Georg Petzl
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780197265062
- eISBN:
- 9780191754173
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197265062.003.0004
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE
Part I of this chapter reviews its subject historically, showing how inscriptions allow us to see the development of the Greek dialects, the effects on Greek of contact with other languages, ...
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Part I of this chapter reviews its subject historically, showing how inscriptions allow us to see the development of the Greek dialects, the effects on Greek of contact with other languages, especially Latin, and the ways in which styles of utterance and uses of language changed through time. Part II, a brief systematic review, illustrates three modes of language: poetry, with illustrations from funerary epigrams much influenced by Homer and the dramatists; prose, with its range of variations by genre and by degree of rhetorical influence, but also very directly in the form of precise citations of words and phrases used in assemblies; and Kunstprosa, the blend of prose and poetry, illustrated by the style and vocabulary of the inscription of Antiochos I of Commagene on his monument at Nemrud Dagh in South East Turkey.Less
Part I of this chapter reviews its subject historically, showing how inscriptions allow us to see the development of the Greek dialects, the effects on Greek of contact with other languages, especially Latin, and the ways in which styles of utterance and uses of language changed through time. Part II, a brief systematic review, illustrates three modes of language: poetry, with illustrations from funerary epigrams much influenced by Homer and the dramatists; prose, with its range of variations by genre and by degree of rhetorical influence, but also very directly in the form of precise citations of words and phrases used in assemblies; and Kunstprosa, the blend of prose and poetry, illustrated by the style and vocabulary of the inscription of Antiochos I of Commagene on his monument at Nemrud Dagh in South East Turkey.
S.J. Harrison
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199203581
- eISBN:
- 9780191708176
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199203581.003.0003
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Poetry and Poets: Classical, Early, and Medieval
Horace's first poetic collection presents poems which interact notably with other genres — epic, both mythological and didactic, epigram, Priapean material, etc. This higher poetic material helps ...
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Horace's first poetic collection presents poems which interact notably with other genres — epic, both mythological and didactic, epigram, Priapean material, etc. This higher poetic material helps this book of lowly sermones show poetic ambition and react to other contemporary poets such as Vergil.Less
Horace's first poetic collection presents poems which interact notably with other genres — epic, both mythological and didactic, epigram, Priapean material, etc. This higher poetic material helps this book of lowly sermones show poetic ambition and react to other contemporary poets such as Vergil.
S.J. Harrison
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199203581
- eISBN:
- 9780191708176
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199203581.003.0006
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Poetry and Poets: Classical, Early, and Medieval
Horace's re-invention of archaic Greek lyric for Augustan Rome raises many issues of generic complexity, which are deliberately foregrounded by the texts. The boundaries of lyric are severely probed ...
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Horace's re-invention of archaic Greek lyric for Augustan Rome raises many issues of generic complexity, which are deliberately foregrounded by the texts. The boundaries of lyric are severely probed and tested by the incorporation and admixture of other literary genres (e.g., epic, epigram, prophecy, and tragedy).Less
Horace's re-invention of archaic Greek lyric for Augustan Rome raises many issues of generic complexity, which are deliberately foregrounded by the texts. The boundaries of lyric are severely probed and tested by the incorporation and admixture of other literary genres (e.g., epic, epigram, prophecy, and tragedy).
S.J. Harrison
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199203581
- eISBN:
- 9780191708176
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199203581.003.0007
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Poetry and Poets: Classical, Early, and Medieval
The Aeneid is not just the culmination of all ancient epic traditions, but also exploits generic complexity to enrich its texture. Apart from the obvious but still underrated interface with tragedy, ...
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The Aeneid is not just the culmination of all ancient epic traditions, but also exploits generic complexity to enrich its texture. Apart from the obvious but still underrated interface with tragedy, e.g., in the Dido-episode, there are encounters with many other non-epic styles (e.g., pastoral, didactic, elegy). As in the Odes, a classic and inimitable text is formed by generic enrichment.Less
The Aeneid is not just the culmination of all ancient epic traditions, but also exploits generic complexity to enrich its texture. Apart from the obvious but still underrated interface with tragedy, e.g., in the Dido-episode, there are encounters with many other non-epic styles (e.g., pastoral, didactic, elegy). As in the Odes, a classic and inimitable text is formed by generic enrichment.
