Callimachus Critical Essay | Critical Essay by Rudolf Blum

Critical Essay by Rudolf Blum

SOURCE: "Kallimachos and His Lists of Greek Authors and Their Works," in Kallimachos: The Alexandrian Library and the Origins of Bibliography, translated by Hans H. Wellisch, The University of Wisconsin Press, 1991, pp. 124-81.

In the excerpt that follows, Blum focuses his attention on Callimachus the scholar rather than Callimachus the poet. Blum carefully reconstructs the history of the royal library at Alexandria, attempting to determine the post Callimachus held there and the years of his tenure.

Accounts of the life and work of Kallimachos are neither particularly extensive nor are they particularly sparse. Our main source is the article "Kallimachos" in the Suda which contains some biographical data and a selective bibliography of his works. The article is based on an epitome of the Onomatologos (Nomendator), a lost bibliographic lexicon compiled from older reference books by Hesychios of Miletos in the 6th century A.D. The abridgment of the Onomatologos...
(read more)