Bion of Smyrna
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Bion (Βίων Template:IPAc-en) was an ancient Greek bucolic poet from Smyrna, probably active at the end of the second or beginning of the first century BC. He is named in the Suda as one of three canonical bucolic poets alongside Theocritus and Moschus. One long poem about Adonis and seventeen shorter fragments of his poetry survive.
LifeEdit
According to the Suda Bion was from Phlossa, which is not otherwise known but may have been one of the villages which made up Smyrna.Template:Sfn Ancient sources do not record Bion's dates or any details about his life,Template:Sfn but he likely was active in the late second or early first century BC.Template:Sfn An epitaph to Bion says that he was poisoned and implies that he died young.Template:Sfn
PoetryEdit
The Suda and the scholiast on the Palatine Anthology name Bion alongside Theocritus and Moschus as a bucolic poet; he also wrote erotic poetry.Template:Sfn His surviving work comprises the "Lament to Adonis" and seventeen shorter fragments. All his surviving poetry is composed in dactylic hexameter and in a Doric dialect, which is typical of ancient bucolic poetry.Template:Sfn The "Lament to Adonis" is 98 lines long; the other fragments are shorter, ranging from a single line to eighteen lines long,Template:Sfn and totalling around another 100 lines.Template:Sfn One of these fragments, about a bird hunter's attempt to hunt Eros, is probably a complete poem.Template:Sfn The remaining fragments seem to come from at least four further poems; no two fragments are certainly from the same poem.Template:Sfn The "Lament for Adonis" is influenced traditional Greek lament and specifically references Theocritus' "Lament for Daphnis".Template:Sfn
Bion's work continued to be read until the sixth century AD,Template:Sfn and was alluded to by ancient poets including Meleager of Gadara,Template:Sfn Ovid, Catullus,Template:Sfn and Nonnus.Template:Sfn The Greek novelists Achilles Tatius, Longus, and Heliodorus also reference Bion.Template:Sfn Pseudo-Moschus' "Epitaph for Bion" references Bion's works, particularly the "Lament for Adonis".Template:Sfn
Bion's longest poem, the "Lament to Adonis", is preserved on two medieval manuscripts.Template:Sfn It was transmitted anonymously, with one source attributing it to Theocritus.Template:Sfn It was first attributed to Bion by Joachim Camerarius in 1530,Template:Sfn and has generally been attributed to Bion since, based on the "Epitaph for Bion"'s apparent references and metrical similarities with Bion's fragments.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The first sixteen fragments were preserved by Johannes Stobaeus;Template:Sfn the seventeenth fragment was preserved by Orion of Thebes.Template:Sfn
Another poem, an epithalamium for Achilles and Deidameia, is also transmitted anonymously in the manuscript tradition but has been attributed to Bion; however there is no strong evidence for this attribution.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn
ReferencesEdit
Works citedEdit
- Template:Cite encyclopedia
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite encyclopedia
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite encyclopedia
- Template:Cite book