Catullus 64

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ariadne being discovered by Dionysos on the island of Naxos, where she was abandoned by Theseus after helping him kill the Minotaur. Ariadne is being crowned with stars, corresponding to the constellation Corona ("crown").
Ariadne being discovered by Dionysos on the island of Naxos, where she was abandoned by Theseus after helping him kill the Minotaur. Ariadne is being crowned with stars, corresponding to the constellation Corona ("crown").

Catullus 64 is an epyllion or "little epic" poem written by Catullus. Catullus' longest poem, it retains his famed linguistic witticisms while expressing an appropriately epic tone.

Though ostensibly concerning itself with the marriage of Peleus and the sea-nymph Thetis (parents of the famed Greek Hero Achilles), a sizeable portion of the poem's lines are devoted to the desertion of Ariadne by the legendary Theseus. Told through ecphrasis, or the depiction of events on inanimate objects, the bulk of the poem details Ariadne's agonized solace. Her impassioned vituperations and eventual discovery by the wine-god Bacchus are some of the included plot events.

The meter of the poem is dactylic hexameter, a meter associated with epics such as Homer's Iliad and Odyssey.

[edit] Bibliography

Wikisource
Latin Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Wikisource
English Wikisource has original text related to this article:
  • DeBrohun, J (1999). "Ariadne and the whirlwind of fate: figures of confusion in Catullus 64.149-57". Classical Philology 94: 419–430. doi:10.1086/449456. 
  • Faber, Riemer (1998). "Vestis...variata (Catullus 64, 50-51) and the Language of Poetic Description". Mnemosyne 51: 210–215. doi:10.1163/1568525982611641. 
  • Tathan, G (1990). "Ariadne's mitra: a note on Catullus 64.1-4". Classical Quarterly 40: 560–561. 
  • Thomas, R (1983). "Callimachus, the Victoria Berenices, and Roman Poetry". Classical Quarterly 33: 92–113. 
  • Konstan, D (1977). Catullus' Indictment of Rome: The Meaning of Catullus 64. Amsterdam: Adolf M. Hakkert. ISBN 978-9-02560-742-5. 
  • Putnam, MCJ (1961). "The Art of C. 64". Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 65: 166–205. doi:10.2307/310836. 
Poems (Carmina) of The Roman poet Catullus
Lesbia poems 2, 2b, 3, 5, 7, 8, 11, 36, 37, 51, 58, 68, 70, 72, 75, 76, 79, 83, 85, 86, 87, 91, 92, 104, 107, 109
Invective poems 10, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 28, 29, 30, 33, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 47, 49, 52, 53, 54, 57, 59, 60, 69, 71, 73, 74, 77, 78, 80, 84, 88, 89, 90, 93, 95, 97, 98, 103, 108, 110, 111, 112, 113, 116
Unusual poetic meters
 4, 8, 11, 17, 22, 25, 29, 30, 31, 34, 37, 39, 44, 51, 52, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64
Hendecasyllabic verse 1, 2, 2b, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 14b, 15, 16, 21, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 32, 33, 35, 36, 38, 40, 41, 42, 43, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 58b
Elegiac couplets 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 116
See also the list of poems by Catullus.
A quill in an inkpot  This article related to a poem is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.