Lucia Floridi

Based on the comparison with some parallel passages (Od. 2, 130; 20, 343, Hymn. Hom. Cer. 19 and 72, Sapph. fr. 94, 5 Voigt/Neri), in this contribution I suggest that ἀέκουσα, referring to Briseis in the famous scene of the abductio in the first book of the Iliad, can be interpreted as a
sort of technical term to indicate the state of mind of a woman when she is removed from her family unit for (broadly speaking) nuptial purposes. The valorization of this textual detail allows us to fully appreciate the complexity of Briseis, in whose figure funerary and nuptial symbolism is inextricably linked. This is confirmed by the figurative tradition, where a similar ambiguity can be detected. In particular, I propose to recognize, in some of the visual transpositions of the abductio, the use of the funerary iconography of the farewell in order to represent the Homeric ἀέκουσα.

AP 11.53 appears, in the two main witnesses of the Greek Anthology, P and Pl, as an anonymous couplet that, through the image of the early blooming of the rose, invites not to waste the opportunity. The (allegedly) generically existential nature of the couplet has determined its fortune: included in numerous anthologies of the Anthology, the poem has known versions in Latin and various modern languages and has entered by right into school texts, where it has been proposed as food for thought or as a translation exercise. This contribution will illustrate how, behind the apparent neutrality of the floral image, there is a specific reference to the rose as a metaphor for youthful beauty, and in particular puerile beauty, used in pederotic contexts to urge the beloved to bestow his or her graces before it is too late. We will then proceed to carry out some considerations on how the interpretation of an epigram depends both on the reader’s familiarity with motifs and images whose symbolic values, over time, may change, and on the anthological context in which a composition is inserted. Finally, we will show how the editorial history of the Anthology, which tends to privilege the text of the major witnesses, and in particular P, has strongly conditioned the interpretation of the couplet over the centuries, contributing to its misinterpretation (and resemantization): in one of the so-called Minor Sylloges, the Sylloge Parisina, the two verses appear as the close of a four-verse epigram, unequivocally homophilic in nature, traceable to the authority of Alceus of Messene. The valorization of the textual multiplicity of the Anthology, and in particular of the Minor Sylloges, now appears necessary; a digital edition project such as the one currently underway, “Pour une édition numérique collaborative de l’Anthologie grecque”, sponsored by the Canada Research Chair on Digital Textualities, can usefully contribute to this valorization.

In this article I will examine some instances of forgery of the female voice in Classical literature and of the opposite phenomenon: the denial that a literary work was written by a woman, either by modern or ancient critics. I will first review some testimonies pertaining to handbooks περὶ ἀφροδισίων and offer some reflections on the link between women and erotic treatises in the Greco-Roman world; I will then focus on other literary genres, paying similar attention to false attributions and their opposite. My aim is not to assess the reliability of attributions and disattributions. For this purpose, much more space would be needed, and no generalisation would be possible: each case would have to be treated on its own. Rather, I intend to reflect on the dynamics of attribution and disattribution of female authorship and what they reveal about the intellectual space assigned to women in the ancient world.

Hyacinthus, Myron’s Discobolus and the Gaze of a Sophist. Philostratus, Im. i 24 · The aim of the present paper is to show, through an analysis of Philostratus, Im. i 24 (Hyacinthus), how the author does not limit himself to explaining to his young audience the subjects of the paintings of his picture gallery, but also aims to educate their taste and to suggest judgement criteria, that do not only concern the visual dimension, but also the rhetoric and literary ones. In the case of Hyacinthus, Philostratus focuses on the most unlikely aspects of its myth; he then takes part in the critical debate about the limits of plastic arts, focusing, in particular, on Myron – the famous sculptor whose masterpiece, the Discobolus, is evoked, although not explicitly mentioned.
The analysis will also represent an occasion to focus on a particularly problematic textual passage, from which, in the past, it was believed it was possible to derive technical information to establish the rules for discus throw at the first modern Olympic games. The passage will provide an occasion to highlight how the nature itself of Philostratus’ work, that draws on the visual culture of his time and ‘ekphrastically’ elicits, through ἐνάργεια, vividness, the visual imagination of his audience, favoured a tendence to interpret Philostratus’ γραφαί based on images rather than on the text itself.

