Hellenistic Poetry Before Callimachus an Enquiry Into Two Lost Generations University of Liverpool, 14-15 June 2016
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Greek Epigram and Byzantine Culture Steven D
Cambridge University Press 978-1-108-48023-9 — Greek Epigram and Byzantine Culture Steven D. Smith Frontmatter More Information GREEK EPIGRAM AND BYZANTINE CULTURE Sexy, scintillating, and sometimes scandalous, Greek epigrams from the age of the Emperor Justinian commemorate the survival of the sensual in a world transformed by Christianity. Around 567 ce, the poet and historian Agathias of Myrina published his Cycle, an anthol- ogy of epigrams by contemporary poets who wrote about what mattered to elite men in sixth-century Constantinople: harlots and dancing girls, chariot races in the hippodrome, and the luxuries of the Roman bath. But amid this banquet of worldly delights, ascetic Christianity – pervasive in early Byzantine thought – made sensual pleasure both more complicated and more compelling. In this book, Steven D. Smith explores how this miniature classical genre gave expression to lurid fantasies of domination and submission, con- straint and release, and the relationship between masculine and feminine. The volume will appeal to literary scholars and historians interested in Greek poetry, late antiquity, Byzantine studies, early Christianity, gender, and sexuality. steven d. smith is Professor of Classics and Comparative Literature at Hofstra University, New York. His publications include Greek Identity and the Athenian Past in Chariton: The Romance of Empire (2007) and Man and Animal in Severan Rome: The Literary Imagination of Claudius Aelianus (Cambridge University Press, 2014). © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-108-48023-9 — Greek Epigram and Byzantine Culture Steven D. Smith Frontmatter More Information greek culture in the roman world Editors susan e. -
Theokritos' 'Idyll 7': Evidence for the Value of the Cult of Demeter to Kos Naomi R. Kaloudis (University of Missouri, Columbia)
Theokritos' 'Idyll 7': Evidence for the Value of the Cult of Demeter to Kos Naomi R. Kaloudis (University of Missouri, Columbia) My paper will focus on the period around Kos’ synoikism in 366 BCE and Demeter’s importance to its inhabitants at this time. Reasons for her status on Kos are many: her position as a healing goddess, the constant concern for a fruitful crop, and the uneasy climate around the period of Kos’ synoikism. Mausolos’ recent synoikism of Caria created much anxiety for the Koans and possibly caused Kos to move its capital from the western part of the island to the eastern. I propose that the Koans looked to the cult of Demeter for stability and protection during this time of unrest. The Thesmophoria was important on Kos and is attested to in both archaeological and literary evidence. Her priestesses had much affluence in the community and this is witnessed in both honorary and dedicatory sculpture and inscriptions starting in the Late Classical period. One inscription in particular set up by the priestess Aischron associates Demeter’s mystery cult to her role in safeguarding her worshippers. Likewise, the Hellenistic poet Theokritos recorded a journey taken by suppliants of Demeter to celebrate her harvest festival in Idyll 7. This idyll continues a tradition of Demeter worship that was first documented by Philitas in his poem Demeter; and they both highlight many aspects of her Koan cult with a focus on her medicinal and agricultural aspects. In summary, the protection, security, and healing aspects that surround Demeter’s mystery cult compelled the Koans to seek her aid as documented by the priestesses and poets. -
Macedonian Kings, Egyptian Pharaohs the Ptolemaic Family In
