The Motif of the Lamp in Book V of the "Palatine Anthology"

Abstract

Motif of the Lamp in Book V of the "Palatine Anthology" In the present paper I focus on the occurrences of the motif of the lamp (λύχνος) in the fifth book of the Palatine Anthology. It turns out on numerous oc­casions the lamp is not merely an element of night scenery but it also performs functions typical of people or gods. An analysis of twelve epigrams from Book V shall demonstrate the variety of contexts in which the lamp appears and give a few remarks about the language used in the poems in which this motif occurs.

Keywords

• Agathias Scholasticus
• Asclepiades
• erotic epigram
• Greek epigram
• lamp
• Marcus Argentarius