The book offers a detailed philological commentary on Kallimachos' Hymn to Artemis and thus fulfils a desideratum of modern research. It is based on a text with a new critical apparatus, including an apparatus locorum similium. The introduction deals with all the issues relevant to the interpretation of the poem: the position of the hymn within the book of hymns and its relationship to the other hymns; poetic unity, an old controversial issue which is addressed here by synthesising earlier positions; the figure and cultic function of Artemis; dating and place in the life of the text, whereby a systematic demonstration of the temporal-political-Ptolemaic dimension is also attempted. A metrical analysis concludes the introductory section. The commentary aims to be as complete as possible, focussing on the linguistic aspect and the fine allusion technique of the Alexandrian poet. The book thus pursues two main objectives: on the one hand, it aims to shed light on the poet's use of literary models and, on the other, to reveal the Ptolemaic ideology behind the Olympian façade.
