Greek lyric
(Book)

Text in Greek with translation in English.

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

The four volumes of Greek Lyric contain the surviving fragments of solo song and choral song. This poetry was not preserved in medieval manuscripts and few complete poems remain. Later writers quoted from the poets, but only so much as suited their needs; these book-quotations are supplemented by papyrus texts found in Egypt, most of them badly damaged. The high quality of what remains makes us realize the enormity of our loss. Volume One contains the poetic fragments of the two illustrious singers of early sixth-century Lesbos: Sappho, the most famous woman poet of antiquity, whose main theme was love; and Alcaeus, poet of wine, war, and politics, and composer of short hymns to the gods. Also included are the principal testimonia -- the ancients' reports about the lives and work of the two poets. -- JACKET.

Volume Two concludes solo lyric with Anacreon (and the Anacreontea, here given special attention) and covers choral lyric from Olympus to Alcman, including Eumelus and Terpander. Comprehensive testimonia are given, as also all papyris fragments which yield adequate sense. Bibliographies, concordance-tables, an index of names and sources, and a general index are included.

The most important poets writing in Greek in the sixth century BC came from Sicily and southern Italy. Stesichorus was called by ancient writers "most Homeric"--A recognition of his epic themes and noble style. He composed verses about the Trojan War and its aftermath, the Argonauts, the adventures of Heracles. He may have been a solo singer, performing these poems to his own cithara accompaniment. Ibycus probably belonged to the colony of Rhgium in southwestern Italy. Like Stesichorus he wrote lyrical narratives on mythological themes, but he also composed erotic poems. Simonides is said to have spent his later years in Sicily. He was in Athens at the time of the Persian Wars, though, and was acclaimed for his epitaph of the Athenians who died at Marathon. He was a successful poet in various genres, including victory odes, dirges, and dithyrambic poetry. The power of his pathos emerges in the fragments we have here. All the extant verse of these poets is given in this third volume of David Campbell's edition of Greek lyric poetry along with the ancients' accounts of their lives and works. Ten contemporary poets are also included among them Arion, Lasus, and Pratinas.

Bacchylides, nephew of Simonides and rival of Pindar, wrote choral poetry of many types. We have a number of his victory odes -- poems celebrating victories in athletic contests -- as well as dithyrambs and otehr hymns. He was a master of the captivating narrative. Also represented in this volume is the Boeotian Corinna, whose work, versions of local myths, survives in greater quantity than that of any other Greek Poetess except Sappho. Ancient authorities regard Corinna as an older contemporary and mentor of Pindar; but some modern scholars place her later in the third century BC. Other women are here too: Myrtis, also from Boeotia; Telesilla of Argos, famous for her military leadership as well as her hymns; the shadowy Charixena; and Praxilla of Sicyoon, author of choral poems and drinking songs. David Campbell gives all the extant verse of these poets, along with the anceints accounts of their lives and works. This fourth volume of his much-praised edition of Greek lyric poetry also includes Timocreon of Rhodes, pentathlete and wirter of invective; Diagoras of Melos, choral poet and alleged atheist; and Ion of Chios. Sophocles is represented by fragments of his paean Ascelpius, Euripides by the few surviving lines of his ode for Alcibiades' dazzling victory in the chariot race at Olympia.

Towards the end of the fifth century B.C. Aristophanes and the otehr writers of comedy used contemporary poets and musicians as targets for their jokes, making fun of their innovations in language and music. The dithyrambs of Melanippides, Cinesias, Phrynis, Timotheus, and Philoxenus are remarkable examples of this new style. The poets of the new school, active from the mid-fifth to the mid-fourth century, are presented in this final volume of David Campbell's widely praised edition of Greek lyric poetry. The longest piece extant is a nome by Timotheus -- the foremost of these poets -- called The Persians; it is a florid account of the battle of Salamis, to be sung solo to cithara accompaniment. This volume also collects folk songs, drinking songs, and other anonymous pieces. The folk songs come from many parts of Greece and include children's ditties, marching songs, love songs, and snatches of culllt poetry. The drinking songs are derived mainly from Athenaeus' collection of Attic scolia, short pieces performed at after-dinner drinking parties in Athens. The anonymous pieces come from papyrus, vases, and stone as well as from literary textsssssss, and include hymns, narrative poetry, and satirical writing. -- JACKET.

Also issued online.

Text in Greek with translation in English.