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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.
List of contents
- Frontmatter
- List of Figures
- List of Abbreviations
- List of Contributors
- 1: Maria Kanellou, Ivana Petrovic, and Chris Carey: Introduction
- Part 1: Encountering Epigram
- 2: Joseph Day: Reading Inscriptions in Literary Epigram
- 3: Andrej Petrovic: Lessons in Reading and Ideology: On Greek Epigrams in Private Compilations of the Hellenistic Age
- 4: Regina Höschele: A Garland of Freshly Grown Flowers: The Poetics of Editing in Philip's Stephanos
- 5: Kristoffel Demoen: Epigrams on Authors and Books as Text and Paratext
- Part 2: Imitation, Variation, Interaction
- 6: Annette Harder: Miniaturization of Earlier Poetry in Greek Epigrams
- 7: Charles S. Campbell: Variations on Simplicity: Callimachus and Leonidas of Tarentum in Philip's Garland
- 8: Simone Beta: The Riddles of the Fourteenth Book of the Palatine Anthology: Hellenistic, Later Imperial, Early Byzantine, or Something More?
- Part 3: Writing Death
- 9: Richard Hunter: Death of a Child: Grief Beyond the Literary?
- 10: Silvia Barbantani: Hellenistic and Roman Military Epitaphs on Stone and on Papyrus: Questions of Authorship and Literariness
- 11: Doris Meyer: Tears and Emotions in Greek Literary Epitaphs
- 12: Michael A. Tueller: Sea and Land: Dividing Sepulchral Epigram
- Part 4: Gods, Religion, and Cult
- 13: Marco Fantuzzi: Epigrammatic Variations/Debate on the Theme of Cybele's Music
- 14: Kathryn Gutzwiller: Dreadful Eros, Before and After Meleager
- Part 5: Praise and Blame
- 15: Maria Kanellou: Mythological Burlesque and Satire in Greek Epigram - A Case Study: Zeus' Seduction of Danae
- 16: Federica Giommoni: Epigrams on the Persian Wars: An Example of Poetic Propaganda
- 17: Joseph M. Romero: 'From Atop A Lofty Wall . . .': Philosophers and Philosophy in Greek Literary Epigram
- Part 6: Words and Images
- 18: Lucia Floridi: Greek Skoptic Epigram, Ecphrasis, and the Visual Arts
- 19: Peter Bing: Ecphrasis and Iconoclasm: Palladas' Epigrams on Statues
- 20: Steven D. Smith: Art, Nature, Power: Garden Epigrams from Nero to Heraclius
- Endmatter
- Bibliography
- Index
About the author
Maria Kanellou was born in Athens and studied at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and at UCL. She is currently Research Fellow at the Academy of Athens and has previously worked at UCL, KCL, the University of Kent, and OUC. She has co-organized various international conferences focusing on Greek epigram and Theocritus and is currently working on the publication of the proceedings; her doctoral thesis, which offers a diachronic and motif-based analysis of erotic epigram, is also under contract for publication by OUP.
Ivana Petrovic was born in Belgrade and studied at Belgrade University, Ruprecht-Karls Universität Heidelberg, and Justus-Liebig Universität Giessen. She has taught at Heidelberg, Giessen, and, most recently, at Durham University, and is now Hugh H. Obear Professor of Classics at the University of Virginia. Her research interests embrace ancient Greek literature, religion, and cultural history, and also South-Slavic traditional oral poetry, with a particular focus on the interaction between the texts and their historical, religious, and social contexts.
Chris Carey was born in Liverpool and educated at Jesus College, Cambridge. He has worked at Cambridge, the University of Minnesota, Carleton College, St Andrews, Royal Holloway, and UCL, and has also taught in the Netherlands, Hungary, Greece, and Serbia. He has published on Greek lyric poetry, epic, drama, oratory, and law and is currently working on a commentary on Book 7 of Herodotus' History. He was elected Fellow of the British Academy in 2012.
Summary
The briefest of all ancient Greek genres, epigram is also the most resilient. This volume provides a selection of in-depth treatments of key aspects of Greek literary epigram from the Hellenistic to the early Byzantine period, rather than focusing on individual authors or anthologies, in order to explore the evolution of the genre over time.
Additional text
This volume, a valuable contribution to the ever-growing literature on Greek epigram, will definitely find its place next to other collected volumes dealing with this remarkable poetic form. Readers who have the patience to go through the book from beginning to end will be rewarded by the many perceptive interpretations of individual passages, the novel topics, new insights on often discussed themes as well as the high quality of the scholarship of all contributions ... it is a rich, meticulous and thought-provoking presentation of a genre that (ut quibusdam videtur) almost defies comprehensiveness.
Report
In conclusion, this volume, as I mention at the beginning of my review, serves as a valuable - worth reading - supplement of Greek epigram since it explores its literary evolution and its consequent reception through late antiquity; many perspectives and functions are discussed, such as the different kinds of this literary genre, its form and its nature, that deserve further attention from modern scholarship. Well-known scholars, experts of epigrams, gather their knowledge to offer their audience valuable details about epigram anthologies, compilations and paratexts, as well as many literary aspects, such as the ekphrasis and the visual act of reading; I totally recommend this intriguing book that raises further questions worthy to be explored not only by Academics and students, but also by anyone who wishes to learn about the Greek epigram from its acme during Hellenistic period down to its reception in the early Byzantine era. CJ-Online
