Idyll XVII, also titled Εγκώμιον εις Πτολεμαίον ('The Panegyric of Ptolemy'), is a poem by the 3rd-century BC Greek poet Theocritus.[1]
Analysis
The poem is a panegyric or encomium of Ptolemy II Philadelphus, who reigned from 285 to 247 BC.[1] Hauler, in his Life of Theocritus, dates the poem about 259 BC, but it may have been many years earlier.[2] The references to historical personages and events, coupled with a comparison with Idyll XVI, point to 273 as the date of the poem.[1] The Ptolemies, like Alexander, traced their descent from Heracles.[1] Ptolemy I, son of Lagus, was deified about 283, and his queen Berenice between 279 and 275.[1] According to Andrew Lang, "The poet praises Ptolemy Philadelphus in a strain of almost religious adoration."[2]
References
Sources
Attribution: 
This article incorporates text from these sources, which are in the public domain.
- Edmonds, J. M., ed. (1919). The Greek Bucolic Poets (3rd ed.). William Heinemann. pp. 209–21.
- Lang, Andrew, ed. (1880). Theocritus, Bion, and Moschus. London: Macmillan and Co. pp. 86–91.
Further reading
- Cholmeley, R. J., ed. (1919). The Idylls of Theocritus (2nd ed.). London: G. Bell & Sons, Ltd. pp. 312–21.
- Gow, A. S. F., ed. (1950). Theocritus. Vol. 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 130–9.
- Gow, A. S. F., ed. (1950). Theocritus. Vol. 2. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 325–47.
- Hauler, J. (1855). The Theocriti Vita et carminibus. Freiburg im Breisgau: H. M. Poppen.
- Hopkinson, Neil, ed. (2015). Theocritus. Moschus. Bion. LCL 28. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. pp. 243–57.
- Hunter, Richard, ed. (2003). Theocritus: Encomium of Ptolemy Philadelphus. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 9780520929371.
- Meincke, W. (1965). Untersuchungen zu den Enkomiastischen Gedichten Theokrits. Ein Beitrag zum Verständnis hellenistischer Dichtung und des antiken Herrscherenkomions. Kiel.
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External links
Greek Wikisource has original text related to this article: Εγκώμιον εις Πτολεμαίον- "Theocritus, Idylls, ἐγκώμιον εἰς Πτολεμαῖον". Perseus Digital Library.
