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Article

scholarship, ancient, Greek  

Nigel Wilson

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Greek Literature
  2. Reception
In one sense of the term scholarship began when literature became a central element of education and the prescribed texts had to be explained and interpreted to pupils in a class. An early reflex of this activity is the reported invention by *Theagenes (2) of Rhegium (late 6th cent. bce) of the allegorical method of interpretation, which could be used to deny the literal meaning of supposedly objectionable passages of *Homer. But scholarship, like literary criticism, was slow to develop in the Classical period. In the Peripatos (see peripatetic school) *Aristotle and his disciples were not primarily concerned with literature or history, but their discussions of Homer and concern with the chronology of Athenian dramatic festivals were a step forward. Recognizably scholarly work, including the composition of books or pamphlets about literary texts, began early in the 3rd cent. bce in *Alexandria (1) under the patronage of the Ptolemies (see Ptolemy (1)); to what extent the ideals of the Peripatos were influential, possibly through the influence of *Demetrius (3) of Phalerum, is a disputed question.

Article

Sciras, Greek writer  

Geoffrey Arnott

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Greek Literature

Sciras, Greek writer of phlyax-plays (see phlyakes), like *Rhinthon, also from *Tarentum, probably 3rd cent. bce. One title (Meleager) survives, with one fragment that parodies *Euripides, Hippolytus 75; see parody, greek.

Article

scolia  

Cecil Maurice Bowra

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Greek Literature
Scolia, drinking-songs, especially Attic (see attica). *Athenaeus (1) (15. 693 f.) preserves a collection from the late 6th and early 5th cents. They were sung in the *prytaneion; a singer held a myrtle-branch and, when he had finished, passed the branch to another and called on him for a song. The process is illustrated in Ar. Vesp.

Article

Scopelianus, of Clazomenae, sophist and teacher of Herodes Atticus, 1st–2nd cent. CE  

M. B. Trapp

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Greek Literature

Scopelianus of Clazomenae (1st–2nd cent. ce), sophist and teacher of Herodes; he wrote an epic Gigantia.

Article

Scythinus, of Teos  

William David Ross and J. S. Rusten

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Greek Literature

Scythinus of Teos, contemporary of *Plato (1), wrote Iambics which expressed Heraclitus (1)'s doctrine in verse, and also a prose work Περὶ φύσεως (‘on nature’) and a Ἱστορία (history, inquiry) which was a novelistic account of Heracles' deeds as benefactor of the human race.

Article

Second Sophistic  

Ewen Bowie

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Greek Literature
  2. Reception
Second Sophistic is the term regularly applied in modern scholarship to the period c. 60–230 ce when *declamation became the most prestigious literary activity in the Greek world. Philostratus (see philostrati (no. 2)) coined the term in his Lives of the Sophists, claiming a link between the Classical *sophists and the movement whose first member he identified as Nicetes of Smyrna in the reign of *Nero (Lives 1. 19). The term sophist (σοφιστής; verb σοφιστεύειν) seems restricted to rhetors (public speakers, see rhetoric, greek) who entered upon a career of public displays, though usage even in the Digest is erratic, and Philostratus' Dionysius of Miletus (Lives 1. 22) is simply rhetor on his sarcophagus at Ephesus (Inschriften von Ephesos426).On the evidence of Philostratus, whose 40 lives of imperial sophists include several Severan contemporaries, and of other literary and epigraphic texts, it is clear that for these 170 years declamation was not simply an exercise for teachers of rhetoric and their pupils but a major art form in its own right. It flourished especially in Athens and the great cities of western Asia Minor, above all *Pergamum, *Smyrna, and *Ephesus.

Article

Seleucus (6) Homericus, of Alexandria (1), Greek commentator  

John Francis Lockwood, Robert Browning, and Nigel Wilson

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Greek Literature

Seleucus (6) Homericus of Alexandria (1) was perhaps at the court of the emperor *Tiberius (Suet. Tib.56). He is said to have written commentaries in Greek on practically every Greek poet. Besides works on Greek language and style and on Alexandrian proverbs, he wrote a criticism of the critical signs used by *Aristarchus (2), a biographical work probably on literary figures, a theological treatise, a paradoxographical study (see paradoxographers), a miscellany, and a commentary on the axones of *Solon. It is doubtful whether the Περὶ φιλοσοφίας (‘on philosophy’) mentioned by *Diogenes (6) Laertius is by this Seleucus.

