- Wolfson College
Linton Road
Oxford
OX2 6UD
- University of Cambridge, Classics, AlumnusUniversity of Cambridge, Faculty of Classics / Corpus Christi College, Post-Doc, and 2 moreadd
- Greek Epigraphy, Hellenistic poetry, Hellenistic culture and society, Hellenistic History, Greek Literature, Homer, and 34 moreOld Comedy, Greek Comedy, Archaic Poetry, Hellenistic Literature, Classics, Latin Literature, Classical philology, Callimachus, Theocritus (Classics), Posidippus, Apollonius Rhodius, Aristophanes, Orality-Literacy Studies, Hellenistic Philosophy, Hellenistic architecture, Archaeology of the Hellenistic East, Hellenistic Egypt, Hellenistic Ruler Cult, Hellenistic Monarchy, Hellenistic Historiography, Hellenistic Sculpture, Hellenistic History: Galatians and celts, Galatians, Intertextuality, Markers of Intertextuality, Self-Reference, Reflexivity, Reflection, Alexandrian Footnote, Greek Lyric Poetry, Ancient Greek Literature, Greek poetry, Ancient History, Classical Archaeology, Memory Studies, and Second Sophisticedit
- I am a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow and Junior Research Fellow in Classics at Wolfson College, Oxford. My rese... moreI am a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow and Junior Research Fellow in Classics at Wolfson College, Oxford. My research challenges traditional narratives of literary history at the interface of Greek and Latin literature and scholarship. I work widely across archaic and classical Greek literature, Hellenistic poetry, and Latin literature, focusing especially on questions of politics, aesthetics and intertextuality.
For more information on my research and teaching, please see http://www.thomas-j-nelson.co.uk.
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(ed. with G. Pezzini and S. Rebeggiani). Oxford (Oxford University Press, forthcoming)
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Challenging many established narratives of literary history, this book investigates how the earliest known Greek poets (seventh to fifth centuries BCE) signposted their debts to their predecessors and prior traditions – placing markers in... more
Challenging many established narratives of literary history, this book investigates how the earliest known Greek poets (seventh to fifth centuries BCE) signposted their debts to their predecessors and prior traditions – placing markers in their works for audiences to recognise (much like the 'Easter eggs' of modern cinema). Within antiquity, such signposting has often been considered the preserve of later literary cultures, closely linked with the development of libraries, literacy and writing. In this wide-ranging new study, Thomas Nelson shows that these devices were already deeply ingrained in oral archaic Greek poetry, deconstructing the artificial boundary between a supposedly 'primal' archaic literature and a supposedly 'sophisticated' book culture of Hellenistic Alexandria and Rome. In three interlocking case studies, he highlights how poets from Homer to Pindar employed the language of hearsay, memory and time to index their allusive relationships, as they variously embraced, reworked and challenged their inherited tradition.
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This article reassesses Sappho's description of the moon as βροδοδάκτυλος, “rose-fingered” (fr. 96.8 Voigt)—an epithet that is usually restricted to Dawn in archaic poetry. This apparent incongruity has prompted much perplexity among... more
This article reassesses Sappho's description of the moon as βροδοδάκτυλος, “rose-fingered” (fr. 96.8 Voigt)—an epithet that is usually restricted to Dawn in archaic poetry. This apparent incongruity has prompted much perplexity among scholars, with various attempts to explain the adjective’s significance, or even to emend the epithet away. Here, I highlight the adjective's thematic relevance, outlining its connections with the internal logic of Sappho’s poem and its broader associations with eroticism and beauty. I then explore the underappreciated significance of its traditional resonance within the epic tradition: the epithet aligns Selene and “rose-fingered” Dawn as goddesses who each had to suffer the sorrows of love in their relationships with mortal lovers. Combined, these interpretations not only offer further support for the transmitted adjective, but also improve our understanding of Sappho’s allusive artistry more widely.
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In this paper, I argue that the traditional narrative of Iphigenia's sacrifice lies allusively behind the opening scenes of the Iliad (1.8-487). Scholars have long suspected that this episode is evoked in Agamemnon's scathing rebuke of... more
In this paper, I argue that the traditional narrative of Iphigenia's sacrifice lies allusively behind the opening scenes of the Iliad (1.8-487). Scholars have long suspected that this episode is evoked in Agamemnon's scathing rebuke of Calchas (1.105-8), but I contend that this is only one moment in a far more sustained allusive dialogue: both the debate over Chryseis and her eventual return to her father replay and rework the sacrifice story. The Iliad begins by recalling the start of the whole Trojan war. [See https://twitter.com/Nellenist/status/1517245751679762435 for a brief summary of key points and please contact me for a correctly paginated offprint.]
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Hellenistic literature and art commemorated victories over the Galatians through a variety of analogies and allegories, ranging from the historical Persian Wars to the cosmic Gigantomachy: each individual victory was incorporated into a... more
Hellenistic literature and art commemorated victories over the Galatians through a variety of analogies and allegories, ranging from the historical Persian Wars to the cosmic Gigantomachy: each individual victory was incorporated into a larger sequence in which order constantly quelled the forces of chaos. This paper explores this analogical phenomenon by setting it within a larger Hellenistic context. The first section analyses the various analogies and allegories employed by the Aetolians, Ptolemies and Attalids, comparing these with their fifth-century Athenian precedent and reassessing the case for a Galatian allegory in the Pergamene Great Altar’s Gigantomachy frieze; the second examines how Callimachus manipulated the common Greek-barbarian antithesis with possible intercultural and metapoetic elements; and the third asks how Seleucid ideology might relate to this larger pattern, focusing on Lucian’s account of Antiochus’ ‘Elephant Victory’ (Zeux. 8-11). Although Lucian’s account probably derives from a prose source and not directly from Simonides of Magnesia’s court epic on the subject, I contend that the Syrian writer is likely indebted to the Seleucids’ own self-presentation in portraying Antiochus as the heir of the Achaemenids through a distinctly orientalising motif: the deployment of an exotic secret weapon. The Greek-barbarian dichotomy so prominent elsewhere thus collapses: the Seleucid king was depicted as the ideal blend of East and West, a worthy successor of Alexander the Great.
Research Interests: Hellenistic Literature, Hellenistic History, Propaganda, Callimachus, Ptolemaic Egyptian History, and 13 moreHellenistic and Roman Asia Minor, Seleucid Empire, Hellenistic poetry, Hellenistic History: Galatians and celts, Lucian, History of the Hellenistic World (Focus: Seleucid Empire), Persian Wars, Galatians, Galatian wars, Hellenistic poetry and its context, Lucian of Samosata, Greco-Persian Wars, and Gigantomachy
English original of ‘Clôture, fermeture’ in C. Urlacher-Becht (ed.) (2022) Dictionnaire de l'épigramme littéraire dans l'Antiquité grecque et romaine, Turnhout, pp. 349-52
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English original of ‘Érudition: Épigramme Grecque’ in C. Urlacher-Becht (ed.) (2022) Dictionnaire de l'épigramme littéraire dans l'Antiquité grecque et romaine, Turnhout, pp. 592-4, 597-9
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Archaic Greek epic exhibits a pervasive eristic intertextuality, repeatedly positioning its heroes and itself against pre-existing traditions. In this article, I focus on a specific case study from the Odyssey: Homer’s agonistic... more
Archaic Greek epic exhibits a pervasive eristic intertextuality, repeatedly positioning its heroes and itself against pre-existing traditions. In this article, I focus on a specific case study from the Odyssey: Homer’s agonistic relationship with the Catalogue of Women tradition. Hesiodic-style catalogue poetry has long been recognized as an important intertext for the Nekyia of Odyssey 11, but here I explore a more sustained dialogue across the whole poem. Through an ongoing agōn that sets Odysseus’s wife against catalogic women, Homer establishes the pre-eminence of his heroine and—by extension—the supremacy of his own poem.
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In this paper, I investigate the repetition of Homeric hapax legomena in archaic and classical Greek poetry. Scholars frequently assume that fine-grained engagement with Homeric rarities is a distinctive feature of the Hellenistic period,... more
In this paper, I investigate the repetition of Homeric hapax legomena in archaic and classical Greek poetry. Scholars frequently assume that fine-grained engagement with Homeric rarities is a distinctive feature of the Hellenistic period, but I reveal the significant precedent for this phenomenon in earlier poetry. Proceeding through comedy, tragedy and lyric, I explore a range of case studies which demonstrate the extremely sophisticated appropriation of Homeric unica in the pre-Hellenistic world. I argue that this evidence requires us to reconsider the extent of allusion in archaic and classical Greece and to rewrite traditional narratives of literary history.
