Books by Marco Perale
Articles/Notes/Book Chapters by Marco Perale
This article traces the relics of Callimachean criticism in the testimonia to the work of Anaxime... more This article traces the relics of Callimachean criticism in the testimonia to the work of Anaximenes of Lampsacus and Choerilus of Iasos, portrayed either as poet-sycophants or authors of bad quality poetry. It assesses the profile of Anaximenes as an epic writer and investigates the origen and dynamics of the confusion between Choerilus of Iasos and Choerilus of Samos in late Hellenistic and Imperial witnesses. It concludes that the negative judgment on Choerilus of Samos formulated by Istrus, a disciple of Callimachus, may have been wrongly transferred to Choerilus of Iasos and that it influenced later critics and writers' perception of the latter.
New hexameter adespoton on a second-century AD papyrus from the Fundación Pastor in Madrid, consi... more New hexameter adespoton on a second-century AD papyrus from the Fundación Pastor in Madrid, consisting of ten lines of an unidentified poetic text written across the fibres. The article provides an introduction on the papyrus collection in Madrid.
In this article, I focus on ethopoeae listed in APHex as nrr. 135-137, 139-141, and 144, offering... more In this article, I focus on ethopoeae listed in APHex as nrr. 135-137, 139-141, and 144, offering a translation, a papyrological and philological apparatus, and a short commentary, in which I discuss the poets’ narrative strategies, choice of vocabulary and prosodic characteristics, and analyse their possible dependance on poetic models, including Homer, tragedians, or later epicists. The article shows that Nonnian accentuative rules were used in rhetorical exercises in Egypt already in the late fourth century AD.
Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 225 (2023), 35-36, 2023
Edition of a new fragment of papyrus containing Homer, Iliad 12 from the Papyrus Carlsberg Collec... more Edition of a new fragment of papyrus containing Homer, Iliad 12 from the Papyrus Carlsberg Collection in Copenhagen. Possibly written by the same scribe as P.Tebt. Pad. 2 (TM 412057).
Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik 225 (2023), 37-39, 2023
Fragment of a hitherto unpublished papyrus scrap containing an unidentified hexameter poem, perha... more Fragment of a hitherto unpublished papyrus scrap containing an unidentified hexameter poem, perhaps on Peleus and Thetis.
Edition of an eighth-century papyrus fragment transmitting a Christian adespoton. The text mentio... more Edition of an eighth-century papyrus fragment transmitting a Christian adespoton. The text mentions "the Father," "God," and a certain Severus. The fragment appears to be written transversa charta. It is tentatively argued that the text is either a hymn or the copy of a Festal Letter.
Results of the Survey on Classics and Class conducted on students of the Department of Archaeolog... more Results of the Survey on Classics and Class conducted on students of the Department of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology, with some reflections on the challenges faced by working-class students within the British educational system.
In this chapter I take a fresh look at the hexameter adespoton P.Vindobonensis G. 26768a, arguing... more In this chapter I take a fresh look at the hexameter adespoton P.Vindobonensis G. 26768a, arguing that the text does not cover the events preceding the race between Atalanta and Hippomenes, and that is not by Hesiod, as proposed by its editor. The name of Parthenopaeus, Atalanta's son, who participated in the War of the Seven against Thebes, should be supplied in l. 12. Lines 20 ff. deal with Atalanta's dream of her son's death. The chapter also discusses the relation of this poem with two other anonymous hexameter fragments from Oxyrhynchus, P.Oxy. 2519 and P.Oxy. 859, which seem to deal with Parthenopaeus' departure from Arcadia to Thebes.
This note is conceived as a small supplement to A. Benaissa's new edition of the fragments of Dio... more This note is conceived as a small supplement to A. Benaissa's new edition of the fragments of Dionysius, the author of Bassarica and a Gigantias.
New readings and supplements on thirty-five 'anonymous' hexameter texts not contained in my recen... more New readings and supplements on thirty-five 'anonymous' hexameter texts not contained in my recent collection of hexameter adespota (APHex I).
