Callimachus Hesiodicus Revisited

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the leading personality of the Alexandrian neoterics, Callimachus of Cyrene. It intends to update older views in accordance with modern theoretical approaches. The chapter aims primarily to revisit well-known passages from new angles, and discusses novel ones, in order to re-assess to what extent Callimachus really was Hesiodicus. It is divided into three sections, each one of which deals with a key aspect of Hesiodic reception by Callimachus: the formation of a poetic voice, the narration of myths and the questioning of ideals. Callimachus was a pioneer in the field of inventing narrators and narratees and lending them various voices. The chapter further focuses on creative rewriting of Hesiodic myth and ideology by Callimachus. Divine punishment lies at the core of some of Hesiod's famous myths and it is this issue that the chapter finally discusses. Keywords: Alexandrian neoterics; Callimachus Hesiodicus; divine punishment; Hesiodic myth; Hesiodic narrator

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