Lithic Poetics: Posidippus and His Stones

Abstract

The 20 poems collected together as thelithikaof Posidippus, the first surviving poems on a papyrus roll only published in 2001 and dating from the third century BCE, offer a range of spectacular new evidence for a series of issues in Hellenistic history, art and literature. The standard view is that Posidippus was probably author of all the epigrams in the roll known as P. Mil. Vogl. VIII 309, although this has been contested and by no means need certainly be the case. For my purposes here, I do assume that the interconnected poetics of the poems in thelithikado imply a single poet who is quite likely to be Posidippus, since poem 15—independently anthologised in antiquity and known through a manuscript tradition—was attributed to Posidippus in the twelfth century by the Byzantine poet and grammarian John Tzetzes. Historically speaking, the fact that so many of these poems focus on gems from the east gives remarkable insight into the interchange between Hellenistic and Achaemenid cultures: specifically, they signal the prestige of treasures from the east in the Hellenistic courts. In the history of collections, they represent a very early example of exoticism in elite collecting, of the accumulation of valuables in what we may assume was a royal and non-sacredSchatzkammer, of the need for an aesthetic response (in this case through short poems) to ‘label’ and valorise the precious items in the collection. In the history of ancientWissenschaft, the poems’ use of late Classical gem-lore (exemplified in texts like theOn Stonesof Theophrastus) offers a vivid instance of the ways theoretical knowledge circulated at least in elite contexts around the royal circle.

Making Wonder in Miniature: A New Approach to Theorizing the Affective Properties and Social Consequences of Small-Scale Artworks from Hellenistic Babylonia

“…Most Hellenistic Babylonian jewellery miniatures are truly tiny, making them difficult to grasp or examine; the dog pendant only measures 2 cm tall at its highest point. Close scrutiny had the potential to be painful, either due to the squinting smallness of the miniature or the blinding opulence of materials like bronze or gold (Benzel 2015; Elsner 2014). Even if successful, such close looking did not always reveal miniaturized detail but rather re-emphasized the material properties of the object and redirected attention to the jewellery item's effects at life-size scale.…”

“…In addition to the directionality of the mount, the carving of the earring itself was not designed to highlight the aesthetic beauty of the figure's facial features. Instead, the stone's striking colour variations distract attention from the carving, while subtle translucency encourages the play of light through the stone—a pleasant visual effect, but one that focuses attention on the hue and radiance of the stone as object rather than the miniature as human face (Elsner 2014, 160–61). In addition to being luxury goods of economic and social value, particular gemstones (including garnet) were prized in the ancient world for their amuletic, apotropaic and prophylactic properties (Entwistle & Adams 2011).…”

Signum and self: engraved gemstones and the expression of identity at Herculaneum

“…29 For text and translation, see Austin, Bastianini 2002. Key collections of essays are Acosta-Hughes et al 2004;Gutzwiller 2005;Elsner 2014;Prioux 2015. Other Hellenistic epigrams on gemstones include Anth.…”

ENVISIONING THE ART OF EMPIRE IN THELETTER OF ARISTEAS

“…Bing (2005) and Prioux (2008) 177–200; for the emphasis on wonder cf. Elsner (2014), Gasser (2015) 23 and Lightfoot (2021) 38–41; for the idea of display cf. Kuttner (2005).…”