Tracing Mime in Theocritus’ Idylls

Abstract

This thesis aims to investigate the transposition of mime in Theocritus’ Idylls through the analysis of Sophron and Herodas’ mimes and the metrical examination of bucolic diaresis. It inquires into the division of Idylls between bucolic and non-bucolic (hence urban) poems, highlighting the incongruence between the ancient usage of ‘bucolic’ and the modern meaning of ‘pastoral’. The thesis demonstrates Theocritus’ metrical practices and proposes an examination of clusters of verses without bucolic diaresis to shed light upon Theocritus’ intentional metrical deviation, particularly in Idyll 15.