Article

the self in Greek literature  

Christopher Gill

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
29 March 2017
Subjects:
  1. Greek Literature
  2. Philosophy
The notion of “self” is a non-technical one, bridging the areas of psychology and ethics or social relations. Criteria for selfhood include psychological unity or cohesion, agency, responsibility, self-consciousness, reflexivity, and capacity for relationships with others. “Self” is a modern concept with no obvious lexical equivalent in Greek (or Latin); the question therefore arises of the relationship between the modern concept and ancient thinking, as embodied in Greek literature. Three approaches to this question can be identified. One focuses on the idea that there is development within Greek literature towards an understanding of the self or person as a cohesive unit and bearer of agency and responsibility. Another approach sees certain aspects of Greek literature and philosophy as prefiguring some features of the modern concept of self. A third approach underlines the difference between the Greek and modern thought worlds in the formulation of concepts in this area, while also suggesting that Greek ideas and modes of presenting people can be illuminating to moderns, in part because of the challenge posed by their difference. These approaches draw on a range of evidence, including psychological vocabulary, characterization in Greek literature, and Greek philosophical analyses of ethical psychology. There are grounds for maintaining the credibility of all three approaches, and also valid criticisms that can be made of each of them.

Article

Semonides, of Amorgos, Greek iambic poet  

Martin Litchfield West

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Greek Literature
Semonides of Amorgos, Greek iambic poet (see iambic poetry, greek) said to be one of those who led the Samian colonists to Amorgos (see samos; colonization, greek), which would put him in the mid 7th cent. bce and agree with the ancient opinion that he was contemporary with *Archilochus (Eus. Chron., Ol. 28; cf. E. Rohde, Kl. Schr. 1. 149 ff.). The longest fragment (7 W., 118 lines, almost a complete poem) expounds the thesis that different types of women were created from different animals and have their qualities. Some fragments (1–4) contain pessimistic moralizing, others (e.g. 13–14, 16–18) suggest entertaining and obscene narratives. Two books of iamboi are cited. Statements that Semonides also composed elegy and a work on Samian antiquity (Suidas) are suspect; the elegiac fragment in Stobaeus 4. 34. 28 that has sometimes been ascribed to Semonides (fr. 29 Diehl) is now known to be a conflation of two excerpts from *Simonides of Ceos.

Article

Septimius Nestor, Lucius  

John Dewar Denniston, Simon Hornblower, and Antony Spawforth

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Greek Literature

Lucius Septimius Nestor, well-travelled Greek epic poet acclaimed in his day, from Laranda in *Lycaonia. He lived in the reign of *Septimius Severus (ce 193–211), and wrote, among other works, an Ἰλιὰς λειπογράμματος (‘Missing-letter Iliad’), in each of the 24 books of which one letter of the alphabet did not appear; and Μεταμορφώσεις or ‘Transformations’ (Anth. Pal. 9. 129, 364). He set up marble tablets at *Ostia commemorating *oracles given him there by the *Dioscuri; they assure him of his talents and future fame, and tell him to set up his statue in the temple. He may well have composed these oracular responses himself. Inscriptions show his relations with members of the Roman aristocracy and honours received from cities. His son was the epic poet *Pisander (3) of Laranda.

Article

Seven against Thebes  

Ken Dowden

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Greek Literature
Myth and play by *Aeschylus. Oedipus' curse upon his sons *Eteocles (‘True Glory’) and Polynices (‘Much Strife’) results in their dispute over the throne of Thebes and in Polynices calling upon his father-in-law *Adrastus (1), King of *Argos (1), and five other heroes (in the epic, *Tydeus, Capaneus, *Parthenopaeus, Mecisteus, and the seer *Amphiaraus). These seven heroes fight at, and match, the mythical seven gates of *Thebes (1) (details in e.g. Apollod. Bibl. 3. 6). In particular, Zeus strikes Capaneus with a lightning-bolt, the two brothers slaughter each other, the seer Amphiaraus (who joins the expedition through the treachery of his wife Eriphyle) is swallowed up by the earth, and Tydeus is denied immortality when Athene finds him devouring the brains of *Melanippus.This failed expedition was recounted in three epic Thebaids (1) around 700/600 bce, in c.

