Heracles and the Mime in ContestἈπόσπασμα
Gryllus of Athens Heracles and the Mime in Contest PDF
The verse work Heracles and the Mime in Contest, attributed to the obscure poet Gryllus of Athens, is structured in twenty-four passages. Its title implies a narrative or dramatic contest between the hero Heracles and a mimic actor, but no details of its plot, meter, or broader content survive beyond this basic conceit. The work is not attested in standard catalogs of ancient literature, and its title, which can be translated as "Fragment," suggests it is known only through secondary reference or is itself a fragment of a larger lost composition; no manuscript tradition is documented. The attribution to a "Gryllus of Athens" is problematic, as a Gryllus is recorded as a writer of comedies without a specific link to Athens, while a separate historical figure of that name was the son of Xenophon and had no known connection to poetry. Consequently, the work remains a bibliographical curiosity with no established influence on the literary tradition.
| unit_1 | ... |
| 1.1 | [ ]κ. []δ̣α̣ι |
| 1.2 | [].αι |
| 1.3 | [ ]υ̣σιν |
| 5.1 | [ ] |
| 5.2 | []α̣νακτω |
| 5.3 | [ ]π̣αι |
| 5.4 | []. |
| 8.1 | ... |
| 8.2 | 〈μῖμος·〉 ⏔––]θ̣εναρ[.(.)] πάντοτε γρύλλῳ |
| 10.1 | π]ε[ρὶ] ἄθλων ἐρίσας̣ 〈τ〉ὸ̣ περικάθαρμα. |
| 10.2 | ἀλλ’ αὐτὸς ἔρχεται καταδιαβαίνων |
| 10.3 | καρνάρις, ἄστομος, δεινὸς ἄγροικος |
| 10.4 | .....δ[.] †προσεμαγοε[.]ιν ὁ τρισέληνος. |
| 10.5 | ⏔–] μ̣η̣δὲν ὅλως τρέσας λαλήσω· |
| 15.1 | λέγε παῖ Ζηνὸς Ὀλυμπίου, φράσον μοι, |
| 15.2 | ποῖον πρῶτον †οπεποιηκας ἆθλον εἶπον. |
| 15.3 | κἀμοῦ μάνθανε πρῶτον ὃ πεποίηκα. |
| 17.1 | (pictura) |
| 17.2 | 〈Ἡρακλῆς·〉 ἐγὸ πρῶτον Νεμέῃ λέοντα̣ [μάρψας |
| 17.3 | κρατεραῖς χε〈ί〉ρεσί μου ταύταις ἀπέ[κταν. |
| 19 | (pictura) |
| 20.1 | 〈μῖμος·〉 ἐγὸ δύσληπ〈τ〉ον ἑ[λ]ὼ〈ν〉 χα[μαι]λέοντα |
| 20.2 | προσπνίξας ἀλόγως νεκρὸν τέθ[εικα. (pictura) |