The Cyzicene epigrams are a collection of nineteen numbered Greek

epigram An epigram is a brief, interesting, memorable, and sometimes surprising or satirical statement. The word is derived from the Greek "inscription" from "to write on, to inscribe", and the literary device has been employed for over two mille ...

s, each accompanied by a short prose preamble, which, together with a one-sentence introduction, constitute the third and shortest book of the ''

Palatine Anthology The ''Palatine Anthology'' (or ''Anthologia Palatina''), sometimes abbreviated ''AP'', is the collection of Greek poems and epigrams discovered in 1606 in the Palatine Library in Heidelberg. It is based on the lost collection of Constantinus Cepha ...

''. The epigrams are supposed to have been inscribed somewhere on the columns of the

Temple of Apollonis The Temple of Appolonis was built at Cyzicus in the 2nd century BC, in order to honor Apollonis of Cyzicus. The Cyzicene epigrams The Cyzicene epigrams are a collection of nineteen numbered Greek epigrams, each accompanied by a short prose preamble, ...

Cyzicus Cyzicus (; grc, Κύζικος ''Kúzikos''; ota, آیدینجق, ''Aydıncıḳ'') was an ancient Greek town in Mysia in Anatolia in the current Balıkesir Province of Turkey. It was located on the shoreward side of the present Kapıdağ Peni ...

, a monument which no longer exists.

Apollonis Apollonis (; grc, Ἀπoλλωνίς means "of Apollo") was one of the three younger Mousai Apollonides (Muses) in Greek mythology and daughters of Apollo, who were worshipped in Delphi where the Temple of Apollo and the Oracle were located. T ...

was the wife and queen of

Attalus I Attalus I ( grc, Ἄτταλος Α΄), surnamed ''Soter'' ( el, , "Savior"; 269–197 BC) ruled Pergamon, an Ionian Greek polis (what is now Bergama, Turkey), first as dynast, later as king, from 241 BC to 197 BC. He was the first ...

, first king of

Pergamon Pergamon or Pergamum ( or ; grc-gre, Πέργαμον), also referred to by its modern Greek form Pergamos (), was a rich and powerful ancient Greek city in Mysia. It is located from the modern coastline of the Aegean Sea on a promontory on th ...

. When she died in the mid-second century BC, two of her sons,

Eumenes Eumenes (; grc-gre, Εὐμένης; c. 362316 BC) was a Greek general and satrap. He participated in the Wars of Alexander the Great, serving as both Alexander's personal secretary and as a battlefield commander. He later was a participant in ...

and

Attalus Attalus or Attalos may refer to: People *Several members of the Attalid dynasty of Pergamon ** Attalus I, ruled 241 BC–197 BC ** Attalus II Philadelphus, ruled 160 BC–138 BC ** Attalus III, ruled 138 BC–133 BC *Attalus, father of ...

, built a temple in Apollonis' home town of Cyzicus, and dedicated it to her. According to the one-sentence introduction, each epigram was, apparently, a kind of subtitle for a relief decorating each column of the temple, illustrating a scene from

Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities of ...

. The prose preamble, taking the place of the carved image, provides a description of it. As befitting a temple built by sons to honor their mother, the preambles describe scenes of love between mothers and sons. The author and date of the collection is unknown.If we are to believe the introduction, the epigrams would apparently have been composed shortly after Apollonis' death in the early-second century BC. However, although some scholars accept the epigrams as authentic (see Livingstone and Nisbet
p. 99 n. 2
, Livingstone and Nisbet
p. 101
describes a Hellenistic date for the epigrams as "''extremely'' unlikely", while Demoen, p. 248, dates the collection as no earlier than the 6th century AD.

Notes

References

*Demoen, Kristoffel
"The Date of the Cyzicene Epigrams. An Analysis of the Vocabulary and Metrical Technique of AP III"
''L'Antiquité Classique'', 1988, T. 57 (1988), pp. 231-248. . * Paton, W. R. (ed.), ''Greek Anthology, Volume I: Book 1: Christian Epigrams, Book 2: Description of the Statues in the Gymnasium of Zeuxippus, Book 3: Epigrams in the Temple of Apollonis at Cyzicus, Book 4: Prefaces to the Various Anthologies, Book 5: Erotic Epigrams'', translated by W. R. Paton. Revised by Michael A. Tueller,

Loeb Classical Library The Loeb Classical Library (LCL; named after James Loeb; , ) is a series of books originally published by Heinemann_(publisher), Heinemann in London, but is currently published by Harvard University Press. The library contains important works ...

No. 67, Cambridge, Massachusetts,

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the reti ...

, 2014.
Online version at Harvard University Press
* Livingstone, Niall, and Gidean Nisbet, ''Epigram'', Cambridge University Press, 2010. {{ISBN, 9780521145701. Ancient Greek literature