LA IONIA DI CALLIMACO. UN CAPITOLO DI GEOGRAFIA E STORIA DELLA POESIA CALLIMACHEA.

The present work investigates Callimachus’ literary purposes and his method by focusing on the recurring presence of Ionia in his poetic production. Different reasons can explain the diffuse presence of Ionia in Callimachus’ work: the geopolitical interests in the region by the Ptolemies – Callimachus’ protectors - on the one hand, and the crucial role of Ionia in the foundation of Greek civilization and culture, on the other. In order to understand what Ionia was in the eyes of Callimachus, this thesis follows several research directions. It starts from identifying all references to Ionia, its places, cults and myths – the so called Ioniká - in Callimachus’s work, and it then investigates the importance of Ionic literary models (Mimnermus and Hipponax, in particular) in Callimachus’ poetic production. After an introduction to Ionia and its influence on the Greeks’ collective imagination and on Hellenic history, the thesis proposes a review of all Ioniká present in Callimachus’ opera and of all references to Mimnermus and Hipponax, the two poets chosen by Callimachus as models for his project of renovating the traditional genres of elegy and iambus. Finally, the thesis proposes a synthesis of the collected data in order to identify which sources and stimuli are at the base of the literary representation of Ionia in Callimachus’ poetry and to highlight his creative and compositional manners.