CALLIMACHUS (c.310-240 n.e.). A cele brated .Alexandrine poet and grammarian. He was born in Cyrene, of a distinguished family, which traced its ancestry to Bath's, the founder of that city. With Aratus of Soli he studied at Athens, and then began teaching at Alexandria, where he enjoyed the favor of Ptolemy Nina delphus and his successor, Ptolemy Euergetes. ,About B.C. 260 he was appointed librarian, and held the office for some twenty years. By his teaching and writing Callimachus exerted a great influence on his time. Among his pupils were some of the most celebrated scholars of the day—Eratosthenes, Aristophanes of Byzan tium, ApoHollins of Rhodes. and others.
According to Suidas, he left behind him over S00 books. Of his learned works in prase, the most important were his Tablets (lltraKes, Pinakcs), iu 120 books. This was a great cata logue of the works contained in the library, the authors arranged according to subject matter and date, with brief observations on the size and genuineness of the works. Through this Cal limachus became the founder of the critical study of Greek literature. We know, also, of a collection of glosses, of Memorabilia ('T7rojAvActara, Hypomannata), and other minor works. As a poet he won chief distinction through his ele gies, so that Quintilian calls him clegia: prin cipent. His strength lay, however, in his art
and learning, not in poetic genius. As an illus tration of his learning may be named his four books of Causes (Arrat), in elegiac measure, which treated of the founding of cities, the ori gin of ceremonies, etc. One of the most famous of his elegies was Bercniec's Lock (Coma Bere vices), written it.c. 246, in honor of Queen Berenice, and preserved to us in Catullus's trans lation, No. 66. Ovid also imitated his Ibis, in which he had attacked his rival. ApoHollins Rho dins. Famous, also, in antiquity, was his idyllic poem Hecate. reminiscences of which are pre served in Ovid's story of Philemon and Baueis (Met. S, 610ff.). Some verses of this have re cently been recovered from a wood tablet found in Egypt. There are extant in a complete state only six hymns, one of which is in elegiac form, and sixty-four epigrams. These are best edited by Meineke (Berlin, 1861) and Wilamowitz (Berlin, 1S82). For the newly discovered verses of the Hecate, consult: Gomperz, Aus der Rebate des liallimachos (Vienna, 1893) ; Sammlung Papyrus Erzberzoy Valuer, Vol. VI.