Research Interests: Classics, Greek Literature, Homer, Greek Tragedy, Hellenistic Literature, and 15 morePindar and Bacchylides, Aristophanes, Intertextuality, Greek Lyric Poetry, Sophocles, Euripides, Early Greek poetry, Pindar, Ancient Greek Literature, Ancient Greek Comedy, Cratinus, Archaic greek poetry, Hapax legomena, Intertextuality and Allusion, and Tyrtaeus
This paper seeks to shed fresh light on the aesthetic and stylistic affiliations of Lycophron's Alexandra, approaching the poem from two distinct but complementary angles. First, it explores what can be gained by reading Lycophron's poem... more
This paper seeks to shed fresh light on the aesthetic and stylistic affiliations of Lycophron's Alexandra, approaching the poem from two distinct but complementary angles. First, it explores what can be gained by reading Lycophron's poem against the backdrop of Callimachus’ poetry. It contends that the Alexandra presents a radical and polemical departure from the Alexandrian's poetic programme, pointedly appropriating key Callimachean images while also countering Callimachus’ apparent dismissal of the ‘noisy’ tragic genre. Previous scholarship has noted links between the openings of the Aetia and of the Alexandra, but this article demonstrates that this relationship is only one part of a larger aesthetic divide between the two poets: by embracing the raucous acoustics of tragedy, Lycophron's poem offers a self-conscious and agonistic departure from Callimachus’ aesthetic preferences. Second, this article considers another way of conceiving the aesthetics of the poem beyond a Callimachean frame, highlighting how Lycophron pointedly engages with and evokes earlier Aristotelian literary criticism concerning the ‘frigid’ style: the Alexandra constructs its own independent literary history centred around the alleged name of its author, ‘Lycophron’. The article proposes that this traditional attribution is best understood as a pen name that signposts the poem's stylistic affiliations, aligning it not so much with the Ptolemaic playwright Lycophron of Chalcis but rather with Lycophron the sophist and a larger rhetorical tradition of stylistic frigidity. Ultimately, through these two approaches, the article highlights further aspects of the Alexandra's aesthetic diversity.
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In this note, I highlight a hitherto unrecognized literary resonance in the climactic final verses of Archilochus’ First Cologne Epode: Archilochus parodically and subversively reworks the Homeric description of a quivering spear. This... more
In this note, I highlight a hitherto unrecognized literary resonance in the climactic final verses of Archilochus’ First Cologne Epode: Archilochus parodically and subversively reworks the Homeric description of a quivering spear. This Homeric resonance caps the poem’s ongoing clash between the generic conventions of epic and iambus, while also adding a further hint towards how we might read the poem’s enigmatic close.
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In this article for sixth-formers and school teachers, I explore the story of Achilles' heel and Homer's likely suppression of the myth in the Iliad. Homer's Iliad appears to acknowledge, but simultaneously reject, an alternative... more
In this article for sixth-formers and school teachers, I explore the story of Achilles' heel and Homer's likely suppression of the myth in the Iliad. Homer's Iliad appears to acknowledge, but simultaneously reject, an alternative tradition in which Achilles was more than mortal, part of a broader downplaying of heroic invulnerability and immortality within the poem. The only way to achieve immortality in the Iliad is through the fame and glory provided by Homeric song.
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In this paper, I investigate how Ptolemaic poets' presentation of their queens compares with and relates to the practice of their major rivals, the Seleucids. No poetic celebration of a Seleucid queen survives extant, but an anecdote... more
In this paper, I investigate how Ptolemaic poets' presentation of their queens compares with and relates to the practice of their major rivals, the Seleucids. No poetic celebration of a Seleucid queen survives extant, but an anecdote preserved by Lucian sheds intriguing light on Seleucid poetic practice (Pro Imaginibus 5): queen Stratonice, bald through a long illness, organised a competition in which poets elaborately praised her non-existent locks. I subject this testimonium to a close analysis. First, I consider the details and reliability of Lucian's account, arguing that it reflects key aspects of the queen's character and story as told elsewhere, and is likely drawn from a pre-existing source, perhaps even from the ambit of the Seleucid court itself; then I compare this episode with Alexandrian poets' encomia of Ptolemaic queens, highlighting parallel encomiastic techniques and possible direct connections with the poetry of Callimachus, especially his own poem on queenly hair: the Coma Berenices. Given the nature of the evidence, my arguments must be considered tentative and exploratory, but I suggest that the anecdote offers hints of an inter-dynastic poetic rivalry: royal women and their hair stood at the centre of a literary battleground, in which poets not only celebrated the status of their own queens, but also negotiated the poetry and authority of their rivals.
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In this paper, I explore the literary aesthetics of Attalid Pergamon, one of the Ptolemies’ fiercest cultural rivals in the Hellenistic period. Traditionally, scholars have reconstructed Pergamene poetry from the city’s grand and... more
In this paper, I explore the literary aesthetics of Attalid Pergamon, one of the Ptolemies’ fiercest cultural rivals in the Hellenistic period. Traditionally, scholars have reconstructed Pergamene poetry from the city’s grand and monumental sculptural programme, hypothesizing an underlying aesthetic dichotomy between the two kingdoms: Alexandrian ‘refinement’ versus the Pergamene ‘baroque’. In this paper, I critically reassess this view by exploring surviving scraps of Pergamene poetry: an inscribed encomiastic epigram celebrating the Olympic victory of a certain Attalus (IvP I.10) and an inscribed dedicatory epigram featuring a speaking Satyr (SGO I.06/02/05). By examining these poems’ sophisticated engagements with the literary past and contemporary scholarship, I challenge the idea of a simple opposition between the two kingdoms. In reality, the art and literature of both political centres display a similar capacity to embrace both the refined and the baroque. In conclusion, I ask how this analysis affects our interpretation of the broader aesthetic landscape of the Hellenistic era and suggest that the literature of both capitals belongs to a larger system of elite poetry which stretched far and wide across the Hellenistic world.
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This paper looks beyond Ptolemaic Alexandria to consider the literary dynamics of another Hellenistic kingdom, Attalid Pergamon. I offer a detailed study of the fragmentary opening of Nicander's Hymn to Attalus (fr. 104 Gow-Scholfield) in... more
This paper looks beyond Ptolemaic Alexandria to consider the literary dynamics of another Hellenistic kingdom, Attalid Pergamon. I offer a detailed study of the fragmentary opening of Nicander's Hymn to Attalus (fr. 104 Gow-Scholfield) in three sections. First, I consider its generic status and compare its encomiastic strategies with those of Theocritus' Encomium of Ptolemy Philadelphus (Idyll 17). Second, I analyse its learned re-use of the literary past and allusive engagement with scholarly debate. And finally, I explore how Nicander polemically strives against the precedent of the Ptolemaic Callimachus. The fragment offers us a rare glimpse into the post-Callimachean, international and agonistic world of Hellenistic poetics.
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Scholars have long noted the deeply intertextual features of Simaetha’s monologue in Idyll 2, including its Homeric, Sapphic and tragic resonances. In this contribution, however, I focus on an underexplored connection between Theocritus’... more
Scholars have long noted the deeply intertextual features of Simaetha’s monologue in Idyll 2, including its Homeric, Sapphic and tragic resonances. In this contribution, however, I focus on an underexplored connection between Theocritus’ speaker and the Odyssean Penelope. I first highlight the Idyll’s pervasive engagement with heroic epic, dwelling especially on parallels with Callimachus’ Hecale and Homer’s Odyssey, before turning to investigate Simaetha’s attempts to fashion herself on the paradigm of the faithful Penelope. Through a series of verbal and situational parallels, I argue that she articulates an idealised vision of herself as the perfect match for the Odyssean Delphis. But as her narrative goes on to show, both she and her lover ultimately fail to live up to this Homeric model. In reality, she is merely one stop-off on Delphis’ merry rounds of love, more like the Odyssean witch Circe than Odysseus’ loyal and loving wife.
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This article reconsiders a number of the metapoetic oppositions which Harder has identified between Callimachus and Apollonius (in the lead article of this volume of Aevum Antiquum, 'Aspects of the Interaction between Apollonius Rhodius... more
This article reconsiders a number of the metapoetic oppositions which Harder has identified between Callimachus and Apollonius (in the lead article of this volume of Aevum Antiquum, 'Aspects of the Interaction between Apollonius Rhodius and Callimachus'), and subjects them to closer scrutiny. First, I explore two metapoetic motifs (talking birds and programmatic paths), before turning to examine issues of narrative (dis)continuity. In particular, I focus on moments where clear-cut distinctions between the two poets appear to break down.
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In this paper, I explore how Greek and Roman poets alluded to the lamentatory background of elegy through the figures of the swan and the nightingale. After surveying the ancient association of elegy and lament (Section I) and the common... more
In this paper, I explore how Greek and Roman poets alluded to the lamentatory background of elegy through the figures of the swan and the nightingale. After surveying the ancient association of elegy and lament (Section I) and the common metapoetic function of birds from Homer onwards (Section II), I analyse Hellenistic and Roman examples where the nightingale (Section III) and swan (Section IV) emerge as symbols of elegiac poetics. The legends associated with both birds rendered them natural models of lamentation. But besides this thematic association, I consider the ancient terms used to describe their song, especially its shrillness (λιγυρότης/liquiditas) and sweetness (γλυκύτης/dulcedo) (Section V). I demonstrate how these two terms connect birdsong, lament and elegiac poetry in a tightly packed nexus. These birds proved perfect emblems of elegy not only in their constant lamentation, but also in the very sound and nature of their song.
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The significance and influence of Attic drama on Hellenistic poetry has been a topic of little consistent focus in recent scholarship, reflecting the dominant academic emphasis on Hellenistic poetry as a written artefact, allegedly... more
The significance and influence of Attic drama on Hellenistic poetry has been a topic of little consistent focus in recent scholarship, reflecting the dominant academic emphasis on Hellenistic poetry as a written artefact, allegedly detached from any immediate context of performance. This paper attempts to reverse this trend by setting out the continuing vitality and cultural importance of drama in the Hellenistic world, before exploring the role of Attic Old Comedy as both a precedent and a model for Hellenistic poetry. Much of what is often thought distinctively ‘Hellenistic’ can in fact be shown to have clear old comic precedent: Old Comedy, just like Hellenistic poetry, is heavily intertextual (even to the point of re-appropriating Homeric hapax legomena); engages in frequent generic manipulation; displays a strong interest in literary history; emphasises its own literary and metrical innovations; and displays a self-conscious awareness of the tensions between textuality and performance. Yet more than this, Old Comedy also offered a key paradigm of agonistic self-fashioning and literary-critical terminology which Hellenistic poets could parrot, appropriate and invert. Hellenistic poets’ direct engagement with Old Comedy extended well beyond the famous literary agon of Aristophanes’ Frogs.
