Panyassis (Πανύασσις, also written Πανύασις, Panyasis; circa 505-500 - circa 455-450 BC) was a Greek epic poet from Halicarnassus, Caria (today Bodrum, Turkey). Only fragments of his poetry have survived, and what little is known of his life and works has been gleaned from mentions by later ancient authors and a few inscriptions.

The main source of information about Panyassis is the Suda (Σοῦδα), a Byzantine encyclopedia written in Greek in the 10th - 11th centuries AD (probably around 970 AD). Although the information in the Suda is largely culled from the works of ancient authors, many now lost, its reliability is often considered questionable.
 

"Panyasis, son of Polyarchus; of Halicarnassus, a soothsayer and epic poet; [it was he] who gave new life to epic poetry, which had dried up. Duris [Duris of Samos] wrote that he was the son of Diocles and from Samos, but [became] a Thurian in the same way as Herodotus.

It is recorded that Panyasis was a cousin of Herodotus the historian; for Panyasis was the son of Polyarchus, while Herodotus was the son of Lyxes, Polyarchus' brother. But some have recorded that it was not Lyxes [sc. who connects the two of them], but that [it was] Rhoea, the mother of Herodotus, a sister of Panyasis. Panyasis was alive in the 78th Olympiad [468-465 BC], but according to some [he was] much older; for he was alive at the time of the Persian Wars. He was killed by Lygdamis, third tyrant of Halicarnassus.

Among poets he is ranked behind Homer, and according to some, also behind Hesiod and Antimachus. He wrote a Heracleias in 14 books, consisting of 9,000 verses, and an Ionica in pentameter, which is about Codrus and Neleus and the Ionian colonies, and consists of 7,000 verses."

Suda, Πανύασις, pi, 248. In Greek with an English translation at Suda On Line.

Panyassis was perhaps a cousin or uncle of the historian Herodotus of Halicarnassus, but is not mentioned in the Histories. His name is thought to be Carian rather than Greek, which has led scholars to believe that he was of mixed Carian and Greek ancestory, and probably from an aristocratic family.

He was executed by The tyrant Lygdamis II of Halicarnassus (Λύγδαμις Β') [1], perhaps following an unsuccessful uprising. Herodotus fled or was exiled to the island of Samos, returning later to take part in the overthrow of Lygdamis. However, finding himself unpopular there, due to "spite" or "envy", he joined the Athenians who founded the pan-Hellenic colony of Thurii (Θούριοι) in southern Italy around 444-443 BC. According to the translation above, the Greek historian Duris of Samos [2] wrote that Panyassis also emigrated to Thurii [3].

He was the author of two epic poems: Herakleia (Ἡράκλεια), relating the mythical adventures of the hero and half-god Herakles, written in 9,000 hexameters divided into 14 books [4]; and Ionika (Ἰωνικά), concerning the histories of the Ionian cities of Anatolia (Asia Minor) from the time of the legendary or mythical colonization by Neleus, the son of the Athenian king Kodros [5], said have consisted of 7,000 verses written in pentameter. Although Herodotus wrote that the Greeks in Caria were Dorians and Halicarnassus was a colony of Troezen in the Peloponnese, both he and Panyassis wrote in the Ionic Greek dialect. [6]

Pausanias also referred to Panyassis as son of Polyarchos ("Πανύασσις δὲ ὁ Πολυάρχου"), mentioned that he composed an epic poem on Herakles ("Ἡρακλέα"), and that he also wrote about the adventures of Theseus and Peirithous. [7]
 

The Suda mentions Panyassis as a teacher of the poet Antimachos of Colophon (Ἀντίμαχος ὁ Κολοφώνιος, although perhaps from Claros), author of a version of the epic Thebais (see the note in Homer part 1) and an elegiac poem about his mistress Lyde.

"Antimachos of Colophon, son of Hyparchus; grammarian and poet. Some have listed him as a servant of the poet Panyas[s]is, but altogether mistakenly: he was his pupil, and also [a pupil] of Stesimbrotus. He lived before Plato."

Suda, Ἀντίμαχος, alpha, 2681. At Suda On Line.

The Roman rhetorician Quintilian (circa 35-100 AD), after discussing the reputations of the poets Hesiod and Antimachos, compared critics' estimation of Panyassis' works with those of the other two.

"Panyasis is regarded as combining the qualities of the last two poets [Hesiod and Antimachus], being their inferior in point of style, but surpassing Hesiod in the choice of his subject and Antimachus in its arrangement." [8]

As with several "portraits" of other famous ancient Greeks (see for example Herodotus and Homer), the extant sculptures depicting of Panyassis are thought to be works of imagination, made long after his death. In many cases the modern identifications of the persons depicted are also questionable.