Department of World Cultures University of Helsinki Helsinki Macedonian Kings, Egyptian Pharaohs The Ptolemaic Family in the Encomiastic Poems of Callimachus Iiro Laukola ACADEMIC DISSERTATION To be publicly discussed, by due permission of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Helsinki in auditorium XV, University Main Building, on the 23rd of September, 2016 at 12 o’clock. Helsinki 2016 © Iiro Laukola 2016 ISBN 978-951-51-2383-1 (paperback.) ISBN 978-951-51-2384-8 (PDF) Unigrafia Helsinki 2016 Abstract The interaction between Greek and Egyptian cultural concepts has been an intense yet controversial topic in studies about Ptolemaic Egypt. The present study partakes in this discussion with an analysis of the encomiastic poems of Callimachus of Cyrene (c. 305 – c. 240 BC). The success of the Ptolemaic Dynasty is crystallized in the juxtaposing of the different roles of a Greek ǴdzȅǻǽǷȏȄ and of an Egyptian Pharaoh, and this study gives a glimpse of this political and ideological endeavour through the poetry of Callimachus. The contribution of the present work is to situate Callimachus in the core of the Ptolemaic court. Callimachus was a proponent of the Ptolemaic rule. By reappraising the traditional Greek beliefs, he examined the bicultural rule of the Ptolemies in his encomiastic poems. This work critically examines six Callimachean hymns, namely to Zeus, to Apollo, to Artemis, to Delos, to Athena and to Demeter together with the Victory of Berenice, the Lock of Berenice and the Ektheosis of Arsinoe. Characterized by ambiguous imagery, the hymns inspect the ruptures in Greek thought during the Hellenistic age. -
Between Arcadia and Crete: Callisto in Callimachus' Hymn to Zeus The
Between Arcadia and Crete: Callisto in Callimachus’ Hymn to Zeus The speaker of Callimachus’ Hymn to Zeus famously asks Zeus himself whether he should celebrate the god as “Dictaean,” i.e. born on Mt. Dicte in Crete, or “Lycaean,” born on Arcadian Mt. Lycaeus (4-7). When the response comes, “Κρῆτες ἀεὶ ψεῦσται” (“Cretans are always liars,” 8), the hymnist agrees, and for support recalls that the Cretans built a tomb for Zeus, who is immortal (8-9). In so dismissing Cretan claims to truth, the hymnist justifies an Arcadian setting for his ensuing birth narrative (10-41). Curiously, however, after recounting Zeus’s birth and bath, the hymnist suddenly locates the remainder of the god’s early life in Crete after all (42-54). The transition is surprising, not only because it runs counter to the previous rejection of Cretan claims, but also because the Arcadians themselves held that Zeus was both born and raised in Arcadia (Paus. 8.38.2). While scholars have focused on how the ambiguity of two place names (κευθμὸν... Κρηταῖον, 34; Θενάς/Θεναί, 42, 43) misleads the audience and/or prepares them for the abrupt move from Arcadia to Crete (Griffiths 1970 32-33; Arnott 1976 13-18; McLennan 1977 66, 74- 75; Tandy 1979 105, 115-118; Hopkinson 1988 126-127), this paper proposes that the final word of the birth narrative, ἄρκτοιο (“bear,” 41), plays an important role in the transition as well. This reference to Callisto a) allusively justifies the departure from Arcadia, by suggesting that the Arcadians are liars not unlike the Cretans; b) prepares for the hymnist’s rejection of the Cretan account of Helice; and c) initiates a series of heavenly ascents that binds the Arcadian and Cretan portions of the hymn and culminates climactically with Zeus’s own accession to the sky. -
THE PARADOX of AMATORY EPIGRAM Kathryn Gutzwiller in One of His Deceptively Simple Epigrams, Catullus Shows How Well He Has Mast
THE PARADOX OF AMATORY EPIGRAM Kathryn Gutzwiller In one of his deceptively simple epigrams, Catullus shows how well he has mastered the Hellenistic art of variation: Nulli se dicit mulier mea nubere malle quam mihi, non si se Iuppiter ipse petat. dicit: sed mulier cupido quod dicit amanti, in vento et rapida scribere oportet aqua. (Catullus 70) My woman says that she prefers to marry no one more than me, not even if Juppiter himself asks her. She says it, but what a woman says to a lover who desires her must be written on the wind and rushing water. Catullus models his poem on a set of three epigrams, by Callimachus, Asclepiades, and Meleager, preserved in the AP in what was likely the original sequence from Meleager’s Garland. It would be intriguing to explore in detail how Catullus conveys his anguish at Lesbia’s betrayal through a process of intertextual allusion to a series of epigrams that already displayed variation one of the other within the