 |
 |
|
Biography of Callimachus
Name: Callimachus
Birth Date: c. 305 B.C.
Death Date: c. 240 B.C.
Place of Birth: Cyrene, Greece
Nationality: Greek
Gender: Male
Occupations: poet
Callimachus
The Greek poet Callimachus (ca. 305-240 BC) is regarded as the most characteristic representative of Alexandrian poetry. Learning, polish, and contemporaneity characterize his work, which had enormous influence on the Roman elegiac poets.Very little is known about the life of Callimachus. What is known comes primarily from the 10th-century encyclopedist Suidas, not all of which is reliable, and from other, limited references in ancient sources. Callimachus was born in Cyrene; he apparently claimed descent from Battus, the founder of Cyrene, and lived during the time of Ptolemy II Philadelphus (reigned 285-247 B.C.) and survived into the reign of Ptolemy III Euergetes (reigned 246-221 B.C.).Prior to his introduction into the Ptolemaic court, Callimachus, who many scholars argue had been poor, taught school in the Alexandrian suburb of Eleusis. Among Callimachus's more famous pupils were Eratosthenes of Cyrene, Aristophanes of Byzantium, and Apollonius of Rhodes. Callimachus is most often mentioned in …showed first 150 words…
You are viewing only a small portion of the biography.
Please login or register to access the full copy.
|
|
…showed last 150 words…in four books, also survives in fragments and deals with legendary origins of various localities and rites; it was much cited in antiquity. The Lock of Berenice survives in a Latin rendition by Catullus.In Callimachus's hands the epigram emerges as a literary genre. Even though some of his epigrams are tomb inscriptions, the epigram now becomes a literary vehicle for real emotions, including love. Further Reading There are two Loeb Library editions of Callimachus: Callimachus and Lycophron, translated by A. W. Mair (1921), and Aetia, Iambic, Lyric Poems, Hecale, Minor Epic and Elegiac Poems, translated with notes by C. A. Trypanis (1958). Accounts of Callimachus in English are extremely limited and sometimes contradictory. The standard work, in Latin, is undoubtedly R. Pfeiffer's two volume study, Callimachus (1949, 1953). Georg Luck, The Latin Love Elegy (1959), is indispensable for students of Latin elegiac poetry; Luck includes a discussion of Callimachus as the Romans saw him.
Need a custom written paper?
|
|
 |
|
