Description
Book SynopsisCallimachus was arguably the most important poet of the Hellenistic age, for two reasons: his engagement with previous theorists of poetry and his wide-ranging poetic experimentation. Of his poetic oeuvre, which exceeded what we now have of Theocritus, Aratus, Posidippus, and Apollonius combined, only his six hymns and around fifty of his epigrams have survived intact. His enormously influential Aetia, the collection of Iambi, the Hecale, and all of his prose output have been reduced to a handful of citations in later Greek lexica and handbooks or papyrus fragments. In recent years excellent commentaries and synthetic studies of the Aetia, the Iambi, and the Hecale have appeared or are about to appear. But there is no modern study in English of the collection of hymns. And while there are excellent commentaries in English on three of the hymns (Apollo, Athena, Demeter), the commentaries on Zeus and on Delos are limited in scope, and there is no commentary at all on the Artemis hymn. Sy
Trade Review[Stephens] has now given us a welcome ... entry into a relatively unfamiliar part of the Parnassian grove occupied by Callimachus. * Colin Leach, Classics for All *
this volume provides a needed and accessible edition of the collection. Stephens's scholarship and sensitivity to Callimachus's poetry suffuse every page. Invaluable for those interested in Hellenistic poetry; important for students of mythology, history of religion, and Greek literature ... Highly recommended * P. E. Ojennus, CHOICE *
Table of ContentsAbbreviations ; Maps ; Introduction ; 1. Hymn to Zeus ; 2. Hymn to Apollo ; 3. Hymn to Artemis ; 4. Hymn to Delos ; 5. Hymn to Athena or The Bath of Pallas ; 6. Hymn to Demeter ; Works Cited ; Index Locorum ; General Index
