O imenu Menestej u grčkom svetu u klasičnom i helenističkom periodu

Abstract

U radu se govori o herojskom grčkom imenu Menestej koje je nosio zapovednik atinskog kontingenta u Homerovoj Ilijadi i o distribuciji ovog imena kao ličnog imena u grčkom svetu u klasičnom i helenističkom periodu. Autor analizira dva osnovna područja u kojima se antroponim Menestej javlja - Atiku i Joniju i one oblasti u Maloj Aziji koje su u kulturnom pogledu bile pod jonskim uticajem. Isto tako, kao dobro ratničko ime, ovaj antroponim se naročito u helenističkom periodu, često beleži među pripadnicima vojničkog staleža u različitim oblastima grčkog sveta.

The Greek heroic name Menestheus, carried by the leader of the Athenian contingent in Homer's Iliad, is a shorter form of the name Menesthenês derived from the Greek menô- and stenos and means "he who perseveres in strength" or figuratively "he who stands firm in a battle". Thus the name Menestheus by its meaning denotes a strong warrior and it is related to other Homeric and heroic names - Menesthês, Menesthios, and a female name Menesthô. However, in contrast to the mentioned names which appear only rarely, the name Menestheus is, from the Classical period onwards, far better attested as a personal name in the Greek world. There may be two main reasons for that. The first one can be found in the importance and the influence of the Homeric epics in the life of the Greeks. Although the hero Menestheus at Homer's does not belong to the rank of the great heroes (like Achilleus, Odysseus, Aias Hector), the name could sound to the Greeks like a good heroic and warrior name and desirable, like the other names from the heroic repertoire, in the choice of names given to children. The second reason lies in the fact that the hero Menestheus, since Homer, had been connected to the Attic soil and seen almost exclusively as the Athenian hero in 5th and 4th century B.C. when Athens presented the leading Greek polis and when the influence, both political and cultural, from Athens on other Greeks was by far the strongest. From this time on, the name of the local Attic hero, and Homeric also, could be acceptable as a personal name not only to the Athenians and Ionians, but also to the other Greeks. Having all that in mind, it is not surprising that the name is best attested in Attica where we can find reliable attestations in 4th century B.C. Majority of these attestations are, however, relatively late and almost undistinguished, which might have been connected with the fact that Menestheus was never seen as a national hero, even in Attica itself where the hero cult is not attested and where early was replaced by the great hero Theseus whom later Athenian writers and artists wished to bring into much greater prominence. The best exception, however, is the deme Rhamnous where the name Menestheus, as well as the related names Menesthenês Menesthidês, as a personal name is well attested in the Classical period. Perhaps the local tradition, unknown to us nowadays, connected this strategically important place at the end northeastern coast of Attica with the hero Menestheus. The best known Menestheus from the deme Rhamnous is Menestheus, the son of the famous Athenian general Iphicrates from the first half of 4th century. In this case it seems possible that a certain role in name-giving had some political reasons. Perhaps it was a desire of a parvenu in politics, as Iphicrates was, in competition of politicians with strong family connections and traditions (like those of Timotheus, Callistratus Chabrias), referring to the local tradition of his deme and in accordance with contemporary ideology of 4th century B.C., to connect his undistinguished family to the hero who excelled in the war with the Trojans i.e. barbarians. On the other hand, the name is at home in Ionia, where this anthroponym is attested in majority of Ionian cities - Miletus, Chios, Samos Smyrna, Ephesus, Lebedus, Teos. Some of these attestations could be explained with influences from Athens or friendly connections with Athenian families as was the case with personal names Iphicrates and Menesteheus used by members of a Milesian family: a Milesian Iphicrates named after Athenian general Iphicrates gave the name Menestheus to his son in honor of the mentioned Iphicrates and his son Menestheus. However, the other attestations in Miletus itself, but also in Milesian colonies (Cius, Cyzicus, Miletopolis) which with the mother city, among the rest, share the same onomastics, could lead to the conclusion that in the Classical and Hellenistic periods the name Menestheus is a good Ionian name. There are many attestations of the name in Caria in the cities which either became Ionian early (Iasus, Mindus Halicarnassus, Bargylia) or in the cities where there was a strong influence from Ionia and especially Miletus (from Mylasa, Theangela, Pidasa Stratoniceia to Aphrodisias and Heracleia Salbake in the inland area on the eastern border of Caria, but in the latter ones only in the Roman imperial period). It is also expected for the personal name Menestheus to be common in large economic and trading centers of the Hellenistic period, like Bizantium and Rhodes, as well as on the island of Cos, an important and respected religious center. Although the listed cities were Dorian in origin, the name Menestheus, as a personal name, could not be said to be related to Dorians since it is not attested in the predominantly Dorian Peloponnese and in Dorian western settlements, especially in Sicily. It is not strange, however that this ahthroponym is at- tested in newly established and ethnically diversified cities of the Hellenistic period, like Antioch-Alabanda Alexandreia Troas, Pergamum, Nicaea, Nicomedia. The name Menestheus, on the other hand, as "a good warrior name" is suitable for the military class. Perhaps these are the reasons for the name to appear in Acarnania (Menestheus, the son of Miltiades, 4th century B.C) and in Macedonia (that was the name of the father of a Alexandar the Great's cavalry officer, also 4th century B.C). If these were good reasons for such name-giving to someone who is expected to be steady in a battle, then the name Menestheus as a personal name suited also military settlers in Egypt in the Ptolemaic period.