Giovanna Ceserani
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199744275
- eISBN:
- 9780199932139
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199744275.003.0004
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, American History: pre-Columbian BCE to 500CE
This chapter reinterprets the origins of modern classical archaeology by examining the founding of the first archaeological institute, the Instituto di Corrispondenza Archeologica. Understanding the ...
More
This chapter reinterprets the origins of modern classical archaeology by examining the founding of the first archaeological institute, the Instituto di Corrispondenza Archeologica. Understanding the Instituto within its Italian contexts reveals the importance to this process of Magna Graecia its material culture and its scholars and simultaneously explains Magna Graecia's subsequent marginalization. The work and life of the institute's founder, the German Eduard Gerhard, are shown to be indebted to Neapolitan cultural institutions and antiquarianism, the richness of which is evinced through the scholarship of Andrea de Jorio. Analysis of the debate on the provenance of painted vases within the Instituto's community illuminates the emerging predilection of the new archaeological discipline for mainland Greece rather than Magna Graecia. The provincialization of South Italian scholarship accompanying this process of archaeological professionalization is explored through the relationship of the Calabrese scholar Vito Capialbi with the new archaeology promoted by the Instituto.Less
This chapter reinterprets the origins of modern classical archaeology by examining the founding of the first archaeological institute, the Instituto di Corrispondenza Archeologica. Understanding the Instituto within its Italian contexts reveals the importance to this process of Magna Graecia its material culture and its scholars and simultaneously explains Magna Graecia's subsequent marginalization. The work and life of the institute's founder, the German Eduard Gerhard, are shown to be indebted to Neapolitan cultural institutions and antiquarianism, the richness of which is evinced through the scholarship of Andrea de Jorio. Analysis of the debate on the provenance of painted vases within the Instituto's community illuminates the emerging predilection of the new archaeological discipline for mainland Greece rather than Magna Graecia. The provincialization of South Italian scholarship accompanying this process of archaeological professionalization is explored through the relationship of the Calabrese scholar Vito Capialbi with the new archaeology promoted by the Instituto.
Jan N. Bremmer and Andrew Erskine
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748637980
- eISBN:
- 9780748670758
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748637980.003.0017
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Ancient Religions
The richest body of evidence for perceptions of the gods in Apulia consists of local figure decorated pottery made between about 430 and 300 BC. Though Greek in style, the vast majority of the pots ...
More
The richest body of evidence for perceptions of the gods in Apulia consists of local figure decorated pottery made between about 430 and 300 BC. Though Greek in style, the vast majority of the pots on which the images appear have been found in Italic (non-Greek) tombs rather than in the tomb of Taranto, the one Greek city in Apulia. Most of the gods in these vase-paintings appear as peripheral figures, almost like spectators in a gallery. The one exception is Dionysos who is central to the scenes in which he appears. He is always shown as a beardless youth, often naked, a form that replaces the traditional bearded Dionysos on Athenian vases at about the same time it appears in Apulia. In this new form he is not the theatre god nor is he the god of wine; rather, he is a champion of the dead and a guarantor of personal afterlife.Less
The richest body of evidence for perceptions of the gods in Apulia consists of local figure decorated pottery made between about 430 and 300 BC. Though Greek in style, the vast majority of the pots on which the images appear have been found in Italic (non-Greek) tombs rather than in the tomb of Taranto, the one Greek city in Apulia. Most of the gods in these vase-paintings appear as peripheral figures, almost like spectators in a gallery. The one exception is Dionysos who is central to the scenes in which he appears. He is always shown as a beardless youth, often naked, a form that replaces the traditional bearded Dionysos on Athenian vases at about the same time it appears in Apulia. In this new form he is not the theatre god nor is he the god of wine; rather, he is a champion of the dead and a guarantor of personal afterlife.
Noah Heringman
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199556915
- eISBN:
- 9780191744990
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199556915.003.0006
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE
Drawing especially on the last two volumes of the Collection of Etruscan, Greek, and Roman Antiquities, this chapter offers a second close reading focusing on the intersection between the history of ...