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Pseudo-Oppian’s aetion of Apamea-on-the-Orontes (Cyn. 2.100-158) has long been thought to reflect a Seleucid foundation narrative; it has even been linked back to the Seleucid poet Euphorion. In this paper, I reconsider the case for the... more
Pseudo-Oppian’s aetion of Apamea-on-the-Orontes (Cyn. 2.100-158) has long been thought to reflect a Seleucid foundation narrative; it has even been linked back to the Seleucid poet Euphorion. In this paper, I reconsider the case for the story’s Seleucid connection and reflect further on its significance. First, I examine the hints in the narrative that point to a Seleucid background, exploring the narrative’s connections with Hellenistic literature in general, and with Seleucid geopolitics in particular. Second, I investigate what this narrative offers for our wider understanding of Seleucid literary tradition and ideology: the aetion appears to fashion an image of a grand Seleucid aesthetic at odds with the slender refinement of Callimachean leptotes. In addition, it seems to counter key Callimachean passages, valuing the Orontes over the Nile and promoting Heracles as a Greek foil to the Athos-slicing Xerxes of Callimachus’ Coma Berenices. Pseudo-Oppian’s account offers us a rare and tantalising window onto the aesthetic and political wranglings of one of the Ptolemies’ major rivals.
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The incipit of a text – its opening word or clause – is an important moment. As the first part of a work that audiences encounter, it has the potential to make a lasting impression. Because of this memorability, incipits are a... more
The incipit of a text – its opening word or clause – is an important moment. As the first part of a work that audiences encounter, it has the potential to make a lasting impression. Because of this memorability, incipits are a particularly marked target for allusion. Up to now, incipit-allusions have been predominantly studied in the context of Hellenistic and Latin poetry. But in this chapter I argue that there is significant precedent for this phenomenon in the archaic and classical periods. First, I outline common features of incipit-allusions and the contexts which enable them, arguing that these conditions were in place well before the bookish culture of the Hellenistic period. Then I demonstrate the antiquity of the phenomenon by exploring the early reception of the incipits of both the Iliad and the Odyssey in the archaic and classical periods. Finally, I focus on specific intrageneric examples from fifth-century tragedy and epinician to showcase the range of effects that incipit-allusions could achieve already in this era. Through these analyses, I establish the significance of this allusive move from an early date and enhance our understanding of the scope and sophistication of early Greek allusion.
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The pseudo-Theocritean Idyll 23 is frequently criticized as a wretched and unattractive poem. In this article, I argue that such allegedly ‘unattractive’ qualities do not betray the shortcomings of its poet, but are rather part of a... more
The pseudo-Theocritean Idyll 23 is frequently criticized as a wretched and unattractive poem. In this article, I argue that such allegedly ‘unattractive’ qualities do not betray the shortcomings of its poet, but are rather part of a distinctive aesthetic strategy. The Idyll embraces the murky, the hard and the stony to construct an alternative aesthetic mode opposed to the traditional ‘sweetness’ of Theocritean bucolic and to the slender ‘refinement’ of Callimachus and Posidippus. First, I explore the poem’s knowing engagement with epic, tragedy and epigram to demonstrate its familiarity with the common aesthetic strategies of Hellenistic poetics, whose rules it can both follow and break. Second, I analyse its ‘stony aesthetic’: the poem is dominated by both the literal and figurative language of hardness through its stone-hearted eromenos and lithic landscape. I argue that this stony environment is pointedly set against the ‘sweetness’ of the Theocritean countryside. The poem’s urban landscape both reflects and embodies its distinctive aesthetic.
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(with M. Chaldekas) Bulletin for the Institute of Classical Studies
(with G. Pezzini and S. Rebeggiani) in T. J. Nelson, G. Pezzini and S. Rebeggiani (eds.) Pergamon and Rome: Culture, Identity, and Influence. Oxford (Oxford University Press) (forthcoming)
This chapter investigates the influence of Pergamene poetry at Rome by focusing on the Latin reception of Nicander of Colophon. First, it makes the case for considering Nicander a ‘Pergamene poet’ who was closely affiliated to the... more
This chapter investigates the influence of Pergamene poetry at Rome by focusing on the Latin reception of Nicander of Colophon. First, it makes the case for considering Nicander a ‘Pergamene poet’ who was closely affiliated to the Attalid court. Second, it provides a synoptic overview of Nicander’s reception at Rome, focusing especially on the connections between his Heteroioumena and Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Third, it focuses on one episode from Ovid’s Metamorphoses (Ceyx and Alycone: 11.266–748) in which Ovid signals his Nicandrean source: Ceyx goes to consult the Clarian (= Nicandrean) Apollo. I argue that Ovid self-consciously sets this Nicandrean narrative against Callimachus’ account of a different Ceyx’s journey to Delphi in the Aetia, building on Nicander’s own construction of an opposition between Nicandrean Claros and Callimachean Delphi. Within the broader soupy mix of Hellenistic traditions that he inherited, Ovid was attentive to the dynastic and intertextual posturing of his sources.
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In this paper, I explore how the ithyphallic hymn for Demetrius Poliorcetes engages with conflicting interpretations of the Athenian literary past. I show how the hymn draws on Attic tragedy to associate Demetrius with two key figures of... more
In this paper, I explore how the ithyphallic hymn for Demetrius Poliorcetes engages with conflicting interpretations of the Athenian literary past. I show how the hymn draws on Attic tragedy to associate Demetrius with two key figures of the dramatic stage: the divine Dionysus and the heroic Oedipus. I begin with a detailed analysis of the hymn’s intertextual engagement with Euripides’ Bacchae and Sophocles’ Oedipus Tyrannus and Oedipus at Colonus. On the surface, both Dionysus and Oedipus serve as flattering mythical exempla: the hymn exploits local literary idioms to legitimize and authorize Demetrius’ divine power, just as its theological reflections appropriate Athenian philosophical thought. Yet despite this overt praise, both figures are polyvalent and ambiguous models, through which the hymn also provides a more subversive undercurrent of coded Athenian resistance. The ithyphallic hymn not only seeks to secure Demetrius’ ongoing favor, but also hints at the king’s ultimate fragility and participates in a broader cultural contest between Athens and Macedon for control of the Attic tragic tradition.
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This chapter looks beyond Ptolemaic Alexandria to showcase the geographical, aesthetic and diachronic range of Hellenistic poetry. It first explores the poetic traditions of other Hellenistic kingdoms (Antigonids, Seleucids, Attalids),... more
This chapter looks beyond Ptolemaic Alexandria to showcase the geographical, aesthetic and diachronic range of Hellenistic poetry. It first explores the poetic traditions of other Hellenistic kingdoms (Antigonids, Seleucids, Attalids), noting points of similarity to and difference from Alexandrian poetry. It then spotlights a range of more localised literary traditions, all of which carefully balance epichoric and Panhellenic influences (Athens, Cos, Rhodes, Sicily, Italy and Rome). In the final section, it foregrounds the importance of inscriptional evidence for mapping out a broader view of Hellenistic poetry (e.g. Sophytos from Kandahar; Hyssaldomos from Mylasa; the ‘Pride of Halicarnassus’; Maiistas’ Delian Sarapis aretalogy). Overall, the chapter situates Ptolemaic Alexandria within a far larger, interconnected system of Hellenistic poetic production.
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The recently published verse-inscription by Hyssaldomos of Mylasa commemorates a moment of divine salvation: an unnamed divine anax (‘lord’) and Artemis Kindyas help Pytheas escape from Kindye and settle in Knidos. In this paper, I... more
The recently published verse-inscription by Hyssaldomos of Mylasa commemorates a moment of divine salvation: an unnamed divine anax (‘lord’) and Artemis Kindyas help Pytheas escape from Kindye and settle in Knidos. In this paper, I explore how Hyssaldomos draws on the epic and tragic past to legitimise the power of this anax. I first introduce the poem’s content and context, considering the possible identities of its key protagonists and the poem’s broader function. I then examine Hyssaldomos’ reworkings of both Euripides’ Bacchae and Homer’s Odyssey. The narrative of Pytheas’ imprisonment and escape shares numerous parallels with that of the disguised Dionysus and his bacchant followers in Euripides’ drama. I argue that these parallels go beyond the typological pattern of a ‘liberation-miracle’ and that Hyssaldomos draws directly on the Bacchae. In particular, he signposts the allusive precedent of Euripides’ play by positioning Dionysus in the middle of the poem’s central catalogue of gods. The Euripidean allusion aggrandises both the anax and Pytheas, while also reflecting the contemporary political climate of the early second century BCE. I then explore the poem’s Odyssean epilogue: Hyssaldomos marks the safe escape of Pytheas’ family as a kind of nostos, while the anax predicts Pytheas’ future old age just as Teiresias had Odysseus’ in the Odyssean Nekyia. After the Bacchic chaos of the central epiphany and escape, the tale concludes with a sense of homecoming and resolution, fostering a close diplomatic connection between Knidos and Mylasa. In addition, Hyssaldomos’ final verses establish the poet as a parallel for Pytheas: he too seeks support from the anax, whose control extends from the military and political spheres to the poetic. After concluding, I provide a text and translation of the inscription in an appendix.