G. O. Hutchinson
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199279418
- eISBN:
- 9780191707322
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199279418.003.0004
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This piece was the first to relate the new book of Posidippus' epigrams to Latin poetry. It discusses the nature of the collection, which arranges epigrams in groups with titles. Connections with ...
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This piece was the first to relate the new book of Posidippus' epigrams to Latin poetry. It discusses the nature of the collection, which arranges epigrams in groups with titles. Connections with Latin poetry are investigated: specific allusions, thematic networks, problems of intertextuality with Hellenistic poetry. The relation of elegy to epigram is then discussed; Latin elegy uses its small relative both to separate itself from epic and to mark its own ambitions. Latin poets turn elegy into love-elegy, and then aspire to go further. The structure of Posidippus and the Fasti can be compared and contrasted.Less
This piece was the first to relate the new book of Posidippus' epigrams to Latin poetry. It discusses the nature of the collection, which arranges epigrams in groups with titles. Connections with Latin poetry are investigated: specific allusions, thematic networks, problems of intertextuality with Hellenistic poetry. The relation of elegy to epigram is then discussed; Latin elegy uses its small relative both to separate itself from epic and to mark its own ambitions. Latin poets turn elegy into love-elegy, and then aspire to go further. The structure of Posidippus and the Fasti can be compared and contrasted.
G. O. Hutchinson
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199279418
- eISBN:
- 9780191707322
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199279418.003.0005
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
Greek papyri, especially of epigrams, are used to show the connections and problems of the Catullan corpus. It is argued that a three-book collected edition does not fit the ancient material: poems ...
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Greek papyri, especially of epigrams, are used to show the connections and problems of the Catullan corpus. It is argued that a three-book collected edition does not fit the ancient material: poems 61-4 were issued separately; a (1-60) and c (65-116) are the somewhat distorted remains of two simultaneous books, which are to be read together and compared. c falls into two parts (c1 65-68b, c2 69-116) which are themselves to be contrasted, and which between them display Catullus matching the range of Callimachus' elegy. c2, c1, and a are seen to exploit differently the concern of epigram with physical objects. In c2 the objects are parts of the body; this helps c2 create a distinctive world.Less
Greek papyri, especially of epigrams, are used to show the connections and problems of the Catullan corpus. It is argued that a three-book collected edition does not fit the ancient material: poems 61-4 were issued separately; a (1-60) and c (65-116) are the somewhat distorted remains of two simultaneous books, which are to be read together and compared. c falls into two parts (c1 65-68b, c2 69-116) which are themselves to be contrasted, and which between them display Catullus matching the range of Callimachus' elegy. c2, c1, and a are seen to exploit differently the concern of epigram with physical objects. In c2 the objects are parts of the body; this helps c2 create a distinctive world.
Paul Russell
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195110333
- eISBN:
- 9780199872084
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195110333.003.0007
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
Both the epigrams that Hume uses on the title‐pages of the Treatise of Human Nature are very significant and reveal his freethinking and irreligious aims and intentions.. More specifically, the ...
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Both the epigrams that Hume uses on the title‐pages of the Treatise of Human Nature are very significant and reveal his freethinking and irreligious aims and intentions.. More specifically, the epigram from Tacitus that appears in Books I and II was used not only by Spinoza, but also by his followers in the Collins‐Toland circle to proclaim their bold defense of freethinking. At the same time, the Lucan epigram that appears in Book III also appears prominently in Collins's Freethinking and carries the message of Cato, a model of stoic virtue and the oracle of pantheism, freedom of thought, and anti‐superstition. Beyond this, these two epigrams are also intimately connected with Hume's Hobbist title and plan for his Treatise. In this way, Hume's use of epigrams on the title page of the Treatise is a notable and illuminating example of “esoteric” communication.Less
Both the epigrams that Hume uses on the title‐pages of the Treatise of Human Nature are very significant and reveal his freethinking and irreligious aims and intentions.. More specifically, the epigram from Tacitus that appears in Books I and II was used not only by Spinoza, but also by his followers in the Collins‐Toland circle to proclaim their bold defense of freethinking. At the same time, the Lucan epigram that appears in Book III also appears prominently in Collins's Freethinking and carries the message of Cato, a model of stoic virtue and the oracle of pantheism, freedom of thought, and anti‐superstition. Beyond this, these two epigrams are also intimately connected with Hume's Hobbist title and plan for his Treatise. In this way, Hume's use of epigrams on the title page of the Treatise is a notable and illuminating example of “esoteric” communication.
