Topics in Greek Literature: Hellenistic Poetry

This course will introduce students to the virtuoso Greek poetry composed during the period from Alexander to Augustus, often referred to as the "Hellenistic" age. Besides selections from such notable poets as Callimachus, Theocritus, and the Argonautica of Apollonius of Rhodes, as well as now lesser-known but once fashionable poets as Moschus and Bion, students will study the enduringly popular form of the Hellenistic epigram. We will examine the conventions and innovations of this poetic tradition which, through its formative influence on Roman poets, left its stamp on European literature in times to come.