British Academy: The UK's National Academy for the Humanities and Social Sciences
14TH BRITISH ACADEMY POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP SYMPOSIUM
Abstract
Writing Epic after Homer: Later Greek Poetry and Quintus' Posthomerica
Dr Katerina Carvounis
The Homeric poems stand at the beginning of the epic tradition, and subsequent epic poets respond to these models in different ways. This paper focuses on Greek epic poetry in the Roman period dealing with the Trojan War. The Iliad ends with the death of Hector and the Odyssey focuses on Odysseus after the fall of Troy; important events from the Trojan myth taking place between the Iliad and the Odyssey, such as the Wooden Horse and the Sack of Troy, which are only alluded to in the Homeric epics, are narrated (in surviving Greek poetry) in Quintus' epic Posthomerica (3rd C. AD). Moreover, individual episodes from the Trojan story form the subject matter of shorter hexameter poems (epyllia) from this period, while hexameter fragments on papyri draw on themes from the Trojan War.
Quintus has been described as a 'most Homeric' poet, and his epic represents a more 'traditional' style in later Greek hexameter poetry, which is set against a more 'innovative' one adopted by other authors in terms of their engagement with the earlier tradition. This paper will examine Quintus' use of the Homeric models, as he adopts and adapts the diction, style, narrative techniques, as well as plot, setting and characters from the Homeric epics. This study of Quintus' imitation will further our understanding of this important Greek poet from the Roman period and help reassess his place within his literary-historical context.
Dr Katerina Carvounis is a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow at the Faculty of Classics, Cambridge, and a Research Fellow at New Hall, Cambridge. She completed her first degree and M.Phil. in Classics at New Hall, Cambridge, and a D.Phil. at St. Anne's College, Oxford, and she held a research fellowship at Wolfson College, Oxford. She is currently completing a commentary on Quintus of Smyrna, Posthomerica XIV, and co-editing a volume of papers on later Greek hexameter poetry arising from a conference she recently co-organised in Cambridge. Her research interests include the reception of Homer in later Greek poetry and the study of hexameter poems on papyri.