Idyll XVIII

Idyll XVIII, also titled Ἑλένης Ἐπιθάλαμιος ('The Epithalamy of Helen'), is a poem by the 3rd-century BC Greek poet Theocritus.

[1] The poem includes a re-creation of the epithalamium sung by a choir of maidens at the marriage of Helen and Menelaus of Sparta.

[1] The scholia tells that Theocritus here imitates certain passages of Stesichorus' first Epithalamy of Helen.

[1] The text likely contains allusions to certain passages from lost works by Sappho,[2] and Edmonds thinks Theocritus "seems to have had Saphho's book of Wedding-Songs before him" when writing this poem.

[3] The epithalamium, chanted at night by a chorus of girls, outside the bridal chamber, was a traditional feature of weddings.