Theodora A. Hadjimichael
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- June 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780198810865
- eISBN:
- 9780191848001
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198810865.003.0006
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval, Poetry and Poets: Classical, Early, and Medieval
Chapter 5 considers the materiality of lyric poems, and discusses the coexistence of lyric song with the availability and circulation of lyric texts both within and outside Athens. The analysis ...
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Chapter 5 considers the materiality of lyric poems, and discusses the coexistence of lyric song with the availability and circulation of lyric texts both within and outside Athens. The analysis presents the fifth-century literary and archaeological evidence on the existence of various kinds of books in everyday life, and distinguishes between public availability of (lyric) texts in Athenian book markets and copies owned by individuals in private book collections. No reference is ever made to book-rolls with lyric poetry in the market in our sources, and it is difficult to argue that lyric texts circulated widely in Athens. It is, however, possible that they were part of Athenian private collections. The discussion also concentrates on the sociology of lyric reception and transmission in democratic Athens. Our sources suggest that canonical sixth- and fifth-century lyric remained a favourite of the ‘elite’ and intellectuals, who would have preserved these poems as both text and song.Less
Chapter 5 considers the materiality of lyric poems, and discusses the coexistence of lyric song with the availability and circulation of lyric texts both within and outside Athens. The analysis presents the fifth-century literary and archaeological evidence on the existence of various kinds of books in everyday life, and distinguishes between public availability of (lyric) texts in Athenian book markets and copies owned by individuals in private book collections. No reference is ever made to book-rolls with lyric poetry in the market in our sources, and it is difficult to argue that lyric texts circulated widely in Athens. It is, however, possible that they were part of Athenian private collections. The discussion also concentrates on the sociology of lyric reception and transmission in democratic Athens. Our sources suggest that canonical sixth- and fifth-century lyric remained a favourite of the ‘elite’ and intellectuals, who would have preserved these poems as both text and song.
Theodora A. Hadjimichael
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- June 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780198810865
- eISBN:
- 9780191848001
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198810865.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval, Poetry and Poets: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This book explores the process of canonization of Greek lyric, as well as the textual transmission, and preservation of the lyric poems from the archaic period through to their emergence from the ...
More
This book explores the process of canonization of Greek lyric, as well as the textual transmission, and preservation of the lyric poems from the archaic period through to their emergence from the Library at Alexandria as edited texts. It takes into account a broad range of primary material, and focuses on specific genres, authors, philosophical schools, and scholarly activities that played a critical role in the survival and canonization of lyric poetry: comedy, Plato, Aristotle’s Peripatos, and the Hellenistic scholars. It explores therefore the way in which fifth- and fourth-century sources received and interpreted lyric material, and the role they played both in the scholarly work of the Alexandrians and in the creation of what we conventionally call the Hellenistic Lyric Canon by considering the changing contexts within which lyric songs and texts operated. With the exception of Bacchylides, whose reception and Hellenistic reputation is analysed separately, it becomes clear that the canonization of the lyric poets follows a pattern of transmission and reception. The overall analysis demonstrates that the process of canonization was already at work in the fifth- and fourth-centuries BC and that the Lyric Canon remained stable and unchanged up to the Hellenistic era, when it was inherited by the Hellenistic scholars.Less
This book explores the process of canonization of Greek lyric, as well as the textual transmission, and preservation of the lyric poems from the archaic period through to their emergence from the Library at Alexandria as edited texts. It takes into account a broad range of primary material, and focuses on specific genres, authors, philosophical schools, and scholarly activities that played a critical role in the survival and canonization of lyric poetry: comedy, Plato, Aristotle’s Peripatos, and the Hellenistic scholars. It explores therefore the way in which fifth- and fourth-century sources received and interpreted lyric material, and the role they played both in the scholarly work of the Alexandrians and in the creation of what we conventionally call the Hellenistic Lyric Canon by considering the changing contexts within which lyric songs and texts operated. With the exception of Bacchylides, whose reception and Hellenistic reputation is analysed separately, it becomes clear that the canonization of the lyric poets follows a pattern of transmission and reception. The overall analysis demonstrates that the process of canonization was already at work in the fifth- and fourth-centuries BC and that the Lyric Canon remained stable and unchanged up to the Hellenistic era, when it was inherited by the Hellenistic scholars.
