Wandering Poets in Ancient Greek Culture: Travel, Locality and Pan-Hellenism

330 Pages·2009·2.43 MB·English

by  Richard Hunter

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WANDERING POETS IN
ANCIENT GREEK CULTURE
Althoughrecentscholarshiphasfocusedonthecity-stateasthecon-
text for the production of Greek poetry, for poets and performers
travel was more the norm than the exception. This book traces this
central aspect of ancient culture from its roots in the Near Eastern
societieswhichprecededtheGreeks,throughthewayinwhichearly
semi-mythicalfiguressuchasOrpheuswereimagined,thepoetswho
travelledtothebrilliantcourtsofarchaictyrants,andonintothefluid
mobility of imperial and late antique culture. The emphasis is both
onwhypoetstravelled,andonhowlocalcommunitiesusedtheskills
oftheseoutsidersfortheirownpurposes.Wanderingpoetsarealsoset
withinthewidercontextofancientnetworksofexchange,patronage
andaffiliationbetweencommunitiesandareseenasoneparticularly
powerfulmanifestationofafeatureofancientlifewhichistoooften
overlooked.
richard hunter is Regius Professor of Greek at the University
of Cambridge, and a Fellow of Trinity College. He has published
extensivelyinthefieldsofGreekandLatinLiterature:hismostrecent
books include Plato’s Symposium (2004), Tradition and Innovation
in Hellenistic Poetry (with M. Fantuzzi, Cambridge, 2004) and The
ShadowofCallimachus(Cambridge,2006).
ian rutherford isProfessorofGreekattheUniversityofRead-
ing.HisprincipalresearchinterestsareGreeklyric,religiouspractice
andstate-pilgrimage,andtherelationsbetweenGreekandeasterncul-
tures.HisPindar’sPaeanswaspublishedin2001,andheisaneditor
ofPilgrimageinGreco-RomanandEarlyChristianAntiquity:Seeingthe
Gods(2005).

WANDERING POETS IN
ANCIENT GREEK CULTURE
Travel, Locality and Pan-Hellenism
edited by
RICHARD HUNTER AND IAN RUTHERFORD
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo
Cambridge University Press
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK
Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521898782
Cambridge University Press 2009
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the
provision of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part
may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published in print format 2009
I e
ISBN-13 978-0-521-89878-2 hardback
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy
of urls for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication,
and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain,
accurate or appropriate.
Contents
Listoffigures pagevii
Notesoncontributors viii
Acknowledgements xi
Listofabbreviations xii
1 Introduction 1
RichardHunterandIanRutherford
2 HittiteandGreekperspectivesontravellingpoets,textsand
festivals 23
MaryR.Bachvarova
3 ThamyristheThracian:thearchetypalwanderingpoet? 46
PeterWilson
4 Readonarrival 80
RichardP.Martin
5 Wanderingpoets,archaicstyle 105
EwenBowie
6 DefininglocalidentitiesinGreeklyricpoetry 137
GiovanBattistaD’Alessio
7 Wanderingpoetry,‘travelling’music:Timotheus’museand
somecase-studiesofshiftingculturalidentities 168
LuciaPrauscello
8 Epigrammaticcontests,poetivagantiandlocalhistory 195
AndrejPetrovic
9 Worldtravellers:theassociationsofArtistsofDionysus 217
SophiaAneziri
v
vi Contents
10 AristodamaandtheAetolians:anitinerantpoetessand
heragenda 237
IanRutherford
11 TravellingmemoriesintheHellenisticworld 249
AngelosChaniotis
Bibliography 270
Index 307
Figures
1 MapofGreece page49
2a Atticred-figurekrater,c.420fromFerrara(Spina),
MuseoArcheologicoinv.3033,T127.Usedby
permissionoftheMuseoArcheologico. 71
2b Drawingofimageinfigure2a:Aurigemma1960:
Tavola6.Photo:FionaKidd 72
2c Detailfromfigure2a.Photo:FionaKidd 72
vii
Notes on contributors
sophia aneziri is a lecturer in Ancient History and Epigraphy at the
NationalandCapodistrianUniversityofAthens.Shehaspublishedwidely
onGreekepigraphy,religionandsociety,andistheauthorofDieVereineder
dionysischen Techniten im Kontext der hellenistischen Gesellschaft (Historia
Einzelschriften163,Stuttgart2003)and(incollaborationwithothers)Index
duBulletinEpigraphique1987–2001,3vols.(Meletemata43,Athens2005).
mary r. bachvarova is Assistant Professor in Classical Studies at
Willamette University in Salem, Oregon; she has also taught at the Uni-
versityofManchesterandtheUniversityofNottingham.Thefocusofher
researchisusingNearEasternmaterial,especiallyfromsecondmillennium
Anatolia,bettertounderstandthedevelopmentofancientGreekculture.
ewen bowie taught Greek language and literature at Corpus Christi
College, Oxford, as E. P. Warren Praelector in Classics from 1965–2007.
He has published extensively on the Greek literature and culture of the
Romanempire,onarchaicandHellenisticpoetryandonOldComedy.He
iscurrentlycompletingacommentaryonLongus,DaphnisandChloe.
angelos chaniotis is Senior Research Fellow in Classical Studies at
All Souls College, Oxford. He is senior editor of the Supplementum Epi-
graphicum Graecum. His books include Historie und Historiker in den
griechischen Inschriften (Stuttgart 1988) and War in the Hellenistic World:
ASocialandCulturalHistory(Oxford2005).
giovan battista d’alessio isProfessorofGreekLiteratureandLan-
guageatKing’sCollegeLondon;beforehiscurrentappointmenthetaught
at the University of Messina. He is the author of an annotated edition of
Callimachus(Milan1996,2ndedition2007)andhaspublishedextensively
onGreeklyricandHellenisticpoetry,andonGreekliterarypapyri.
viii