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Theocritus
Theocritus (; , ''Theokritos''; ; born 300 BC, died after 260 BC) was a Greek poet from Sicily, Magna Graecia, and the creator of Ancient Greek pastoral poetry. Life Little is known of Theocritus beyond what can be inferred from his writings. We must, however, handle these with some caution, since some of the poems ('' Idylls''; ) commonly attributed to him have little claim to authenticity. It is clear that at a very early date two collections were made: one consisting of poems whose authorship was doubtful yet formed a corpus of bucolic poetry, the other a strict collection of those works considered to have been composed by Theocritus himself. Theocritus was from Sicily, as he refers to Polyphemus, the Cyclops in the ''Odyssey'', as his "countryman." He also probably lived in Alexandria for a while, where he wrote about everyday life, notably '' Pharmakeutria''. It is also speculated that Theocritus was born in Syracuse, lived on the island of Kos, and lived in Egypt dur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Idyll XI
Idyll XI, otherwise known as Bucolic poem 11, was written by Theocritus in dactylic hexameter. Its main character, the Cyclops Polyphemus, has appeared in other works of literature such as Homer's ''Odyssey'', and Theocritus' Idyll VI. Idyll XI is written in the Doric dialect of ancient Greek. In that dialect, the Cyclops' name is "Polyphamos." The more familiar "Polyphemos" is the form in which he is known in the Odyssey, which is written in the Ionic dialect. Overview Theocritus' Idyll XI, the "Cyclops", relates Polyphemus' longing for the sea-nymph Galatea, and how Polyphemus' cured himself of the wound of this unrequited love through song. This idyll is one of Theocritus' best-well-known bucolics, along with Idylls I, VI, and VII. Idyll XI has an unusual set of narrative framing, as Theocritus appears ''in propria persona'', and directly offers his friend Nicias ''consolatio amoris''. Nicias worked as a doctor, and it is likely the two knew each other in their yout ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polyphemus
Polyphemus (; , ; ) is the one-eyed giant son of Poseidon and Thoosa in Greek mythology, one of the Cyclopes described in Homer's ''Odyssey''. His name means "abounding in songs and legends", "many-voiced" or "very famous". Polyphemus first appeared as a savage man-eating giant in the ninth book of the ''Odyssey''. The satyr play of Euripides is dependent on this episode apart from one detail; Polyphemus is made a pederast in the play. Later Classical writers presented him in their poems as heterosexual and linked his name with the nymph Galatea. Often he was portrayed as unsuccessful in these, and as unaware of his disproportionate size and musical failings. In the work of even later authors, however, he is presented as both a successful lover and skilled musician. From the Renaissance on, art and literature reflect all of these interpretations of the giant. Odysseus and Polyphemus Ancient sources In Homer's epic, Odysseus lands on the island of the Cyclopes during his jou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Idyll VI (Theocritus)
Idyll VI, otherwise known as Bucolic poem 6, was written by Theocritus in dactylic hexameter. The exact date of its composition is unknown. It references characters that have appeared in other works of literature such as Homer's ''Odyssey'', Ovid's ''Metamorphoses'', and Theocritus' Idyll XI. Summary The poem is addressed to Aratus, a friend of Theocritus, who is also referenced in Idyll VII. The poem tells the tale of two herdsmen, Damoetas and Daphnis, gathering their herds in the same spot where Daphnis engages Damoetas in a singing competition. Daphnis addresses the state of the relationship between Polyphemus Polyphemus (; , ; ) is the one-eyed giant son of Poseidon and Thoosa in Greek mythology, one of the Cyclopes described in Homer's ''Odyssey''. His name means "abounding in songs and legends", "many-voiced" or "very famous". Polyphemus first ap ... and Galatea, whereby she both flirts with and teases him. However, Daphnis warns Polyphemus of the consequences of act ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Idyll I
Idyll I, sometimes called Θύρσις ('Thyrsis'), is a bucolic poem by the 3rd-century BC Greek poet Theocritus which takes the form of a dialogue between two rustics in a pastoral setting. Thyrsis meets a goatherd in a shady place beside a spring, and at his invitation sings the story of Daphnis.Lang, ed. 1880, p. 1. This ideal hero of Greek pastoral song had won for his bride the fairest of the Nymphs. Confident in the strength of his passion, he boasted that Love could never subdue him to a new affection. Love avenged himself by making Daphnis desire a strange maiden, but to this temptation he never yielded, and so died a constant lover. The song tells how the cattle and the wild things of the wood bewailed him, how Hermes and Priapus gave him counsel in vain, and how with his last breath he retorted the taunts of Aphrodite. Summary A shepherd and a goatherd meet in the pastures one noontide and compliment each other upon their piping.Edmonds, ed. 1919, p. 6. The shepherd, T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pharmakeutria
Idyll II, also called Φαρμακεύτριαι ('The Sorceresses'), is a poem by the 3rd-century BC Greek poet Theocritus, usually categorised with Idylls XIV and XV as one of his 'urban mimes'.Edmonds, ed. 1919, p. 24. The speaker of the poem, Simaetha, madly in love with Delphis, who has forsaken her, endeavours to subdue him to her by magic, and by invoking the Moon, in her character of Hecate, and of Selene.Lang, ed. 1880, p. 8. She tells the tale of the growth of her passion, and vows vengeance if her magic arts are unsuccessful. The scene is beneath the moonlit sky, near the town, and within sound of the sea. The characters are Simaetha, and Thestylis, her handmaid. Summary This monologue consists of two parts; in the first part a Coan girl named Simaetha, assisted by her maid Thestylis, lays a fire-spell upon her neglectful lover, the young athlete Delphis; in the second, when her maid goes off to smear the ashes upon his lintel, she tells the Moon how his love was won ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pastoral Poetry