David Landreth
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199773299
- eISBN:
- 9780199932665
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199773299.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Shakespeare Studies, 16th-century and Renaissance Literature
The Introduction situates the peculiar character of the English Renaissance's “Mammon”—i.e., money that talks— both theoretically and historically. What differentiates this Mammon from the medieval ...
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The Introduction situates the peculiar character of the English Renaissance's “Mammon”—i.e., money that talks— both theoretically and historically. What differentiates this Mammon from the medieval experience of money is the traumatic mid-sixteenth-century upheavals of inflation and monetary debasement. What differentiates it from the modern experience of money is its situation, not in the post-Enlightenment discourse of economics, but in the contemporary discourse of “commonwealth,” which coordinates material values with political, ethical, and theological ones. Landreth argues that straightforwardly economistic analyses are therefore insufficient to fully articulate the Renaissance's Mammon, and turn to the methods of object-oriented “material culture” and of metaphysical ontology.Less
The Introduction situates the peculiar character of the English Renaissance's “Mammon”—i.e., money that talks— both theoretically and historically. What differentiates this Mammon from the medieval experience of money is the traumatic mid-sixteenth-century upheavals of inflation and monetary debasement. What differentiates it from the modern experience of money is its situation, not in the post-Enlightenment discourse of economics, but in the contemporary discourse of “commonwealth,” which coordinates material values with political, ethical, and theological ones. Landreth argues that straightforwardly economistic analyses are therefore insufficient to fully articulate the Renaissance's Mammon, and turn to the methods of object-oriented “material culture” and of metaphysical ontology.
James Doelman
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780719096440
- eISBN:
- 9781526115218
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719096440.003.0013
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
The book ends with a brief reflection on a “religious epigram” by Sir John Harington that manifests the typical Martialian tone and approach that dominated the genre in the period1590 to 1640.
The book ends with a brief reflection on a “religious epigram” by Sir John Harington that manifests the typical Martialian tone and approach that dominated the genre in the period1590 to 1640.
William Fitzgerald
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226252537
- eISBN:
- 9780226252568
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226252568.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
In this age of the sound bite, what sort of author could be more relevant than a master of the epigram? Martial, the most influential epigrammatist of classical antiquity, was just such a virtuoso of ...
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In this age of the sound bite, what sort of author could be more relevant than a master of the epigram? Martial, the most influential epigrammatist of classical antiquity, was just such a virtuoso of the form, but despite his pertinence to today's culture, his work has been largely neglected in contemporary scholarship. Arguing that Martial is a major author who deserves more sustained attention, this book provides a tour of his works, shedding light on the Roman poet's world—and how it might speak to our own. Writing in the late first century CE—when the epigram was firmly embedded in the social life of the elites of Rome's elite—Martial published his poems in a series of books that were widely read and enjoyed. Exploring what it means to read such a collection of epigrams, this book examines the paradoxical relationship between the self-enclosed epigram and the book of poems that is more than the sum of its parts. It goes on to show how Martial, by imagining these books being displayed in shops and shipped across the empire to admiring readers, prophetically behaved like a modern author.Less
In this age of the sound bite, what sort of author could be more relevant than a master of the epigram? Martial, the most influential epigrammatist of classical antiquity, was just such a virtuoso of the form, but despite his pertinence to today's culture, his work has been largely neglected in contemporary scholarship. Arguing that Martial is a major author who deserves more sustained attention, this book provides a tour of his works, shedding light on the Roman poet's world—and how it might speak to our own. Writing in the late first century CE—when the epigram was firmly embedded in the social life of the elites of Rome's elite—Martial published his poems in a series of books that were widely read and enjoyed. Exploring what it means to read such a collection of epigrams, this book examines the paradoxical relationship between the self-enclosed epigram and the book of poems that is more than the sum of its parts. It goes on to show how Martial, by imagining these books being displayed in shops and shipped across the empire to admiring readers, prophetically behaved like a modern author.
