The Three Preoccupations of Simias of Rhodes

Abstract

The present discussion reconsiders the extant poetic and grammatical fragments of Simias of Rhodes in an attempt to point out his main preoccupations and, as a consequence, to sketch his intellectual profile. His interest in philology manifests itself not only in his grammatical fragments—which suggest that his lexicographical technique, albeit rather rudimentary, was of distinct character—but also, on a more sophisticated level and in accord with the practice of later poets, in his poetic works. Further attention is devoted to his well-known penchant for formal experimentalism, both in the field of metre and wordplay. Finally, it is argued that the marked presence of the fantastic element was a defining trait of his poetry. One of the most notable manifestations of his predilection for the eerie and the uncanny is his obsession with the paradoxes of the voice, speech and communication of humans, animals and fantastic creatures.