Bouvier, chevrier, berger dans les Idylles bucoliques de Théocrite : des catégories à interroger

Abstract

This contribution attempts a response to the question why some Idylls of Theocritus are termed Boukolika and are tightly bound with the figure of the βουκόλος. Cowherds are not the only herdsmen that Theocritus displays and that he has sing; Especially goatherds, but also shepherds, appear alongside the cowherds in poems that, according to K.‑H. Stanzel, should be termed aipolika, as the goatherd as a category is more frequent. An analysis of frequency of intervention and of the names—two parameters appropriate for confirming or denying the importance accorded to each of these three categories of herdsmen at the cost of the two others—leads to the result that the importance of the category of cowherds is surely not the determining factor in the denomination of bucolics as a sub-genre. The conclusion offers two hypotheses to explain the filiation βουκόλος-Βουκολικά: one refers to Homeric reception, the other to poetological considerations.

Keywords

• Theocritus
• Idylls Bucolics
• herding
• cowherd
• goatherd
• shepherd