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Graeco-Roman Commentary Beyond Alexandria: Problems and Prospects
- Edited by Amanda Goodman, University of Toronto, Suzanne Conklin Akbari, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey
- General editor Carol Symes, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
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- Book:
- Practices of Commentary
- Published by:
- Amsterdam University Press
- Published online:
- 17 February 2024
- Print publication:
- 31 August 2023, pp 9-28
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Summary
THIS ARTICLE EXAMINES practices of commentary in Graeco-Roman antiquity and their dominant receptions in modern and contemporary scholarship. We consider philological activity based primarily in Alexandria and Rome from the third century bCe to the fifth century Ce and concentrate on the so-called Alexandrian mode of commen-tary, especially that associated with Aristarchus of Samothrace (ca. 216–ca. 145 bCe), which has occupied a preeminent place in studies of ancient commentary. In the process, we highlight alternative commentarial modes that have been relegated to the margins in mainstream accounts, precisely for their departure from the chief strategies associ-ated with Alexandrian literary critical practices. We contend that both ancient schol-ars and modern classicists have, for debatable reasons, privileged these Alexandrian (or Aristarchan) practices of commentary while perpetuating the suppression of other styles of scholarship that circulated in antiquity, late antiquity, and the medieval period. Our aim is to illuminate some of the processes and prejudices that have informed these scholarly choices and to investigate the conditions under which understandings and practices of commentary became so centred around Alexandria. Interrogating one of the most tenacious master narratives about ancient Greek and Roman commentary will uncover the norms and categories of analysis that have long guided understandings and practices of commentary in Classics and in adjacent fields.
Graeco-Roman Commentary: An Overview
Classicists have construed the philological activity of the Alexandrian scholars as the pinnacle of ancient classical scholarship, as well as the fons et origo of modern literary criticism in its ideal form. As Franco Montanari observes: “Although much progress still remained to be made, and Wolfian scientific philology, the modern critical edition and the scientific commentary were still in the distant future… a nodal step had been taken in the period from Zenodotus to Aristarchus.” The preeminent historian Peter Fraser, moreover, remarks that “the main feature of post-Aristarchean scholarship is the enor-mous influence which Aristarchus’ work continued to exert.”
Alexandria's reputation as the centre of erudition par excellence has rested on the fame of its library, which operated under Ptolemaic patronage and attracted intellectu-als across the Greek-speaking world who wished to gain access to its scholarly commu-nity and vast collections of books. The copying, correcting, interpreting, and canonizing of Greek literature, not only of Homer but also of other archaic and classical writers (ca. seventh to fourth century bCe), received the greatest attention there.
COLOUR TERMS AND THE CREATION OF STATIUS’ EKPHRASTIC STYLE
- Lorenza Bennardo
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- Journal:
- The Classical Quarterly / Volume 71 / Issue 1 / May 2021
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 14 April 2021, pp. 292-307
- Print publication:
- May 2021
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This paper focusses on colour terminology as a tool for achieving ἐνάργεια (pictorial vividness) in the Latin poetry of the first century c.e. After briefly outlining the developments in the concept of ἐνάργεια from Aristotle to Quintilian, the paper considers the use of Latin terms for black in three descriptive passages from Statius’ epic poem, the Thebaid. It is observed that the poet privileges the juxtaposition of the two adjectives ater and niger in a pattern of uariatio, where ater often carries a figurative meaning and repeats established poetic clichés, while niger is part of unparalleled collocations that evoke a material notion of blackness. Further analysis of the uariatio in the context of each passage reveals that the juxtaposition of the two-colour terms enhances the vividness of the objects described not only by increasing their chromatic impact but also by establishing connections with other parts of the poem, and by inviting a reflection on the competing practices of imitation and transgression of poetic models. The analysis of one stylistic feature (the use of colour terms in uariatio) shows that this stylistic feature is used by Statius for achieving ἐνάργεια as an artistic effect, for reflecting on ἐνάργεια as an instrument through which poetic models are challenged, and for tying his own poetic practice to contemporary rhetorical discussions.