Epigram
Subtitle: Volume 38
Publisher: University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations
Published: 2010
Language: eng; grc
Number of pages: 190
ISBN-13: 9780521145701
Subjects: Greek literature, hellenistic, history and criticism
Description: "This is an introduction to the ancient genre of epigram, short poems literally written or inscribed 'on' an object or figuratively 'on' a topic. The authors set out what epigram means and why it matters, exploring its roots in inscriptions on stone and its literary flourishing in the Hellenistic world after Alexander. They further trace its migration from Greece to Rome, where its most famous exponent was Martial, and consider the continuation of Greek epigram under the Roman empire in the so-called 'Second Sophistic'. The final chapter shows how Greek epigram achieved new importance in the nineteenth century as raw material for stories about the classical past."--Page 4 of cover.