Who was Onymacles the Athenian? (Alcaeus 130b V. = 130.16–39 LP)

Abstract

Abstract The author’s aim is to shed light upon the first three stanzas of Alcaeus’ fr. 130b, which describe the conditions faced by the poet while living in exile. Some parallel texts (POxy. 3711, Alc. fr. 401B) are helpful, but they, as well as POxy. 2165, the sole testimony of fr. 130b, must be read or interpreted in places differently than before. Among the new observations is the suggestion that the place of Alcaeus’ first exile is the city of Aenos in Thrace. Also, Ὀνυμακλέης ὠθάναιος, like whom Alcaeus declares that he lives in exile, is but a name made up by the poet as his personal alias with wordplays, firstly on his familial and personal eminence, and secondly on the incident of his thrown away armour in the battle over Sigeion and its hanging in front of the Athena temple by the Athenians.