A note on the "Thrax" of Euphorion: SH 15.II.1FF.

Abstract

This paper tries to consider the Archaic or Classical origins of Dike or dike, starting by Hesiod and Aeschylus or some indexes which show its religious meaning, and its evolution from the “religious” treatment to the “exemplum” by Euphorion in his “curse poem” the Thrax. Although the probable ironical nature of the Thrax would suggest that Dike is a literary rather than religious figure, it is difficult to support so, because the poem may well be something of a mock-­‐‑ complaint on either a dog or another pet animal, but this does not imply that Dike, as a figure, is not serious. The relevant lines of the poem (SH 415.ii.1ff.) are quite serious in themselves: Dike and Themis are introduced as powerful divine entities regulating human life. But references to the possible “dog” in the Thrax may involve “l´énigme par fragmentation” and this shows the importance attached to “enigma” in Greek texts, as well as in the Thrax, according to Hurst´s proposal.