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Little survives of Early Hellenistic Epic, so much so that different scholars have come to opposite conclusions about its significance: for Konrad Ziegler, it was once widespread and plentiful; but for Alan Cameron, it was practically... more
Little survives of Early Hellenistic Epic, so much so that different scholars have come to opposite conclusions about its significance: for Konrad Ziegler, it was once widespread and plentiful; but for Alan Cameron, it was practically non-existent. The truth of the matter almost certainly lies somewhere between these two extremes. But in this contribution, rather than re-tracing this debate, I analyse the fragmentary scraps and testimonia of early Hellenistic epic from a literary perspective. I explore to what extent these poems appear to have foreshadowed the work of Callimachus and other later Hellenistic poets, especially in their engagement with Homeric scholarship and their treatment of myth (with a particular focus on metamorphosis, aetiology and unheroic, erotic narratives). Many features which we consider distinctively Callimachean are in fact, I argue, already well-established in these early epics, highlighting the broader continuities of Hellenistic literary culture. However, given that many of these same features are also visible centuries earlier in the epics of Homer and the Epic Cycle, I conclude by reassessing how distinctive our criteria for describing 'Hellenistic' or 'Callimachean' poetics actually are.
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How much continuity was there in the allusive practices of the ancient world? I explore this question here by considering the early Greek precedent for the so-called 'Alexandrian footnote', a device often regarded as one of the most... more
How much continuity was there in the allusive practices of the ancient world? I explore this question here by considering the early Greek precedent for the so-called 'Alexandrian footnote', a device often regarded as one of the most learned and bookish in a Roman poet's allusive arsenal. Ever since Stephen Hinds opened his foundational Allusion and Intertext with this device, it has been considered the preserve of Hellenistic and Roman scholar-poets. In this chapter, however, I argue that we should backdate the phenomenon all the way to the archaic age. By considering a range of illustrative examples from epic, lyric and tragedy, I demonstrate that the 'Alexandrian footnote' has a long history before Alexandria.
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In this paper, I study Moero of Byzantium as an important predecessor of later Hellenistic poets. I explore Moero’s engagement with scholarly debate, analyse her detailed generic play, and close by considering her possible direct... more
In this paper, I study Moero of Byzantium as an important predecessor of later Hellenistic poets. I explore Moero’s engagement with scholarly debate, analyse her detailed generic play, and close by considering her possible direct influence on the work of Callimachus and his peers. Moero appears to have foreshadowed key features of Callimachus’ poetics, not only in her approach to myth and genre, but also in her aesthetics and self-styling. Her poetry was learned, allusive and generically experimental; it revelled in scholarly debate, untraditional myths and aetiological narratives; and it may even have foreshadowed the Aetia prologue with a scene of youthful divine inspiration.
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This chapter explores the metapoetic potential of horse- and chariot-riding in Latin literature. I first highlight the malleability of the 'chariot of song' metaphor and its particular Roman inflections (especially the image of the... more
This chapter explores the metapoetic potential of horse- and chariot-riding in Latin literature. I first highlight the malleability of the 'chariot of song' metaphor and its particular Roman inflections (especially the image of the 'triumph' and equestrian contests). I then consider the metaphor's application to a wide range of genres and styles through differing descriptions of the nature and terrain of the journey and the trappings and steed of the chariot (focusing on epic, elegy, lyric, didactic poetry and epistolary prose). Finally, I explore how the metaphor was employed to represent the gradual progress of a poet or reader through a book, poem or collection, marking the start, middle and end of a poet's course.
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Theft was a common metaphor in antiquity to describe a poet’s appropriation and reuse of his models. Although the image could convey skill and subtlety, it was tarred with primarily negative connotations, akin to the modern conception of... more
Theft was a common metaphor in antiquity to describe a poet’s appropriation and reuse of his models. Although the image could convey skill and subtlety, it was tarred with primarily negative connotations, akin to the modern conception of plagiarism. In this chapter, I explore how poets were accused of theft by critics and rivals, despite the ambiguity of the term: the distinction between literary larceny and imitation was extremely hazy, and largely seems to have been a matter of context and perspective. Yet beyond the immediate sphere of literary polemic, the metaphor of theft was also frequently reclaimed by poets as a more positive trope for their own allusive activity. I explore instances from Virgil, Horace, Ovid, Longus, Callimachus, Aristophanes, Sophocles, and the Homeric Hymn to Hermes.
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“Following in the footsteps” of a predecessor was a common metaphor of imitation and succession in ancient Greece and Rome. In this chapter, I explore how Greek and Latin authors are often described, or describe themselves, as following... more
“Following in the footsteps” of a predecessor was a common metaphor of imitation and succession in ancient Greece and Rome. In this chapter, I explore how Greek and Latin authors are often described, or describe themselves, as following their predecessors' tracks. But many poets also feel the need to break free from the literary past and to strive for originality by pursuing 'untrodden' paths, a paradoxically 'unoriginal' motif – most poetic composition involves an ambiguous mix of both tradition and innovation. I end by exploring how Greek and Latin poets used ἴχνια and vestigia as implicit markers of intertextual connections, a means to signpost both allusive debts and innovative departures.
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BMCR 2020.03.32
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BMCR 2019.02.46
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SCS 2024: The ‘Silver Age’ of Hellenistic Poetry
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Hellenistic Poetry Beyond Alexandria, 16th Groningen Workshop on Hellenistic Poetry, Groningen, Netherlands, 13–15 Sept 2023
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Argonautica Workshop, Dublin, 1–3 June
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Humanities Forward: Opportunities and Challenges for the Next Twenty Years, Ertegun House, Oxford, 13–14 May
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Classical Association Conference 2023, Cambridge, 21–23 Apr. 2023
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SCS 2023: Hellenistic Epigram in New Contexts
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The Politics of Female Divinity in Hellenistic Poetry, Tübingen, Germany, 3–4 Nov.
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Arts of Allusion: Greek Intertextuality Over Time, Toronto, Canada, Sept. 2022 [originally 2020, postponed due to COVID-19 pandemic]
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‘Beyond the Birdcage: Hellenistic Scholarship and Learning Outside Alexandria’, 13th Celtic Conference in Classics, Lyon, France, Jul. 2022 [originally 2020, postponed due to COVID-19 pandemic]
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A revised version of this paper is forthcoming as Nelson, T.J. (ca. 2024) “[Theocritus], Idyll 23: A Stony Aesthetic”, in M. Chaldekas and T.J. Nelson (eds.) New Approaches to Hellenistic Aesthetics, Bulletin for the Institute of... more
A revised version of this paper is forthcoming as Nelson, T.J. (ca. 2024) “[Theocritus], Idyll 23: A Stony Aesthetic”, in M. Chaldekas and T.J. Nelson (eds.) New Approaches to Hellenistic Aesthetics, Bulletin for the Institute of Classical Studies.
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A revised version of this paper is forthcoming as Nelson, T.J. (ca. 2024) “Epiphany and Salvation in Inscribed Hellenistic Poetry: Bacchic and Odyssean Resonances in the Verse-Inscription of Hyssaldomos of Mylasa”, in M.A. Harder, J.H.... more
A revised version of this paper is forthcoming as Nelson, T.J. (ca. 2024) “Epiphany and Salvation in Inscribed Hellenistic Poetry: Bacchic and Odyssean Resonances in the Verse-Inscription of Hyssaldomos of Mylasa”, in M.A. Harder, J.H. Klooster, R.F. Regtuit and G.C. Wakker (eds.) Crisis and Resilience in Hellenistic Poetry. Hellenistica Groningana. Leuven (Peeters).
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15th Groningen Workshop on Hellenistic Poetry, Groningen, Netherlands, 15–17 Sept. 2021
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Invited lecture at Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, 13 Jul. 2021
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Performing Texts, 6th Open Conference of the Network for the Study of Archaic and Classical Greek Song, online, 30 June - 4 July 2021 [originally 1–5 Jul. 2020, Spetses, Greece: postponed due to COVID-19 pandemic] The material from... more
Performing Texts, 6th Open Conference of the Network for the Study of Archaic and Classical Greek Song, online, 30 June - 4 July 2021 [originally 1–5 Jul. 2020, Spetses, Greece: postponed due to COVID-19 pandemic]
The material from this paper is now published in Nelson, T.J. (2023) Markers of Allusion in Archaic Greek Poetry (Cambridge) pp. 300-317
The material from this paper is now published in Nelson, T.J. (2023) Markers of Allusion in Archaic Greek Poetry (Cambridge) pp. 300-317
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Sensing Greek Drama: Then & Now, Cambridge, 14–16 Jan. 2021
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A revised version of this paper is forthcoming as Nelson, T.J. (ca. 2024) 'Attic Tradition and Tragic Allusion in the Ithyphallic Hymn for Demetrius Poliorcetes', Classical Antiquity
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Palimpsests: Literature in the Second Degree, ICS Seminar, 24 Feb. 2020
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SCS 2020, 'Archaic Poetics of Identity' Panel , 2pm Sunday 5th January 2020
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A revised version of this paper is now published as Nelson, T.J. (2021) “The Coma Stratonices: Royal Hair Encomia and Ptolemaic-Seleucid Rivalry?”, in J.H. Klooster, M.A. Harder, R.F. Regtuit and G.C. Wakker (eds.) (2021) Women and Power... more
A revised version of this paper is now published as Nelson, T.J. (2021) “The Coma Stratonices: Royal Hair Encomia and Ptolemaic-Seleucid Rivalry?”, in J.H. Klooster, M.A. Harder, R.F. Regtuit and G.C. Wakker (eds.) (2021) Women and Power in Hellenistic Poetry. Hellenistica Groningana 26. Leuven (Peeters): 299-320.
