The Poets of Alexandria

By: Susan A. Stephens, Richard Stoneman (Editor), Brian Brock (Editor)

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Hardcover | 30 March 2018

At a Glance

Hardcover
208 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
21.84 x 14.22 x 2.03

Hardcover

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Alexandria was the greatest of the new cities founded by Alexander the Great as his armies swept eastward. It was ruled by his successors, the Ptolemies, who presided over one of the richest and most productive periods in the whole of Greek literature. Susan A Stephens here reveals a cultural world in transition: reverential of the compositions of the past (especially after construction of the great library, repository for all previous Greek oeuvres), but at the same time forward-looking and experimental, willing to make use of previous forms of writing in exciting new ways. The author examines Alexandria s poets in turn. She discusses the strikingly avant-garde Aetia of Callimachus; the idealized pastoral forms of Theocritus (which anticipated the invention of fiction); and the neo-Homerian epic of Apollonius, the Argonautica, with its impressive combination of narrative grandeur and psychological acuity. She shows that all three poets were innovators, even while they looked to the past for inspiration: drawing upon Homer, Hesiod, Pindar and the lyric poets, they emphasized stories and material that were entirely relevant to their own progressive cosmopolitan environment."

Industry Reviews

`Susan Stephens - whose scholarship has shaped the field of Hellenistic poetry - wears her extraordinary learning lightly here and provides a brilliant and nuanced, yet immensely readable, account of the most prominent poets of the third century BC. Her book is remarkable for its range and erudition as well as for the conciseness and lucidity with which it situates Posidippus, Theocritus, Callimachus and Apollonius in their cultural and historical context. This balanced, illuminating and insightful work provides an excellent point of reference that students will find both wonderfully engaging and informative.' - Ivana Petrovic , Hugh H Obear Professor of Classics, University of Virginia, `Susan Stephens' book is learned, lucid and full of insight. She vividly evokes in all its strangeness the cultural/political setting of 3rd century BC Alexandria, the newly-founded capital of the Ptolemies, then masterfully presents and interprets the work of four exemplary poets who wrote for them there. This book will doubtless become the go-to introduction to the poetry of Alexandria.' - Peter Bing, Professor of Classics, University of Toronto; Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of the Classics Emeritus, Emory University; and author of The Scroll and The Marble: Studies in Reading and Reception in Hellenistic Poetry

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