The Fall of Cities in the Mediterranean
Commemoration in Literature, Folk-Song, and Liturgy

This book explores some of the most prominent literary responses to the collective trauma of a fallen city.

Mary R. Bachvarova (Edited by), Dorota Dutsch (Edited by), Ann Suter (Edited by)

9781009073219, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 12 August 2021

295 pages, 1 map
22.8 x 15.1 x 1.6 cm, 0.418 kg

A body of theory has developed about the role and function of memory in creating and maintaining cultural identity. Yet there has been no consideration of the rich Mediterranean and Near Eastern traditions of laments for fallen cities in commemorating or resolving communal trauma. This volume offers new insights into the trope of the fallen city in folk-song and a variety of literary genres. These commemorations reveal memories modified by diverse agendas, and contains narrative structures and motifs that show the meaning of memory-making about fallen cities. Opening a new avenue of research into the Mediterranean genre of city lament, this book examines references to, or re-workings of, otherwise lost texts or ways of commemorating fallen cities in the extant texts, and with greater emphasis than usual on the point of view of the victors.

Foreword Margaret Alexiou
1. Introduction Ann Suter
2. The city lament genre in the Ancient Near East John Jacobs
3. The destroyed city in ancient 'world history': from Agade to Troy Mary R. Bachvarova
4. Mourning a city 'empty of men': stereotypes of Anatolian communal lament in Aeschylus' Persians Mary R. Bachvarova and Dorota Dutsch
5. Seven Against Thebes, city laments, and Athenian history Geoffrey Bakewell
6. Lament for fallen cities in Early Roman drama: Naevius, Ennius, and Plautus Seth A. Jeppesen
7. City lament in Augustan epic: antitypes of Rome from Troy to Alba Longa Alison Keith
8. The fall of Troy in Seneca's Troades Jo-Ann Shelton
9. How to lament an eternal city: the ambiguous fall of Rome Catherine Conybeare
10. Messengers, angels, and laments for the fall of Constantinople Andromache Karanika
11. 'A sudden longing': remembering the lost city of Smyrna Gail Holst-Warhaft.

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