Theocritus

Courtney J. P. Friesen explores shifting boundaries of ancient religions by way of the reception of a popular tragedy, Euripides’ Bacchae . As a play staging political crises provoked by the arrival of the “foreign” god Dionysus and his ecstatic cult, audiences and readers found resonances with their own cultural moments. This dramatic deity became emblematic of exuberant and liberating spirituality and, at the same time, a symbol of imperial conquest. Thus, readings of the Bacchae frequently foreground conflicts between religious autonomy and political authority, and between ethnic diversity and social cohesion. This cross-disciplinary study traces appropriations and evocations of this drama ranging from the fifth century BCE through Byzantium not only among “pagans” but also Jews and Christians. Writers variously articulated their religious visions over against Dionysus, often while paradoxically adopting the god’s language and symbols. Consequently, imitation and emulation are at times indistinguishable from polemics and subversion.

The full text is available here
http://kata.petra.ac.id/index.php/ing/article/view/18851/18544

Many similar subjects can be traced in world literature; among them is nature since it belongs to man/nature binary opposition. The American poet and philosopher, Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) employs nature in his works. Throughout his works, the American writer discusses the affinity between man and nature, emphasizing how man takes advantage of it. The contemporary Iranian poet, Sohrab Sepehri (1928-1980), also makes intensive use of nature in his poems; his interest in the subject increases along with his tendency to Buddhism. Sepehri is proficient in using nature either in philosophical or emotional issues. Due to the significance of nature in the works or the two figures, an ecocritical reading of them is not only applicable but unavoidable. This comparative study aims at investigating different approaches towards nature employed by the two poets, emphasizing their points of difference. Although both poets employ nature in their works with romantic tendencies, the postmodern environmental ethics of Sepehri is in direct contrast to the instrumental value viewpoint held by his American counterpart.

In this paper, I analyze the way men and animals interact in the Ancient Greek and Roman Bucolic. First, I enter the bucolic matrix (generic concept and functionnement), I then explain how humanity, bestiality and divinity mingle and, finally I show how the writer shapes an ideal of life and a political vision of society as well, while playing upon intertextuallity.
This paper has been published in P. Guisard, C. Laizé, A. Contensou (éd.), L’homme et l’animal, Paris, Ellipses, 2021, p. 461-489.

Les Idylles de Théocrite témoignent dans leur diversité même d'une vive conscience du chaos qui règne dans le monde et de la souffrance désabusée qui ronge l'individu. Le microcosme bucolique, façonné par le poète, est une réponse existentielle et surtout poétique.
Publié en 2009, in Ancient World and Archeology, Alexey Mosolkin (dir., Russie, Saratov), 13, p. 373-388

Résumé en russe : Кри­стин Кос­са­и­фи (Севр, Фран­ция).
Буко­ли­че­ские «Идил­лии» Фео­кри­та: поэ­ти­ка сча­стья

Фео­крит в буко­ли­че­ских «Идил­ли­ях», тща­тель­но под­би­рая каж­дое сло­во и каж­дый звук, пыта­ет­ся отыс­кать мотив под­лин­но чело­ве­че­ско­го сча­стья. Поэт выстра­и­ва­ет слож­ный мир все­лен­ной, где чело­ве­че­ское, живот­ное и боже­ст­вен­ное сли­ва­ют­ся в еди­ном обра­зе Пана, кото­рый, про­жи­вая на лоне при­ро­ды, ощу­ща­ет пол­ное сча­стье жиз­ни. Дей­ст­ву­ю­щей силой поэ­ти­че­ско­го тво­ре­ния явля­ет­ся Эрос. Он при­чи­ня­ет душев­ную боль, кото­рая выкри­стал­ли­зо­вы­ва­ет­ся в жем­чу­жи­ны поэ­ти­че­ско­го твор­че­ства. Все это пре­об­ра­жа­ет лич­ность, даже из цик­ло­па делая поэта. Поэ­зия Фео­кри­та, исхо­дя из кон­цеп­ции Кал­ли­ма­ха, явля­ет­ся искус­ст­вом жить счаст­ли­во, где реаль­ность может нане­сти раны, но не спо­соб­на убить.

