Hellenistic Epigram: Contexts of Exploration
Oct 2016 · Cambridge University Press
Ebook
535
Pages
reportRatings and reviews aren’t verified Learn More
About this ebook
This book offers scholars and students of Hellenistic and Roman literature an overview of Hellenistic epigram, a field closely related to other Hellenistic poetry and highly influential upon Roman poetry. In fourteen themed chapters, it foregrounds the literary, linguistic, historical, epigraphic, social, political, ethnic, cultic, onomastic, local, topographical and patronage contexts within which Hellenistic epigrams were composed. Many epigrams are analysed in detail and new interpretations of them proposed. Throughout, the question is asked whether epigrams are literary jeux d'esprit (as is often assumed without proper discussion) or whether they relate to real people and real events and have a function in the real world. That function may be epigraphic, for example an epigram can be the epitymbion for inscription at someone's grave, or the anathematikon for inscription on or beside a dedicated object, or a picture-label - an ekphrasis to accompany a painting or mosaic.
About the author
Francis Cairns held the Chairs of Latin at the University of Liverpool and of Latin Language and Literature at the University of Leeds before moving in 2000 to his present position as Professor of Classical Languages at Florida State University. His earlier books are Generic Composition in Greek and Roman Poetry (1972), Tibullus: A Hellenistic Poet at Rome (Cambridge, 1979), Virgil's Augustan Epic (Cambridge, 1989), Sextus Propertius: The Augustan Elegist (Cambridge, 2006), Papers on Roman Elegy (1969–2003) (2007) and Roman Lyric (2012).
Rate this ebook
Tell us what you think.
Reading information
Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can listen to audiobooks purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.
eReaders and other devices
To read on e-ink devices like Kobo eReaders, you'll need to download a file and transfer it to your device. Follow the detailed Help Center instructions to transfer the files to supported eReaders.
