Editing Callimachus (section)

===''Aetia''===
{{Main|Aetia (Callimachus)}}
The Greek word {{lang|grc|αἴτιον}} ({{Transliteration|grc|aition}}, 'cause')<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|title=αἴτιος II 2|date=1940|encyclopedia=[[LSJ]]|location=Oxford}}</ref> means an attempt to explain contemporary phenomena with a story from the [[myth|mythical past]]. The title of Callimachus's work can be roughly translated into English as "origins".{{Sfn|Fantuzzi|2006}} The ''Aetia'' contains a collection of origin stories. Ranging in size from a few lines to extensive narratives, they are unified by a common metre—the [[elegiac couplet]]. With few exceptions, the collection is the earliest extant source for most of the myths it presents.{{Sfn|Fantuzzi|2006}} Throughout the work, the poet's voice repeatedly intrudes into his narratives to offer comments on the dramatic situation. This pattern is described by the [[Hellenist]] [[Kathryn Gutzwiller]] as one of the poem's most influential features.{{Sfn|Gutzwiller|2007|p=65}}

The poem is thought to have had about 4,000 lines and is organised into four individual books, which are divided in halves on stylistic grounds.{{Sfn|Parsons|2015}} In the first book, Callimachus describes a dream in which, as a young man, he was transported by the [[Muses]] to [[Mount Helicon]] in [[Boeotia]]. The young poet interrogates the goddesses about the origins of unusual present day customs. This dialogue frames all aetiologies presented in the first book.{{Sfn|Gutzwiller|2007|p=63}} The stories in the book include those of [[Coroebus (Argos)|Linus and Coroebus]],<ref>Callim. ''Aet.'' fr. 26–8</ref> Theiodamas, king of the [[Dryopes]]<ref>Callim. ''Aet.'' fr. 24–5.</ref> and the voyage of the [[Argonauts]].<ref>Callim. ''Aet.'' fr. 7.19–21.</ref> The second book continues the first's dialectic structure. It may have been set at a [[symposium]] at [[Alexandria]], where Callimachus worked as a [[librarian]] and [[scholar]].{{Sfn|Gutzwiller|2007|p=63}} Since most of its content has been lost, little is known about Book 2.{{sfn|Harder|2012|p=10}} The only aetiology commonly assumed to have been placed in the book are the stories [[Busiris (king of Egypt)|Busiris]], king of [[ancient Egypt|Egypt]], and [[Phalaris]], the tyrant of [[Akragas]], who were known for their excessive cruelty.<ref>Callim. ''Aet.'' fr. 44–6.</ref>

The second half of the ''Aetia'' does not follow the pattern established in Books 1 and 2. Instead, individual aetiologies are set in a variety of dramatic situations and do not form a contiguous narrative.{{Sfn|Hutchinson|1997|p=45}} The books are framed by two well known narratives: Book 3 opens with the ''Victory of Berenice''. Composed in the style of a [[Pindaric Ode]], the self-contained poem celebrates queen Berenice's victory in the [[Nemean Games]].{{Sfn|Harder|2012|p=11}} Enveloped within the [[epinician]] narrative is an aetiology of the games themselves.{{Sfn|Gutzwiller|2007|p=66}} The end of Book 4 and the ''Aetia'' as a whole is marked by another court poem, the ''Lock of Berenice''. In it, Callimachus relates how the queen gave a lock of her hair as a [[votive offering]] which later became a constellation, the [[Coma Berenices]] ("Hair of Berenice").{{Sfn|Clayman|2011|pp=229–30}}
Another notable story from the second half of the work is the love story of [[Acontius|Acontius and Cydippe]].{{Sfn|Hutchinson|1997|pp=47–8}}