- School of Languages Cultures and Societies
University of Leeds
LS2 9JT
Owen Hodkinson
University of Leeds, Classics, Faculty Member
- Università degli Studi di Bari, DISUM, Department Memberadd
- Greek and Roman fiction, Gender and sexuality in the ancient world, Biographic Metafiction, Classical Reception Studies, Epistolography, Ancient Novel, and 37 moreLatin novel, Metafiction, Greek novel, Second Sophistic, Epistolary literature, Aelian, Philostratus, Alciphron, Reception Studies, Greek and Roman Sexualities, Classics, Children's literature (Classics), Women in the ancient world, Ancient Biography, Historiographic Metafictions, Narratology and Postmodern Literature, English Literature: Postmodernism, Metafiction, Historiographic Metafiction, Children's and Young Adult Literature, Historiographic Metafiction, Narratology, Characterisation In Classical Literature, Iris Murdoch, Orality, Philip Pullman, His Dark Materials, Theophylact Simocatta, Greek epistolography, Greek Fictional Letters, Greek prose fiction, Aristaenetus, Flavius Philostratus, Roman and Greek Sexuality, Lucian, Love Letters, Mise en abyme - Theory, Mise-En-Abîme, Mise En Abyme, and Psychic Omniscience in Narrationedit
This volume investigates the form of love letters and erotic letters in Greek and Latin up to the 7th Century CE, encompassing both literary and documentary letters (the latter inscribed and on papyrus), and prose and poetry. The... more
This volume investigates the form of love letters and erotic letters in Greek and Latin up to the 7th Century CE, encompassing both literary and documentary letters (the latter inscribed and on papyrus), and prose and poetry. The potential for, and utility of treating this large and diverse corpus as a ‘genre’ is examined. To this end, approaches from ancient literary criticism and modern theory of genre are made; mutual influences between the documentary and the literary form are sought; and origins in proto-epistolary poetic texts are examined. In order to examine the boundaries of a form, limit cases, which might have less claim to the label ‘love letter’, are compared with more clear-cut examples. A series of case studies focuses on individual letters and letter-collections. Some case studies situate their subjects within the history and literary evolution of the love letter, using both intertextuality and comparative approaches; others placing them in their cultural and historical contexts, particularly uncovering the contribution of epistolarity to erotic discourse, and to the history of sexuality and gender in diverse eras and locations within Classical to Late Antiquity.
* Documents origins and development of the Love Letter in European literature up to the early Middle Ages.
* First systematic approach to Love Letters/Erotic Letters in antiquity (Greek and Latin, prose and poetry, literary and documentary letters).
* Documents origins and development of the Love Letter in European literature up to the early Middle Ages.
* First systematic approach to Love Letters/Erotic Letters in antiquity (Greek and Latin, prose and poetry, literary and documentary letters).
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Blurb: Ancient Greek hymns traditionally include a narrative section describing episodes from the hymned deity’s life. These narratives developed in parallel with epic and other narrative genres, and their study provides a different... more
Blurb:
Ancient Greek hymns traditionally include a narrative section describing episodes from the hymned deity’s life. These narratives developed in parallel with epic and other narrative genres, and their study provides a different perspective on ancient Greek narrative. Within the hymn genre, the place and function of the narrative section changed over time and with different kinds
of hymn (literary or cultic; religious, philosophical or magical). Hymnic Narrative and the Narratology of Greek Hymns traces developments in narrative in the hymn genre from the Homeric Hymns via Hellenistic and Imperial hymns to those in the Orphic tradition and in magical papyri, analysing them in narratological terms in order to place them in the wider context of ancient Greek narrative literature.
Contributors are: Ewen Bowie, Michael Brumbaugh, Nicola Devlin, William D. Furley, Miguel Herrero de Jáuregi, Anne-France Morand, Ivana Petrovic, Nicholas Richardson, Susan A. Stephens, and Athanassios Vergados.
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"Extract from the book proposal:
The basic premise for this volume is a simple one: the editors and contributors feel that a collective and comparative focus on the narrative techniques and on the narrative sections of ancient Greek hymns (across the centuries and of various kinds) can yield extremely fruitful results, both for the reading of individual texts and authors and for the study of the hymnic genre as a whole; and that there is a marked gap in scholarship in this regard, in comparison with the study of other ancient Greek genres containing narrative. We recognise, of course, that discussions of the narrative aspects of hymns have not been absent from scholarly readings, especially of the major ‘literary’ hymns; but it is also the case that the analysis of narrative within classics has become far more sophisticated (especially in the last two decades), so that far more can now usefully be said than, e.g., categorising hymns as Du- or Er-Stil. Studies of the hymn genre have lagged behind those of some other major genres, on the whole, in exploiting the full potential of recent studies of narrative. Among the approaches employed by the volume’s contributors are, naturally, the kinds of narratological analysis first popularised within classics by Irene de Jong, but also other kinds of analysis of narrative literature and of narrative techniques, including more traditional approaches—especially in the case of the less studied texts featured in the volume, which unlike Callimachus’ or the Homeric Hymns have not already had the benefit of countless scholarly ‘readings’ and interpretations. That is to say, the volume is not intended to be a theory-heavy contribution to narratological scholarship within classics (nor to prescribe a particular narratological orthodoxy to its contributors); rather, it aims to be an accessible introduction to some of the possibilities raised by narrative- and narratology-focused approaches to the hymnic genre, and as such a valuable contribution to both the fields of ancient Greek hymn scholarship and of narratology within classics. The individual contributions often focus on examples and case studies, unlike the chapters on hymns in narratology collections as, for example, the ones edited by de Jong et al., which, by the nature of those volumes, aim to survey their respective corpora of hymns more evenly.
