Herodas: Mimiambs

✍ Scribed by Graham Zanker

• Publisher: Aris & Phillips Ltd
• Year: 2009
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 265
• Series: Aris and Phillips Classical Texts
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

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. In this Aris & Phillips Classical Text, Graham Zanker explores what we do know of the poet including the language, dialect and metre that he uses. Each poem is translated and accompanied by an individual commentary with synopsis, information on date, setting, sources and purpose, as well as close examination of vocabulary and grammar. This edition reveals Herodas' work in all its skill and subtlety.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
Contents
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Introduction
The Mimiambs and the Question of Performance
Herodas’ Metre
Herodas’ Dialect
Herodas Mimiambs
Mimiamb 1
Characters and characterization
Mimiamb 1 and Theokritos’ Idylls 2, 14 and 15
Mimiamb 2
The Characterization of Battaros
Mimiamb 3
Characters and interactions in Mimiamb 3
Mimiamb 4
Constructing the scene
Constructing the works of art in the scene
Mimiamb 4 and Hellenistic art criticism
Mimiamb 5
Characters and chararacterization
Setting
Mimiamb 6
Characters and chararacterization
The objectivity of Herodas
Mimiamb 7
Mêtrô and Kerdôn
Kerdôn’s salesmanship
Mimiamb 8
Mimiamb 8 as a statement of Herodas’ literary programme
The Fragments
Bibliography
Index