Greek Epigram from the Hellenistic to the Early Byzantine Era

Abstract

This volume sheds new light on the evolution of Greek epigram from the Hellenistic up to the early Byzantine era. It is concerned not with the work of individual authors but with the complexities of epigram as a genre; with the dynamics of poetic imitation and competition, as reflected in the work of epigrammatists who belong to the same or different anthologies and in the editorial activities of the poets who edited and created those anthologies; with the absorption and adaptation of earlier poetry in epigram; with the cross-fertilization between inscribed and literary epigram; with the dynamics of the relationship between epigram and its literary, sociopolitical, and cultural background from the third century BCE up until the sixth century CE; with its interaction with the visual arts and with Latin poetry; with the activities of late antique compilers who have generated the selections that survive nowadays. The chapters in this collection do not seek to offer a single comprehensive overview of epigram but individually and collectively demonstrate its remarkable richness and diversity. In the process they help to explain the fascination that epigram exercised, both in the ancient world and in subsequent ages, and contribute to the growing body of research on this significant and versatile poetic form.

Cite this work

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 71 citations exist upstream.