A Companion to Late Antique Literature Read online




  Table of Contents

  Cover

  PART ONE: LATE ANTIQUE LITERATURE BY LANGUAGE AND TRADITION Introduction REFERENCES

  CHAPTER ONE: Greek REFERENCES

  CHAPTER TWO: Latin 2.1 Panegyric and Secular Oratory

  2.2 Sermons

  2.3 Philosophy

  2.4 Secular Verse

  2.5 Religious Verse

  2.6 Letter Writing

  2.7 History Writing

  2.8 Christian History and Hagiography

  REFERENCES

  CHAPTER THREE: Syriac 3.1 Biblical Commentary

  3.2 Poetry

  3.3 Theology

  3.4 Biography and Hagiography

  3.5 Rhetoric and Epistolography

  3.6 Historiography

  3.7 Philosophy and Translation

  REFERENCES

  CHAPTER FOUR: Coptic 4.1 The Problems of “Coptic Literature” and its History

  4.2 Translation and the Origins of Coptic Literature

  4.3 Original Coptic Literature: From Pachomius and Shenoute to the Muslim Conquest

  REFERENCES

  CHAPTER FIVE: Armenian 5.1 Ecclesiastical and Theological Works in Prose

  5.2 Historians

  REFERENCES

  CHAPTER SIX: Georgian 6.1 Earliest Original Georgian Literature: Hagiography

  6.2 Christian Kʻartʻli and the Iranian Commonwealth

  6.3 Conversion Stories and Acculturating Parthians

  6.4 The Dawn of Georgian Historiography: Hambavi mepʻet ʻa

  6.5 Christian History in Iranic Colors

  REFERENCES

  CHAPTER SEVEN: Middle Persian (Pahlavi) 7.1 Commentary on the Avesta

  7.2 Philosophical and Debate Texts

  7.3 Apocalyptic and Visionary Texts

  7.4 Didactic Texts

  7.5 Geographical and Epic Texts

  7.6 Legal Texts

  7.7 Cultural Texts

  7.8 Dictionaries

  7.9 Christian and Manichaean Literature in Middle Persian

  7.10 Pahlavi Literature in Contact with Greek and Sanskrit Literature and Islam

  7.11 Conclusion

  REFERENCES

  CHAPTER EIGHT: Languages of Arabia REFERENCES

  PART TWO: LITERARY FORMS CHAPTER NINE: Classicizing History and Historical Epitomes REFERENCES

  CHAPTER TEN: Ecclesiastical History 10.1 Origins

  10.2 Genre

  10.3 History and Theology

  10.4 Development

  ACKNOWLEDGMENT

  REFERENCES

  CHAPTER ELEVEN: Chronicles 11.1 Introduction

  11.2 Consularia

  11.3 Chronicles

  11.4 Chronicles after the Sixth Century

  ABBREVIATIONS

  REFERENCES

  CHAPTER TWELVE: Epideictic Oratory 12.1 What Do We Mean by “Epideictic”?

  12.2 Topoi

  12.3 Some Social Aspects of Epideictic

  12.4 An Epithalamium

  12.5 Monody

  12.6 Epitaphios

  12.7 Festal Oration

  12.8 Pure Sophistry?

  12.9 Conclusion

  ADDENDUM

  REFERENCES

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN: Panegyric REFERENCES

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN: Epic Poetry 14.1 Greek Epic

  14.2 Latin Epic

  REFERENCES

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN: Epigrams, Occasional Poetry, and Poetic Games REFERENCES

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN: Christian Poetry 16.1 Greek Christian Poetry

  16.2 Latin Christian Poetry

  ACKNOWLEDGMENT

  REFERENCES

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: Prosimetra 17.1 Introduction

  17.2 Popular Origins of Mixed‐Meter Satire

  17.3 The Extraordinary Verses of Consolation

  17.4 Literary Shifts in the Second Century

  17.5 The Evidence of Sympotic Literature

  17.6 Conclusion: Two Pre‐Boethian, Two Post‐Boethian Traditions

  ACKNOWLEDGMENT

  REFERENCES

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: Philosophical Commentary 18.1 Background

  18.2 Commentary and Exegesis

  18.3 Forms of Commentary

  18.4 Techniques and Strategies

  18.5 Defining the Commentator

  18.6 Conclusion

  REFERENCES

  CHAPTER NINETEEN: Biblical Commentary 19.1 Introduction

  19.2 Origins and Development

  19.3 About Literature

  19.4 Survey

  19.5 Conclusion

  REFERENCES

  CHAPTER TWENTY: Christian Theological Literature 20.1 Some Preliminary Remarks: “Christian,” “Theological,” “Literature”

  20.2 Approaching Late Antiquity: The Emergence of Christian Theological Literature

  20.3 The “Long Fourth Century”: Toward an Orthodox Theology of the “Fathers”

  20.4 Consolidation and Reception toward the End of Late Antiquity

  20.5 Summary and Conclusion

  REFERENCES

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: Sermons 21.1 Origins of Sermons

  21.2 Sermons as a Genre

  21.3 The Influence of Classical Rhetoric

  21.4 Advice about Sermons

  21.5 The Preachers and their Audiences

  21.6 Shorthand Writers and the Preservation of Sermons

  REFERENCES

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: Travel and Pilgrimage Literature 22.1 Letters

  22.2 Religious Travel

  22.3 Itineraries

  22.4 Maps

  22.5 Periegeseis and Periploi

  22.6 Historiography

  22.7 Vitae

  REFERENCES

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: Biography, Autobiography, and Hagiography 23.1 Introduction

