Grammatikoi and grammatistai: Teacher of Literature at Ammonius' Table (Plut. QC IX)

Abstract

Grammatikoi and grammatistai: Teacher of Literature at Ammonius' Table (Plut. QC IX)

In a vivid contrast to the less rigorous attitude displayed in other parts of the work, Book Nine of Plutarch’s Quaestiones convivales describes a single banquet: held in the house of the Athenian philosopher Ammonius, the banquet is held in honor of the Muses – in accordance with this aim, it is attended by the most learned among the Athenian society, the best of Athenian teachers. As I have discussed the contents as well as the actual structure of the book elsewhere (Komorowska 2014), it seems advisable to supplement that particular discussion with a consideration of yet another aspect, an aspect of particular importance given the theme of the present volume: with a roomful of teachers, it would be interesting to inquire into the possible peculiarities of their portrayal. My focus, however, will be on the single and possibly most colorful group attending the banquet, i.e. the grammarians, as set against the background of the two personages of particular importance
in Plutarch’s narrative, namely the host, Ammonius, and the one often hidden behind the tale, but frequently present within the tale, i.e. Plutarch himself. A methodological caveat should be however signaled right at the beginning: my interest lies with a literary portrayal rather than factual reference, which effectively means that regardless of their possible ‘reality’ the personae of Plutarch’s will be considered as prosopa of the narrative2, the internal dynamics governing their mutual interactions carefully traced in order to reconstruct something of the Cheronean’s attitude towards various academic disciplines as present in QC IX. By necessity, such a discussion will involve some narratological inquires relating both to the execution of actual narrative incl. authorial/narratorial choices involved and to the persona of the narrator.