Callimachus, hymn 2 and the genre of paean
The essay considers the affiliations of Callimachus’ second Hymn with the paean. Formal features are important in the reworking of the genre, as is to be expected from a composition by a Hellenistic poet, but Callimachus has also remained faithful to what we can discern of its wider associations, br...
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| Format: | Journal article |
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ENS Éditions
2018
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| _version_ | 1797071536021045248 |
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| author | Lightfoot, J |
| author_facet | Lightfoot, J |
| author_sort | Lightfoot, J |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | The essay considers the affiliations of Callimachus’ second Hymn with the paean. Formal features are important in the reworking of the genre, as is to be expected from a composition by a Hellenistic poet, but Callimachus has also remained faithful to what we can discern of its wider associations, broad as these were. This can be seen in the concern with the identities of deity (Carneian Apollo), worshippers (a group of young men on the verge of maturity), and community (the historical foundation of Cyrene). But while Hymn 2 seems to retain much of the sensibility of the paean (as evidenced by Pindar, Pythian 5 as well as the paeans proper), it is hard to find any such fidelity to a recognisable archaic genre in either of the other so-called “mimetic” hymns; the use of a single label diverts attention from the very different ways in which Callimachean “mimesis” works. Given these differences, it is worth enquiring further into the, presumably authorial, arrangement of the collection as a whole. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-06T22:54:42Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:5ff8262d-1245-45ff-a694-dd40a93e17f6 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-06T22:54:42Z |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publisher | ENS Éditions |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:5ff8262d-1245-45ff-a694-dd40a93e17f62022-03-26T17:50:23ZCallimachus, hymn 2 and the genre of paeanJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:5ff8262d-1245-45ff-a694-dd40a93e17f6Symplectic Elements at OxfordENS Éditions2018Lightfoot, JThe essay considers the affiliations of Callimachus’ second Hymn with the paean. Formal features are important in the reworking of the genre, as is to be expected from a composition by a Hellenistic poet, but Callimachus has also remained faithful to what we can discern of its wider associations, broad as these were. This can be seen in the concern with the identities of deity (Carneian Apollo), worshippers (a group of young men on the verge of maturity), and community (the historical foundation of Cyrene). But while Hymn 2 seems to retain much of the sensibility of the paean (as evidenced by Pindar, Pythian 5 as well as the paeans proper), it is hard to find any such fidelity to a recognisable archaic genre in either of the other so-called “mimetic” hymns; the use of a single label diverts attention from the very different ways in which Callimachean “mimesis” works. Given these differences, it is worth enquiring further into the, presumably authorial, arrangement of the collection as a whole. |
| spellingShingle | Lightfoot, J Callimachus, hymn 2 and the genre of paean |
| title | Callimachus, hymn 2 and the genre of paean |
| title_full | Callimachus, hymn 2 and the genre of paean |
| title_fullStr | Callimachus, hymn 2 and the genre of paean |
| title_full_unstemmed | Callimachus, hymn 2 and the genre of paean |
| title_short | Callimachus, hymn 2 and the genre of paean |
| title_sort | callimachus hymn 2 and the genre of paean |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT lightfootj callimachushymn2andthegenreofpaean |