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Catullus 64 Catullus 64 is an epyllion or "little epic" poem written by Latin poet Catullus. Catullus' longest poem, it retains his famed linguistic witticisms while employing an appropriately epic tone. Though ostensibly concerning itself with the marriage ...

, the most famous extant epyllion. (Roman copy of a 2nd-century BCE Greek original; :it:Villa Corsini a Mezzomonte, Villa Corsini.) In classics, classical studies the term epyllion (Ancient Greek: , plural: , ) refers to a comparatively short narrative poem (or discrete episode within a longer work) that shows formal affinities with epic poetry, epic, but betrays a preoccupation with themes and poetic techniques that are not generally or, at least, primarily characteristic of epic proper.

Etymology and modern usage

Ancient Greek (''epyllion'') is the

diminutive A diminutive is a root word that has been modified to convey a slighter degree of its root meaning, either to convey the smallness of the object or quality named, or to convey a sense of intimacy or endearment. A ( abbreviated ) is a word-form ...

of (''epos'') in that word's senses of "verse" or "epic poem";

Liddell Liddell is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Alice Liddell (1852–1934), Lewis Carroll's "muse" * Allan Liddell (1908–1970) * Alvar Lidell (1908–1981), BBC radio announcer and newsreader * Andreas Lidel (1740s–1780s), c ...

and

Scott Scott may refer to: Places Canada * Scott, Quebec, municipality in the Nouvelle-Beauce regional municipality in Quebec * Scott, Saskatchewan, a town in the Rural Municipality of Tramping Lake No. 380 * Rural Municipality of Scott No. 98, Sask ...

's '' Greek–English Lexicon'' thus defines as a "versicle, scrap of poetry" or "short epic poem", citing for the latter definition

Athenaeus Athenaeus of Naucratis (; grc, Ἀθήναιος ὁ Nαυκρατίτης or Nαυκράτιος, ''Athēnaios Naukratitēs'' or ''Naukratios''; la, Athenaeus Naucratita) was a Greek rhetorician and grammarian, flourishing about the end of ...

, ''

Deipnosophistae The ''Deipnosophistae'' is an early 3rd-century AD Greek work ( grc, Δειπνοσοφισταί, ''Deipnosophistaí'', lit. "The Dinner Sophists/Philosophers/Experts") by the Greek author Athenaeus of Naucratis. It is a long work of lit ...

'' 2.68 (65a–b): This is in fact the only ancient instance of the word that shows anything approaching the connotations with which it is most often employed by modern scholars, and epyllion did not enter the common language of criticism until the 19th century.

Wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly un ...

was apparently responsible for popularizing the term, for two of his essays from early in that century are referred to by titles including epyllion: ' (''Observations on the

Shield of Heracles The ''Shield of Heracles'' ( grc, Ἀσπὶς Ἡρακλέους, ''Aspis Hērakleous'') is an archaic Greek epic poem that was attributed to Hesiod during antiquity. The subject of the poem is the expedition of Heracles and Iolaus against ...

, an Epyllion Falsely Attributed to

Hesiod Hesiod (; grc-gre, Ἡσίοδος ''Hēsíodos'') was an ancient Greek poet generally thought to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer. He is generally regarded by western authors as 'the first written poet i ...

'') and ' (''The Idylls and Epyllia of

Theocritus Theocritus (; grc-gre, Θεόκριτος, ''Theokritos''; born c. 300 BC, died after 260 BC) was a Greek poet from Sicily and the creator of Ancient Greek pastoral poetry. Life Little is known of Theocritus beyond what can be inferred from h ...

''). The locus classicus for the sense of epyllion as a hexametric mythological poem that is not only comparatively short, but also imbued to some extent with the characteristics of Hellenistic poetry is

Moritz Haupt Moriz or Moritz Haupt (27 July 1808 – 5 February 1874), was a German philologist. Biography He was born at Zittau, Lusatia, Saxony. His early education was mainly conducted by his father, Ernst Friedrich Haupt, burgomaster of Zittau, a man ...

's 1855 study of

, but it is likely that Haupt was using a term that had in the preceding decades become common to discussions of the shorter narrative poems of the Alexandrians. In the early 20th century the first studies specifically devoted to the concept of the epyllion were undertaken, with Leumann's work on Hellenistic epyllia, Jackson's study of the possible Roman examples, and Crump's attempt at a diachronic study of the epyllion as a single genre whose history could be traced from the Greek poems of the Hellenistic period through the Augustan period's Latin texts. The exact meaning and applicability of the term epyllion has remained a matter of dispute, and Richard Hunter's recent appraisal summarizes well the current opinion regarding epyllia:

Characteristics

An epyllion is, in its most basic definition, a narrative poem written in

dactylic hexameter Dactylic hexameter (also known as heroic hexameter and the meter of epic) is a form of meter or rhythmic scheme frequently used in Ancient Greek and Latin poetry. The scheme of the hexameter is usually as follows (writing – for a long syllable ...

s that is comparatively short. There is disagreement about whether the term should also be applied to works written in elegiac couplets. notes with incredulity that "some scholars even apply the term 'epyllion' to elegiac poems!" believes the common modern usage includes elegiacs and counts the Acontius and Cydippe episode of Callimachus' ''Aetia'' as an epyllion. The exact meaning of "comparatively short" varies among modern scholars, with some considering Theocritus, ''Idyll'' 13 (75 lines) an epyllion, while

Eratosthenes Eratosthenes of Cyrene (; grc-gre, Ἐρατοσθένης ; – ) was a Greek polymath: a mathematician, geographer, poet, astronomer, and music theorist. He was a man of learning, becoming the chief librarian at the Library of Alexandr ...