Since the focus of the volume is one particular aspect of hymnic texts and their interpretation, the editors have assembled contributions on a large variety of texts of that genre—wide-ranging in several ways: in terms of chronology; of means of transmission (from the very well-known corpora transmitted in literary MSS, to those preserved epigraphically or on papyrus); of the identity of the hymned gods and other entities; of formal features (e.g. different metres and prose); and including both ‘literary’ and ‘cult’ hymns. Because of the sufficiently narrow focus of the volume, we believe that this wider casting of the net is not out of place, but is rather very revealing, in that it shows the diversity and the development of narrative techniques in Greek hymns over a great many texts, authors, and traditions (including less clearly ‘literary’ hymns), and enables the contributors to demonstrate precisely what is unique, and what more conventional, in their chosen texts. "
Ancient Greek hymns traditionally include a narrative section describing episodes from the hymned deity’s life. These narratives developed in parallel with epic and other narrative genres, and their study provides a different perspective on ancient Greek narrative. Within the hymn genre, the place and function of the narrative section changed over time and with different kinds
of hymn (literary or cultic; religious, philosophical or magical). Hymnic Narrative and the Narratology of Greek Hymns traces developments in narrative in the hymn genre from the Homeric Hymns via Hellenistic and Imperial hymns to those in the Orphic tradition and in magical papyri, analysing them in narratological terms in order to place them in the wider context of ancient Greek narrative literature.
Contributors are: Ewen Bowie, Michael Brumbaugh, Nicola Devlin, William D. Furley, Miguel Herrero de Jáuregi, Anne-France Morand, Ivana Petrovic, Nicholas Richardson, Susan A. Stephens, and Athanassios Vergados.
----
"Extract from the book proposal:
The basic premise for this volume is a simple one: the editors and contributors feel that a collective and comparative focus on the narrative techniques and on the narrative sections of ancient Greek hymns (across the centuries and of various kinds) can yield extremely fruitful results, both for the reading of individual texts and authors and for the study of the hymnic genre as a whole; and that there is a marked gap in scholarship in this regard, in comparison with the study of other ancient Greek genres containing narrative. We recognise, of course, that discussions of the narrative aspects of hymns have not been absent from scholarly readings, especially of the major ‘literary’ hymns; but it is also the case that the analysis of narrative within classics has become far more sophisticated (especially in the last two decades), so that far more can now usefully be said than, e.g., categorising hymns as Du- or Er-Stil. Studies of the hymn genre have lagged behind those of some other major genres, on the whole, in exploiting the full potential of recent studies of narrative. Among the approaches employed by the volume’s contributors are, naturally, the kinds of narratological analysis first popularised within classics by Irene de Jong, but also other kinds of analysis of narrative literature and of narrative techniques, including more traditional approaches—especially in the case of the less studied texts featured in the volume, which unlike Callimachus’ or the Homeric Hymns have not already had the benefit of countless scholarly ‘readings’ and interpretations. That is to say, the volume is not intended to be a theory-heavy contribution to narratological scholarship within classics (nor to prescribe a particular narratological orthodoxy to its contributors); rather, it aims to be an accessible introduction to some of the possibilities raised by narrative- and narratology-focused approaches to the hymnic genre, and as such a valuable contribution to both the fields of ancient Greek hymn scholarship and of narratology within classics. The individual contributions often focus on examples and case studies, unlike the chapters on hymns in narratology collections as, for example, the ones edited by de Jong et al., which, by the nature of those volumes, aim to survey their respective corpora of hymns more evenly.
Since the focus of the volume is one particular aspect of hymnic texts and their interpretation, the editors have assembled contributions on a large variety of texts of that genre—wide-ranging in several ways: in terms of chronology; of means of transmission (from the very well-known corpora transmitted in literary MSS, to those preserved epigraphically or on papyrus); of the identity of the hymned gods and other entities; of formal features (e.g. different metres and prose); and including both ‘literary’ and ‘cult’ hymns. Because of the sufficiently narrow focus of the volume, we believe that this wider casting of the net is not out of place, but is rather very revealing, in that it shows the diversity and the development of narrative techniques in Greek hymns over a great many texts, authors, and traditions (including less clearly ‘literary’ hymns), and enables the contributors to demonstrate precisely what is unique, and what more conventional, in their chosen texts. "
Research Interests: Greek Literature, Hellenistic Literature, Second Sophistic, Neoplatonism and late antique philosophy, Narratology, and 35 moreLate Antiquity, Greek Religion, Proclus, Callimachus, Orphic poems, Ancient Greek Religion, Greek Papyrology, Neoplatonism, Early Greek poetry, Greek religion (Classics), Homeric poetry, Hellenistic poetry, Homeric Hymns, Greek and Roman magic, Ancient magic, Greek and Roman Epigraphy, Proclus & Neoplatonism & Greek Philosophy, Aelius Aristeides, Greek Hymns, Hymn to Delos, Callimachus' hymns, Ancient Greek Literature, Orphism, Aelius Aristides, Greek Magical Papyri, Greek Literary Papyrology, Literary Papyri, Hymnography, The Orphic Hymns, Orpheus, Orphism, Orphic literature, Aelius Aristides. Greek rhetoric, Greek and Roman Social History, Graeco-Roman Religion, Greek Documentary Papyrology, and Mesomedes Cretensis musician
""Recent scholarship in Classics and related fields has shown great interest in letters and epistolary literature of all forms (e.g. Morello and Morrison 2007; Trapp 2003; Rosenmeyer 2001). The use of embedded letters to advance the... more
""Recent scholarship in Classics and related fields has shown great interest in letters and epistolary literature of all forms (e.g. Morello and Morrison 2007; Trapp 2003; Rosenmeyer 2001). The use of embedded letters to advance the narrative in genres such as historiography and the novel, and the potential for real or pseudonymous letters to function as biography (real or fictionalized), autobiography, or historical fiction, mean that letters in antiquity play a crucial role in the development of narrative literature of many kinds. The apparent popularity of letters as reading matter rather than merely tools for communication, especially in the Imperial period, makes it essential that we pay attention to this genre, as we assess the reading practices and literary preferences of antiquity. The literary qualities of Greek letters are often overlooked, despite the fact that they display the same kind of awareness of generic conventions and self-consciousness of their literary nature as other narrative genres.
