Posidippus of Pella ( grc, Ποσείδιππος ''Poseidippos''; c. 310 – c. 240 BC) was an

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic pe ...

epigram An epigram is a brief, interesting, memorable, and sometimes surprising or satirical statement. The word is derived from the Greek "inscription" from "to write on, to inscribe", and the literary device has been employed for over two mill ...

matic

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or w ...

Life

Posidippus was born in the city of

Pella Pella ( el, Πέλλα) is an ancient city located in Central Macedonia, Greece. It is best-known for serving as the capital city of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon, and was the birthplace of Alexander the Great. On site of the ancient cit ...

, capital of the kingdom of

Macedon Macedonia (; grc-gre, Μακεδονία), also called Macedon (), was an ancient kingdom on the periphery of Archaic and Classical Greece, and later the dominant state of Hellenistic Greece. The kingdom was founded and initially ruled ...

as the son of Admetos. He lived for some time in

Samos Samos (, also ; el, Σάμος ) is a Greek island in the eastern Aegean Sea, south of Chios, north of Patmos and the Dodecanese, and off the coast of western Turkey, from which it is separated by the -wide Mycale Strait. It is also a sepa ...

before moving permanently to the court of

Ptolemy I Soter Ptolemy I Soter (; gr, Πτολεμαῖος Σωτήρ, ''Ptolemaîos Sōtḗr'' "Ptolemy the Savior"; c. 367 BC – January 282 BC) was a Macedonian Greek general, historian and companion of Alexander the Great from the Kingdom of Macedo ...

and later

Ptolemy II Philadelphus ; egy, Userkanaenre Meryamun Clayton (2006) p. 208 , predecessor = Ptolemy I , successor = Ptolemy III , horus = ''ḥwnw-ḳni'Khunuqeni''The brave youth , nebty = ''wr-pḥtj'Urpekhti''Great of strength , gold ...

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandri ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...

. An inscription from

Thermon Thermos (; also known as Thermon or Thermum; grc-gre, Θέρμος) was an ancient Greek sanctuary, which served as the regular meeting place of the Aetolian League. Its focal point was the temple of Apollo Thermios, famous for the archaic ter ...

Aetolia Aetolia ( el, Αἰτωλία, Aἰtōlía) is a mountainous region of Greece on the north coast of the Gulf of Corinth, forming the eastern part of the modern regional unit of Aetolia-Acarnania. Geography The Achelous River separates Aetoli ...

records that he was honoured by the

Aetolian League The Aetolian (or Aitolian) League ( grc-gre, Κοινὸν τῶν Αἰτωλῶν) was a confederation of tribal communities and cities in ancient Greece centered in Aetolia in central Greece. It was probably established during the early Hellen ...

in about 264/3 BC.IG_9.1².1.17
English translation
He was friends with the poets

Asclepiades of Samos Asclepiades of Samos (Sicelidas) ( el, Ἀσκληπιάδης ὁ Σάμιος; born c. 320 BC) was an ancient Greek epigrammatist and lyric poet who flourished around 270 BC. He was a friend of Hedylus and possibly of Theocritus. He may have b ...

and

Hedylus Hedylus ( grc-gre, Ἥδυλος, ''Hḗdylos''; fl. 3rd century BC) was a Greek epigrammatic poet of the Hellenistic period. Hedylus was the son of Melicertus and Hedyle, and a native of Samos or Athens. His epigrams were included in the ''Garla ...

Poetry

Twenty-three of Posidippus' poems were included in 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 ' ...

, and several more were quoted in either part or whole by

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 ...

of Naucratis in his ''

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 ...

''. Until 2001, based on these remains, it was assumed that Posidippus wrote only about drinking and love. In that year the ''

Milan Papyrus The Milan Papyrus is a papyrus roll inscribed in Alexandria in the late 3rd or early 2nd century BC during the rule of the Ptolemaic dynasty. Originally discovered by anonymous tomb raiders as part of a mummy wrapping, it was purchased in the papy ...

'' P.Mil.Vogl. VIII 309 was recovered from the wrappings of an Egyptian

mummy A mummy is a dead human or an animal whose soft tissues and organs have been preserved by either intentional or accidental exposure to chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity, or lack of air, so that the recovered body does not decay fu ...

dating to about 180 BC. It contained 112 poems, two of which were previously known to have been written by Posidippus, which address subjects that include events of the court of the

Ptolemaic dynasty The Ptolemaic dynasty (; grc, Πτολεμαῖοι, ''Ptolemaioi''), sometimes referred to as the Lagid dynasty (Λαγίδαι, ''Lagidae;'' after Ptolemy I's father, Lagus), was a Macedonian Greek royal dynasty which ruled the Ptolemaic ...

gemstone A gemstone (also called a fine gem, jewel, precious stone, or semiprecious stone) is a piece of mineral crystal which, in cut and polished form, is used to make jewelry or other adornments. However, certain rocks (such as lapis lazuli, opal, ...

s, and bird

divination Divination (from Latin ''divinare'', 'to foresee, to foretell, to predict, to prophesy') is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic, standardized process or ritual. Used in various forms throughout history ...

. Because of Posidippus' authorship of these two poems, scholars have concluded that the other poems of the ''Milan Papyrus'' were also written by him. The poems of the ''Milan Papyrus'' are grouped into sections, and the papyrus largely preserves the section headers for the surviving poems: # On Stones (''Lithika'' itle restored from two partially preserved letters poems 1-20) # On Omens (''Oionoskopika'', 21-35) # Dedications (''Anathematika'', 36-41) # Epitaphs (''Epitumbia'' onjecture: title not preserved 42-61) # On Statues (''Andriantopoiika'', 62-70) # On Equestrian Victories (''Hippika'', 71-88) # On Shipwrecks (''Nauagika'', 89-94) # On Cures (''Iamatika'', 95-101) # Characters (''Tropoi'', 102-109) # itle lost(110-112)

Editions

* Posidippus' ''Milan Papyrus'' poetry book
Greek text
an
English translation
(PDF) by various hands (CHS) * Bastianini G. - Gallazzi C. (edd.), Papiri dell’Università di Milano - Posidippo di Pella. Epigrammi, LED Edizioni Universitarie, Milano, 2001, * Austin C. - Bastianini G. (edd.), Posidippi Pellaei quae supersunt omni

LED Edizioni Universitarie, Milano, 2002,

Notes

External links

CHS Classics@ Issue 1: Posidippus

Posidippus bibliography
(Martine Cuypers)

(Kathryn Gutzwiller)
The New Posidippus: A Hellenistic Poetry Book by Kathryn J. Gutzwiller

Homeric Echoes in Possipidus by Gregory Nagy at the Center for Hellenic Studies
{{DEFAULTSORT:Posidippus Of Pella Ancient Greek poets Ancient Pellaeans Ancient Macedonian poets Epigrammatists of the Greek Anthology 3rd-century BC Macedonians 3rd-century BC poets Ancient Macedonians in Greece proper Ptolemaic court 310s BC births 240s BC deaths

Life

Poetry

Editions

Notes

Further reading

External links