context in which Catullus likely encountered them. I cite the poem here, however, only for a verbal play in the second couplet. In the last epigram from the AP sequence, the one in which Meleager demonstrates his extraordinary ability to rework and make new the best epigrams of his predecessors, an abandoned woman complains that the oaths of lovers are carried away on water (59 GP (= AP 5.8); cf. Callimachus 11 GP (= AP 5.6 = 25 Pf.), Asclepiades 9 GP (= AP 5.7)). Catullus modi es this line not only by reversing the gender roles, making himself the abandoned lover, but also by adding a paradoxical contrast between speaking and writing: what a woman says (dicit) to her lover must be written (scribere), not in a love poem, but on the wind and the water. -
THE FINAL LINE in CALLIMACHUS' HYMN to APOLLO Giuseppe Gian Grande
http://dx.doi.org/10.12795/Habis.1992.i23.05 THE FINAL LINE IN CALLIMACHUS' HYMN TO APOLLO Giuseppe Gian grande King' s College, London Un examen del verso final del Himno a Apolo de Calímaco dentro del marco de las teorías poéticas calimaqueas lleva a la conclusión de que la lectura OBóvos- es genuina, mientras que la variante .950ópoç es una trivialización. An analysis of the final une of Callimachus Hymn to Apollo, conducted within the framework of the poet' s literary theories, shows that the reading 006- voç is genuine, whereas the variant 006pos- is a trivialization. The final une in Callimachus' Hymn to Apollo has been the subject of copious debate during the last centuries. Fortunately for us, most of the relevant material has been assembled by F. Williams, in his doctoral dissertation which was directed by me at my Classics Research Centre, University of London, so that I can now conveniently refer the readers to the monograph in question 1 • As is well known, the problem consists in choosing between the variants 00óvos- or 00ópoç in fine 113. The editiones veteres, as Ernesti noted in his commentary ad loc. 2, read xaí'pe cYval'. 6 8é- .1114.1os-, 1'v '6 00óvos-, gvOci ué-otTO 1 F. Williams, Callimachus' Hymn to Apollo (Oxford 1978) 96 ff. 2 Jo. Aug. Emesti, Callimachi Hymni, Epigrammata el Fragmenta I (Lugduni Batavorum 1761) 65. 53 HABIS 23 (1992) 53-62 THE FINAL LINE IN CALLIMACHUS' HYMN TO APOLLO but the variant ~vos- was rejected by Emesti, who judged 00ópos- to be the cor- rect one. -
15. Identity and Irony. Martial's Tenth Book, Horace, and the Tradition of Roman Satire
15. IDENTITY AND IRONY. MARTIAL'S TENTH BOOK, HORACE, AND THE TRADITION OF ROMAN SATIRE Elena Merli Although Martial strongly invokes the Latin epigrammatic tradition in his poetological statements-and thus in part actually constitutes this tradition-the intertextual references in his poetry point far beyond the genre of epigram. In his monograph on Martial, John Sullivan briefly discusses the role of satire and elegy in his view our poet's most important intertextual points of reference. According to Sullivan, Martial takes from satire his critical view of society and human behav ior, and from elegy especially the element of self-representation. Even prior to Sullivan, of course, the question of Martial's relationship to satire was posed frequently, and the answers focused on the humorous and mimic elements; on the poet's description of "types" such as the parvenu, the hypocrite and the legacy-hunter; and on his criticism of Roman society and the system of clientela. 1 To my mind, the limitation of this approach consists in the diffi culty of adequately defining the object "satire". Scholarship has too often abstained from seeking precise, concrete lines and tendencies of development in this genre, and done so in good conscience on the grounds of satire's intrinsic uarietas? As far as our topic is concerned, this fact has led to a kind of optical illusion: the relationship between Martial and Juvenal has moved to center stage, while Martial's much broader and more nuanced relationship to the various forms and stages of the satirical tradition has receded into the background. -
Print Version of a Contribution That Appeared in G. Colesanti-‐‑M. Gior