Research Interests: Classics, Greek Literature, Hellenistic Literature, Hellenistic History, Callimachus, and 11 moreEncomia, Ptolemaic Egyptian History, Seleucid Empire, Ancient Egyptian Queenship, Hellenistic poetry, Hellenistic Egypt, Ptolemaic Egypt, History of the Hellenistic World (Focus: Seleucid Empire), Ancient Greek Literature, Seleucid Queens, and Lucian of Samosata
A revised version of this paper is now published as Nelson, T.J. (2021) “Intertextual Agōnes in Archaic Greek Epic: Penelope vs. the Catalogue of Women”, Yearbook of Ancient Greek Epic 5: 25-57 (https://doi.org/10.1163/24688487-00501002).
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A revised version of this paper is now published as Nelson, T.J. (2019) “’Most Musicall, Most Melancholy’: Avian Aesthetics of Lament in Greek and Roman Elegy”, Dictynna 16, http://journals.openedition.org/dictynna/1914.
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Hellenistic Scholarship and Learning Outside Alexandria, Università Ca’Foscari, Venice,
5 April 2019
5 April 2019
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A revised version of this paper is now published as Nelson, T.J. (2021) “Repeating the Unrepeated: Allusions to Homeric Hapax Legomena in Archaic and Classical Greek Poetry”, in D. Beck (ed.) Repetition, Communication, and Meaning in the... more
A revised version of this paper is now published as Nelson, T.J. (2021) “Repeating the Unrepeated: Allusions to Homeric Hapax Legomena in Archaic and Classical Greek Poetry”, in D. Beck (ed.) Repetition, Communication, and Meaning in the Ancient World (Orality and Literacy in the Ancient World Vol. 13, Mnemosyne Suppl. 442). Leiden (Brill): 119-157.
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A revised version of this paper is now published as Nelson, T.J. (2020) “Nicander’s Hymn to Attalus: Pergamene Panegyric”, The Cambridge Classical Journal 66: 182-202 (https://doi.org/10.1017/S1750270519000083).
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A revised version of this paper is forthcoming as Nelson, T.J. “Talk and Text: The Pre-Alexandrian Footnote from Homer to Theodectes”, in A. Kelly and H.L. Spelman (eds.) Texts and Intertexts in Archaic and Classical Greece, Cambridge... more
A revised version of this paper is forthcoming as Nelson, T.J. “Talk and Text: The Pre-Alexandrian Footnote from Homer to Theodectes”, in A. Kelly and H.L. Spelman (eds.) Texts and Intertexts in Archaic and Classical Greece, Cambridge (Cambridge University Press).
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Lyric Beyond Lyric, King’s College, London, 24 May 2018 A revised version of this paper is forthcoming as Nelson, T.J. (ca. 2024) 'Attic Tradition and Tragic Allusion in the Ithyphallic Hymn for Demetrius Poliorcetes', Classical... more
Lyric Beyond Lyric, King’s College, London, 24 May 2018
A revised version of this paper is forthcoming as Nelson, T.J. (ca. 2024) 'Attic Tradition and Tragic Allusion in the Ithyphallic Hymn for Demetrius Poliorcetes', Classical Antiquity
A revised version of this paper is forthcoming as Nelson, T.J. (ca. 2024) 'Attic Tradition and Tragic Allusion in the Ithyphallic Hymn for Demetrius Poliorcetes', Classical Antiquity
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The chariot of song is a familiar trope of Graeco-Roman poetry. In this talk, I look beyond the basic cliché to dissect the varying nuances and contexts of this image in Roman poetry: its evocation of specifically Roman cultural events... more
The chariot of song is a familiar trope of Graeco-Roman poetry. In this talk, I look beyond the basic cliché to dissect the varying nuances and contexts of this image in Roman poetry: its evocation of specifically Roman cultural events (the triumph, chariot races at the circus), its embodiment of distinctive generic identities, and its use to articulate the larger structure of a literary work.
This paper draws on material that I have been collecting on metapoetic horse-/chariot-riding for an entry in the 'Dictionnaire des images métapoétiques anciennes', edited by Jean-Philippe Guez, Florence Klein, Jocelyne Peigney and Evelyne Prioux.
This paper draws on material that I have been collecting on metapoetic horse-/chariot-riding for an entry in the 'Dictionnaire des images métapoétiques anciennes', edited by Jean-Philippe Guez, Florence Klein, Jocelyne Peigney and Evelyne Prioux.
Research Interests: Classics, Roman History, Pindar and Bacchylides, Callimachus, Ovid, and 19 morePropertius, Manilius, Parmenides, Pindar, Simonides, Empedocles, Latin poetry, Horse Riding, Roman Triumph, Roman Literature, Horses, Chariots, Ovid Metamorphoses, Horseback Riding, History of Horse Riding, Ovid, Ars amatoria, Ovid, Amores, Chariots In the Ancient World, and Circus Maximus
A revised version of this paper is now published as Nelson, T.J. (2019) “’Most Musicall, Most Melancholy’: Avian Aesthetics of Lament in Greek and Roman Elegy”, Dictynna 16, http://journals.openedition.org/dictynna/1914.
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13th Groningen Workshop on Hellenistic Poetry: Callimachus Revisited. New Perspectives in Callimachean Scholarship, Groningen, Netherlands, 12–14 Sep. 2017
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A revised version of this paper is now published as Nelson, T.J. (2020) “Penelopean Simaetha: A Flawed Paradigm of Femininity in Theocritus’ Second Idyll”, in C. Cusset, P. Belenfant and C.-E. Nardone (eds.) Féminités hellénistiques:... more
A revised version of this paper is now published as Nelson, T.J. (2020) “Penelopean Simaetha: A Flawed Paradigm of Femininity in Theocritus’ Second Idyll”, in C. Cusset, P. Belenfant and C.-E. Nardone (eds.) Féminités hellénistiques: Voix, genre, représentations. Hellenistica Groningana 25. Leuven (Peeters): 387–405.
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In his Carnival of the Animals (1886), Camille Saint-Saëns imitates the sounds of the animal kingdom in all their variety. Over the course of fourteen movements, he imitates both the sublime and the lowly, ranging from the romantic and... more
In his Carnival of the Animals (1886), Camille Saint-Saëns imitates the sounds of the animal kingdom in all their variety. Over the course of fourteen movements, he imitates both the sublime and the lowly, ranging from the romantic and lyrical 'Swan' (XIII: Le Cygne) to the disruptive and discordant 'Characters with long ears' (VIII: Personnages à longues oreilles). Alongside numerous allusions to earlier works (most notoriously the slowed-down Galop infernal 'can-can' of the Tortoise: IV. Tortues), the Carnival draws on the myriad sounds of the natural world as a rich source of inspiration: the noise of each creature conveys different associations, sensations and even emotions. Besides the childish delights of the suite, however, Saint-Saëns appears to have included within it a polemical statement of his own aesthetics: scholars have long believed that the periphrastic title 'Personnages à longues oreilles' was designed to equate the composers' contemporary music critics with the bluster and heehaw of donkeys. The work thus not only celebrates the sounds of nature, but simultaneously uses them to mark out Saint-Saëns' own artistic space.
For students of Hellenistic Poetry, this is strikingly reminiscent of Callimachus' Aetia prologue, in which the poet not only echoes numerous literary predecessors, but also expresses his aesthetics through the metaphors and sounds of the animal kingdom: in just over 40 lines, the poet likens the grumbling of his critics (the 'Telchines') to cranes and donkeys, while aligning himself with the elegant acoustics of the nightingale, cicada and perhaps also the swan. The opposition is even reflected in the very sound of his poetry: as has long been noted, the prologue's sole spondeiazon occurs in its description of the donkey (ὀγκήσαιτο, Aet.fr.1.31), conveying the heavy and lumbering thud of the beast's bray. Like Saint-Saëns, Callimachus thus mobilises the sounds of the animal kingdom to his own ends, aurally defining and delineating his poetic style.
The animal acoustics of the prologue have, of course, been well studied by earlier scholars, and I will not simply echo their work in this paper. Instead, my main aims are twofold: first, I will explore the reverberations of the prologue's symphonic bestiary throughout Hellenistic poetry, examining how other authors rewrite or pre-empt Callimachus' aesthetics. We will explore, amongst others, Aratus' bullfrog and crow (Phaen.948-53), Theocritus' selection of singing critters (Id.7.138-140) and Callimachus' own expansion of the trope in his Aesopic second Iambus; the programmatic significance of animal sounds resonates throughout Hellenistic poetry. Secondly, I intend to expand my perspective and explore how these poetic metaphors intersect with other cultural uses of animal sounds in antiquity. In ancient thought, animals were often regarded as a key 'other' in the definition of mankind, and were often employed metaphorically to define different 'subgroups' of humanity, including foreigners and women. We might think of Semonides' yelping dog woman (fr.7.15 λέληκεν, 7.20 αὐονήν) or the Trojans of the Iliad, equated with bleating lambs (Il.4.433-8) and clangorous cranes (Il.3.1-7 κλαγγῇ, κλαγγή, κλαγγῇ). When Callimachus and his peers adopted the sounds of the animal kingdom for their programmatic poetics, therefore, these metaphors and images came with considerable cultural baggage: the 'Telchines' of the Aetia prologue are not just ignorant and unpoetic, but also alien, foreign and even unmanly. Callimachus' demarcation of his own aural poetic space is thus not simply an innocent case of poetic posturing, but engages directly in the continuing construction and articulation of Greek identity.
