Books in the Hellenic Studies Series series

Restraining and taming Nature was fundamental to the Hellenic urban quest. Classical Athens, with her utilitarian view of Nature, exemplified this ideal, which also informed the urban endeavors of Rome and was expressed through the domestication of Nature in villas and gardens, and through primitivist and Epicurean tendencies in Latin literature.

After a theoretical introduction that also serves as a general introduction to the dramatic chorus from the comic vantage point, a reading of Aristophanes' Thesmophoriazusae shows that ritual is present in both the micro- and macrostructure of Attic comedy as part of a still existing performative choral culture.

"What if truth were a woman?" asked Nietzsche. In ancient Greek thought, truth in language has a special relation to the female by virtue of her pre-eminent art-form-the one Freud believed was even invented by women-weaving. The essays in this book explore the implications of this nexus: language, the female, weaving, and the construction of truth.

Studies Homeric performance from archaic to Roman imperial times. This title argues that oracular utterance, dramatic acting, and rhetorical delivery powerfully elucidate the practice of epic rhapsodes. It shows that rhapsodic practice is best understood as an evolving combination of revelation, interpretation, recitation, and dramatic delivery.

This book probes the narratives of poets who are exiled, tried or executed for their satire. It views the scapegoat as a group's dominant warrior, sent out to confront predators or besieging forces. Both poets and warriors specialize in madness and aggression and are necessary, yet dangerous, to society.

This colloquium volume celebrates a new Hellenistic epigram collection attributed to the third-century B.C.E. poet Posidippus, one of the most significant literary finds in recent memory. Included in this collection are an unusual variety of voices and perspectives: papyrological, art historical, archaeological, historical, literary, and aesthetic.

John Curtis Franklin seeks to harmonize Kinyras as a mythological symbol of pre-Greek Cyprus with what is known of ritual music and deified instruments in the Bronze Age Near East, using evidence going back to early Mesopotamia. This paperback edition contains minor corrections, while retaining the maps of the original hardback edition as spreads.

First published in 1960, The Singer of Tales remains the fundamental study of the distinctive techniques and aesthetics of oral epic poetry-from South Slavic epic songs to the Iliad, Odyssey, Beowulf, and beyond. This edition offers a corrected text and is supplemented by an open-access website with audio recordings.

This study by Helene Monsacre shows how Western ideals of inexpressive manhood run contrary to the poetic vision of Achilles and his warrior companions presented in the Homeric epics. Pursuing the paradox of the tearful fighter, Monsacre examines the interactions between men and women in the Homeric poems.

The once influential theory Neoanalysis held that motifs and episodes in the Iliad derive from the Aethiopis. Given its vast potential implications for the Iliad's origins, the recent revival of Neoanalysis in subtler form inspires this critical reappraisal by Malcolm Davies of that theory's more sophisticated reincarnation.

Inscribed after 264 BCE, the Parian Marble gives a chronological list of events, emphasizing literary matters. It has not been the subject of a comprehensive study for almost a century. Andrea Rotstein offers new analysis and updated information about the inscription, including a revision of Felix Jacoby's Greek text and a complete translation.