ABSTRACT
Much has been written about the Religion, the ‘religiosity’ and even the ‘theology’ of Callimachus, and more recently about the ‘troubled religious perception’ suggested by his Hymns. This chapter emphasizes the dynamics of divine representation: how busy gods are doing things in Callimachus. In the rare cases in which Callimachus does relate a specific epithet to a particular narrative of divine performance, the poetic articulation of the connection ranges from straightforward aetiology to subtle allusion. Much as in real life, ritual performance in Callimachus has to do with solidarity and community, and with fundamental religious institutions such as temple cult, animal sacrifice, first-fruit offerings, processions, and the choral dance-song. As Callimachus' subtle comments in the Hymn to Apollo suggest, cultic epiphany as a concrete manifestation of divine performance took place in the eyes and in the heart of the believer; it is a phenomenon that belongs in the realm of religious psychology.