Robert Ellrodt
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198117384
- eISBN:
- 9780191670923
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198117384.003.0019
- Subject:
- Literature, Poetry, 17th-century and Restoration Literature
New attitudes and a new style characterized the poetry of John Donne, who often took the lead in innovation and distinctly expressed his own personality as well as the temper and dominant ...
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New attitudes and a new style characterized the poetry of John Donne, who often took the lead in innovation and distinctly expressed his own personality as well as the temper and dominant inclinations of his own generation. The poets of the Donne generation rejected the floridness, mellifluousness, and melodiousness of ‘golden’ verse and ‘sugared’ sonnets. The search for manly attitudes and the ‘manly style’, related to a search for truth and meaning, was, indeed, the dominant trend in the Donne generation. It accounts for the change of mood and expression in love poetry. In literary expression a desire of change for the sake of change (a desire paraded in Donne's elegy so entitled) was a prominent feature of this generation. In their cult of wit the poets of the Donne generation were interested in new forms of wit, displayed in the epigram, the paradox, and the rhetorical figures that create surprise and call for a quick apprehension of thought.Less
New attitudes and a new style characterized the poetry of John Donne, who often took the lead in innovation and distinctly expressed his own personality as well as the temper and dominant inclinations of his own generation. The poets of the Donne generation rejected the floridness, mellifluousness, and melodiousness of ‘golden’ verse and ‘sugared’ sonnets. The search for manly attitudes and the ‘manly style’, related to a search for truth and meaning, was, indeed, the dominant trend in the Donne generation. It accounts for the change of mood and expression in love poetry. In literary expression a desire of change for the sake of change (a desire paraded in Donne's elegy so entitled) was a prominent feature of this generation. In their cult of wit the poets of the Donne generation were interested in new forms of wit, displayed in the epigram, the paradox, and the rhetorical figures that create surprise and call for a quick apprehension of thought.
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226252537
- eISBN:
- 9780226252568
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226252568.003.0008
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
Martial's epigram books might appeal to our postmodern sensibilities for their non-organic form; the ideal of organicism, as Richard Terdiman puts it, “registered the necessity, first, of ...
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Martial's epigram books might appeal to our postmodern sensibilities for their non-organic form; the ideal of organicism, as Richard Terdiman puts it, “registered the necessity, first, of representing the world as conflicted, and second, of mastering the contradictions within it which were thereby highlighted.” Martial relishes, rather than masters, the contradictions. His method is juxtaposition rather than subsumption and his books are impossible wholes. The question, “How does one read a book of epigrams?” might be answered quite simply by replying that one cannot. Only the heterogeneous society of the book can be adequate to that paradoxical entity, a book of epigrams, which cannot be taken in by a reading. Martial's Liber spectaculorum has proven to be both a valuable introduction to his oeuvre and an anomaly. In Book 1, Martial juxtaposes commemorative epigrams featuring exempla virtutis of the past with occasional epigrams on dinners and dining.Less
Martial's epigram books might appeal to our postmodern sensibilities for their non-organic form; the ideal of organicism, as Richard Terdiman puts it, “registered the necessity, first, of representing the world as conflicted, and second, of mastering the contradictions within it which were thereby highlighted.” Martial relishes, rather than masters, the contradictions. His method is juxtaposition rather than subsumption and his books are impossible wholes. The question, “How does one read a book of epigrams?” might be answered quite simply by replying that one cannot. Only the heterogeneous society of the book can be adequate to that paradoxical entity, a book of epigrams, which cannot be taken in by a reading. Martial's Liber spectaculorum has proven to be both a valuable introduction to his oeuvre and an anomaly. In Book 1, Martial juxtaposes commemorative epigrams featuring exempla virtutis of the past with occasional epigrams on dinners and dining.