This is the pre-print version of a contribution that appeared in G. Colesanti-M. Giordano (eds.), Submerged Literature in Ancient Greek Culture, Berlin-Boston 2014, pp. 46-60 Beyond the canon: Hellenistic scholars and their texts Abstract My paper offers a survey of the surviving evidence on the genres and authors that were the object of study in Hellenistic times. Only a limited number of texts were systematically edited and commented on in the scholarly centres of Alexandria and Pergamum; this selection goes back to choices that were originally made in fifth- and fourth century Athens, in particular by Aristotle and his school. While the bulk of the Hellenistic scholars’ work was devoted to these works, there is nonetheless some documentation regarding their interest in minor authors, non-canonical genres and in contemporary poets as well. 1. Scholars, authors and genres In this paper I would like to offer some reflections on the role played by Hellenistic philologists in choosing and arranging the texts of Greek literature as we read them today, in particular on their choice of genres and authors to study and hand on to the succeeding generations of readers and scholars. In addition, in the second part of my paper, I shall try to show how texts belonging to “submerged” or “underground” genres, which were not the direct object of scholarly work in antiquity, do sometimes resurface as quotations or parallel passages in erudite works dealing with major authors, or in compilations with miscellaneous contents. The term ‘genre’ in itself, if we look back to the early stages of Greek literary production, can engender misunderstandings, since we have the tendency to apply to an archaic culture, which was still much more oral and aural than literate, the conventions of a later society when the written word prevailed. -
1.3 Ideas of Latin Epigram Through Time
CHAPTER ONE What Is an Epigram?: Defining a Genre Mario Citroni 1.1 The Problem Generally regarded by ancients and moderns alike as a minor, marginal genre, epigram has displayed a vitality no less durable than that of the most prestigious genres. The composition of epigrams is already attested at the end of the eighth century BCE (the age to which the earliest extant Greek verse inscription dates back), and continued almost unbroken until late antiquity. After an intermittent presence in the Middle Ages, the fresh flourishing of the genre in the Renaissance, based on the recovery of its ancient forms, opened up the rich and lively history of epigram in European literature stretching through to the beginning of the nineteenth century. Collections of epigrams were also written during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and are still written today, albeit episodically and with a more idiosyncratic and experimental attitude. Such a long‐lived and extensive presence is an indication of the genre’s capacity to respond to substantive, non‐ephemeral needs of poets and audiences in very different historical circumstances and cultural settings. And yet defining this genre has always been very problematic. There are two distinct but interconnected reasons for this: a variety of content and forms that appearsCOPYRIGHTED hard to fit into a single category; MATERIAL and the uncertainty of the boundaries separating it from other genres with similar characteristics. The spectrum of content is almost limitless. The mode of utterance can range from the speech of a varyingly identifiable voice to dialogue, narration, A Companion to Ancient Epigram, First Edition. -
THE CONTRAPOSITION BETWEEN EPOS and EPULLION in HELLENISTIC POETRY: STATUS QUAESTIONIS 1 José Antonio Clúa Serena
