6. Doricisms in the New and Old Posidippus [1] Alexander Sens, Georgetown University Introduction Posidippus AB 139 (8 GP = AP XII 131) is a prayer for Aphrodite to favor a woman named Callistium: ἃ Κύπρον ἅ τε Κύθηρα καὶ… Read more
7. A New Hellenistic Poetry Book: P.Mil.Vogl. VIII 309 [1] Kathryn Gutzwiller, University of Cincinnati The earliest Greek poetry books come from the third century BCE, and surviving examples include Callimachus’ Iambi and Aetia and Herodas’ Mimiambi, known from papyrus, and… Read more
4. Excursus: Theocritus and the Problem of Judgment At least one critic has remarked that the stichomythic competition between sophists in Plato’s Euthydemus can be compared to the representation of the Streitgesang ‘singing match’ in several of Theocritus’ Idylls, especially the fifth. [1]… Read more
5. Conclusion The two most obvious features of classical drama neglected by this Part in general are the agôn and the strophic/antistrophic divisions of choral odes. Both of these features of Athenian drama show similarities in the form of point ~ counterpoint to the capping phenomena that… Read more
Part II. Sporting at Symposia: Verse and Skolia Competitions ’Sblood, do you think I am easier to be play’d on than a pipe? Call me what instrument you will, though you can fret me, you cannot play upon me. Hamlet, Act III, Scene ii … Read more
7. The Skolion Game Our sources tell us that the most common poetry game played at symposia was called skolion, the testimonia of which were thoroughly outlined in 1893 by Richard Reitzenstein, [1] whose work has significantly influenced generations of other critics. Read more
8. Aristophanes’ Wasps 1222–49 We are fortunate to possess in Aristophanes’ Wasps 1222–49 one of the earliest depictions of how the skolion game was actually played. [1] It involves examples 3) and 4) (given earlier) as definitions of skolion—known lyric passages or… Read more
9. The Attic Skolia, Theognis, and Riddles By pairing the so-called “Attic skolia” preserved for us by Athenaeus (694c–695f = PMG 884–908) with Theognis, I have in mind to demonstrate that the form of both sets of poetry as we have them reflects, at least in part,… Read more
10. Symposiasts versus Rhapsodes In Part III we shall see how rhapsodes performing at a major public festival like the Panathenaia were capable of improvising in the course of reciting memorized verses. Memorized lines of Homeric poetry furnish the basis for modifications in sense or embellishment, in… Read more
11. Xenophanes Most vicious and explicit in his criticism of epic, by which is meant Homer and Hesiod, is of course Xenophanes of Colophon (frr. 21 B 11 and 12 DK from his Silloi), and it is important to establish the vantage point of his critique. Xenophanes… Read more
