Hyginus Mythographus

De astronomia 3, 30–31 in Codex Laurentianus , Pluteus 89 sup 43 of the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana , around 1450–1500

Two mythographic handbooks in Latin have come down to us under the author's name Hyginus . One is called Genealogiae and is also known under the title Fabulae , the other is astronomical-mythographic and bears the title De astronomia . The identity of the author is unclear, so he was called "Hyginus Mythographus". Possibly he is to be equated with Gaius Iulius Hyginus , a contemporary of the emperor Augustus . The works circulating under the name of 'Hyginus', in particular the Genealogiae , are, however, only dated to the 2nd century AD from part of the research .

The Genealogiae consist of three parts: Family trees of the gods and heroes , 220 fables (individual legends) and so-called indices (list-like compilations). The “all known genealogy of Hyginus” was (back) translated into Greek in 207 (“in the consulate year of Maximus and Aper”). The author apparently used a Greek mythological handbook, comparable to the library of Apollodorus , as well as Greek tragedies ( Aeschylus , Sophocles , Euripides ) and epics ( Homer , Hesiod ) as sources .

The astronomical-mythological handbook De astronomia in four books was a first-rate source for the ancient constellation legends in the Middle Ages and was therefore copied a lot; Since the 9th century, copies have been made, some of which are elaborate and art-historically important.

Editions and translations

Fabulae

Peter Kenneth Marshall (Ed.): Hygini fabulae . 2nd Edition. Saur, Munich / Leipzig 2002, ISBN 3-598-71237-5 (critical edition)
Franz-Peter Waiblinger (Ed.): Hyginus: Fabulae. Ancient legends. Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, Munich 1996, ISBN 3-423-09350-1 (uncritical edition with German translation)
Jean-Yves Boriaud (Ed.): Hygin: Fables. Les Belles Lettres, Paris 1997, ISBN 2-251-01403-9 (critical edition with French translation)
Herbert Jennings Rose (Ed.): Hygini fabulae. 3rd, unchanged edition. Sijthoff, Leiden 1967 (1st edition 1933; critical edition)
Stephen M. Trzaskoma, R. Scott Smith (Eds.): Apollodorus 'Library and Hyginus' Fabulae. Two Handbooks of Greek Mythology. Hackett, Indianapolis 2007, ISBN 978-0-87220-821-6 , pp. 95-182 (annotated English translation).

De astronomia

Ghislaine Viré (ed.): Hygini de astronomia. Teubner, Stuttgart 1992, ISBN 3-519-01438-6 (critical edition)
André Le Bœuffle (Ed.): Hygin: L'astronomie. Les Belles Lettres, Paris 1983, ISBN 2-251-013-21-0 (critical edition with French translation)

literature

Peter Lebrecht Schmidt , Helmuth Schneider: Hyginus, C. Iulius. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 5, Metzler, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-476-01475-4 , Col. 778 f.
Joseph Brock: Hygins Fables in German Literature. Delphin, Berlin 1913.

Web links

Commons : Hyginus mythographus - collection of images, videos and audio files

Wikisource: Hyginus Mythographus - Sources and full texts (Latin)

Wikisource: Hyginus Mythographus - Sources and full texts

Genealogiae at The Latin Library (Latin text; selection)

Genealogiae im Theoi Project (English translation)

De astronomia at The Latin Library (Latin text)

De astronomia in the Theoi Project (English translation)

De astronomia digitized version of the editio princeps from 1482 (Linda Hall Library)

Remarks

^ So Peter Lebrecht Schmidt, Helmuth Schneider: Hyginus, C. Iulius. In: Der Neue Pauly (DNP) , Vol. 5, Stuttgart 1998, Col. 778 f .; André Le Bœuffle (Ed.): Hygin: L'astronomie , Paris 1983, pp. XXXI-XXXVIII; Jean-Yves Boriaud (Ed.): Hygin: Fables , Paris 1997, pp. VII-XIII; Mariagrazia F. Vitobello (Ed.): C. Giulio Igino: L'astronomia , Bari 1988, pp. VII-XI.
↑ Holding on to a date in the 2nd century, for example: Marc Huys: Euripides and the 'Tales from Euripides': Sources of the Fabulae of Ps.-Hyginus? In: Archives for Papyrus Research and Related Areas . Volume 42, 1996, pp. 168-178, here: p. 169; Marc Huys: Review: Hygin. Fables; texts établi et traduit by Jean-Yves Boriaud. In: Mnemosyne . Volume 53, 2000, pp. 615-620, here: p. 616; Alan Cameron : Greek Mythography in the Roman World (= American Classical Studies. Volume 48). Oxford University Press, Oxford / New York 2004, p. 11 with note 36; Patrizia Mascoli: Igino bibliotecario e gli Pseudo-Igini. In: Invigilata lucerni. Volume 24, 2002, pp. 119–125 assumes that the corpus circulating under the name Hyginus includes works by at least two authors of the same name.

[1] So Peter Lebrecht Schmidt, Helmuth Schneider: Hyginus, C. Iulius. In: Der Neue Pauly (DNP) , Vol. 5, Stuttgart 1998, Col. 778 f .; André Le Bœuffle (Ed.): Hygin: L'astronomie , Paris 1983, pp. XXXI-XXXVIII; Jean-Yves Boriaud (Ed.): Hygin: Fables , Paris 1997, pp. VII-XIII; Mariagrazia F. Vitobello (Ed.): C. Giulio Igino: L'astronomia , Bari 1988, pp. VII-XI.

[2] Holding on to a date in the 2nd century, for example: Marc Huys: Euripides and the 'Tales from Euripides': Sources of the Fabulae of Ps.-Hyginus? In: Archives for Papyrus Research and Related Areas . Volume 42, 1996, pp. 168-178, here: p. 169; Marc Huys: Review: Hygin. Fables; texts établi et traduit by Jean-Yves Boriaud. In: Mnemosyne . Volume 53, 2000, pp. 615-620, here: p. 616; Alan Cameron : Greek Mythography in the Roman World (= American Classical Studies. Volume 48). Oxford University Press, Oxford / New York 2004, p. 11 with note 36; Patrizia Mascoli: Igino bibliotecario e gli Pseudo-Igini. In: Invigilata lucerni. Volume 24, 2002, pp. 119–125 assumes that the corpus circulating under the name Hyginus includes works by at least two authors of the same name.