The fragments of Stesichorus: Introduction, Text, Translation, Commentary
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Nottingham
Department Name: Classics
Abstract
Stesichorus was one of the most important Greek poets between Homeric epic and Attic tragedy: a brilliant story-teller who created memorable narratives out of traditional Greek myth, which then had a profound influence on subsequent literature. Most of his works were lost during the Roman Empire, however, and have only recently been rediscovered on papyri dug out of the sands of Egypt. I aim to produce the first major edition of Stesichorus, with a new text based on a re-examination of the papyri, as well as a full introduction and commentary. The edition will combine both philological and literary approaches to his work, analysing the nature of his poetic achievement and the significance of his legacy to later writers. The volume will also include a translation of Stesichorus' fragments, making his work accessible to a non-specialist readership.
Planned Impact
My intended major critical edition of an ancient Greek poet is targetted in the first instance at professional scholars and students, and then at interested readers, whether academics or not, without Greek who can profit from the introduction, translation, and commentary. I also expect that my work will influence other areas of Greek scholarship, such as epic and tragedy, which are much more likely to generate wider cultural impact in due course.
People |
ORCID iD |
| Patrick Finglass (Principal Investigator / Fellow) |
Publications
Finglass P
(2015)
Stesichorus in Context
Finglass P
(2015)
The Greek Epic Cycle and its Ancient Reception - A Companion
Finglass P
(2015)
Stesichorus in Context
Finglass, P. J.
(2018)
Paths of Song. The Lyric Dimension of Greek Tragedy (Trends in Classics supplement 58).
Finglass, P. J.
(2017)
Ibycus or Stesichorus? Fr. S166 Page
in Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik
Finglass, P. J.
(2017)
?e??d??????? ??t?µata st?? ??as???? Sp??d??. ?a?a?? ???ß??µata ?a? ??e? ??????se??
Finglass, P.J.
(2015)
Simias and Stesichorus
in Eikasmos
Patrick Finglass
(2014)
The glorious water-carrier: Stesichorus' Sack of Troy
in Omnibus
Patrick Finglass
(2014)
Hermes, father of the Arabs
in Eikasmos
| Description | Through my research I have been able to produce the only full-scale edition, with full introduction and commentary, on the Greek poet Stesichorus - a poet highly regarded in antiquity, and who had a great impact on the development of Greek tragedy, but whose works did not survive the fall of Rome and were only rediscovered in the second half of the twentieth century. |
| Exploitation Route | This edition allows others to appreciate Stesichorus' artistry and literary influence as never before, and to forge links between his work and that of other ancient poets. |
| Sectors | Education |
| URL | http://www.cambridge.org/gb/academic/subjects/classical-studies/classical-literature/stesichorus-poems |
| Description | 1. My inaugural lecture as Professor of Greek at the University of Nottingham, held at Nottingham on 25th October 2012, was a public event in which I communicated aspects of my research on Stesichorus to a wide audience of academics and non-academics. 2. I delivered a lecture to this school with the title 'Oedipus before Sophocles', which drew on my research on Stesichorus and discussed the significance of his treatment of the Oedipus myth. After the lecture I received the following message from the Chief Master of the School, John Claughton: Patrick I hope that your taxi got you there and that you kept the receipt. We all agree that the whole occasion was a triumph, from lecture to balti and I hope you enjoyed yourself. I do think that your story and success embodies all that the school is meant to be about - from Shirley to All Souls - and I'd like you to consider contributing something to the OE Gazette on your career, even if Handley does stand between you and Enoch. Best wishes and thanks John I was pleased to receive the Chief Master's thanks for my lecture; there were many pupils at the lecture and they asked many questions afterwards, and generally seemed to have got a lot of it. 3. I was invited to give a lecture on my research to the above named School, which I did on 2nd May 2013. My title was 'Stesichorus and the reshaping of Homeric myth', and I took the opprtunity to communicate aspects of my funded research to an audience which, although interested in classics, had no previous experience of this author or period. After the lecture I received the following email (dated 3rd May) from the student who helped to organise the lecture: Dear Professor Finglass, I am writing to thank you for coming to the school yesterday. We all enjoyed your talk very much and it was really interesting to hear about a new Classical author - most of the Classics Society is now planning to read some Stesichorus. I very much appreciated having the opportunity to meet you and intend to look up some of your other work as I really enjoyed reading the article you sent me. Thank you once more, With Kind Regards, Anna I also received the following email from the Head of Classics: Dear Patrick, Thank you