Article

sexuality, textual representation of  

Marilyn B. Skinner

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
25 February 2019
Subjects:
  1. Gender Studies
  2. Greek Literature
  3. Latin Literature
The basic dominance-submission model of sexual relations, involving a hierarchical distinction between the active and passive roles, was the same in Greek and Roman cultures and remained unchanged throughout classical antiquity. However, we find subtle modifications reflected in the literary tradition from the Homeric age to imperial Rome. In Homer and Hesiod, heterosexual relations are the only recognized form of sexual congress, and consensual sex is mutually pleasurable. Forced sex, in the form of abduction and rape, also occurs in epic narrative. Pederasty became a literary theme in Greek lyric poetry of the archaic age. In classical Athens, discourses of sexuality were tied to political ideology, because self-control was a civic virtue enabling the free adult male householder to manage his estate correctly and serve the city-state in war and peace. Tragedy illustrates the dire impact of unbridled erōs, while comedy mocks those who trespass against moderation or violate gender norms, and forensic oratory seeks to disqualify such offenders from participating in government. Philosophical schools disagreed over the proper place of erōs in a virtuous life.

Article

silence  

R. B. Rutherford

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Greek Literature
  2. Latin Literature
Narrators, dramatists, and orators know that there are times when silence is far more effective than the most powerful speech. Only a brief selection can be attempted. The chief motives for silence in Greek epic and drama are intense grief (compare Job 2: 10–3: 1), deep anger, or some other form of emotional distress (including passionate love). Examples are *Homer, Il. 1. 511 ff. (*Zeus), Od. 11. 563 ff. (*Ajax), the latter imitated by Verg.Aen. 6. 469 ff. (*Dido); Aesch.Agam. 1035 ff. (the role of *Cassandra), paralleled in the lost Niobe and Myrmidons and parodied by Ar.Frogs 833 ff., cf. 907–26; Soph. 1252 ff. (Oedipus); Eur.Hipp. 310 and elsewhere (on the theme of speech and silence in that play see Knox). *Herodotus (1) uses the same technique (e.g. 1. 86. 3–4). In a slightly different category comes Pylades in Aesch.

Article

Sim(m)ias (2) of Rhodes, scholar-poet, 4th/3rd century BCE  

Jan Kwapisz

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Greek Literature
  2. Greek Myth and Religion
Simias or Simmias of Rhodes is primarily known as the inventor of pattern poetry (see technopaignia), but he was also a grammarian (see scholarship, ancient, Greek and gloss, glosses, Greek) and author of various poetic genres, including epigram and experimental lyric. He probably belonged to the first generation of Hellenistic poets, alongside Philitas of Cos. His poetry is characterized by learnedness and formal refinement.Nothing is known about Simias’ life (the form with the single m finds support in Rhodian epigraphy), but our scarce sources unanimously connect him with Rhodes, and this is confirmed by the Doric dialect of his poetic fragments, his self-characterization as a Doric poet in his sphragis (Ovum 4) and a likely allusion to the Rhodian cult of Helios in another fragment (fr. 7 Fränkel = Powell, Coll. Alex. p. 111, fr. 4).1 His date in the early Hellenistic period has been deduced from Hephaestion’s observation that Simias’ use of the choriambic hexameter was earlier than Philicus of Corcyra, a poet at the court of Ptolemy II (Heph.

