Europa poem by Moschus, Greek, 15th century

Moschus ( el, Μόσχος),

ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic pe ...

bucolic A pastoral lifestyle is that of shepherds herding livestock around open areas of land according to seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. It lends its name to a genre of literature, art, and music (pastorale) that depic ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or w ...

and student of the Alexandrian grammarian

Aristarchus of Samothrace Aristarchus of Samothrace ( grc-gre, Ἀρίσταρχος ὁ Σαμόθραξ ''Aristarchos o Samothrax''; c. 220 – c. 143 BC) was an ancient Greek grammarian, noted as the most influential of all scholars of Homeric poetry. He was the h ...

, was born at

Syracuse Syracuse may refer to: Places Italy * Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa'' * Province of Syracuse United States *Syracuse, New York **East Syracuse, New York ** North Syracuse, New York * Syracuse, Indiana *Syracuse, Kansas *Syracuse, M ...

and flourished about 150 BC. Aside from his poetry, he was known for his grammatical work, nothing of which survives. His few surviving works consist of an

epyllion A sleeping Ariadne's abandonment by Theseus is the topic of an elaborate ecphrasis">Theseus.html" ;"title="Ariadne's abandonment by Theseus">Ariadne's abandonment by Theseus is the topic of an elaborate ecphrasis in Catullus 64, the most famous e ...

, the ''Europa'', on the myth of

Europa Europa may refer to: Places * Europe * Europa (Roman province), a province within the Diocese of Thrace * Europa (Seville Metro), Seville, Spain; a station on the Seville Metro * Europa City, Paris, France; a planned development * Europa Clif ...

, three bucolic fragments and a whole short bucolic poem ''Runaway Love'', and an epigram in

elegiac The adjective ''elegiac'' has two possible meanings. First, it can refer to something of, relating to, or involving, an elegy or something that expresses similar mournfulness or sorrow. Second, it can refer more specifically to poetry composed in ...

couplets. His surviving bucolic material (composed in the traditional

dactylic hexameter Dactylic hexameter (also known as heroic hexameter and the meter of epic) is a form of meter or rhythmic scheme frequently used in Ancient Greek and Latin poetry. The scheme of the hexameter is usually as follows (writing – for a long syllable ...

s and Doric dialect) is short on pastoral themes and is largely erotic and mythological; although this impression may be distorted by the paucity of evidence, it is also seen in the surviving bucolic of the generations after Moschus, including the work of

Bion of Smyrna Bion of Smyrna (; grc-gre, Βίων ὁ Σμυρναῖος, ''gen''.: Βίωνος) was a Greek bucolic poet. Life He was a native of the city of Smyrna and flourished about 100 BC. Most of his work is lost. There remain 17 fragments ( ...

. Moschus' poetry is typically edited along with other bucolic poets, as in the commonly used Oxford text by A. S. F. Gow (1952), but the ''Europa'' has often received separate scholarly editions, as by Winfried Bühler (Wiesbaden 1960) and Malcolm Campbell (Hildesheim 1991). The epigram is also normally published with the edition by Maximos Planoudes of the

Greek Anthology The ''Greek Anthology'' ( la, Anthologia Graeca) is a collection of poems, mostly epigrams, that span the Classical and Byzantine periods of Greek literature. Most of the material of the ''Greek Anthology'' comes from two manuscripts, the ' ...

. The ''Europa'', along with

Callimachus Callimachus (; ) was an ancient Greek poet, scholar and librarian who was active in Alexandria during the 3rd century BC. A representative of Ancient Greek literature of the Hellenistic period, he wrote over 800 literary works in a wide varie ...

' ''

Hecale In Greek mythology, Hecale ( grc-gre, Ἑκάλη ''Hekálē'') was an old woman who offered succor to Theseus on his way to capture the Marathonian Bull. Mythology On the way to Marathon to capture the Bull, Theseus sought shelter from a s ...

'' and such Latin examples as

Catullus 64 Catullus 64 is an epyllion or "little epic" poem written by Latin poet Catullus. Catullus' longest poem, it retains his famed linguistic witticisms while employing an appropriately epic tone. Though ostensibly concerning itself with the marriage ...

