Epigram

Provides an introduction as to what epigram means and why it matters. Short content excellent for undergraduates and researchers alike.
This is an introduction to the ancient genre of epigram,
short poems literally written or inscribed 'on' an object or
figuratively 'on' a topic. The authors set out what epigram means and
why it matters, exploring its roots in inscriptions on stone and its
literary flourishing in the Hellenistic world after Alexander. They
trace its migration from Greece to Rome, where its most famous exponent
was Martial, and consider the continuation of Greek epigram under the
Roman empire in the so-called 'Second Sophistic'. The final chapter
shows how Greek epigram achieved new importance in the nineteenth
century as raw material for stories about the classical past.