Excellence: Tyrtaeus’ own View. A Literary Analysis of Fragment 9

Abstract

The aim of this article is to undertake a socio-literary reading of the ninth poem of Gentili and Prato’s collection of fragments (9 Diehl, 12 West). This fragment can be associated to other poems, which were written in elegiac distichs and have survived under Tyrtaeus’ name. In terms of form and content, the so-called ἀρετή-Poem is considered the most perfect work among the preserved elegies attributed to Tyrtaeus. Its special interest lies in the fact that it proposes a canon of values that differs from the Homeric hero ethics, insofar as ἀρετή is exclusively identified with martial achievement and applicable to all citizens. As a consequence, it is necessary to carefully analyse this poem in order to understand the transformation of the value system in the 7th century b.C.