Oppian's Halieutica: Charting a Didactic Epic (Greek Culture in the Roman World)

"Oppian's Halieutica is a dazzling five-book Greek didactic poem about the sea and its wily, chaotic inhabitants. This book offers the first sustained reading of the poem as a didactic epic that meditates on the place of human beings within the cosmos at large, and on the lessons we can learn from fish. Using a combination of close reading and wider interpretative lenses, this book examines the literary texture and cultural relevance of the Halieutica by analysing its sophisticated refraction of earlier literary-critical theories and hexameter traditions, its commentary on human-animal relations, and its contribution to imperial Greek literary, political, and cultural debates. The book demonstrates the importance and cultural centrality of this understudied Greek didactic epic; it is written for students and scholars of imperial Greek literature and culture (including the ancient novel), ancient heroic and didactic epics, and those interested in human-animal relations in the ancient world"-- Provided by publisher Cover Half-title Series information Title page Copyright information Epigraph Contents Acknowledgements Introduction: On Fishing Oppian's Halieutica Interpretative Contexts Overview Part I Didactic Poetry Chapter 1 Didactic Epic 1.1 Poetry and Truth 1.2 Ancient Didactic Poetry Chapter 2 Knowledge and Pleasure 2.1 Didactic Authority 2.2 Hesiodic Lessons 2.3 Education and Entertainment 2.4 Literary Sweetness Chapter 3 Mapping the Sea 3.1 Mortal Incapacity 3.2 Toil and Ease 3.3 Interpreting Signs Part II Morality at Sea Chapter 4 Guile 4.1 Odyssean Guile 4.2 Monstrous Tricks 4.3 Netting Fish Chapter 5 Greed 5.1 Greedy Bellies 5.2 Youthful Indolence 5.3 Deliberation 5.4 Conviviality and Patronage Chapter 6 Lust 6.1 Poetic Streams 6.2 Emotional Storms 6.3 Erotic Echoes 6.4 The 'Spells' of Desire Part III Humans and Animals Chapter 7 Epic Similes 7.1 Marine Warfare 7.2 Homeric Readings 7.3 Similes in Context 7.4 Victors and Victims Chapter 8 Analogical Animals 8.1 Scholiastic Debates 8.2 Animal Paradigms 8.3 Animal Omens 8.4 Animal Terminology 8.5 Catachresis 8.6 Land and Sea Chapter 9 Humans and Other Animals 9.1 Anthropomorphism 9.2 Imperial Animals 9.3 Blurring Boundaries 9.4 Talking Animals 9.5 Humanity and Inhumanity Part IV The World Is a Sea Chapter 10 Locating Monsters 10.1 Hesiodic Monsters 10.2 Homeric Monsters 10.3 Post-Homeric Traditions 10.4 Locating Myth Chapter 11 An Empire of Fish 11.1 Politics and Power 11.2 Poetic Justice 11.3 Imperial History 11.4 Empires of Knowledge Bibliography Subject Index Index Locorum Demonstrates the sophistication, influence, and cultural centrality of an understudied imperial Greek didactic epic. Written for students and scholars of imperial Greek literature and culture (including the ancient novel), ancient heroic and didactic epic poetry, and those interested in human-animal relations in the ancient world.