La pratique poétique de Théocrite dans ses Idylles et la technique vocale et musicale d’Oum Kalthoum procèdent d’une même esthétique, celle de la boucle ; par le jeu des répétitions et des reprises, modulées par l’art savant de la variatio, se construit le lien enchanteur qui prend possession de l’esprit du lecteur ou de l’auditeur en une qe/lcij aussi puissante que celle dont fut victime Apollon dans l’Hymne homérique à Hermès. Chaque boucle, fermée par la reprise d’un thème ou d’un vers, construit une maille de ce filet qui, paradoxalement, emprisonne pour mieux libérer. Bercé par le chant des mots et la chaleur de la voix, guidé par ces boucles vers des hauteurs inconnues, l’esprit se dégage de sa gangue humaine pour connaître une joie nouvelle et intense. L’étude en parallèle de l’Idylle II de Théocrite et des Ruines d’Oum Kalthoum permettra de montrer comment la répétition d’un vers ou d’une strophe transcrit la souffrance amoureuse du locuteur tout en initiant un processus de libération psychique : la douleur s’exprime en cris, en gémissements ou en imprécations sans jamais atteindre son paroxysme destructeur puisqu’elle est enfermée dans la boucle que dessine le refrain ou la reprise. L’esprit, accaparé par la mélopée, s’abandonne au thrène poétique et oublie l’amour qui le tourmente. C’est ce qui donne à la circularité spiralée de la boucle mélodique son pouvoir hypnotisant : ensorcelé, l’auditeur ne peut que s’exclamer, comme le chevrier de l’Idylle I : « tu vaincs la cigale en chantant », ce à quoi fait écho Oum Kalthoum dans Chante pour moi un peu : « le chant est le souffle de l’âme ». Par la magie de la boucle naît le tharab, l’extase poétique qui, l’espace d’un instant, fait de l’homme un dieu.

Texte de la conférence donnée en mars 2011 à Liège, dans le cadre du colloque international "Boucle et répétition: musique, littérature, arts visuels", Livio Belloï, Michel Delville et Christophe Pirenne (org.), CIPA,
Publié en version remaniée, sous le titre « La boucle de l’amour ou le lien qui libère : érudition et création de Théocrite à Oum Kalthoum », in Philologicum. Entre érudition et création, textes réunis par Pascale Hummel, Philologicum, Paris, 2012, p. 15-29
Texte modifié publié

This paper examines how Golden Age imagery in Alexandrian court poetry is connected to the Ptolemaic ideology of kingship and empire. The paper first reviews the use of the motif of a Golden Age in court poetry -- especially the image of the king as a creator of peace, order, and abundance -- and then relates these poetical images to a wider context of Ptolemaic monarchical and imperial representation. The paper also highlights the Ptolemaic influence of Golden Age imagery on Augustan imperial propaganda (e.g. in Virgil's Aeneid and on the Ara Pacis).

This paper concerns the meta-poetic features characterising two epigrams by Alcaeus of Messene, 16 G-P and 11 G-P. Firstly (pp. 11-17), it intends to demonstrate, by means of etymological analysis, how the deep meaning of 16 G-P, namely an enigmatic epitaph for a girl, lies in the comparison between the activity of making riddles and that of composing poetry of a riddling nature. Secondly (pp. 17-28), it will show how 11 G-P, far from being just a somewhat conventional praise of Homer, focuses on the image of children who, “waving” ("uphenamenoi" 11 G-P, v. 2) a riddle, kill Homer, meant as a metaphor for Hellenistic poets and, among them, for Alcaeus, the kamòn aìnigma (16 G-P, v. 9). In order to do this, a brief survey will be given of the biographical tradition about Homer, of folklore studies on “neck-riddles”, and of the meta-poetic value of the image of childhood as it appears in some other loci of Hellenistic poetry.

