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Quintus Smyrnaeus' Posthomerica
Engaging Homer in Late Antiquity
Series: - Mnemosyne, Supplements, Volume: 343
Author:
Quintus Smyrnaeus' Posthomerica (3rd century C.E.), the 14 book Greek epic on the Trojan War, is a text which has traditionally been overlooked in the main canon of Classical authors, and in fact until only recently has been largely ignored as a literary work. This book, the first monograph in English on the poem since 1904, examines the Posthomericaâs close relationship with the Homeric epics, with a focus on the originality and Late Antique interpretative bias of Quintus in his readings and emulation of Homer. The study deals specifically with three separate aspects of poetics, and their Homeric intertextuality: ecphrasis, gnomai, and similes, and their role within the poemâs narrative strategies, themes, and aims.
Calum A. Maciver, PhD (2009) in Classics, University of Edinburgh, is currently lecturer in Greek at the University of Leeds. He has published a number of articles on Later Greek Hexameter poetry, especially Quintus Smyrnaeus.
"Maciverâs book is to be commended for its methodological freshness, patient pursuit of intratextual parallels and his resourceful approach to Quintusâ interaction with Homer, both unmediated and through the prisms of Callimachus, Virgil and the Homeric scholia, among others. It is a welcome addition to scholarship on imperial Greek epic and will particularly attract readers interested in the reception of Homer, Greek and Latin epic and late antique aesthetics." Laura Miguélez-Cavero in BMCR, 18.04.2013
"Insgesamt ist das Buch eine sehr anregende Lektüre. Durchgehend ist der Wunsch zu spüren, daà dem Gedicht die ihm gebührende Anerkennung erwiesen werde; hierzu hat Maciver sicherlich einen wertvollen Beitrag geleistet." Ursula Gärtner, Gnomon 87, 2015.
"Insgesamt ist das Buch eine sehr anregende Lektüre. Durchgehend ist der Wunsch zu spüren, daà dem Gedicht die ihm gebührende Anerkennung erwiesen werde; hierzu hat Maciver sicherlich einen wertvollen Beitrag geleistet." Ursula Gärtner, Gnomon 87, 2015.
Table of Contents
Preface ii
Introduction 1
Chapter 1: Signs of the Times: Being Homer Later 8
(i) Reading Quintus Reading Homer 8
(ii) A Late Antique Aesthetic? 16
(iii) (M)use-less Singing: Quintusâ Art? 33
Chapter 2: Ecphrasis and the Emblems of the Past 47
(i) Reading Directions in Ecphrasis 47
(ii) (Re-)reading the Shield of Achilles 59
(iii) Unfolding Ecphrasis: the Mountain of Arete 84
Chapter 3: Speaking Morality through Gnomai 111
(i) Homeric voices? Narrators and Narratees 111
(ii) Fate, Gods, and the Sayings of Nestor 130
Chapter 4: Posthomeric Similes, Homeric Likenesses 160
(i) Penthesileia: A New Dawn 160
(ii) Helen Received, Helen Judged 201
(iii) Like Father like Son: Comparing Neoptolemus 225
Afterword 252
Bibliography 255
Preface ii
Introduction 1
Chapter 1: Signs of the Times: Being Homer Later 8
(i) Reading Quintus Reading Homer 8
(ii) A Late Antique Aesthetic? 16
(iii) (M)use-less Singing: Quintusâ Art? 33
Chapter 2: Ecphrasis and the Emblems of the Past 47
(i) Reading Directions in Ecphrasis 47
(ii) (Re-)reading the Shield of Achilles 59
(iii) Unfolding Ecphrasis: the Mountain of Arete 84
Chapter 3: Speaking Morality through Gnomai 111
(i) Homeric voices? Narrators and Narratees 111
(ii) Fate, Gods, and the Sayings of Nestor 130
Chapter 4: Posthomeric Similes, Homeric Likenesses 160
(i) Penthesileia: A New Dawn 160
(ii) Helen Received, Helen Judged 201
(iii) Like Father like Son: Comparing Neoptolemus 225
Afterword 252
Bibliography 255
All those interested in Classical literature, Epic, Imperial Greek poetry, and Homer, as well as scholars of Late Antiquity.