Abstract

The crux of Daphnis' death in Theocritus' first Idyll may in part be explained through a comparison with the Adonis hymn of Idyll 15, with particular attention given to its political significance. I propose that the imagery used in the Adonis hymn to promote the Ptolemaic agenda accords with scenes in the most problematic passages in Thyrsis' song. The alignment of etiological myths for Ptolemaic cult and the bucolic world suggests a parity between the Ptolemies' efforts to legitimize their rule and Theocritus' creation of literary bucolic. Both use new myths to adapt ancient tradition to contemporary political and literary innovations.