Letters are always about narrative, among other things, whether directly – narrating events to absent correspondents - or indirectly – presenting fragments of an underlying narrative that the reader attempts to reconstruct. This collection of essays explores the inherent narrative quality of letters and its use by Greek authors in a variety of genres and time periods, as well as the limited and sometimes even willfully obscure nature of epistolary narratives that omit vital information in the name of verisimilitude. A series of case studies, with topics ranging from Classical poetry and historiography through to Philostratus and Christian martyrs, asks why particular authors choose the letter form; how an embedded letter relates to its narrative environment, and, conversely, the effect of the epistolary form on the narrative it contains; and how each author manipulates the epistolary tradition. It explores various types of epistolary forms: individual letters (embedded or free-standing); collections of continuous epistolary narrative; and letters presenting fragmented or discontinuous narrative. It pays close attention to the self-consciously literary or fictional qualities in Greek letters, including intertextuality with other literary texts and particularly allusions to earlier letters as literature. A chronological organization of the volume encourages the reader to consider epistolary narrative as a kind of literature that develops over time, growing in popularity and in the variety of forms it takes. ""
Letters are always about narrative, among other things, whether directly – narrating events to absent correspondents - or indirectly – presenting fragments of an underlying narrative that the reader attempts to reconstruct. This collection of essays explores the inherent narrative quality of letters and its use by Greek authors in a variety of genres and time periods, as well as the limited and sometimes even willfully obscure nature of epistolary narratives that omit vital information in the name of verisimilitude. A series of case studies, with topics ranging from Classical poetry and historiography through to Philostratus and Christian martyrs, asks why particular authors choose the letter form; how an embedded letter relates to its narrative environment, and, conversely, the effect of the epistolary form on the narrative it contains; and how each author manipulates the epistolary tradition. It explores various types of epistolary forms: individual letters (embedded or free-standing); collections of continuous epistolary narrative; and letters presenting fragmented or discontinuous narrative. It pays close attention to the self-consciously literary or fictional qualities in Greek letters, including intertextuality with other literary texts and particularly allusions to earlier letters as literature. A chronological organization of the volume encourages the reader to consider epistolary narrative as a kind of literature that develops over time, growing in popularity and in the variety of forms it takes. ""
Research Interests: Classics, Greek Literature, Second Sophistic, Plato, Indian studies, and 66 moreAncient Novel, Early Christianity, Narratology, Suicide, History of Religions, Epistolary literature, Alciphron, Philostratus, Early Christian Apocryphal Literature, Plutarch, Alexander the Great, Rabbinic Literature, Epicurus, Xenophon, Ancient fiction, Martyrdom, Epistolography, Ancient Greek Philosophy, Euripides, Bible, Judaism, Ancient Biography, Paradoxography, Josephus, Herodotus, Epicureanism, Lucian, Achilles Tatius, Greek prose, martyrdom of polycarp, polycarp, date of Polycarp, Greek epistolography, Qumran, Clement of Alexandria, Epistolary research, Ancient Greek Literature, Lucian Samosata, Phlegon of Tralles, Ancient Paradoxography, Greco-Roman World, Martyrology, Plato's Letters, Greek Biographical Writing, Greek epistolography, letter-writing, ancient diplomacy, Acta Martyrum, Sympotic literature, Apollonius Tyanensis, pseudo-Aeschines, Martyrs of Lyons, Christian Epistolography, Jewish epistolography, Voluntary Martyrdom, Alexander Romance, Alexander the Graet, Jews In the Roman and Byzantine Empire, Jewish Epigraphy and Archaeology, Jewish and Christian Pseudepigrapha and Apocrypha, Orthodox Monasticism and Mt. Athos, New Testament and Archaeology, Material Culture and Religioin, Theories of Religiion and Culture, Roman and Byzantine Social and Economic History, History of Judaism In Antiquity, Martyrdom of Polycarp, Martyrdom of Carpus, Papylus, and Agathonike
"The book constitutes a close reading of Philostratus’ dialogue Heroikos, especially its opening, scene-setting chapters, and its central section concerning the myth of Odysseus and Palamedes. It points out a systematic and programmatic... more
"The book constitutes a close reading of Philostratus’ dialogue Heroikos, especially its opening, scene-setting chapters, and its central section concerning the myth of Odysseus and Palamedes. It points out a systematic and programmatic intertextuality with Plato’s Phaedrus, especially in that text’s famous scene-setting. Details of the setting and the dialogue are altered in a way that is very similar to the ‘correction’ of Homer found later in the Heroikos and throughout Second Sophistic literature, thus setting out Philostratus’ aim as being both to recall and to challenge Plato’s method of dealing with mythical subjects (especially in the Phaedrus). It argues that Philostratus’ text emulates that of Plato, and that this includes emulation of Plato’s deliberate ambiguities, ironies, and polyvalency—thus the interlocutors and characters in Heroikos each take on characteristics of Socrates at various times, deliberately misleading the reader if he is expecting one character to take on the (more authoritative?) Socratic role. The Heroikos does not end any less aporetically than the Phaedrus with respect to the status of myths or the written word or any of its other themes; however, this monograph argues that the Heroikos does have something more certain to say when it comes to Philostratus’ ‘Second Sophistic’. The emulation of and rivalry with Plato, including ‘capping’ allusions and ‘correcting’ attitudes to myths seen in Phaedrus especially, is part of a strategy of valorising Philostratus’ sophists and their work by favourable comparison with philosophers (attacking the chief representative in the Greek tradition, just as the Homeric criticism parts of the text go for the chief poet). In this respect, the Heroikos can be seen as echoing Philostratus’ other texts in their promotion of his sophistic, especially the Lives of the Sophists, though in a different genre and through more allusive means.
[Table of contents and cover only available to download below.]"
[Table of contents and cover only available to download below.]"
