The Archaeology of the Epigrams from the Tabulae Iliacae: Adaptation, Allusion, Alteration

Abstract

AbstractThe epigrams and other metrical texts inscribed on theTabulae Iliacaedocument an active engagement with the prior poetic tradition on the part of the artisans of these early Imperial reliefs, who adapt and reshape earlier texts in order to create for their Roman clientele a novel version of Greek myth and history.I reconsider the texts of three groups of inscriptions and argue for their significance to the history of Greek epigram. TheTabula Chigi(IG14.1296) transmits two elegiac couplets that employ dialectal variation to characterize the speech of Alexander the Great; a metrical irregularity reveals how the couplets were adapted to their inscriptional context. Variations in the two metrical signatures of Theodorus, the creator of theTabulae(IG14.1284;SEG14.626), reveal a nuanced attempt to characterize his relationship with his avowed poetic source, Homer. Verse summaries of theIliadon theTabula Sarti(IG14.1286) have been misunderstood because the sole surviving image of the tablet has been misread: a new edition shows the summaries’ close adaptation of Homer and uncovers the rationale for their unusual meter (anapestic tetrameter catalectic). An appendix discusses the whereabouts of theTabula Chigi, which is currently lost.