Dust and Earth: a Note on the Episode of the Hesperides in the Argonautica of Apollonius Rhodius

Abstract

Describing the Argonauts’ encounter with the nymphs Hesperides (Argonautica, 4.1406-1430), Apollonius Rhodius tells how the latter, frightened by the arrival of the Argo’s crew, turn into “dust and earth”, kónis kaì gaía. It is only after being flattered and reassured by Orpheus that the Hesperides take on the appearance of trees and then human features again. Interpreters have noted that this arboreal development has parallels in the beliefs surrounding nymphs in ancient and modern Greece. This line of interpretation also seems productive for the transformation that opens the episode, that into dust and earth. Indeed, the association of the Nereids, the current hypostasis of the ancient nymphs, with whirlwinds and dust, and the use of respectful epithets (such as “good ladies”) to address them and their manifestations, is striking in the folklore of modern Greece. Traces of similar beliefs, moreover, can be traced back to antiquity. Even more significant is the identification of the ğinn (spirits, both male and female) with a handful of dust taken from the ground, which is documented as late as the last century in Cyrenaica. Such beliefs could be alluded to by Apollonius, who, in the same passage, shows himself to be attentive to Libyan cults and supernatural figures.