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Theocritus (0310–0250)

Author of Idylls

82+ Works 1,053 Members 13 Reviews 2 Favorited

About the Author

Regarded as the creator of pastoral poetry, Theocritus was a native of Syracuse and lived in Alexandria. About 30 idylls and a number of his epigrams are extant. His genuine love of the country lends freshness and great beauty to the idylls; his bucolic characters are realistic and alive. He is a show more master of dramatic presentation, description, and lyrical refinement. He has had many imitators, among them Virgil and Spenser. The surviving works of two other Greek pastoral poets are often included with those of Theocritus: Moschus of Syracuse, who lived in the second century b.c. and Bion, who is best known for his Lament for Adonis. The Andrew Lang translation in prose of these three poets is considered an English classic. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: Image from Sixteen select idyls of Theocritus (1839) edited by D. B. Hickie

Works by Theocritus

Idylls (0280) 425 copies, 7 reviews
The Greek Bucolic Poets (0100) 155 copies, 2 reviews
The idylls and epigrams (0200) 67 copies, 1 review
Greek Pastoral Poetry (1974) 58 copies
Theocritus: Select Poems (1971) 52 copies
Theocritus [Greek Text] (1952) 46 copies, 2 reviews
Sånger (2004) 10 copies, 1 review
Gedichte (1999) 10 copies
Complete poems (1989) 9 copies
Theocritus I: Text (1950) 5 copies
Theocritus; 2 Vols. (1952) 4 copies
The poems of Theocritus (1978) 4 copies
Theocritus 4 copies
Bucoliques grecs (1925) 3 copies
Idilli scelti 3 copies
Carmina 2 copies
Reliquiae 2 copies
Idilli (1992) 2 copies
opere 1 copy
Gedichte 1 copy
Udvalgte digte (2019) 1 copy
Gli idillii 1 copy
Fifteenth idyll (1990) 1 copy
1 1 copy
2 1 copy
Sämtliche Dichtungen (1989) 1 copy

Associated Works

Tagged

Common Knowledge

Other names
Θεόκριτος
Theokritos
Birthdate
0310
Date of death
0250
Gender
male
Occupations
poet
Nationality
Ancient Greece
Places of residence
Syracuse, Sicily (birth)
Cos
Alexandria, Egypt
Map Location
Italy

Members

Reviews

14 reviews
Very good for its time, which is said not in trendy preference for the modern but with a recognition of the inevitable -- ahem -- challenges presented to the Victorian Lang by some of the racier lines. Taken in tandem with the Loeb GREEK BUCOLIC POETS, the non-reader of classical Greek can gain a very good sense of what those old fellows were about.
Often old commentaries are crappy, except for the obvious greats like Jebb.
Cholmeley is a very intelligent older reader of Theocritus, but get the latest edition you can find (I don't know what it is, but I had an older edition once, and it was inferior to the 1930 edition).
"and what finer specimens could [the teacher of Latin and Greek] produce & comment on ... in Belles lettres than Homer, Anacreon, Theocritus, Virgil, Horace, Terence & the Greek tragedians, all of them school books?" - Thomas Jefferson to Jason Chamberlain, 1 Jul. 1814 [PTJ:RS 28:447-448]

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Statistics

Works
82
Also by
12
Members
1,053
Popularity
#24,475
Rating
4.0
Reviews
13
ISBNs
68
Languages
12
Favorited
2

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