Epigrams on Works of Art 175the signal, and off he will go. Julian and the other three charioteers are long
dead, but come to life again in the pictures as strong and glorious as they once
used to be. The words kaò n ̄n graóe5ß clearly refer to the present and indicate
that the making of Julian’s picture coincides chronologically with the moment
in time that the epigram came into being: that is, now.
Cameron argues that the pictures date from the early sixth century because
the epigrams seem to offer first-hand information on the charioteers, especially
on their age and the colours they sported^68. I would suggest, on the contrary,
that the Byzantine poet obtained all his information from the late antique
epigrams on the statues of the charioteers (APl 335–378 and AP XV, 41–50).
His source was the anthology of Cephalas itself. Let us imagine him sitting at
his writing desk and opening his copy of Cephalas at the page where the series
of charioteer epigrams begins. He only has to read the first four of the thirty-
two epigrams on Porphyrius (APl 335–362 & AP XV, 44, 46–47, 50) to get all
the information he needs: Porphyrius is the son of Kalchas; he is a young man;
and he races for the Blues (APl 335–338, cf. APl 380–381). The poet also
borrows two phrases that appeal to him: Poró7rion K1lcantoß (APl 335. 1) =
Poró7rioß K1lcantoß (APl 381. 2); pr0ton Éoylon Çczn (APl 336. 6) = Éoylon
änq0n pr0ton (APl 381. 1). Then he turns to the next charioteer, Faustinus
(APl 363–364, cf. APl 382–383). Unfortunately, the late antique epigrams do
not mention the colour he sported. But our poet is not put off by a problem as
trivial as that. For having mentioned the Blues (the team of Porphyrius), he
now simply needs the opposite colour: Green, and thus Faustinus becomes a
Green charioteer. And since the late antique epigrams he was reading tell us
that Faustinus was an old man, the poet, too, emphasizes that the charioteer
used to compete in the Hippodrome at an advanced age. The next charioteer
is Constantine (AP XV, 41–42, APl 365, AP XV, 43 and APl 366–375, cf. APl
384–385). The late antique epigrams again do not tell us for which team
Constantine used to race, but since our poet already has a Blue and a Green
charioteer, he now needs someone to compete for the Whites (a subdivision of
the Blues). Well, Constantine will do! The poet imitates one of the epigrams on
Constantine: see APl 365. 1–3 ™xöte Kznstant¦noß Çdy dömon èAúdoß eÉsz, / pl‰to
kathóe5hß Wppos7nhß st1dion, / terpzlë d\ äp6leipe qe8monaß and APl 385. 3–5 äó\
oÏ dê to ̄ton årpasen C1rzn, Çdy / tñ ó0ß 3m5llhß Wppik0n dromhm1tzn / kaò p@sa
t6rviß to ̄ qe1troy kaò t6cnh. The poet now only needs a Red charioteer to
complete the four colours. However, the charioteer that is next in line, Uranius
(AP XV, 49, APl 376–377, AP XV, 48 and APl 378), used to compete for the
Blues and the Greens, as the first epigram informs us. So our poet cannot use
him. But fortunately for him, the last charioteer of the series of late antique
(^68) See CAMERON 1973: 202–203.