Cynaethus or Cinaethus (???????? or ????????) of Chios was a rhapsode, a member of the Homeridae, sometimes said to have composed the Homeric Hymn to Apollo.

The main source of information on Cynaethus is the Scholia on Pindar. This tells us that the school of Cynaethus was prominent among the Homeridae and inserted many of their own compositions among Homer's works. Cynaethus himself composed the Hymn. He was the first to recite the Homeric poems at Syracuse, which he did during the 69th Olympiad (504-501 BC).^[1] It used to be argued that the dating makes no sense because the Homeric poems must have reached Syracuse much earlier.^[2] However, the date corresponds well with a probable date of composition of the Homeric Hymn to Apollo, 522 BC.

No doubt basing himself on this or a similar text, Eustathius of Thessalonica names Cynaethus as the first to disseminate the Homeric poems and as a forger of Homeric verses.^[3]

Notes

1. ↑ Scholia on Pindar, Nemean Odes 2.1.
2. ↑ Therefore, in the 19th century, Welcker (Epischer Cyclus, p. 243) proposed to read ???? ??? ????? ? ??? ??????? ?? instead of ???? ??? ????????? ??????? ??, and to date Cynaethus about 750 BC.
3. ↑ Eustathius, Commentary on the Iliad 1.11.

Bibliography

• Walter Burkert, 'Kynaithos, Polycrates and the Homeric Hymn to Apollo' in Arktouros: Hellenic studies presented to B. M. W. Knox ed. G. W. Bowersock, W. Burkert, M. C. J. Putnam (Berlin: De Gruyter, 1979) pp. 53-62.

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