Research Interests: Greek Literature, Second Sophistic, Rhetoric, Plato, Dialogue, and 17 moreHistory Of Platonic Tradition, Philostratus, Ekphrasis, Ancient fiction, Greek prose, Greek and Roman Imperial Literature, Ancient Greek Literature, Phaedrus, Word and Image, Heroicus, Ancient Greek and Roman Literature, History, and Archaeology, Greek prose fiction, Greek imperial literature, Greek Literature of the Imperial Period, Greek Rhetorical Theory and Pratice, Fiction In the Ancient World, and Theatre and Performance In the Imperial Period and Late Antiquity
This thesis presents a series of studies on three 2nd-3rd century CE books of literary and fictional letters, by Alciphron, Aelian (Claudius Aelianus), and Flavius Philostratus. The three are connected by their similar uses of the letter... more
This thesis presents a series of studies on three 2nd-3rd century CE books of literary and fictional letters, by Alciphron, Aelian (Claudius Aelianus), and Flavius Philostratus. The three are connected by their similar uses of the letter book as a literary form within which to mimic or include a wide range of genres, and to exploit the varied potential of epistolary literature. Tracing the development of Greek epistolary literature and epistolary theory from their beginnings until these authors, the thesis argues that these three books are both deliberately positioned within a popular tradition of epistolary literature and are innovative in creating a sub-genre (unique among extant works in the Classical and Imperial periods) within it, that of the non-novelistic fictional letter book in prose. These books are also contextualised within the literary trends of Imperial Greek literature and the Second Sophistic. Individual studies explore the use of traditional epistolary themes and formal devices by these authors, and their intertextuality with and combination of other genres (especially Hellenistic pastoral poetry and mime, Greek New Comedy, and Latin elegy); they also examine the structure and style of each book, and contextualise these works within others by the same authors (where applicable). Principal arguments of individual studies: Alciphron’s and Aelian’s occasional inclusion of correspondences is a strategy for metaliterary comment on the advantages and disadvantages of epistolary communication. Alciphron uses pastoral’s concerns with hierarchies among ‘low’ characters as inspiration for an exploration of similar characters. Aelian’s priorities in other works—entertainment and moral comment—are equally the letters’ focus. Philostratus’ epistolary persona—an obsessive, often rejected lover—exploits distance as a major epistolary motivation; his submissive, masochistic traits most resemble Latin elegists’ personae; he may allude to Latin elegy.
Introduction L. Flavius Philostratus (c. 170 CE–c. 240s), Philostratus II or “the younger,” is one of several related Philostrati; the division of works in the corpus among them is a vexed question (see the Question of the Philostrati).... more
Introduction
L. Flavius Philostratus (c. 170 CE–c. 240s), Philostratus II or “the younger,” is one of several related Philostrati; the division of works in the corpus among them is a vexed question (see the Question of the Philostrati). Philostratus was a sophist or rhetor, who may have received patronage from the imperial family, including Julia Domna. Probably beginning his education in Athens, where he held local offices (including hoplite general and prytanis), he was later active as a sophist, performing display oratory and teaching, in Athens, Rome, and Ionia; he has some connection with Lemnos (Life of Apollonius of Tyana (Vita Apollonii) 6.27.4), and was perhaps born there. He coined the phrase Second Sophistic to define a literary and cultural movement, in his Lives of the Sophists, a collection of short biographies of those he considered as representative of the “Second” style of Greek oratory. Its subjects are largely contemporary with his own era but begin with Aeschines in the 4th century BCE; its style is contrasted with that of the “First Sophistic,” including Gorgias. He was especially influenced by Herodes Atticus, whose biography is the most important in Lives of the Sophists (VS), and whose oratory he witnessed personally. But his literary output is large and varied in both theme and genre. It encompasses more biography in the Life of Apollonius of Tyana (VA), the perhaps heavily fictionalized life of a “holy man” and “wonder worker” of the Neronian age; Platonic dialogue mixed with revision of the Homeric version of the Trojan war and cult worship of Greek heroes in the Heroikos; a collection of miniature descriptions of paintings (ekphrases) in the Imagines; a collection of literary Letters including epigram- and elegy-influenced Erotic Epistles as well as letters addressed to historical persons and other authors; and a treatise on Greek athletic history and practice, the Gymnastikos. He wrote at least one extant epigram (Planudean Anthology 110), and may also have been the author of the Pseudo-Lucianic dialogue Nero, and one of the short treatises or Dialexeis transmitted in the Philostratean corpus (these minor and doubtful works are not treated in this bibliography). In addition, he wrote many lost works, including sophistic declamations, discussions and introductions (meletai, dialexeis, prolaliae) to be performed in public. Philostratus wrote in an Atticizing Greek that is, however, stylistically florid and quite idiosyncratic; in style, literary and narrative technique, and choice of subjects, he is one of the most original Greek literary artists of the imperial or perhaps any era, reworking the themes of the classical era in a manner far more creative than simply imitative.
L. Flavius Philostratus (c. 170 CE–c. 240s), Philostratus II or “the younger,” is one of several related Philostrati; the division of works in the corpus among them is a vexed question (see the Question of the Philostrati). Philostratus was a sophist or rhetor, who may have received patronage from the imperial family, including Julia Domna. Probably beginning his education in Athens, where he held local offices (including hoplite general and prytanis), he was later active as a sophist, performing display oratory and teaching, in Athens, Rome, and Ionia; he has some connection with Lemnos (Life of Apollonius of Tyana (Vita Apollonii) 6.27.4), and was perhaps born there. He coined the phrase Second Sophistic to define a literary and cultural movement, in his Lives of the Sophists, a collection of short biographies of those he considered as representative of the “Second” style of Greek oratory. Its subjects are largely contemporary with his own era but begin with Aeschines in the 4th century BCE; its style is contrasted with that of the “First Sophistic,” including Gorgias. He was especially influenced by Herodes Atticus, whose biography is the most important in Lives of the Sophists (VS), and whose oratory he witnessed personally. But his literary output is large and varied in both theme and genre. It encompasses more biography in the Life of Apollonius of Tyana (VA), the perhaps heavily fictionalized life of a “holy man” and “wonder worker” of the Neronian age; Platonic dialogue mixed with revision of the Homeric version of the Trojan war and cult worship of Greek heroes in the Heroikos; a collection of miniature descriptions of paintings (ekphrases) in the Imagines; a collection of literary Letters including epigram- and elegy-influenced Erotic Epistles as well as letters addressed to historical persons and other authors; and a treatise on Greek athletic history and practice, the Gymnastikos. He wrote at least one extant epigram (Planudean Anthology 110), and may also have been the author of the Pseudo-Lucianic dialogue Nero, and one of the short treatises or Dialexeis transmitted in the Philostratean corpus (these minor and doubtful works are not treated in this bibliography). In addition, he wrote many lost works, including sophistic declamations, discussions and introductions (meletai, dialexeis, prolaliae) to be performed in public. Philostratus wrote in an Atticizing Greek that is, however, stylistically florid and quite idiosyncratic; in style, literary and narrative technique, and choice of subjects, he is one of the most original Greek literary artists of the imperial or perhaps any era, reworking the themes of the classical era in a manner far more creative than simply imitative.
