Propemptikon

Propemptikon ( plural Propemptika, Greek  προπεμπτικόν , actually an adjective to which μέλος (melos, song) is to be added, composed of πρό (before, forward) and πέμπειν (send, send)) is the scientific term for a poem form , in wishing a farewell happiness for his journey (mostly across the sea).

Content and evidence

The topoi of the genre include the lament of the abandoned, the praise of the homeland, the evocation of the dangers during the journey and the listing of the hardships at the destination. Ultimately, however, the best wishes are sent to the traveler.

The forewords in old epics and drama can serve as a preliminary stage ; in the poetry the first example comes from Sappho . As an independent literary genre, the form first appeared in Hellenism , with evidence from Callimachos (Frg. 400 Pf.) And Theocritus (7, 52-70). Like most other genres of Greek literature, the Propempticon was also adopted by the Roman authors. The best known are two poems by Horace , 1: 3 and 3, 27, the first of which was addressed to his friend Virgil . In the 10th poem of the episode book , he reverses the motif, according to the genre, by sending a curse on his enemy. Further travel poems have been handed down by Properz (1,8) and Statius ( Silvae 3,2).

An example from Christian times is Carmen 17 by Paulinus von Nola , who wrote Carmen 12, one of the first Christian travel prayers. This type of casual poetry was popular well into modern times.

In late antiquity there was also the prose form of προπεμπτικὸς λόγος.

Apopempticon

The counterpart to the Propempticon is the Apopempticon , which describes a farewell poem for those who leave behind.

literature

• Helmut Höge : Propemptikon for a professor. In: L'invitation au voyage to Alfred Sohn-Rethel . Edited by Bettina Wassmann, Joachim Müller. Wassmann, Bremen 1979, ISBN 3-9800243-0-X , issue 1.
• Felix Jäger: The ancient Propemptikon and the 17th poem of Paulinus von Nola. [Diss. Munich] Niedermayr, Rosenheim 1913.
• Emmet Robbins: Propemptikon. In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 10, Metzler, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-476-01480-0 , column 414 f.
• Gero von Wilpert : Subject dictionary of literature (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 231). 8th, improved and enlarged edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-520-23108-5 , p. 639.

Web links

• Description of the world. On the poetics of travel and country reports . Lectures

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Robert Kirstein: Paulinus Nolanus, Carmen 17 . Schwabe, Basel 2000 (Chresis 8) ISBN 3-7965-1374-3
2. ↑ Kristi Viiding: The poetry of neo-Latin propemptica at the Academia Gustaviana (Dorpatensis) in the years 1632–1656. Univ. Press, Tartu 2002. ISBN 9985-56-699-8