Poetry and number in Graeco-Roman antiquity / Max Leventhal.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Leventhal, Max, author.

Series:

Cambridge classical studies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Classical poetry--History and criticism.

Classical poetry.

Mathematics in literature.

Greek poetry.

Latin poetry.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Literary criticism.

Physical Description:

xii, 231 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Cambridge University Press, 2022.

Summary:

"Poetry and mathematics might seem to be worlds apart. Nevertheless, a number of Greek and Roman poets incorporated counting and calculation within their verses. Setting the work of authors such as Callimachus, Catullus and Archimedes in dialogue with the less well-known isopsephic epigrams of Leonides of Alexandria and the anonymous arithmetical poems preserved in the Palatine Anthology, this book reveals the various roles that number played in ancient poetry. Focusing especially on counting and arithmetic, Max Leventhal demonstrates how the discussion, rejection or enacting of these two operations was bound up with wider conceptions of the nature of poetry. Practices of composing, reading, interpreting and critiquing poetry emerge in these texts as having a numerical component. The result is an illuminating new way of approaching Greek and Latin poetry - and one that reaches across modern disciplinary divisions"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Introduction: Numbers up

Part I. Counting and criticism : 1. Callimachus and his legacy

2. Leonides of Alexandria's isopsephic epigrams

Part II. Arithmetic and Aesthetics : 3. Archimedes' Cattle Problem

4. The arithmetical poems in AP 14

Conclusion: Summing up poetry.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 213-226) and index.

Other Format:

ebook version :

ISBN:

9781009123044

1009123041

9781009124171

100912417X

OCLC:

1292972149