Il lago dei cigni di Delo : dal threnos al peana

From Euripides’ tragedy to Plato’s philosophy, up to the erudite Callimachean poetry, an interesting association can be observed between mentions of Delos and its swans and the transition from the threnodic expression of sorrow to the liberating, healing power of paean. This article begins with a brief excursus into the Homeric epic, to discover the most ancient coexistence between threnos and paean, and into archaic liric poetry and Homeric Hymns, to find the origins of the swan connotated as the Apollinean bird of poetry; the focus then shifts to some passages in Euripides (Heracles, Ion and Iphigenia in Tauris), Plato (Phaedo) and Callimachus (Hymn to Delos and Hymn to Apollo), in which the swan lake of Delos is mentioned, trying to understand its significance and permanent features.