Overview
The Diegeseis (Διηγήσεις Μύθων, Narratives of Fables) is a prose commentary attributed to the scholarship on Callimachus. Preserved on a fragmentary 2nd-century CE papyrus from Oxyrhynchus (P.Oxy. 20.2261), it provides concise summaries of plots from Callimachus’s major poetic works, including the Aitia, Iambi, and Hecale. The text served as an exegetical aid for understanding the poet’s complex and allusive style.
Content
The surviving passages summarize mythological narratives, with a particular focus on aetiological stories explaining the origins of cults, rituals, and names. The summaries function as scholarly paraphrases, distilling the core narratives of Callimachus’s poetry for educational use.
Transmission
The work is known only from the single Oxyrhynchus papyrus, which is a Roman-era copy of a lost Hellenistic original. Its fragmentary state, organized in columns, remains crucial for reconstructing the content and sequence of Callimachus’s fragmentary poems.
Significance
The Diegeseis is of fundamental importance to modern philology, having shaped the editorial reconstruction of Callimachus’s corpus. It also exemplifies Hellenistic scholarly practices, illustrating how grammarians produced auxiliary texts to elucidate canonical literature.
| 26-31a col1 | [Break in Text (point at which text breaks off for an unknown length)] [ ] . [ ]ερι[ . ]ω(ν) [ ]ων [ ]την [ ]νδ[ . ]ας [ ] [ ] . ικεν [ ζη]τεῖ δι[ὰ τίνα αἰτίαν ...... ]ατην [ ]ρτο(ν) [ ] . υ [ ]ολ [ ] . ρα [ ]υσε [ ] [ ] [ ] [Break in Text (point at which text breaks off for an unknown length)] [ κ]ατῴκησαν πόλιν ὀνο[μαζομένην] Τριποδίσκον. ὅθε[ν] [Ἀργεῖοι κ]ατὰ [τ]ὸν καλούμε[νον Ἀρν]εῖον [μ]ῆνα τοὺς πα[ρατ]υ[χόν]τας κ[ύ]νας ἀναιροῦ[σιν. ἔ]λαβ[ε] δὲ τὴ[ν] ἱστορίαν ὁ Κα[λ‐] [λί]μαχ[ο]ς παρὰ Ἀγία καὶ Δερ[κ]ύλ[ο]υ [τὼ]ς μὲν ἔφη· τὰς δ’ εἶθαρ ἐμὸς πάλιν εἴρετο θυμός τῆς ἐν Λευκαδίᾳ Ἀρτέμιδος τὸ ξόανον [ἐ]πὶ τῆς κεφαλῆς θυείαν ἔχει δι’ αἰτίαν ταύτην· Ἠπειρῶται τ[ .[5] |
| 31b-e col2 | ]ν . [ . ] . η . [ . ] .. η[ . ] ... κατατρέχ[ο]ντες τὴν Λευκάδα ἐσύλων. ἐλθόντες δὲ καὶ εἰς τὸ τῆς Ἀρτέμιδος ἱερὸν εὗρον τὴν θεὸν ἐστεμμένην χρυσῷ στεφάνῳ· τοῦτον ἐπιχλευάσαντες ἀφεῖλον καὶ τὴν θυείαν, ἐν ᾗ σκόρδα τρίψαντες ἔφαγον, τῇ θεῷ ἐπέθηκαν. ἐπι . ν . [ . ] ... δ’ οἱ Λευκάδι[οι] .. θ’ ἡμ[έ]ρα[ν ἕ]τερον κατεσκεύασαν στέφανον καὶ ἀντὶ τῆς θυεία[ς] ἔθηκαν, ἀποπεσόντα δ’ αὐτὸν προσήλωσαν τῷ ξοάνῳ. πάλιν δὲ μεθ’ ἡμέ[ρας] τρεῖς ἐπιτιθεμένου κα[ὶ] .. με[ί]να[ν]το[ς . ] . ης [Break in Text (point at which text breaks off for an unknown length)] ρησαια[] λως ηε .[20] |
| 31f col3 | [] γν[ . ]υσα[ θυ‐] γατρος [] [ . ]ον κα . [] [ .. ]εμων[] . [ . ]ο[ . ]δαυ[] χα[ . ]πυ . [] δι . νου . [] τοστομι . [] εφη μη . [] πεισασπ[] νησενε . [] θυσια . [] γε[] ουλ . [] θ . [ . ]κα[] θω[ . ]υτ[] ρουσιφ . [] ας περι . [] τυρανν[] επεμψ . [] αναδ . α[] [ . ]ημα . [] παντο . [] παραν[] νιδα . [] ειν τοις . [] οι θεοι[] των θα . [] [] . [] [Break in Text (point at which text breaks off for an unknown length)] [Break in Text (point at which text breaks off for an unknown length)] [ ] .[1] |
| 31g col 1 | .. [] [] . ε ἐπιφω . [] []ο παρη .. [] [ ]ερι τ(ὴν) τα[] [Break in Text (point at which text breaks off for an unknown length)][5] |
Also published as PDF.