Callimachus: The Fifth Hymn: The Bath of Pallas

Description

Callimachus was one of the most important and influential writers in the ancient world. He was the outstanding poet of the Hellenistic period and had a profound effect on the subsequent course of Greek and Roman literature. The hymns are intricate, allusive and difficult poetry, and need elucidation for the modern reader. 'The Fifth Hymn: The Bath of Pallas', is considered by many to be Callimachus' finest surviving poem. Anthony Bulloch has established a new text of the poem, which is printed here with facing English translation. The substantial introduction and full commentary aim to introduce the poem to a wide audience and to help the modern reader to reconstruct what the ancient reader may have taken for granted as part of the crucial and intellectual background and to achieve an informed and sensitive appreciation of the poem in its full perspective. This will be welcomed by Greek scholars and those interested in Greek and Roman poetry.

Anthony Bulloch is Professor of Classics at the University of California, Berkeley and Assistant Dean in the College of Letters and Science. He studied Classics at the University of Cambridge and was a student also at the British School at Rome and the University of Freiburg im Breisgau. He taught at Cambridge before going to Berkeley. Publications include work in the fields of Greek poetry, language, metrics, religion and myth. He is currently working on two projects, one on ancient Greek cults and festivals and one on Greek mythology, in addition to continuing his work on Hellenistic poetry.