. Brendel,Symbolismof the Sphre:A Contributionto the
History ofEarlier GreekPhilosophy,Leiden 1977,translate!MariaW. Brendel,p. 79 and
n. 36.

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97

same name. The constellations in turn serve as indicators of th locations of th circles, th theoretical zones of th celestial sphre - for
of course in this era th universe was generally conceived of as a finite
sphre6. We know these circles today: th celestial equator; th Tropics of Cancer and of Capricorn, marking th sun's apparent location
at th summer and winter solstices; th ecliptic, th sun's apparent
annual path across th sky. Aratus describes th circles in th following passages:
Four circles lie as though spinning... They are without breadth and
ail fitted to one another: for two correpond to two in size (462-68).
He does not name these circles, but it becomes clear, as he catalogues
the constellations through which each one passes, that the smaller pair
are those we would cali the Tropics of Cancer (480-500) and of Capricorn (501-10), and the first of the larger pair, which lies between them,
is the celestial equator, also called the equinoctial circle because the
sun appears to cross it at the equinoxes (511-24). Now the axis holds
these circles parallel, he continues, the axis at right angles in the
middle of them ail. But the fourth is fixed at an angle to both [i.e.,
obliquely both to the three parallel circles and to the axis]. The Tropics hold it at either end, and the middle circle cuts it through the
middle. Not otherwise would a man skilled in the handicrafts of Athena join these whirling hoops... They cali this circle the Zodiac (52544). This circle is also called the ecliptic, for clipses can occur only
when the moon passes through it.
The two poets do not simply share a description of a striped sphre;
on the contrary, Apollonius takes pains to recali the Phaenomena passage through verbal echoes:
(Argon. 3, 136-38) corresponds to
(Phaen. 530): both sphres rival the handiwork of the two divine patrons of the crafts;
(Phaen. 530,
(Argon. 3, 135) recalls ,
476);
(Argon. 3, 138) echoes Phaen. 4017;
the ball's trail, like that of a star, suggests Aratus' description of
shooting stars at Phaen. 926-27;
the allusion hre to the narrative of Zeus* Cretan infancy recalls
Phaen. 30-35, 162-64.

6. O. Hultsch, RE II.2 (1896) ce. 1833, 1853s.v. Astronomie;Th.-M. Martin,Astronomia, in Dictionnairedes antiquitsgrecqueset romaines,ed. Ch. Daremberget E. Saglio,
Paris 1877, vol. I, pp. 487-89.
7. Some editors hve commentedon this Arateancho: Gillies, in his commentary,op.
cit. p. 41; Anthos Ardizzoni, ApollonioRodio: Le Argonautiche,libro III, Bari 1958, p.
124; R. L. Humer, Apolloniusof Rhodes:Argonautika,Book III\ Cambridge1989, pp.
112-14, in the course of a good discussion of the passage.

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Apollonius knew th Phaenomena well and frequently made use of

typically Aratean collocations or neologisms8. In the prsent passage
he deliberately recalls the earlier poem, and he evokes in particular
Aratus' description of the heavenly circles. Interpretive use of contemporary poetry is as characteristic of the Hellenistic writers as is
their knowledge and use of Homer, for instance, or their delight in
ecphrasis - a delight evident in the passage we are now discussing.
Although few poets were creative researchers of the caliber of Eratosthenes, many nonetheless gave vidence of a keen interest in the naturai sciences, as well; Callimachus, for example, alluded to current discoveries in ophthalmology and obstetrics in his poems9. In a similar
spirit Apollonius recognized that behind Aratus' description lies a
spcifie and tangible device, and he expected his readers, through his
allusions, to recognize that object as well10. In fact, we modem readers
still know a good deal about what this device was and how it looked.
Ancient astronomers as well as teachers and students of astronomy
regularly used physical models of th universe to aid in their discussion of its appearance. These globes came to represent the study of
astronomy so well that their prsence in an artistic reprsentation served to identify an individuai as an astronomer or at least a student of
the heavens: Samian coins pictured Pythagoras with one, as did Bithynian coins, Hipparchus; a mosaic portrait identifies Aratus by means
of a globe as well11. Eudoxus himself is said to hve elaborated Thaes'
- solid
simple globe to produce the earliest sort, the
of
These
were
de
wood,
1,
22).
pla(Cicero,
globes
sphre
Republica,
ster, or mtal on which were painted or inscribed the constellations
and the celestial circles12. The globe carried by the Atlas Farnese be8. G. Boesch, De ApolloniiRhodii elocutione,Diss. Berlin,Gttingen 1908, pp. 51-54.
9. H. Opperman,Herophilusbei Kallimachos,Hermes60, 1925,pp. 1432;Glenn W.
Most, Callimachusand Herophilus,Hermes 1908, 1981, pp. 188-96.
10. For Apollonius*interest in astronomysee PatriciaLou ProsserBogue, Astronomy
in the Argonauticaof ApolloniusRhodius, Diss. University of Illinois, 1977. I owe this
rfrenceto my colleague, Prof. John L. Andronica.
11. Coins: Cook, op. cit., vol. I, pp. 54-56; mosaic: Brendel,op. cit. p. 14.
12. Schlachter-Gisinger,op. cit. pp. 14-14, 32-33, hve conveniently summarizedthe
citations from ancient authors. See too W. H. Rscher, AusfhrlichesLexikon der
griechischenund rmischenMythologie,HildesheimandNY 1977(reprintof Leipzigand
Berlin 1924-37), vol. VI, pp. 1048-49;Hultsch, op. cit.; Martin,op. cit.; George Thiele,
Antike Himmelsbilder, Berlin 1898, p. 48; Germaine Aujac, Le sphrope, ou Lamcani-

