Moschus
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Moschus

Moschus

The Syracusan idyllist

b. fl. c. 150 BC

Greek Hellenistic

Moschus of Syracuse was a Greek bucolic poet of the mid-second century BC. He was a student or follower of the grammarian Aristarchus of Samothrace in Alexandria. Very little else is known about his life.

His most substantial surviving work, the Europa, retells in 166 hexameters the myth of Europa's abduction by Zeus in the form of a bull. The poem is a miniature epic (epyllion) — sensuous, carefully crafted, and psychologically observant. Europa's dream, her flower-gathering with companions, and the surreal sea-crossing on the bull's back are described with the Hellenistic poet's characteristic attention to visual detail and emotional nuance.

The shorter fragments and the playful Eros the Runaway (a conceit in which Aphrodite posts a missing-person notice for her wayward son) are likely genuine. Moschus represents the lighter, more decorative strand of Hellenistic poetry — technically accomplished and deliberately charming.

Works (5)

  • 1
    Epitaphius Bios prose

    A lament for the poet Bion, modelled on Theocritus' lament for Daphnis.

    126 lines
  • 2
    Eros Drapeta prose

    Love is on the run — Aphrodite posts a reward for the capture of her son Eros. A charming conceit in twenty lines.

    29 lines
  • 3
    Europa prose

    A miniature epic. Zeus transforms himself into a bull and carries Europa across the sea to Crete. Moschus tells the story in 166 lines of exquisite He...

    166 lines
  • 4
    Fragmenta prose

    Fragments of Moschus' pastoral and mythological poetry.

    4 books
    35 lines
  • 5
    Megara prose

    Megara, wife of Heracles, laments her husband's absence while waiting at home.

    125 lines
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