BMCR 2009.07.20: Trevett on Karvounis, Demosthenes. Reden zur Finanzierung der Kriegsflotte. Texte zur Forschung Band 90

Christos Karvounis (ed.), Demosthenes. Reden zur Finanzierung der
Kriegsflotte. Texte zur Forschung Band 90.  Darmstadt:
Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 2008.  Pp. 143.  ISBN
9783534193479.  EUR 39.90.

Reviewed by Jeremy Trevett, York University ([email protected])
Word count:  754 words
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This volume, published in the series Texte zur Forschung, offers an
introduction, Greek text and facing German translation, of three
private speeches in the Demosthenic corpus. The speeches (47, 50, and
51) are connected, as the book's title indicates, by their subject
matter, the financing and operation of Athens' navy in the middle years
of the fourth century BC.

The idea of a thematically linked selection of speeches is a good one,
but there are two fundamental features of the book which are likely to
limit its usefulness. The first is that the text, which is described as
being based on Rennie's 1931 Oxford Classical Text ('Dem Originaltext
liegt die Oxfordausgabe von W. Rennie, Demosthenis orationes, III,
Oxford 1931 zugrunde': p. 10), is presented without either an apparatus
criticus or any discussion of how it was constituted. It is thus
unclear where, if anywhere, it diverges from Rennie's edition. (I have
not spotted any differences in the passages that I have compared, but
under the circumstances have regarded it as a work of supererogation to
collate the two systematically.) Since Karvounis has purportedly edited
('herausgegeben': title page) the text, and refers to it as an original
text, albeit based on that of Rennie, it is frustrating to be unable to
tell how his text differs.

The second feature is the absence, in accordance with the format of the
series, of notes or commentary. As a result, the only explication that
Karvounis is able to provide is in the book's Introduction. Comparison
with Victor Bers' recent English-language translation of speeches 50
and 51, in the University of Texas Press series 'The Oratory of
Classical Greece', in instructive.[[1]] Bers, in line with that series'
policy, provides footnotes rather than a commentary, but there are many
points, e.g. on matters of prosopography, where he provides necessary
information, and on which Karvounis is perforce silent. I do not wish
to labour the point but the primary interest of these speeches for most
readers is likely to be historical, and I cannot imagine, for example,
what reader of the speech Against Polycles would not wish to know, or
benefit from knowing, that the shadowy exile Callistratus whom the
speaker refuses to transport in his ship (section 46) is the important
politician Callistratus of Aphidna. A rather optimistic footnote in the
Introduction (p. 42, n. 75) advises the reader who wishes to pursue
questions of prosopography to consult either Kirchner's Prosopographia
Attica or Davies' Athenian Propertied Families,[[2]] but how many of
Karvounis' intended readers are likely to be in a position to do this?

The Introduction covers a lot of ground in relatively brief compass,
and does so very well. Its sections deal with Athens in the mid-fourth
century (11-15); Athens' legal (15-18) and taxation and liturgical
systems (18-20); the trireme (20-26); the trierarchy (26-34); and the
individual speeches, discussing their content, style and date (34-47).
Obviously the coverage of some of these topics is somewhat brief, and
there are points on which one might quibble, but Karvounis presents a
lot of material with admirable clarity, and the section on the
trierarchy in particular provides an impressively succinct and useful
summary. Karvounis' scholarship is thorough and up-to-date, though some
of the footnotes seem pitched at the wrong level for a (presumably)
introductory work: for example, it is (again) hard to imagine many
readers following up the references to T. N. Ballin's (excellent, and
unpublished) 1978 Washington dissertation, a commentary on [Dem.]
50.[[3]]

In addition to the Introduction there is a very brief index, a map of
the north-eastern Aegean and Propontis that helps locate some but not
all of the places named in the speeches, and two photographs of the
reconstructed trireme Olympias.

The translation seems both clear and reliable, so far as this
non-native reader of German can judge.

The volume is attractively produced, though the Introduction contains a
sprinkling of typos (e.g. Drachen for Drachmen on p. 43, srachliche for
sprachliche on p. 47; the word 'immens' appears, as if an item of
scribal marginalia, floating without context on p. 14).

Karvounis' credentials as an expert on Demosthenes have been amply
established by his substantial and extremely useful commentary on the
earlier assembly speeches.[[4]] Within the limits that have been
imposed on him he has done a good job here, but those limits
substantially detract from what could have been an extremely useful
contribution to the study both of Demosthenes and of the operations of
the Athenian fleet. It is hard not to see this as an opportunity
missed.

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Notes:


1.   V. Bers, Demosthenes, Speeches 50-59 (Austin, 2003).

2.   J. Kirchner, Prosopographia Attica. 2nd ed. (Berlin, 1901-1903);
J. K. Davies, Athenian Propertied Families 600-300 B.C. (Oxford, 1971).

3.   T. N. Ballin, ''A Commentary on [Demosthenes] 50 'Against
Polykles'.'' Diss. Washington, 1978.

4.   C. Karvounis, Demosthenes. Studien zu den Demegorien orr. XIV,
XVI, XV, IV, I, II, III (Munich, 2002).