A Companion to Ancient Epic

John Miles Foley is the Curators' and Byler Professor of Classical Studies and English at the University of Missouri. He is the founder and Director of the Center for Studies in Oral Tradition. He is the author of The Theory of Oral Composition (1988), The Singer of Tales in Performance (1995), Homer's Traditional Art (1999), and How to Read an Oral Poem (2002).

List of Figures. Notes on Contributors. Acknowledgments. Abbreviations of Ancient Authors and Works. Abbreviations of Modern Reference Works. Map: The ancient epic territories. Introduction (John Miles Foley). Part I Issues and Perspectives. 1 Epic as Genre (Richard P. Martin). 2 The Indo-European Context (Joshua T. Katz). 3 Epic and Myth (Lowell Edmunds). 4 Performance (Minna Skafte Jensen). 5 Epic and History (Kurt A. Raaflaub). 6 The Epic Hero (Gregory Nagy). 7 The Gods in Epic, or the Divine Economy (Bruce Louden). 8 Women in Ancient Epic (Helene P. Foley). 9 Archaeological Contexts (Susan Sherratt). 10 The Physical Media: Tablet, Scroll, Codex (Michael W. Haslam). 11 Ancient Reception (Robert Lamberton). 12 Translating Ancient Epic (Richard Hamilton Armstrong). 13 Analogues: Modern Oral Epics (John Miles Foley). Part II Near Eastern Epic. 14 Comparative Observations on the Near Eastern Epic Traditions (Jack M. Sasson). 15 Mesopotamian Epic (Scott B. Noegel). 16 Epic in Ugaritic Literature (N. Wyatt). 17 Hittite and Hurrian Epic (Gary Beckman). 18 Persian/Iranian Epic (Olga M. Davidson). 19 The Challenge of Israelite Epic (Susan Niditch). Part III Ancient Greek Epic. 20 Near Eastern Connections (Walter Burkert). 21 Homer's Iliad (Mark W. Edwards). 22 Homer's Odyssey (Laura M. Slatkin). 23 Hesiod (Stephanie Nelson). 24 The Epic Cycle and Fragments (Jonathan S. Burgess). 25 Apollonius of Rhodes (D. P. Nelis). 26 Quintus of Smyrna (Alan James). 27 Nonnus (Robert Shorrock). 28 Epic and Other Genres in the Ancient Greek World (R. Scott Garner). 29 Homer's Post-classical Legacy (Casey Due). Part IV Roman Epic. 30 The Origins and Essence of Roman Epic (Joseph Farrell). 31 Early Republican Epic (Sander M. Goldberg). 32 Lucretius (Monica R. Gale). 33 Virgil's Aeneid (Michael C. J. Putnam). 34 Ovid (Carole E. Newlands). 35 Lucan (Shadi Bartsch). 36 Valerius Flaccus (Andrew Zissos). 37 Statius (William J. Dominik). 38 Silius Italicus (Raymond D. Marks). 39 Claudian (Michael H. Barnes). 40 Latin Christian Epics of Late Antiquity (Dennis E. Trout). 41 Epic and Other Genres in the Roman World (R. Jenkyns). 42 Virgil's Post-classical Legacy (Craig Kallendorf). Bibliography. Index.