The herm bust from the Villa of the Papyri, Herculaneum (photos, right and above right), described as "frowning man with short beard" is said to have been identified from a faint Greek inscription on the back of the herm in irregular letters, perhaps a graffito by a bored student: "Πανύασσις ò ποιητής λυπερότατός 'εστι" (Panyassis the poet is dull). The skeptic philosopher Karneades (Καρνεάδης, circa 213-129 BC), the Stoic Zeno Citiacus (Ζήνων ὁ Κιτιεύς, circa 334-262 BC), and the Athenian orator Aeschines (Αἰσχίνης, 389-314 BC) have also been suggested. It has also been pointed out that the head is similar to those of the "Pseudo-Seneca" portraits, which may represent Seneca the Younger, Hesiod or Aristophanes. One of the finest examples of around a dozen known copies of the "Pseudo-Seneca" was discovered at the Villa of the Papyri in 1754.

Another marble herm bust thought to depict Panyassis (or Zeno Citiacus) was found at the Villa dei Quintili, Via Appia, Rome, and is now in the Torlonia Museum of the Villa Albani-Torlonia, Rome (photo, below right). A Roman period copy, made of Greek marble, of a Greek original of around 200 BC. Height 47 cm. Inv. No. 65 (not on display).

See: arachne.uni-koeln.de/item/objekt/26986
 

A marble head also believed to depict Panyassis is now in the North Gallery of Petworth House, Sussex, England. Thought to be a Flavian period (69-96 AD) copy of a Hellenistic Greek original of the early 2nd century BC. Height 28.8 cm. The head was attached by 18th century restorers to a non-related headless statue of a seated male figure, once thought to depict Demosthenes, which was formerly in the Palazzo Barberini, Rome.

"Male portrait statue in sitting posture ... The head, like the statue, is of Pentelic marble, and they accord very well together; nevertheless it had originally nothing to do with the body, as is conclusively shown by the inventory of the Barberini Collection compiled in 1738 (Docum. ined. per servire alla storia dei Musei d'Italia, IV. p. 57), for we find the statue among the 'rottami di statue', where it is described as 'una statua a sedere, più grande del naturale, con una spalla ed un braccio nudo, senza testa e braccio manco, alta pal. 5 on. 8.' The body is of good and very simple composition and execution, and is undoubtedly Attic."

Adolf Michaelis, Ancient Marbles in Great Britain (English edition, translated by Charles Augustus Maude Fennell), Petworth House statue gallery, No. 19, pages 607-608. Cambridge University Press, 1882. At the Internet Archive.

See also:

Documenti inediti per servire alla storia dei musei d'Italia, Volume Quarto, page 57. Ministero della pubblica istruzione. Tipografia Bencini, Firenze, Roma, 1880. At the Internet Archive.

The head:

arachne.uni-koeln.de/item/objekt/25139

The statue:

arachne.uni-koeln.de/item/objekt/25138

Petworth House and its art collection are now owned by the National Trust, which describes the statue as:

"Seated Figure of a Philosopher
400 BC - 300 BC Pentelic marble,
NT 486325"

nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/486325

A decree from Halicarnassus

Part of an inscribed marble stele which had been cut in two, discovered in Bodrum in 1858 by the British archaeologist Charles Thomas Newton [9], mentions "Lygdamis", "Apollonides, son of Lygdamis", and "Phormion, son of Panyassis".

Written in Ionic Greek, the fragments are thought to be part of a law passed during a conference between Lygdamis and the people of Halicarnassus and Salmakis to regulate the transfer of certain lands and houses, the ownership of which had been in dispute. The Lygdamis mentioned is thought to be tyrant Lygdamis II of Halicarnassus, Apollonides his son, and Phormion could possibly the son of Panyassis the poet.

It is also thought that Lygdamis was still in power at the time of the decree, or had perhaps returned to power following an uprising, under a compromise made with the people of Halicarnassus and Salmakis. The passing of the law has been tentatively dated to 445 BC, before Herodotus' supposed emigration to Thurii in 444-443 BC. However, other scholars have argued an earlier date, as the earliest Athenian Tribute List [10], for 454 BC, mentions Halicarnassians rather than Lygdamis, and therefore the successful uprising (or "revolution") to overthrow him, in which Herodotus is said to have taken part, may have occurred before this date.

The law may have restored property confiscated from opponents of Lygdamis after the previous uprising which led to the execution of Panyassis. In this case, the land belonging to Panyassis may have been returned to "Phormion, son of Panyassis". Both he and "Megabates, son of Aphyasis" are described as holding office at Salmakis (Σαλμακίς), the settlement or district to the southwest of Halicarnassus (today the promontory Kaplan Kalesi). It is notable that the law mentions "Halicarnassians and Salmakitans" as separate communities. It has been suggested that Salmakis was where the Carians lived, which may add support to the idea that Panyassis was from a Carian family.

The "Literaten-Epigramm", an inscription found in Rhodes,
honouring Andron, Herodotos and Panyassis

Pergamon Museum, Berlin. Inscription IG XII 1, 145 (SEG 36, 975).

Part of a pilaster capital, which had been reused as a threshold for a house, was found around 1890 by the Russian philologist Sergey Andreevich Selivanov (1864-1908) [11], in the Jewish quarter of Rhodes [12]. The top of the badly worn stone is broken and the first of line of the inscription is missing. The remaining lines, written in Ionic Greek, show an epigram eulogizing Halicarnassus as a renowned centre of culture which produced Andron [13], Herodotos and Panyassis, thought to have been written in the late Hellenistic period, 2nd - 1st century BC.