que au servicede la dcouvertedu monde, Revued'Histoire des Sciences23, 1970, pp.

94-95.
Eudoxus' fragments,and presumablyhis globe and its successors,includesome circles
that Aratusomitted: the arcticand antarcticcircles- the alwaysvisibleand the always
invisible rgions - and the two colures. Fr. 64a and b (arctic), 65 and 66 (tropic of
Cancer),69, 71 (equinoctialcircle), 74 (antarctic),76-78 (colures)(d. F. Lasserre,Berlin
1966).

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99

longs to this group. The authors of ancient introductions to th Phaenomena take it for granted that their readers will have such a globe at
hand, for they frequently comment that a given circle is marked in red
wax, or that another is marked in white, or that th instructor must
rotate th globe in such or such a direction13. As late as th seventh
Century A.D., a certain Leontius wrote instructions for constructing
an Aratus globe that would represent the content of th poem more
accurately than those available to him14.
But astronomers also had available an armillary sphre, constructed
of the eleventh
of hollow rings of mtal or reed, the
and sixteenth books of Geminus' Isagoge15. It had the same pedagogical function as the solid globe, and included at least the five parallel
circles we listed before, as well as the ecliptic and colures16. The latter
are great circles that pass, respectively, through the ples and the
points at which the sun crosses the tropics (the solsticial colure), and
through the ples and the points at which the sun crosses the equator
(the equinoctial colure). Geminus' is our earliest description of such a
sphre, and is to be dated at the earliest to the second half of the first
Century B.C. - well after our poems17. But Tannery believes that Hipparchus (mid-second Century B.C.) used a version of the armillary
sphre, and that it may have been a Century old in his day. Certainly
rudimentary forms of the astrolabe, suited for observing the position
of the sun at either the solstices or equinoxes were available for Eratosthenes and Archimedes, and a true spherical astrolabe may well
have existed in the first half of the third Century, a dating that would
place its use very close in time to the composition of at least Argonautica, if not of Pbaenomena18 .
13. Anonymus I, p. 95, Isagoga bis Excerpta,pp. 329-30, in E. Maass, Commentariorumin Aratum reliquiae, Berlin 1958 (reprintof 1898). See too Schlachter-Gisinger,
op. cit. pp. 21-25.
14. Text in Maass, op. cit. pp. 559-70.
15. It is similar in appearanceto th device thatr Ptolemy describes in Almagest V,
But unlike Geminus'armillarysphre, Ptolemy's
which he calls the
.
spherical astrolabewas adapted for a functional, rather than descriptive,purpose: to
dtermineprecisely the location of a given star. O. Neugebauer,A History of Anent
MathematicalAstronomy,New York, Heidelbergand Berlin1975,pp. 581, 871; Id., The
Early History of the Astrolabe:Studies in Ancient AstronomyIX, Isis 40, 1949, pp.
240-56 = Astronomyand History:SelectedEssays,New York 1983;Schlachter-Gisinger,
op. cit. pp. 46-47; Kauffmann,RE II.2 (1896) ce. 1798-1802s.v. astrolabium-,Paul Tannery, Recherchessur l'histoirede l'astronomieancienne,New York 1976(reprintof Paris
1893) pp. 50-53, 70-76; A. Rome, L'astrolabeet le mtoroscoped'aprsle commentaire
de Pappus,Annales de la Socit Scientifiquede Bruxelles47.2, 1927, pp. 77-102.
16. 16.10-11 (ed. and trans. G. Aujac, Paris 1975).
17. Aujac, op. cit. pp. xix-xxix; NeugebauerHAMA (op. cit.) pp. 581-82, would place
it a Centurylater still.
18. Tannery,op. cit. pp.74-76; for more detaileddescriptionsand illustrationsof thse
tools, see Martin,op. cit. vol. I, pp. 487-89.

