The Greek Figure Poems

The earliest European specimens of visual poetry are found in the literature of the ancient Greeks: these are six famous technopaegnia, which were composed between the end of the fourth century BC and the first half of the second century AD by poets such as Simias of Rhodes, a scholar-poet and precursor of Callimachus, or Iulius Vestinus, an important official at Hadrian’s court. The present book provides an edition of the six Greek figure poems, which is accompanied by an extensive commentary and the introduction to various aspects of this mini-genre. This is the first such comprehensive treatment of the six technopaegnia in 125 years.