Theocritus

Theocritus (c. 270 BC) was a Greek poet creator and main proponent of bucolic poetry of the Greeks. He was born in Syracuse and lived in Alexandria or Kos, Kos and Syracuse.

The poems

Under the name of Theocritus 32 more poems are out of a number of epigrams handed, so-called Landscapes ( Eidyllia ). They usually have a dramatic form and some are artistic depictions of the changing song of the Sicilian shepherds, partly they represent scenes of everyday life, while other mythological narratives contain, still others are purely lyrical nature. With the creation of the former Theocritus was mainly under the influence of mime. Mimes are small farces or their literary implementation, in which everyday life is parodied. Main representatives of this genus was Sophron (5th century BC), who also came from Syracuse.

The poetic reaction at Theocritus is in a detached, sometimes destructive imitation of classical genres, their functionality was due to the socio- political environment no longer be timely ( the independent polis of the 8th - 5th century BC to the hegemonic monarchical surface states of the 3rd century BC). Therefore, above all, often charming, sometimes angry, to be stated the Amusement of excellently educated city citizen over the clumsy - artless conversations of the rural population on the contrary to the often " idyllisierenden " pastoral poetry of later coinage in the thematically related short poems of Theocritus.

About a third of the traditional corpus Theocriteum called Eidyllia is now considered proven false. Even in ancient times were the works of Theocritus for his sophisticated reflection of older poetry as well as his own tightly worked, however vivid illustration in high esteem and were pattern and a model for later poets, on the one hand ( in the poetic conception ) of Neoteriker, on the other hand ( thematically on the country life related) of Virgil's Eclogues and its epigones Calpurnius Siculus. Differ poems also in form and language. While those in which mainly heroic- epic topics, also take the appropriate forms and the language is also mainly epic, prevails in the mimetic poems before a Doric art language. The generally preferred in the Hellenistic hexameter is the meter of Eidyllia 1-27.

The titles of individual poems

Content of individual poems

VI. The cattle herders

The two cowherd Daphnis and Damötas improvise a song that satirizes the history of fell in love with the nymph Galatea Cyclops Polyphemus. In Daphnis ' exposure Galatea tries in vain to arouse Polyphemus attention by pelting his dog with apples. Damötas responds with a monologue of Polyphemus, who has decided to leave Galatea wait a bit more; moreover, he was entitled one of his eyes quite well.

In his introduction Theocritus refers to the antiphonal singing as a " bet ". However, the referee is absent, and the poem ends without a winner:

"This endigend kissed Damötas Daphnis; the whistle Gives ' him this, and he artificial Flute him against it. [ ... ] Winners but none was because they sang both without blemish. "

VIII Daphnis, Menalkas and Aipolos

The Idyll VIII ( which is considered spurious ) is in some ways a counterpart to the VI. It also treats a singing contest between two shepherds (again, ie one of the two Daphnis, the other Menalkas ). However, this contest starts with mutual challenges; in the end decided by a referee. The shepherds improvise in alternate verses, which do not carry definite history. Winners will Daphnis:

"It pleased the victorious boy, he claps ' hands, As to the mother leap for joy the deer hopped the boy. But that consumed the agonizing harm the soul, Oh, he traurte! So mourns the bride, the newly-weds! Now Daphnis had become among the shepherds of the first, And as a young man marries ' he already with Nais, the nymph. "

Translations

German translations there are of Johann Heinrich Voss (2nd edition, Tübingen 1815), Friedrich Rückert (Leipzig 1867), Harry C. cord ( Reutlingen, 1975), Hermann Beckby ( Meisenheim am Glan, 1975) and Dietrich Plane ( Frankfort-. M. 1983).

Eduard Moerike only translated individual poems. Within the " classical anthology " (Stuttgart 1840, a large-scale collection of translations of Greek and Latin poems) the numbers II, VI, XI, XIII -XVI, XVIII appeared, XXI, XXIV, XXVIII to XXX ( in a different order and numbering). 1855 appeared " Theocritus, Bion and Moschus. German versification in the original manuscript of Dr. E. Moerike and F. Notter. " In it the numbers I to VI, XI, XIV and XVIII to XXVIII are included. The versions of this second edition, as far as they go back to the first, thoroughly revised and partly completely recast.

Expenditure

• Hermann Beckby: The Greek bucolic: Theocritus - Moschos - Bion. Contributions to classical philology 49 Meisenheim am Glan 1975.
• Dietrich Plane: Theocritus. All seals. Insel-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1989, ISBN 3-458-32858-0
• Bernd Effe: Theocritus. Poems. Greek / German. Artemis and Winkler, Dusseldorf and Zurich 1999, ISBN 3-7608-1714-9.
• Andrew S. Gow: Bucolici Graeci. Greek and English. Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1952. Relevant output.
• Harry C. Cord: Theocritus. Knoedler, Reutlingen, 1975, ISBN 978-3-87421-054-6.