CALLIMACHUS

callimachus, greek poet and grammarian, a native of cyrene and a descendant of the illustrious house of the battiadae, flourished about 250 b.c. he opened a school in the suburbs of alexandria, and some of the most distinguished grammarians and poets were his pupils. he was subsequently appointed by ptolemy philadelphus chief librarian of the alexandrian library, which office he held till his death (about 240). his _pinakes_ (tablets), in 120 books, a critical and chronologically arranged catalogue of the library, laid the foundation of a history of greek literature. according to suidas, he wrote about 800 works, in verse and prose; of these only six hymns, sixty-four epigrams and some fragments are extant; a considerable fragment of the _hecale_, an idyllic epic, has also been discovered in the rainer papyri (see kenyon in _classical review_, november 1893). his _coma berenices_ is only known from the celebrated imitation of catullus. his _aitia_ (causes) was a collection of elegiac poems in four books, dealing with the foundation of cities, religious ceremonies and other customs. according to quintilian (_instit._ x. i. 58) he was the chief of the elegiac poets; his elegies were highly esteemed by the romans, and imitated by ovid, catullus and especially propertius. the extant hymns are extremely learned, and written in a laboured and artificial style. the epigrams, some of the best specimens of their kind, have been incorporated in the greek anthology. art and learning are his chief characteristics, unrelieved by any real poetic genius; in the words of ovid (_amores_, i. 15)-- "quamvis ingenio non valet, arte valet." editions.--hymns, epigrams and fragments (the last collected by bentley) by j.a. ernesti (1761), and o. schneider (1870-1873) (with elaborate indices and excursuses); hymns and epigrams, by a. meineke (1861), and u. wilamowitz-mollendorff (1897). see _neue bruchstucke aus der hekale des kallimachus_, by t. gomperz (1893); also g. knaack, _callimachea_ (1896); a. bertrami, _gl' inni di callimacho e il nomo di terpandro_ (1896); k. kuiper, _studia callimachea_ (1896); a. hamette, _les epigrammes de callimaque: etude critique et litteraire_ (paris, 1907). there are english translations (verse) by w. dodd (1755) and h.w. tytler (1793); (prose) by j. banks (1856). see also sandys, _hist. of class. schol._ i. (ed. 1906), p. 122. callinus of ephesus, the oldest of the greek elegiac poets and the creator of the political and warlike elegy. he is supposed to have flourished between the invasion of asia minor by the cimmerii and their expulsion by alyattes (630-560 b.c.). during his lifetime his own countrymen were also engaged in a life-and-death struggle with the magnesians. these two events give the key to his poetry, in which he endeavours to rouse the indolent ionians to a sense of patriotism. only scanty fiagments of his poems remain; the longest of these (preserved in stobaeus, _florilegium_, li. 19) has even been ascribed to tyrtaeus. edition of the fragments by n. bach (1831), and in bergk, _poetae lyrici graeci_ (1882). on the date of callinus, see the histories of greek literature by mure and muller; g.h. bode, _geschichte der hellenischen dichtkunst_, ii. pt. i. (1838); and g. geiger, _de callini aetate_ (1877), who places him earlier, about 642.