The Cambridge Companion to Ancient Greek Epic

New account of the oldest and foundational genre of ancient Greek literature which reveals its continued impact and relevance today.

Emma Greensmith (Edited by)

9781316514696, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 28 November 2024

570 pages, 10 b/w illus.
23.5 x 15.9 x 3.6 cm, 0.95 kg

'The collection is commendable overall for its variety of approaches, alternating between useful general overviews and more precise, often stimulating, studies. The synoptic historical panorama on page 468, the copious bibliography (55 pages!) supplemented by selective bibliographical references at the end of each chapter, as well as the two indexes (cited passages and key concepts) make this work an essential research tool for all specialists in ancient epic poetry.' François Ripoll, Exemplaria Classica

Ancient Greek literature begins with the epic verses of Homer. Epic then continued as a fundamental literary form throughout antiquity and the influence of the poems produced extends beyond antiquity and down to the present. This Companion presents a fresh and boundary-breaking account of the ancient Greek epic tradition. It includes wide-ranging close readings of epics from Homer to Nonnus, traces their dialogues with other modes such as ancient Mesopotamian poetry, Greek lyric and didactic writing, and explores their afterlives in Byzantium, early Christianity, modern fiction and cinema, and the identity politics of Greece and Turkey. Plot summaries are provided for those unfamiliar with individual poems. Drawing on cutting-edge new research in a number of fields, such as racecraft, geopolitics and the theory of emotions, the volume demonstrates the sustained and often surprising power of this renowned ancient genre, and sheds new light on its continued impact and relevance today.

Introduction: (pushing) the limits of epic Emma Greensmith
Part I. Epic Engagements: 1. Greek and near eastern epic: context and comparison Bernardo Ballesteros
2. Epic and lyric Henry Spelman
3. Didactic (and) epic Emily Kneebone
Part II. Epic Space: 4. Space and story: the Iliad and odyssey Christos Tsagalis
5. Do not talk death to me: the epic underworld Karolina Sekita
6. Epic dislocation: nostalgia and return Alexander C. Loney
7. Shrunken epic: the poetics of epyllion Berenice Verhelst
Part III. Epic Time: 8. A brief history of epic time Simon Goldhill
9. Time and again: Apollonius' Argonautica Tom Phillips
10. Trojan temporality in imperial Greek epic Emma Greensmith
Part IV. Epic People: 11. The language of epic sacrifice Renaud Gagné
12. Epic racecraft and the race of heroes Jackie Murray
13. Women in homer and beyond Emily Hauser
Part V. Epic Feelings: 14. Before, beneath, beyond emotions: reading affects in epic Pauline LeVen
15. Humour in Greek epic Matt Hosty
16. Love, desire and erotics Steven D. Smith
Part VI. Epic Without End: 17. Ancient readers of Greek epic Richard Hunter
18. Greek epic in a Christian empire: grit in the eye Tim Whitmarsh
19. The fates of epic in Byzantium: homer for a new era Markéta Kulhánková
20. Homeric epic and nation building in modern Greece and Turkey Johanna Hanink
21. Ancient Greek epic and the cinema: transformations and archetypes Martin M. Winkler
Epilogue: a continuous song: reflections on Greek epic in the modern Greek lands Panayiotis Christoforou
Chapter abstracts
Timeline of ancient Greek epic
Bibliography
Index locorum
Subject Index.

Subject Areas: Classical history / classical civilisation [HBLA1]