lekythion

Wikipedia EN

A small oil-flask or lēkythion, the object after which the metric pattern was named.

A lekythion or lecythion, in classical Greek and Latin poetry, is a metric pattern (colon) defined by a sequence of seven alternating long and short syllables at the end of a verse (—u—x—u—). In classical grammatical terminology it can be described as a trochaic dimeter catalectic, i.e. a combination of two groups of two trochees each (—u—x), with the second of these groups lacking its final syllable; or as a trochaic hepthemimer, i.e. a trochaic sequence of seven half-feet. A lekythion can appear in several different metric contexts in different types of poetry, either alone as a verse or as the second of two cola following a caesura. A frequent type of occurrence in Greek drama is in lines of iambic trimeter, the most frequent metre used in spoken dialogue, i.e. lines of the type x—u—|x—u—|x—u—. These lines may have a metric caesura after the first five syllables, with the remaining line thus resulting in a lekythion group.

The term "lēkythion" literally means "small oil-flask" (from ληκύθιον, the diminutive form of λήκυθος, lēkythos). The term was coined in reference to a passage in the comedy The Frogs by Aristophanes, in which the two poets Aeschylus and Euripides are engaged in a comic debate criticizing each other's works. Aeschylus makes Euripides recite the beginnings of several of his tragic prologues (all in iambic trimeter), each time interrupting him and interjecting the same phrase "... lost his little oil flask" ("ληκύθιον ἀπώλεσεν"), wherever the verse offers an opportunity, which is frequently the case because of Euripides' propensity to use a metric caesura after the first five syllables.

Below, as an example, is one of the original passages of Euripides (from the prologue of Iphigenia in Tauris), followed by the same passage as parodied in The Frogs. In both cases, the metric lēkythion part is highlighted in green; metric foot boundaries are marked with "|" and metric caesuras with "¦".

Wikipedia DE

Lekythion (griechisch ληκύθιον „Ölfläschchen“, vgl. Lekythos) ist die Bezeichnung für einen katalektischen trochäischen Dimeter nach dem Schema —◡—◡ˌ—◡— Die Bezeichnung leitet sich aus einem Aristophanes-Zitat (Die Frösche 1208 ff.) her. Hier wird im Gespräch zwischen Aischylos und Euripides mehrfach der Satz ληκυθιον απωλεσεν (lekythion apolesen „er verlor das Fläschchen“) wiederholt, der immer als Teil des Trimeters hinter der Hauptzäsur steht. Damit wird die formale Glätte, die das Einsetzen der immer gleichen Formel erlaubt, parodiert. Aufgrund des Textzusammenhanges wurde mitunter auch die Bezeichnung Euripideum für das Lekythion verwendet. Das Lekythion ist beispielsweise bei Alkman und Euripides zu finden; auch in den Asynarteten des Archilochos taucht es auf. Hier steht es hinter einem Hemiepes. Insbesondere mit vorangestelltem kretischem Dimeter wird der Vers auch als Euripideion bezeichnet.