Callimachus Revisited: New Perspectives in Callimachean Scholarship [Paperback]

This special volume of the Hellenistica Groningana, in honour of the achievements and career of Professor M.A. Harder revisits the poetry of Callimachus (theme of two earlier Hellenistic Workshops). A number of renowned international scholars in the field of Hellenistic studies reflect on new perspectives in Callimachean scholarship, inspired among other by Annette Harder's 2012 edition of Callimachus' Aetia. Their questions aim to contextualize and analyze Callimachus' poetry in novel ways, inspired by both new literary theory and historical insights and a solid body of existing scholarship. How do Callimachus' learned elegies relate to the genre of didactic poetry? How do his aetiological narratives straddle the border between fiction and reality? What is their basis in Hellenistic scholarship, and in Near Eastern or Egyptian poetic traditions? How and why do later Greek poets incorporate Callimachean poetics, and so facilitate his reception in Latin poetry? What is Callimachus' attitude to gods and divine rulers in his hymnic poetry? These and many more questions are addressed, creating new perspectives in Callimachean scholarship, as the title indicates. Richard Hunter's brilliant article 'Reading and Citing the Epigrams of Callimachus' will surely make everyone sit up and take notice of these gems hidden in plain sight. With characteristic learning and a most readable style, Hunter offers a synoptic analysis of the epigrams and their early reception that vividly demonstrates how ancient scholars and poets (and scholar-poets?) saw them not just as aesthetically significant miniatures but also as important witnesses to the intellectual networks and products of Callimachus own era. Hunter's invigorating account allows the once-niche field of study to become both vast and profound. . . . Jan Kwapisz and Katarzyna Pietruczuk mount a heroic and effective campaign for their scholarly fortunes in 'Your Own Personal Library of Alexandria: Callimachus Scholarly Works andls§