Hellenistic Poetry

There has recently been a surge in interest in how information was organized and classified in the ancient world, and how the philosophies of organization reflected the way authors felt about their material (König and Whitmarsh 2007; Carey 2003; Murphy 2004). Most of the current scholarship focuses on Roman and Imperial Greeks sources, because many of the relevant Hellenistic texts have been lost. One type of evidence from this time period does survive, however: an abundance of catalogs in the poetry. Among these works, the poetry of Nicander stands out.

Hymns honor gods by celebrating their splendor, their beneficence, and above all their presence, without which the celebrants sing their thanksgiving in vain: hence the dynamics of epiclesis, of ceremonial occasion and sacred location, of ritual epithets and objects, of aetiological myth and iconography.

Apollonius, Orpheus, and the Sirens: beyond poetical aemulatio

The purpose of this paper is twofold: to address the interpretive dilemma presented by the two passages of the Argonautica in which Jason crosses the Anaurus river (1.8-11; 3.66-73), and to connect Apollonius’ presentation of these passages with a consistent strategy of narrating myths that lie outside the frame of the Argo's voyage. In this strategy, myths of particular programmatic significance are related at multiple points in the epic in short, complementary units.

Whatever the rhetoric of Ptolemaic kingship might have us think, the Ptolemies were far from the only Hellenistic monarchy to patronize literary culture and the arts. Every Hellenistic kingdom we know of placed a strong premium on poetry and learning, which were essential marks of not only Hellenic identity, but also royal power and authority.