Apollonius of Rhodes
Hellenistic poet who composed the Argonautica, the epic of Jason and the Golden Fleece
The Meaning of Apollonius of Rhodes
Apollonius of Rhodes (third century BCE) was a Hellenistic poet and librarian of Alexandria who composed the Argonautica, an epic in four books narrating Jason's quest for the Golden Fleece. Writing in deliberate dialogue with Homer, Apollonius created a new kind of epic: more psychologically nuanced, more interested in geography and ethnography, and centred on a flawed, often passive hero. His most celebrated innovation was the extended portrayal of Medea falling in love with Jason in Book Three — one of literature's first detailed accounts of romantic passion, drawing on Sappho and anticipating Virgil's Dido. Ancient tradition records a literary quarrel between Apollonius and his teacher Callimachus over the proper length of poetry.
Parents
None recorded
Symbols
Fun Fact
The Argonautica's depiction of Medea falling in love directly influenced Virgil's portrait of Dido
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth. See our full guide to English words from Greek mythology.
Explore Further
Nonnus
💭 conceptEpic poetry, Dionysus
Late antique poet who composed the Dionysiaca, the longest surviving epic poem from Greco-Roman antiquity
Ovid
💭 conceptPoetry, transformation, love
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Virgil
💭 conceptEpic poetry, Rome, fate
Roman poet who composed the Aeneid linking Rome's founding to the Trojan War through Aeneas's journey
Homer
💭 conceptEpic poetry, Troy, Odyssey
Legendary blind poet credited with composing the Iliad and the Odyssey
Dionysiaca
💭 conceptLiterature
Nonnus's sprawling epic poem narrating the life and conquests of the god Dionysus in forty-eight books
Argonautica
💭 conceptLiterature
Apollonius of Rhodes' epic poem narrating Jason's quest for the Golden Fleece
Iliad
💭 conceptLiterature
Homer's epic poem recounting the wrath of Achilles during the final year of the Trojan War
Aspis
💭 conceptwarfare, art
The elaborately decorated shield of Heracles described in a poem attributed to Hesiod, depicting scenes of gods, war, and daily life in a tradition echoing the Shield of Achilles.
Epic
💭 conceptLanguage and literature
An English adjective meaning grand in scale or heroic, derived from the Greek epos meaning word or speech, referring to the tradition of long narrative poems about heroes and gods
Hesiod
💭 conceptDidactic poetry, cosmogony
Boeotian poet who composed the Theogony and Works and Days in the archaic period
Plato
💭 conceptPhilosophy, myth, forms
Athenian philosopher who both critiqued traditional myths and created powerful new ones in his dialogues
Aeneid
💭 conceptLiterature
Virgil's epic poem following the Trojan hero Aeneas from the fall of Troy to the founding of Rome