Misplaced Pages

#983016

37-409: Cyane (sometimes anglicized as "Kyane") was a naiad , a freshwater nymph . After witnessing Hades's abduction of Persephone and trying to prevent it, Cyane was turned to liquid by Hades. In Ovid 's version, she dissolved away in tears upon failing to save her friend and melted into her pool. In the ancient Greek world the nymph represented a particular aspect of nature. Arethusa , a naiad like Kyane,

74-630: A corpus of bucolic poetry, the other a strict collection of those works considered to have been composed by Theocritus himself. Theocritus was from Sicily , as he refers to Polyphemus , the Cyclops in the Odyssey , as his "countryman." He also probably lived in Alexandria for a while, where he wrote about everyday life, notably Pharmakeutria . It is also speculated that Theocritus was born in Syracuse , lived on

111-466: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Naiad In Greek mythology , the naiads ( / ˈ n aɪ æ d z , ˈ n eɪ æ d z , - ə d z / ; Ancient Greek : ναϊάδες , romanized :  naïádes ), sometimes also hydriads , are a type of female spirit, or nymph , presiding over fountains, wells, springs, streams, brooks and other bodies of fresh water . They are distinct from river gods , who embodied rivers, and

148-502: Is anonymous, and runs as follows: "The Chian is another man, but I, Theocritus, who wrote these poems, am one of the great populace of Syracuse, the son of Praxagoras and renowned Philinna; and the Muse I have adopted is no alien." The last line may mean that he wrote nothing but bucolic poems, or that he only wrote in Doric . The assertion that he was from Syracuse appears to be upheld by allusions in

185-406: Is assigned to Theocritus by recent editors. The following poems are now generally considered to be spurious: 19. Love stealing Honey . The poem is anonymous in the manuscripts and the conception of Love is not Theocritean. 20. Herdsman , 21. Fishermen , 23. Passionate Lover . These three poems are remarkable for the corrupt state of their text, which makes it likely that they have come from

222-488: Is associated with a spring and pool in Syracuse (Siracusa); Kyane is said to dwell in a river bearing her name in southeastern Sicily. She had as a partner the river god Anapus . She cited their love as an example of consensual relationship while trying to convince Hades not to take Persephone by force. In the popular TV series Xena: Warrior Princess , Cyane is a recurring name of prominent Amazon warriors, each considered

259-610: Is cured of his passion and naively relates how he repulses the overtures now made to him by Galatea. The monster of Homer's Odyssey has been "written up to date" after the Alexandrian manner and has become a gentle simpleton. "Idyll 7," the Harvest Feast , is the most important of the bucolic poems. The scene is laid in the isle of Kos . The poet speaks in the first person and is called Simichidas by his friends. Other poets are introduced under feigned names. Ancient critics identified

296-402: Is held to have taken place in 277 BC, and a recently discovered inscription shows that Arsinoë died in 270, in the fifteenth year of her brother's reign. This poem, therefore, together with xv, which Theocritus wrote to please Arsinoë must fall within this period. The encomium upon Hiero II would seem prior to that upon Ptolemy, since in it Theocritus is a hungry poet seeking for a patron, while in

333-456: Is occupied by Idyll 7, the "Harvest Feast." Chisholm praises the mimes, saying "These three mimes are wonderfully natural and lifelike. There is nothing in ancient literature so vivid and real as the chatter of Gorgo and Praxinoë, and the voces populi in 15". In addition to the Bucolics and Mimes, there are three poems which cannot be brought into any other class: The genuineness of the last

370-448: The Aeolic dialect . The first is a very graceful poem presented together with a distaff to Theugenis, wife of Nicias, a doctor of Miletus, on the occasion of a voyage thither undertaken by the poet. The theme of 29 is similar to that of 12. A very corrupt poem, only found in one very late manuscript, was discovered by Ziegler in 1864. As the subject and style very closely resemble that of 29, it

407-508: The Celtic wells of northwest Europe that have been rededicated to Saints, and in the medieval Melusine . Walter Burkert points out, "When in the Iliad [xx.4–9] Zeus calls the gods into assembly on Mount Olympus, it is not only the well-known Olympians who come along, but also all the nymphs and all the rivers; Okeanos alone remains at his station", Greek hearers recognized this impossibility as

SECTION 10

#1732851814984

444-506: The Idylls (7.7, 28.16–18). The information concerning his parentage bears the stamp of authenticity, and disposes of a rival theory based upon a misinterpretation of Idyll 7—which made him the son of one Simichus. A larger collection, possibly more extensive than that of Artemidorus, and including poems of doubtful authenticity, was known to the author of the Suda , who says: "Theocritus wrote

481-547: The Muse , who cackle against the Chian bard and find their labour lost." Other persons mentioned are Nicias, a physician of Miletus, whose name occurs in other poems, and Aratus , whom the scholiasts identify with the author of the Phenomena . Several of the other bucolic poems consist of singing-matches, conducted according to the rules of amoebaean poetry , in which the second singer takes

