Introduction

Abstract

The Introduction discusses the history and meaning of the term ‘canon’, as established by Ruhnken, and explains the connotations of the term’s usage in modern scholarship. The discussion centres on the main characteristics of canonization and of literary canons in general and on the nature of the Lyric Canon specifically by focusing on the main sources in antiquity that deliver the selected lyric list. Attention is drawn to the closedness and stability of the Lyric Canon in antiquity. The Introduction finishes with a chapter layout and with an exposition of the book’s hermeneutic framework outlining the important features of the Reception Theory that were fundamental for the overall analysis. It further explains how the term ‘classic’ and ‘classical’ are understood throughout the book always in connection with the Lyric Canon, and contextualizes canon formation in antiquity within discussions and debates on modern literary canons and the classic.