The Metrical Aspects of the Paean Cry in Callimachus’ Hymn to Apollo

Abstract

The paean cry ἱὴ ἱὴ παιῆον in Callimachus’ Hymn to Apollo, placed at the beginning of hexameter and filling its first half up to the medial caesura (as a self-contained colon, hemiepes femininum), is characterised by a peculiar duality of rhythm. On the one hand, it succumbs to the epic rules which allow for the ‘metrical’ lengthening and shortening of vowels. As a result, the ἱή at the beginning of 25, 80, 97 and 103 loses its status of a fully-fledged exclamation, and the expected scansion of the doubled ἱή is ˉ ˘ ˘ ˉ . It may be argued, however, that the ‘normal’, unforced rhythm of the Callimachean version of the cry is iambic – as in Herodas’ Women Making a Dedication and Sacrifice to Asclepius 82 and 85. The author propounds the hypothesis that Callimachus constructed his paean cry so as to permit it to be pronounced either way: as dactyls/spondees or iambs. Such a rhythmical ambiguity (admitting other than hexametric models), as well as the relatively frequent repetition of the paean cry, are meant to emphasise the ‘paeanic’ character of the hymn.