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Iambus or iambic poetry was a genre of ancient Greek poetry that included but was not restricted to the iambic meter and whose origins modern scholars have traced to the cults of Demeter and Dionysus. The genre featured insulting and obscene language〔Christopher Brown, in ''A Companion to the Greek Lyric Poets'', D.E.Gerber (ed), Leiden 1997, pages 13–88〕〔Douglas E. Gerber, ''Greek Iambic Poetry'', Loeb Classical Library (1999), Introduction pages i–iv〕 and sometimes it is referred to as "blame poetry".〔D. Mankin, ''Horace: Epodes'',C.U.P., 8〕 For Alexandrian editors, however, iambus signified any poetry of an informal kind that was intended to entertain, and it seems to have been performed on similar occasions as elegy even though lacking elegy's decorum.〔J.P. Barron and P.E. Easterling, "Elegy and Iambus" in ''The Cambridge History of Classical Literature: Greek Literature'', P.Easterling and B.Knox (eds), Cambridge University Press (1985), page 120〕 The Archaic Greek poets Archilochus, Semonides and Hipponax were among the most famous of its early exponents. The Alexandrian poet Callimachus composed "iambic" poems against contemporary scholars, which were collected in an edition of about a thousand lines, of which fragments of thirteen poems survive.〔A.W. Bulloch, "Hellenistic Poetry", in ''The Cambridge History of Classical Literature: Greek Literature'', P.Easterling and B.Knox (eds), Cambridge University Press (1985), pages 556–57, 569〕 He in turn influenced Roman poets such as Catullus, who composed satirical epigrams that popularized Hipponax's choliamb.〔Peter Green, ''The Poems of Catullus'', University of California Press (2005), pages 10, 33〕 Horace's ''Epodes'' on the other hand were mainly imitations of Archilochus〔E. Fraenkel, ''Horace'', Sandpiper Books Ltd, 32〕 and, as with the Greek poet, his invectives took the forms both of private revenge and denunciation of social offenders.〔J.P. Clancy, ''The Odes and Epodes of Horace'', Chicago (1960), page 196〕〔V.G. Kiernan, ''Horace: Poetics and Politics'', New York (1999), page 52〕 ==Historical background== Originally "iambos" () denoted a type of poetry, specifically its content, and only secondarily did it have any significance as a metrical term. This emerges for example from the fact that Archilochus, a famous iambic poet, was once criticized for being "too iambic"〔The phrase "too iambic" appears in a fragmentary inscription dated to the third century BC, originally part of a commemorative shrine to Archilochus, "The Archilocheion". The inscription was a part of a record of his life and reception on Paros, where his poetry was deemed offensive by the population until Dionyssus opened their eyes to their own folly by punishing tem with some kind of affliction, possibly impotence (the fragment is very patchy at that point). A Pythian oracle then advised them to honour Archilochus and thus a shrine was established to him. (see Archilochus fr. 3 and commentary, D.E. Gerber, ''Greek Iambic Poetry'', 16–25〕 The genre appears to have originated in the cult of Demeter, whose festivals commonly featured insulting and abusive language (, ''aischrologia''). A figure called "Iambe" is even mentioned in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, employing language so abusive that the goddess forgets her sorrows and laughs instead. The abuse of a divinity however is quite common in other cults too, as an ironic means of affirming piety: "Normality is reinforced by experiencing its opposite".〔C. Brown in ''A Companion to the Greek Lyric Poets'', 41〕 The common element in all iambus is blame, drawing attention to dangerous or unsuitable behaviours. It is addressed to an audience with shared values and customs, which are represented as under threat, as for example a body of citizens or companions. Whatever its real composition, the audience is cast in the role of mutual friends and their friendship (, ''philotēs'' or Latin ''amicitia'') is asserted in various ways: *the poet, speaking in his own person, might criticize someone directly, whether a group member or an outsider; *the poet might act out the role of someone guilty of misconduct, condemning "himself" in his own words; *the poet might tell a story, combining 'self-indictments' with a narrative account of misconduct. Blame ranges from humorous ribbing of friends to merciless attacks on outsiders.〔D. Mankin, ''Horace: Epodes'', 8–9〕 Among ancient literary theorists, iambic verse came to be regarded as lower than lyric poetry, partly because iambic meter was thought to be the simplest of verse forms, and the nearest to common speech, but also because of its undignified content.