Article

Simonides, Greek poet  

P. J. Parsons

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Greek Literature
Simonides, Greek poet from Iulis on *Ceos; son of Leoprepes, grandson or descendant of Hylichus (Callimachus fr. 64. 8; 222), uncle of *Bacchylides (Strabo 10. 5. 6). If he worked at the court of *Hipparchus (1) ([Pl.], Hipparch. 228c; Arist., Ath. pol. 18. 1), his career began before 514 bce; his praises of Eualcidas of Eretria (fr. 518) date before 498, his Battle of Plataea (fr. 10–17 W2; see plataea, battle of) in or after 479; he finished at the court of *Hieron (1), and his tomb was shown at *Acragas (Callim. fr. 64. 4). Tradition made him live to be 90; most sources set his birth c.556 (others c.532).No poem of Simonides survives intact, except the epigrams attributed to him; even the Suda's list of works (which should preserve the outlines of the Alexandrian edition) is garbled. But the fragments make it clear that Simonides commanded a wide variety of genres. In choral lyric, he composed *epinicians, of which he and perhaps *Ibycus are the first known practitioners; *dithyrambs, with which according to a (Hellenistic) epigram (xxvii Page) he won at least 57 competitions; thrēnoi (laments: see dirge); *paeans; encomia; Partheneia and the like (cf.

Article

Simylus (1), iambic poet  

Alan Douglas Edward Cameron

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Greek Literature
Author of (? Hellenistic) didactic iambics (Suppl. Hell.726–8). Probably to be distinguished from (2), a comic poet competing in 284 bce (PCG 7. 591–2). (3) Author of a Greek elegy (presumably no earlier than 2nd cent. bce) claiming that it was to the Gauls, not the Sabines (*Sabini) that *Tarpeia betrayed the *Capitol for love (Plut.

Article

Solon, Athenian politician and poet  

Arnold Wycombe Gomme, Theodore John Cadoux, and P. J. Rhodes

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Greek History and Historiography
  2. Greek Law
  3. Greek Literature
Solon, Athenian politician and poet, was of noble descent but, whether or not the tradition that he was of moderate means is correct, came to sympathize with the poor. He was prominent in the war against *Megara for the possession of *Salamis (1), urging the Athenians to renewed effort when they despaired of success (c.600 bce). In 594/3 he was archon (see archontes), and the link between his archonship and his reforms is probably to be accepted, though some have wanted to put the reforms 20 years later. He is said to have spent the 10 years after his reforms in overseas travel, during which his measures were not to be altered: if he continued to travel after that, he may have met *Amasis of Egypt and Philocyprus of Cyprus, but if he died c.560/59 he is unlikely to have met *Croesus of Lydia (though that tradition is as old as Hdt.

Article

Sopater (1), of Paphos, Greek parodist and writer  

Geoffrey Arnott

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Greek Literature

Greek parodist and writer of *phlyakes. He flourished from the time of *Alexander (3) the Great to that of *Ptolemy (1) II. Fr. 19 mentions *Thibron (2), who put *Harpalus to death in 324 bce. It may be inferred from frs. 1 and 24 that Sopater lived in *Alexandria (1). Fourteen titles of plays survive: three (Bacchis, Bacchis' Suitors, Bacchis' Marriage) seem to form a triad, unless merely varied names for the same piece; Ghosts Called Up (Νέκυια), Hippolytus and Orestes must be burlesques of myth or tragedy (cf. comedy (greek), middle). Fr. 6 (12 vv.: the longest extant phlyax fragment) from The Gauls contains raillery of the Stoics (see stoicism); this passage, far removed from the buffoonery of the original phlyakes, approaches the spirit and language of Attic comedy.

Article

Sopater (2), Greek rhetor  

Donald Russell

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Greek Literature

Sopater (Σώπατρος) (2), Greek rhetor working in Athens in the 4th cent. ce, probably a pupil of *Himerius; the most significant work attributed to him is Diairesis Zētēmatōn, ‘Division of Questions’, a collection of 81 declamation themes, with instructions on how to treat them, and partial ‘fair copies’: it gives the best insight we have into how rhetors and their pupils actually worked in school. It is uncertain whether the commentary on *Hermogenes (2) and the *progymnasmata also attributed to Sopatros are by the same person. The philosopher Sopatros of Apamea (a pupil of Iamblichus) is earlier.

Article

Sophilus, comic poet  

Kenneth Dover

Article

Publication History:

Published online:
07 March 2016
Subjects:
  1. Greek Literature
Sophilus, comic poet, τῆς μέσης κωμῳδίας ‘of the middle comedy’ (see comedy (greek), middle), and ‘Sicyonian or Theban’ (Suda), but he certainly wrote for the *Attic theatre (Ath. 123 d, 228 b). We have nine titles; it is conceivable that his Androcles refers to the man mentioned in *Menander (1), Sam.