Greek Epic of the Roman Empire: A Cultural History

This project provides the first systematic analysis, in cultural-historical terms, of the large and challenging corpus of Greek epic poetry composed between the 1st and the 6th centuries CE. Epic was, for Greeks throughout antiquity, the most prestigious literary form, the apex of the hierarchy of genres. Through it they articulated their conceptions of war, empire, mortality, religion, gender, the natural order, psychology and cultural identity. Given the immense transformations that the era in question saw - the emergence of Rome as the head of a world empire, the subsequent shift to Constantinople, Christianisation, the laying of the social foundations for mediaeval Europe - its epic poetry offers an invaluable dossier, an unparalleled opportunity to explore the worldview of a highly erudite culture that was at once saturated in the literary paradigms of the distant past and confronting a rapidly changing future. Given the unquestionable centrality of epic to Greek culture, and given the significance of the historical changes wrought in late antiquity, the absence of any synoptic, contextualised study of the epic of this era is a major (indeed the greatest, we would argue) gap within ancient literary and cultural studies.

'Greek Epic of the Roman Empire' draws on this under-exploited material to explore central issues of cultural history, posing questions of politics, class and demography, religion, gender, sexuality, cultural definition and the relationship with the natural world. What kind of figures composed this poetry, what was their status and background, where were they trained, what kind of institutional factors shaped them? How does epic express the transformation from a Greco-Roman to a Christian religious world? How does it explore, promote, or challenge new constructions of gender and sexuality? What kind of an expression of Greek identity is it within this rapidly changing world? And how does it position humanity in relation to the natural environment, particularly to animals?

In sum, this project offers the first rounded portrait of the human subject as it appears in this vast and complex (but hugely significant) body of literature.
The project has been made possible by the compilation of the first ever complete database of imperial Greek epic poetry, which has thrown up around 1000 poems, fragments and references in the literary, papyrological and epigraphic records. As well as scholarly publications, the project will also produce the first comprehensive set of translations of the poetic corpus of the era, published by the University of California Press. It will have a substantial web presence, containing materials for public use (including videos) and a user-friendly, searchable version of the database. There will also be a conference, held in common with an art-historical sister project, 'Empires of Faith'.

The beneficiaries of the project will be (i) the general public; (ii) schools. It is additionally hoped that practioners in the arts may be inspired by the texts once they are more readily available. For an example of their potential, see Robin Robertson's collection of poems Hill of Doors (2013), which contains sequences drawn from Nonnus. The impact (beyond the academy) will thus be primarily cultural.

The most transformative step will be simply to make the material open and comprehensible to the public. A series of annotated translations, published by University of California Press, will for the first time provide a comprehensive collection of modern, accessible versions.

Energy will also be devoted to the active promotion of the material. Ancient Greek mythological epic is already well established in the public imagination, thanks to successful books such as Madeline Miller's The Song of Achilles and David Malouf's Ransom, and films such as Troy and Clash of the Titans. The impact strategy will be to use this intense public interest so as to expand understanding of the full range of ancient mythology. Four tactics are envisaged:

* The creation of an attractive, outward-facing website containing images, mini-essays, excerpts from the poems and links. This will be targeted at those who are searching for material related to Greek epic and mythology.

* The refreshing and modernising of Wikipedia entries on the authors in question, so that those searching for information become attracted rather than deterred when they reach their first port-of-call.

* The generation of electronic audio and video recordings. A minimum of five podcasts will be created and hosted on Oxford University's popular site for downloads. Three short video interviews will be filmed and edited, and then hosted on youtube.

* A series of schools talks will be arranged via the Outreach Office at the Faculty of Classics, Oxford.

Additionally, the project will generate a freely accessible database of authors and texts of imperial Greek epic, fully searchable (with a range of filters) and data-exportable.

Wider cultural impact will also be achieved by the exploitation of ad hoc opportunities. Members of the research team have extensive experience of communication beyond academia: e.g. literary festivals (including Hay-on-Wye), BBC radio and TV; journalism (Huffington Post, Guardian, Observer, LRB, TLS), public lectures, and schools talks. The PI is currently writing a work of popular history for Faber and Faber, which should raise his profile.