Marco Fantuzzi

The Rhesus came down to us among the plays of Euripides, and was acknowledged as Euripidean by Aristotle. However, there is much debate as to its authorship and it may have been the work of a rival dramatist or 4th-century actors who heavily re-worked or interpolated Euripides' original play with this title. This is the first accessible introduction to the play, analysing its themes, performance and context for students of Euripides and other Greek drama. The Rhesus provides invaluable evidence about 4th-century production and performance of tragedy, which is otherwise known only from very few and short fragments from other lost plays. Stylistic and historical analysis together show what being a "post-classical" tragedy could mean – the play's composition probably took place precisely in the age when the canon of the three great tragedians was instituted and the plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides became the incomparable "classical" texts of tragedy. The Rhesus is a splendid example of what "coming after" can mean for literary works: it is situated after, and thus reflects, both Homer and also canonical 5th-century tragedy. Little is written about 4th-century poetry, although its relevance in the incubation of Hellenistic poetry is a topos of literary and historical studies. By putting the Rhesus more solidly on the chronological map, stylistic and historical analysis proves that it can shed light on this tantalizing age.

Achilles in Love: Intertextual Studies traces the escapades of Achilles' erotic history, whether in same-sex or opposite-sex relationships, and how they were developed and revealed, or elided and concealed, in the writing and visual arts following Homer. The volume investigates how different authors and artists responded to this most controversial aspect of Achilles' character, in comparison to the fiery personality that was shaped by the Iliad and was often considered 'canonical' for his character. Through analyzing Achilles in love from the time of Homer all the way down to the Latin poets of the first century BC and AD, the Ilias Latina, and the authors and iconography of the imperial age, this book makes both novel and productive connections between poetic texts, pictorial images, and literary genres which tried time and time again to capture Achilles' ever-shifting role within the world of eros.

Hellenistic poets of the third and second centuries BC were concerned with the need both to mark their continuity with the classical past and to demonstrate their independence from it. In this revised and expanded translation of Muse e modelli: la poesia ellenistica da Alessandro Magno ad Augusto, Greek poetry of the third and second centuries BC and its reception and influence at Rome are explored allowing both sides of this literary practice to be appreciated. Genres as diverse as epic and epigram are considered from a historical perspective, in the full range of their deep-level structures, providing a different perspective on the poetry and its influence at Rome. Some of the most famous poetry of the age such as Callimachus' Aitia and Apollonius' Argonautica is examined. In addition, full attention is paid to the poetry of encomium, in particular the newly published epigrams of Posidippus, and Hellenistic poetics, notably Philodemus.

Hellenistic poets of the third and second centuries BC were concerned with the need both to mark their continuity with the classical past and to demonstrate their independence from it. In this revised and expanded translation of Muse e modelli: la poesia ellenistica da Alessandro Magno ad Augusto, Greek poetry of the third and second centuries BC and its reception and influence at Rome are explored allowing both sides of this literary practice to be appreciated. Genres as diverse as epic and epigram are considered from a historical perspective, in the full range of their deep-level structures, shedding new light on the poetry and its influence at Rome. Some of the most famous poetry of the age such as Callimachus’ Aitia and Apollonius’ Argonautica is examined. In addition, full attention is paid to the poetry of encomium, in particular the newly-published epigrams of Posidippus, and Hellenistic poetics, notably Philodemus.