Eumelus of Corinth ( ''Eumelos ho Korinthios''), of the clan of the

Bacchiadae The Bacchiadae ( ''Bakkhiadai''), a tightly knit Doric clan, were the ruling family of ancient Corinth in the eighth and seventh centuries BCE, a period of Corinthian cultural power. History Corinth had been a backwater in eighth-century Greece ...

, is a semi-legendary early Greek poet to whom were attributed several epic poems as well as a celebrated '' prosodion'', the treasured processional anthem of Messenian independence that was performed on

Delos Delos (; ; ''Dêlos'', ''Dâlos''), is a small Greek island near Mykonos, close to the centre of the Cyclades archipelago. Though only in area, it is one of the most important mythological, historical, and archaeological sites in Greece. ...

. One small fragment of it survives in a quote by Pausanias. To Eumelus was also attributed authorship of several antiquarian epics composed in the Corinthian-Sicyonian cultural sphere, notably ''Corinthiaca'', an epic narrating the legends and early history of his home city

Corinth Corinth ( ; , ) is a municipality in Corinthia in Greece. The successor to the ancient Corinth, ancient city of Corinth, it is a former municipality in Corinthia, Peloponnese (region), Peloponnese, which is located in south-central Greece. Sin ...

. The ''Corinthiaca'' is now lost, but a written version of it was used by Pausanias in his survey of the antiquities of Corinth. The epics '' Europia'', ''Bougonia'' (perhaps the same as ''Europia''), ''

Titanomachy In Greek mythology, the Titanomachy (; ) was a ten-year war fought in ancient Thessaly, consisting of most of the Titans (the older generation of gods, based on Mount Othrys) fighting against the Twelve Olympians, Olympians (the younger generati ...

'', and ''Return from Troy'' (one of the '' Nostoi'') were also ascribed to Eumelus by various later authors. Eumelus was traditionally dated between 760 and 740 BC. According to Martin West the epics appear to have been composed in the late seventh or sixth century BC, later than the date traditionally ascribed to Eumelus in the Greek chronographic tradition used, for instance, by

Eusebius of Caesarea Eusebius of Caesarea (30 May AD 339), also known as Eusebius Pamphilius, was a historian of Christianity, exegete, and Christian polemicist from the Roman province of Syria Palaestina. In about AD 314 he became the bishop of Caesarea Maritima. ...

.Eusebius dates Eumelus as contemporaneous with Archias, his fellow-Bacchiad, who founded Syracuse, about 734BC (West 2002:109 and note 3).

Notes

Sources

* West, M. L. (2002), "'Eumelos': A Corinthian Epic Cycle?" in ''The Journal of Hellenic Studies'', vol. 122, pp. 109–133. . * West, M. L. (2003), ''Greek Epic Fragments: From the Seventh to the Fifth Centuries BC'', edited and translated by Martin L. West,

Loeb Classical Library The Loeb Classical Library (LCL; named after James Loeb; , ) is a monographic series of books originally published by Heinemann and since 1934 by Harvard University Press. It has bilingual editions of ancient Greek and Latin literature, ...

No. 497, Cambridge, Massachusetts,

Harvard University Press Harvard University Press (HUP) is an academic publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University. It is a member of the Association of University Presses. Its director since 2017 is George Andreou. The pres ...

, 2003.
Online version at Harvard University Press

External links

Eumelus Poems & Fragments
a
demonax.info
Early Greek epic poets 8th-century BC Greek poets Ancient Corinthians Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown {{AncientGreece-poet-stub