Editing Callimachus (section)

===''Hymns''===
[[File:Zeus Camiros Rhodes black background.jpg|thumb|alt=Damaged marble statue of a man with following hair and beard with naked torso|Callimachus wrote six [[hymns]] to gods of the [[Greek Pantheon]], including one to [[Zeus]]. This statue of the god was found at [[Camirus]] and is housed at the [[Archaeological Museum of Rhodes]].]]
Among the oldest forms of religious writing, [[hymns]] were "formal addresses to a god or group of gods on behalf of a community".{{Sfn|Stephens|2015|p=9}} Cultic hymns were written and performed in honour of a particular god; examples of this genre can be found in most [[Greek lyric|Greek lyric poets]]. A typical hymn would contain an [[invocation]] of the god, praise of his or her attributes, and a concluding prayer with a request for a favour.{{Sfn|Stephens|2015|pp=9–10}} Callimachus wrote six such hymns,{{Sfn|Gutzwiller|2007|p=62}} which can be divided into two groups: his ''Hymn to Apollo'', ''to Demeter'' and ''to Athena'' are considered [[mimetic]] because they present themselves as live re-enactments of a religious ritual in which both the speaker and the audience are imagined to take part. The ''Hymn to Zeus'', ''to Demeter'', and ''to Delos'' are viewed as non-mimetic since they do not re-create a ritual situation.{{Sfn|Stephens|2015|p=11}}

It is contested among scholars of ancient literature whether Callimachus's hymns had any real religious significance. The dominant view holds that they were literary creations to be read exclusively as poetry, though some scholars have linked individual elements to contemporary ritual practice. This issue is further complicated by Callimachus's purposeful amalgamation of fiction and potential real-world performance.{{Sfn|Stephens|2015|pp=11–12}}