518-471: The character Sicelidas of Samos with Asclepiades of Samos , and the character Lycidas, "the goatherd of Cydonia," with the poet Astacides, whom Callimachus calls "the Cretan, the goatherd." Theocritus speaks of himself as having already gained fame, and says that his songs have been brought by report even unto the throne of Zeus . He praises Philitas , the veteran poet of Kos, and criticizes "the fledgelings of

555-421: The creator of Ancient Greek pastoral poetry . Little is known of Theocritus beyond what can be inferred from his writings. We must, however, handle these with some caution, since some of the poems ( Idylls ; Εἰδύλλια ) commonly attributed to him have little claim to authenticity. It is clear that at a very early date two collections were made: one consisting of poems whose authorship was doubtful yet formed

592-466: The goddess of love, appears to taunt Daphnis for his hubris: "Thou indeed, Daphnis, didst boast that thou wouldst bend Love! Hast not thou, in thine own person, been bent by grievous love?" The failure of these figures to comfort Daphnis in his dying moments thematizes classical beliefs about the folly of mortals who challenge the gods. In "Idyll 11" Polyphemus is depicted as in love with the sea-nymph Galatea and finding solace in song. In "Idyll 6," he

629-476: The island of Kos , and lived in Egypt during the time of Ptolemy II . The record of these recensions is preserved by two epigrams, one of which proceeds from Artemidorus of Tarsus , a grammarian, who lived in the time of Sulla and is said to have been the first editor of these poems. He says, "The Muses of country song were once scattered, but now they are all together in one pen, in one flock." The second epigram

666-593: The joys of summer and winter respectively, which have been provided with a clumsy preface, ll.1-6, while an early editor of a bucolic collection has appended an epilogue in which he takes leave of the Bucolic Muses. On the other hand, it is clear that both poems were in Virgil's Theocritus, and that they passed the scrutiny of the editor who formed the short collection of Theocritean Bucolics. The mimes are three in number: 2, 14, and 15. In 2 Simaetha, deserted by Delphis, tells

703-480: The local naiad of the spring. In places like Lerna their waters' ritual cleansings were credited with magical medical properties. Animals were ritually drowned there. Oracles might be situated by ancient springs. Naiads could be dangerous: Hylas of the Argo ’s crew was lost when he was taken by naiads fascinated by his beauty. The naiads were also known to exhibit jealous tendencies. Theocritus 's story of naiad jealousy

740-572: The mythical herdsman, having defied the power of Aphrodite , dies rather than yielding to a passion the goddess has inflicted on him. In the poem, a series of divine figures from classical mythology, including Hermes , Priapus , and Aphrodite herself, interrogate the shepherd about his lovesickness. As Daphnis lies dying, Priapus asks: "Wretched Daphnis, why pinest thou?"; Hermes inquires: "Daphnis, who wastes thee away?" Alongside these mythological figures appear shepherds and goatherds, who likewise wonder "what harm had befallen" Daphnis. Finally, Aphrodite,

777-461: The naiads: when his bees died in Thessaly , he went to consult them. His aunt Arethusa invited him below the water's surface, where he was washed with water from a perpetual spring and given advice. Theocritus Theocritus ( / θ iː ˈ ɒ k r ɪ t ə s / ; Ancient Greek : Θεόκριτος , Theokritos ; born c. 300 BC, died after 260 BC) was a Greek poet from Sicily , Magna Graecia , and

SECTION 20

#1732851814984

814-637: The other he is well satisfied with the world. Now Hiero first came to the front in 275 when he was made General: Theocritus speaks of his achievements as still to come, and the silence of the poet would show that Hiero's marriage to Phulistis, his victory over the Mamertines at the Longanus and his election as "King", events which are ascribed to 270, had not yet taken place. If so, 17 and 15 can only have been written within 275 and 270. Two of these are certainly by Theocritus, 28 and 29, composed in Aeolic verse and in

851-526: The poet praises Hiero II of Syracuse , in 17 Ptolemy Philadelphus , and in 22 the Dioscuri . The other poems are 13, the story of Hylas and the Nymphs , and 24 the youthful Heracles . In 13 he makes use of word-painting; in 16 there is some delicate fancy in the description of his poems as Charites , and a passage at the end, where he foretells the joys of peace after the enemy have been driven out of Sicily , has

888-400: The poet's hyperbole , which proclaimed the universal power of Zeus over the ancient natural world: "the worship of these deities," Burkert confirms, "is limited only by the fact that they are inseparably identified with a specific locality." Robert Graves offered a sociopolitical reading of the common myth-type in which a mythic king is credited with marrying a naiad and founding a city: it

925-435: The same source and possibly are by the same author. The Fishermen has been much admired. It is addressed to Diophantus and conveys a moral, that one should work and not dream, illustrated by the story of an old fisherman who dreams that he has caught a fish of gold and narrates his vision to his mate. As Leonidas of Tarentum wrote epigrams on fishermen, and one of them is a dedication of his tackle to Poseidon by Diophantus,