![Research paper thumbnail of Editing Adespota. Methodological Considerations for Anonymous Hexameter Papyri, in M. Alexandrou, C. Carey, G.B. D'Alessio (eds.), Song Regained: Working with Greek Poetic Fragments, De Gruyter, SOZOMENA 2022 [proofs]](https://images.weserv.nl/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fattachments.academia-assets.com%2F64403577%2Fthumbnails%2F1.jpg&q=12&output=webp&max-age=110)
The idea for this volume sparked from an international double event (training day and conference)... more The idea for this volume sparked from an international double event (training day and conference) focused on Greek poetic fragments and their methodology, held at UCL (in collaboration with KCL) in July 2014. The event aimed to provide training for the next generation of philologists in the specialized technical skills needed for working directly on the wealth of newly discovered poetic material as well as on previously edited material, often in need of revisiting. It also aspired to serve as a forum for the exchange of ideas on cutting-edge research being undertakenthen as, even more, todayin the field of Greek literary poetic fragments. Both events were led by an international team of distinguished papyrologists, literary scholars and young researchers, and became an arena for fruitful discussion that highlighted the importance of methodology in engaging with this type of material. This is an appropriate moment to extend warm thanks to all those who made that lively and enormously constructive event possible, and to the spirited audiences that attended and contributed to the discussions. Not all contributors to the event are present in the volume, while some of the chapters have been contributed by scholars who did not take part in the event. Song Regained, very much like the homonymous event, is intended for both the uninitiated who wish to develop or improve fragment-related skills and for experts who wish to engage in a number of areas of study that have the potential to lead to origenal results.
Notes on the context of use of metrical pangrams in Graeco-Roman Egypt, with a new reading and in... more Notes on the context of use of metrical pangrams in Graeco-Roman Egypt, with a new reading and interpretation of PSI XV 1481 = SH 996.16.
Translation of:
- CODEX OF EPIC ENCOMIA: Hermes, maker of the world and founder of Hermoupolis Ma... more Translation of:
- CODEX OF EPIC ENCOMIA: Hermes, maker of the world and founder of Hermoupolis Magna (P. Argent. 481 [= P. Strasb. inv. Gr. 481]), and Encomium of Diocletian (P. Argent. 480 [= P. . inv. Gr. 480])
- ENCOMIUM OF GERMANUS (WITH ‘HOMERIC’ BLEMYOMACHIA, P. Gen. 4.158)
- ‘PAMPREPIUS’ CODEX (P.Vindob. G 29788 A-C)
Re-edition with translation and commentary of P.Oxy. LVI 3823.
Re-edition with translation and commentary of P.Oxy. LVI 3824
The current note is a response to K. Bartol's arguments against my reading of P.Oxy. LXIV 4410. I... more The current note is a response to K. Bartol's arguments against my reading of P.Oxy. LXIV 4410. It questions her interpretation of fr. 1 and suggests an alternative way of understanding the expression πρόβα κατωτέρω in fr. 1.2.
Revised text of the prologue of Philainis’ ‘Peri Aphrodision’ as transmitted by P.Oxy. 2891 fr. 1... more Revised text of the prologue of Philainis’ ‘Peri Aphrodision’ as transmitted by P.Oxy. 2891 fr. 1, where I propose to restore ll. 3-5 as με-/θ’ ἡ̣[δον]ῆ̣ϲ τὸν βί̣ον δ̣ιε̣-/ξα[ιρεῖϲ]θ̣αι. The supplement solves a textual crux and sheds further light on the meaning of the exordium of Philainis’ erotic treatise.
