[b-greek] Re: rompheas volantes 2Esdr. 15:41

From: Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Date: Fri Apr 05 2002 - 18:23:09 EST


At 2:50 PM -0800 4/5/02, c stirling bartholomew wrote:
>I was reading T. Bergren's* English translation of 6th Ezra (2Esdr 15-16)
>and ran into an idiom which was new to me, "flying swords" (rompheas
>volantes**) in 2Esdr 15:41 . This launched me on a search of the LXX for the
>same idiom. The best I could come up with was: EN TWi PETASQAI THN
>hROMFAIAN MOU, found in:
>
>EZEK. 32:10 KAI STUGNASOUSIN EPI SE EQNH POLLA KAI hOI BASILEIS AUTWN
>EKSTASEI EKSTHSONTAI EN TWi PETASQAI THN hROMFAIAN MOU EPI PROSWPA AUTWN
>PROSDECOMENOI THN PTWSIN AUTWN AF' hHMERAS PTWSEWS SOU
>
>Zech 5:1-2, DREPANON PETOMENON , certainly NOT the same idiom, but an
>intriguing mistranslation of the MT.
>
>ZECH. 5:1 KAI EPESTREYA KAI HRA TOUS OFQALMOUS MOU KAI EIDON KAI IDOU
>DREPANON PETOMENON
>ZECH. 5:2 KAI EIPEN PROS ME TI SU BLEPEIS KAI EIPA EGW hORW DREPANON
>PETOMENON MHKOS PHCEWN EIKOSI KAI PLATOS PHCEWN DEKA
>
>Reading the context in 6th Ezra (2Esdr 15-16) reveals this idiom within what
>might be modeled after an OT storm theophany. I kept thinking of Apollo
>while reading this and also the OT storm (theophany ?) texts. I am wondering
>if rompheas volantes was intended as a metaphor for lightening. I have only
>seen lightening symbolized as arrows, not swords so I am somewhat of a loss
>as how to understand this. Also, I am not sure if this is modeled after a
>Semitic or a Hellenistic storm text. The imagery is sufficiently generic to
>fit into either category.
>
>Anyone ever seen a Hellenistic references to lightening as flying swords?

I remember reading a passage in Lucian of Samosata (2nd c. AD?) where Zeus
is complaining of having a lightning bolt in Hephaestus' shop being
repaired because he threw it at a Sophist a few days back and missed the
Sophist but hit a rock and blunted it. So there it's conceived as a sort of
spear.
--

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
Most months:: 1647 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu OR cwconrad@ioa.com
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/

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