Research Interests: Greek Literature, Second Sophistic, Philostratus, Sophists, Roman imperial history, and 21 moreGreek epistolography, Ancient Greek Literature, Greeks in the Roman Empire, Heroicus, Vita Apollonii, Apollonius Tyanensis, Apollonius of Tyana, Flavius Philostratus, Greek and Roman Biography, Epistole Erotiche, Greek Elites In the Roman Empire , Roman Empire and Greeks, Seconde Sophistique, History and Ideas of the Second Sophistic Movement, Greek sophists, Ancient Greek Biography, Philostratus the Elder, Philostratus Imagines, Philostratus Heroicus, The Second Sophistic, and Flavius Philostratus 'The Athenian'
This chapter re-examines the question of Imperial Greek authors alluding to earlier Latin literature, in the specific case of Philostratus' Erotic Epistles and Latin elegiac poetry. In light of much recent work that undermines long-held... more
This chapter re-examines the question of Imperial Greek authors alluding to earlier Latin literature, in the specific case of Philostratus' Erotic Epistles and Latin elegiac poetry. In light of much recent work that undermines long-held prejudices against entertaining the possiblity of sophistic Greek authors alluding to Latin literature (e.g. Daniel Jolowicz's recent OUP book on the Greek novel), each possible case of allusion in this direction must be examined on its own merits.
This chapter does that, starting with Philostratus' family connections (Roman wife) and career, which mean that he inevitably spoke Latin and likely read its literature.
It then focuses on examples in which a detailed correspondence between his letters and earlier Latin texts can be traced, and in one case when writing about the Floralia festival, a thematic connection with Rome makes Roman literary sources most likely. It further argues that, even where "lost common sources" can be posited to explain away any similarities between later Greek and earlier Latin texts, this is a simple-minded solution that does not allow for the complexities of classical intertextuality. This is supported by a case in which the common source is known and partly extant: Ovid and Philostratus both alluding to the same themes from the same play of Menander. This does not in any way prevent Philostratus from alluding both to Ovid and Menander, while recognising and responding to how the intervening poet has reconfigured the dramatist in different ways and to fit a different genre.
This chapter does that, starting with Philostratus' family connections (Roman wife) and career, which mean that he inevitably spoke Latin and likely read its literature.
It then focuses on examples in which a detailed correspondence between his letters and earlier Latin texts can be traced, and in one case when writing about the Floralia festival, a thematic connection with Rome makes Roman literary sources most likely. It further argues that, even where "lost common sources" can be posited to explain away any similarities between later Greek and earlier Latin texts, this is a simple-minded solution that does not allow for the complexities of classical intertextuality. This is supported by a case in which the common source is known and partly extant: Ovid and Philostratus both alluding to the same themes from the same play of Menander. This does not in any way prevent Philostratus from alluding both to Ovid and Menander, while recognising and responding to how the intervening poet has reconfigured the dramatist in different ways and to fit a different genre.
Research Interests:
This chapter reexamines the often mentioned, but rarely precisely defined, ‘poetic’ qualities of Philostratus’ Erotic Epistles. It uses several new approaches to ask what it means for such a prose text to count as poetic (such as... more
This chapter reexamines the often mentioned, but rarely precisely defined,
‘poetic’ qualities of Philostratus’ Erotic Epistles. It uses several new approaches to ask what it means for such a prose text to count as poetic (such as comparisons of vocabulary density and percentage of text hapax legomena with statistical samples of poetic, classical prose, and other imperial prose works) combined with traditional factors (‘poetic vocabulary’, prose rhythm, and dense accumulation of several kinds of poetic device). While labels like ‘prose epigram’ certainly have merit for some Epistles and passages, others are determinedly prosaic (e.g. cases excluding all Homeric and poetic vocabulary while alluding directly to Homeric passages)—an effect I term ‘prosaism’, as the inverse of the Epistles’ better-known ‘poeticisms’.
‘poetic’ qualities of Philostratus’ Erotic Epistles. It uses several new approaches to ask what it means for such a prose text to count as poetic (such as comparisons of vocabulary density and percentage of text hapax legomena with statistical samples of poetic, classical prose, and other imperial prose works) combined with traditional factors (‘poetic vocabulary’, prose rhythm, and dense accumulation of several kinds of poetic device). While labels like ‘prose epigram’ certainly have merit for some Epistles and passages, others are determinedly prosaic (e.g. cases excluding all Homeric and poetic vocabulary while alluding directly to Homeric passages)—an effect I term ‘prosaism’, as the inverse of the Epistles’ better-known ‘poeticisms’.
Research Interests: Second Sophistic, Philostratus, Prose poems, Prose poem, Poetic Prose, and 11 moreFlavius Philostratus, Greek imperial literature, Imperial Greek Literature, Greek Literature of the Imperial Period, Prosa artistica, Rhythms in ancient Greek prose, Prose Rhythm, Philostratii, love letter, Philostratus, Love Letters, and Prosaism
Research Interests: Children's and Young Adult Literature, Reception in popular culture, Greek Myth, Classical Reception Studies, Young Adult Literature, and 12 moreMedusa, Literature and Gender, Literature and Identity, Female monsters in Ancient Greece, Gorgon, Monsters and the Monstrous, Classical Receptions, reception of Greek myth, Retellings of Mythology, Reception of Classics In English Literature, Teen Fiction, and School Fiction
This chapter presents a reading of the pseudonymous Epistles attributed to the tyrannicide and pupil of Plato Chion of Heraclea. Agreeing with scholars who see them as a coherent narrative and as a piece of deliberate fiction – an... more
This chapter presents a reading of the pseudonymous Epistles attributed to the tyrannicide and pupil of Plato Chion of Heraclea. Agreeing with scholars who see them as a coherent narrative and as a piece of deliberate fiction – an epistolary novel – rather than as ‘forgeries’, it argues that in many respects it is a highly self- conscious fiction, containing several devices and features that might be labelled metafictional. While some of these are familiar from other forms of narrative, this chapter argues that the peculiarities of the epistolary form lend themselves to the creation of such a self-conscious fictional narrative, and that the author exploited the full potential of epistolary narrative in writing one of the most metafictional extant novels of antiquity.
