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Parthenius of Nicaea (Greek: Παρθένιος ὁ Νικαεύς) or Myrlea (Greek: ὁ Μυρλεανός) in Bithynia was a Greek grammarian and poet. According to the Suda, he was the son of Heraclides and Eudora, or according to Hermippus of Berytus, his mother's name was Tetha.^[1] He was taken prisoner by Helvius Cinna in the Mithridatic Wars and carried to Rome in 66 BC.^[2]^[3] He subsequently visited Neapolis, where he taught Greek to Virgil, according to Macrobius.^[4] Parthenius is said to have lived until the accession of Tiberius in 14 AD.

Parthenius was a writer of elegies, especially dirges, and of short epic poems.

He is sometimes called "the last of the Alexandrians".

Erotica Pathemata

His only surviving work, the Erotica Pathemata (Ἐρωτικὰ Παθήματα, Of the Sorrows of Love), was set out, the poet says in his preface, "in the shortest possible form" and dedicated to the poet Cornelius Gallus, as "a storehouse from which to draw material". Erotica Pathemata is a collection of thirty-six epitomes of love-stories, all of which have tragic or sentimental endings, taken from histories and historicised fictions as well as poetry.

As Parthenius generally quotes his authorities, these stories are valuable as affording information on the Alexandrian poets and grammarians.

Lyrcus
Polymela
Evippe
Oenone
Leucippus
Pallene
Hipparinus of Heraclea
Herippe
Polycrite
Leucone, wife of Cyanippus
Byblis
Calchus
Harpalyce
Antheus, loved and killed by Cleoboea
Daphne
Laodice
Cratea, mother of Periander
Neaera
Pancrato, daughter of Iphimedeia
Aëro, daughter of Oenopion
Pisidice of Methymna
Nanis
Chilonis
Hipparinus of Syracuse
Phayllus
Apriate (see Trambelus)
Alcinoë
Clite
Daphnis
Celtine
Dimoetes
Anthippe (see Epirus)
Assaon
Corythus
Eulimene
Arganthone

Other works

In Parthenius' own time, he was not famous for his prose but his poems. These are listed below:

Arete
Dirge on Archelais
Aphrodite
Bias
Delos
Krinagoras
Leucadiai
Anthippe
Dirge on Auxithemis
Idolophanes
Herakles
Iphiklos
Metamorphoses
Propemptikon
A Greek original of Moretum

The surviving manuscript

Parthenius is one of the few ancient writers whose work survives in only one manuscript. The only surviving manuscript of Parthenius was called Palatinus Heidelbergensis graecus 398 (P), probably written in the mid-9th century AD. It contains a diverse mixture of geography, excerpts from Hesychius of Alexandria, paradoxography, epistolography and mythology.^[5]

Editions of Parthenius

1531: Editio princeps, edited by Janus Cornarius. Basle, Froben.
1675: Historiae poeticae scriptores antiqui, edited by Thomas Gale, Paris.
1798: Legrand and Heyne, Göttingen.
1824: Corpus scriptorum eroticorum Graecorum, Passow, Leipzig.
1843: Analecta alexandrina, Augustus Meineke (ed.), Berolini sumptibus Th. chr. Fr. Enslini.
1843: Mythographoi. Scriptores poetiace historiae graeci, Antonius Westermann (ed.), Brunsvigae sumptum fecit Georgius Westermann, pagg. 152-81.
1856: Didot edition, Erotici scriptores, Hirschig, Paris.
1858: Hercher, Erotici Scriptores Graeci, Leipzig.
1896: Mythographi graeci, Paulus Sakolowski (ed.), vol. II, fasc. I, Lipsiae in aedibus B. G. Teubneri.
1902: Mythographi graeci, Edgar Martini (ed.), vol. II, fasc. I suppl., Lipsiae in aedibus B. G. Teubneri.
1916: S. Gaselee, Longus: Daphnis and Chloe and the love romances of Parthenius and other fragments, with English translation.
2000: J.L. Lightfoot, Parthenius of Nicaea: the poetical fragments and the Erōtika pathēmata. ISBN 0-19-815253-1. Reviewed by Christopher Francese at The Bryn Mawr Classical Review
2008: Michèle Biraud, Dominique Voisin, and Arnaud Zucker (trans. and comm.), Parthénios de Nicée. Passions d'amour. Grenoble: Éditions Jérôme Millon. Reviewed by Simone Viarre at The Bryn Mawr Classical Review

Notes

^ Suda, Parthenius. Cf. J. L. Lightfoot, (1999), Parthenius of Nicaea: the poetical fragments and the Erotika pathemata, page 9. Oxford University Press
^ Courtney, E. (2003). Who's Who in the Classical World. Oxford, entry: Helvius Cinna, Gaius.
^ Longus, John Maxwell Edmonds (contributor), Parthenius, (Translated by George Thornley and Stephen Gaselee) (1916). "Daphnis & Chloe" and (dual books under one cover) "The Love Romances Of Parthenius And Other Fragments". Original from Harvard University: G.P. Putnam's Sons. p. 251. {{cite book}}: |last= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ Macrobius, Sat. v. 18.
^ J. L. Lightfoot, Parthenius of Nicaea: the poetical fragments and the Erōtika pathēmata, p. 304.

References

Online text: Parthenius, Love Romances, translated by S. Gaselee, 1916.
J. L. Lightfoot, Parthenius of Nicaea: the poetical fragments and the Erōtika pathēmata, p. 304.
The Suda. Parthenius.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Parthenius". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.