Title(s):
- Python or Alexandriacus
- Πύθων ἢ Ἀλεξανδριακός(Puthōn ē Alexandriakos, Python or Alexandrian oration)
Period covered:
335 B.C. (sack of Thebes)?
Language:
Greek
State of Preservation:
Fragmentary
Genre:
- Poetry (general)
Remarks:
Müller (1846: xxiv-xxv) supposes that a iambic poem - which is inserted in Pseudo-Callisthenes' Alexander romance (I 46) - might be a fragment of Soterichus' poem. This would help to explain the strange title in the Suda (Πύθων ἢ Ἀλεξανδριακός / Puthōn ē Alexandriakos): Alexander is the avenger of Python, the great snake killed by Cadmus. Müller's hypothesis encounters a problem, though: the Suda defines Soterichus as an epic poet (T 1: ἐποποιός), so we could expect his works to be written in hexameters: however, the poem in Pseudo-Callisthenes is in iambic metre. It is also possible that Soterichus’ poem concerned Diocletian’s punishment of Alexandria, making a comparison between the Roman emperor and Alexander the Great (Focanti 2018).
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