This chapter analyses Lucian’s Dialogues of the Sea Gods 15, Zephyr
and Notus, centred on the myth of Europa’s abduction by Zeus disguised as a bull, in order to clarify its relationship to both previous literary treatments of the subject and the visual arts. It is noted that Lucian not only shares several narrative details with Moschus’ Europa – the most complete extant account of the Europa myth – but also adopts the same literary strategy. Both authors narrate the story through a series of pictorial vignettes, drawing upon the visual arts, so that the story is presented as a series of ekphrastic tableaux, although neither Moschus nor Lucian present them as actual descriptions of works of art. However, Moschus’ descriptions are long and detailed, while Lucian’s are shorter and impressionistic. It is argued that this difference is mostly due to an aesthetic choice. Lucian combines enargeia (‘vividness’) with allusiveness, fully exploiting the potential of his audience’s visual memory and leaving them free to visualise the rhetor’s verbal depiction as they prefer. The readers/listeners are thus afforded the pleasure of integrating the author’s words with their own knowledge. The readers are actively involved in shaping their own mental images, drawing upon their personal literary knowledge, visual memory, and expertise in the visual arts.

This paper aims to investigate the use of the term ἄθυρμα in erotic contexts. Particular attention is paid to its application to human beings, and especially to young slaves, to better understand the relationship between the meaning of ‘toy’ and that of ‘erotic object’

Among the (few) skoptic epigrams on ethnic stereotypes included in AP 11, and addressed against a variety of populations, three poems concern Cappadocians: AP 11,237, AP 11,238 and AP 11,436. Through an analysis of the content of the epigrams, and of the themes on which the satire is based, this paper aims to offer an approximate terminus post quem for their date of composition, which involves – at least in the case of AP 11,237 and AP 11,238 – rejecting the authenticity of the authorial lemmata that accompany these poems in the Anthology.

L’articolo intende chiarire le strategie selettive adottate da Luciano nella sua rivisitazione del mito di Alfeo e Aretusa in DMar. 3 e precisare il valore delle assenze: alcuni dettagli della tradizione, pur non presenti nel testo, compaiono infatti in filigrana, suggerendo l’ironica presa di distanza dell’autore dagli aspetti piu inverosimili e paradossali del mito, conformemente alla sua tendenza a dubitare di ogni dogmatismo e di ogni verita consacrata.

I contributi pubblicati in questo volume sono liberamente disponibili su https://www.openstarts.units.it/handle/10077/30680 Gli articoli pubblicati sono sottoposti a valutazione di referee interni ed esterni. Registrazione del Tribunale di Trieste n. 1218 (21.04.2010) Direttore responsabile: Margherita Reguitti © Copyright 2020-EUT EDIZIONI UNIVERSITÀ DI TRIESTE Proprietà letteraria riservata I diritti di traduzione, memorizzazione elettronica, di riproduzione e di adattamento totale o parziale di questa pubblicazione, con qualsiasi mezzo (compresi i microfilm, le fotocopie o altro) sono riservati per tutti i paesi.

Luc. DMar. 14: Perseus and Andromeda between iconography and theater (with an Appendix on DMar. 2)

This paper analyses Lucian’s DMar. 14, on Perseus and Andromeda, under a double perspective: intertextual and intervisual. On the one hand, it clarifies Lucian’s debts towards Euripides’ Andromeda – apparently, its main literary model. On the other hand, also through comparison with a passage from de domo (22-23), it shows how Lucian, in constructing his (as usually ironic and critical) version of the story, appeals to the visual memory of his audience almost in the same way in which he urges their literary memory, according to a technique often exploited by the rhetor. The analysis is concluded by some remarks on DMar. 12, the ‘prequel’ of this dialogue (it concerns Danae, abandoned at sea by her father with infant Perseus), in order to show that it is analogously influenced by the theatrical tradition and that it also has strong visual connotations.

L'articolo intende chiarire le strategie selettive adottate da Luciano nella sua rivisitazione del mito di Alfeo e Aretusa in DMar. 3 e precisare il valore delle assenze: alcuni dettagli della tradizione, pur non presenti nel testo, compaiono infatti in filigrana, suggerendo l'ironica presa di distanza dell'autore dagli aspetti più inverosimili e paradossali del mito, conformemente alla sua tendenza a dubitare di ogni dogmatismo e di ogni verità consacrata.

