Reinventing epic poetry. Creativity and tradition in late antique epyllia.

The modern term “epyllion” refers to short narrative poetry in hexameters. This project proposes a first comprehensive study of late antique Greek and Latin epyllia. The project focusses on the generic self-presentation of these poems and aims to lay bare the mechanisms of tradition and innovation that allowed the poets constantly to reinvent the essentially “epic” genre of hexameter narrative.