Very extended version of the paper presented at the conference "Alexander's Legacy", including a commentary of all the texts which could not be included in the shorter book version (here: https://www.academia.edu/22547149/Alexander_presence_and_absence_in_Hellenistic_Poetry_in_F._Landucci_C._Bearzot_eds_Alexander_s_legacy_Atti_del_Convegno_Milano-Universit%C3%A0_Cattolica_del_Sacro_Cuore_settembre_2015_._L_Erma_di_Bretschneider_Roma_2016_pp._1-24).
I. Poetry as a vehicle for Alexander’s kleos: I.1. Alexander’s tomb and the Homeric requisites for the survival of everlasting glory; I.2 Alexander in Ptolemaic poetry; I.3. Alexander in Seleucid and Attalid poetry; I.4. Alexander in 1st BC-6th AD epigrams; I.5. Alexander as legendary hero in prose and in oral tales. II. Repertoire of poetic passages: II.1. Contemporary Epigrams: II.1.1. Anon. A.P. VI 344; II.1.2. Dedication by Craterus; II.1.3. Epinician epigram for Antigonus; II.2. Epic poems on Alexander: II.2. Epic poems on Alexander II.2.1; Papyri; II.2.2. Agis of Argos; II.2.3. Aeschrion of Mitylene; II.2.4. Anaximenes of Lampsacus; II.2.5. Arrianus; II.2.6. Choerilus of Iasus; II.2.7. Cleon of Sicily; II.2.8. Phaestus; II.2.9. Nestor of Laranda. II.3. Alexander and Alexandrian poetry: II.3.1. Callimachus; II.3.2. Theocritus; II.3.3. Apollonius Rhodius; II.3.4. Asclepiades; II.3.5. Posidippus; II.4. Other Hellenistic epigrams: II.4.1. Mnasalcas; II.4.2. Antipater of Sidon; II.4.4. The Garland of Philip and other Roman epigrams. II.5. Byzantine epigrams.

Abstract
Il personaggio di Dafni, affascinante per i suoi risvolti religiosi e folclorici, assurge a dignità letteraria con Teocrito, che ne fa la figura fondante del nuovo genere da lui creato, la poesia bucolica, con la narrazione della sua morte. Inevitabile da parte dei suoi continuatori, Bione di Smirne nel suo Epitafio di Adone, e l’anonimo autore dell’Epitafio di Bione, il richiamo al personaggio, trasformato per adattarsi agli scopi e ai temi dei due componimenti. Dopo di loro, nel suo approdo latino, di Dafni si appropria Virgilio, non solo a scopo di omaggio verso la tradizione precedente, ma come punto di partenza (e di arrivo) della sua riflessione sulla poesia bucolica e sul rapporto con il grande predecessore siracusano.
Scopo del presente lavoro sarà ripercorrere il cammino di Dafni, per cogliere, nel trattamento riservatogli da ciascun poeta, gli elementi di vitalità e di originalità che il suo grande inventor Teocrito seppe dargli, destinati agli sviluppi più o meno profondi dei suoi continuatori.

The character of Daphnis, fascinating for his religious and folkloric implications, finds his literary dignity with Theocritus, who, through the narration of his death, makes him the founding figure of his new genre, the bucolic poetry. His followers, Bion of Smyrna in his Adonidis Epitaphium, and the anonymous author of Bionis Epitaphium, unavoidably refer to the Theocritean Daphnis and transform his figure adapting it to themes and purposes of their poems. After them, in founding Latin bucolic poetry, Virgil appropriates Daphnis, not only in order to pay tribute to the previous literary tradition, but as a point of departure (and of arrival) of his reflection on the bucolic poetry and on the relationship with his great Syracusan predecessor.
My paper aims to retrace the path of Daphnis, to understand, in the treatment reserved for him by each poet, the elements of vitality and originality that his great inventor Theocritus gave him and that his successors more or less deeply developed.

Like all the great Hellenistic authors, Theocritus is a very conscious heir of the rich and variegated Greek poetic tradition. He recreated and transformed it; he dispensed with its more customary features, trivialised by time and over-use, and developed other aspects which, until then, had not occupied a prominent place in Greek poetry. One of these aspects is discussed in this essay: the creation of what has been called "theocritean realism" (with very necessary inverted commas).

The full text is available here http://kata.petra.ac.id/index.php/ing/article/view/18851/18544 Many similar subjects can be traced in world literature; among them is nature since it belongs to man/nature binary opposition. The American poet and philosopher, Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) employs nature in his works. Throughout his works, the American writer discusses the affinity between man and nature, emphasizing how man takes advantage of it. The contemporary Iranian poet, Sohrab Sepehri (1928-1980), also makes intensive use of nature in his poems; his interest in the subject increases along with his tendency to Buddhism. Sepehri is proficient in using nature either in philosophical or emotional issues. Due to the significance of nature in the works or the two figures, an ecocritical reading of them is not only applicable but unavoidable. This comparative study aims at investigating different approaches towards nature employed by the two poets, emphasizing their points of difference. Although both poets employ nature in their works with romantic tendencies, the postmodern environmental ethics of Sepehri is in direct contrast to the instrumental value viewpoint held by his American counterpart.