More
Drawing especially on the last two volumes of the Collection of Etruscan, Greek, and Roman Antiquities, this chapter offers a second close reading focusing on the intersection between the history of religion and the early history of art. These two volumes tell a story of stylistic development in Greek art, correlated with developments in Greek religion and society. This chapter argues that d’Hancarville anticipated the deep time of archaeology by relocating the origins of art and ritual close to the moment of human origins. This argument develops the implications for art history of the ethnographic approach examined in Chapter 4, examining d’Hancarville’s expansion of the historical timescale and his geographic expansion of the project from southern Italy to Magna Graecia. Though lacking a scientific method, d’Hancarville uses his broad knowledge of myth and religion to establish a long history for the ancient world that predates Homeric Greece.Less
Drawing especially on the last two volumes of the Collection of Etruscan, Greek, and Roman Antiquities, this chapter offers a second close reading focusing on the intersection between the history of religion and the early history of art. These two volumes tell a story of stylistic development in Greek art, correlated with developments in Greek religion and society. This chapter argues that d’Hancarville anticipated the deep time of archaeology by relocating the origins of art and ritual close to the moment of human origins. This argument develops the implications for art history of the ethnographic approach examined in Chapter 4, examining d’Hancarville’s expansion of the historical timescale and his geographic expansion of the project from southern Italy to Magna Graecia. Though lacking a scientific method, d’Hancarville uses his broad knowledge of myth and religion to establish a long history for the ancient world that predates Homeric Greece.
Guy Hedreen
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780199687688
- eISBN:
- 9780191829383
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199687688.003.0007
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Poetry and Poets: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter examines several late archaic vase-paintings that are signed Smikros egraphsen or that include a characted labelled as Smikros. It argues that Smikros is not a real vase-painter but a ...
More
This chapter examines several late archaic vase-paintings that are signed Smikros egraphsen or that include a characted labelled as Smikros. It argues that Smikros is not a real vase-painter but a fictitious creation of the great, late archaic Athenian vase-painter Euphronios, and that the anomalous features within vases allegedly painted by Smikros function as invitations to consider critically Smikros’ status as a symposiast and his identity as an artist. It draws parallels with the iambic poetry of Archilochos and Hipponax, who used fictional personae as first-person narrators, thus drawing critical attention to the persona of the author. Both Hipponax and (perhaps) Archilochos also engaged in mockery and one-upmanship towards sculptors construed as their rivals, and portrayed their own personas in an unfavourable light, mobilizing stereotypes about social class or social status. All these are paralleled in Euphronios’ ‘iambic’ portrayal of Smikros and of himself.Less
This chapter examines several late archaic vase-paintings that are signed Smikros egraphsen or that include a characted labelled as Smikros. It argues that Smikros is not a real vase-painter but a fictitious creation of the great, late archaic Athenian vase-painter Euphronios, and that the anomalous features within vases allegedly painted by Smikros function as invitations to consider critically Smikros’ status as a symposiast and his identity as an artist. It draws parallels with the iambic poetry of Archilochos and Hipponax, who used fictional personae as first-person narrators, thus drawing critical attention to the persona of the author. Both Hipponax and (perhaps) Archilochos also engaged in mockery and one-upmanship towards sculptors construed as their rivals, and portrayed their own personas in an unfavourable light, mobilizing stereotypes about social class or social status. All these are paralleled in Euphronios’ ‘iambic’ portrayal of Smikros and of himself.
Anthony Snodgrass
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748614066
- eISBN:
- 9780748651054
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748614066.003.0003
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter turns its attention to vase painting and finds evidence to support Aristotle's temporal distinction in general terms. The interplay of image and word had long been ubiquitous in the ...
