Callimachus' Hymn to Delos 1-99: Introduction and Commentary.

Abstract

This dissertation analyzes Callimachus' Hymn to Delos. The introduction provides a general interpretation which the commentary developes in the details. In so doing, the commentary also deals with textual and other matters as they arise. It is suggested that Delos' characteristics (her diminutive size and slender, delicate stature; her purity and love of song; her freedom from violence and war) allowed Callimachus to see in her not only an isl and but a metaphor for his poetic principles. It is further suggested that the hymn operates on two levels: the one concerned with the success of Callimachean song as embodied in the topic Delos; the other with the worldly success of Ptolemy Philadelphus and his counterpart, Apollo. In either case, this success is cast as a victory over barbarism and chaos. Through the birth of Callimachus' patron, Apollo, Delos triumphs over the hackneyed heroic style. In the political sphere, Philadelphus and Apollo subdue the menance of the Gauls. These victories result in a harmonious world where the political order protects and fosters Delos, and Delos in turn brings glory to the political order. Four appendices accompany the commentary. The first is a list of notable parallels to early epic diction. The second deals with the relationship of the Hymn to Delos with Theocritus' Encomium to Ptolemy. The third explores the Hellenistic conception of the Muses. The fourth analyzes Callimachus' use of both parts of the Homeric Hymn to Apollo in the hymn to Delos and other poems.