James Doelman
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- January 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780719096440
- eISBN:
- 9781526115218
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719096440.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
While among the most common of Renaissance genres, the epigram has been largely neglected by scholars and critics: James Doelman’s The Epigram in England: 1590-1640 is the first major study on the ...
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While among the most common of Renaissance genres, the epigram has been largely neglected by scholars and critics: James Doelman’s The Epigram in England: 1590-1640 is the first major study on the Renaissance English epigram since 1947. It combines awareness of the genre’s history and conventions with an historicist consideration of social, political and religious contexts. Tracing the oral, manuscript and print circulation of individual epigrams, the book demonstrates their central place in the period’s poetic culture. The epigram was known for brevity, sharpness, and an urbane tone, but its subject matter ranged widely; thus, this book gives close attention to such sub-genres as the political epigram, the religious epigram and the mock epitaph. In its survey the book also considers questions of libel, censorship and patronage associated with the genre. While due attention is paid to such canonical figures as Ben Jonson and Sir John Harington, who used this humble (and sometimes scandalous) genre in poetically and socially ambitious ways, the study also draws on a wide range of neglected epigrammatists such as Thomas Bastard, Thomas Freeman and “Henry Parrot”. More subject than author-oriented, epigrams often floated free, and this study gives full attention to the wealth of anonymous epigrams from the period. As epigram culture was not limited by language, the book also draws heavily upon Neo-Latin epigrams. In its breadth The Epigram in England serves as a foundational introduction to the genre for students, and through its detailed case studies it offers rich analysis for advanced scholars.Less
While among the most common of Renaissance genres, the epigram has been largely neglected by scholars and critics: James Doelman’s The Epigram in England: 1590-1640 is the first major study on the Renaissance English epigram since 1947. It combines awareness of the genre’s history and conventions with an historicist consideration of social, political and religious contexts. Tracing the oral, manuscript and print circulation of individual epigrams, the book demonstrates their central place in the period’s poetic culture. The epigram was known for brevity, sharpness, and an urbane tone, but its subject matter ranged widely; thus, this book gives close attention to such sub-genres as the political epigram, the religious epigram and the mock epitaph. In its survey the book also considers questions of libel, censorship and patronage associated with the genre. While due attention is paid to such canonical figures as Ben Jonson and Sir John Harington, who used this humble (and sometimes scandalous) genre in poetically and socially ambitious ways, the study also draws on a wide range of neglected epigrammatists such as Thomas Bastard, Thomas Freeman and “Henry Parrot”. More subject than author-oriented, epigrams often floated free, and this study gives full attention to the wealth of anonymous epigrams from the period. As epigram culture was not limited by language, the book also draws heavily upon Neo-Latin epigrams. In its breadth The Epigram in England serves as a foundational introduction to the genre for students, and through its detailed case studies it offers rich analysis for advanced scholars.
Gideon Nisbet
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199263370
- eISBN:
- 9780191718366
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199263370.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Poetry and Poets: Classical, Early, and Medieval
As the riches of the Greek Anthology indicate, classical and late antique epigram was predominantly written and read (and probably also performed) by Greeks, but modern ideas about the genre have ...