More
This chapter turns its attention to vase painting and finds evidence to support Aristotle's temporal distinction in general terms. The interplay of image and word had long been ubiquitous in the culture of ancient Greece. However, there are very few places where the two come close together as in the painted inscriptions on Greek vases: indeed, inasmuch as the inscription at times seem to be located with a view of filling gaps in the figure-scenes, the word can actually become a part of the image. This was a phenomenon that had a fairly rapid growth, then a pronounced peak, then a steady decline. The François Vase stands just at the point when the flood-gates were about to open on the inscribing of vase-scenes at Athens.Less
This chapter turns its attention to vase painting and finds evidence to support Aristotle's temporal distinction in general terms. The interplay of image and word had long been ubiquitous in the culture of ancient Greece. However, there are very few places where the two come close together as in the painted inscriptions on Greek vases: indeed, inasmuch as the inscription at times seem to be located with a view of filling gaps in the figure-scenes, the word can actually become a part of the image. This was a phenomenon that had a fairly rapid growth, then a pronounced peak, then a steady decline. The François Vase stands just at the point when the flood-gates were about to open on the inscribing of vase-scenes at Athens.
Noah Heringman
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199556915
- eISBN:
- 9780191744990
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199556915.003.0005
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE
Turning from the form to the content of Collection of Etruscan, Greek, and Roman Antiquities, this chapter offers the concept of ‘ethnographic actualism’ to describe d’Hancarville’s strategy of ...
More
Turning from the form to the content of Collection of Etruscan, Greek, and Roman Antiquities, this chapter offers the concept of ‘ethnographic actualism’ to describe d’Hancarville’s strategy of deriving explanations of ancient vase paintings from contemporary Neapolitan customs and manners, including music, dance, and religion. The term ‘actualism’, drawn from the history of geology, also signals a set of disciplinary and formal analogies between the Antiquities and Campi Phlegraei. Beginning in the mid-eighteenth century, simultaneous work on the geology of Vesuvius and the archaeology of Herculaneum reinforced the affinities between antiquarianism and natural history, including ethnography. Although D’Hancarville changes his terms halfway through the book, he continues to pursue an explanation for the origins of art. Because this prehistory of art draws heavily upon environmental causes, ethnography, and other aspects of natural history, this chapter argues, it may be viewed productively as a natural history of art.Less
Turning from the form to the content of Collection of Etruscan, Greek, and Roman Antiquities, this chapter offers the concept of ‘ethnographic actualism’ to describe d’Hancarville’s strategy of deriving explanations of ancient vase paintings from contemporary Neapolitan customs and manners, including music, dance, and religion. The term ‘actualism’, drawn from the history of geology, also signals a set of disciplinary and formal analogies between the Antiquities and Campi Phlegraei. Beginning in the mid-eighteenth century, simultaneous work on the geology of Vesuvius and the archaeology of Herculaneum reinforced the affinities between antiquarianism and natural history, including ethnography. Although D’Hancarville changes his terms halfway through the book, he continues to pursue an explanation for the origins of art. Because this prehistory of art draws heavily upon environmental causes, ethnography, and other aspects of natural history, this chapter argues, it may be viewed productively as a natural history of art.
Jenifer Neils
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199696093
- eISBN:
- 9780191745744
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199696093.003.0007
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Ancient Religions, Archaeology: Classical
The Panathenaic festival held in honor of Athena in her eponymous city is usually presented synchronically with little discussion of how it developed over the many centuries of its existence (566 bc ...
More
The Panathenaic festival held in honor of Athena in her eponymous city is usually presented synchronically with little discussion of how it developed over the many centuries of its existence (566 bc to 4th century ad). This paper, with a view to Attic vase-painting and the Parthenon frieze, examines the first century of this major festival diachronically and suggests the possibility that certain elements, that seem traditional like the apobates race and the presentation of a peplos, are in fact later additions prompted by the changing political dynamic of Athens. The festival was part of a civic ideology, in which performance and communication were fundamental conceptsLess
The Panathenaic festival held in honor of Athena in her eponymous city is usually presented synchronically with little discussion of how it developed over the many centuries of its existence (566 bc to 4th century ad). This paper, with a view to Attic vase-painting and the Parthenon frieze, examines the first century of this major festival diachronically and suggests the possibility that certain elements, that seem traditional like the apobates race and the presentation of a peplos, are in fact later additions prompted by the changing political dynamic of Athens. The festival was part of a civic ideology, in which performance and communication were fundamental concepts
Richard Seaford
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- May 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780859897525
- eISBN:
- 9781781380628
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/liverpool/9780859897525.003.0007
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Plays and Playwrights: Classical, Early, and Medieval
The mythical Niobe was a boastful mother who was punished by Artemis and Apollo by the death of her children. This chapter attempts to contextualize a fragment from Aeschylus' fragmentary play and in ...
