Flavian Poetry and Its Greek Past

The studies in this volume, originating from a 2012 conference in Delphi, Greece, examine the interaction of Flavian poetry with the Greek literary tradition in the sociopolitical and cultural context of the late 1st century A.D. After the editor's nine-page introduction, the essays treat the following topics: Flavian literature and Greek intertexts (one), Valerius Flaccus' Argonautica (seven), Statius' Thebaid and Achilleid (four), Silius Italicus' Punica and his relationship with the Greek literary past (four), and the Greek roots of Martial's epigrammatic poetry (three). Contributions of interest to NT studies include: A. Sacerdoti on scenes of sleeplessness (and intertextuality) in Flavian poetry; S. Finkmann on collective speech and silence in the Argonautica of Apollonius and Valerius; I. Mitousi on Valerius' Argonautica as a Flavian ideological epic; J.-M.Hulls on Greek author, Greek past--Statius, Athens, and the tragic self; F. Bessone on polis, court, empire--Greek culture, Roman society, and the system of genres in Statius' poetry; R. J. Littlewood on loyalty and the lyre--constructions of fides in Hannibal's Capuan banquets; and A. M. Lóio on inheriting speech--talking books in some epigrams of Martial.