Solon and Early Greek Poetry The Politics of Exhortation [Hardcover]

This 2005 book examines the history of archaic Greek through its poetry, particularly the work of Solon.The poetry of archaic Greece sheds important light on the history and political culture of the age which produced and enjoyed it. This book studies the political poetry of the period, in particular that of Solon, the famous Athenian lawgiver. It considers the context of performance, the aristocratic symposium, and its influence on the poetry's overall meaning and function. It also examines the wider role of poetry in archaic Greek political culture and evidence for its use by tyrants.The poetry of archaic Greece sheds important light on the history and political culture of the age which produced and enjoyed it. This book studies the political poetry of the period, in particular that of Solon, the famous Athenian lawgiver. It considers the context of performance, the aristocratic symposium, and its influence on the poetry's overall meaning and function. It also examines the wider role of poetry in archaic Greek political culture and evidence for its use by tyrants.Examining the interaction between poetics and politics in ancient Greece's archaic period, in relationship to the work of Solon, this volume argues that, in general, the political expressions of martial exhortation elegy were aristocratic in nature and that the symposiasts attempted to assert a heroic identity on the wider polis community. The study demonstrates how Solon's poetry subverts this practice, using the poetic traditions of epic and Hesiod to further different political aims. It concludes by looking beyond the confines of Solon's poetic appropriations to argue for other influences on his poetry, in particular that of tyranny.Introduction; Part I. The Politics of Exhortation: Introduction; 1. Understanding the political in martial exhortation; 2. Synthesising content and context; 3. Contextualising the city: archaic verse inscriptions and the 'rise' of the polis; Part II. Political Poetics: Solol³.