A Lesson for the King: Sotades’ Invective against Ptolemy (fr. 1 and 16 Powell) and Callimachus’ “Epigram” 1 Pfeiffer

The paper discusses the fable-like form of Callimachus’ Epigram 1 Pfeiffer and of Sotades’ fragmentary Invective against Ptolemy, and suggests that the former poem may contain an allusion to the latter. In the light of this reading, both poems are to be viewed as playfully encouraging the Ptolemies’ incestuous marriage.