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Hecale. Hymns. Epigrams
The premier scholar-poet of the Hellenistic age.
Callimachus (ca. 303–ca. 235 BC), a proud and well-born native of Cyrene in Libya, came as a young man to the court of the Ptolemies at Alexandria, where he composed poetry for the royal family; helped establish the Library and Museum as a world center of literature, science, and scholarship; and wrote an estimated 800 volumes of poetry and prose on an astounding variety of subjects, including the Pinakes , a descriptive bibliography of the Library’s holdings in 120 volumes. Callimachus’ vast learning richly informs his poetry, which ranges broadly and reworks the language and generic properties of his predecessors in inventive, refined, and expressive ways. The “Callimachean” style, combining learning, elegance, and innovation and prizing brevity, clarity, lightness, and charm, served as an important model for later poets, not least at Rome for Catullus, Virgil, Horace, Ovid, and the elegists, among others.
This edition, which replaces the earlier Loeb editions by A. W. Mair (1921) and C. A. Trypanis (1954, 1958), presents all that currently survives of and about Callimachus and his works, including the ancient commentaries ( Diegeseis ) and scholia. Volume I contains Aetia , Iambi , and lyric poems; Volume II Hecale , Hymns , and Epigrams ; and Volume III miscellaneous epics and elegies, other fragments, and testimonia, together with concordances and a general index. The Greek text is based mainly on Pfeiffer’s but enriched by subsequently published papyri and the judgment of later editors, and its notes and annotation are fully informed by current scholarship.
Callimachus (ca. 303–ca. 235 BC), a proud and well-born native of Cyrene in Libya, came as a young man to the court of the Ptolemies at Alexandria, where he composed poetry for the royal family; helped establish the Library and Museum as a world center of literature, science, and scholarship; and wrote an estimated 800 volumes of poetry and prose on an astounding variety of subjects, including the Pinakes , a descriptive bibliography of the Library’s holdings in 120 volumes. Callimachus’ vast learning richly informs his poetry, which ranges broadly and reworks the language and generic properties of his predecessors in inventive, refined, and expressive ways. The “Callimachean” style, combining learning, elegance, and innovation and prizing brevity, clarity, lightness, and charm, served as an important model for later poets, not least at Rome for Catullus, Virgil, Horace, Ovid, and the elegists, among others.
This edition, which replaces the earlier Loeb editions by A. W. Mair (1921) and C. A. Trypanis (1954, 1958), presents all that currently survives of and about Callimachus and his works, including the ancient commentaries ( Diegeseis ) and scholia. Volume I contains Aetia , Iambi , and lyric poems; Volume II Hecale , Hymns , and Epigrams ; and Volume III miscellaneous epics and elegies, other fragments, and testimonia, together with concordances and a general index. The Greek text is based mainly on Pfeiffer’s but enriched by subsequently published papyri and the judgment of later editors, and its notes and annotation are fully informed by current scholarship.
464 pages, Hardcover
Published December 27, 2022
About the author
Callimachus
167 books20 followersCallimachus (310/305–240 BCE) (Greek: Καλλίμαχος, Kallimakhos) was a poet, critic, and scholar at the Library of Alexandria. He was a native of the Greek colony of Cyrene, Libya.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
November 3, 2023
A great improvement over the previous Loeb editions of these works published in 1921 and 1958.
Hecale is in fragments, so somewhat disjointed and unsatisfying.
The epigrams vary widely in tone and qualify. The editor provides notes to names and possible interpretations, but many remain mysterious and obscure.
The Hymns, many influenced by the Homeric Hymns, are interesting and well written, especially with the addition of ancient diegeseis (summaries), commentaries, and scholia (marginal manuscript notes.)
Observations:
1. Hymn III to Artemis (lines 13-14, cf 42-43): As a child she asks her father Zeus to give her "sixty daughters of Ocean for my chorus, all nine years old and all unmarried"!! How many married 9 year olds were there in the time of Zeus or of Callimachus?
Lines 239-41 say Hippo danced in armor before Artemis' image. Lines 266-7 say Hippo refused to dance around her altar!?
2. Hymn II to Apollo: Scholia on "Battis":
Line 66, page 221: "he stuttered."
Line 65, page 229: "Battis was mute", but regained his voice upon seeing a lion.
Line 76, page 229: "He was entirely healthy with respect to his voice."
Other interesting scholia: line 8b, page 193; line 48, page 199; line 69, page 229.
Correction: Page 315, end of footnote 74 should read "Strabo FRAGMENT 7.3 (Cf Loeb Strabo, Volume III, page 325.
Hecale is in fragments, so somewhat disjointed and unsatisfying.
The epigrams vary widely in tone and qualify. The editor provides notes to names and possible interpretations, but many remain mysterious and obscure.
The Hymns, many influenced by the Homeric Hymns, are interesting and well written, especially with the addition of ancient diegeseis (summaries), commentaries, and scholia (marginal manuscript notes.)
Observations:
1. Hymn III to Artemis (lines 13-14, cf 42-43): As a child she asks her father Zeus to give her "sixty daughters of Ocean for my chorus, all nine years old and all unmarried"!! How many married 9 year olds were there in the time of Zeus or of Callimachus?
Lines 239-41 say Hippo danced in armor before Artemis' image. Lines 266-7 say Hippo refused to dance around her altar!?
2. Hymn II to Apollo: Scholia on "Battis":
Line 66, page 221: "he stuttered."
Line 65, page 229: "Battis was mute", but regained his voice upon seeing a lion.
Line 76, page 229: "He was entirely healthy with respect to his voice."
Other interesting scholia: line 8b, page 193; line 48, page 199; line 69, page 229.
Correction: Page 315, end of footnote 74 should read "Strabo FRAGMENT 7.3 (Cf Loeb Strabo, Volume III, page 325.
Displaying 1 of 1 review