Horse and Herald: Posidippus' Equestrian Angelia

Posidippus’ epigrams for equestrian victors (the Hippika, AB 71–88) build on epinician convention by maintaining the central role of the herald’s proclamation— the angelia—in the representation of athletic achievement. In a few of these epigrams, however, Posidippus embeds the horse itself in postvictory rituals. For example, the horse brings the crown to the victor, replacing the figure of the herald who announced and crowned victors; or, in a narrative of the race’s aftermath, the horse, incredibly, chooses the victor. Posidippus’ horses, therefore, act as causal agents for the glory of their owners, and his detailed descriptions transform the horse from flesh-and-blood equine to everlasting (literary) monument. Les épigrammes de Posidippe sur les victoires équestres (les Hippiques, 71-88 A.-B.) s’appuient sur une convention poétique propre aux épinicies qui maintient le rôle de la proclamation du héraut – l’angelia – dans la représentation de la réussite athlétique. Cependant, dans quelques-unes de ces épigrammes, Posidippe intègre le cheval lui-même au rituel marquant la victoire. Par exemple, le cheval apporte la couronne au vainqueur en remplacement de la figure du héraut qui annonce et couronne les vainqueurs ; ou encore, dans le récit de l’après-course, le cheval choisit, de façon surprenante, le vainqueur. Les chevaux de Posidippe interviennent donc en tant qu’agents causaux dans la gloire de leur propriétaire. Ses descriptions détaillées transforment ainsi l’être de chair et de sang qu’est le cheval en un monument (littéraire) éternel.https://www.utpjournals.press/doi/full/10.3138/mous.16.3.00

The Bookish Turn: Assessing the Impact of the Book-Roll on Authorial Self- Representation in Early Hellenistic Poetry

My thesis takes its start from the oft-used description of Hellenistic poetry as ‘bookish’, but looks beyond the connotations of this label as denoting a milieu which was self-consciously intellectual, and instead considers the more fundamental ramifications of the designation: that Hellenistic poetry was bookish in its form, as much as in outlook. To consider the implications of this, I focus upon a period, and a significant poetic topos, wherein the effects of the book-roll can be most keenly discerned, assessing the impact of the medium upon authorial self- representations - particularly in the construction of authorial personae - undertaken in early Hellenistic poetry (c.323-246 BC). In Part I of the thesis, I assess the evolution of authorial self-representation in epigram, charting developments from the inscribed form of the genre through to the book-epigram collections of the Hellenistic period: I argue that the author acquired a newfound prominence in this medial transition, asserting their presence as a voice within the text as opposed to a figure situated strictly in antecedence to it. I demonstrate this through analyses of Posidippus, Callimachus, Nossis, Asclepiades, and the epigrams ascribed to Erinna, and suggest that we repeatedly observe authors undertaking composite processes of self-representation, as a direct result of the composite context of the book-roll. In Part II of the thesis, I examine the Mimiambs of Herodas. Through the analysis of Mimiamb 8 (in which Herodas constructs an authorial persona, and defines his poetic programme) in conjunction with an appraisal of the metapoetic dimension of the other Mimiambs, I assess the manner in which Herodas undertakes a complex, intertextual process of self-representation. Arguing that the author reflects upon the generic and medial innovations of his poetic practice across his corpus, I demonstrate that this process of reflection complements Herodas’ overt authorial self-representation in Mimiamb 8. In summary, I argue that the impact of the book-roll on authorial self-representation was wide- ranging, but that the most significant consequence of the medium was the evolution of authorial self-representation as a composite, roll-spanning activity

Une histoire des styles en épigrammes: Essai de confrontation entre Posidippe et Dioscoride

