Epigram

Ἐπίγραμμα

The Epigram attributed to Praxiteles of Athens is a two-line elegiac couplet preserved in the Greek Anthology, specifically in Book 16, the Planudean Appendix, as number 183. It functions as a dedicatory inscription for a votive statue of Eros, addressing the god directly. The poem centers on a paradox, contrasting the statue's small physical size with the immense burden of power it symbolizes, exploring the nature of Eros as a deity of overwhelming force contained in a diminutive form and reflecting on art's capacity to represent divine power. The work survives within the manuscript tradition of the Greek Anthology, specifically in the 13th-century compilation by Maximus Planudes known as the Anthologia Planudea, where it is transmitted as a complete, non-fragmentary poem. While its individual influence is untraceable, the epigram is a representative example of Greek dedicatory poetry. Its significance lies in its preservation of a common poetic trope—the addressed statue—and its contribution to the broader corpus of epigrammatic verse collected in the Greek Anthology.