' ''Hermes'' is commonly classed as an example, even though at some 1,600 lines it would probably have taken up two papyrus rolls. A similar variation in lengths is found in epyllia that form episodes within larger works. Virgil's

Nisus and Euryalus In Greek and Roman mythology, Nisus ( grc, Νῖσος, Nîsos) and Euryalus (; grc, Εὐρύαλος, Eurýalos, broad) are a pair of friends and lovers serving under Aeneas in the ''Aeneid'', the Augustan epic by Virgil. Their foray among ...

digression in the ''

Aeneid The ''Aeneid'' ( ; la, Aenē̆is or ) is a Latin epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who fled the fall of Troy and travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of ...

'' totals 73 verses and is sometimes considered an epyllion, while the so-called

Aristaeus A minor god in Greek mythology, attested mainly by Athenian writers, Aristaeus (; ''Aristaios'' (Aristaîos); lit. “Most Excellent, Most Useful”), was the culture hero credited with the discovery of many useful arts, including bee-keepin ...

-epyllion (''

Georgics The ''Georgics'' ( ; ) is a poem by Latin poet Virgil, likely published in 29 BCE. As the name suggests (from the Greek word , ''geōrgika'', i.e. "agricultural (things)") the subject of the poem is agriculture; but far from being an example ...

'' 4.315–558) is considerably more substantial and reminiscent of independent epyllia from the Hellenistic period.

Subject matter and tone

Poetic techniques

Callimachus, ''Hecale'' fr. 1 Hollis = 230 Pf.: Catullus 64.50–54:

List of epyllia

Hellenistic

* Philitas, ''Hermes'' * Alexander Aetolus, ''Fisherman'' *

Callimachus Callimachus (; ) was an ancient Greek poet, scholar and librarian who was active in Alexandria during the 3rd century BC. A representative of Ancient Greek literature of the Hellenistic period, he wrote over 800 literary works in a wide varie ...

, ''Hecale'' *

13, 22, 24, 5*

, ''Hermes'' (debated) *

Moschus Moschus ( el, Μόσχος), ancient Greek bucolic poet and student of the Alexandrian grammarian Aristarchus of Samothrace, was born at Syracuse and flourished about 150 BC. Aside from his poetry, he was known for his grammatical work, nothing ...

, ''Europa'' *

Batrachomyomachia The ''Batrachomyomachia'' ( grc, Βατραχομυομαχία, from , "frog", , "mouse", and , "battle") or ''Battle of the Frogs and Mice'' is a comic epic, or a parody of the ''Iliad'', commonly attributed to Homer, although other authors ha ...

, Homer (Roman attribution)

Latin

* Cinna, ''Zmyrna'' * Calvus, ''Io'' *

* '' Ciris'' *

Vergil Publius Vergilius Maro (; traditional dates 15 October 7021 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He composed three of the most famous poems in Latin literature: t ...

, ''

'' 4.315–558: the

-epyllion * Vergil, ''

'' 9.182–234:

Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom ...

, ''

Metamorphoses The ''Metamorphoses'' ( la, Metamorphōsēs, from grc, μεταμορφώσεις: "Transformations") is a Latin narrative poem from 8 CE by the Roman poet Ovid. It is considered his '' magnum opus''. The poem chronicles the history of the ...

'' 8.611–724:

Baucis and Philemon In Ovid's moralizing fables collected as ''Metamorphoses'' is his telling of the story of Baucis and Philemon, which stands on the periphery of Greek mythology and Roman mythology. Baucis and Philemon were an old married couple in the region ...

Late antiquity

Coluthus Coluthus or Colluthus of Lycopolis ( grc-gre, Κόλουθος, Kolouthos; ) was a Greek epic poet of the late Roman Empire who flourished during the reign of Anastasius I in the Thebaid. ''Calydoniaca'' and ''The Rape of Helen'' According to th ...

, ''Rape of Helen'' * Musaeus, ''Hero and Leander''

Notes

Bibliography

* . * . * . * . * . * . * . * . (Reprinted in 1967 by Georg Olms Verlag (Hildesheim)) * . * . * . * . * . * {{Citation, last=Vessey, first=D.W.T.C. , title=Thoughts on the Epyllion, journal=The Classical Journal, volume=66, year=1970, pages=38–43. Ancient Greek poetry Latin poetry