E-Books →Herodas Mimiambs

Free Download Graham Zanker, "Herodas: Mimiambs"
English | 2009 | ISBN: 0856688835 | PDF | pages: 265 | 3.2 mb
Before the publication of the second-century AD papyrus containing eight and a fragmentary ninth of the Mimiambs of Herodas in 1891, Herodas was known only through approximately twenty lines which had survived in quotations found principally in Athenaios and Stobaios. Even after the publication of the papyrus and subsequent work on it, scarcely anything is known of their author. The scant evidence that has survived suggests that he lived in during the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphos (285-247 BC), on the island of Kos, and was a direct contemporary of the greatest of the Hellenistic poets, Callimachus, Theocritus and Apollonius. His Mimiambs are short humorous dramatic scenes written in verse, often bawdy, reflecting everyday life and dialect.