Greek and Latin Poetry of Late Antiquity
Form, Tradition, and Context

Promotes a bilingual (Latin/Greek) focus to shed new light on the poetics and aesthetics of late antique poetry.

Berenice Verhelst (Edited by), Tine Scheijnen (Edited by)

9781316516058, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 30 June 2022

300 pages
23.5 x 15.5 x 2 cm, 0.6 kg

Although Greek and Latin poetry from late antiquity each poses similar questions and problems, a real dialogue between scholars on both sides is even now conspicuously absent. A lack of evidence impedes discussion of whether there was direct interaction between the two language traditions. This volume, however, starts from the premise that direct interaction should never be a prerequisite for a meaningful comparative and contextualising analysis of both late antique poetic traditions. A team of leading and emerging scholars sheds new light on literary developments that can be or have been regarded as typical of the period and on the poetic and aesthetic ideals that affected individual works, which are both classicizing and 'un-classical' in similar and diverging ways. This innovative exploration of the possibilities created by a bilingual focus should stimulate further explorations in future research.

Introduction. Walking the wire. Towards an inclusive approach to Latin and Greek late antique poetry Berenice Verhelst and Tine Scheijnen
Part I: 1. Rivaling song-contests and alternative Typhonomachies in Ovid and Nonnus: revisiting the issue of Latin influence on Greek poetry in Late Antiquity Katerina Carvounis and Sophia Papaioannou
2. Greek and Roman epigrammatists in the later imperial period: Ausonius and Palladas in dialogue with the classical past Silvio Bär
3. Allusion and referentiality in late antique epic Calum Maciver
4. Speaking from the margins: paratexts in Greek and Latin poetry Aaron Pelttari
Part II: 5. The implosion of poetic genre in Late Antiquity Helen Kaufmann
6. Common texts, (un)common aesthetics: the Greek and Latin cento in dialogue Brian Sowers
7. A 'revival' of the 'epyllion' as a 'genre'? Genre awareness in short epic narrative from Late Antiquity Berenice Verhelst
Part III: 8. Saying the other. The poetics of personification in late antique epic Emma Greensmith
9. Internal audiences in the New Testament epics of Juvencus and Nonnus Laura Miguélez-Cavero
10. Colluthus and Dracontius: mythical traditions and innovations Marcelina Gilka
11. Objects of the lusting gaze: viewing women as works of art in late antique poetry Sophie Schoess
12. Metamorphosis and mutability in late antique epic Philip Hardie.

Subject Areas: Classical history / classical civilisation [HBLA1], Literary studies: poetry & poets [DSC], Literary studies: classical, early & medieval [DSBB]