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OPPIAN (Gr. 'Oaacavos)
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See also:OPPIAN (Gr. 'Oaacavos) , the name of the authors of two (or three) didactic poems in See also:Greek hexameters, formerly identified, but now generally regarded as two different persons. (I) Oppian of Corycus (or Anabarzus) in See also:Cilicia, who flourished in the reign of See also:Marcus Aurelius (See also:emperor A.D. 161-18o). According to an See also:anonymous biographer, his See also:father, having incurred the displeasure of See also:Lucius Verus, the colleague of Aurelius, by neglecting to pay his respects to him when he visited the See also:town, was banished to See also:Malta. Oppian, who had accompanied his father into See also:exile, returned after the See also:death of Verus (169) and went on a visit to See also:Rome. Here he presented his poems to Aurelius, who was so pleased with them that he gave the author a piece of See also:gold for each See also:line, took him into favour and pardoned his father. Oppian subsequently returned to his native See also:country, but died of the See also:plague shortly afterwards, at the See also:early See also:age of See also:thirty. His contemporaries erected a statue in his See also:honour, with an inscription which is still extant, containing a lament for his premature death and a eulogy of his precocious See also:genius. His poem on fishing (Halieutica), of about 3500 lines, dedicated to Aurelius and his son See also:Commodus, is still extant. (2) Oppian of See also:Apamea (or See also:Pella) in See also:Syria. His extant poem on See also:hunting (Cynegetica) is dedicated to the emperor See also:Caracalla, so that it must have been written after 211. It consists of about 2150 lines, and is divided into four books, the last of which. seems incomplete. The author evidently knew the Halieutica, and perhaps intended his poem as a supplement. Like his namesake, he shows considerable knowledge of his subject and See also:close observation of nature; but in See also:style and poetical merit he is inferior to him. His versification also is less correct. The improbability of there having been two poets of the same name, See also:writing on subjects so closely akin and such near contemporaries, may perhaps be explained by assuming that the real name of the author of the Cynegetica was not Oppian, but that he has been confounded with his predecessor. In any See also:case, it seems clear that the two were not identical. A third poem on See also:bird-catching (Ixeutica, from LEos, bird-See also:lime), also formerly attributed to an Oppian, is lost; a See also:paraphrase in Greek See also:prose by a certain Eutecnius is extant. The author is probably one See also:Dionysius, who is mentioned by Suidas as the author of a See also:treatise on stones (Lithiaca). The See also:chief See also:modern See also:editions are J. G. See also:Schneider (1776); F. S. See also:Lehrs (1846) ; U. C. Bussemaker (Scholia, 1849); (Cynegetica) P. Boudreaux (1908). The anonymous See also:biography referred to above will be found in A. Westermann's Biographi Graeci (1845). On the subject generally see A. See also: Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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