For students of Hellenistic Poetry, this is strikingly reminiscent of Callimachus' Aetia prologue, in which the poet not only echoes numerous literary predecessors, but also expresses his aesthetics through the metaphors and sounds of the animal kingdom: in just over 40 lines, the poet likens the grumbling of his critics (the 'Telchines') to cranes and donkeys, while aligning himself with the elegant acoustics of the nightingale, cicada and perhaps also the swan. The opposition is even reflected in the very sound of his poetry: as has long been noted, the prologue's sole spondeiazon occurs in its description of the donkey (ὀγκήσαιτο, Aet.fr.1.31), conveying the heavy and lumbering thud of the beast's bray. Like Saint-Saëns, Callimachus thus mobilises the sounds of the animal kingdom to his own ends, aurally defining and delineating his poetic style.
The animal acoustics of the prologue have, of course, been well studied by earlier scholars, and I will not simply echo their work in this paper. Instead, my main aims are twofold: first, I will explore the reverberations of the prologue's symphonic bestiary throughout Hellenistic poetry, examining how other authors rewrite or pre-empt Callimachus' aesthetics. We will explore, amongst others, Aratus' bullfrog and crow (Phaen.948-53), Theocritus' selection of singing critters (Id.7.138-140) and Callimachus' own expansion of the trope in his Aesopic second Iambus; the programmatic significance of animal sounds resonates throughout Hellenistic poetry. Secondly, I intend to expand my perspective and explore how these poetic metaphors intersect with other cultural uses of animal sounds in antiquity. In ancient thought, animals were often regarded as a key 'other' in the definition of mankind, and were often employed metaphorically to define different 'subgroups' of humanity, including foreigners and women. We might think of Semonides' yelping dog woman (fr.7.15 λέληκεν, 7.20 αὐονήν) or the Trojans of the Iliad, equated with bleating lambs (Il.4.433-8) and clangorous cranes (Il.3.1-7 κλαγγῇ, κλαγγή, κλαγγῇ). When Callimachus and his peers adopted the sounds of the animal kingdom for their programmatic poetics, therefore, these metaphors and images came with considerable cultural baggage: the 'Telchines' of the Aetia prologue are not just ignorant and unpoetic, but also alien, foreign and even unmanly. Callimachus' demarcation of his own aural poetic space is thus not simply an innocent case of poetic posturing, but engages directly in the continuing construction and articulation of Greek identity.
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A revised version of this paper is published as Nelson, T.J. (2020) “Attalid Aesthetics: The Pergamene ‘Baroque’ Reconsidered”, Journal of Hellenic Studies 140: 176-198 (https://doi.org/10.1017/S0075426920000087). Section 3 was revised... more
A revised version of this paper is published as Nelson, T.J. (2020) “Attalid Aesthetics: The Pergamene ‘Baroque’ Reconsidered”, Journal of Hellenic Studies 140: 176-198 (https://doi.org/10.1017/S0075426920000087). Section 3 was revised separately as Nelson, T.J. (2020) “Nicander’s Hymn to Attalus: Pergamene Panegyric”, The Cambridge Classical Journal 66: 182-202 (https://doi.org/10.1017/S1750270519000083).
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A revised version of this paper is forthcoming as two separate chapters: 'Early Hellenistic Epic' and 'Moero of Byzantium' in M. Perale, J. Kwapisz, G. Taietti & B. Cartlidge (eds.) Hellenistic Poetry Before Callimachus. Cambridge... more
A revised version of this paper is forthcoming as two separate chapters: 'Early Hellenistic Epic' and 'Moero of Byzantium' in M. Perale, J. Kwapisz, G. Taietti & B. Cartlidge (eds.) Hellenistic Poetry Before Callimachus. Cambridge (CUP).
Perhaps more than any other genre, the fragmentary scraps and testimonia of early Hellenistic epic provide ample opportunity for conflicting interpretation and debate. Once considered widespread and the direct target of Callimachus' disdain in the Aetia prologue (Ziegler, Das hellenistische Epos, 1966, Leipzig), the genre's very existence was called into question twenty years ago by Alan Cameron, who famously argued that "relatively little large scale epic was in fact written during the Hellenistic age" and "little or none in the century or so before Callimachus published Aetia I-II" (Callimachus and his Critics, 1995, Princeton: 266). The extremes of Cameron's polemic, however, conceal the fact that we do have evidence for the existence of a number of early Hellenistic epics, even if their scope and scale are ultimately an issue of pure conjecture.
In this paper, I propose to reassess this evidence, outlining discernible developments in the epic genre and highlighting potential precursors of the famous Hellenistic aesthetic. I shall begin with Antimachus of Colophon and Choerilus of Samos, late classical proponents of mythological and historical epic respectively, whose fragments already display many similarities with 'Callimachean' poetry. I shall then turn to early Hellenistic encomiastic epic, reassessing what we know of the 'Alexander poets' beyond the scathing verdict of literary history, while also comparing other early hexameter encomia by Aratus and (potentially) Hermodotus. The bulk of the paper, however, will focus on early Hellenistic historical and mythological epic, including the works of Hegemon of Alexandria Troas, Diotimus, Antagoras and Moero, exploring how these poets both follow on from Antimachus and Choerilus, and foreshadow what we later find in Apollonius Rhodius and Rhianus. Despite the scarcity of our evidence, early Hellenistic epic, I argue, appears to have been an important stage of transition in the development of the epic genre, and many of its proponents already display archetypally 'Callimachean' interests in aetiology, paradoxography and Homeric scholarship.
Perhaps more than any other genre, the fragmentary scraps and testimonia of early Hellenistic epic provide ample opportunity for conflicting interpretation and debate. Once considered widespread and the direct target of Callimachus' disdain in the Aetia prologue (Ziegler, Das hellenistische Epos, 1966, Leipzig), the genre's very existence was called into question twenty years ago by Alan Cameron, who famously argued that "relatively little large scale epic was in fact written during the Hellenistic age" and "little or none in the century or so before Callimachus published Aetia I-II" (Callimachus and his Critics, 1995, Princeton: 266). The extremes of Cameron's polemic, however, conceal the fact that we do have evidence for the existence of a number of early Hellenistic epics, even if their scope and scale are ultimately an issue of pure conjecture.
In this paper, I propose to reassess this evidence, outlining discernible developments in the epic genre and highlighting potential precursors of the famous Hellenistic aesthetic. I shall begin with Antimachus of Colophon and Choerilus of Samos, late classical proponents of mythological and historical epic respectively, whose fragments already display many similarities with 'Callimachean' poetry. I shall then turn to early Hellenistic encomiastic epic, reassessing what we know of the 'Alexander poets' beyond the scathing verdict of literary history, while also comparing other early hexameter encomia by Aratus and (potentially) Hermodotus. The bulk of the paper, however, will focus on early Hellenistic historical and mythological epic, including the works of Hegemon of Alexandria Troas, Diotimus, Antagoras and Moero, exploring how these poets both follow on from Antimachus and Choerilus, and foreshadow what we later find in Apollonius Rhodius and Rhianus. Despite the scarcity of our evidence, early Hellenistic epic, I argue, appears to have been an important stage of transition in the development of the epic genre, and many of its proponents already display archetypally 'Callimachean' interests in aetiology, paradoxography and Homeric scholarship.
Research Interests: Classics, Callimachus, Apollonius Rhodius, Alexander the Great, Epic poetry, and 14 moreHellenistic poetry, Aratus, Ancient Paradoxography, Antimachus, Aetiology, Hellenistic poetry and its context, Choerilus of Samos, Choerilus, Homeric Scholarship, Hegemon of Alexandria Troas, Diotimus, Antagoras, Moero, and Rhianus
A revised version of this paper is now published as Nelson, T.J. (2020) “Attalid Aesthetics: The Pergamene ‘Baroque’ Reconsidered”, Journal of Hellenic Studies 140: 176-198 (https://doi.org/10.1017/S0075426920000087). Section 2 was... more
A revised version of this paper is now published as Nelson, T.J. (2020) “Attalid Aesthetics: The Pergamene ‘Baroque’ Reconsidered”, Journal of Hellenic Studies 140: 176-198 (https://doi.org/10.1017/S0075426920000087). Section 2 was revised separately as Nelson, T.J. (2020) “Nicander’s Hymn to Attalus: Pergamene Panegyric”, The Cambridge Classical Journal 66: 182-202 (https://doi.org/10.1017/S1750270519000083).
