Filemone, fr. 102 K.–A. e la reviviscenza tragica di una metafora mitica

This paper argues that the mention of Niobe turned into a stone in Philemon fr.
102 K.–A. is not merely a reference to the myth, but an allusion of the famous Aeschylean
Niobe. After presenting and discussing the comic fragment, the author provides sections
about the popularity of the Niobe myth and the reasons why Aeschylus’ Niobe was so
significant already in antiquity, which was mainly owing to the dramatist’ s presentation of
Niobe as silent until an advanced point of the performance. Niobe’ s silence is not attested
in other literary or mythographical sources. Next the author discusses the rationalization
of Niobe’ s metamorphosis in the fragment by Philemon, pointing out that it focuses
precisely on the silence of the woman, while other versions by different authors refer to
different aspects (linguistic misunderstandings, immobility, insensibility). Lastly, a short
meta-linguistic survey of the association stone/silence shows that this was not the only
possible nor the most expected outcome in Greek.