Greek Epigram from the Hellenistic to the Early Byzantine Era

by: Kanellou, M. Petrovic, I. Carey, Chr.

Description
Greek epigram is a remarkable poetic form. The briefest of all ancient Greek genres, it is also the most resilient: for almost a thousand years it attracted some of the finest Greek poetic talents as well as exerting a profound influence on Latin literature, and it continues to inspire and influence modern translations and imitations. After a long period of neglect, research on epigram has surged during recent decades, and this volume draws on the fruits of that renewed scholarly engagement. It is concerned not with the work of individual authors or anthologies, but with the complexities of epigram as a genre, and provides a selection of in-depth treatments of key aspects of Greek literary epigram of the Hellenistic, Roman, and early Byzantine periods. Individual chapters offer insights into a variety of topics, from the dynamic interactions between poets and their predecessors and contemporaries, and the relationship between epigram and its sociopolitical, cultural, and literary background from the third century BCE up until the sixth century CE, to its interaction with its origins, inscribed epigram more generally, other literary genres, the visual arts, and Latin poetry, as well as the process of editing and compilation that generated the collections that survived into the modern world. Through the medium of individual studies the volume as a whole seeks to offer a sense of this vibrant and dynamic poetic form and its world, which will be of value to scholars and students of Greek epigram and classical literature more broadly.

Table of Contents
Frontmatter
List of Figures
List of Abbreviations
List of Contributors
1: Introduction, Maria Kanellou, Ivana Petrovic, and Chris Carey
Part 1: Encountering Epigram
2: Reading Inscriptions in Literary Epigram, Joseph Day
3: Lessons in Reading and Ideology: On Greek Epigrams in Private Compilations of the Hellenistic Age, Andrej Petrovic
4: A Garland of Freshly Grown Flowers: The Poetics of Editing in Philip's Stephanos, Regina Höschele
5: Epigrams on Authors and Books as Text and Paratext, Kristoffel Demoen
Part 2: Imitation, Variation, Interaction
6: Miniaturization of Earlier Poetry in Greek Epigrams, Annette Harder
7: Variations on Simplicity: Callimachus and Leonidas of Tarentum in Philip's Garland, Charles S. Campbell
8: The Riddles of the Fourteenth Book of the Palatine Anthology: Hellenistic, Later Imperial, Early Byzantine, or Something More?, Simone Beta
Part 3: Writing Death
9: Death of a Child: Grief Beyond the Literary?, Richard Hunter
10: Hellenistic and Roman Military Epitaphs on Stone and on Papyrus: Questions of Authorship and Literariness, Silvia Barbantani
11: Tears and Emotions in Greek Literary Epitaphs, Doris Meyer
12: Sea and Land: Dividing Sepulchral Epigram, Michael A. Tueller
Part 4: Gods, Religion, and Cult
13: Epigrammatic Variations/Debate on the Theme of Cybele's Music, Marco Fantuzzi
14: Dreadful Eros, Before and After Meleager, Kathryn Gutzwiller
Part 5: Praise and Blame
15: Mythological Burlesque and Satire in Greek Epigram - A Case Study: Zeus' Seduction of Danae, Maria Kanellou
16: Epigrams on the Persian Wars: An Example of Poetic Propaganda, Federica Giommoni
17: 'From Atop A Lofty Wall . . .': Philosophers and Philosophy in Greek Literary Epigram, Joseph M. Romero
Part 6: Words and Images
18: Greek Skoptic Epigram, Ecphrasis, and the Visual Arts, Lucia Floridi
19: Ecphrasis and Iconoclasm: Palladas' Epigrams on Statues, Peter Bing
20: Art, Nature, Power: Garden Epigrams from Nero to Heraclius, Steven D. Smith
Endmatter
Bibliography
Index

Greek Epigram from the Hellenistic to the Early Byzantine Era

by: Kanellou, M. Petrovic, I. Carey, Chr.

• ISBN-13: 9780198836827 / 978-0-19-883682-7
• ISBN-03: 0198836821 / 0-19-883682-1
• Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2019