A Companion to Hellenistic Literature

Offering unparalleled scope, A Companion to Hellenistic Literature in 30 newly commissioned essays explores the social and intellectual contexts of the production of literature in the Hellenistic period, and examines the relationship between Hellenistic and earlier literature. The volume covers the works of well–respected poets alongside lesser–known historical, philosophical, and scientific prose. Critical essays on the Jewish, Near Eastern, Egyptian, and Roman literature of the period explore the impact of the post–Alexandrian expansion of Hellenism on neighboring cultures and vice versa. In addition, serious attention is given throughout the book to Hellenistic texts which in surveys of Greek literature are rarely discussed within their historical context.

Structured in a clear and accessible style by two highly respected scholars, this Companion expands the way in which Hellenistic literature is perceived and studied. It is the ideal resource for scholars and students of Classics, Ancient History and Literature.

List of Maps viii

Notes on Contributors ix

Preface xiv

Acknowledgments xvi

Abbreviations xvii

1 Introduction 1
James J. Clauss and Martine Cuypers

PART I Contexts 15

2 From Alexander to Augustus 17
Andrew Erskine

3 Literature and the Kings 30
Rolf Strootman

4 Ptolemaic Alexandria 46
Susan Stephens

5 Education 62
Jessica Wissmann

PART II Poetry 79

6 The Prefigured Muse: Rethinking a Few Assumptions on Hellenistic Poetics 81
Benjamin Acosta–Hughes

7 Callimachus Aetia 92
Annette Harder

8 Hellenistic Elegy: Out from Under the Shadow of Callimachus 106
Jackie Murray

9 Epigram 117
Jon S. Bruss

10 Apollonius Argonautica 136
Adolf Ko¨hnken

11 Narrative Hexameter Poetry 151
Annemarie Ambu¨hl

12 Hymns and Encomia 166
Anthony W. Bulloch

13 Sung Poetry: The Case of Inscribed Paeans 181
Marco Fantuzzi

14 Aratus 197
Katharina Volk

15 Nicander 211
Enrico Magnelli

16 The Bucolic Fiction of Theocritus 224
Mark Payne

17 Idyll 6 and the Development of Bucolic after Theocritus 238
J. D. Reed

18 Iambos and Parody 251
Ruth Scodel

19 Herodas and the Mime 267
Elena Esposito

20 Menander s Comedy 282
Susan Lape

21 Hellenistic Tragedy and Lycophron s Alexandra 297
Alexander Sens

PART III Prose 315

22 Historiography, Rhetoric, and Science: Rethinking a Few Assumptions on Hellenistic Prose 317
Martine Cuypers

23 Literary Criticism 337
Kathryn J. Gutzwiller

24 Philosophy after Aristotle 366
Stephen A. White

25 From Polybius to Dionysius: The Decline and Fall of Hellenistic Historiography 384
Alain M. Gowing

26 Prose Fiction 395
Tim Whitmarsh

PART IV Neighbors 413

27 Jewish Literature 415
Erich S. Gruen

28 Egyptian Literature 429
Jacco Dieleman and Ian S. Moyer

29 Literature in Western Asia 448
Silke Knippschild

30 From the Head of Zeus: The Beginnings of Roman Literature 463
James J. Clauss

Bibliography 479

Index 535

James J. Clauss is Professor of Classics at the University of Washington, Seattle. He is the author of The Best of the Argonauts: The Redefinition of the Epic Hero in Book 1 of Apollonius′ Argonautica (1993), the co–editor of Medea: Essays on Medea in Myth, Literature, Philosophy, and Art (1997), and the co–translator of Rome and Environs: an Archaeological Guide by Filippo Coarelli (2007).

Martine Cuypers is Lecturer in Greek at Trinity College Dublin. She is the author of a forthcoming commentary on Apollonius Rhodius Argonautica and co–editor of Beginning from Apollo: Studies in Apollonius and the Argonautic Tradition (2005). She also maintains the online Hellenistic Bibliography.

"New and interesting observations abound, and the volume as a whole offers a welcome introduction to an area of burgeoning scholarly interest. Recommended. Lower–division undergraduates through faculty." (Choice, 1 May 2011)

"Particularly notable are the concluding four chapters, on cross–cultural influence and exchange with western Asia, the Jewish world, Egyptian literature, and the early Roman world. Throughout the volume, individual authors and works are described in detail, with excerpts occurring frequently in the Greek original followed by English translation. Written to be accessible to advanced language students and the non–specialist, with many references to current events and media for context, the scholarship of this work is very high, making the volume be a resource for scholars as well." (Book News Inc, November 2010)