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As the riches of the Greek Anthology indicate, classical and late antique epigram was predominantly written and read (and probably also performed) by Greeks, but modern ideas about the genre have largely been shaped by the poetry-books of the important Latin epigrammatist Martial. Martial's Romanised version of epigram borrows heavily and without acknowledgement from contemporary Greeks writing satirical (‘skoptic’) epigrams. This book looks at this influential and culturally revealing sub-genre. Although it looks back to Old and New Comedy, skoptic epigram was essentially new; the book demonstrates that it reflects concerns characteristic of Greek intellectual and literary culture (paideia) under the Roman Empire — the so-called ‘Second Sophistic’. The mysterious ‘Loukillios’ is skoptic epigram's first major poet, heavily influencing subsequent epigrammatists including Nikarkhos and (probably) the famous satirist Lucian; culturally Greek but with a Roman-influenced name, he is Martial's main literary model. As the book shows, Loukillian humour is frequently aggressive, enforcing appropriate models of cultural and gendered identity. Its misogyny now makes it a difficult read. But it also engages subversively with Roman hegemony: several extant poems satirise the Emperor Nero. Following Loukillios, poets less well represented in the Anthology — among them the punning Ammianos, the literary critic Pollianos, and Leonides (whose poems are simultaneously numerical puzzles) — take the sub-genre in new creative directions. The book also samples a range of occasional epigrammatists, including several politically important Romans (among them the Emperor Trajan) but also many unknowns; the brief conclusion emphasises skoptic epigram's radical inclusivity and subversive potential.Less
As the riches of the Greek Anthology indicate, classical and late antique epigram was predominantly written and read (and probably also performed) by Greeks, but modern ideas about the genre have largely been shaped by the poetry-books of the important Latin epigrammatist Martial. Martial's Romanised version of epigram borrows heavily and without acknowledgement from contemporary Greeks writing satirical (‘skoptic’) epigrams. This book looks at this influential and culturally revealing sub-genre. Although it looks back to Old and New Comedy, skoptic epigram was essentially new; the book demonstrates that it reflects concerns characteristic of Greek intellectual and literary culture (paideia) under the Roman Empire — the so-called ‘Second Sophistic’. The mysterious ‘Loukillios’ is skoptic epigram's first major poet, heavily influencing subsequent epigrammatists including Nikarkhos and (probably) the famous satirist Lucian; culturally Greek but with a Roman-influenced name, he is Martial's main literary model. As the book shows, Loukillian humour is frequently aggressive, enforcing appropriate models of cultural and gendered identity. Its misogyny now makes it a difficult read. But it also engages subversively with Roman hegemony: several extant poems satirise the Emperor Nero. Following Loukillios, poets less well represented in the Anthology — among them the punning Ammianos, the literary critic Pollianos, and Leonides (whose poems are simultaneously numerical puzzles) — take the sub-genre in new creative directions. The book also samples a range of occasional epigrammatists, including several politically important Romans (among them the Emperor Trajan) but also many unknowns; the brief conclusion emphasises skoptic epigram's radical inclusivity and subversive potential.
Bryan Magee
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198237228
- eISBN:
- 9780191706233
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198237227.003.0011
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
In addition to his large‐scale system of metaphysics, Schopenhauer produced many essays, and it was eventually these that made his name and drew attention to his philosophy. The biggest collection of ...
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In addition to his large‐scale system of metaphysics, Schopenhauer produced many essays, and it was eventually these that made his name and drew attention to his philosophy. The biggest collection of them is called Parerga and Paralipomena. They are of help in understanding the philosophy, because they often contain bolder, more clear‐cut statements of the same points. They are written in an aphoristic style and are the source of many epigrams. For a long time they were more widely read than the philosophy itself.Less
In addition to his large‐scale system of metaphysics, Schopenhauer produced many essays, and it was eventually these that made his name and drew attention to his philosophy. The biggest collection of them is called Parerga and Paralipomena. They are of help in understanding the philosophy, because they often contain bolder, more clear‐cut statements of the same points. They are written in an aphoristic style and are the source of many epigrams. For a long time they were more widely read than the philosophy itself.
GIDEON NISBET
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199263370
- eISBN:
- 9780191718366
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199263370.003.0011
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Poetry and Poets: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This introductory chapter clarifies terminology, outlines the book's scope and rationale, reflects briefly on the state of play in skoptic epigram scholarship, and identifies some key methodological ...
