The Greek poet Callimachus (ca. 305-240 BC) is regarded as the most characteristic representative of Alexandrian poetry. Learning, polish, and contemporaneity characterize his work, which had enormous influence on the Roman elegiac poets. Very little...

Callimachus was the most influential Alexandrian poet, scholar, and literary critic of his time, a figure who exerted an enormous influence on Greek, Roman, and, eventually, European literature. The author of more than eight hundred works (about forty...

The following excerpt, drawn from his Hellenistic Poetry, presents Körte's summation of Callimachus as a writer of elegy, epic, and epigram. Examining Callimachus' work largely in the context of his biography and the social and political environment in Alexandria, Korte finds certain qualities constant in Callimachus across the genres. Korte emphasizes especially the poet's aptitude for originality and novelty, remarking that "precisely what was obscure, untouched and negle...

In the following excerpt, Zanker studies the use of pictorial realism among Alexandrian poets, looking at Callimachus alongside Appollonius, Theocritus, and Herodas. Zanker's discussion of Callimachus considers many of his works, including the Aetia and the Hymns, but his thesis rests primarly on an extended study of the Hecale, which he finds particularly demonstrates the meaning of pictorial realism. He argues that Callimachus uses the style for a specific meaning—to show "that appea...

In the following excerpt from his Hellenistic Poetry and Art, Webster considers Callimachus's reputation during his career and his aesthetic criteria, simultaneously providing an extensive examination of the poet's works, including the hymns, the iambi, Hecale, and the epigrams. Webster's discussion entails a summary of the "hostilities" concerning aesthetics that Callimachus found himself engaged in with other poets. In his final assessment, Webster attributes Callimachu...