Σιμωνίδης

Simonides

Translated by Robert Dyer10 Jun 2000Vetting: high4 revisions

2 notes · 40 words
of Magnesia on the Sipylus,1 an epic poet. He was born in the time of Antiochus called the Great. And he wrote the Deeds of Antiochus and the Battle against the Galatians, when he defeated the cavalry with his elephants.2

Greek original · Adler’s text

Σιμωνίδης, Μάγνης Σιπύλου, ἐποποιός. γέγονεν ἐπὶ Ἀντιόχου τοῦ Μεγάλου κληθέντος· καὶ γέγραφε τὰς Ἀντιόχου πράξεις καὶ τὴν πρὸς Γαλάτας μάχην, ὅτε μετὰ τῶν ἐλεφάντων τὴν ἵππον αὐτοῦ ἔφθειρεν.

Betacode
*simwni/dhs, *ma/gnhs *sipu/lou, e)popoio/s. ge/gonen e)pi\ *)antio/xou tou= *mega/lou klhqe/ntos: kai\ ge/grafe ta\s *)antio/xou pra/ceis kai\ th\n pro\s *gala/tas ma/xhn, o(/te meta\ tw=n e)lefa/ntwn th\n i(/ppon au)tou= e)/fqeiren.

Notes (2)

  1. No fragments of this Hellenistic poet of historical subjects (FGrH 163) survive. The "epics" were perhaps only encomia (Cameron 285), for the battle against the Galatians (Celts) hardly warranted a whole epic. This battle was surely the celebrated victory won in c.270, with elephants, by Antiochus *I* Soter and related in Lucian, Zeuxis 8-11, Pro lapsu inter salutandum 9 (so Momigliano and Cameron), who may draw from him. It is therefore unlikely that Simonides was born under Antiochus III ('the Great') or that the Antiochus of this entry refers to anyone but Antiochus I. (Bernhardy proposed deleting 'the Great', which in any case Adler reports as given only by ms M; another suggested solution is to emend it to 'the first'.)
  2. 1In Lydia (Barrington Atlas map 56 grid E4); the conventional suffix differentiates it from the several other cities of this name. For the river in question cf. gamma 21, sigma 473. ↩
  3. 2So this last clause must mean, but the grammar is odd, with 'his' actually attaching to 'the cavalry'. Cuper suggested emending au)tou= to au)tw=n: 'defeated their cavalry ...'. ↩

References


Alan Cameron, Callimachus and his Critics, 1995, 284-5
Arnaldo Momigliano, Quinto Contributo, 1975, 591-6

Neighbouring entries

σ441ΣιμωνίδηςSimonidesσ442ΣιμωνίδηςSimonidesσ443ΣιμωνίδηςSimonidesσ444ΣιμωνίδηςSimonidesσ445ΣιμωνίδηςSimonides
Revision history4 revisions · last 26 May 2016
  1. coding; expanded one note; added another — David Whitehead
  2. expansions to notes; cosmetics — David Whitehead
  3. cosmetics — David Whitehead
  4. added note and keywords; cosmetics — David Whitehead
  5. Translated — Robert Dyer

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