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This introductory chapter clarifies terminology, outlines the book's scope and rationale, reflects briefly on the state of play in skoptic epigram scholarship, and identifies some key methodological concerns: literary and cultural contextualisation (including material culture), political readings, and academic reception history. It flags up the importance of developing a methodologically supple and richly contextualised reading strategy, in response to the characteristic ambiguities which are fundamental to the process of skoptic humour.Less
This introductory chapter clarifies terminology, outlines the book's scope and rationale, reflects briefly on the state of play in skoptic epigram scholarship, and identifies some key methodological concerns: literary and cultural contextualisation (including material culture), political readings, and academic reception history. It flags up the importance of developing a methodologically supple and richly contextualised reading strategy, in response to the characteristic ambiguities which are fundamental to the process of skoptic humour.
GIDEON NISBET
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199263370
- eISBN:
- 9780191718366
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199263370.003.0002
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Poetry and Poets: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter explores literary and cultural contexts for skoptic epigram. Contemporary sources are silent; the parallel of the ancient novel suggests that Second Sophistic authors did not refer to ...
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This chapter explores literary and cultural contexts for skoptic epigram. Contemporary sources are silent; the parallel of the ancient novel suggests that Second Sophistic authors did not refer to ‘new’ literary forms because their cultural authority was bound up in an inherited classical canon. Positing Loukillios as a founding author, the chapter relates the aggressive misogyny of his epigrams to use at Greek symposia. It thus extends Alan Cameron's characterisation of Hellenistic epigram into the Imperial era. Skoptic humour, based in a stock repertoire of satirical stereotypes, was an ideal sympotic entertainment. The prose prefaces of Book 11 of the Anthology, the main source for skoptic epigram, explicitly identify skoptic epigram as a traditionally favoured sympotic form. The chapter assigns the prefaces to the Imperial period on stylistic grounds. Their claim of symposiac use in earlier periods is probably an attempt to manufacture a classical pedigree for contemporary practice.Less
This chapter explores literary and cultural contexts for skoptic epigram. Contemporary sources are silent; the parallel of the ancient novel suggests that Second Sophistic authors did not refer to ‘new’ literary forms because their cultural authority was bound up in an inherited classical canon. Positing Loukillios as a founding author, the chapter relates the aggressive misogyny of his epigrams to use at Greek symposia. It thus extends Alan Cameron's characterisation of Hellenistic epigram into the Imperial era. Skoptic humour, based in a stock repertoire of satirical stereotypes, was an ideal sympotic entertainment. The prose prefaces of Book 11 of the Anthology, the main source for skoptic epigram, explicitly identify skoptic epigram as a traditionally favoured sympotic form. The chapter assigns the prefaces to the Imperial period on stylistic grounds. Their claim of symposiac use in earlier periods is probably an attempt to manufacture a classical pedigree for contemporary practice.
John H. Jr. Starks
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199595006
- eISBN:
- 9780191731464
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199595006.003.0015
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, African History: BCE to 500CE
This chapter argues that during the Vandal century of rule in Roman Africa (429‐533 CE), a form of racial profiling and racist thinking expressed through skin colour prejudices against black peoples ...
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This chapter argues that during the Vandal century of rule in Roman Africa (429‐533 CE), a form of racial profiling and racist thinking expressed through skin colour prejudices against black peoples emerges in Latin satiric epigrams from the Anthologia Latina as the power centre shifts between white, ‘neutral‐coloured,’ and black ethnic communities. Black stereotypes of fearful demons and darkness and of repulsive filth and ugliness especially mark black Africans as dangerous ‘others’ infringing on Roman‐African interests. Blacks become another act in the Anthologia Latina's cultural ‘freak show’ of exotic animals and disfranchised outcasts, entertainers, sexual deviants, the disabled, the ugly as constructed by a Mediterranean Roman society ‘neutrally’ and normatively self‐realized between white, ‘Germanic’ Vandal power and black, ‘Moorish’ African marginalization.Less
This chapter argues that during the Vandal century of rule in Roman Africa (429‐533 CE), a form of racial profiling and racist thinking expressed through skin colour prejudices against black peoples emerges in Latin satiric epigrams from the Anthologia Latina as the power centre shifts between white, ‘neutral‐coloured,’ and black ethnic communities. Black stereotypes of fearful demons and darkness and of repulsive filth and ugliness especially mark black Africans as dangerous ‘others’ infringing on Roman‐African interests. Blacks become another act in the Anthologia Latina's cultural ‘freak show’ of exotic animals and disfranchised outcasts, entertainers, sexual deviants, the disabled, the ugly as constructed by a Mediterranean Roman society ‘neutrally’ and normatively self‐realized between white, ‘Germanic’ Vandal power and black, ‘Moorish’ African marginalization.
