SOURCE: An introduction to The "Argonautika," by Apollonius Rhodius, translated by Peter Green, University of California Press, 1997, pp. 1-13.

In the following excerpt, Green reviews the known facts about the life of Apollonius and places in context his quarrel with Callimachus concerning the epic.

I

The author of the Argonautika is a remarkably elusive character. We do not know exactly when he was born, or the date of his death. At least three cities—Alexandria, Naukratis, and, inevitably, Rhodes—were claimed in antiquity, and continue to be argued for today, as his birthplace. Our main sources for his life are not only late, but contain a number of arresting discrepancies. Did he turn to poetry early or late in life? He was royal tutor to one of the Ptolemies—but which one? He was head of the Alexandrian Library—but directly before and after whom? Why is there...