Search

Interpreters have often struggled to account for the way in which the author of James employs the figure of Job as an example of ὑπομονή (Jas 5:11). Since a "steadfast" or "patient Job" is clearly incongruous with the book of Job, the Testament of Job is often forwarded as the preferred source of James' Joban tradition. This article argues that James' language of ὑπομονή should be read against its wider Greco-Roman literary background, and when done so, the Greek term emerges as an active, aggressive virtue, best rendered "enduring resistance." The article posits that the author of James has reread the book of Job within this Greco-Roman literary framework, resulting in a congruent, though thoroughly Hellenistic, reading of Septua-gint Job in which the virtue of endurance takes on a newfound centrality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides a detailed interpretation and suggests a literary background for the brief (26 verses) elegiac recipe against colic (SH 690), written by Philo of Tarsus in the first century AD. Although on one level it is a serious pharmacological prescription, on another level it is also a literary piece, concerned with a marked tone of voice, Homeric play, and general display of paideia. Particularly its play of substituting certain ingredients with mythological riddles is striking. Its appeal to both doctors and men of culture fits the intellectual pattern of the culture of the Second Sophistic. As a poetic hybrid it also plays on different genres inherited from the previous Hellenistic era. Moreover, it constitutes a telling example of the late subgenre of elegiac pharmacology, in an era in which elegiac had all but vanished from Greek literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In July 455 AD the Roman general Eparchius Avitus was proclaimed Emperor by his soldiers in Arles. Avitus' son-in-law, Sidonius Apollinaris, delivered a panegyric to mark the new emperor's first consulship. In this poem Avitus controls his ira to repel the barbarians and counter their fear inducing behaviour. Avitus' manipulation of the barbarians relies on auctoritas rather than eloquence. Sidonius styles Avitus as an impressive military and political leader, ideally suited to confronting the Vandals and restoring a broken Roma to her former glory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues, in a series of discrete but interconnected notes, that Statius engages consistently and consciously with mythographical works--prose collections and exegesis on myth as myth--in the creation of his two major catalogs in the Thebaid, the catalog of Argive allies at 4.1-344 and that of Theban allies at 7.243-373. Both are patently based on Homer's 'Catalog of Ships', but Statius reshapes his model by engaging ingeniously with mythographical and geographical works in prose to invent a unique pre-Iliadic landscape. This paper also explores some of the literary ways in which Statius reinvents Homer's catalog, including offering his readers mythological puzzles that require knowledge both of Homer's text and subsequent scholarship thereon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that the papyri containing Boeotian poetry provide no evidence in support of a dialect-specific accentuation of Boeotian. Lectional signs on the extant papyri of Boeotian poetry follow for the most part the current accentuation practice of the 2nd and 3rd centuries CE, equating Boeotian to the standard of Attic and the Koine: in their editions of Boeotian texts modern editors should refrain from introducing accentuation that does not follow that standard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the relationship between Apollonius Rhodius and pseudo-Hesiod. It argues that the ecphrasis on Jason's cloak (Arg. 1.721-767) alludes extensively to the Shield of Heracles and to other Hesiodic poetry. Although some of the parallels in question have been noted before, many have been underplayed or overlooked. Apollonius' references to 'Hesiod' should direct the audience's reading of the Argonautica: the echoes of the Shield of Heracles focus attention on Heracles, who functions as a foil to Jason throughout the Argonautica, and invite comparison and contrast between the two heroes. The recognition of these allusions also has implications for certain problems in Hellenistic poetry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the relationship between Apollonius Rhodius and pseudo-Hesiod. It argues that the ecphrasis on Jason's cloak (Arg. 1.721-767) alludes extensively to the Shield of Heracles and to other Hesiodic poetry. Although some of the parallels in question have been noted before, many have been underplayed or overlooked. Apollonius' references to 'Hesiod' should direct the audience's reading of the Argonautica: the echoes of the Shield of Heracles focus attention on Heracles, who functions as a foil to Jason throughout the Argonautica, and invite comparison and contrast between the two heroes. The recognition of these allusions also has implications for certain problems in Hellenistic poetry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article refutes the scholarly opinion of AP 12.48 that the hero Meleager begins the epigram with a wrestling metaphor and ends by drawing on a koinos topos, or the arrows and fire of Love. It explains the argument that Meleager is introducing a military image aimed at evoking the commonplace love-war equivalence in the first line, which is already exemplified in Greek lyric, tragedy and Hellenistic poetry. It also describes the motifs of combat within the epigram.

This article discusses the Hesiodic character of the Metamorphoses vis-à-vis the Homeric character of the Aeneid, taking as a case study the tale of Atalanta. On the one hand I focus on the intertextual dialogue between Homeric and Hesiodic epic, on the other I argue that the interplay between the Iliad and the Catalogue of Women (also known as theEhoiai) is reflected in Ovid's Atalanta as a juxtaposition between the Aeneid and the Metamorphoses. Ovid's references to the Catalogue, which have not been noticed by critics, evoke an intergeneric discourse between martial epic and ehoie-poetry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the Hesiodic character of the Metamorphoses vis-à-vis the Homeric character of the Aeneid, taking as a case study the tale of Atalanta. On the one hand I focus on the intertextual dialogue between Homeric and Hesiodic epic, on the other I argue that the interplay between the Iliad and the Catalogue of Women (also known as theEhoiai) is reflected in Ovid's Atalanta as a juxtaposition between the Aeneid and the Metamorphoses. Ovid's references to the Catalogue, which have not been noticed by critics, evoke an intergeneric discourse between martial epic and ehoie-poetry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]