Hi there. You're listening to The Hellenistic Age podcast. Episode 81, Hellenistic Literature, Theocritus and Bucolic Poetry.

Arquette bucolicus, muis, muis, Arquette, read us.

Begin, my muses, begin the herdsman's song.

With this line, we witness the birth of a new literary genre,

that of pastoral or bucolic poetry. A creation of the poet Theocritus of Syracuse in the early

3rd century BC, bucolic poetry shied away from accounting the epic tales of gods and heroes,

or providing flattering panegyrics of monarchs, and instead

chose to draw inspiration from the ancient countryside. Vivid descriptions of nature and

idealized rustic life contrast heavily with the emphasis on urbanization associated with the early

Hellenistic period, providing an inspiration to later poets who may have felt the call to what they

believed to be simpler times.

For this episode, I am going to be relying on the translations of Theocritus by Anthony Verity,

published in a single volume by Oxford World's Classics, so any of my quotes will be drawn from there.

Let us start with a brief biography of the founder of Bucolic poetry.

Theocritus was born during the turn of the 4th century BC in Syracuse, the wealthiest Greek city of Sicily.

We know almost nothing about his early life and career, but he likely spent his formative years under the tyrant turned king, Agathocles, and his successors.

Idle 16 is directly attributed to Hero the second, who seized control of Syracuse around 270,

and was possibly Theocritus' first patron.

The poet would not remain bound to Sicily for long, though, for we next find him in the employ of the more

powerful and wealthy Ptolemaic dynasty. The Akritus seems to have lived in both

Alexandria and the Ptolemaic controlled island of Coffs, where he composed works in

honor of Ptolemy II, and his sister wife Arsinaway II. This would have likely

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