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Headword: *megalomeri/a
Adler number: mu,365
Translated headword: lavishness, munificence, greatness of parts
Vetting Status: high
Translation:
Polybius says about [the] Carthaginians that "their expedition began with around fifteen myriad[1] [sc. soldiers], by which not only someone present and beholding under his view, but even one hearing [sc. about these numbers], would have been struck with astonishment at the magnitude of the venture and the lavishness and power of both governments."[2]
And the Theologian [writes]: "... for those [who desire] the greatest things, or the greatest thing".[3] 'Of the greatest things' as in three consubstantial hypostases.[4] Or 'of the greatest thing', [meaning] because of being in essence one and the same as the godhead. Or [he also writes] 'beyond great,' because of not being circumscribed by a certain quantity or magnitude or size.
Greek Original:
*megalomeri/a. *polu/bios peri\ *karxhdoni/wn fhsi/n, o(/ti o( sto/los au)tw=n peri\ ie# muria/das u(ph=rxen: e)f' oi(=s ou)x oi(=on a)/n tis parw\n kai\ qew/menos u(po\ th\n o)/yin, a)lla\ ka)\n a)kou/wn kataplagei/h to\ tou= kindu/nou me/geqos kai\ th\n tw=n politeuma/twn a)mfote/rwn megalomeri/an kai\ du/namin. kai\ o( *qeolo/gos: toi=s tw=n megi/stwn h)\ tou= megi/stou. megi/stwn w(s e)n trisi\n u(posta/sesin o(moousi/ois. h)\ tou= megi/stou, dia\ to\ kat' ou)si/an e(\n kai\ tauto\ th=s qeo/thtos. h)\ u(pe\r to\ me/ga, dia\ to\ mh\ posw=| tini h)\ mege/qei h)\ phliko/thti perigra/fesqai.
Notes:
The unglossed headword is a feminine noun in the nominative (and vocative) singular. This spelling, in which the Suda follows Polybius (see n. 2 below), is an alternative to megalome/reia (lavishness, munificence; see LSJ s.v.).
The word's additional meaning, largeness of parts or scale, appears to be illustrated in the latter part of the entry (see nn. 3-4 below).
cf. mu 366.
[1] One myriad (mu/rioi) is ten thousand, so this represents one hundred and fifty thousand soldiers (Smyth ยง347).
[2] Polybius 1.26.8-9 (web address 1), describing the Carthaginian mobilization (256 BCE) for the Battle of Ecnomus (Eknomos; Barrington atlas map 47 grid D4), a hill near the town of Phintias (present-day Licata, Italy), on Sicily's southern coast (Lazenby, p. 84). Walbank suggests that Carthage was pursuing a defensive strategy and that Polybius' reckoning of the troop count from ship numbers is therefore exaggerated (Walbank, p. 86). However, Lazenby (op. cit., pp. 86-7) favors Polybius' account, together with his arithmetic; Ecnomus was arguably the largest sea-battle in history.
[3] Gregory of Nazianzus, In sancta lumina PG 36.344.12, with scholion.
[4] The Council of Nicaea (325 CE) defined the relationship between the persons (hypostases) of the Christian Trinity as o(moou/sion, consubstantial. See LSJ s.v.; OCD(4) s.v. Nicaea (1); and related Suda passages alpha 3397, beta 150, gamma 450, epsilon 3782, lambda 256, and omicron 762.
References:
H.W. Smyth, Greek Grammar, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1956
J.F. Lazenby, The First Punic War, Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press, 1996
F.W. Walbank, A Historical Commentary on Polybius, vol. I, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1957
Associated internet address:
Web address 1
Keywords: Christianity; dialects, grammar, and etymology; historiography; history; mathematics; military affairs; politics; religion
Translated by: Ronald Allen on 14 July 2009@01:32:59.
Vetted by:
David Whitehead (x-ref; tweaks and cosmetics) on 14 July 2009@04:54:37.
David Whitehead on 13 May 2013@07:06:56.
David Whitehead on 9 August 2014@07:39:05.
Catharine Roth (cosmeticule) on 19 December 2014@19:39:21.
Catharine Roth (coding) on 19 December 2014@23:58:05.
Catharine Roth (cosmeticule, tweaked link) on 28 January 2018@17:57:42.
Catharine Roth (tweaked translation) on 24 July 2020@23:20:20.
Catharine Roth (more tweaking) on 26 July 2020@15:49:03.

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