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"Stesichorus"
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Stesichorus in context
\"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\"-- Provided by publisher.
Book
Stesichoros's Geryoneis
This monograph focuses solely on the Stesichoros's Geryoneis. The main feature to the book is its full-length commentary. As well as providing a detailed analysis on the poet's language and style, the song is considered in its wider religious context.
eBook
CAERULEAN HOUNDS AND PUPPY-LIKE VOICES: THE CANINE ASPECTS OF ANCIENT SEA MONSTERS
This article examines the dog-like aspects and associations of two marine monsters of Graeco-Roman antiquity: Scylla and the κῆτος. Both harbour recognizably canine features in their depictions in ancient art, as well as being referenced as dogs or possessing dog-like attributes in ancient texts. The article argues that such distinctly canine elements are related to, and probably an extension of, the conceptualization of certain marine animals, most prominently sharks, as ‘sea dogs’. Accordingly, we should understand these two sea monsters and the sea dogs as being interrelated in the ancient imagination. Such a canine resonance to certain sea creatures offers a valuable insight into the Graeco-Roman imagination of the marine element as being the abode of creatures reminiscent of terrestrial dogs.
Journal Article
TRIPHIODORUS’ SACK OF TROY AND THE POETICS OF CASSANDRA
This article explores Triphiodorus’ use of Cassandra in his brief epic Sack of Troy. An examination of the placing of the prophetess within the poem's plot and a comparison with previous literary attestations demonstrate that Triphiodorus makes extended use of the previously supplementary character. The reader is particularly invited to read Cassandra against the Cassandras of Euripides’ Trojan Women and Quintus Smyrnaeus’ Posthomerica, thus identifying ties with both epic and tragedy. Cassandra's speech alludes to the proem of the epic. At the same time, Cassandra's prophecy constitutes the key for understanding the connection between imagery deployed prior and subsequent to her presence, thus ensuring the thematic congruity of the poem. Triphiodorus’ Cassandra constitutes a doublet of the poet, depicted as imitating his poetic voice and effectively summarizing the entire epic in her speech; entwined in Triphiodorus’ poetic agenda, she also becomes its intradiegetic mouthpiece.
Journal Article
Horace's Programmatic Priamel
Horace's MAECENAS ATAVIS (Hor., Carm. 1.1) is shown to enumerate nine allusive icons whose attributes evoke signature elements in the works and biographical traditions of the nine canonical Greek lyric poets. In his first ode the Roman poet thus announces the commencement of a lyric programme synthesising the distinctive styles and subjects of his illustrious predecessors. In so doing, Horace figuratively and literally inserts himself among these nine ‘lyric bards’ in ironic fulfilment of his own request for canonisation, with which the poem concludes. His programmatic priamel therefore harmonises archaic subject-matter and Hellenistic method in a manner which sets the tone for the entire project to follow.
Journal Article
Deconstructing the Phoenician myth: ‘Cadmus and the palm-leaf tablets’ revisited
According to Herodotus, the expression phoinikeia grammata means ‘Phoenician letters’ and refers to the Phoenician origins of the Greek alphabet. This account has found general acceptance, but it is not the only interpretation possible and other theories circulated in antiquity. The adjective φοῖνιξ does not only mean ‘Phoenician’; it can also refer to a palm tree or the colour red. This article argues that the expression phoinikeia grammata did not originally refer to the alphabet, but to Linear B writing on palm leaves, as already suggested by Frederick Ahl. It is shown that the account of Herodotus is the result of a ‘learned reinterpretation’, triggered by the ambiguity of the word φοῖνιξ. The new understanding of phoinikeia grammata proposeds here has some important consequences: it implies that Linear B, as has long been suspected, was primarily written on palm leaves (hence ‘palm-leaf writing’) and that in classical antiquity there was at least a limited historical awareness of the existence of pre-alphabetic writing systems in the Aegean. This paper adduces additional evidence to substantiate these claims. Lastly, a case will be made that Herodotus’ incorrect reinterpretation has led to the ‘Phoenicianization’ of Cadmus, who was originally a Greek hero.
Journal Article
SOCRATES’ ANSWER TO THE ULTIMATE QUESTION OF LIFE, THE UNIVERSE, AND EVERYTHING
Book 14 of the Palatine Anthology comprises, alongside proper riddles and oracles, forty-five arithmetical epigrams. Long underrated as poetry, these deserve to be reappraised in light of a recent trend of unmasking a complex cultural agenda of ancient scientific literature. By focusing on two particularly elaborate epigrams (AP 14.1 and 4), this discussion sets out to explore these poems’selfaware engagement with various literary and cultural traditions. I argue that as poetry as much as pieces of an arithmological jigsaw puzzle, these are vehicles for an intricate, if not entirely serious, Platonizing and neo-Pythagorean program of uniting poetry and mathematics.
Journal Article
The School of Libanius in Late Antique Antioch
This book is a study of the fourth-century sophist Libanius, a major intellectual figure who ran one of the most prestigious schools of rhetoric in the later Roman Empire. He was a tenacious adherent of pagan religion and a friend of the emperor Julian, but also taught leaders of the early Christian church like St. John Chrysostom and St. Basil the Great. Raffaella Cribiore examines Libanius's training and personality, showing him to be a vibrant educator, though somewhat gloomy and anxious by nature. She traces how he cultivated a wide network of friends and former pupils and courted powerful officials to recruit top students. Cribiore describes his school in Antioch--how students applied, how they were evaluated and trained, and how Libanius reported progress to their families. She details the professional opportunities that a thorough training in rhetoric opened up for young men of the day. Also included here are translations of 200 of Libanius's most important letters on education, almost none of which have appeared in English before.
Cribiore casts into striking relief the importance of rhetoric in late antiquity and its influence not only on pagan intellectuals but also on prominent Christian figures. She gives a balanced view of Libanius and his circle against the far-flung panorama of the Greek East.
eBook
Aesopic conversations
Examining the figure of Aesop and the traditions surrounding him, Aesopic Conversations offers a portrait of what Greek popular culture might have looked like in the ancient world. What has survived from the literary record of antiquity is almost entirely the product of an elite of birth, wealth, and education, limiting our access to a fuller range of voices from the ancient past. This book, however, explores the anonymous Life of Aesop and offers a different set of perspectives. Leslie Kurke argues that the traditions surrounding this strange text, when read with and against the works of Greek high culture, allow us to reconstruct an ongoing conversation of \"great\" and \"little\" traditions spanning centuries.
eBook