Leaving words to remember

This volume examines the influence of literacy on the development of different genres of mourning in ancient Greece. The oral tradition of lament in the Homeric poems forms the point of departure for close readings of epigraphic material and written texts commemorating the dead in the archaic and classical periods, including grave epigrams, threnoi, tragedy and Athenian epitaphioi. These texts reveal the non-linear development of Greek literacy and offer insight into the ongoing influence of lam