A Tenedo tra eroi, tabù e granchi Tre frammenti aristotelici

Abstract

Plutarch’s Quaest. Graec. 28 (297d-f) deals with the problem of the two ritual taboos that the Tenedians observe in the heroic shrine of their founder: prohibition of access to the auletai and prohibition of mention of Achilles. The two interdictions result related to the foundation account of the island community. The paper aims to investigate the context of elaboration and origin of this account – also thanks to the concurrence of the other sources that convey it –, through the analysis of this narrative and its connection with the two ritual taboos. Furthermore, it seeks to identify the source used by Plutarch and to evaluate the hypothesis of asserting the status of Aristotelian fragments from the Τενεδίων πολιτεία to Quaest. Graec. 28, Diod. 5.83, which turns out to be very close to it, and to De Pyth. or. 12 (399f-400a), where the Cheronaean mentions another peculiarity of Tenedos, the famous crabs.