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A revised version of this paper is now published as Nelson, T.J. (2018) “The Shadow of Aristophanes: Hellenistic Poetry’s Reception of Comic Poetics”, in M.A. Harder, R.F. Regtuit and G.C. Wakker (eds.) (2018) Drama and Performance in... more
A revised version of this paper is now published as Nelson, T.J. (2018) “The Shadow of Aristophanes: Hellenistic Poetry’s Reception of Comic Poetics”, in M.A. Harder, R.F. Regtuit and G.C. Wakker (eds.) (2018) Drama and Performance in Hellenistic Poetry. Hellenistica Groningana 23. Leuven (Peeters): 225–271.
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Recent studies in Latin intertextuality have explored the way in which Roman poets self-consciously marked and highlighted their intertextual engagements with other poems. One of the most common forms of such self-reflexive annotation is... more
Recent studies in Latin intertextuality have explored the way in which Roman poets self-consciously marked and highlighted their intertextual engagements with other poems. One of the most common forms of such self-reflexive annotation is the famous 'Alexandrian footnote', where apparently general appeals to tradition (such as fama est, dicitur and ferunt) seem to signal an allusion to specific literary predecessors. Despite much interest in Latin instances of this device, however, scholars have been less concerned with examining its possible Greek precedent. In this paper, I propose to explore whether any traces of the 'Alexandrian footnote' are already visible in our earliest extant Greek poetry, the two Homeric epics. By exploring instances of φασί and similar expressions in both the Iliad and the Odyssey, alongside their reception in the Homeric scholia, I hope to demonstrate that such self-conscious devices are not merely the preserve of later Hellenistic and Latin poetry. In doing so, I shall also touch on some general methodological issues surrounding the use of the concept of 'intertextuality' in the orally-derived context of early Greek epic.
Summary of the talk available on the Cambridge Grad Classics Blog: https://resgerendae.wordpress.com/2015/01/26/gis-report-23012015-footnotes-in-homer-and-reading-the-stars/
The material from this talk is now published in Section II.2 of Nelson, T.J. (2023) Markers of Allusion in Archaic Greek Poetry (Cambridge) (https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009086882)
Summary of the talk available on the Cambridge Grad Classics Blog: https://resgerendae.wordpress.com/2015/01/26/gis-report-23012015-footnotes-in-homer-and-reading-the-stars/
The material from this talk is now published in Section II.2 of Nelson, T.J. (2023) Markers of Allusion in Archaic Greek Poetry (Cambridge) (https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009086882)
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Material from this talk is now published in Nelson, T.J. (2022) “Beating the Galatians: Ideologies, Analogies and Allegories in Hellenistic Literature and Art”, in A. Coşkun (ed.) (2022) Galatian Victories and Other Studies into the... more
Material from this talk is now published in Nelson, T.J. (2022) “Beating the Galatians: Ideologies, Analogies and Allegories in Hellenistic Literature and Art”, in A. Coşkun (ed.) (2022) Galatian Victories and Other Studies into the Agency and Identity of the Galatians in the Hellenistic and Early Roman Periods. Colloquia Antiqua 33. Leuven (Peeters): 97-144.
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A revised version of this paper is published as Nelson, T.J. (2022) “Beating the Galatians: Ideologies, Analogies and Allegories in Hellenistic Literature and Art”, in A. Coşkun (ed.) (2022) Galatian Victories and Other Studies into the... more
A revised version of this paper is published as Nelson, T.J. (2022) “Beating the Galatians: Ideologies, Analogies and Allegories in Hellenistic Literature and Art”, in A. Coşkun (ed.) (2022) Galatian Victories and Other Studies into the Agency and Identity of the Galatians in the Hellenistic and Early Roman Periods. Colloquia Antiqua 33. Leuven (Peeters): 97-144.
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Recent studies in Latin intertextuality have emphasised the way in which Roman poets self-consciously marked and metaphorically figured their intertextual engagements with other poems. One of the most common forms of such self-reflexive... more
Recent studies in Latin intertextuality have emphasised the way in which Roman poets self-consciously marked and metaphorically figured their intertextual engagements with other poems. One of the most common forms of such self-reflexive annotation is the famous ‘Alexandrian footnote’, where apparently general appeals to tradition (such as fama est, dicitur and ferunt) can in fact be seen to signal a specific allusion, yet scholars have also noted various metaphors of intertextuality embedded in Latin texts themselves, including those of memory, theft and echo. In this paper, I ask whether such self-reflexive markers of intertextuality can be traced back to earlier Greek, and specifically Hellenistic, poetry. Focusing especially on the texts of Callimachus, the Alexandrian scholar-poet par excellence, I propose to explore a number of test cases where intertextual engagement with both classical and contemporary texts, as well as cross-references within a single poet’s corpus, might be signalled by such metaphorical markers. From these examples, I will argue that Hellenistic poetry was no less interested than Latin poetry in marking its engagement with other texts, not only through general appeals to tradition, but also through metaphorical self-commentary: Callimachus and his peers, too, implicitly present themselves as ‘recalling’, ‘stealing’ and ‘echoing’ other texts. In conclusion, I will offer some more general remarks on the nature and purpose of such metaphorical markers, while also noting the striking fact that many of the metaphors employed by modern critics to describe intertextuality today already find their roots in the literary practices of the ancient poets themselves.
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Summary of, and response to, Alexander Kirichenko's paper "Importing the Past: Theocritus’ Id. 15 and Callimachus’ Aetia" at the 11th Groningen Workshop on Hellenistic Poetry: "Past and Present in Hellenistic Poetry." Kirichenko's... more
Summary of, and response to, Alexander Kirichenko's paper "Importing the Past: Theocritus’ Id. 15 and Callimachus’ Aetia" at the 11th Groningen Workshop on Hellenistic Poetry: "Past and Present in Hellenistic Poetry."
Kirichenko's paper was not published in the proceedings of the conference (Harder, M. A. et al. (eds.) (2017) 'Past and Present in Hellenistic Poetry', Hellenistica Groningana 21, Leuven), but my contributions to the conference are acknowledged by name at p.1 n.*; p.243, n.20.
Kirichenko's paper was not published in the proceedings of the conference (Harder, M. A. et al. (eds.) (2017) 'Past and Present in Hellenistic Poetry', Hellenistica Groningana 21, Leuven), but my contributions to the conference are acknowledged by name at p.1 n.*; p.243, n.20.
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Saturday 20th April 2024, 9.45–18.30 Faculty of Classics, Oxford This workshop brings together scholars working on the reception of epic in both the ancient and modern worlds. Our goal is to track some of the diverse repurposings of the... more
Saturday 20th April 2024, 9.45–18.30
Faculty of Classics, Oxford
This workshop brings together scholars working on the reception of epic in both the ancient and modern worlds. Our goal is to track some of the diverse repurposings of the epic tradition across time, and to interrogate the overlaps and differences in the study of ancient ‘intertextuality’ and modern ‘reception’. We are particularly interested in thinking about the reworkings of Greek epic across different cultures and media: how is this privileged cultural form reconfigured for different value systems and modes of expression in both antiquity and the modern day?
The workshop will coincide with the UK premiere of US singer-songwriter Joe Goodkin’s Odyssey, a modern reinterpretation of the Homeric poem.
Faculty of Classics, Oxford
This workshop brings together scholars working on the reception of epic in both the ancient and modern worlds. Our goal is to track some of the diverse repurposings of the epic tradition across time, and to interrogate the overlaps and differences in the study of ancient ‘intertextuality’ and modern ‘reception’. We are particularly interested in thinking about the reworkings of Greek epic across different cultures and media: how is this privileged cultural form reconfigured for different value systems and modes of expression in both antiquity and the modern day?
The workshop will coincide with the UK premiere of US singer-songwriter Joe Goodkin’s Odyssey, a modern reinterpretation of the Homeric poem.
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SCS 2024 Panel
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Languages and Literature Seminar, Oxford, January-March 2023
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Cambridge Literature Seminar, May-June 2021
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In the past generation, Classical scholars have become increasingly interested in the relationship between the cultures of Greece and the Ancient Near East, spearheaded by the work of Burkert (1984) and West (1997). Most research on this... more
In the past generation, Classical scholars have become increasingly interested in the relationship between the cultures of Greece and the Ancient Near East, spearheaded by the work of Burkert (1984) and West (1997). Most research on this relationship has focused on shared aspects of content, language and narrative (e.g. López-Ruiz 2010, Haubold 2013, Bachvarova 2016). In this interdisciplinary panel, by contrast, we adopt a more literary approach, juxtaposing the poetics of these different cultures by bringing together experts of Near Eastern and ancient Greek literature. Two pairs of papers address key aspects of ancient poetics. The first explore the intensely competitive intertextuality of Babylonian and archaic Greek poetry. The second examine the significance of authorial presence and absence in both cultures. Rather than seeking to construct a neat narrative of literary influence, our comparative approach will broaden our perspective on the literature of both cultures, promoting a rich and fruitful interdisciplinary dialogue.
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Run in collaboration with: Australian National University (ANU); a.r.t.e.s. Graduate School for the Humanities Cologne (a.r.t.e.s.), European University at St Petersburg (EUSP), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
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Research Interests: Aesthetics, Classics, Greek Literature, Hellenistic Literature, Menander, and 15 moreHellenistic History, Poetics, Callimachus, Ptolemaic Egyptian History, Greek and Latin Epigram, Theocritus (Classics), Lucretius, Hellenistic poetry, Latin poetry, Ancient Greek Literature, Batrachomyomachia, Nicander Colophonius, Hellenistic poetry and its context, Hellenistic Rhodes, and Antipater of Sidon
Faculty of Classics, University of Cambridge Thursday 1st - Saturday 3rd September 2016 Is Callimachus' poetry wholly representative of three centuries of poetic production? Third-century Alexandria and 'Callimachean' aesthetics... more
Faculty of Classics, University of Cambridge
Thursday 1st - Saturday 3rd September 2016
Is Callimachus' poetry wholly representative of three centuries of poetic production?
