Callimachus: Select Longer Fragments and Epigrams

Few among the surviving Hellenistic poets can rival the fame of Callimachus of Cyrene (approximately 310-240 BCE). Active as a poet and scholar in Ptolemaic Alexandria, Callimachus associated his name with a new set of aesthetic principles that proved influential for such poets as Vergil, Horace, and Ovid. Even so, except for six Hymns and several epigrams, most of his work survives in fragments. Combining a selection of larger fragments and epigrams, this edition offers a rounded view of Callimachus' literary output; it sheds light on lesser-studied aspects of Callimachus' activity at the Ptolemaic court in Alexandria. For the first time in an English volume, a commentary explores and elucidates the occasional and lyric pieces Callimachus composed for the Ptolemies and their officials (such as the Elegy for Sosibius and the Ektheosis of Arsinoe). By focusing on Callimachus' larger fragments (e.g., Aetia, Iambs, and Hecale), this edition offers an indispensable tool that guides the reader through the intricacies of his poetic art. It also includes an up-to-date commentary on a substantial number of Callimachus' epigrams as well as an exhaustive introduction to Callimachus' life, professional activity, and aesthetics.