962-436: The series. All shown Cyanes are powerful and charismatic, but "Cyane IV" is somewhat aphoristic, and "Cyane V" overly polite and shy. The first Cyane came from the future: she taught Amazons to tame horses and (in a strange time loop) gave them the name "Amazons". A powerful person, "Cyane III" defeated both Xena (in a physical battle) and Alti (in a spiritual battle). She was trusting of Xena and even offered to let her join

999-636: The so-called bucolic poems in the Doric dialect. Some persons also attribute to him the following: Daughters of Proetus, Hopes, Hymns, Heroines, Dirges, Lyrics, Elegies, Iambics, Epigrams." The first of these may have been known to Virgil , who refers to the Proetides at Eclogue 6.48. The spurious poem 21 may have been one of the Hopes , and poem 26 may have been one of the Heroines ; elegiacs are found in 8.33—60, and

1036-451: The spurious epitaph on Bion may have been one of the Dirges . The other classes are all represented in the larger collection which has come down to us. The distinction between these is that the scenes of the former are laid in the country and those of the latter in a town. The most famous of the Bucolics are 1 , 6 , 7 and 11 . In "Idyll 1" Thyrsis sings to a goatherd about how Daphnis ,

1073-402: The story of her love to the moon; in 14 Aeschines narrates his quarrel with his sweetheart, and is advised to go to Egypt and enlist in the army of Ptolemy Philadelphus ; in 15 Gorgo and Praxinoë go to the festival of Adonis . In the best manuscript 2 comes immediately before 14, an arrangement which is obviously right, since it places the three mimes together. The second place in the manuscripts

1110-547: The subject chosen by the first and contributes a variation on the same theme. It may be noted that Theocritus' rustic characters differ greatly in refinement. Those in "Idyll 5" are low fellows who indulge in coarse abuse. Idylls 4 and 5 are laid in the neighborhood of Croton, and we may infer that Theocritus was personally acquainted with Magna Graecia . Suspicion has been cast upon idylls 8 and 9 on various grounds. An extreme view holds that within "Idyll 9" there exist two genuine Theocritean fragments, ll.7-13 and 15–20, describing

1147-542: The tribe. Xena betrayed Cyane when Alti "offered her a better deal". Alti wanted Cyane's blood, and after she drank it she kept Cyane's soul and the souls of all the Amazons in the land of the dead. She then used their power for herself and made it evil. The souls of the Amazons were trapped in the land of the dead until the reformed Xena killed Alti and found the Amazon's new holy word, Love. This article relating to Greek mythology

Cyane - Misplaced Pages Continue

1184-462: The true bucolic ring. The most that can be said of 22 and 24 is that they are very dramatic. Otherwise they differ little from work done by other poets, such as Callimachus and Apollonius Rhodius . From another point of view, however, these two poems 16 and 17 are supremely interesting, since they are the only ones which can be dated. In 17 Theocritus celebrates the incestuous marriage of Ptolemy Philadelphus with his sister Arsinoë . This marriage

1221-569: The very ancient spirits that inhabited the still waters of marshes, ponds and lagoon-lakes such as pre- Mycenaean Lerna in the Argolis . The Greek word is ναϊάς ( naïás [naːiás] ), plural ναϊάδες ( naïádes [naːiádes] ). It derives from νάειν ( náein ), "to flow", or νᾶμα ( nâma ), "running water". Naiads were often the object of archaic local cults, worshipped as essential to humans. Boys and girls at coming-of-age ceremonies dedicated their childish locks to

1258-495: The worthy successor of the former one: five different Cyanes (from different times) are shown in "Xenaverse", played respectively by Victoria Pratt as "Cyane III", Selma Blair as "Cyane I", Shelley Edwards as "Cyane IV" and Morgan Reese Fairhead as "Cyane V". "Cyane II" appears in Young Hercules series, played by Katrina Browne. There are probably some other Cyanes between "Cyane I" and "Cyane II", but they are not shown in

1295-444: Was attacked by Ulrich von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff on account of the crudity of the language, which sometimes degenerates into doggerel. However, Chisholm considered it genuine, arguing that Theocritus had intentionally used realistic language for the sake of dramatic effect and that the manuscript evidence supported its genuineness. Eustathius quotes from it as the work of Theocritus. Three of these are Hymns: 16, 17, and 22. In 16,

1332-410: Was that of a shepherd, Daphnis , who was the lover of Nomia or Echenais; Daphnis had on several occasions been unfaithful to Nomia and as revenge she permanently blinded him. The nymph Salmacis raped Hermaphroditus and fused with him when he tried to escape. The water nymph associated with particular springs was known all through Europe in places with no direct connection with Greece, surviving in

1369-450: Was the newly arrived Hellenes justifying their presence. The loves and rapes of Zeus, according to Graves' readings, record the supplanting of ancient local cults by Olympian ones (Graves 1955, passim ). So, in the back-story of the myth of Aristaeus , Hypseus, a king of the Lapiths , married Chlidanope, a naiad, who bore him Cyrene . Aristaeus had more than ordinary mortal experience with

#983016