Search

It is a well-known and striking fact that Hellenistic Poetry is full of powerful and powerfully present women, ranging from Ptolemaic and other queens, to female (semi-divinities) and epic heroines. But the Hellenistic era is likewise remarkable for being relatively rich in female authors, specifically in the domain of epigrammatic poetry. This volume sets out to broach not only the question who the powerful women of Hellenistic poetry were, and what their power consisted of, but also, quite emphatically, in what ways they differ from or resemble previous literary representations of women in, for example, Homeric epic, archaic lyric and Athenian tragedy, and why.

This special volume of the Hellenistica Groningana, in honour of the achievements and career of Professor M.A. Harder revisits the poetry of Callimachus (theme of two earlier Hellenistic Workshops). A number of renowned international scholars in the field of Hellenistic studies reflect on new perspectives in Callimachean scholarship, inspired among other by Annette Harder's 2012 edition of Callimachus'Aetia. Their questions aim to contextualize and analyze Callimachus'poetry in novel ways, inspired by both new literary theory and historical insights and a solid body of existing scholarship. How do Callimachus'learned elegies relate to the genre of didactic poetry? How do his aetiological narratives straddle the border between fiction and reality? What is their basis in Hellenistic scholarship, and in Near Eastern or Egyptian poetic traditions? How and why do later Greek poets incorporate Callimachean poetics, and so facilitate his reception in Latin poetry? What is Callimachus'attitude to gods and divine rulers in his hymnic poetry? These and many more questions are addressed, creating new perspectives in Callimachean scholarship, as the title indicates.

Important research in recent decades, along with the publication of P.Mil.Vogl. VIII 309 ('the Milan Posidippus papyrus') in 2001, have reinvigorated the study of Hellenistic epigram. Yet, scholarship on this genre often remains fragmented according to disciplinary sub-specialty and approach: some scholars focus on poets of Meleager's Garland, others on Philip's; some on inscriptional epigram, others on literary; each approaching the genre with different motives and questions. In this volume, expert scholars offer those less familiar with the genre an introduction to all aspects of Hellenistic epigram—from models and forms inherited from inscriptional epigram to poetology, sub-genera, epigrammatic intertexts, and ancient and modern reception. Even specialists will find here fresh explorations of epigram, along with new directions for scholarship.