Quintus of Smyrna's Posthomerica : writing Homer under Rome / edited by Silvio Bär, Emma Greensmith and Leyla Ozbek.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Bär, Silvio, editor.

Ozbek, Leyla, editor.

Greensmith, Emma, editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Quintus, Smyrnaeus, active 4th century.

Quintus.

Epic poetry, Greek.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (448 p.) : 2 B/W illustrations 5 B/W tables

Place of Publication:

Edinburgh : Edinburgh University Press, [2022]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

Offers a literary and cultural-historical analysis of the PosthomericaConnects Quintus with a far wider range of ancient literature: historical, philosophical, dramatic, and rhetorical genres; and prosaic and poetic worksMoves away from the localized study of particular aspects of the poem to a joined-up understanding of this era of epic, as a corpus engaging dialogically with issues of empire, literary inheritance and cultural changeIntersects with the growing field of study of Late Antique literature, and the burgeoning interest in imperial Greek poetry and its accounts of the sack of Troy – a story which continues to resonate in scholarly and public discourseThis collection offers a new collaborative reading of Quintus Smyrnaeus’ Posthomerica: one of the most important Greek epics written at the height of the Roman Empire. Building on the surge of interest in imperial Greek poetry seen in the past decades, this book applies new approaches - literary, theoretical and historical - to ask new questions about this mysterious, challenging poet and to re-evaluate his role in the cultural history of his time.Bringing together experienced imperial epic scholars and new voices in this growing field, the chapters reveal Quintus’ crucial place within the inherited epic tradition and his role in shaping the literary and identity politics of Late Antique society.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Contributors

1. Introduction: Going to Rome, Returning to Troy

Part I: Contexts and Poetics

2. Temporality and Temper: Time, Narrative and Heroism in Quintus of Smyrna

3. Poetry, Performance and Quintus’ Posthomerica

4. A-Sexual Epic? Consummation and Closure in the Posthomerica

5. Images of Life and Death: Visualising the Heroic Body in Quintus Smyrnaeus’ Posthomerica

Part II: Religion, Gods and Destiny

6. A Non-Homeric Fate in Quintus of Smyrna’s Posthomerica? Representation, Function, Problems

7. Disempowering the Gods

8. Animal and Human Sacrifice in Quintus of Smyrna

Part III: Between Narratology and Lexicology

9. A Narratological Study of the Role of the Fates in the Posthomerica

10. Wielding Words: Neoptolemus as a Speaker of Words in Quintus’ Posthomerica

11. Stepping out of Place: σχέτλιος in Quintus of Smyrna’s Posthomerica

12. Renewing Homer with Homer: The Use of Epithets in Quintus of Smyrna’s Posthomerica

13. Polychronic Intertextuality in Quintus of Smyrna’s Posthomerica

Part IV: The Struggle with the Literary Past

14. The Dissolution of Troy: Homeric Narratology in the Posthomerica

15. ‘Why So Serious?’ The Ambivalence of Joy and Laughter in the Iliad, Odyssey and Posthomerica

16. Reshaping the Nature of Heroes: Heracles, Philoctetes and the Bow in Quintus Smyrnaeus’ Posthomerica

17. Quintus and the Epic Cycle

Part V: Re-Readings and Re-Workings

18. Philological Editor and Protestant Pedagogue: How Lorenz Rhodoman (1545‒1606) Worked on the Posthomerica of Quintus Smyrnaeus

19. Too Homeric to Be True: John Tzetzes’ Reception of Quintus of Smyrna and the Importance of Plausibility

20. A Postmodern Quintus? Theories of Fan Fiction and the Posthomerica

Bibliography

Index of Passages Cited

General Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781474493611

1474493610

9781474493604

1474493602

OCLC:

1306052563