Abstract. The character of Daphnis, who has intriguing significance in folklore and religion, becomes an important literary figure in Theocritus, who, in his narrative of Daphnis’ death, makes him the founding figure of his new genre, bucolic poetry. Theocritus’ successors, Bion of Smyrna in his Adonidis Epitaphium, and the anonymous author of Bionis Epitaphium, refer to Daphnis –inevitably the Theocritean Daphnis– and transform his figure, adapting it to the themes and purposes of their poems. After them, in founding Latin bucolic poetry, Virgil appropriates Daphnis, not only in order to pay tribute to the previous literary tradition, but as a point of departure (and of arrival) in his reflection on bucolic poetry and his relationship with his great Syracusan predecessor.
My paper aims to retrace the path of Daphnis, to understand, in each poet’s treatment reserved for him by each poet, the elements of vitality and originality that his great inventor Theocritus gave him and that his successors developed at different levels. Virgil, in particular, is able to employ the figure of Daphnis and charge it with new significance, in order to highlight the great difference between his own poetry and Theocritus’ bucolic production.

"Il contributo offre un saggio di edizione critica dell’Exegesis in canonem iambicum di Eustazio di Tessalonica (acrostico e irmo dell’ode prima). Al testo critico sono premessi cenni sulle vicende dell’opera in età moderna, ma soprattutto è anteposta una riflessione metodologica sulle nuove sfide imposte al filologo dalle peculiarità della letteratura dotta e in generale della hochsprachliche Literatur bizantine. Sia la constitutio textus sia l’apparatus fontium devono infatti, rispettivamente, tenere conto e dare conto della fitta trama di citazioni che si intrecciano nel testo, quasi mai esplicitate ma anzi per lo più sottaciute, se non occultate, in un incessante gioco di bravura che si direbbe quasi vòlto a mettere alla prova, così come le conoscenze del lettore o dell’ascoltatore bizantino, tanto più quelle dell’editore moderno. Nella trattazione che precede il saggio di edizione e nel suo apparato critico si evidenziano da un lato esempi delle molte reminiscenze – sia classiche (Omero, Aristofane, Pindaro, Euripide etc.), sia bibliche e patristiche (Gregorio Nisseno, Giovanni Damasceno), sia di autori contemporanei (Gregorio di Corinto) – che permeano il testo, intrecciando fra loro cultura sacra e profana e rivelando la multiformità e complessità della “biblioteca” di Eustazio. D’altra parte, si sottolinea la necessità, nell’ecdotica del testo e specie ai fini di una corretta impostazione dell’apparatus fontium, di individuare i tramiti attraverso cui le citazioni e le reminiscenze, classiche ma anche patristiche o scritturali, sono giunte all’autore. Nella maggior parte dei casi, occorre postulare la mediazione dell’innografia e della liturgia per le citazioni sacre, e per le citazioni classiche il filtro delle raccolte, dei repertori, degli etimologici e dei lessici, come ad esempio l’Etymologicum Magnum e il lessico di Suida, che componevano la “scrivania” di Eustazio.

A critical edition essai of Eustathius of Thessalonica’s Exegesis in canonem iambicum (acrostic and heirmos of ode 1): the critical text includes introductory remarks on the fortune of the work in the modern era and, in particular, a concluding methodological observation on the new challenges imposed on philologists by the peculiarities of the learned literature and, more generally, the Byzantine hochsprachliche Literatur. Both the constitutio textus and the apparatus fontium must, in fact, consider and account for the dense network of citations woven throughout the text.  These are almost never explicitly explained, but rather are for the most part hinted at, if not in fact hidden, in a constant game of virtuosity which almost seems intended to test the Byzantine reader’s and/or listener’s knowledge, as much as that of the modern editor.  In the introductory treatise to the critical essay, the author highlights, on the one hand, examples of many echoes – classical (Homer, Aristophanes, Pindar, Euripides etc.), biblical and patristic (Gregory of Nyssa, John of Damascus), and contemporary authors (Gregory of Corinth) – permeating the text, weaving sacred and profane culture, and exposing the complex, multiform nature of Eustathius’s “library.”  On the other hand, for the purposes of the textual ecdotics and in order to establish a correct organisation of the apparatus fontium, she underscores the need to isolate the intermediaries by which the classical, biblical, and patristic citations and echoes reached the author. In most cases, we should posit the mediation of hymns and liturgy for the religious, and for the classical the filter of collections, catalogues, etymologies, and lexicons, such as the Etymologicum Magnum and the Suidae Lexicon, which made up Eustathius’s “desktop.”"