More
The mythical Niobe was a boastful mother who was punished by Artemis and Apollo by the death of her children. This chapter attempts to contextualize a fragment from Aeschylus' fragmentary play and in so doing also informs our reading of several passages in extant tragedies, such as the Antigone and the Medea, where Niobe is also mentioned. It shows that the dual presence of death imagery and wedding imagery is evoked in these passages and explains the rationale behind the tradition of Niobe's eventual transformation into stone — an ever-weeping rock — as represented in several remarkable vase-paintings which are thought to have been directly inspired by Aeschylus' play.Less
The mythical Niobe was a boastful mother who was punished by Artemis and Apollo by the death of her children. This chapter attempts to contextualize a fragment from Aeschylus' fragmentary play and in so doing also informs our reading of several passages in extant tragedies, such as the Antigone and the Medea, where Niobe is also mentioned. It shows that the dual presence of death imagery and wedding imagery is evoked in these passages and explains the rationale behind the tradition of Niobe's eventual transformation into stone — an ever-weeping rock — as represented in several remarkable vase-paintings which are thought to have been directly inspired by Aeschylus' play.
Luca Giuliani
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226297651
- eISBN:
- 9780226025902
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226025902.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, History of Art: pre-history, BCE to 500CE, ancient and classical, Byzantine
On museum visits, we pass by beautiful, well-preserved vases from ancient Greece—but how often do we understand what the images on them depict? This book tells the stories behind the pictures, ...
More
On museum visits, we pass by beautiful, well-preserved vases from ancient Greece—but how often do we understand what the images on them depict? This book tells the stories behind the pictures, exploring how artists of antiquity had to determine which motifs or historical and mythic events to use to tell an underlying story while also keeping in mind the tastes and expectations of paying clients. Covering the range of Greek style and its growth between the early Archaic and Hellenistic periods, the book describes the intellectual, social, and artistic contexts in which the images were created. It reveals that developments in Greek vase painting were driven as much by the times as they were by tradition—the better-known the story, the less leeway the artists had in interpreting it. As literary culture transformed from an oral tradition, in which stories were always in flux, to the stability of written texts, the images produced by artists eventually became nothing more than illustrations of canonical works. At once a work of cultural and art history, this book builds a new way of understanding the visual culture of ancient Greece.Less
On museum visits, we pass by beautiful, well-preserved vases from ancient Greece—but how often do we understand what the images on them depict? This book tells the stories behind the pictures, exploring how artists of antiquity had to determine which motifs or historical and mythic events to use to tell an underlying story while also keeping in mind the tastes and expectations of paying clients. Covering the range of Greek style and its growth between the early Archaic and Hellenistic periods, the book describes the intellectual, social, and artistic contexts in which the images were created. It reveals that developments in Greek vase painting were driven as much by the times as they were by tradition—the better-known the story, the less leeway the artists had in interpreting it. As literary culture transformed from an oral tradition, in which stories were always in flux, to the stability of written texts, the images produced by artists eventually became nothing more than illustrations of canonical works. At once a work of cultural and art history, this book builds a new way of understanding the visual culture of ancient Greece.
Hélène Collard
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- March 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780198777342
- eISBN:
- 9780191823060
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198777342.003.0015
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval, Ancient Religions
Historians and archaeologists have long been interested in the Greek herm. However, several aspects of this topic can still be refined. The usual questions about these monuments bear on their origin, ...
More
Historians and archaeologists have long been interested in the Greek herm. However, several aspects of this topic can still be refined. The usual questions about these monuments bear on their origin, their signification, and their function. Many works have already addressed the question of the origin of the hermaic form, which seems rather clear today. But some uncertainties remain about the role, the signification and, in particular, about the function of herms: were they divine images, cult images of the god Hermes, or only boundary markers? By investigating iconographical evidence, this paper aims to shed new light on these questions.Less
Historians and archaeologists have long been interested in the Greek herm. However, several aspects of this topic can still be refined. The usual questions about these monuments bear on their origin, their signification, and their function. Many works have already addressed the question of the origin of the hermaic form, which seems rather clear today. But some uncertainties remain about the role, the signification and, in particular, about the function of herms: were they divine images, cult images of the god Hermes, or only boundary markers? By investigating iconographical evidence, this paper aims to shed new light on these questions.
