Quintus Smyrnaeus: Transforming Homer in Second Sophistic Epic


Book Description

The “Events after Homer”, described by Quintus Smyrnaeus in the third century AD in his Greek epic Posthomerica, are an attempt to bridge the gap between the Iliad and the Odyssey , and to combine the various scattered reports of the battle for Troy into a single tale: the fate of Achilles, Ajax, Paris and the Amazon Penthesileia, the intervention of Neoptolemos and the story from the Trojan horse to the destruction of the city. The volume presented here summarizes the results of the first international conference on Quintus Smyrnaeus.




Quintus Smyrnaeus: Transforming Homer in Second Sophistic Epic


Book Description

Die "Ereignisse nach Homer", die Quintus Smyrnaeus wohl im 3. Jh. n.Chr. in seinem griechischen Epos Posthomerica beschreibt, sind ein Versuch, die Lücke zwischen Ilias und Odyssee zu schließen und die bis dahin verstreut überlieferten Berichte über den Kampf um Troja erzählerisch zu vereinen. Obschon das Epos in künstlerischer und populärer Rezeption (wie in Gustav Schwabs Schönsten Sagen des klassischen Altertums) breit gewirkt hat, fand eine wissenschaftliche Auseinandersetzung mit den Posthomerica bislang nur am Rande statt. Der vorliegende Sammelband arbeitet unter Berücksichtigung moderner Forschungsansätze intertextuelle Dialoge, narratologische Eigenheiten und stilistische wie inhaltliche Besonderheiten heraus. Die 16 Beiträge geben einen Einblick in werkimmanente Aspekte (Spannungsaufbau, Poetologie, Erzähltechnik) und untersuchen den Einfluss des literarischen Umfelds und insbesondere der Zweiten Sophistik auf Quintus anhand von werkübergreifenden, intertextuellen Fragestellungen und Fragen der Gattungsgeschichte: Wie lässt sich Quintus innerhalb der epischen Tradition einordnen, welchen Einfluss hat sein Werk auf spätere Epen der Kaiserzeit, wie erfolgreich ist sein Programm des Brückenschlags zwischen Ilias und Odyssee letztlich gewesen?




Quintus Smyrnaeus' Posthomerica


Book Description

Quintus Smyrnaeus' Posthomerica (3rd century C.E.), the 14 book Greek epic on the Trojan War, is a text which has traditionally been overlooked in the main canon of Classical authors, and in fact until only recently has been largely ignored as a literary work. This book, the first monograph in English on the poem since 1904, examines the Posthomerica’s close relationship with the Homeric epics, with a focus on the originality and Late Antique interpretative bias of Quintus in his readings and emulation of Homer. The study deals specifically with three separate aspects of poetics, and their Homeric intertextuality: ecphrasis, gnomai, and similes, and their role within the poem’s narrative strategies, themes, and aims.




Archaic and Classical Greek Epigram


Book Description

This book explores dialogue between Archaic and Classical Greek epigrams and their readers, and argues for their often-unacknowledged literary and aesthetic achievement.




Speech in Ancient Greek Literature


Book Description

"Speech in Ancient Greek Literature is the fifth volume in the series Studies in Ancient Greek Narrative. There is hardly any Greek narrative text without speech, which need not surprise in the literature of a culture which loved theatre and also invented the art of rhetoric. This book offers a full discussion of the types of speech, the modes of speech and their effective alternation, and the functions of speech from Homer to Heliodorus, including the Gospels. For the first time speech-introductions and 'speech in speech' are discussed across all genres. All chapters also pay attention to moments when characters do not speak"--




The Trojan Epic


Book Description

Publisher Description




The War at Troy


Book Description

Quintus' epic, written probably in the third century after Christ, is the only extant literary work from antiquity that gives a connected account of the events of the Trojan War. It tells what happened to Achilles and to Troy, and of the fatal enterprises of the Queen of the Amazons and the King of Ethiopia, the funeral games held in honor of Achilles, the victory of Odysseus in his contest with Aias, the death of Paris, the strategy of the wooden horse, and the capture and sack of Troy.




A Companion to Late Antique Literature


Book Description

Noted scholars in the field explore the rich variety of late antique literature With contributions from leading scholars in the field, A Companion to Late Antique Literature presents a broad review of late antique literature. The late antique period encompasses a significant transitional era in literary history from the mid-third century to the early seventh century. The Companion covers notable Greek and Latin texts of the period and provides a varied overview of literature written in six other late antique languages. Comprehensive in scope, this important volume presents new research, methodologies, and significant debates in the field. The Companion explores the histories, forms, features, audiences, and uses of the literature of the period. This authoritative text: Provides an inclusive overview of late antique literature Offers the widest survey to date of the literary traditions and forms of the period, including those in several languages other than Greek and Latin Presents the most current research and new methodologies in the field Contains contributions from an international group of contributors Written for students and scholars of late antiquity, this comprehensive volume provides an authoritative review of the literature from the era.




Quintus Smyrnaeus' Posthomerica


Book Description

This book, the first monograph in English on Quintus Smyrnaeus' Posthomerica in over a century, offers a comprehensive study of the poem's poetics and narrative, with a specific focus on the interaction between its Homeric intertextuality and Late Antique influences.




Brill’s Companion to Greek and Latin Epyllion and Its Reception


Book Description

In classical scholarship of the past two centuries, the term “epyllion” was used to label short hexametric texts mainly ascribable to the Hellenistic period (Greek) or the Neoterics (Latin). Apart from their brevity, characteristics such as a predilection for episodic narration or female characters were regarded as typically “epyllic” features. However, in Antiquity itself, the texts we call “epyllia” were not considered a coherent genre, which seems to be an innovation of the late 18th century. The contributions in this book not only re-examine some important (and some lesser known) Greek and Latin primary texts, but also critically reconsider the theoretical discourses attached to it, and also sketch their literary and scholarly reception in the Byzantine and Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and the Modern Age.