Dall’epos arcaico all’epillio: alcune riflessioni

Abstract

This articles intends to illuminate the path that, from the independent sections of the archaic epos (catalogues, ekphraseis, paradeigmata) and from short epic poems (the pseudo-Hesiodic Scutum, Creophilus of Samus’ Capture of Oecalia), leads to Hellenistic epyllia, i.e. a literary genre separate from epos. If in archaic times the unity of the literary work was connected to public performance, in the Hellenistic age it becomes an authorial choice, and one that is not influenced by the context of performance. Among independent sections particular attention is devoted to ekphrasis, who plays a key role in ancient epyllia and in the modern conceptualization of the genre: from the mythical encyclopedia of Jason’s cloak in Apollonius’ Argonautica up to the narratized description of Catullus 64 and the implicit ekphrasis that closes book 4 of Vergil’s Georgica, where the story of Orpheus and Euridice is narrated by means of juxtaposed frames.

Keywords

• epyllion
• ekphrasis
• paradeigma
• gender
• myth
• reception