Jenny Strauss Clay
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- December 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780198728788
- eISBN:
- 9780191795510
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198728788.003.0002
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
After dealing with some theoretical issues involving the relation between art and text and a lekythos that appears to quote from the Hymn to Hermes, I examine some Attic vases that share themes with ...
More
After dealing with some theoretical issues involving the relation between art and text and a lekythos that appears to quote from the Hymn to Hermes, I examine some Attic vases that share themes with the Homeric Hymns, including the Exekias kylix of Dionysus and the dolphins and the name vase of the Persephone Painter, and analyse their visual strategies in relation to the hymnic narratives. I then focus on various depictions of Hermes and the stolen cattle, some of which have implications for the dating of the Hymn, before ending with the playful visual jokes on two cups attributed to the Brygos Painter that oblige the viewer to search for Apollo’s stolen cattle and the thief.Less
After dealing with some theoretical issues involving the relation between art and text and a lekythos that appears to quote from the Hymn to Hermes, I examine some Attic vases that share themes with the Homeric Hymns, including the Exekias kylix of Dionysus and the dolphins and the name vase of the Persephone Painter, and analyse their visual strategies in relation to the hymnic narratives. I then focus on various depictions of Hermes and the stolen cattle, some of which have implications for the dating of the Hymn, before ending with the playful visual jokes on two cups attributed to the Brygos Painter that oblige the viewer to search for Apollo’s stolen cattle and the thief.
T. P. Wiseman
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- August 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780198718352
- eISBN:
- 9780191787645
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198718352.003.0003
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
Attic, Apulian, Campanian, and Etruscan red-figure vase painting, and engraved bronze mirrors and cistae from Latium, attest the cultural milieu of fourth-century Italy and the ubiquity of its ...
More
Attic, Apulian, Campanian, and Etruscan red-figure vase painting, and engraved bronze mirrors and cistae from Latium, attest the cultural milieu of fourth-century Italy and the ubiquity of its Dionysiac imagery. The ‘tragic fooleries’ (phlyakes) of Rhinthon of Tarentum and Blaisos of Capri, known as ‘Italian comedy’, may have featured in the Romans stage-games (ludi scaenici), for which contemporary evidence—from Fabius Pictor, quoted by Dionysius of Halicarnassus—becomes available in the late third century. Meanwhile, the defeat of Carthage in 241 and the establishment of relations with Ptolemaic Egypt made it possible to preserve poetry and performance on papyrus; the beginning of ‘Latin literature’, in the plays and poems of Livius Andronicus, was evidently influenced by the collection of texts in the Alexandrian library. But texts were not widely circulated. Naevius’ Bellum Punicum evidently existed only in the poet’s own prompt-copy, as was probably the norm.Less
Attic, Apulian, Campanian, and Etruscan red-figure vase painting, and engraved bronze mirrors and cistae from Latium, attest the cultural milieu of fourth-century Italy and the ubiquity of its Dionysiac imagery. The ‘tragic fooleries’ (phlyakes) of Rhinthon of Tarentum and Blaisos of Capri, known as ‘Italian comedy’, may have featured in the Romans stage-games (ludi scaenici), for which contemporary evidence—from Fabius Pictor, quoted by Dionysius of Halicarnassus—becomes available in the late third century. Meanwhile, the defeat of Carthage in 241 and the establishment of relations with Ptolemaic Egypt made it possible to preserve poetry and performance on papyrus; the beginning of ‘Latin literature’, in the plays and poems of Livius Andronicus, was evidently influenced by the collection of texts in the Alexandrian library. But texts were not widely circulated. Naevius’ Bellum Punicum evidently existed only in the poet’s own prompt-copy, as was probably the norm.
John F. Miller and Jenny Strauss Clay (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- March 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780198777342
- eISBN:
- 9780191823060
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198777342.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval, Ancient Religions
Of all the divinities of classical antiquity, the Greek Hermes (= Roman Mercury) is the most versatile, enigmatic, complex, and ambiguous. The runt of the Olympian litter, he is the god of lies and ...
