The Muse at Play: Riddles and Wordplay in Greek and Latin Poetry

Book

The Muse at Play

Riddles and Wordplay in Greek and Latin Poetry

Edited by: Jan Kwapisz , David Petrain and Mikolaj Szymanski

Language: English

Published/Copyright: 2013

Published by

Become an author with De Gruyter Brill

Explore this Subject How to publish with us

This book is in the series

Volume 305 | Beiträge zur Altertumskunde

About this book

In May 2011, a conference on riddles and word games in Greek and Latin poetry took place at the Institute of Classical Studies of the University of Warsaw. The conference was intended as an open forum where specialists working in different fields of classical studies could meet to discuss the varied manifestations of riddles and other technopaegnia - both terms being understood broadly to encompass the full range of play with language in classical antiquity, in keeping with the use made of the two terms in ancient and early modern theoretical discussions. This volume offers revised versions of the papers presented during the conference. Contributions by scholars from Europe and the USA treat a number of interconnected topics, including: ancient and modern attempts to formulate a definition of the riddle; poetic games at Greek symposia; experimentation with language in late classical poetry; riddles in the book cultures of the Hellenistic age and late antiquity; the functions of word games carved in stone, written on papyrus, or inscribed on the wall as graffiti; authors famed for their obscurity, such as Heraclitus and Lycophron; wordplay in Neo-Latin poetry; oracles, magic squares, pattern poetry, palindromes and acrostichs.

Author / Editor information

Jan Kwapisz and Mikolaj Szymanski, University of Warsaw, Poland; David Petrain, Vanderbilt University, Nashville TN, USA.

Supplementary Materials

Contents

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Preface Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	v
Table of Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
The Muse at Play: An Introduction Joshua T. Katz Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	1
I. Discourses of Play
The Sympotic Tease Ewen Bowie Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	33
“You Make Less Sense than a (New) Dithyramb”: Sociology of a Riddling Style Pauline A. LeVen Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	44
Magic Squares, Alphabet Jumbles, Riddles and More: The Culture of Word-Games among the Graffiti of Pompeii Rebecca R. Benefiel Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	65
II. The Ancient Riddle: Theory and Practice
What Has It Got in Its Pocketses? Or, What Makes a Riddle a Riddle? Christine Luz Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	83
Technopaegnia in Heraclitus and the Delphic Oracles: Shared Compositional Techniques Lisa Maurizio Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	100
“Gods Cannot Tell Lies”: Riddling and Ancient Greek Divination Frederick G. Naerebout and Kim Beerden Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	121
Were There Hellenistic Riddle Books? Jan Kwapisz Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	148
The Rhetoric of the Riddle in the Alexandra of Lycophron Christophe Cusset and Antje Kolde Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	168
In scirpo nodum: Symphosius’ Reworking of the Riddle Form Erin Sebo Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	184
III. Visual Poetry in the Text and on the Stone
The Treachery of Verbal Images: Viewing the Greek technopaegnia Alexandra Pappas Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	199
Nicander’s Aesopic Acrostic and Its Antidote Michael B. Sullivan Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	225
Greek Acrostic Verse Inscriptions Valentina Garulli Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	246
Sopha grammata: Acrostichs in Greek and Latin Inscriptions from Arachosia, Nubia and Libya Rachel Mairs Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	279
IV. Case Studies
Versus anacyclici: The Case of P. Sorb. 72^v (= adesp. com. fr. 52 PCG) Krystyna Bartol Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	309
A Palindrome, an Acrostich and a Riddle: Three Solutions Jerzy Danielewicz Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	320
Triple Tipple: Ausonius’ Griphus ternarii numeri Dunstan Lowe Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	335
V. Playful Receptions
The Aulularia inversa of Joannes Burmeister Michael Fontaine Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	355
Waste of Time or Artistic Expression? Notes on poesis artificiosa of the Modern Era Barbara Milewska-Waźbińska Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	379
Note on Contributors and Editors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	401
Index of Passages Discussed Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	405
General Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	417

Publishing information

Pages and Images/Illustrations in book

eBook published on:

December 6, 2012

eBook ISBN:

9783110270617

Hardcover published on:

November 15, 2012

Hardcover ISBN:

9783110270006

Pages and Images/Illustrations in book

Front matter:

9

Main content:

420

Illustrations:

11

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110270617

eBook ISBN: 9783110270617

Hardcover ISBN: 9783110270006

Keywords for this book

Greek and Roman Literature; Greek and Roman Culture; Neo-Latin Studies; Riddles; Word Games

Audience(s) for this book

Academics, Institutes, Libraries

Safety & product resources

Manufacturer information:
Walter de Gruyter GmbH
Genthiner Straße 13
10785 Berlin
productsafety@degruyterbrill.com

The Muse at Play

Overview

About this book

Author / Editor information

Supplementary Materials

Topics

Table of contents

Bibliographic data