Posidippus of Pella ( ''Poseidippos''; c. 310 – c. 240 BC) was an

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

epigram An epigram is a brief, interesting, memorable, sometimes surprising or satirical statement. The word derives from the Greek (, "inscription", from [], "to write on, to inscribe"). This literary device has been practiced for over two millennia ...

matic poet.

Life

Posidippus was born in the city of Pella, capital of the kingdom of

Macedon Macedonia ( ; , ), also called Macedon ( ), was an ancient kingdom on the periphery of Archaic and Classical Greece, which later became the dominant state of Hellenistic Greece. The kingdom was founded and initially ruled by the royal ...

as the son of Admetos. He lived for some time in

Samos Samos (, also ; , ) is a Greek island in the eastern Aegean Sea, south of Chios, north of Patmos and the Dodecanese archipelago, and off the coast of western Turkey, from which it is separated by the Mycale Strait. It is also a separate reg ...

before moving permanently to the court of

Ptolemy I Soter Ptolemy I Soter (; , ''Ptolemaîos Sōtḗr'', "Ptolemy the Savior"; 367 BC – January 282 BC) was a Macedonian Greek general, historian, and successor of Alexander the Great who went on to found the Ptolemaic Kingdom centered on Egypt. Pto ...

and later

Ptolemy II Philadelphus 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 G ...

Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

. An inscription from Thermon in

Aetolia Aetolia () is a mountainous region of Greece on the north coast of the Gulf of Corinth, forming the eastern part of the modern regional unit of Aetolia-Acarnania. Geography The Achelous River separates Aetolia from Acarnania to the west; on ...

records that he was honoured by the

Aetolian League The Aetolian (or Aitolian) League () was a confederation of tribal communities and cities in ancient Greece centered in Aetolia in Central Greece. It was probably established during the early Hellenistic era, in opposition to Macedon and the Ac ...

in about 264/3 BC.IG_9.1².1.17
English translation
He was friends with the poets Asclepiades of Samos and Hedylus.

Poetry

Twenty-three of Posidippus' poems were included in the

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

, and several more were quoted in either part or whole by

Athenaeus Athenaeus of Naucratis (, or Nαυκράτιος, ''Athēnaios Naukratitēs'' or ''Naukratios''; ) was an ancient Greek rhetorician and Grammarian (Greco-Roman), grammarian, flourishing about the end of the 2nd and beginning of the 3rd century ...

of Naucratis in his ''

Deipnosophistae The ''Deipnosophistae'' (, ''Deipnosophistaí'', lit. , where ''sophists'' may be translated more loosely as ) is a work written in Ancient Greek by Athenaeus of Naucratis. It is a long work of Greek literature, literary, Ancient history, h ...

''. Until 2001, based on these remains, it was assumed that Posidippus wrote only about drinking and love. In that year the ''

Milan Papyrus The Milan Papyrus is a papyrus roll inscribed in Alexandria in the late 3rd or early 2nd century BC during the rule of the Ptolemaic dynasty. It is currently held by the University of Milan (inventory no. 1295 R), and it is also known in scholar ...

'' P.Mil.Vogl. VIII 309 was recovered from the wrappings of an Egyptian

mummy A mummy is a dead human or an animal whose soft tissues and Organ (biology), organs have been preserved by either intentional or accidental exposure to Chemical substance, chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity, or lack of air, so that the ...

dating to about 180 BC. It contained 112 poems, two of which were previously known to have been written by Posidippus, which address subjects that include events of the court of the

Ptolemaic dynasty The Ptolemaic dynasty (; , ''Ptolemaioi''), also known as the Lagid dynasty (, ''Lagidai''; after Ptolemy I's father, Lagus), was a Macedonian Greek royal house which ruled the Ptolemaic Kingdom in Ancient Egypt during the Hellenistic period. ...

gemstone A gemstone (also called a fine gem, jewel, precious stone, semiprecious stone, or simply gem) is a piece of mineral crystal which, when cut or polished, is used to make jewellery, jewelry or other adornments. Certain Rock (geology), rocks (such ...

s, and bird

divination Divination () is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic ritual or practice. Using various methods throughout history, diviners ascertain their interpretations of how a should proceed by reading signs, ...

. Because of Posidippus' authorship of these two poems, scholars have concluded that the other poems of the ''Milan Papyrus'' were also written by him. The poems of the ''Milan Papyrus'' are grouped into sections, and the papyrus largely preserves the section headers for the surviving poems: # On Stones (''Lithika'' itle restored from two partially preserved letters poems 1-20) # On Omens (''Oionoskopika'', 21-35) # Dedications (''Anathematika'', 36-41) # Epitaphs (''Epitumbia'' onjecture: title not preserved 42-61) # On Statues (''Andriantopoiika'', 62-70) # On Equestrian Victories (''Hippika'', 71-88) # On Shipwrecks (''Nauagika'', 89-94) # On Cures (''Iamatika'', 95-101) # Characters (''Tropoi'', 102-109) # itle lost(110-112)

Editions

* Posidippus' ''Milan Papyrus'' poetry book
Greek text
an
English translation
(PDF) by various hands (CHS) * Bastianini G. - Gallazzi C. (edd.), Papiri dell’Università di Milano - Posidippo di Pella. Epigrammi, LED Edizioni Universitarie, Milano, 2001, * Austin C. - Bastianini G. (edd.), Posidippi Pellaei quae supersunt omni

LED Edizioni Universitarie, Milano, 2002,

Notes

External links

CHS Classics@ Issue 1: Posidippus

Posidippus bibliography
(Martine Cuypers)

(Kathryn Gutzwiller)
The New Posidippus: A Hellenistic Poetry Book by Kathryn J. Gutzwiller

Homeric Echoes in Possipidus by Gregory Nagy at the Center for Hellenic Studies
{{DEFAULTSORT:Posidippus Ancient Pellaeans Ancient Macedonian poets Epigrammatists of the Greek Anthology 3rd-century BC Macedonians 3rd-century BC Greek poets Ancient Macedonians in Greece proper Ptolemaic court 310s BC births 240s BC deaths

Life

Poetry

Editions

Notes

Further reading

External links