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A third choice that may have been available is one described by

Ptolemy that combines features of both the solid and armillary sphres. In his globe, rings are fitted onto a solid globe (Alm. 8, 3).
Which sphre, then, should we imagine as the model for Eros' toy?
Despite Apollonius* detailed description of its appearance, how it was
constructed remains unclear. As a resuit commentators have described
balls resembling both the solid and the armillary sphres, although
they don't recognize the similarities their images bear to the astronomer's tool. Mooney's paraphrase represents the most widespread
understanding of its construction: The ball seems to have been made
of a number of separate circlets of gold, - these are the
which were kept in position by two rings encircling them on the
outside - the .
The joinings of the kykla and apsides were
concealed by the spiral of blue. He could easily be describing an
especially elegant armillary sphre. Gillies, on the other hand, imagines that the description refers rather to the external dcoration of a
ready-made cloth or skin ball, not unlike a Eudoxan solid sphre:
- are stitched to be ball to
pairs of golden semicircles - and th blue
mark off stripes spirai runs perpendicular to
those stripes, covering the joins of one semi-circular apsis to the
other19. The emphasis in each passage on a globe comparable to the
handiwork of the gods suggests something new and remarkable. If the
solid globe does stem from Eudoxus' day, let alone Thaies', it was a
Century old by this era20; if the armillary sphre had yet been developed, it was still quite new. So my inclination is to accept
Mooney's picture of the bail as made of golden hoops or rings21.
Whether we picture Eros' toy as a solid or a ringed sphre, with the
astronomical background in place we can suggest with some certainty
the number and arrangement of its rings or stripes. The kykla represent the five parallel circles: the equator, the two tropics, the Arctic
and Antarctic circles. The two-fold rings, the apsides, fitted around
them would be the two colures. The dark blue spiral is then the
zodiac. Apollonius tells us that the joinings are hidden, and indeed
the zodiacal circle touches or covers some criticai junctures: the two

19. Mooney, op. cit. p. 321; Gillies, op. cit. p. 19.

20. I see no reason to doubt its familiarityto Eudoxus. As A. Le Boeuffle comments,
the title of anotherdition of Eudoxus'PhaenomenayEnoptron- Mirror- may derive
from the fact that the constellationssee by a viewer of a globe, who looks from outside,
are mirrorimages of those seen by a terrestrialobserver.Hence, he continues, arose the
frquentconfusion of left and right in ancientdescriptions:RecherchessurHygin, Rev.
d'Et. Lat., 43, 1965, p. 227 n. 3.
21. Otto Lendle describesa toy bail similarin constructionto Ptolemy's ringed, solid
globe: Die Spielkugeldes Zeus (Apoll.Rhod. Arg. 3, 137-140), Hermes 107, 1979, pp.
493-95.

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101

points at which th equinoctial colure intersects th equator, and th

two points at which th solsticial colure intersects th tropics. As th
bali rotates, th zodiac appears to describe a spirai running within th
space bounded by th two tropics. Eros' bali of gold and blue is more
restrained in color than at least th solid globes. We recali th red and
white wax of th commentaries, and Ptolemy himself stressed th need
for contrasting color for clarity on thse sphres. He mentions in particular that th background should be a dark color like th night sky
and th constellations,
(?)22
(gold?)23.
When we realize that th marvelous toy, once Zeus's and now
Eros', represents a model of th cosmos, we can feel only shock at th
farreaching implication of th scene: th universe is but a bauble used
to bribe a spoiled child. Now, Apollonius did not create th figure of
Eros with a bali, but he did give it an almost unprecedented significance. When Anacreon pictures him as a ballplayer (Fr. 302 Page) or a
dicer (Fr. 325 Page - th game at which he is cheating Ganymede in
Argon. 3) he plays with th lives of individuai men: he is ruthless,
perhaps, but not of universal relevance24.
Eros does play a cosmic role in some other contexts: in Orphie
writings he has a cosmogonie function25. He holds th globe in artistic
reprsentations as well: on Roman coins, on gems, and on small
bronzes - ail, apparently, dating later than our poem. These traditions
imply a belief in th creative power of Eros, of love as a guiding force
or Lucrein the world, a notion reminiscent of Empedocles'
tius' Venus. They portray, in short, the force of attraction, of fertility
and life, ruling the cosmos26.