More
Of all the divinities of classical antiquity, the Greek Hermes (= Roman Mercury) is the most versatile, enigmatic, complex, and ambiguous. The runt of the Olympian litter, he is the god of lies and tricks, yet also kindly to mankind and bringer of luck; his functions embrace both the marking of boundaries and their transgression, commerce, lucre, and theft, rhetoric, and practical jokes; he also plays the role of mediator between all realms of human and divine activity, embracing heaven, earth, and the Netherworld. The twenty original contributions in this volume bring together a wide range of disciplines, including Greek and Roman literature (epic, lyric, and drama), epigraphy, cult and religion, vase painting and sculpture. Such an interdisciplinary approach is not only appropriate, but essential to investigating the many facets of this elusive divinity.Less
Of all the divinities of classical antiquity, the Greek Hermes (= Roman Mercury) is the most versatile, enigmatic, complex, and ambiguous. The runt of the Olympian litter, he is the god of lies and tricks, yet also kindly to mankind and bringer of luck; his functions embrace both the marking of boundaries and their transgression, commerce, lucre, and theft, rhetoric, and practical jokes; he also plays the role of mediator between all realms of human and divine activity, embracing heaven, earth, and the Netherworld. The twenty original contributions in this volume bring together a wide range of disciplines, including Greek and Roman literature (epic, lyric, and drama), epigraphy, cult and religion, vase painting and sculpture. Such an interdisciplinary approach is not only appropriate, but essential to investigating the many facets of this elusive divinity.
Vanessa Cazzato, Dirk Obbink, and Enrico Emanuele Prodi (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780199687688
- eISBN:
- 9780191829383
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199687688.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Poetry and Poets: Classical, Early, and Medieval
The symposion is arguably the most significant and well-documented context for the performance, transmission, and criticism of archaic and classical Greek poetry. The Cup of Song explores how Greek ...
More
The symposion is arguably the most significant and well-documented context for the performance, transmission, and criticism of archaic and classical Greek poetry. The Cup of Song explores how Greek poetry relates to the symposion considered as both an actual performance context and an imaginary space pregnant with social, political, and aesthetic implications. This collection of essays by an international group of leading scholars flashes light on different facets of this symbiotic relation of symposion and poetry across Greek literary history. It covers the entire span of Greek literature into its afterlife, from the Near Eastern origins of the Greek symposion in the eighth century to Horace’s evocations of his archaic models and Lucian’s knowing reworking of classic texts. The Introduction traces the running threads of sympotic poetry from its beginnings to the Hellenistic age, while each of the twelve chapters discusses one aspect of sympotic engagement by key authors in archaic and classical lyric, tragedy, comedy, and Hellenistic epigram, also taking into account the visual evidence of painted pottery. By examining this diverse body of texts from the unifying perspective of their relation to the symposion, with an eye to both the common features and the specificity of individual genres and texts, the volume attempts a characterization of the full spectrum of sympotic poetry.Less
The symposion is arguably the most significant and well-documented context for the performance, transmission, and criticism of archaic and classical Greek poetry. The Cup of Song explores how Greek poetry relates to the symposion considered as both an actual performance context and an imaginary space pregnant with social, political, and aesthetic implications. This collection of essays by an international group of leading scholars flashes light on different facets of this symbiotic relation of symposion and poetry across Greek literary history. It covers the entire span of Greek literature into its afterlife, from the Near Eastern origins of the Greek symposion in the eighth century to Horace’s evocations of his archaic models and Lucian’s knowing reworking of classic texts. The Introduction traces the running threads of sympotic poetry from its beginnings to the Hellenistic age, while each of the twelve chapters discusses one aspect of sympotic engagement by key authors in archaic and classical lyric, tragedy, comedy, and Hellenistic epigram, also taking into account the visual evidence of painted pottery. By examining this diverse body of texts from the unifying perspective of their relation to the symposion, with an eye to both the common features and the specificity of individual genres and texts, the volume attempts a characterization of the full spectrum of sympotic poetry.
