Greek and Latin Poetry of Late Antiquity : Form, Tradition, and Context

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. Cover 1 Half-title 3 Title page 5 Copyright information 6 Contents 7 List of Figures 9 List of Contributors 10 Introduction: Walking the Wire: Towards an Inclusive Approach to Latin and Greek Late Antique Poetry 15 Organisation and Scope 18 Subjects and Methods 21 Part 1 A 'Late' Perspective on the Literary Tradition 25 Chapter 1 Rivalling Song Contests and Alternative Typhonomachies in Ovid and Nonnus: Revisiting the Issue of Latin Influence on Greek Poetry in Late Antiquity 27 1.1 The Song Contests in Ovid's Metamorphoses 5 and Nonnus' Dionysiaca 19 30 1.2 The Song Contest in Ovid's Metamorphoses 5 and Nonnus' Typhonomachy in Dionysiaca 1-2 34 1.2.1 Typhon, Cadmus, and the Pastoral Context 38 1.2.2 Nonnus' Cadmus and Ovid's Mercury 40 1.3 Conclusion 44 Chapter 2 Greek and Roman Epigrammatists in the Later Imperial Period: Ausonius and Palladas in Dialogue with the Classical Past 45 2.1 Ausonius: From Questioning Authorities to Faking Sources 47 2.2 Palladas: Constructing One's Persona With, Through, and Against Homer 55 2.3 Summary and Conclusion 62 Chapter 3 Allusion and Referentiality in Late Antique Epic 65 3.1 Programme and Tradition 67 3.2 Beyond the 'CF': Triphiodorus and Apollonius Rhodius 70 3.3 Quintus' Sheep and Nonreferentiality 76 3.4 Learning From Latin 81 Chapter 4 Speaking from the Margins: Paratexts in Greek and Latin Poetry 83 4.1 Titles 84 4.2 Section Headings 86 4.2.1 The Apotheosis of Prudentius 88 4.2.2 The Poemata arcana of Gregory of Nazianzus 90 4.3 Summaries 94 4.4 Verse Prefaces 95 4.5 Illustrations 96 4.6 Conclusion 102 Part 2 Late Antique 'Genres' and 'Genre' in Late Antiquity 103 Chapter 5 The Implosion of Poetic Genre in Late Antiquity 105 5.1 The Classical Discourse on Poetic Genre 109 5.2 The Classical Discourse on Poetic Genre in Late Antiquity 112 5.2.1 Appropriate Subject Matter 112 5.2.2 Exemplary Generic Models 114 5.2.3 Metre 117 5.3 Generic Innovations in Late Antiquity 118 5.3.1 Generically Unique Works 120 5.3.2 Genre Mixing 121 5.3.3 New Genres 125 5.4 Conclusion 128 Chapter 6 Common Texts, (Un)Common Aesthetics: The Greek and Latin Cento in Dialogue 129 6.1 Proba's Preface 131 6.2 Ausonius' Preface to the Cento Nuptialis 133 6.3 The Dedication to Proba's Cento 136 6.4 Jerome, Epistle 53 138 6.5 Eudocia's Homeric Cento 141 6.6 Conclusion 145 Chapter 7 A 'Revival' of the 'Epyllion' as a 'Genre'? Genre Awareness in Short Epic Narrative from Late Antiquity 146 7.1 Generic Transformations 148 7.2 Cross-Media Translation 152 7.3 Poets and Their Muses 155 7.4 Generic Inlay Techniques 160 7.5 Conclusion 164 Part 3 The Context of Late Antiquity 165 Chapter 8 Saying the Other: The Poetics of Personification in Late Antique Epic 167 8.1 Posthomeric Personification 168 8.2 Trope, Poetics, and Practice 173 8.3 Returning to the Mountain of Arete 178 8.4 Narrative Personifications: Broken Collisions 181 8.5 Readers and Interpreters: The Poet's Trope 185 8.6 Coda: Personifying Impersonation 187 Chapter 9 Internal Audiences in the New Testament Epics of Juvencus and Nonnus 188 9.1 Images of the Audience 191 9.1.1 Juvencus' Parable of the Sower 191 9.1.2 Nonnus' Hymn of the Logos 194 9.1.3 Juvencus and Nonnus 198 9.2 Choral Reactions to Jesus and His Gospel 199 9.2.1 Juvencus 199 9.2.2 Nonnus 203 9.2.3 Juvencus and Nonnus Compared 204 9.3 Division of the Audience 209 9.3.1 Juvencus 209 9.3.2 Nonnus 212 9.3.3 Comparison of Juvencus and Nonnus 216 Chapter 10 Colluthus and Dracontius: Mythical Traditions and Innovations 219 10.1 Colluthus 219 10.2 Dracontius 227 10.3 Conclusions 234 Chapter 11 Objects of the Lusting Gaze: Viewing Women as Works of Art in Late Antique Poetry 236 11.1 Objectifying Goddesses 238 11.2 Objectifying Women 244 11.3 Objectifying Men 249 11.4 Conclusion 253 Chapter 12 Metamorphosis and Mutability in Late Antique Epic 255 12.1 Nonnus and Ovidian Metamorphosis 256 12.2 Metamorphosis in Christian Latin Poetry 264 12.3 The Metamorphoses of Sin 268 Bibliography 274 General Subject Index 304 Index Locorum 312 "In the past few years, it has been possible to notice parallel developments in the study of both Latin and Greek late antique poetry, two neighbouring and growing scholarly fields. Recently published studies reveal an increased focus on the contemporary context and, in relation to that, on the 'otherness' of late antique aesthetics, when compared with the poetics of earlier periods that classically trained scholars have been taught to admire. Long considered poetry of bad taste from a period of decline, late antique poetry fascinates classicists today mainly because of its otherness, its productive reception of the classical period, its innovations in terms of literary forms, and the creativity with which it responds to the 'seismic cultural changes' of late antique society"-- Provided by publisher