Anuario de Estudios Filológicos, ISSN 0210-8178, vol. XXVII, 23-39 THE CONTRAPOSITION BETWEEN EPOS AND EPULLION IN HELLENISTIC POETRY: STATUS QUAESTIONIS 1 José Antonio Clúa Serena Universidad de Extremadura Resumen En este artículo se esbozan algunos de los hitos más importantes que configuran, desde Antímaco de Colofón hasta las últimas manifestaciones poéticas helenísticas y romanas, la contraposición entre el e[po~ y el ejpuvllion. Sobre este último «género», repleto de elemen- tos etiológicos y largas digresiones, se aportan y se comparan datos importantes mediante dos métodos conocidos: la Quellensforchung y la comparación entre seguidores de la escuela de Calímaco y los denominados Telquines. Se analizan epigramas concretos, epilios de Teócrito, Mosco, la Hécale de Calímaco, epilios de Trifiodoro, Hedilo, Museo, Euforión, Partenio, Poliano, así como de Cornelio Galo y Cinna. Finalmente, se estudia la dicotomía «agua»/«vino» como símbolos de inspiración y se ofrece una posible clave para focalizar el paso de dicha contraposición desde la literatura helenística griega a la romana. Palabras clave: Epos, epyllion, hellenistic poetry, Cantores Callimachi. Abstract This paper describes some highly important aspects than configure, from Aminachus of Colofos to the latest Hellenistic and Roman poetic pieces, the contraposition of the concepts e[po~ and ejpuvllion. About this latter ‘genre’, filled with etiological and disgressive elements, data are contrasted according to two well known methods: Quellensforchung and comparison between Callimachus’ followers and Telquines. Specific epigrams are reviewed, also some epic poems by Theocritus, Moscos, the Hecale by Callimachus, epic poems by Trifiodorus, Hedilus, Museus, Euforius, Partenius, Polianus, Cornelius, Galius, and Cinnas. Finally, dichotomous elements like ‘water’/‘wine’ are studied as symbols for inspiration. -
Durham E-Theses
Durham E-Theses The legend of Oedipus in fth century tragedy at Athens Bailey, S. K. How to cite: Bailey, S. K. (1955) The legend of Oedipus in fth century tragedy at Athens, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/9722/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk r 1 THE LEGEND OF OEDIPUS IN FIFTH CENTURY TRAGEDY AT ATHENS A THESIS SUJ3W:TTED BY S.K. BAILEY FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF LETTERS The aims of the thesis are (a) to mark what has been altered or added to the legend of Oedipus by the three great dramatists of the fifth century, and (b) to show that these alterations and additions were made with a· specific end in view. To further these aims it has been necessary to broaden somewhat the scope of the thesis so as to include in it a gathering together of the pre-Aeechylean versions of the story; in the case of Aeschylus a reconstruction of the two lost plays of the trilogy, and in the case of each poet a personal interpretation of the plays connected with the Oedipus legend. -
Callimachus' and Ovid's
CHAPTER ONE CALLIMACHUS, OVID, AND ALLUSION mortalia facta peribunt, nedum sermonum stet honos et gratia vivax. multa renascentur quae iam cecidere, cadentque quae nunc sunt in honore vocabula, si volet usus, quem penes arbitrium est et ius et norma loquendi. But all that mortals make will die, much less will the glory and lively charm of language remain. Many words now perished will be reborn and others will perish that now hold worthy places; use determines this, use which possesses the authority, law and standard of our speech. (Horace Ars Poetica 68-72) Introduction: Callimachus’ and Ovid’s “Callimacheanism” and Allusion Due to its complexity Callimachus’ poetry is difficult to briefly charac- terize, though the words “recondite” and “recherché” recur in secon- dary literature concerning his work.1 While in one sense these adjec- tives hit the mark, in another they are unfair and overlook the revolutionary nature of his poetry. To this description one should add that Callimachus’ poetic language is precise—every word counts—and that he seems to have been self-consciously re-working traditional ma- terial into a new, contemporary mode. In his poetry he revises the or- thodox conception of genre by, for example, inserting into one generic form the meter and subject matter of another.2 The end result of his ——— 1 E.g. Clausen (1964), 183; Pfeiffer (1968), 125-126; Bulloch (1989), 9-12; Parsons (1998), 132, 137-138. 2 See e.g. Kroll (1924), for his influential Kreuzung der Gattungen in connection with Ovid’s poetry. Rossi (1971) relates this Kreuzung to the bookishness of the Helle- nistic age, while Fantuzzi (1980), Schwinge (1981), and Zanker (1987) offer more 2 CHAPTER ONE experimentation is that his poetry never ceases to surprise the reader with the unexpected.