Ebook: A guide to Hellenistic literature

History and culture -- Aesthetics and style -- Authors and genres -- Topics in Hellenistic literature.;This book is a guide to the extraordinarily diverse literature of the Hellenistic period. - A guide to the literature of the Hellenistic age, from the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BCE to the Battle of Actium in 31 BC - Provides overviews of the social, political, intellectual and literary historical contexts in which Hellenistic literature was produced - Introduces the major writers and genres of the period - Provides information about style, meter and languages to aid readers with no prior knowledge of the language in understanding technical aspects of literary Greek - Distinctive in its coverage of current issues in Hellenistic criticism, including audience reception, the political and social background, and Hellenistic theories of literature.;List of Figures -- List of Maps -- Preface -- 1 History and Culture -- 1.1 The Successors -- 1.2 Macedonia and Greece -- 1.3 Seleucid Asia -- 1.4 Attalid Pergamum -- 1.5 Ptolemaic Egypt -- 2 Aesthetics and Style -- 2.1 Aesthetic Principles -- 2.2 Meter, Dialect, and Diction -- 2.3 Literature as Artefact -- 3 Authors and Genres -- 3.1 Menander -- 3.2 Callimachus -- 3.3 Apollonius of Rhodes -- 3.4 Theocritus and the Other Bucolic Poets -- 3.5 Didactic Poetry -- 3.6 Epigrams -- 3.7 Dramatic Poetry -- 3.8 Parodic and Philosophical Literature -- 3.9 Polybius -- 3.10 Technical Prose Writing -- 4 Topics in Hellenistic Literature -- 4.1 Learning and Innovation -- 4.2 Book Culture and Performance -- 4.3 Social and Political Background -- 4.4 The Critical Impulse in Literature and Art -- 4.5 Reception in Rome -- Chronological Tables.