Research Interests: Second Sophistic, Ancient Novel, Epistolary literature, Metafiction, Epistolary Novel, and 10 moreGreek epistolography, Epistolary Fiction, Ancient Greek Novel, Greek imperial literature, The Ancient Novel, The Second Sophistic, Biographical Metafiction, ancient Greek novels, Greek fictional epistolography, and Ancient epistolography
The characters of Alciphron’s fictional letters are almost all given ‘speaking names’, which reflect their status, their occupation, or their role in the miniature narratives or vignettes which they relate. At first sight, these are... more
The characters of Alciphron’s fictional letters are almost all given ‘speaking names’, which reflect their status, their occupation, or their role in the miniature narratives or vignettes which they relate. At first sight, these are self-conscious signals of the text’s fictionality, being so clearly artificial. But in fact they are not so implausible as they seem : it is rather the accumulation of so many of them in correspondence that makes them ‘unrealistic’ character names. This is shown by a detailed investigation of the prior attestations of the names (in life, using the Lexicon of Greek Personal Names, and in literature) of all Alciphron’s characters in Book 2, as a case study. The results are surprising, and demonstrate that the face-value assumptions in previous studies of Alciphron’s strategies of naming need to be revised.
The second part of the chapter investigates some of the several functions of speaking names in Alciphron, building on the results of the previous section. Alciphron’s naming techniques are compared with those of New Comedy and pastoral poetry, showing that beside evident debts to both genres, there is development and innovation in the epistolographer’s approach. The various games with names employed in different letters signal generic affiliations and sometimes blend together the genres of Alciphron’s intertexts; they are also a crucial part of his technique for creating fiction. Also investigated is the ironic distance that speaking names can create between the expectations of the reader regard-ing the character’s status (based on the speaking name, which constitutes a sort of textual ‘mask’ in the letter’s miniature drama) and what actually happens to him. The chapter shows that characters’ names are not only speaking names but also dramatic constructions in a kind of metafiction that draws on comic metatheatre and pastoral irony alike.
The second part of the chapter investigates some of the several functions of speaking names in Alciphron, building on the results of the previous section. Alciphron’s naming techniques are compared with those of New Comedy and pastoral poetry, showing that beside evident debts to both genres, there is development and innovation in the epistolographer’s approach. The various games with names employed in different letters signal generic affiliations and sometimes blend together the genres of Alciphron’s intertexts; they are also a crucial part of his technique for creating fiction. Also investigated is the ironic distance that speaking names can create between the expectations of the reader regard-ing the character’s status (based on the speaking name, which constitutes a sort of textual ‘mask’ in the letter’s miniature drama) and what actually happens to him. The chapter shows that characters’ names are not only speaking names but also dramatic constructions in a kind of metafiction that draws on comic metatheatre and pastoral irony alike.
Research Interests: Second Sophistic, Epistolary literature, Alciphron, Metafiction, Epistolography, and 10 moreGreek epistolography, Epistolary Fiction, Epistolary research, Greek and Roman Imperial Literature, Greek imperial literature, Greek Fictional Letters, Greek Literature of the Imperial Period, Rhetoric and Oratory In the Second Sophistic, Seconde Sophistique, and The Second Sophistic
Research Interests: Children's Literature, Theory of Children's Literature as a Genre, Children's and Young Adult Literature, 20th Century American Literature, Classical Reception Studies, and 6 moreClassical Mythology, Ovid Metamorphoses, Classical reception, Classical Receptions, Reception of Ovid, and Michael Cadnum
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Research Interests: Greek Literature, Second Sophistic, Rhetoric, Narrative, Genre, and 21 moreNarratology, Encomia, Epideictic, Greek Oratory, Aelius Aristeides, Greek Hymns, Greek and Roman Imperial Literature, Ancient Greek Literature, Aelius Aristides, Epideictic Rhetoric, Ancient Greek Literature, Classical Philology, Aelius Aristides. Greek rhetoric, Generic Hybridity, Narratee, Greek imperial literature, Ancient Greek Hymns, Imperial Greek Literature, Generic Hybridism, Encomiastic, Greek Literature of the Imperial Period, and Prose Hymn
Research Interests: Reception Studies, Children's Literature, Children's Literature & Culture, Children's and Young Adult Literature, Classical Reception Studies, and 11 moreYoung Adult Fiction, Philip Pullman, Young Adult Literature, Young adult fantasy, Classical reception, Plato's cave, Classical Receptions, reception of Greek myth, Katabasis, Modern katabasis, and Catabasis
This chapter examines the genre of epistolography, which flourished and proliferated in the variety of its forms and uses in the Empire. The epistolary genre in the Second Sophistic is first briefly situated within rhetorical theory and... more
This chapter examines the genre of epistolography, which flourished and proliferated in the variety of its forms and uses in the Empire. The epistolary genre in the Second Sophistic is first briefly situated within rhetorical theory and practice, then contextualized within both earlier Greek literature and developments in Latin letters. The variety of Greek literary uses of the letter form in the Second Sophistic is then illustrated with a series of subgenres and examples. Surveyed are collections of fictional and pseudonymous letters (including Aelian, Alciphron, Philostratus, Apollonius of Tyana), epistolary novels (Chion of Heraclea, Themistocles), shorter narratives in letter form, and letters embedded in longer narratives (including the Greek novels and Lucian’s Verae Historiae).