Third-century Alexandria and 'Callimachean' aesthetics continue to dominate discussions of Hellenistic poetry, but in this Cambridge conference we want to shift our focus and illuminate what has been obscured by Callimachus' enduring shadow, to redirect attention to the plurality of poetic styles and traditions throughout the Hellenistic world, with all their synchronic and diachronic diversity. We are particularly interested in alternative traditions *after* Callimachus: the post-, non- and anti-Callimachean strands of Hellenistic poetry.
Thursday 1st - Saturday 3rd September 2016
Is Callimachus' poetry wholly representative of three centuries of poetic production?
Third-century Alexandria and 'Callimachean' aesthetics continue to dominate discussions of Hellenistic poetry, but in this Cambridge conference we want to shift our focus and illuminate what has been obscured by Callimachus' enduring shadow, to redirect attention to the plurality of poetic styles and traditions throughout the Hellenistic world, with all their synchronic and diachronic diversity. We are particularly interested in alternative traditions *after* Callimachus: the post-, non- and anti-Callimachean strands of Hellenistic poetry.
Research Interests: Aesthetics, Classics, Greek Literature, Hellenistic Literature, Hellenistic History, and 16 morePoetics, Bucolic Poetry, Callimachus, Ptolemaic Egyptian History, Greek and Latin Epigram, Seleucid Empire, Hellenistic poetry, Latin poetry, Ancient Greek Literature, Call for Papers, Lycophron, Hellenistic poetry and its context, Euphorion, parthenius of Nicaea, Judaeo-Hellenistic Literature, and Hellenistic tragedy
Third-century Alexandria is often conceptualised as a remarkable site of literary innovation and lauded as the pinnacle of Hellenistic Greek culture. The Ptolemies’ cultural programme, drawing the heritage of the Greek mainland to their... more
Third-century Alexandria is often conceptualised as a remarkable site of literary innovation and lauded as the pinnacle of Hellenistic Greek culture. The Ptolemies’ cultural programme, drawing the heritage of the Greek mainland to their peripheral capital, figured Alexandria as a cultural crucible. Scholars of Hellenistic literature have capitalised on this Ptolemaic context to unlock multiple literary significances, from the Library’s archival influence to the cross-pollination of Greek and non-Greek traditions. Callimachus, in particular, has gained from this contextualisation. The readings of his work have been so productive that he has come to represent the period’s literary habits: Hellenistic poetry slides into ‘Alexandrian’ poetry, which often simply becomes ‘Callimacheanism’. The Augustan fixation on Callimachus subsequently validates this vision; the ‘Roman’ Callimachus becomes the paradigmatic Hellenistic poet.
Alexandria, however, was only one site of literary production. Other Hellenistic kings patronised their own court writers, while literature also flourished in civic and religious contexts: itinerant poets appealed to local traditions, cultic hymns were inscribed on stone and civic poets memorialised their homeland. In truth, Hellenistic Alexandria was never alone as a burgeoning cultural centre. Equally, later Hellenistic poets engaging with tradition took earlier Hellenistic poets as models; the reception of Alexandrian poetry began well before Augustan Rome, by which time Callimachus and his peers had already been read many different ways: appropriated, distorted, and realigned.
This panel intends to re-examine Hellenistic literature synchronically and diachronically, to illuminate what has been obscured by Callimachus’ shadow. Two panellists explore Seleucid and Attalid literature, investigating their differing contexts of production and how this re-configures our conceptions of Hellenistic literature. Two further panellists analyse the reception of Alexandrian poetics in later authors – Alcaeus of Messene and Leonides of Alexandria – and demonstrate that Roman ‘Callimacheanism’ was only one among numerous interpretations of the Alexandrian’s work.
Alexandria, however, was only one site of literary production. Other Hellenistic kings patronised their own court writers, while literature also flourished in civic and religious contexts: itinerant poets appealed to local traditions, cultic hymns were inscribed on stone and civic poets memorialised their homeland. In truth, Hellenistic Alexandria was never alone as a burgeoning cultural centre. Equally, later Hellenistic poets engaging with tradition took earlier Hellenistic poets as models; the reception of Alexandrian poetry began well before Augustan Rome, by which time Callimachus and his peers had already been read many different ways: appropriated, distorted, and realigned.
This panel intends to re-examine Hellenistic literature synchronically and diachronically, to illuminate what has been obscured by Callimachus’ shadow. Two panellists explore Seleucid and Attalid literature, investigating their differing contexts of production and how this re-configures our conceptions of Hellenistic literature. Two further panellists analyse the reception of Alexandrian poetics in later authors – Alcaeus of Messene and Leonides of Alexandria – and demonstrate that Roman ‘Callimacheanism’ was only one among numerous interpretations of the Alexandrian’s work.
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Lecture for third year undergraduates
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A series of six 10-minute lectures aimed at A level students on the subject of Hellenistic Poetry's influence on Latin literature. Topics covered include (1) What does Hellenistic mean?, (2) Literary Ideals, (3) Mixing Genres, (4)... more
A series of six 10-minute lectures aimed at A level students on the subject of Hellenistic Poetry's influence on Latin literature. Topics covered include (1) What does Hellenistic mean?, (2) Literary Ideals, (3) Mixing Genres, (4) Alexandrian Scholarship, (5) Book Poetry, and (6) Allusion and Intertextuality.
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A classical twist to some favourite Christmas tunes, the collaborative work of the Cambridge Classics postgraduate community
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Collecting and (over?-)analysing some Classically-themed jokes from this year's April Fools' Day on 01/04/2017.
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A collection of tips that I wish I'd read when I started out on my own PhD
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This thesis is concerned with early Greek literary history and the nature of archaic Greek allusion. It examines how our earliest Greek poets self-consciously marked and signalled their interactions with other texts and traditions, often... more
This thesis is concerned with early Greek literary history and the nature of archaic Greek allusion. It examines how our earliest Greek poets self-consciously marked and signalled their interactions with other texts and traditions, often in a deeply antagonistic fashion.
In recent years, scholars have explored how Roman poets signposted references to their predecessors through a range of relational metaphors, representing their allusions as acts of recollection, echo and theft. Yet although these readings have proved a popular and rewarding interpretative approach, such allusive phenomena are often assumed to be the preserve of the scholarly, literate and bookish climates of the Hellenistic and Roman worlds.
In this study, by contrast, I highlight how these very same devices can already be detected in Archaic Greek Poetry, from Homer to Pindar, challenging any simple dichotomy between the orality of Archaic Greece and the literacy of Hellenistic Rome. After an introduction in which I lay out the objectives of my study and address the methodological difficulties of discussing allusion and intertextuality in early Greek poetry, the majority of the thesis is divided into three main sections, each of which addresses a different ‘index’ (marker/pointer) of allusion in archaic Greek epic and lyric. The first addresses what Latinists call the ‘Alexandrian footnote’: vague references to hearsay and anonymous tradition which frequently conceal specific nods to precise literary predecessors. The second focuses on poetic memory, exploring how characters’ reminiscences of events from their fictional pasts coincide with recollections of earlier literary texts and traditions. The final chapter turns to time and temporality, to explore how Greek poets both evoke and pointedly replay episodes of the literary past or future beyond their immediate narrative. Together, these three case studies demonstrate that the indexing and signposting of allusions was nothing new by the time of the Hellenistic age. What are sometimes considered distinctively learned flourishes of self-consciousness were in fact, I contend, an integral part of the literary tradition from the very start, a key feature of the grammar of allusion with which ancient audiences were already intuitively familiar.
In recent years, scholars have explored how Roman poets signposted references to their predecessors through a range of relational metaphors, representing their allusions as acts of recollection, echo and theft. Yet although these readings have proved a popular and rewarding interpretative approach, such allusive phenomena are often assumed to be the preserve of the scholarly, literate and bookish climates of the Hellenistic and Roman worlds.
In this study, by contrast, I highlight how these very same devices can already be detected in Archaic Greek Poetry, from Homer to Pindar, challenging any simple dichotomy between the orality of Archaic Greece and the literacy of Hellenistic Rome. After an introduction in which I lay out the objectives of my study and address the methodological difficulties of discussing allusion and intertextuality in early Greek poetry, the majority of the thesis is divided into three main sections, each of which addresses a different ‘index’ (marker/pointer) of allusion in archaic Greek epic and lyric. The first addresses what Latinists call the ‘Alexandrian footnote’: vague references to hearsay and anonymous tradition which frequently conceal specific nods to precise literary predecessors. The second focuses on poetic memory, exploring how characters’ reminiscences of events from their fictional pasts coincide with recollections of earlier literary texts and traditions. The final chapter turns to time and temporality, to explore how Greek poets both evoke and pointedly replay episodes of the literary past or future beyond their immediate narrative. Together, these three case studies demonstrate that the indexing and signposting of allusions was nothing new by the time of the Hellenistic age. What are sometimes considered distinctively learned flourishes of self-consciousness were in fact, I contend, an integral part of the literary tradition from the very start, a key feature of the grammar of allusion with which ancient audiences were already intuitively familiar.