Andrew Ford
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199733293
- eISBN:
- 9780199918539
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199733293.003.0003
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval, Ancient Greek, Roman, and Early Christian Philosophy
This Chapter compares another pair of representations of Hermias, two epigrams in elegiacs. An epigram Aristotle is said to have composed for a memorial at Delphi is read against the mocking response ...
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This Chapter compares another pair of representations of Hermias, two epigrams in elegiacs. An epigram Aristotle is said to have composed for a memorial at Delphi is read against the mocking response to this verse by Theocritus of Chios and the different social functions of elegiacs as opposed to lyric verse are introduced. It emerges that Aristotle’s poetry for his friend necessarily took on a polemical, even propagandistic aspect. The genre of epigram also raises possibility that the occasion projected by a poem for its ostensible performance may be fictive, as in the case of “book epigrams.” Although it declares itself a poem inscribed on stone, Aristotle’s Delphic epigram shows a rhetorical subtlety that suggests that he, like Theocritus, may have anticipated the Hellenistic tradition of literary epigrams.Less
This Chapter compares another pair of representations of Hermias, two epigrams in elegiacs. An epigram Aristotle is said to have composed for a memorial at Delphi is read against the mocking response to this verse by Theocritus of Chios and the different social functions of elegiacs as opposed to lyric verse are introduced. It emerges that Aristotle’s poetry for his friend necessarily took on a polemical, even propagandistic aspect. The genre of epigram also raises possibility that the occasion projected by a poem for its ostensible performance may be fictive, as in the case of “book epigrams.” Although it declares itself a poem inscribed on stone, Aristotle’s Delphic epigram shows a rhetorical subtlety that suggests that he, like Theocritus, may have anticipated the Hellenistic tradition of literary epigrams.
Karen Stears
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748614066
- eISBN:
- 9780748651054
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748614066.003.0012
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
Athens produced some of the finest sculpted grave monuments to be found in the ancient world, which adorned cemeteries and roadsides throughout the polis. The majority of them were decorated with ...
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Athens produced some of the finest sculpted grave monuments to be found in the ancient world, which adorned cemeteries and roadsides throughout the polis. The majority of them were decorated with painted images of the deceased, their family identified by the addition of an inscribed or painted name or epigram. This chapter investigates other aspects of the concepts of ‘text’ and ‘art’, and indeed of ‘reading’ and ‘viewing’ within the funerary context of Athens. It argues that monuments should be regarded in a ‘holistic’ manner, and also focuses on the classical era's thriving sculpture industry, with a market eager for gravestones. Moreover, the chapter considers the implications of the change in memorial form in an attempt to assess the impact of the loss of the figurative grave-markers and the intrusion of a purely inscribed monument on Athenian funerals.Less
Athens produced some of the finest sculpted grave monuments to be found in the ancient world, which adorned cemeteries and roadsides throughout the polis. The majority of them were decorated with painted images of the deceased, their family identified by the addition of an inscribed or painted name or epigram. This chapter investigates other aspects of the concepts of ‘text’ and ‘art’, and indeed of ‘reading’ and ‘viewing’ within the funerary context of Athens. It argues that monuments should be regarded in a ‘holistic’ manner, and also focuses on the classical era's thriving sculpture industry, with a market eager for gravestones. Moreover, the chapter considers the implications of the change in memorial form in an attempt to assess the impact of the loss of the figurative grave-markers and the intrusion of a purely inscribed monument on Athenian funerals.