The pastoral genre of literature, art, or music depicts an idealised form of the shepherd's lifestyle – herding livestock around open areas of land according to the seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. The target audience is typically an urban one. A ''pastoral'' is a work of this genre. A piece of music in the genre is usually referred to as a pastorale. The genre is also known as bucolic, from the Greek , from , meaning a cowherd. Literature Pastoral literature in general Pastoral is a mode of literature in which the author employs various techniques to place the complex life into a simple one. Paul Alpers distinguishes pastoral as a mode rather than a genre, and he bases this distinction on the recurring attitude of power; that is to say that pastoral literature holds a humble perspective toward nature. Thus, pastoral as a mode occurs in many types of literature (poetry, drama, etc.) as well as genres (most notably the pastoral elegy). ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eclogues
The ''Eclogues'' (; , ), also called the ''Bucolics'', is the first of the three major works of the Latin poet Virgil. Background Taking as his generic model the Greek bucolic poetry of Theocritus, Virgil created a Roman version partly by offering a dramatic and mythic interpretation of revolutionary change at Rome in the turbulent period between roughly 44 and 38 BC. Virgil introduced political clamor largely absent from Theocritus' poems, called idylls ('little scenes' or 'vignettes'), even though erotic turbulence disturbs the "idyllic" landscapes of Theocritus. Virgil's book contains ten pieces, each called not an idyll but an eclogue, from the Greek ('selection', 'extract'). The poems are populated by and large with herdsmen imagined conversing and performing amoebaean singing in rural settings, whether suffering or embracing revolutionary change or happy or unhappy love. Performed with great success on the Roman stage, they feature a mix of visionary politics and e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ptolemy II
Ptolemy II Philadelphus (, ''Ptolemaîos Philádelphos'', "Ptolemy, sibling-lover"; 309 – 28 January 246 BC) was the pharaoh of Ptolemaic Egypt from 284 to 246 BC. He was the son of Ptolemy I, the Macedonian Greek general of Alexander the Great who founded the Ptolemaic Kingdom after the death of Alexander, and Queen Berenice I, originally from Macedon. During Ptolemy II's reign, the material and literary splendour of the Alexandrian court was at its height. He promoted the Museum and Library of Alexandria. In addition to Egypt, Ptolemy's empire encompassed much of the Aegean and Levant. He pursued an aggressive and expansionist foreign policy with mixed success. From 275 to 271 BC, he led the Ptolemaic Kingdom against the rival Seleucid Empire in the First Syrian War and extended Ptolemaic power into Cilicia and Caria, but lost control of Cyrenaica after the defection of his half-brother Magas. In the Chremonidean War (–261 BC), Ptolemy confronted Antigonid Macedon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bion Of Smyrna
Bion (Βίων ) was an ancient Greek bucolic poet from Smyrna, probably active at the end of the second or beginning of the first century BC. He is named in the Suda as one of three canonical bucolic poets alongside Theocritus and Moschus. One long poem about Adonis and seventeen shorter fragments of his poetry survive. Life According to the Suda Bion was from Phlossa, which is not otherwise known but may have been one of the villages which made up Smyrna. Ancient sources do not record Bion's dates or any details about his life, but he likely was active in the late second or early first century BC. An epitaph to Bion says that he was poisoned and implies that he died young. Poetry The Suda and the scholiast on the Palatine Anthology name Bion alongside Theocritus and Moschus as a bucolic poet; he also wrote erotic poetry. His surviving work comprises the "Lament to Adonis" and seventeen shorter fragments. All his surviving poetry is composed in dactylic hexameter a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Daphnis
In Greek mythology, Daphnis (; , from , ''daphne'', "Bay Laurel") was a legendary Sicilian cowherd who was said to be the inventor of pastoral poetry. According to Diodorus the Sicilian (1st century BC), Daphnis was born in the Heraean Mountains of central Sicily. Mythology According to tradition, he was the son of Hermes and a nymph, despite which fact Daphnis himself was mortal. As an infant, Daphnis' mother exposed him under a laurel tree, where he was found by some herdsmen and named after the tree (Greek ''daphnē'') under which he was found. The cows that tended to him as an infant were said to be sisters to the ones owned by Helios. He was also sometimes said to be Hermes' ''eromenos'' (beloved) rather than his son. In some versions, Daphnis was taught how to play the panpipes by the god Pan himself, and eventually the two also became lovers. Daphnis became a follower of the goddess Artemis, accompanying her in hunting and entertaining her with his singing of pastor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Syracuse, Sicily
Syracuse ( ; ; ) is a historic city on the Italian island of Sicily, the capital of the Italian province of Syracuse. The city is notable for its rich Greek and Roman history, culture, amphitheatres, architecture, and as the birthplace and home of the pre-eminent mathematician and engineer Archimedes. This 2,700-year-old city played a key role in ancient times, when it was one of the major powers of the Mediterranean world. Syracuse is located in the southeast corner of the island of Sicily, next to the Gulf of Syracuse beside the Ionian Sea. It is situated in a drastic rise of land with depths being close to the city offshore although the city itself is generally not so hilly in comparison. The city was founded by Ancient Greek Corinthians and Teneans and became a very powerful city-state. Syracuse was allied with Sparta and Corinth and exerted influence over the entirety of Magna Graecia, of which it was the most important city. Described by Cicero as "the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