Research Interests: Greek Literature, Second Sophistic, Ancient Novel, Autobiography, Biography, and 68 moreEpistolary literature, Aelian, Alciphron, Philostratus, Ancient fiction, Ancient Greek Rhetoric, Epistolography, Short story (Literature), Sophists, Ancient Biography, Epistolary Novel, Lucian, Greek and Roman fiction, Greek prose, Greek epistolography, Ancient Rhetoric, Epistolary Fiction, Pseudepigrapha, Pseudepigraphical Texts, Aeschines, Epistolary research, Greek and Roman Imperial Literature, Ancient Greek Novel, Lucian Samosata, Filostrato, Phlegon of Tralles, Plato's Letters, Greek Biographical Writing, Greek epistolography, letter-writing, ancient diplomacy, Dictys, Sophistic, Greek Rhetoric, Vita Apollonii, Apollonius Tyanensis, Chion, Fictional auto/biography, pseudo-Aeschines, Epistolary Theory, Dares Phrygius, Ancient Biographies, Apollonius of Tyana, History of Ancient Biography, Alexander Romance, Greek prose fiction, Antonius Diogenes, Platonic Epistles, Flavius Philostratus, Prosopopoiia, Lucian of Samosata, Greek imperial literature, Prosopopea, Epistolary Studies, Themistocles Briefroman, Briefroman, Dictys Cretensis, History of Greek prose, The Ancient Novel, Greek and Roman Biography, Imperial Greek Literature, Ethopoeia, Alcifrone, Greek Sophistic, Ethopoiia, Ghost Story, Sophistry, Sophistry and Rhetoric, Greek Literature of the Imperial Period, and Fiction In the Ancient World
Research Interests: Second Sophistic, Narrative, Ancient Novel, Narratology, Epistolary literature, and 15 moreMetafiction, Historiographic Metafiction, Epistolography, Epistolary Novel, Greek epistolography, Epistolary Fiction, Aeschines, Greek and Roman Imperial Literature, Ancient Greek Novel, Greek epistolography, letter-writing, ancient diplomacy, pseudo-Aeschines, Greek imperial literature, Greek Fictional Letters, Imperial Greek Literature, and Greek Literature of the Imperial Period
Abstract: This paper is the first sustained attempt to argue for reading Aelian’s Epistles alongside his prima facie very different miscellanies (VA and NH): the major aesthetic principles in all three are poikilia (variety of theme,... more
Abstract: This paper is the first sustained attempt to argue for reading Aelian’s Epistles alongside his prima facie very different miscellanies (VA and NH): the major aesthetic principles in all three are poikilia (variety of theme, tone, and style creating the impression of randomness) and apheleia (the ‘simple’ or ‘plain’ style considered appropriate for works of the miscellanistic as well as the epistolary genre by ancient rhetorical handbooks). All three are often criticised (or neglected) on aesthetic grounds, but by the standards of the day Aelian was a model of style; his ‘naïveté’ is a deliberate literary strategy—a part of Aelian’s authorial persona(e) in these works—behind which clear signs of literary self-consciousness concerning the author’s chosen styles and genres can sometimes be seen. The paper thus argues that the Epistles should not be treated as trivial juvenalia (whether or not written in Aelian’s youth), being both a polished gem of a miniature, and also very revealing about the authorial strategies in play in the miscellanies.
Research Interests: Second Sophistic, Epistolary literature, Aelian, Ekphrasis, Epistolography, and 14 moreGreek prose, Greek epistolography, Epistolary Fiction, Greek and Roman Imperial Literature, Ancient Greek Literature, Word and Image, Miscellany, Greek prose fiction, Greek imperial literature, Greek Fictional Letters, Greek Literature of the Imperial Period, Greek Rhetorical Theory and Pratice, Fiction In the Ancient World, and Theatre and Performance In the Imperial Period and Late Antiquity
Research Interests: Second Sophistic, Narrative, Narratology, Lucian, Greek and Roman fiction, and 8 moreNarratology and classics, Greek and Roman Imperial Literature, Greek prose fiction, Lucian of Samosata, Greek imperial literature, Classical Narratology, Imperial Greek Literature, and Characterisation In Classical Literature
Research Interests: History of Sexuality, Seneca, Homosexuality and Literature, Masochism, Aelian, and 57 moreAlciphron, Philostratus, Cicero, Ovid, Tristia, Heroides, Epistulae ex Ponto, Epistolography, History of Prostitution, Greek Elegy, Roman Elegy, Exile Literature, Roman Stoicism (Philosophy), Roman Stoicism, Fetishism, Elegy, Eros, Marcus Aurelius, Gender and sexuality in the ancient world, Latin Elegiac Poetry, Sappho, Ancient Sexuality, Latin epistolography, Pliny the Younger, Greek epistolography, Rape in Antiquity, Greek and Roman Imperial Literature, Arab women, Philosophy of Paideia, Ancient Greek Prostitution, Female Masturbation, Masturbation, Seneca's Stoicism, Latin Elegy, Courtesan, Stoic ethics, Aristaenetus, Love Letters, Amicitia, Latin love elegy, Foot Fetish, Cornelius Fronto, pseudo-Aeschines, Hetaireia, Epicureanism and Stoicism, Erotic Literature, Seneca's Epistles, Hetairai, Pederastia, Cosmetics and Perfumes in Antiquity, Fronto, Greek Women, Hetairas, Qiyan, Esclavas Cantoras, Singing Slave Girls, and Prostitution In Ancient Greece
The ‘hierarchy of herdsmen’ in pastoral (cowherd > shepherd > goatherd) as discussed by ancient critics of Theocritus and Virgil was an important facet of ancient readers’ engagement with this literature; it was known to imperial authors... more
The ‘hierarchy of herdsmen’ in pastoral (cowherd > shepherd > goatherd) as discussed by ancient critics of Theocritus and Virgil was an important facet of ancient readers’ engagement with this literature; it was known to imperial authors of prose pastoral Longus (1.16.1) and Alciphron (2.33.1-2), who each allude to it and adapt it to their own unique receptions of the pastoral tradition. Alciphron is concerned with hierarchies of wealth and status among his ‘low’ characters; he uses his readers’ awareness of hierarchy as a theme of his pastoral hypotexts to sustain a theme of social status throughout his Letters and to order his four books according to their protagonists’ position in the hierarchy. His relocation of ‘Idylls’ to a Classical Attic setting, and transposition into the Sophistic Atticizing prose valued by contemporary authors, follows up Longus’ attempt to reclaim the pastoral tradition from Virgil for Greek literature. Menander is proposed as an authorial figure for Alciphron in Letters 4.18–19.
