Abstract

This funerary verse inscription, found in 1976, is for the previously unknown dramatist Diokles of Rhodes. This entry re-examines the text based on visual autopsy, proposes a new supplement on the last line, and sets the poem within the literary and inscribed epitaphic traditions for deceased poets (tragedians in particular). It also considers what this poem tells us about Rhodian dramatic competitions in the Hellenistic period. It looks at the interplay between inscribed and literary epigrams, what this epigram tells us about poetry of the south-east Aegean, and the reception of literary funerary epigrams of Classical authors in the Hellenistic era.

Highlights

  • Diokles the Rhodian, a previously unknown dramatist, is commemorated in this funerary epigram from the first half of 2nd century BC (200-150 BC)

  • The poet may have had something like fr. 985 SSH, a papyrus anthology (3rd century BC), which contains a set of epigrams on early Athenian dramatic poets, preserving at least nine tetrastichs composed on individual dramatists or individual tragedies and comedies

  • There may have been a catalogue of Diokles’ victories that the epigram refers to, e.g. ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν νίκαις σατύρων...ληναϊκῶν ἁψάμενος χαρίτων (3-4), which is a poetic way of stating that Diokles had won at the dramatic festivals

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Summary

Introduction

Diokles the Rhodian, a previously unknown dramatist, is commemorated in this funerary epigram from the first half of 2nd century BC (200-150 BC). “A Funerary Epigram for Diokles the Rhodian Dramatist”. Thomas Coward A Funerary Epigram for Diokles the Rhodian Dramatist

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