RECOMMENDED READING --

Euripides: "Medea", "Hecabe", "Electra", and "Heracles",
translated
by Philip Vellacott (Penguin Classics, London, 1963). Contains
four plays by Euripides, two of which concern characters from
"The Argonautica".

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INTRODUCTION

Much has been written about the chronology of Alexandrian
literature and the famous Library, founded by Ptolemy Soter, but
the dates of the chief writers are still matters of conjecture.
The birth of Apollonius Rhodius is placed by scholars at
various times between 296 and 260 B.C., while the year of his
death is equally uncertain. In fact, we have very little
information on the subject. There are two "lives" of Apollonius
in the Scholia, both derived from an earlier one which is lost.
From these we learn that he was of Alexandria by birth, (1) that
he lived in the time of the Ptolemies, and was a pupil of
Callimachus; that while still a youth he composed and recited in
public his "Argonautica", and that the poem was condemned, in
consequence of which he retired to Rhodes; that there he revised
his poem, recited it with great applause, and hence called
himself a Rhodian. The second "life" adds: "Some say that he
returned to Alexandria and again recited his poem with the utmost
success, so that he was honoured with the libraries of the Museum
and was buried with Callimachus." The last sentence may be