Hellenistic epigrams first attracted my attention in the 1960s when I perceived how much light they could throw on Roman lyric and elegy. As time went on I became increasingly fascinated by their ability to encapsulate in concentrated form the intellectual and emotional culture of antiquity. The writing of a handful of articles on epigrams in the 1990s suggested the idea of a monograph devoted to Hellenistic epigram, but other projects delayed the start of it until my sabbatical year 2007– 2008. At that point a period of research at Ludwig-Maximilians- Universität Munich, arranged through the kind offices of Niklas Holzberg and Martin Hose, laid the foundations of this volume, which has been my main commitment over the intervening years.

The work's objectives and its central concern with epigrammatic contexts are set out in Chapter 1. Here I add only that, whereas chapters have broadly thematic titles, discussions of individual epigrams within them are often holistic (and include detailed scholarly background where this seemed germane), so that they may move beyond a chapter's designated bounds. This was a deliberate choice since the alternative – to treat different aspects, problems, and features of the same epigrams in different chapters – seemed both impractical and undesirable. Even so, it was not always possible to avoid split discussions.

In the decades between the 1960s and the present interest in Hellenistic epigrams has grown steadily. This would not have happened without the foundational works of A.S.F. Gow and D.L. Page (HE, GPh. and FGE). Although I have often felt obliged to dissent from their views, I trust I have done so with respect. My principal debts to other scholarship will be obvious from my references. I have attempted to avoid excessive bibliographical citations, limiting them to crediting prior discovery, referring to supporting evidence, recording concordant views, and noting important differences of opinion. Since epigrams almost invariably generate disagreements (sometimes radical), annotation of the last category has been sparing, with concentration on matters of general principle and non-trivial specifics. Older works of fundamental importance are cited freely, but in general I cite more recent items which refer to earlier bibliography. Certain conclusions and arguments from my own prior publications on Hellenistic epigrams have been integrated where relevant.