Eumelus of Corinth

Eumelus of Corinth ( el, Εὔμελος ὁ Κορίνθιος ''Eumelos ho Korinthios''), of the clan of the Bacchiadae, is a semi-legendary early Greek poet to whom were attributed several epic poems as well as a celebrated ''prosodion'', the treasured processional anthem of Messenian independence that was performed on Delos. One small fragment of it survives in a quote by Pausanias. To Eumelus was also attributed authorship of several antiquarian epics composed in the Corinthian-Sicyonian cultural sphere, notably ''Corinthiaca'', an epic narrating the legends and early history of his home city Corinth. The ''Corinthiaca'' is now lost, but a written version of it was used by Pausanias in his survey of the antiquities of Corinth.

The epics '' Europia'', ''Bougonia'' (perhaps the same as ''Europia''), ''Titanomachy'', and ''Return from Troy'' (one of the '' Nostoi'') were also ascribed to Eumelus by various later authors. Eumelus was traditionally dated between 760 and 740 BC. According to Martin West the epics appear to have been composed in the late seventh or sixth century BC, later than the date traditionally ascribed to Eumelus in the Greek chronographic tradition used, for instance, by Eusebius of Caesarea.Eusebius dates Eumelus as contemporaneous with Archias, his fellow-Bacchiad, who founded Syracuse, about 734BC (West 2002:109 and note 3).

Notes

Sources

* West, M. L. (2002), "'Eumelos': A Corinthian Epic Cycle?" in ''The Journal of Hellenic Studies'', vol. 122, pp. 109–133. .
* West, M. L. (2003), ''Greek Epic Fragments: From the Seventh to the Fifth Centuries BC'', edited and translated by Martin L. West, Loeb Classical Library No. 497, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 2003.
Online version at Harvard University Press

External links

Eumelus Poems & Fragments
a
demonax.info

Early Greek epic poets
8th-century BC poets
Ancient Corinthians
Year of birth unknown
Year of death unknown

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