The aim of this paper is to analyse the selection strategies employed by Lucian in DMar. 3, concerning the myth of Alpheus and Arethusa, and to clarify the meaning of the absences. Some of the details of the traditional account, in fact, although absent from the text, somewhat appear in the background, thus suggesting that the author is ironically distancing himself from the most incredible and paradoxical aspects of the myth, in keeping with his tendency to call into question any dogmatism and consecrated truth.

In questo contributo saranno passati in rassegna alcuni enigmi della tradizione letteraria greca che coinvolgono, in varia misura, la sfera della sessualità. Sarà tracciata una distinzione tra indovinelli che chiedono di essere effettivamente risolti e indovinelli che svelano la soluzione contestualmente alla loro enunciazione. In tale contesto, saranno posti in rilievo i punti di contatto tra le esigenze della scena comica e alcuni epigrammi erotici e scoptici che mutuano la forma grifotica senza proporre davvero la soluzione di un enigma, a ulteriore testimonianza della tendenza del genere epigrammatico a incorporare elementi desunti dalla commedia. Il riconoscimento di alcune analogie formali tra gli esempi analizzati indurrà ad accostare alla tradizione del γρῖφοςun testo poco noto, adesp. AP11.272, che della formulazione enigmatica si serve per stigmatizzare i cinedi, in linea con la tendenza, ben documentata in letteratura greco-latina, a definire l’omosessualità attraverso la negazione e la contraddizione logica. Saranno infine espresse alcune considerazioni di ordine generale sul rapporto tra enigma ed epigramma e sui criteri scelti dagli antologizzatori per operare una distinzione tra i due generi.

The aim of this paper is to analyse some ancient Greek riddles variously involving the sexual sphere. A distinction between riddles that actually require to be solved and others that reveal their solution while being posed will be drawn. In such a context, attention will be paid to the points of contacts between comedy and some erotic and scoptic epigrams in the form of a riddle, in order to contribute to a better appreciation of the tendency of the epigrammatic genre to incorporate comic elements. The identification of formal analogies among the examples taken into account will also allow to analyse under the light of the riddling tradition an anonymous scoptic epigram, AP11.272, whose targets are passive homosexuals. The paper will be concluded by some observations on the relationship between riddle and epigram, and on the criteria adopted by anthologists in order to distinguish them.


Parole chiave
Enigmi; Indovinelli; Sessualità; Epigramma; Commedia; Nicarco; Stratone; Riddles; Sexuality; Epigram; Comedy; Nicarchus; Strato.

In this paper I explore the connections between temple medicine, inscriptions commemorating – or actually “advertising” – wondrous healings, epigrams, and paradoxa. I start with a survey of the (often highlighted) connections between Posidippus’ iamatika and temple iamata, and also indicate the points of contact between healing literature and the work of paradoxographers. I then examine a few epigrams on miraculous healings preserved via the Greek Anthology in order to show that they belong to the same subgenre of iamatika. I end with examples of parodic distortion of the themes of healing literature in scoptic epigrams dealing with murderous doctors.

This paper analyses the multidirectional interaction between text and image in Greek epigram of the Hellenistic and Roman Era, and describes it through the categories of ‘intermediality’ and ‘intervisuality’, which do not always appear clearly distinguished in scholarly use. I will thus try to better define them in their application to epigram. In particular, I will label ‘intermediality’ any expression of a message through the simultaneous use of two different media (visual and textual), and thus the combination of two different semiotic systems (Medienkombination), one of which (the text) explicitly mentions the other (the monument). The concept of intervisuality, on the contrary, will be used for any implicit allusion to an image on the part of the text, working as an equivalent of the intertextual allusion, but specifically involving the interaction image-text. While intermediality thus describes a relationship based on the actual interaction between a textual and a visual medium (relationship epigraph-monument), I propose to use the category of intervisuality in order to define a kind of interaction that appeals to the visual memory of the audience, without explicitly mentioning any actual object.

This paper analyses Lucian’s Dialogues of the Sea Gods 1 and 2 – both of them dealing with the myth of Polyphemus – under a double perspective: intertextual and intervisual. On the one hand, it clarifies the ways in which specific literary models are transposed into a dialogic form, according to a variety of adaptation strategies, ranging from nearly absolute fidelity (this is the case of DMar. 2, based on Od. IX 181-566) to a genuine ‘remake’ (DMar. 1, an adaptation of Theocr. 6 and 11, with a change in the situations and the points of view). On the other hand, it shows how Lucian, in constructing his Cyclops, appeals to the visual memory of his audience almost in the same way in which he urges their literary memory.

