Theocritus and the Archaeology of Greek Poetry

This book focuses on the hymns, mimes and erotic poems of the Greek poet Theocritus.

Richard Hunter (Author)

9780521560405, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 14 March 1996

220 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.6 cm, 0.5 kg

"...Hunter's book is rich in insights and individual observations. This book is a serious and insight-laden piece of scholarship that will reward careful study by anyone interested in Hellenistic poetry...Hunter's book provides a useful case study for the interaction of literary qppropriation and generic experimentation in one of that period's best preserved poets." International Journal of the Classical Tradition

The poems of Theocritus are our best witness to a brilliant poetic culture that flourished in the first half of the third century BC. This book considers the context from which these poems grew and, in particular, the manner in which they engage with and recreate the poetic forms of the Greek archaic age. The focus is not on the familiar bucolic poems of Theocritus, but on the hymns, mimes and erotic poems of the second half of the corpus. Recent papyri have greatly increased our understanding of how Theocritus read archaic poetry, and these discoveries are fully exploited in a set of readings which will change the way we look at Hellenistic poetry.

Preface
List of conventions and abbreviations
1. Locating the site
2. 'All the twos': Idyll 22
3. Idyll 16: poet and patron
4. Idyll 15: imitations of mortality
5. Idyll 18 and the lyric past
6. For the love of boys: Idylls 12, 29 and 30
Epilogue
Bibliography
General index
Index of passages discussed.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: classical, early & medieval [DSBB]