Akadémia Kiadó

The monograph offers a text-based portrait of iambos, a much admired and because of its invective nature and outspoken language heavily criticized-and misunderstood-genre of archaic Greek poetry. After a brief account of the very conditions of the composition, reception, and tradition of archaic and early classical Greek poetry in general, the author raises the issue of the determining factors of genre in early Greek poetry. The main section of the book contains a detailed survey of the poetic oeuvres of the classics of the genre, Archilochus, Semonides, and Hipponax, as well as of the minor poets cultivating this poetic form, followed by the closing chapter dealing with the practice of performance. By identifying the main characteristics-invective and non-invective themes and motives-of iambos, the author argues for a basically social, i. e. non-biographical and non-ritual interpretation of this unique and much imitated type of early Greek poetry.