Idyll XVIII, also titled Ἑλένης Ἐπιθάλαμιος ('The Epithalamy of Helen'), is a poem by the 3rd-century BC Greek poet Theocritus.[1] The poem includes a re-creation of the epithalamium sung by a choir of maidens at the marriage of Helen and Menelaus of Sparta.[2] The idea is said to have been borrowed from an old poem by Stesichorus.[3]
Analysis
'Then sang they all in harmony, beating time with woven paces, and the house rang round with the bridal song'
This is a short Epic piece of the same type as XIII.[1] Both begin, as do XXV and Bion II, with a phrase suggesting that they are consequent upon something previous; but according to Edmonds this conceit, like the ergo or igitur of Propertius and Ovid, is no more than a recognised way of beginning a short poem.[1] The introduction, unlike that of XIII, contains no dedication.[1]
The scholia tells that Theocritus here imitates certain passages of Stesichorus' first Epithalamy of Helen.[1] The text likely contains allusions to certain passages from lost works by Sappho,[2] and Edmonds thinks Theocritus "seems to have had Saphho's book of Wedding-Songs before him" when writing this poem.[1]
Lang thinks this epithalamium may have been written for the wedding of a friend of the poet's.[3] The epithalamium, chanted at night by a chorus of girls, outside the bridal chamber, was a traditional feature of weddings.[2] Compare the conclusion of the hymn of Adonis in XV.[3]