  23.2 Autobiography

  23.3 Biography

  23.4 Hagiography

  23.5 Monastic Tales

  23.6 Martyr Texts

  23.7 Conclusion

  REFERENCES

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR: Epistolography 24.1 Letter Collections in theLater Roman World

  24.2 Innovation and the Late Antique Letter Collection

  24.3 Innovation in the Individual Letter

  24.4 Conclusion

  REFERENCES

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE: Pseudepigraphy 25.1 Introduction

  25.2 Origins of Pseudepigrapha in Antiquity

  25.3 Late Antique Pseudepigrapha

  REFERENCES

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX: Legal Texts 26.1 Introduction

  26.2 Legal Texts in Late Antiquity: Forms and Problems

  26.3 Language and Style in Late Antique Imperial Legislation

  26.4 Legal Texts and Panegyric

  26.5 Conclusion

  REFERENCES

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN: Handbooks, Epitomes, and Florilegia 27.1 Introduction and General Remarks

  27.2 New Genres and Christianity?

  27.3 The Range of Abbreviated and Condensed Texts

  27.4 Handbook and Florilegium

  27.5 Other Forms of Compilation

  27.6 Epitome – the Transformation of Texts into a New and Condensed Form

  27.7 Conclusion

  REFERENCES

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT: Grammar 28.1 A Textual Typology for Latin Grammar in Late Antiquity

  28.2 Sublexical Level

  28.3 Morpholexical Level

  28.4 Vices and Virtues of Expression: Between Rhetoric and Grammar

  28.5 Syntax

  28.6 Lexicon, Lexica

  28.7 Metrics

  28.8 Interpretari

  REFERENCES

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE: School Texts 29.1 Introduction

  29.2 Th
e “Fragments” of Late Antique Literature

  29.3 The “Forms” of Late Antique Literary Architecture

  29.4 Classroom Practice

  29.5 Audience

  29.6 Conclusion

  REFERENCES

  CHAPTER THIRTY: Literature of Knowledge 30.1 Competition

  30.2 Fighting, Grafting, and Healing

  30.3 The Pursuit of Practicability

  30.4 Conclusion

  REFERENCES

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE: Inscriptions 31.1 Agency and Identity

  31.2 Editions

  31.3 Sources

  31.4 Texts

  31.5 Images

  31.6 Audiences and Reception

  ABBREVIATIONS

  ONLINE RESOURCES

  REFERENCES

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO: Translation 32.1 Philosophy, Medicine, Rhetoric, and Grammar

  32.2 Law

  32.3 Poetry

  32.4 Prose Fiction

  32.5 Scripture

  32.6 Parabiblical Texts

  32.7 Theology

  32.8 Conclusion

  REFERENCES

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE: Antiquarian Literature 33.1 Presenting the Past

  33.2 Perspectives on the Past

  33.3 Past and Present

  REFERENCES

  FURTHER READING

  PART THREE: RECEPTION CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR: Late Antique Literature in Byzantium 34.1 Continuation

  34.2 Absorption

  34.3 Rewriting

  34.4 Replicating Authorial Personae

  34.5 Literary Criticism

  REFERENCES

  FURTHER READING

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE: The Arabic Reception of Late Antique Literature REFERENCES

  FURTHER READING

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX: Late Antique Literature in the Western Middle Ages REFERENCES

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN: Early Modern Receptions of Late Ancient Literature 37.1 Introduction

  37.2 Encountering Late Ancient Texts in the Early Modern Context

  37.3 Erasmus and Jerome

  37.4 Conclusion

  REFERENCES

  CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT: Edward Gibbon and Late Antique Literature 38.1 Gibbon’s Reading of Late Antique Literature

  38.2 A Case Study: Ammianus Marcellinus

  38.3 Concluding Thoughts on Decline

  ACKNOWLEDGMENT

  REFERENCES

  CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE: Nineteenth‐ and Twentieth‐Century Visions of Late Antique Literature 39.1 Decadent and Aesthetic Late Antique Literatures

  39.2 Modernist and “Beat” Late Antique Literatures

  39.3 Present and Future Late Antique Literatures

  REFERENCES

  FURTHER READING

  Index

  End User License Agreement

  List of Tables

  Chapter 28 Table 28.1 Consentius’s De barbarismis et metaplasmis.

  List of Illustrations

  Chapter 31 Figure 31.1 Edition of inscription in the Forum of Trajan, Rome.

  Figure 31.2 Translation of inscription in the Forum of Trajan, Rome.

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  A Companion to Late Antique Literature

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  A COMPANION TO LATE ANTIQUE LITERATURE

  Edited by

  Scott McGill and Edward J. Watts

  This edition first published 2018

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  Library of Congress Cataloging‐in‐Publication Data

  Names: McGill, Scott, 1968– editor. | Watts, Edward Jay, 1975– editor.

  Title: A companion to late antique literature / edited by Scott McGill, Edward J. Watts.

  Description: New York : Wiley, 2018. | Series: Blackwell companions to the ancient world |

  Identifiers: LCCN 2018004193 (print) | LCCN 2018005932 (ebook) | ISBN 9781118830369 (pdf) | ISBN 9781118830352 (epub) | ISBN 9781118830345 (cloth)

  Subjects: LCSH: Latin literature–History and criticism. | Greek literature–History and criticism. | Christian literature, Early–History and criticism. | Literature, Medieval–History and criticism. | Middle Eastern literature–History and criticism.

  Classification: LCC PN641 (ebook) | LCC PN641 .C657 2018 (print) | DDC 809/.021–dc23