Europa poem by Moschus, Greek, 15th century

Moschus ( el, Μόσχος), ancient Greek bucolic poet and student of the Alexandrian grammarian

Aristarchus of Samothrace Aristarchus of Samothrace ( grc-gre, Ἀρίσταρχος ὁ Σαμόθραξ ''Aristarchos o Samothrax''; c. 220 – c. 143 BC) was an ancient Greek grammarian, noted as the most influential of all scholars of Homeric poetry. He was the h ...

, was born at

Syracuse Syracuse may refer to: Places Italy *Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa'' *Province of Syracuse United States *Syracuse, New York **East Syracuse, New York **North Syracuse, New York *Syracuse, Indiana * Syracuse, Kansas *Syracuse, Miss ...

and flourished about 150 BC. Aside from his poetry, he was known for his grammatical work, nothing of which survives. His few surviving works consist of an epyllion, the ''Europa'', on the myth of

Europa Europa may refer to: Places * Europe * Europa (Roman province), a province within the Diocese of Thrace * Europa (Seville Metro), Seville, Spain; a station on the Seville Metro * Europa City, Paris, France; a planned development * Europa Cliff ...

, three bucolic fragments and a whole short bucolic poem ''Runaway Love'', and an epigram in elegiac couplets. His surviving bucolic material (composed in the traditional dactylic hexameters and Doric dialect) is short on pastoral themes and is largely erotic and mythological; although this impression may be distorted by the paucity of evidence, it is also seen in the surviving bucolic of the generations after Moschus, including the work of Bion of Smyrna. Moschus' poetry is typically edited along with other bucolic poets, as in the commonly used Oxford text by A. S. F. Gow (1952), but the ''Europa'' has often received separate scholarly editions, as by Winfried Bühler (Wiesbaden 1960) and Malcolm Campbell (Hildesheim 1991). The epigram is also normally published with the edition by

Maximos Planoudes Maximus Planudes ( grc-gre, Μάξιμος Πλανούδης, ''Máximos Planoúdēs''; ) was a Byzantine Greek monk, scholar, anthologist, translator, mathematician, grammarian and theologian at Constantinople. Through his translations from La ...

of the

Greek Anthology The ''Greek Anthology'' ( la, Anthologia Graeca) is a collection of poems, mostly epigrams, that span the Classical and Byzantine periods of Greek literature. Most of the material of the ''Greek Anthology'' comes from two manuscripts, the ''Pa ...

. The ''Europa'', along with Callimachus' ''

Hecale In Greek mythology, Hecale ( grc-gre, Ἑκάλη ''Hekálē'') was an old woman who offered succor to Theseus on his way to capture the Marathonian Bull. Mythology On the way to Marathon to capture the Bull, Theseus sought shelter from a st ...

'' and such Latin examples as

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 ...

, is a major example of the Hellenistic phenomenon of the epyllion. Although it is hard to tell because of the fragmentary nature of the evidence, Moschus' influence on Greek bucolic poetry is likely to have been significant; the influence of ''Runaway Love'' is felt in Bion and other later bucolic poets. In later European literature his work was imitated or translated by such authors as Torquato Tasso and Ben Jonson. Two other poems, attributed to him at one time or another but no longer thought to be his, are also commonly edited with his work. The best known is the ''Epitaph on Bion'' (i.e. Bion of Smyrna), which had a long history of influence on the pastoral lament for a poet (compare

Milton Milton may refer to: Names * Milton (surname), a surname (and list of people with that surname) ** John Milton (1608–1674), English poet * Milton (given name) ** Milton Friedman (1912–2006), Nobel laureate in Economics, author of '' Free t ...

's ''Lycidas''). The other is a miniature epic on

Megara Megara (; el, Μέγαρα, ) is a historic town and a municipality in West Attica, Greece. It lies in the northern section of the Isthmus of Corinth opposite the island of Salamis Island, Salamis, which belonged to Megara in archaic times, befo ...

(the wife of Heracles), consisting of an epic dialogue between Heracles' mother and his wife on his absence.

References

* *For a recent overview of Moschus see A. Porro in ''Eikasmos'' 10 (1999) 125–25. *There are English translations by J. Banks in '' Bohn's Classical Library'' (1853), and by Andrew Lang (1889), together with Bion of Smyrna and Theocritus. *See also Franz Susemihl, ''Geschichte der griechischen Litteratur in der Alexandrinerzeit.'' i. 231 (1891).

External links

* * *
Poems by Moschus
English translations

translated by J.M. Edmonds, 1912
''Anacreon, Bion, and Moschus, etc.''
translated by Thomas Stanley (1651)
Europa. Perseus Digital Library
Greek *''Theocritus, Bion et Moschus graece et latine. Accedunt virorum doctorum animadversiones scholia, indices'', L. F. Heindorfius (ed.), Londini, sumtibus Whittaker, Treacher, et Arnot, 1829
vol. 2 pp. 35-77
*''Poetae bucolici et didactici. Theocritus, Bion, Moschus, Nicander, Oppianus, Marcellus de piscibus, poeta de herbis'', C. Fr. Ameis, F. S. Lehrs (ed.), Parisiis, editore Ambrosio Firmin Didot, 1862
pp. 77-86
{{Authority control Poets of Magna Graecia 2nd-century BC poets 2nd-century BC Greek people Ancient Syracusans Ancient Greek bucolic poets Ancient Greek poets Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown Hellenistic poets