very much indeed for visiting NLCS on Thursday and delivering such an engaging and well-pitched talk to our students. We are very grateful to you for making the journey over here and giving up your time. I have had many girls asking questions by way of follow-up to the talk, as well as saying how much they had enjoyed it. It was a great way to inspire them as they set off on study leave next week and consider applications later in the term. I hope that you had a smooth return journey. Please do send me details of expenses and an address for sending a cheque. Many thanks again and we very much hope that we will be able to coax you back to speak again in the future. Best wishes for the Bank Holiday weekend. Dora O'Sullivan I was very pleased to receive these messages, as they confirmed what had been my impression: that my talk did encourage the pupils to look at an author outside the rather narrow cannon which (inevitably) is the usual fare in the early stages of reading literature. Talking about my recent funded research enabled me to speak with, I hope, freshness and passion on the subject! [NB the article that Anna refers to in her email was part of my funded research, and indicates that although it is an academic article it can be approached and understood by someone without a classics degree or any particular experience in that particular area of the subject.] 4. I have had a paper published in the classics journal aimed at sixth-formers, Omnibus, which is based on my AHRC-funded research. [There should be a new paragraph here but your system doesn't allow me to make one.] 5. I gave a version of the lecture described above under '3' to the Southampton Classical Association, an audience made up of non-professional academics interested in Classics. The talk received the following write-up which is available online: "The absence of manuscripts of poetry between Greek epic and Greek tragic leaves a gap in the ipsissima verba of 6th century lyric. There are later references to poets of that period and quotes from their works, but it is the recovering of papyri from such sites as Oxyrhynchus that has helped to fill in some of the gaps. Stesichorus has benefited more than most from these discoveries, and Professor Finglass presented an attractive picture of the poet in his time and place, the half century from 600-550 BC in the west. His lyrics are now known to be extensive (some maybe 1500 lines long), with epic themes including Herakles, the Theban story, and figures from Troy (his palinode on Helen was well known in antiquity). The finds of the new papyri show how in the details of the myths Stesichorus, counted in antiquity as 'most Homeric', veers away from epic versions, and Finglass used as examples the contemporary art forms of vase-painting and sculpture to show how myths developed during this time, choosing the story of Geryon as a prime example. By close observation of details in the lacunose papyri he was able to show that Stesichorus had introduced novel elements, highlighting two startling particulars concerned with Geryon's mother Kallirrhoe and, in the Troy story, the figure of Epeios. The audience were entertained by witty asides, provocative suggestions and a wide range of images, with a few selection of papyri fragments to tease our eyes and brains. It was a master performance presenting a depth of scholarship with an entertaining touch." |
| First Year Of Impact | 2012 |
| Sector | Education |
| Impact Types | Cultural |
| Description | International conference 'The art of Stesichorus' |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Type Of Presentation | keynote/invited speaker |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | A two-day international conference on Stesichorus held in Oxford in June 2012. The proceedings were published by Cambridge University Press in 2015. There were speakers and attendees from the continent as well as the UK. This was the first ever conference organised on Stesichorus, the focus of my AHRC-funded research. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | Invited Keynote lecture in Naples |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Type Of Presentation | keynote/invited speaker |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | I was invited to give the keynote lecture at a conference in Naples in May 2013 entitled 'Hesperia: i Greci e l'Occidente', in which I communicated aspects of my AHRC-funded research on Stesichorus. The lecture has been published and is listed in my publications. Reinforcing links with European scholars. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | Invited lecture 'Editing Stesichorus' at University College London |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Type Of Presentation | keynote/invited speaker |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Paper at large international conference 'Song Regained' at UCL, later uploaded to Youtube. Contact with PG students interested in fragmentary lyric poetry. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bO_3-uCOJFA |