22. On the history of this multivalentadjective,see Eleanor Irwin, Colour Termsin

Greek Poetry, Toronto 1972, pp. 79-110.
23. Ptolemy, Syntaxis Mathematica8.3 (ed. J. L. Heiberg, Leipzig 1898); SchlachterGisinger, op. cit. p. 32.
24. Lennox, op. cit. p. 64, n. 42.
25. This connection may be especiallyimportantin relationto our passagefor several
reasons, and it prsents a promising avenue of investigation,but one that I think lies
outside th narrow focus of this paper. 1: Balls are included among the sacred implements of Orphie rites. 2: The legend of Zeus's Cretaninfancyfound in Phaenomenaand
Argonautica (as well as Callimachus' Hymn to Zeus), traditionally derived from
Epimenides' Cretica, may in fact stem from an Orphie Theogony (West, op. cit. pp.
127-31). 3: Apollonius* Orpheus sings a theogony with lments known from other
Orphie writings(Arg. I. 496-511). Brendel,op. cit. p. 79; West, op. cit. pp. 45-53; Cook,
op. cit. vol. II, pp. 373, 927.
26. Schlachter-Gisinger,op. cit. pp. 87-88; Cook, op. cit. vol. I, p. 52, vol. II, pp.
1045-47.In sharpcontrastwith this notion appearthe Erotesof latercoins and statuettes,
who resemblenothing so much as modem greeting-cardCupids as they cheerfullyand
decorativelyperforma wide varietyof tasks with no apparentphilosophicalsignificance
at all (Cook II pp. 1048 ss.).

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Radically diffrent is the characterApollonius gives to his Eros.

This deity evokes no awe or rvrence;rather, he is simply a most
unpleasant child. His mother complains of his temper, his shamelessness, his wickedness; she can win his coopration only through
bribery (3, 90-99). Greedy, suspicious, and heartless, he laughs at
Ganymede's distress at being cheated;he is wheedling and impatient;
distrustingeven his mother, he counts his dice before entrustingthem
to her (3, 114-30, 145-55)27.Yet our investigationhas made it clear
that we must take him seriously, since his toy is nothing less than the
universe.The dosest parallelto such a figure is none of those we have
mentioned, but ratherAlcibiades*notorious shield device, where Eros
wielding Zeus's thunderboltprovoked outrageby its arrogance28.We
can appreciatethe responseof Alcibiades'contemporariesby comparing Apollonius*vignette to Aratus'Phaenomena,a comparisonhe invites through his deliberatevocation of this source for his heavenly
globe. From Zeus let us begin is the famous phrasethat opens the
poem; we all dpend on him in every way; for indeed we are his
offspring. The Stoic poet also stressedthe regularityand predictability of the stars and their movements; their reliablepattern,the visible
form of the celestial sphre, is clear vidence of Zeus's providential
care for his cratures:he, kindly to mankind, gives us sure signs29.
Apollonius transformsthis lofty and reassuringsymbol by presenting
the cosmic orb as a playthingfor a selfish and ptulantboy. The fate of
the universe, as well as of individuals,is controlied neither by Adrasteia the invitable nor by a providential father-god; events are not
fixed or predictable; rather, everything is subject to the love-god's
self-gratifying whims. The figure of Eros ludens has become an emblem that well representsthe non-traditionaland anti-heroicethos of
the Argonautica.
WakeForest University
Winston-SalemN.C., USA.

27. Cf. Beye, op. cit. pp. 127-28.

28. Plutarch,Alcibiades 16; Athenaeus 534e.
29. Phaenomena5-13; the predictabilityof the weatherhas the samesignificanceat 732,
740-77. An earlierversion of this paperwas prsente!at the annualmeetingof the American PhilologicalAssociation in 1984. My apprciationis extendedto Prof. . L. Brown,
in whose seminaron Hellenistic poetry I fist was introducedto th idea underlyingthis
paper.

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