Callimachus, Hymn 2 and the Genre of Paean

Abstract

The essay considers the affiliations of Callimachus’ second Hymn with the paean. Formal features are important in the reworking of the genre, as is to be expected from a composition by a Hellenistic poet, but Callimachus has also remained faithful to what we can discern of its wider associations, broad as these were. This can be seen in the concern with the identities of deity (Carneian Apollo), worshippers (a group of young men on the verge of maturity), and community (the historical foundation of Cyrene). But while Hymn 2 seems to retain much of the sensibility of the paean (as evidenced by Pindar, Pythian 5 as well as the paeans proper), it is hard to find any such fidelity to a recognisable archaic genre in either of the other so-called “mimetic” hymns; the use of a single label diverts attention from the very different ways in which Callimachean “mimesis” works. Given these differences, it is worth enquiring further into the, presumably authorial, arrangement of the collection as a whole.

Keywords

• Apollo
• Carneia
• chorus
• euphemia
• genre
• identity