The Argument of Hecale is a prose hypothesis, or summary, of Callimachus’s lost hexameter poem, the Hecale. Preserved within ancient scholia, it outlines the plot of the original epyllion, which narrated how the hero Theseus, en route to confront the Marathonian Bull, received hospitality from the elderly peasant woman Hecale. After his victory, Theseus found her deceased and established an Attic deme and cult in her honour.
The argument summarizes the poem’s core narrative and themes:
Callimachus’s Hecale survives only in fragments from quotations, papyri, and scholarly commentaries. This prose argument was transmitted within the scholiastic tradition, serving as a reader’s aid and attesting to the poem’s status as a studied classic.
The Hecale was profoundly influential despite its fragmentary survival. Its model of the intimate, learned epyllion shaped later Roman poetry, including works by Catullus and Ovid. Its innovative focus on a non-heroic, domestic character and its aetiological interests were widely admired and emulated.