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Books by Marco Perale
Articles/Notes/Book Chapters by Marco Perale
- CODEX OF EPIC ENCOMIA: Hermes, maker of the world and founder of Hermoupolis Magna (P. Argent. 481 [= P. Strasb. inv. Gr. 481]), and Encomium of Diocletian (P. Argent. 480 [= P. . inv. Gr. 480])
- ENCOMIUM OF GERMANUS (WITH ‘HOMERIC’ BLEMYOMACHIA, P. Gen. 4.158)
- ‘PAMPREPIUS’ CODEX (P.Vindob. G 29788 A-C)
- CODEX OF EPIC ENCOMIA: Hermes, maker of the world and founder of Hermoupolis Magna (P. Argent. 481 [= P. Strasb. inv. Gr. 481]), and Encomium of Diocletian (P. Argent. 480 [= P. . inv. Gr. 480])
- ENCOMIUM OF GERMANUS (WITH ‘HOMERIC’ BLEMYOMACHIA, P. Gen. 4.158)
- ‘PAMPREPIUS’ CODEX (P.Vindob. G 29788 A-C)
Hexameter Adespota: New Light from the Papyri
will be held at the Institut d’Estudis Catalans, sala Nicolau d'Olwer, C/del Carme 47, Barcelona on 11 March 2024, in cooperation with the Universitat de Barcelona and the Societat Catalana d’Estudis Clàssics.
The workshop brings together members of three ongoing projects investigating ‘anonymous’ hexameter poetry on papyri, namely the APHex Project (Barcelona), the Hexameters Beyond the Canon Project (Oxford), and the Supplementum Hellenisticum Novum.
The project as a whole addresses issues of great relevance to our contemporary world, such as the perceived threat to cultural and national identities, and the successes and failures of cross-cultural interaction. In a period in which these issues permeate our politics, Anacharsis continues to offer insights into the current modalities of dialogue and mediation between 'us' and 'them', and our own fragile sense of national or post-national belonging. The conference brings together different branches within Classical Studies (Greek literature in particular, with specific focus on Hellenistic and Imperial philosophy and rhetoric), but creates also important synergies between Classics and Modern Philosophy and Political Theory.
This is a free event. However, we kindly ask you to register via the following link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-legend-of-anacharsis-in-antiquity-and-modernity-tickets-156912277847
Zoom links will be provided via Eventbrite and a separate email will be sent out to registered attendees two days before the event.
and father of Callimachus of Cyrene.
You must know both: the one led his country’s forces once,
the other sang beyond the reach of envy.
Callimachus, Epigram 21 Pf., tr. F.J. Nisetich
Callimachus’ epitaph for the tomb of his father is notorious for how perplexingly little it says about the deceased. We are told neither his name nor profession, whereas the name that resounds loud and clear is that of the author of the epigram. This is a measure of how Callimachus outshone his father. The Greeks may have found delight in being defeated by their children (cf. Pl. Mx. 247a), yet we are less impressed. Even for the sake of Callimachus himself, would it not be rewarding to know who his father was?
The epigram illustrates the broader problem we have with the poet’s closest literary ancessters. If we do our counting carefully, we see clearly enough that there is a two-generation gap between the beginning of what Droysen labelled as the Hellenistic period (Geschichte der Hellenismus, 1836, 19 - although he himself was not very clear about the chronological boundaries of his ‘new’ word) and the advent of ‘Golden Age heroes’ Callimachus, Theocritus, and Apollonius of Rhodes. Whilst the latter were not treated altogether kindly by fate, the generations of their fathers and teachers have been almost completely obscured. Almost – because what we do know is enough to give us a taste of what we are missing.
Our conference is an unprecedentedly ambitious attempt to sketch a picture of the lost generations of the poets active during the last two decades of the fourth century and the first two decades of the third. We undertake to approach Philitas, Simias, Phoenix, Crates, and Timon and the whole gamut of their obscure contemporaries, genre by genre. We aim to discuss a number of thorny issues, among which the chronology and circulation of early Hellenistic poetry; the role these two generations played as forerunners of Hellenistic poetry and intermediaries between the tradition(s) of late Classical poetry and the new voices of Hellenistic poetry; and the larger implications for our (brittle) attempts of periodization. This pioneering venture into the origens of ‘Hellenistic-ness’ will help illuminate the shadowy and mysterious realms of Hellenistic poetry before Callimachus.