Ce document est la première version d'un article destiné aux actes du colloque international L'Épigramme dans tous ses états (Lyon, 3-4 juin 2010). Ces actes seront publiés par L. Foschia et E. Santin aux Presses de l'ENS Lyon.Cet article propose une confrontation entre les épigrammes sur les bronziers (andriantopoiika) de Posidippe de Pella (62-70 A.-B.) et les épigrammes sur les dramaturges de Dioscoride (20-24 G.-P.). Ces deux ensembles de textes se structurent sous la forme de l'histoire d'une ou de plusieurs τέχνη / τέχναι et s'articulent autour de l'idée d'un antagonisme entre les styles des bronziers ou dramaturges successifs. Cette histoire des arts est à chaque fois marquée par la volonté d'observer les styles dans une perspective historique, mais aussi en synchronie avec une dimension polémique puisqu'il s'agit certainement de disqualifier certaines œuvres ou positions esthétiques. On constate aussi que, dans les deux cas, le discours sur le style prend appui sur la représentation, dans l'épigramme, d'une œuvre statuaire, que celle-ci soit réelle ou imaginaire. Aussi bien chez Posidippe que chez Dioscoride, il s'agit de traduire sous la forme d'une image figurée le caractère stylistique d'un auteur donné: Philitas, Sophocle ou encore Sosithéos

Erudition and Scholarship in Greek Epigram

English original of the entry for ‘Érudition (Grecque)’ in C. Urlacher & D. Meyer (eds.) Dictionnaire analytique de l’épigramme littéraire dans l’antiquité Grecque et Romaine, Turnhout, forthcoming

Courtly Love, Stars, and Power: The Queens in Third Century Royal Couples, through Poetry and Epigraphic Texts

peer reviewedI discuss the role of women and erōs in court poetry, by focusing on the ruling pair, i.e. the couple par excellence, and arguing that a gentle, reciprocal love within the bonds of marriage is presented as a crucial value, ensuring wealth and social order as well as the continuity of the dynasty itself. Because court life is a fashionable source of models for the elite, the poetic motif of requited love also influences the ideal depiction of love outside the ruling pair. After focusing on how internal patterns of relationship between characters shape the role of the queen in Alexandrian court poetry, I turn to non-literary, epigraphic evidence, in order to show how poetic representations of royal love integrate into a wider ideological program. Although my study mainly concerns Ptolemaic ruling pairs, I discuss some epigraphic parallels from the Seleucid dynasty as well, so that some general observations can be made on early Hellenistic queenship

Texts on the Table:The Tabulae Iliacae in their Hellenistic literary context

This publication is with permission of the rights owner freely accessible due to an Alliance licence and a national licence (funded by the DFG, German Research Foundation) respectively.This article re-evaluates the 22 so-calledTabulae Iliacae. Where most scholars (especially in the English-speaking world) have tended to dismiss these objects as ‘trivial' and ‘confused’, or as ‘rubbish’ intended for the Roman ‘nouveaux riches’, this article relates them to the literary poetics of the Hellenistic world, especially Greek ecphrastic epigram. Concentrating on the tablets' verbal inscriptions, the article draws attention to three epigraphic features in particular. First, it explores the various literary allusivenesses of the two epigrammatic invocations inscribed on tablets 1A and 2NY; second, it examines the Alexandrian diagrammatic word-games on the reverse of sevenTabulae(2NY, 3C, 4N, 5O, 7Ti, 15Ber, 20Par), relating these to the pictorial-poetic games of the Greektechnopaegnia; third, it discusses the possible hermeneutic significance of associating six tablets with ‘Theodoreantechne’ (1A, 2NY, 3C, 4N, 5O, 20Par), comparing a newly discovered epigram by Posidippus (67 A-B). All of these allusions point to a much more erudite purpose and clientele: the tablets toyed with Hellenistic visual-verbal relations at large.Peer Reviewe

A Most Amazing Conversation: The Social Contexts of Wonder-Telling and the Development of Paradoxography

Wonder-telling thrived as an abiding element in Greek and Roman convivial gatherings. The burgeoning book culture of the Hellenistic period witnessed the emergence of paradoxographical works—compilations of reports on “marvels”—that offered another medium through which to experience wonder. This study surveys evidence that situates wonder-telling in the social sphere and suggests that the new genre adapted one of the joys of sympotic discourse in order to delight the solitary reader