This new scholarly edition consists of the Latin text, with translation and detailed commentary, of a sequence of epigrams from the Anthologia Latina (Shackleton Bailey 78-188). The introduction discusses whether these epigrams constitute a unified collection and are the work of a single author, examines their likely date and place of composition – which, it is argued, is North Africa under Vandal rule –, and sets them in their cultural context. The line-by-line commentary covers issues of literary, linguistic and historical significance. Although text and interpretation of these pieces present frequent difficulties, the author confirms that they make up a fascinating collection of considerable importance and merit, contrary to the low reputation generally associated with the Anthologia Latina. The book will be of great interest to students of Latin literature and language in general, the epigram tradition in particular, and the culture of Vandal Africa.
A delightful look at the epic literary history of the short, poetic genre of the epigram From Nestor’s inscribed cup to tombstones, bathroom walls, and Twitter tweets, the ability to express oneself concisely and elegantly, continues to be an important part of literary history unlike any other. This book examines the entire history of the epigram, from its beginnings as a purely epigraphic phenomenon in the Greek world, where it moved from being just a note attached to physical objects to an actual literary form of expression, to its zenith in late 1st century Rome, and further through a period of stagnation up to its last blooming, just before the beginning of the Dark Ages. A Companion to Ancient Epigram offers the first ever full-scale treatment of the genre from a broad international perspective. The book is divided into six parts, the first of which covers certain typical characteristics of the genre, examines aspects that are central to our understanding of epigram, and discusses its relation to other literary genres. The subsequent four parts present a diachronic history of epigram, from archaic Greece, Hellenistic Greece, and Latin and Greek epigrams at Rome, all the way up to late antiquity, with a concluding section looking at the heritage of ancient epigram from the Middle Ages up to modern times. Provides a comprehensive overview of the history of the epigram The first single-volume book to examine the entire history of the genre Scholarly interest in Greek and Roman epigram has steadily increased over the past fifty years Looks at not only the origins of the epigram but at the later literary tradition A Companion to Ancient Epigram will be of great interest to scholars and students of literature, world literature, and ancient and general history. It will also be an excellent addition to the shelf of any public and university library.
The epigram is certainly one of the most intriguing, while at the same time most elusive, genres of Neo-Latin literature. From the end of the fifteenth century, almost every humanist writer who regarded himself a true "poeta" had composed a respectable number of epigrams. Given our sense of poetical aesthetics, be it idealistic, postidealistic, modern, or postmodern, the epigrammatic genre is difficult to understand. Because of its close ties with the historical and social context, it does not fit any of these aesthetic approaches. By presenting various epigram writers, collections, and subgenres from the fifteenth to the seventeenth century, this volume offers a first step toward a better understanding of some of the features of humanist epigram literature.
Lush Diodorus sets the lads on fire, But now another has him in his net - Timarion, the boy with wanton eyes . . . Meleager, AP 12.109 Encompassing four thousand short poems and more, the ramshackle classic we call the Greek Anthology gathers up a millennium of snapshots from ancient daily life. Its influence echoes not merely in the classic tradition of the English epigram (Pope, Dryden) but in Rudyard Kipling, Ezra Pound, Virgina Woolf, T. S. Eliot, H.D., and the poets of the First World War. Its variety is almost infinite. Victorious armies, ruined cities, and Olympic champions share space with lovers' quarrels and laments for the untimely dead - but also with jokes and riddles, art appreciation, potted biographies of authors, and scenes from country life and the workplace. This selection of more than 600 epigrams in verse is the first major translation from the Greek Anthology in nearly a century. Each of the Anthology's books of epigrams is represented here, in manuscript order, and with extensive notes on the history and myth that lie behind them.
After Sappho but before the great Latin poets, the most important short poems in the ancient world were Greek epigrams. Beginning with simple expressions engraved on stone, these poems eventually encompassed nearly every theme we now associate with lyric poetry in English. Many of the finest are on love and would later exert a profound influence on Latin love poets and, through them, on all the poetry of Europe and the West. This volume offers a representative selection of the best Greek epigrams in original verse translation. It showcases the poetry of nine poets (including one woman), with many epigrams from the recently discovered Milan papyrus. Gordon L. Fain provides an accessible general introduction describing the emergence of the epigram in Hellenistic Greece, together with short essays on the life and work of each poet and brief explanatory notes for the poems, making this collection an ideal anthology for a wide audience of readers.
