Although Greek and Latin poetry from late antiquity each poses similar questions and problems, a real dialogue between scholars on both sides is even now conspicuously absent. A lack of evidence impedes discussion of whether there was direct interaction between the two language traditions. This volume, however, starts from the premise that direct interaction should never be a prerequisite for a meaningful comparative and contextualising analysis of both late antique poetic traditions. A team of leading and emerging scholars sheds new light on literary developments that can be or have been regarded as typical of the period and on the poetic and aesthetic ideals that affected individual works, which are both classicizing and 'un-classical' in similar and diverging ways. This innovative exploration of the possibilities created by a bilingual focus should stimulate further explorations in future research.
Author(s): Berenice Verhelst, Tine Scheijnen
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 313
City: Cambridge
Cover
Half-title
Title page
Copyright information
Contents
List of Figures
List of Contributors
Introduction: Walking the Wire: Towards an Inclusive Approach to Latin and Greek Late Antique Poetry
Organisation and Scope
Subjects and Methods
Part 1 A 'Late' Perspective on the Literary Tradition
Chapter 1 Rivalling Song Contests and Alternative Typhonomachies in Ovid and Nonnus: Revisiting the Issue of Latin Influence on Greek Poetry in Late Antiquity
1.1 The Song Contests in Ovid's Metamorphoses 5 and Nonnus' Dionysiaca 19
1.2 The Song Contest in Ovid's Metamorphoses 5 and Nonnus' Typhonomachy in Dionysiaca 1-2
1.2.1 Typhon, Cadmus, and the Pastoral Context
1.2.2 Nonnus' Cadmus and Ovid's Mercury
1.3 Conclusion
Chapter 2 Greek and Roman Epigrammatists in the Later Imperial Period: Ausonius and Palladas in Dialogue with the Classical Past
2.1 Ausonius: From Questioning Authorities to Faking Sources
2.2 Palladas: Constructing One's Persona With, Through, and Against Homer
2.3 Summary and Conclusion
Chapter 3 Allusion and Referentiality in Late Antique Epic
3.1 Programme and Tradition
3.2 Beyond the 'CF': Triphiodorus and Apollonius Rhodius
3.3 Quintus' Sheep and Nonreferentiality
3.4 Learning From Latin
Chapter 4 Speaking from the Margins: Paratexts in Greek and Latin Poetry
4.1 Titles
4.2 Section Headings
4.2.1 The Apotheosis of Prudentius
4.2.2 The Poemata arcana of Gregory of Nazianzus
4.3 Summaries
4.4 Verse Prefaces
4.5 Illustrations
4.6 Conclusion
Part 2 Late Antique 'Genres' and 'Genre' in Late Antiquity
Chapter 5 The Implosion of Poetic Genre in Late Antiquity
5.1 The Classical Discourse on Poetic Genre
5.2 The Classical Discourse on Poetic Genre in Late Antiquity
5.2.1 Appropriate Subject Matter
5.2.2 Exemplary Generic Models
5.2.3 Metre
5.3 Generic Innovations in Late Antiquity
5.3.1 Generically Unique Works
5.3.2 Genre Mixing
5.3.3 New Genres
5.4 Conclusion
Chapter 6 Common Texts, (Un)Common Aesthetics: The Greek and Latin Cento in Dialogue
6.1 Proba's Preface
6.2 Ausonius' Preface to the Cento Nuptialis
6.3 The Dedication to Proba's Cento
6.4 Jerome, Epistle 53
6.5 Eudocia's Homeric Cento
6.6 Conclusion
Chapter 7 A 'Revival' of the 'Epyllion' as a 'Genre'? Genre Awareness in Short Epic Narrative from Late Antiquity
7.1 Generic Transformations
7.2 Cross-Media Translation
7.3 Poets and Their Muses
7.4 Generic Inlay Techniques
7.5 Conclusion
Part 3 The Context of Late Antiquity
Chapter 8 Saying the Other: The Poetics of Personification in Late Antique Epic
8.1 Posthomeric Personification
8.2 Trope, Poetics, and Practice
8.3 Returning to the Mountain of Arete
8.4 Narrative Personifications: Broken Collisions
8.5 Readers and Interpreters: The Poet's Trope
8.6 Coda: Personifying Impersonation
Chapter 9 Internal Audiences in the New Testament Epics of Juvencus and Nonnus
9.1 Images of the Audience
9.1.1 Juvencus' Parable of the Sower
9.1.2 Nonnus' Hymn of the Logos
9.1.3 Juvencus and Nonnus
9.2 Choral Reactions to Jesus and His Gospel
9.2.1 Juvencus
9.2.2 Nonnus
9.2.3 Juvencus and Nonnus Compared
9.3 Division of the Audience
9.3.1 Juvencus
9.3.2 Nonnus
9.3.3 Comparison of Juvencus and Nonnus
Chapter 10 Colluthus and Dracontius: Mythical Traditions and Innovations
10.1 Colluthus
10.2 Dracontius
10.3 Conclusions
Chapter 11 Objects of the Lusting Gaze: Viewing Women as Works of Art in Late Antique Poetry
11.1 Objectifying Goddesses
11.2 Objectifying Women
11.3 Objectifying Men
11.4 Conclusion
Chapter 12 Metamorphosis and Mutability in Late Antique Epic
12.1 Nonnus and Ovidian Metamorphosis
12.2 Metamorphosis in Christian Latin Poetry
12.3 The Metamorphoses of Sin
Bibliography
General Subject Index
Index Locorum
