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Chapter 8 - ‘Another X’

Duplicating Poets in Ancient Greek Literary History

from Part II - Lives and Afterlives

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 June 2024

By
Andrea Rotstein
Edited by
Giacomo Fedeli  and
Henry Spelman
Giacomo Fedeli
Affiliation:
University of Exeter
Henry Spelman
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
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Summary

This chapter deals with onomastic homonymy as a phenomenon of ancient Greek literary history. Focusing first on early Greek poets about whom ancient testimonies claim there were doublets (Euenus, Xenophanes, Alcman and Sappho), the chapter moves on to examine doublets of poets emerging in the Parian Chronicle (Simonides, Sosiphanes, Stesichorus, Melanippides), to conclude with the Phocian Homer of Byzantine scholarship (Tzetzes). After distinguishing between historical homonyms and scholarly constructs, the chapter examines the possible reasons behind the duplication of poets, most particularly the need to deal with conflicting details in the transmitted biographies while preserving the textual tradition.

Keywords

antiquarianismbiographychronographychronologydoubletshermeneutic,s homonymyliterary historyOccam’s razorParian Chroniclepseudepigraphy
Type
Chapter
Information
Writing Literary History in the Greek and Roman World , pp. 167 - 186
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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