The Cambridge Companion to Greek Lyric

Introduction to this wide-ranging body of poetry, which includes work by such famous poets as Sappho and Pindar.

Felix Budelmann (Edited by)

9780521849449, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 30 April 2009

484 pages, 12 b/w illus. 2 maps
23.5 x 15.3 x 2.6 cm, 0.89 kg

Greek lyric poetry encompassed a wide range of types of poem, from elegy to iambos and dithyramb to epinician. It particularly flourished in the Archaic and Classical periods, and some of its practitioners, such as Sappho and Pindar, had significant cultural influence in subsequent centuries down to the present day. This Companion provides an accessible introduction to this fascinating and diverse body of poetry and its later reception. It takes account of the exciting new papyrus finds and new critical approaches which have greatly advanced our understanding of both the corpus itself and of the sociocultural contexts in which lyric pieces were produced, performed and transmitted. Each chapter is provided with a guide to further reading, and the volume includes a chronology, glossary and guide to editions and translations.

1. Introducing Greek lyric Felix Budelmann
Part I. Contexts and Topics: 2. Genre, occasion and performance Chris Carey
3. Greek lyric and the politics and sociologies of archaic and classical Greek communities Simon Hornblower
4. Greek lyric and gender Eva Stehle
5. Greek lyric and the place of humans in the world Mark Griffith
6. Greek lyric and early Greek literary history Barbara Graziosi and Johannes Haubold
7. Language and pragmatics Giovan Battista D'Alessio
8. Metre and music Luigi Battezzato
Part II. Poets and Traditions: 9. Iambos Chris Carey
10. Elegy Antonio Aloni
11. Alcman, Stesichorus and Ibycus Eveline Krummen
12. Alcaeus and Sappho Dimitrios Yatromanolakis
13. Anacreon and the Anacreontea Felix Budelmann
14. Simonides, Pindar and Bacchylides Hayden Pelliccia
15. Ancient Greek popular song Dimitrios Yatromanolakis
16. Timotheus the New Musician Eric Csapo and Peter Wilson
Part III. Reception: 17. Lyric in the Hellenistic period and beyond Silvia Barbantani
18. Lyric in Rome Alessandro Barchiesi
19. Greek lyric from the Renaissance to the eighteenth century Pantelis Michelakis
20. Sappho and Pindar the nineteenth and twentieth centuries Margaret Williamson
21. Lyric and lyrics: perspectives, ancient and modern Michael Silk.

Subject Areas: Classical history / classical civilisation [HBLA1], Literary studies: classical, early & medieval [DSBB], Poetry [DC]