Summary
Date: 290-250 B.C.E.
Callimachus was an ancient Greek poet, scholar and librarian who was active in Alexandria during the 3rd century BC. Callimachus wrote six ancient hymns, 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 reenactments 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.