Callimachus was one of the most important Greek poets, and can also be one of the most rewarding to read. He was a pivotal figure in the history of ancient literature and an influential presence in la
Callimachus was one of the most important Greek poets, and can also be one of the most rewarding to read. He was a pivotal figure in the history of ancient literature and an influential presence in la
This book analyzes the relationship between wedding poetry and love poetry in the classical world. By treating both Greek and Latin texts, it offers an innovative and wide-ranging discussion of the po
The witty and self-assertive poetry of Christopher of Mytilene and John Mauropous provides unique snapshots of eleventh-century Constantinople at the height of its splendor and elegance. Their collect
Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey and Virgil’s Aeneid are three of the most important—and influential—works of Western classical literature. Although they differ in subject matter and
"The Theogony is one of the most important mythical texts to survive from antiquity, and we devote the first section to it. It tells of the creation of the present world order under the rule of almigh
In this new translation of Hesiod, Barry B. Powell gives an accessible, modern verse rendering of these vibrant texts, essential to an understanding of early Greek myth and society. With stunning colo
Widely considered the first poet in the Western tradition to address the matter of his own experience, Hesiod occupies a seminal position in literary history. The Theogony brings together and formaliz
Authorship and Greek Song offers critical discussions of the concept of authorship in archaic Greek poetry. Its chapters explore the issue of authority (of poet-author and/or performer) and the transi
This book offers a new interpretation of ancient Greek sacrifice from a cultural poetic perspective. Through close readings of the Theogony, the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, the Homeric Hymn to Hermes, and the Odyssey in conjunction with evidence from material culture, it demonstrates how sacrifice narratives in early Greek hexameter poetry are intimately connected to a mythic-poetic discourse referred to as the 'politics of the belly'. This mythic-poetic discourse presents sacrifice as a site of symbolic conflict between the male stomach and female womb for both mortals and immortals. Ultimately, the book argues that the ritual of sacrifice operates as a cultural mechanism for the perpetuation of patriarchal ideology not just in early Greek hexameter, but throughout Greek cultural history.
This collection of texts is designed to supplement those currently available for use in courses on Hellenistic poetry. Most have never before appeared in a similar collection; several have only recent
This collection of texts is designed to supplement those currently available for use in courses on Hellenistic poetry. Most have never before appeared in a similar collection; several have only recent
The third-century BC poet Herodas had been almost forgotten until a papyrus of eight of his mimiambs (plus fragments) was turned up at the end of the 19th century in the Egyptian desert. They have s
The sixth-century BC Greek poet Stesichorus was highly esteemed in antiquity; but by about AD 400 his works had been almost completely lost. Over recent decades, however, the recovery of substantial portions of his poetry has enabled a reassessment of his significance. These essays by leading scholars analyse different aspects of his oeuvre: the relationship between Stesichorus and epic, particularly his response to the Homeric poems; his narrative technique and his handling of erotic themes; and his influence and reception in fifth-century Athens, in Hellenistic scholarship and poetry, in the Renaissance, and in poetry today. The volume as a whole - the first dedicated to this author - amply demonstrates the extraordinary creativity and continuing vitality of the poet from Himera.
In this book Floris Overduin highlights the artistic merits of Nicander’s Theriaca (2nd century BCE), a Hellenistic didactic poem on snakes and curative herbs. The commentary, preceded by an extensive
This book examines the extant fragments of the archaic Greek poem known in antiquity as Hesiod's Catalogue of Women. Kirk Ormand shows that the poem should be read intertextually with other hexameter poetry from the eighth to sixth century BCE, especially Homer, Hesiod, and the Cyclic epics. Through literary interaction with these poems, the Catalogue reflects political and social tensions in the archaic period regarding the production of elite status. In particular, Ormand argues that the Catalogue reacts against the 'middling ideology' that came to the fore during the archaic period in Greece, championing traditional aristocratic modes of status. Ormand maintains that the poem's presentation of the end of the heroic age is a reflection of a declining emphasis on nobility of birth in the structures of authority in the emerging sixth century polis.
This book selects central texts illustrating the literary reception of Hesiod's Works and Days in antiquity and considers how these moments were crucial in fashioning the idea of 'didactic literature'. A central chapter considers the development of ancient ideas about didactic poetry, relying not so much on explicit critical theory as on how Hesiod was read and used from the earliest period of reception onwards. Other chapters consider Hesiodic reception in the archaic poetry of Alcaeus and Simonides, in the classical prose of Plato, Xenophon and Isocrates, in the Aesopic tradition, and in the imperial prose of Dio Chrysostom and Lucian; there is also a groundbreaking study of Plutarch's extensive commentary on the Works and Days and an account of ancient ideas of Hesiod's linguistic style. This is a major and innovative contribution to the study of Hesiod's remarkable poem and to the Greek literary engagement with the past.
The epic genre has at its heart a fascination with the horror of viewing death. Epic heroes have active visual power, yet become objects, turned into monuments, watched by two main audiences: the gods above and the women on the sidelines. This stimulating, ambitious study investigates the theme of vision in Greek and Latin epic from Homer to Nonnus, bringing the edges of epic into dialogue with celebrated moments (the visual confrontation of Hector and Achilles, the failure of Turnus' gaze), revealing epic as massive assertion of authority and fractured representation. Helen Lovatt demonstrates the complexity of epic constructions of gender: from Apollonius' Medea toppling Talos with her eyes to Parthenopaeus as object of desire. She discusses mortals appropriating the divine gaze, prophets as both penetrative viewers and rape victims, explores the divine authority of epic ecphrasis, and exposes the way that heroic bodies are fragmented and fetishised.