It is thought that the slab originally came from Halicarnassus and, like a number of other ancient stones found at Rhodes, had probably been used as ballast in a ship before being discarded at or near the port. The inscription, known as the "Literaten-Epigramm", has only been studied intermittently by a few German scholars who all found it difficult to read the worn lettering, and even more difficult to agree on an exact translation or interpretion. Consequently a number of different versions have been published [14].

One reading of the inscription:

λ̣ά̣ϊ̣ν̣ο̣[ν Ἀ]σ̣συρίη [χῶμ]α Σεμι[ρά]μιος
ἀλλ̣’ Ἄ̣ν̣δ̣ρ̣ωνα̣ οὐκ ἔσχε Νίνου πόλις, οὐδὲ παρ’ Ἰνδοῖς
ῥ̣ι̣ζ̣οφυὴς Μουσέων πτόρθος ἐνετρέφετο
[κοὐ] μ̣ὴ̣ν̣ Ἡροδότου γλύκιον στόμα καὶ Πανύασσιν
ἡ̣[δυ]ε̣π̣ῆ̣ Βαβυλὼν ἔτρεφεν ὠγυγίη,
ἀ̣λλ’ Ἁλικαρνασσοῦ κραναὸν πέδον. ὧν διὰ μολπὰς
κ̣λ̣ει̣τὸν ἐν Ἑλλήνων ἄστεσι κῦδος ἔχει.

A prose translation:

"Assyria has the stone mound of Semiramis, but the city of Ninevah did not bring forth an Andron, nor did such offspring of the Muses shoot from the ground among the Indians. Primeval Babylon did not nourish a tongue sweeter than that of Herodotos, nor raise Panyassis with his sweet words, but the rugged earth of Halikarnassos did. Through their songs does she enjoy a renown among the cities of the Hellenes."

Friedrich Hiller von Gaertringen [see note 14] suggested that the epigram is by the poet Antipatros of Sidon (Ἀντίπατρος ὁ Σιδώνιος) or a contemporary imitator. More recently Signe Isager commented: "Antipater is a man of a varied vocabulary and I cannot say that I found immediate resemblances to the Salmakis-epigram in the language of his known poems. Also he seems, as a rule, to write in Doric while the Halikarnassian poems [the inscriptions] are both written in Ionic/epic." Signe Isager, The pride of Halikarnassos, page 16 (see below).

The "Salmakis Inscription", an epigram from Bodrum,
honouring Herodotos, Panyassis and other writers

Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archaeology. Inscription SEG 48-1330.

The large, well-preserved inscription of sixty lines of elegiac couplets in two columns was found in summer 1995 on the remains of an ancient limestone wall in situ at Kaplan Kalesi (Salmakis), southwest of the harbour of Bodrum (see the map of Bodrum on the Herodotus page), and is now in the Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archaeology. Like the inscription from Rhodes, the "Salmakis Inscription" (also referred to as "The Pride of Halikarnassos") has been dated to the 2nd - 1st century BC (perhaps around 150-100 BC), and is also an epigram in praise of Halicarnassus as the birthplace of famous literary figures.

Herodotus, the first author to be named, is called "the prose Homer of history", the second is Andron, and the third Panyassis, "the glorious master of epic". The list of artists born in Halicarnassus continues with the epic poet Cyprias, author of the Iliaka, Menestheus, Theaitetos, the comic poet Dionysios, the tragedian Zenodotos, the singer Phanostratos, the historian Nossos and the "prudent poet" Timocrates.

Height of the stone 51.2 cm, width 133.4 cm. Height of the inscribed area 43.8 cm, width 104 cm.
 

The inscription was first published by Signe Isager of the Danish Institute at Athens:

Signe Isager, The pride of Halikarnassos: Editio princeps of an inscription from Salmakis. Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 123 (1998), pages 1–23. PDF document at the University of Cologne.

As the title suggests, the article represents the first analysis of the inscription which has since been discussed in further publications. It includes photos of the stone, as well as facsimiles, a transcription and translation (which Isager modestly describes as "an attempt") of the inscription and a clearly written commentary on the text.

Isager also compares the inscription to the "Literaten-Epigramm", and says: "It is obvious that the metaphoric language of this poem is close to the Salmakis-poem. The letter-forms too are very similar in the two inscriptions. In fact it is not impossible that they have a common author."

In the next year Hugh Lloyd-Jones published his translation (much grander and more eloquent) and commentary:

Hugh Lloyd-Jones, The pride of Halikarnassus. Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 124 (1999), pages 1–14. PDF document at the University of Cologne.

The inscription was the subject of an international symposium held in 2000 at the Castle of Saint Peter in Bodrum. The proceedings were published in:

Signe Isager, Poul Pedersen, The Salmakis Inscription and Hellenistic Halikarnassos. University Press of Southern Denmark, 2004. Volume 4 of Halicarnassian studies. ISSN 1395-1475.

The website of the University of Southern Denmark has a section about Danish archaeological research at Bodrum. The article The Salmakis Fountain by Signe Isager includes photos of the inscription, a Danish translation and a bibliography.