Two Paremiological Notes on a “Delian Diver”

The paper consists of two notes on a Δήλιος κολυμβητής (“Delian Diver”), the expression known from the famous anecdote about the book by Heraclius of Ephesus (D.L. II, 22 et XI, 11–12). The first note explores the Byzantine paremiographic tradition in which Δήλιος κολυμβητής entered as a saying. Analyzing the materials from the Suda (Δ 400), Michael Apostolius (Paroem. V, 100 CPG II), and an anonymous collection from the Iviron manuscript 4199/79 (No. 13 Sotiroudis), the author concludes that this expression was never a real proverb, as some scholars believe, but was originally an author’s turn of speech, which entered the paremiographic tradition thanks to an ancient philologist. The second note examines Herodas’ 3rd mimiamb The Teacher, where there is an expression Δήλιος κυρτεύς, “Delian fisherman with a fish trap”, which presents a curious parallel to Δήλιος κολυμβητής. Many scholars and commentators regard Δήλιος κυρτεύς as a proverb and see in it an indirect confirmation of the proverbial character of the Δήλιος κολυμβητής. Meanwhile, the careful reading of Herodas’ mimiamb indicates the opposite: since the “Delian fisherman with a fish trap” is certainly an invention of Herodas himself, this parallel proves that the “Delian Diver” was also not a proverb and entered the paremiographic tradition by chance, probably from some literary source

Geography · Classical Antiquity Studies