The Delian Maidens and their relevance to choral mimesis in classical drama

Abstract

My focus is on the Delian Maidens, as represented in the Homeric Hymn (3) to Apollo. These maidens, in verse 163 of the Hymn, are said to be engaging in an act of mimēsis ‘reenactment’ (hereafter written simply as mimesis), as expressed in this verse by the verb mimeîsthai ‘reenact, imitate’, derived from the noun mimos ‘mime’. I will argue that the act of mimesis as represented in this archaic hymn is related to the act of mimesis as performed by choruses in classical drama—specifically, in the composite dramatic genres of tragedy, comedy, and the satyr play.1 In terms of my argument, the mimesis performed by the Delian Maidens in the Hymn is a model for understanding how the classical genres of drama assimilated various archaic genres of choral songmaking. As we will see, this model comes to life in the interaction of solo and choral performance as represented in the Hymn. Such an interaction, as we will also see, is an act of mediation that proves to be the essence of mimesis in classical drama.