Apollonius of Rhodes

Apollonius of Rhodes ( 295 BC *, † 215 BC) was a Greek poet and scholar.

Apollonius was born probably in Alexandria, where he was a pupil of Callimachus of Cyrene. Between 270 BC and 245 BC, he led the famous Library of Alexandria as a successor to the Zenodotos of Ephesus.

His main work, the Argonautica, an epic version of the Argonauts in 4 books. The story itself, however, existed long before his time. In individual events has been of Homer ( Iliad VII 468f, . Odyssey XII 69ff. ) Referred to, he could therefore presuppose as already known. In the legend goes, a team of Greek heroes, led by Jason, with the ship Argo in the land of Colchis, probably located in present-day Georgia, to search for the Golden Fleece.

Editions and translations

• Apollonius Rhodius: The Argonautica. With an English translation by Robert C. Seaton. Heinemann, London, 1912. Finally in 1988, ISBN 0-434-99001-9.
• Apollonii Rhodii Argonautica recognovit adnotatione critica instruxit Hermann Fraenkel. Clarendon, Oxford 1961. 9 print around 1994, ISBN 0-19-814559-4 ( critical edition ).
• Apollonius of Rhodes: The Voyage of the Argonauts. Greek / German. Translated and annotated by Paul Dräger ( = Loeb Classical Library. Vol. 18231 ). Reclam, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-15-018231- X ( extensively annotated bilingual edition ).
• Apollonius of Rhodes: The Argonauts epic. Translated and explained by Reinhold sliding and Stephanie Natzel - sliding. 2 vols. University Press, Darmstadt 1996, ISBN 3-534-12184-8, ISBN 3-534-12185-6.