Research Interests: Second Sophistic, Epistolary literature, Alciphron, Bucolic Poetry, Ancient fiction, and 15 moreTheocritus (Classics), Greek novel, Greek and Roman fiction, Longus, Greek prose, Greek epistolography, Epistolary Fiction, Greek Novels, Pastoral Poetry, Greek and Roman Imperial Literature, Ancient Greek Novel, Greek epistolography, letter-writing, ancient diplomacy, Theocritus, Bucolic Tradition, and Literary letters
In modern fictional biography as in other fictional forms, one of the clearest markers of deliberate fictionality is the unrealistic, ‘psychic’ omniscience of the narrator; this enables him to persistently represent the internal world of... more
In modern fictional biography as in other fictional forms, one of the clearest markers of deliberate fictionality is the unrealistic, ‘psychic’ omniscience of the narrator; this enables him to persistently represent the internal world of his subjects to a level which (even when logically possible) would be highly implausible were it found in an historical biography. Indeed as Cohn argues (following Hamburger) this is one of the distinguishing features of fictionality: far from being merely a narrative device (‘internal focalisation’, ‘zero focalisation’), it is constitutive of a narrative’s fictional status, since it is logically ruled out by non-fictional narratives. This is found in abundance in Greek fiction (e.g. epics, novels), but the earliest fictional(ised) biographies are concerned with verisimilitude and self-authentication: therefore they usually employ direct speech or quoted letters where more overtly fictional forms employ internal focalisation (leading to difficulties scholars have had in deciding authorial intentions with regard to fictionality or historicity in ancient biographies). This chapter investigates the use made of ‘psychically’ omniscient narration, and the question of its usefulness in determining fictionality, in ancient Greek biographical narratives. At this early stage in the development of fiction itself and of fictional biography, however, other markers of (intentional) fictionality need to be sought, namely: the lack of realism in portraying characters as saying or writing certain things (either tout court, or to or in the presence of certain other characters); the lack of realism in conceiving how the narrator came to know (especially private) utterances and letters by their biographical subjects. The chapter therefore also investigates these features and the information they can yield regarding ancient Greek biographical texts’ fictional status. Examples are taken from Xenophon’s Cyropaedia, the Alexander Romance, the Life of Aesop or Aesop Romance, and Philostratus’ Vita Apollonii, and comparisons made with Plutarch’s more historical bioi and the ancient novel. It concludes that the use of psychically omniscient narration does indeed distinguish fictionalising from more historical forms of Greek biographical narrative, as in much modern biographical writing.
Cohn, D. 1999 The Distinction of Fiction Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press
Hamburger, K 1973 Die Logik der Dichtung Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta
Cohn, D. 1999 The Distinction of Fiction Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press
Hamburger, K 1973 Die Logik der Dichtung Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta
Research Interests: Ancient Novel, Narratology, Drama, Philostratus, Biographical Methods, and 35 morePlutarch, Alexander the Great, Metafiction, Xenophon, Ancient fiction, Historiographic Metafiction, Greek novel, Literary biography, Film, Greek and Roman fiction, Historiographic Metafictions, Narratology and Postmodern Literature, Biographic Metafiction, Ancient Greek Novel, Greek Biographical Writing, Vita Apollonii, Apollonius Tyanensis, Cyropaedia, Fictional auto/biography, Apollonius of Tyana, Alexander Romance, Narratology , Focalization, Vita Aesopi, Greek prose fiction, Life of Aesop, Flavius Philostratus, Omniscient Narration, Zero Focalisation, Psychic Omniscience in Narration, Biographical Fiction, Definition of Fiction, Käte Hamburger, Fiktionalisierung, Fiktionsbildung, Ich Hier Jetzt Origos, and Epik
Research Interests: Second Sophistic, Epistolary literature, Aelian, Alciphron, Epistolography, and 15 moreIsocrates, Demosthenes, Epistolary Novel, Greek and Roman fiction, Greek epistolography, Greek and Roman Imperial Literature, Greek epistolography, letter-writing, ancient diplomacy, Literary letters, Epistolary Theory, Greek prose fiction, Greek imperial literature, Greek Fictional Letters, Letters of Demosthenes, Letters of Isocrates, and Briefroman
Research Interests: Second Sophistic, Orality-Literacy Studies, Ancient Novel, Narratology, Biographical Methods, and 23 moreMetafiction, Historiographic Metafiction, Orality, Orality (Literature), Greek novel, Literary biography, Epistolary Novel, Greek and Roman fiction, Historiographic Metafictions, Narratology and Postmodern Literature, Biographic Metafiction, Greek and Roman Imperial Literature, Ancient Greek Novel, Orality and Literacy, Themistocles, Fictional auto/biography, Literary letters, Greek prose fiction, Greek imperial literature, Biographical Fiction, Greek Fictional Letters, Letters of Themistocles, Themistocles Briefroman, and Briefroman
A new translation of the 13 Epistles attributed to Plato, with introduction and explanatory notes on the philosophical, literary, and historical content and contexts.
Research Interests: Plato, Neoplatonism and late antique philosophy, History Of Platonic Tradition, Epistolary literature, Plato and Platonism, and 30 moreSicily (History), Neoplatonism, Platonism, Neoplatonism and Pythagoreanism, Greek Sicily, Epistolary Novel, Greek Colonization (Magna Graecia and Sicily), Ancient Sicily, Greek epistolography, Epistolary Fiction, Sicily, Epistolary research, Greek epistolography, letter-writing, ancient diplomacy, Platon et le néoplatonisme, Sicilia, Neo-Platonic philosophy, Sicilia Antica, Syracuse, Epistolary Theory, Neoplatonismo, Greek Fictional Letters, Briefroman, Platonic and Neoplatonic Metaphysics, Letters, Ancient, Ancient Syracuse, Platonic Political Philosophy, Epistolary and Personal Narratives, Plato and Neoplatonism, Platonic and Aristotelian Metaphysics, and Plato's Seventh Letter
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Research Interests: Music, Music History, Greek Comedy, Aristophanes, Reception Studies, and 13 moreVaughan Williams, Classical Reception Studies, Aristophanic comedy, Ancient Greek Comedy, Incidental Music, Classical Receptions, Music by British composers c.1850-present, Music of Ralph Vaughan Williams, Modern Re-performances of Greek Theatre, Opera and Incidental Music: History, Performance Reception History, Greek and Roman Theatre, Comedy, performance, and Aristophanes' Wasps
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... a series of commentaries on the Res Gestae of Ammianus since 1991, and this conference was intended to mark the publication ... Hartmut Leppin argues that Ammianus' description of the accession of Valentinian was intended as... more
... a series of commentaries on the Res Gestae of Ammianus since 1991, and this conference was intended to mark the publication ... Hartmut Leppin argues that Ammianus' description of the accession of Valentinian was intended as an ironic commentary on the proceedings, and ...
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Download a branded Cambridge Journals Online toolbar (for IE 7 only). What is this? ... Add Cambridge Journals Online as a search option in your browser toolbar. What is this? ... Literature (P.) Grossardt Ed. Einführung, Übersetzung und... more
Download a branded Cambridge Journals Online toolbar (for IE 7 only). What is this? ... Add Cambridge Journals Online as a search option in your browser toolbar. What is this? ... Literature (P.) Grossardt Ed. Einführung, Übersetzung und Kommentar zum Heroikos von Flavius ...
