Greek Mythography in the Roman World (Society for Classical Studies American Classical Studies, No. 48)

By the Roman age the traditional stories of Greek myth had long since ceased to reflect popular culture. Mythology had become instead a central element in elite culture. If one did not know the stories one would not understand most of the allusions in the poets and orators, classics and contemporaries alike; nor would one be able to identify the scenes represented on the mosaic floors and wall paintings in your cultivated friends' houses, or on the silverware on their tables at dinner. Mythology was no longer imbibed in the nursery; nor could it be simply picked up from the often oblique allusions in the classics. It had to be learned in school, as illustrated by the extraordinary amount of elementary mythological information in the many surviving ancient commentaries on the classics, notably Servius, who offers a mythical story for almost every person, place, and even plant Vergil mentions. Commentators used the classics as pegs on which to hang stories they thought their students should know. A surprisingly large number of mythographic treatises survive from the early empire, and many papyrus fragments from lost works prove that they were in common use. In addition, author Alan Cameron identifies a hitherto unrecognized type of aid to the reading of Greek and Latin classical and classicizing texts—what might be called mythographic companions to learned poets such as Aratus, Callimachus, Vergil, and Ovid, complete with source references. Much of this book is devoted to an analysis of the importance evidently attached to citing classical sources for mythical stories, the clearest proof that they were now a part of learned culture. So central were these source references that the more unscrupulous faked them, sometimes on the grand scale. Greek Mythography in the Roman World (2004) ......Page 1 AMERICAN CLASSICAL STUDIES - VOLUME 48......Page 3 ISBN: 0195171217......Page 5 Preface......Page 8 --> Contents......Page 14 Abbreviations......Page 16 1: THE PROBLEM......Page 20 2: THE LOST COMMENTARY......Page 26 3: DATE......Page 27 4: VIBIUS SEQUESTER......Page 31 5: THE GERMANICUS SCHOLIA......Page 35 6: SOURCE CITATIONS......Page 41 1......Page 50 2......Page 55 3......Page 58 1......Page 69 2......Page 79 3......Page 84 1......Page 87 2......Page 95 3......Page 100 4......Page 101 1: THE PROBLEM......Page 106 2: HISTORIAE......Page 107 3: CITATIONS IN PS-APOLLODORUS......Page 110 4: CITATIONS IN MYTHOGRAPHUS HOMERICUS......Page 121 5: THE MARGINAL CITATIONS IN PARTHENIUS AND ANTONINUS LIBERALIS......Page 123 6: CITATIONS AND THE SCHOOLROOM?......Page 133 7: LEARNED CITATIONS AND LITERARY CULTURE......Page 136 1: THE PROBLEM......Page 141 2: PS-PLUTARCH......Page 144 3: PTOLEMY QUAIL......Page 151 4: CONCLUSION......Page 176 1......Page 181 2......Page 195 1: A MYTHOGRAPHICAL COMPANION......Page 201 2: SERVIUS’S GREEK SOURCES......Page 209 3: SCAURUS AND MODESTUS......Page 226 4: AVIENIUS......Page 229 1: MYTHOLOGY AND MYTHOGRAPHERS......Page 234 2: MYTHOLOGY AND CULTURE......Page 237 3: MYTHOLOGICAL KINSHIP......Page 241 4: POPULAR MYTHOLOGY......Page 245 5: MYTHOLOGY AND TOURISM......Page 250 6: LEARNING MYTHOLOGY......Page 254 7: MYTHOGRAPHIC LISTS......Page 255 8: RENAISSANCE MYTHOGRAPHICAL MANUALS......Page 266 1: INTRODUCTION......Page 270 2: VERGIL AND PEISANDROS......Page 272 3: OVID’S LISTS......Page 278 4: THE METAMORPHOSES: SOURCES......Page 285 5: THE METAMORPHOSES: STRUCTURE......Page 291 6: A GREEK SOURCE OF THE METAMORPHOSES?......Page 303 1......Page 321 2......Page 327 Appendix 1 - Lactantius Placidus......Page 330 Appendix 2 - Three Versions of Hyginus......Page 334 Appendix 3 - The Text of the Narrationes......Page 336 Appendix 4 - Marginal Source Citations in Parthenius and Antoninus Liberalis......Page 338 Appendix 5 - Source Citations in the Origo Gentis Romanae......Page 345 Appendix 6 - Anonymus Florentinus......Page 352 Index......Page 358 "By the Roman age the traditional stories of Greek myth had long since ceased to reflect popular culture. Mythology had become instead a central element in elite culture. If one did not know the stories, one would not understand most of the allusions in the poets and orators, classics and contemporaries alike; nor would one be able to identify the scenes represented on the mosaic floors and wall paintings, or on the silverware at well-appointed homes." "A surprisingly large number of mythographic treatises survive from the early empire, and many papyrus fragments from lost works prove that they were in common use. In addition, author Alan Cameron identifies a hitherto unrecognized type of aid to the reading of Greek and Latin classical and classicizing texts - what might be called mythographic companions to learned poets such as Aratus, Callimachus, Vergil, and Ovid, complete with source references. Much of this book is devoted to an analysis of the importance evidently attached to citing classical sources for mythical stories, the clearest proof that they were now a part of learned culture."--BOOK JACKET. "Sophron of Syracuse wrote in the late fifth/early fourth century BC. He represents our only surviving example of classical Greek mime, and is an important example of the classical literary tradition outside Athens. This is the first book devoted exclusively to the mimes for over fifty years, and the first-ever in English. It provides a new translation of the fragments, and a detailed commentary that explores not only Sophron's relationship to early, non-mime traditions such as iambus, but also his influence on Hellenistic poetry, particularly Theocritus and Herodas. The text is based on Kassel and Austin's magisterial Poetae Comici Graeci, but there are also several new fragments. A substantial introductions deals with the meagre biographical material and discusses the important question of the mimes' performance and audience. There is detailed discussion of Sophron's dialect and lexicon, the textual tradition, and his impact on post-classical literature."--Jacket