Abstract. Il difficile brano di Virg. ecl. 10, 50-51, più volte indagato dagli studiosi, che ne hanno dato interpretazioni anche assai divergenti, può essere letto come una sintesi delle idee e del procedimento sviluppati nell’intera ecloga, nel costante confronto della bucolica virgiliana sia con la poesia elegiaca di Gallo, sia con la tradizione di poesia pastorale teocritea.

Abstract. The difficult verses of Virg. ecl. 10, 50-51, studied many times with different results, can be read as a synthesis of the ideas and the proceedings developed in the entire eclogue, in the comparison between Vergilian bucolic poetry and Gallan elegy, but also in relation to the Theocritean pastoral tradition.

"Il contributo condensa i primi dieci anni di studi condotti dall’autrice sull’Exegesis in canonem iambicum di Eustazio di Tessalonica, fornendone un sintetico bilancio in lingua inglese, ad uso della comunità scientifica internazionale.  Vi si sviluppano principalmente due temi: la constitutio textus dell’Exegesis eustaziana e la complessa analisi storico-filologica dell’opera. La descrizione dei testimoni manoscritti e la ricostruzione dei loro rapporti genealogici si traduce graficamente in uno stemma codicum. Nell’indagine su finalità e contenuto dell’Exegesis si rileva sia la problematica identità del vero autore del canone giambico – Giovanni Arklas – sia la complessa erudizione che Eustazio dimostra nell’opera, fittamente permeata di echi classici (Omero, Pindaro, Euripide, Sofocle, Teocrito), biblici, patristici, ma anche di riferimenti a controversie culturali e personalità intellettuali contemporanee all’autore o a lui di poco precedenti.

The essay surveys the first ten years of research conducted by the author on Eustathios of Thessalonike’s Exegesis in canonem iambicum, providing a concise evaluation in English for use by the international scholarly community.  Two themes in particular are developed: the constitutio textus of Eustathios’ Exegesis and the complex historical and philological analysis of the work. The description of manuscript sources and the reconstruction of their genealogical connections translate into a graphic stemma codicum.  Investigation into the aims and content of the Exegesis brings to the fore both the problematic identity of the true author of the iambic canon – John Arklas – and the complex erudition Eustathios demonstrates in his work, densely permeated with classical (Homer, Pindar, Euripides, Sophocles, Theocritus), biblical, and patristic echoes, but also references to Byzantine cultural controversies and intellectual personalities contemporary to or slightly pre-dating him.
"

Helius Eobanus Hessus was the first German to publish a collection of Latin eclogues, as he states in the beginning of his Bucolicon Idyllia from 1509. With a focus on Hessus's own considerations of conventions and poetics in metatexts, this chapter traces in the return to bucolic poetry a re-evaluation of Theocritus and a development in Hessus's poetic ideals. The chapter considers how Hessus deals with the traditional poetics of the bucolic genre, as conveyed by the late antique commentaries, in his return to bucolic poetry in late 1528. Hessus claims in his preface to Bucolicorum Idyllia that the re-issued version of his bucolic poems has a more serious tone than the earlier bucolic work, even though the primary model for the collection is the bucolic poetry of Theocritus. By returning to the original source of bucolic poetry, Hessus has effectively made himself part of the entire bucolic tradition. Keywords: bucolic poetry; Bucolicon Idyllia ; Helius Eobanus Hessus; metatexts; poetic ideals; Theocritus

The ‘hierarchy of herdsmen’ in pastoral (cowherd > shepherd > goatherd) as discussed by ancient critics of Theocritus and Virgil was an important facet of ancient readers’ engagement with this literature; it was known to imperial authors of prose pastoral Longus (1.16.1) and Alciphron (2.33.1-2), who each allude to it and adapt it to their own unique receptions of the pastoral tradition. Alciphron is concerned with hierarchies of wealth and status among his ‘low’ characters; he uses his readers’ awareness of hierarchy as a theme of his pastoral hypotexts to sustain a theme of social status throughout his Letters and to order his four books according to their protagonists’ position in the hierarchy. His relocation of ‘Idylls’ to a Classical Attic setting, and transposition into the Sophistic Atticizing prose valued by contemporary authors, follows up Longus’ attempt to reclaim the pastoral tradition from Virgil for Greek literature. Menander is proposed as an authorial figure for Alciphron in Letters 4.18–19.