New Edition and Translation of Greek Epigrammatic Poetry

FAIN: FA-232806-16

Michael A. Tueller
Arizona State University (Tempe, AZ 85281-3670)

The completion of volume 3 of the Loeb Classical Library series of the Greek Anthology, a critical edition and translation of ancient Greek epigrammatic poetry.

My project is a new edition and revised translation of The Greek Anthology for the Loeb Classical Library. The Anthology is a collection of more than four thousand ancient Greek epigrams dating from the 6th century BCE to the 6th century CE. The current edition most in use by English speakers is now a century old, and scholarship has advanced considerably. Greek epigram provides the ancient seeds both of European love elegy and of the species of wit still known as “epigram.” Less known, but equally important, are epigram’s exploration of death and memorialization, and its intense and complex engagement with material culture: epigram began as inscribed poetry, and it continues to reflect on objects even as its own genre becomes exclusively textual. Finally, The Greek Anthology provides an opportunity unique in antiquity to trace minutely the evolution of a genre over a thousand years. An up-to-date edition and accessible translation will be invaluable to scholars and the general reader.