〔S. Harrison, ''Lyric and Iambic'', 190〕 It isn't clear what role Archilochus played in the development of the literary genre at the beginning of the seventh century. Demeter was a significant deity in his home island, Paros, but she isn't prominent in his surviving poetry. Possibly he became involved in iambus via the cult of Dionysus. This cult's association with iambus seems to be indicated etymologically by the poetic form associated with Dionysus, the dithyramb, a term which appears to include the same root as "iambus". Early dithyrambs were a "riotous affair"〔D. Gerber, ''Greek Iambic Poetry'', 2–3〕 and Archilochus was prominent in the controversial development of Dionyssian worship on Paros〔D. Campbell, ''Greek Lyric Poetry'', 138〕 (possibly in relation to phallic rites).〔D. Gerber, ''Greek Iambic Poetry'', 3〕 There is no sure evidence about the original venue for iambic poetry but the drinking party (or symposium) and the cult festival were probably the main occasions.〔D. Gerber, ''Greek Iambic Poetry'', 4〕 Nor do we know clearly what role iambic poetry played in ancient society. It was certainly complex. It seems to have found voice during times of social change and political dissent, when the poet felt entitled or empowered to preach and condemn.〔L. O'Higgins, ''Women and Humour in Classical Greece'', 63〕 Semonides, probably about the middle of the seventh century, composed iambic verse on a misogynist theme, but without the invective and obscenity of Archilochus.〔D. Gerber, ''Greek Iambic Poetry'', 7–8〕 A hundred years after Archilochus, Hipponax was composing choliambs, a deliberately awkward version of the iambic trimeter symbolizing mankind's imperfections and vices,〔P. Green, ''The Poems of Catullus'', 10, 33〕 yet by then iambus seems to have been performed mainly for entertainment (our understanding of his work however might change significantly when and as more fragments are unearthed).〔D. Gerber, ''Greek Iambic Poetry'', 2〕 The genre's religious and moral value was evidently not appreciated by the fifth century lyric poet Pindar, who condemned Archilochus for being "sharp-tongued" and "grown fat on the harsh words of hate",〔Pindar, ''Pythian'' II, translated by Geoffrey Conway, ''The Odes of Pindar'', 93〕 yet Archilochus's brand of iambus could still find sympathetic audiences even in the first century AD, when the philosopher, Dio Chrysostom, compared him with Homer in these terms: The spread of literacy impacted on all ancient poetry, iambus included. Its influence was already becoming evident in Athens by the fifth century BC, gradually changing the nature of poetry from a performance before a local group to a literary artifact with an international reach.〔E. Fraenkel, ''Horace'', 41〕 By the Hellenistic period, the librarian/scholar Callimachus claimed to be following the example of Hipponax yet introduced a wider range of content and a more literary and intellectual focus. He also aligned iambus more closely with other genres〔S. Harrison, ''Lyric and Iambic'', 190〕 such as curse poetry (Ἀραί) and farewell poetry (''propemptika'', ).〔E. Fraenkel, ''Horace'', 35〕 Iambus was taken up as a political weapon by some public figures in Rome, such as Cato The Elder, who, in an account by Plutarch: Neoteric poets such as Catullus combined a native tradition of satirical epigram with Hipponax's pungent invective to form neatly crafted, personal attacks. Hipponactean choliambs were among Catullus's most often used meters〔P. Green, ''The Poems of Catullus'', 10, 33〕 but the spirit of iambus seems to have infused much of his non-iambic verse as well.〔S. Harrison, ''Lyric and Iambic'', 192〕 Horace nominally modelled his Epodes on the work of Archilochus but he mainly followed the example of Callimachus, relying on painstaking craftsmanship rather than instinctive vitriol〔E. Fraenkel, ''Horace'', 32〕 and broadening the range of the genre. Thus for example he introduced a panagyric element in support of Augustus (''Epodes'' 1 and 9), a lyrical element (''Epode'' 13), and a suggestion of love poetry (''Epodes'' 11 and 14). Moreover, his iambic persona is deliberately presented as powerless, in contrast to the swaggering persona of Archilochus.〔S. Harrison, ''Lyric and Iambic'', 192–94〕 Horace's weak iambic persona is not inconsistent with the genre. Traditionally the iambic poet, though he bullies others, is a victim too. Thus Archilochus was said to have driven his would-be in-laws to suicide by his invectives after they had cheated him out of a promised marriage, and Hipponax was said to have driven Bupalus to suicide after being caricatured by him in a sculpture. Similarly the author of the Strasbourg fragment below is motivated by revenge. Moreover, Horace's thematic variety is not without parallel among archaic poets such as Archilochus and Hipponax: the mood of the genre is meant to appear spontaneous and that inevitably led to some "hodepodge" contexts.〔L. Watson, ''The Epodes: Horace's Archilochus?'', 99〕 Whatever his unique contribution may have been, Horace still managed to recreate something of the ancient spirit of the genre, alerting his companions to threats facing them as a group, in this case as Roman citizens of a doomed republic: 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Iambus (genre)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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