Mimnermos
Mimnermos von Kolophon (ancient Greek Μίμνερμος Mímnermos , Latinized Mimnermus ) was a Greek poet who probably lived around 600 BC. Lived. His works are only preserved in fragments .
Mimnermos was the first to make the elegy the bearer of his love poetry. His creative time fell during the crisis of the independence struggles of the Ionian cities of Asia Minor , which fought against the growing strength of the Lydian kings. One of the surviving fragments of his poems relates to this struggle and contrasts the increasing effeminacy of his countrymen with the bravery of those who would once have defeated the Lydian king Gyges .
His most important poems were a set of lamentations addressed to a nanno and named after her. She was his lover and flute player. These poems were collected in two books. The recurring motif and main theme is the contrast between affectionate youth and sorrowful old age, but he also included myths and history in the circle of his poetry. Alexandrian and Roman elegists then followed up on them.
His life data are largely unknown, but descriptions of a solar eclipse suggest that it was around 600 years old.
Editions and translations
- Dirk Uwe Hansen (ed.): Early Greek elegies. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 2005, ISBN 3-534-18133-6 , pp. 1–11, 155 (text, translation and commentary)
- Bruno Snell , Zoltan Franyó , Herwig Maehler (eds.): Early Greek poets. Part 1: The early elegists (= writings and sources of the Old World. Vol. 24,1). Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1971, pp. 56–65 (text and translation)
- Martin Litchfield West (Ed.): Iambi et elegi Graeci ante Alexandrum cantati. Volume 2, 2nd edition, Oxford University Press, Oxford 1992, ISBN 0-19-814096-7 , pp. 83-92 (critical edition)
literature
- Andreas Bagordo : Mimnermos . In: Bernhard Zimmermann (Hrsg.): Handbook of the Greek literature of antiquity , Volume 1: The literature of the archaic and classical times . CH Beck, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-406-57673-7 , pp. 165-169
- Hermann Fränkel : Poetry and philosophy of the early Greek culture. 5th edition, CH Beck, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-406-37716-5 , pp. 238–245
Web links
- Literature by and about Mimnermos in the catalog of the German National Library
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Mimnermos |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Mimnermus (Latin) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Greek poet |
| DATE OF BIRTH | before 600 BC Chr. |
| DATE OF DEATH | after 600 BC Chr. |