| Description | Invited lecture 'How Stesichorus began his Sack of Troy', University of Birmingham |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | Invited lecture on my research on Stesichorus at the University of Birmingham. Contact with scholars and students at Birmingham. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | Invited lecture 'How Stesichorus began his Sack of Troy', University of Oxford |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | Invited lecture on my research on Stesichorus at the University of Oxford. Increased contact with scholars and students at Oxford. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | Invited lecture 'How Stesichorus began his Sack of Troy', University of Turin |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | Invited lecture on my research on Stesichorus at the University of Turin. Contacts with Italian scholars. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | Invited lecture in Amsterdam |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Invited lecture in Amsterdam with the title 'Editing Stesichorus' delivered to class of MA students from the U. of Amsterdam and the Free University, Amsterdam, together with their professors; the lecture drew on my research for my edition of Stesichorus. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Invited lecture in Oxford |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Invited lecture in Oxford: 'Stesichorus on Phaedra' |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Invited lecture in Pisa |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Invited lecture at a major conference at the University of Pisa: 'Stesicoro e la presa di Troia' |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Invited lecture in Southampton |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Invited lecture given to the Southampton Classical Association, held at King Edward VI School, Southampton: 'Stesichorus and the reshaping of Homeric myth') Your system does not allow me to give the proper URL below, so here it is: http://www.southamptonca.org/Documents/Prof. Finglass%27s lecture .doc |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Invited lecture, 'Demophon in Egypt', Oxford Philological Society |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | Talk on my AHRC-funded research on Stesichorus at Oxford. Contact with scholars and students interested in Stesichorus at Oxford, from around the world. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | Invited lecture, 'Oedipus before Sophocles', King Edward's School, Birmingham |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Large group of pupils and their teachers gathered to hear a lecture which dealt with the early history of the Oedipus myth, drawing on my AHRC-funded research on Stesichorus The benefit of the talk to the pupils was indicated by a message from the Chief Master (recorded elsewhere in this submission), and by a further invitation to talk to sixth-formers there about Herodotus. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | Invited lecture, 'Stesichorus and the reshaping of Homeric myth', North London Collegiate School |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Talk on my AHRC-funded research on Stesichorus before an audience of school pupils and their teachers. Gratitude from the school for expanding pupils' horizons and talking about an author not on the syllabus. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
| Description | Invited lecture, 'Stesichorus and the reshaping of Homeric myth', Oundle School |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Talk on my AHRC-funded research on Stesichorus before an audience of school pupils and their teachers. Gratitude from the school for expanding pupils' horizons and talking about an author not on the syllabus. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | Invited lecture, 'Stesichorus' master of narrative', at Stesichorus conference in Oxford |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Type Of Presentation | keynote/invited speaker |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Paper at Stesichorus conference that I organised (see separate entry). Contact with Stesichorus scholars form around the world. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | Invited lecture, 'The transmission of Stesichorus', Institute for Classical Studies, London |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | Invited lecture on my research on Stesichorus at the ICS in London. Contact with scholars and students from around the world interested in Stesichorus. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2012 |
| Description | Lecture (JACT Greek Summer School) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Lecture, 'Stesichorus and the reshaping of Homeric myth'. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Lecture (Latin epic conference, Nottingham) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Lecture, 'Statius and Stesichorus'; written version subsequently submitted to a journal. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | Lecture (Satyr play conference, Patras) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | Lecture, 'Euripides' Polyphemus and Stesichorus' Geryon'; to be published in volume arising from the conference |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |