The volume Hellenistic literature – 30 studies is a multifaceted introduction to the literature of the Hellenistic period (323-31 BC.). His 30 studies, written by an international team of experts, describe the socio-political and intellectual contexts of literary production in the centuries from the death of Alexander to the reign of Octavian Augustus in Rome.

The work is organized largely by literary genre, and therefore several authors are studied in more than one chapter (Callimachus and Theocritus are particularly fortunate in this respect). More space is devoted to poetry than to prose, as is to be expected on the basis of textual testimonies, but various prose texts are also considered in the sections “context” and “neighbors”. The last section is perhaps the most original element of the volume, as it explores the cultural dialogue between the Greeks and Egyptians, Jews, West Asians and their Roman literary interlocutors. The book includes several quotations in ancient Greek and Latin which are given in translation. Especially for the Greek edition it was considered appropriate to include a rich anthology of Hellenistic texts (Callimachus, Theocritus, Apollonius Rhodius, Aratus, Herod, Lycophron, Moschus).

The authors of the volume represent three generations of scholars and a wide range of academic traditions, experiences and fields, and their subjects require very different approaches. In essence, they reflect the diversity of research around the Hellenistic world, as well as the state of research today and its current trends.

James J. Clauss is a professor of classical philology at the University of Washington, Seattle.

Martine Cuypers is an assistant professor at Trinity College, Dublin.

The curators Evina Sistakou and Antonis Regakos are professors in the Department of Philology of auth.