Greek epigram is a remarkable poetic form. The briefest of all ancient Greek genres, it is also the most resilient: for almost a thousand years it attracted some of the finest Greek poetic talents as well as exerting a profound interest on Latin literature, and it continues to inspire and influence modern translations and imitations. After a long period of neglect, research on epigram has surged during recent decades, and this volume draws on the fruits of that renewed scholarly engagement. It is concerned not with the work of individual authors or anthologies, but with the evolution of particular subgenres over time, and provides a selection of in-depth treatments of key aspects of Greek literary epigram of the Hellenistic, Roman, and early Byzantine periods. Individual chapters offer insights into a variety of topics, from explorations of the dynamic interactions between poets and their predecessors and contemporaries, and of the relationship between epigram and its socio-political, cultural, and literary background from the third century BCE up until the sixth century CE, to its interaction with its origins, inscribed epigram more generally, other literary genres, the visual arts, and Latin poetry, as well as the process of editing and compilation which generated the collections which survived into the modern world. Through the medium of individual studies the volume as a whole seeks to offer a sense of this vibrant and dynamic poetic form and its world which will be of value to scholars and students of Greek epigram and classical literature more broadly.
Greek 'literary' epigrams constitute one of the most versatile and dynamic poetic forms in the Hellenistic period. Originally modeled on the anonymous epitaphs and dedications inscribed on monuments throughout antiquity, these short poems came to include a variety of subtypes and served as a vehicle for Hellenistic poets to experiment with themes and motifs from other genres. This edition introduces students to a wide selection of epigrams from the third and second centuries BCE. It provides substantial help in construing the Greek and will be appropriate for those approaching the genre for the first time, whilst also containing material of interest to scholars. It includes work by the most important epigrammatists of this period, with substantial attention paid to the way these poets engage with the epigraphic and literary traditions. The Introduction provides an overview of the history of the genre and of its formal features, including dialect and meter.
Diese Abhandlung betrifft nicht die handschriftliche Überlieferung der kurzen Gedichtreihen (die sog. kleineren anthologiae) und der einzelnen ‘verstreuten’ Texte, die in der kritischen Edition von A. Riese enthalten sind (Anthologia Latina I 1-2, Leipzig 1894-1906, gilt heute als Referenzausgabe), sondern bezieht sich auf die beiden großen kompakten Gedichtsammlungen namens Salmasiana und Vossiana, die fast komplett im ersten der beiden Bücher stehen und gewöhnlich mit dem Gesamttitel Anthologia Latina bezeichnet werden. Mit dem Ziel, diese Gedichtsammlung vollständig neu zu edieren, hat das Forschungszentrum für die Anthologia Latina in Perugia bisher die neuen kritischen Editionen und die Abhandlungen in den Reihen “Anthologiarum Latinarum I (1 Anthologia Vossiana), II (1 Anonymi versus serpentini, 2 Vnius poetae sylloge, 3 Coronatus)” und “Anthologiarum Latinarum parerga I-V” herausgegeben und die Jahrgänge I-VII, 2010-16 von “AL. Rivista di studi di Anthologia Latina” publiziert. Im Anhang findet man eine Untersuchung über den Umlauf des Codex plenior (rekonstruiert im Lichte der noch unveröffentlichten Briefe, die dessen Besitzer, Claude de Saumaise, und sein Freund Isaak Voss kurz vor der Mitte des 17. Jahrhunderts miteinander wechselten), die auf das Thema der Abhandlungen Apographa Salmasiana 1 und 2 (Hildesheim 2004 und 2010) Bezug nimmt. This essay does not concern the manuscript transmission of the short series of poems (the so-called minor anthologiae) and of the single ‘wandering’ texts contained in the critical edition by A. Riese, Anthologia Latina I2 1-2, Lipsiae 1894-1906 (which is today generally considered a reference edition), but regards the two large compact anthologies called Salmasiana and Vossiana, standing almost totally in the first of the two books, and normally designated with the overall title Anthologia Latina. Aiming at their total re-edition, the School on the Anthologia Latina of Perugia has so far edited the new critical editions and the essays contained within the series “Anthologiarum Latinarum I (1 Anthologia Vossiana), II (1 Anonymi versus serpentini, 2 Vnius poetae sylloge, 3 Coronatus)” and “Anthologiarum Latinarum parerga I-V”, and published the issues I-VII, 2010-16, of “AL. Rivista di studi di Anthologia Latina”. In the appendix there is the study on the circulation of the codex plenior (reconstructed in the light of the still unpublished letters which its owner, Claude de Saumaise, and his friend, Isaac Voss, wrote to each other a few years before the mid-seventeenth century) which refers to the subject of the essays Apographa Salmasiana 1 and 2 (Hildesheim 2004 and 2010 respectively).
