Chapter 3. The Genre of the Parian Marble 1. The Chronicle as a Literary Genre Features such as the catalogue–like format, the absence of authorial voice, the omission of controversies about facts or sources, are not exclusive to the Parian Marble. They characterize many other texts from ancient Greece and beyond. Most particularly, content and structure link the Parian Marble to the family of “chronography,” one… Read more
Chapter 4. The Parian Marble as a Literary Text The Parian Marble offers the rare opportunity to explore the textual qualities of an ancient piece of Greek chronography. However, literary scholars seem to have so far been reluctant to study it as a verbal artifact, probably due to its catalogue style, simple syntax, and limited vocabulary. It is certainly possible to analyze the chronicle’s style, themes, characters,… Read more
Chapter 5. Time in the Parian Marble Time is ubiquitous in the Parian Marble, as suits its genre and purpose; it structures the inscription at all levels. While individual entries open with “from when” and conclude with dating formulae (by Athenian kings or archons), the text as a whole is built upon the backward counting of years (see chap. 1, sect. 4 above). Scholarship has thus far… Read more
Chapter 6. Literary History in the Parian Marble Biographies of ancient Greek poets and musicians frequently rely on information found in the Parian Marble. [1] The inscription is held as a reference point, even when the validity of dates is called into question. [2] Yet inquiry into how biographical details were attained rarely goes beyond matters of… Read more
Final Words The Parian Marble is a long inscription of unknown authorship, cut on a tall stele for display on the island of Paros. It may best be described as a selective chronographic list, annalistic in style and panhellenic in scope. It belongs to the families of ancient chronography and monumental historiography. The Parian Marble uses the basic techniques for time reckoning and the compressed, impersonal style… Read more
Appendix: Thematic Classification of Events in the Parian Marble Epoque Political Event Military Event Cultural Events Religious Event A1 1 0 0 0 A2 1 0 0 0 A3 1 0 0 0 … Read more
Plates [Due to copyright restrictions, the images included in the print version of this book are not available for reproduction online. Where possible, those images have been replaced by line drawings, open source images, or links to relevant citation information.] Plate 1. The Parian Marble, section A. Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford, inv. ANChandler.2.23. Photo ©Ashmolean Museum. [To view a version of the image, visit the… Read more
Bibliography Ambaglio, D. 1980. L’opera storiografica di Ellanico di Lesbo. Pisa. Ameling, W. 2004. “Wohltäter im hellenistischen Gymnasion.” In Das hellenistische Gymnasion, ed. D. Kah and P. Scholz, 129–161. Berlin. Arrighetti, G. 1987. Poeti, eruditi e biografi: momenti della riflessione dei Greci sulla letteratura. Pisa. Asheri, D. 1991–1992. “The Art of Synchronization in Greek… Read more
II.1 Introduction §1. Homer and Pindar [1] represent the earliest and most important poetic genres of Archaic and Classical Greece: epic and lyric. Similar to drama, epic and lyric performance was social, interactive, and often ritual. There was a rhythm to Homeric epic and a melody to Pindaric song that is lost to us, which can at best be approximated with the aid of meter. Read more
