Plutarch, Quaestiones Graecae, ed. William W. Goodwin, 51

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[51]

Question 51.

Why did the Argive boys on a certain feast-day call themselves Ballacrades in sport?

Solution.

Was it because they report that the first people that were brought by Inachus out of the countries into the plains, lived upon ἀχράδες, i.e. wild pears? But wild pears were first discovered by the Grecians in Peloponnesus, while that country was called Apia, whence wild pears came afterwards to be called ἄπιοι.

Quaestiones Graecae. Plutarch. ed. William W. Goodwin. Boston. 1874.

Funding provided by The National Endowment for the Humanities.

Current edition Perseus

Greek Questions (English) (Plutarch. Plutarch's Morals, Vol. II. Goodwin, William W., editor; Chauncy, Isaac translator. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company; Cambridge: Press of John Wilson and Son, 1874.)

Editions (2)

Αἴτια Ἑλληνικά Perseus (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. IV. Babbitt, Frank Cole, editor. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1936 (printing).) — 51 focus

[51] διὰ τί Βαλλαχράδας ἑαυτοὺς Ἀργείων παῖδες ἐν ἑορτῇ τινι παίζοντες ἀποκαλοῦσιν;

ἢ ὅτι τοὺς πρώτους ὑπʼ Ἰνάχου καταχθέντας ἐκ τῶν ἄκρων¹ εἰς τὰ πεδία ἀχράσι διατραφῆναι λέγουσιν; ἀχράδας δὲ πρῶτον ἐν Πελοποννήσῳ 303b φανῆναι τοῖς Ἕλλησιν, ἔτι τῆς χώρας ἐκείνης Ἀπίας προσαγορευομένης ὅθεν ἄπιοι αἱ² ἀχράδες ἐπωνομάσθησαν.³

Κεφαλαίων καταγραφή Ἑλληνικά Perseus (Plutarch. Plutarchi Chaeronensis Moralia, Vol IΙ. Vernardakēs, Grēgorios N., editor. Leipzig: Teubner, 1889.) — 51 focus

[51] διὰ τί Βαλλαχράδας ἑαυτοὺς Ἀργείων παῖδες ἐν ἑορτῇ τινι παίζοντες ἀποκαλοῦσιν; ἦ ὅτι τοὺς πρώτους ὑπʼ Ἰνάχου καταχθέντας ἐκ τῶν ἄκρων ¹ εἰς τὰ πεδία ἀχράσι διατραφῆναι λέγουσιν; ἀχράδας δὲ πρῶτον ἐν Πελοποννήσῳ φανῆναι τοῖς Ἕλλησιν, ἔτι 10 303b τῆς χώρας ἐκείνης Ἀπίας προσαγορευομένης· ὅθεν ἄπιοι αἱ ² ἀχράδες ἐπωνομάσθησαν.

Translations (1)

The Greek Questions Perseus (Plutarch. Moralia, Vol. IV. Babbitt, Frank Cole, translator. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1936 (printing).) — 51 focus

[51] Why is it that Argive children in a certain festival call themselves, in jest, Pear-throwers?

Is it because the first men that were led down by Inachus from the mountains to the plain lived, as they say, on wild pears? They also say that wild pears were first discovered by the Greeks in the Peloponnesus at a time when that country was still called Apia,¹ wherefore wild pears were named apioi.

Plutarch Quaestiones Graecae 51

ed. William W. Goodwin

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Question 51.

Solution.

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