The poetic transmission of ancient wisdom: Callimachus, Hymn to Delos 278-315 and the aetiology of the Delian cults.

DANIEL ALEJANDRO TORRES

Ouro Preto - Brasil

Congreso; XIIe. Congrès de la Féderation International d'Etudes Classiques (FIEC); 2004

FIEC - SBEC

In Hymn to Delos 278-315 Callimachus reelaborates Herodotus' information (IV 33-35) about the relations between the Delian cults and the Hyperboreans. This reelaboration implies a change of perspective in the transmission of the data due to the conventional features proper to cultic hymns, refashioned in the Hellenistic compositions as vehicle for historical knowledge and traditional wisdom. Callimachus presents in the section of ll. 278-299 the story of the Hyperboreans' offerings to Delos, and in the section of ll. 300-315 an aetiological relation that leads to the celebrations contemporary with the poet (ll. 314-324). The attribution of the Delian songs to the Lycian Olen (ll. 304-305; Hdt. IV 35) and the introduction of Theseus' celebration on the island (ll. 308-315; also probably alluded to in Aitia fr. 186, 22-23) mark the links of the aetiological chain reconstructed by Callimachus. The present communication analizes the passages mentioned above, focusing on Callimachus' peculiar position concerning the transmission of Ancient wisdom, and explores the quality of a knowledge that matches the historical one in precision and scope.