, is a major example of the Hellenistic phenomenon of the

. Although it is hard to tell because of the fragmentary nature of the evidence, Moschus' influence on Greek bucolic poetry is likely to have been significant; the influence of ''Runaway Love'' is felt in Bion and other later bucolic poets. In later European literature his work was imitated or translated by such authors as

Torquato Tasso Torquato Tasso ( , also , ; 11 March 154425 April 1595) was an Italian poet of the 16th century, known for his 1591 poem ''Gerusalemme liberata'' ( Jerusalem Delivered), in which he depicts a highly imaginative version of the combats between ...

and

Ben Jonson Benjamin "Ben" Jonson (c. 11 June 1572 – c. 16 August 1637) was an English playwright and poet. Jonson's artistry exerted a lasting influence upon English poetry and stage comedy. He popularised the comedy of humours; he is best known for t ...

. Two other poems, attributed to him at one time or another but no longer thought to be his, are also commonly edited with his work. The best known is the ''Epitaph on Bion'' (i.e.

), which had a long history of influence on the pastoral lament for a poet (compare Milton's ''Lycidas''). The other is a miniature epic on

Megara Megara (; el, Μέγαρα, ) is a historic town and a municipality in West Attica, Greece. It lies in the northern section of the Isthmus of Corinth opposite the island of Salamis, which belonged to Megara in archaic times, before being take ...

(the wife of

Heracles Heracles ( ; grc-gre, Ἡρακλῆς, , glory/fame of Hera), born Alcaeus (, ''Alkaios'') or Alcides (, ''Alkeidēs''), was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon.By his adoptiv ...

), consisting of an epic dialogue between Heracles' mother and his wife on his absence.

References

* *For a recent overview of Moschus see A. Porro in ''Eikasmos'' 10 (1999) 125–25. *There are English translations by J. Banks in ''

Bohn's Classical Library Henry George Bohn (4 January 179622 August 1884) was a Kingdom of Great Britain, British publisher. He is principally remembered for the ''Bohn's Libraries'' which he inaugurated. These were begun in 1846, targeted the mass market, and comprised e ...

'' (1853), and by

Andrew Lang Andrew Lang (31 March 1844 – 20 July 1912) was a Scottish poet, novelist, literary critic, and contributor to the field of anthropology. He is best known as a collector of folk and fairy tales. The Andrew Lang lectures at the University o ...

(1889), together with

and

Theocritus Theocritus (; grc-gre, Θεόκριτος, ''Theokritos''; born c. 300 BC, died after 260 BC) was a Greek poet from Sicily and the creator of Ancient Greek pastoral poetry. Life Little is known of Theocritus beyond what can be inferred from h ...

. *See also

Franz Susemihl Franz Susemihl (December 10, 1826 – April 30, 1901) was a German classical philologist born in Laage. He studied ancient languages in Leipzig and Berlin, and from 1848 taught classes at the Domgymnasium in Güstrow. In 1852 he received h ...

, ''Geschichte der griechischen Litteratur in der Alexandrinerzeit.'' i. 231 (1891).

External links

* * *
Poems by Moschus
English translations

translated by J.M. Edmonds, 1912
''Anacreon, Bion, and Moschus, etc.''
translated by Thomas Stanley (1651)
Europa. Perseus Digital Library
Greek *''Theocritus, Bion et Moschus graece et latine. Accedunt virorum doctorum animadversiones scholia, indices'', L. F. Heindorfius (ed.), Londini, sumtibus Whittaker, Treacher, et Arnot, 1829
vol. 2 pp. 35-77
*''Poetae bucolici et didactici. Theocritus, Bion, Moschus, Nicander, Oppianus, Marcellus de piscibus, poeta de herbis'', C. Fr. Ameis, F. S. Lehrs (ed.), Parisiis, editore Ambrosio Firmin Didot, 1862
pp. 77-86
{{Authority control Poets of Magna Graecia 2nd-century BC poets 2nd-century BC Greek people Ancient Syracusans Ancient Greek bucolic poets Ancient Greek poets Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown Hellenistic poets