Published by De Gruyter

Volume 9 Issue 2

Issue of Trends in Classics

Contents
Journal Overview

Publicly Available November 29, 2017

Titelseiten

Page range: I-VI

Download PDF

November 29, 2017

Introduction

Evina Sistakou

Page range: 221-225

November 29, 2017

Callimachean ‘Lyric’

Benjamin Acosta-Hughes, Susan A. Stephens

Page range: 226-247

Abstract

Abstract: The present paper considers how Callimachus incorporates archaic lyric forms in new articulations in his poems. Despite writing in stichic rather than strophic meters, Callimachus works the epinician, the threnos and the paean into elegiac and hexametric works. In some cases, such as the Deification of Arsinoe (fr. 228 Pf.) and the Branchus (fr. 229 Pf.), he seems to experiment directly with the lyric forms of the lament and the paean in poems that were perhaps intended for performance. Other encounters with lyric poetry are traced in the Hymns and the Aetia . In conclusion, the paper argues that Callimachus’ intertextual dialogue with the lyric genres formed part of a lived tradition of composing and performing lyric poetry in Hellenistic Alexandria.

November 29, 2017

‘Lyric’ Atmosphere in Apollonius Rhodius and Callimachus (With an Analysis of Theocritus 18)

Maria Noussia-Fantuzzi

Page range: 248-280

Abstract

Abstract: This study examines a representative selection of Hellenistic instances of choroi in the works of the three main poets, Apollonius Rhodius, Theocritus and Callimachus. It does so through the notions of ‘choral self-referentiality’, ‘choral mediation’ and the stratagem of ‘choral projection’. Although Hellenistic choreia probably does not belong to the performative and multi-media milieu alongside lyric or tragic productions, it brings to the fore the continuity between archaic lyric poetry and Hellenistic poetry. This continuity largely consists in the tragic re-use of the choral element and the choral performance.

November 29, 2017

Theocritus’ Idylls: On the Verge of Modern Lyric

Evina Sistakou

Page range: 281-316

Abstract

Abstract: This study argues that Theocritus experiments not only with archaic lyric forms and models but primarily with concepts that have been associated with modern lyric poetry to conceptualize his lyric aesthetics. Although some of the Idylls engage with the greater choral odes of Simonides and Pindar, Theocritus opts for songs on the lesser scale, as the introduction of the form of the εἰδύλλιον and the choice of poetic models like Sappho, Alcaeus and Erinna in several idylls demonstrate. The most significant innovations that define Theocritus’ lyric aesthetics and demonstrate him on the verge of modern lyric are the conception of textual lyric, the expression of subjectivity and the metalyric essence of the bucolic song.

November 29, 2017

Lyricism in Hellenistic Epigram

Kathryn Gutzwiller

Page range: 317-338

Abstract

Abstract: The paper explores the lyrical qualities of Hellenistic epigram not only by linking it to the lyric poems and tropes of the past but primarily by drawing on the modern understanding of lyric as genre or mode. Taking as a point of departure the notion of lyric subjectivity, it discusses the degree to which the poet’s voice is involved in the different types of epigram, namely dedicatory, sepulchral and erotic. An in-depth reading of selected epigrams from the Greek Anthology brings to light the various uses and emotional effects of the lyric ‘I’ within the rhetoric of the epigrammatic discourse.

November 29, 2017

Lyric for the Rulers, Lyric for the People: The Transformation of Some Lyric Subgenres in Hellenistic Poetry

Silvia Barbantani

Page range: 339-399

Abstract

Abstract: This is a meticulous survey of the reception of some lyric subgenres in Hellenistic poetry and it is meant to be the first of a series of contributions on the subject. Leaving aside lyric in a religious context, the paper is divided into two main sections, namely lyric poetry composed for rulers and lyric poetry written for everyday people. In the new social context lyric poetry was intended for presentation in the royal symposia. The Alexandrians wrote all types of occasional lyric poetry ( enkomia, epinikia, epithalamia, threnoi and epikedeia ), a fact that is reflected both in the work of distinguished poets, such as Callimachus, Posidippus and Theocritus as well as in the epigrammatic tradition and in poetic fragments found on papyri. Special attention is given to stichic lyric poetry and to the new genre of the mime, whereas the oral tradition of the carmina popularia and the making of lyric anthologies for symposiastic use complete the picture.

November 29, 2017

Melos and Molpe in Hellenistic Poetry

Giulio Massimilla

Page range: 400-419

Abstract

Abstract: The present study turns the spotlight on lyric terminology as worked into Hellenistic poetry by examining two of the most ancient and recurrent terms in the musical and poetic tradition: melos ‘song, music, melody’ and molpe ‘singing or singing and dancing’. By collecting and analyzing material from the entire corpus of Hellenistic poetry (Theocritus, the epigram, the bucolic collection, Callimachus, Apollonius, Lycophron), it sheds light on the variety of meanings that these terms had acquired in Hellenistic poetics, ranging from the concepts of lyric poetry and its genres to the making of sound effects, the composition of music or the use of musical instruments.

November 29, 2017

Pindar’s Dithyrambs and Their Hellenistic Reception

Tom Phillips

Page range: 420-450

Abstract

Abstract: The study explores Hellenistic readers’ reception of archaic and classical lyric poetry by using Pindar’s dithyrambs as a representative test case. The ‘horizons of expectations’ in the Hellenistic era, it is argued, were influenced not only by ancient lyric poetry per se but also by the commentaries that accompanied the lyric corpora, by Hellenistic theorizing about the voice and by writers such as Dionysius of Hallicarnassus and Callimachus. The experience of attending to Pindar’s ‘vocal poetics’ is characterized both by intense imaginative transport and a recognition of the reader’s experiential finitude.

November 29, 2017

List of Contributors

Page range: 451-452

About this journal

Trends in Classics publishes innovative, interdisciplinary work which brings to the study of Greek and Latin texts the insights and methods of related disciplines such as narratology, intertextuality, reader-response criticism, and oral poetics. Both the journal and the accompanying monograph series Trends in Classics – Supplementary Volumes seeks to publish research across the full range of classical antiquity.

The journal is published twice a year with approx. 160 pp. per issue. All contributions are in English and accompanied by an English abstract. Each year one issue is devoted to a specific subject with articles edited by a guest editor. Recent special issues include: 2017: Hellenistic Lyricism, ed. by Evian Sistakou; 2019: Intermediality and Roman Literature, ed. by Martin T. Dinter and Bettina Reitz-Joosee.