Teoria e prassi del genere epico: il caso di Eratostene

The paper examines the fragments from Eratosthenes’ Geography that deal with Homer’s geographical knowledge and in general with the aim of poetry; poetry, according to Eratosthenes, aims at enthralling the audience (ψυχαγωγία), not at offering teachings on various subjects (διδασκαλία). Eratosthenes’ use of technical terms in these fragments shows that he was familiar with Hellenistic discussions on poetics (for instance with Philodemus’ treatise On Poems). However, he approaches the problem from a scientific, not from a literary point of view: poems should not be read as an immutable source of truthful knowledge, but as a product of the culture of the poet’s time. It is worth noting that Eratosthenes himself in his poetic production offers scientific teachings to his readers; nevertheless, there is no contradiction between Eratosthenes’ activity as a scientist and the content of his poems, because when he was writing them he naturally followed the practice of Hellenistic poets, who often put into verse the scientific discoveries of their time.