Callinus (Ancient Greek: Καλλῖνος, Kallinos; fl. mid-7th c. BC)[1] was an ancient Greek elegiac poet who lived in the city of Ephesus in Asia Minor in the mid-7th century BC. His poetry is representative of the genre of martial exhortation elegy in which Tyrtaeus also specialized and which both Archilochus and Mimnermus appear to have composed.[2] Along with these poets, all his near contemporaries, Callinus was considered the inventor of the elegiac couplet by some ancient critics.[3]
He resided in Ephesus in Asia Minor.[4] He is supposed to have flourished between the invasion of Asia Minor by the Cimmerians and their expulsion by Alyattes (630–560 BC). During his lifetime his own countrymen were also engaged in a life-and-death struggle with the Magnesians. These two events give the key to his poetry, in which he endeavours to rouse the indolent Ionians to a sense of patriotism.[5]
Only a few fragments of the Callinus' poetry have survived. One of the longest fragments, consisting of 21 lines of verse, is a patriotic exhortation to his fellow Ephesians urging them to fight the invading Cimmerians, who were menacing the Greek colonies in Asia Minor:
It is honorable and splendid for a man to fight |
τιμῆέν τε γάρ ἐστι καὶ ἀγλαὸν ἀνδρὶ μάχεσθαι |
Works of martial elegy such as this often allude to the language and the thematic content of Homer's Iliad.[7] It is likely that Callinus performed his poetry at symposia.[8]
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