Faraone brings an extraordinary command of everything written in (and about) hexameters from the archaic to the Hellenistic periods: major and minor poetry, inscriptions and incisings, incantations, laments, oracles, and ritual prayers, as well as of their accompanying ritual practices. He very carefully reconstructs individual hexameter genres that pre-existed the epics, were put to use within them, and continued to influence the poetic tradition. The result is a
significant revision of how we understand Homeric and Hellenistic composition.
Christopher Athanasious Faraone is the Edward Olson Professor of Classics at University of Chicago. His publications include Ancient Greek Love Magic, The Stanzaic Architecture of Archaic Greek Elegy, and The Getty Hexameters: Poetry, Magic and Mystery in Ancient Greek Selinous