The aim of this paper is to analyse the ways in which the Proteus episode in Odyssey 4.351-569 is transposed into the dialogic form in Lucian’s Dialogues of the Sea Gods 4, Proteus and Menelaus. It will be shown that the irony of Lucian’s rewriting lies not only in the distance from his epic model, but also in a playful engagement with the Homeric philological style of offering allegorical and rationalistic interpretations of the text. Menelaus’s insistence, in the dialogue, on the “incredible” character of Proteus’s metamorphoses, and his obstinacy in considering it unbelievable in spite of the evidence, will be seen as a possible parodic reflex of such rationalistic exegeses. In addition to this, attention will be paid to the striking occurrence, throughout the dialogue, of the language and the images of paradoxography, used elsewhere by Lucian for a variety of purposes, such as taking a distance from quackery and false beliefs. Under this light, it will be suggested that Proteus might be interpreted as a symbol of the many charlatans during the Imperial age – such as the philosopher Peregrinus “Proteus” – that cheated the people for their own personal gain.

Sulla scorta della riflessione svolta da F. Cairns, The Genre ‘Oaristys’, «WS» CXXXIII (2010), 101-129, l’articolo si propone di ricondurre alla tipologia narrativa dell’oaristys, ‘corteggiamento’, la scena di seduzione di Dafni da parte di Licenio in Long.Soph. III 15-19. Il riconoscimento dell’appartenenza del brano a questo pattern compositivo potrà contribuire all’apprezzamento della raffinata strategia letteraria messa
in atto dall’autore, evidenziando la continuità ideale tra il suo racconto e altre famose scene di seduzione della tradizione letteraria greca, soprattutto poetica.

Building on F. Cairns, The Genre ‘Oaristys’, «WS» CXXXIII (2010), 101-129, the
purpose of this article is to read the scene of Lycainion’s seduction of Daphnis in Long.Soph. 3.15-19 within the narrative pattern of the oaristys, the ‘wooing’. I argue that considering the passage as adhering to such a pattern shall contribute to the full appreciation of the author’s refined and complex literary strategy underlining the ideal continuum between the novel’s episode and other famous seduction scenes in the Greek literary (especially poetic) tradition.

The article explores one of the poems included in the so-called 'New Palladas' collection (P.CtYBR 4000, pag. 18, rr. 1-9). My aim is to cast new light on the epigrammatist's subtle reworking of his model, namely Sapph. fr. 31 Voigt. I conclude with a few remarks on the contents and typology of the new poem as well as on its tentative attribution to Palladas of Alexandria.

Presented here is an analysis of Ausonius’ epigrams written in Greek or displaying code-switching between Greek and Latin. The aim of this paper is to highlight the ludic and at the same time erudite essence of poetical experimentations that emerge as a form of learned and brilliant cryptography presupposing a learned and chosen audience, able to decode it, at a time when the Western knowledge of Greek was in decline.

This paper analyses a group of anonymous skoptic epigrams on rhetors, AP 11.145, 11.149, 11.151, APl 318, illustrating how cleverly they adapt and manipulate the language and conventions of ekphrastic epigram for satiric purposes. It suggests that AP 11.149, APl 318 and AP 11.151 invite a linear reading, and were probably written by the same author, while AP 11.145 is likely to have been composed by another epigrammatist; a possible chronological framework for the poems is also provided. Finally, an appendix deals with Palladas APl 317, which has usually been connected to the series, but which could be of a different nature.

Par l’analyse des certaines épigrammes d’Ausone, différemment liées aux typologies traditionnelles, d’origine épigraphique, où la connaissance des conventions et des mécanismes de la composition aboutit à une réflexion et à un jeu sur ces mêmes conventions et ces mêmes mécanismes, on cherchera à éclaircir dans quelle mesure la tradition épigrammatique grecque offre à l'auteur non seulement un répertoire des modèles à traduire et à récrire, mais aussi un répertoire de techniques de composition. On analysera, en particulier, l'épigramme 37 Green, une "épitaphe" (au sens large) qu'on peut rapprocher de la typologie hellénistique des "énigmes épitaphiques", et les textes de la série sur l'orateur Rufus qui se fondent sur la parodie  des modalités ecphrastiques (45-46-47-51-52 Gr.). Nous terminerons avec des observations sur les épigrammes 11 et 67, dont on peut proposer une interprétation métapoétique.

Rec. volume P. Linant de Bellefonds-E. Prioux, Voir les mythes. Poésie hellénistique et arts figurés, avec la collaboration de Christophe Cusset et Claude Pouzadoux, Antiqua, 18, Paris, Picard, 2017, «Révue de philologie» 92.1, 2018, 126-132

Recensione di S. Kaczko, Archaic and Classical Attic Dedicatory Epigrams: An Epigraphic, Literary and Linguistic Commentary, ‘Trends in Classics – supplementary Volumes’, 33, Berlin-Boston: De Gruyter 2016, «Athenaeum» 109.2, 2021, pp. 679-684

Il Περὶ ἑπτὰ θεαμάτων è l’unico trattato sulle sette meraviglie che ci sia giunto dall’antichità. Il solo testimone che ne tramanda il testo – il Pal. Gr. 398, celebre testimone appartenente alla cosiddetta "collezione filosofica" – lo attribuisce all’ingenere ellenistico Filone di Bisanzio, attivo fra la metà e la fine del III sec. a.C. Tale attribuzione ha accresciuto, fin dal XVII sec., fama e autorità del trattatello. Tutto indica, tuttavia, che l’autore debba essere considerato tardo-antico, se non addirittura proto-bizantino.

Questo volume offre la prima edizione critica del Περὶ ἑπτὰ θεαμάτων, corredata di traduzione, e preceduta da un’ampia introduzione che esplora la tradizione letteraria di cui l’autore si è nutrito, nonché le sorti testuali, il genere, la lingua e lo stile del trattatello, per arrivare a un’ipotesi di datazione. A ciascuna delle meraviglie descritte dall’autore sono inoltre dedicati approfondimenti di carattere storico e letterario, utili a far emergere le peculiarità della prospettiva adottata dallo Pseudo-Filone, e – in alcuni casi – a individuarne le probabili o sicure fonti. A corredo e giustificazione del testo è offerta una discussione dei passi più problematici sotto il profilo esegetico e critico-testuale.

Conclude il volume la traduzione latina, sinora inedita, di Lukas Holste (1596-1661).

This is the first modern commentary devoted exclusively to the poems of Hedylus, one of the most important representatives of Greek epigram in a crucial phase of the development of the genre. Although only a few of Hedylus’ poems survive, he helped shape the genre of literary epigram. His influence is comparable to that of his roughly contemporaries Posidippus of Pella and Asclepiades of Samos, with whom he is associated by Meleager of Gadara in the proem to his Garland.

The volume contains an extensive introduction, a new critical text, a translation, and a full literary and philological commentary. Each epigram is preceded by an essay. Particular attention is paid to the different branches of transmission, in order to understand why so few of Hedylus' epigrams survive via the Greek Anthology, while most of his poems are transmitted by Athenaeus in his Deipnosophistai. The commentary is followed by an Auctarium Lectionum, an Appendix Coniecturarum, an Index verborum, an Index locorum, and an Index nominum et rerum notabilium.

With its insights into literary Hellenistic epigram in an important phase of its development, this book represents an important tool for all those interested in epigram and Hellenistic literature in general.

Aims and Scope
This is the first modern commentary devoted exclusively to the epigrams of Lucillius, a prolific Neronian poet who, in spite of being one of the most significant representatives of the Greek satirical epigram, has primarily been studied not for his own value, but for the influence he had on Martial. About 140 epigrams of his survive, mostly in book XI of the Anthology.

The volume contains an extensive introduction, a new critical text and translation, and a full literary and philological commentary.
While the body of the commentary focuses on the particular, providing literary readings of individual epigrams and a line-by-line linguistic, philological, and stylistic analysis, the introduction deals with Lucillius’s identity, the tradition of the text, style, themes, metrics, and cultural setting, and additionally investigates the origins and development of Greek skoptic epigram.

Particular attention is paid to the way in which Lucillius engages with the conventions of the genre, often overturning the reader’s expectations. In this way, the work explores the paradox inherent to the fact that a poetic form that was by its nature eulogistic (inscriptional epigrams were born in order to record, and thus celebrate, the dedication of an object or the death of a man) ultimately became the genre of mockery and abuse.