Lykophron's Alexandra, Rome, and the Hellenistic World

by Simon Hornblower

This volume takes as its subject one of the most important Greek poems of the Hellenistic the Alexandra attributed to Lykophron, probably written in about 190 BC. At 1474 lines and with a riddling narrative and a preponderance of unusual vocabulary it is a notoriously challenging prospect for scholars, but it also sheds crucial light on Greek religion (in particular the role of women) and on foundation myths and myths of colonial identity. Most of the poem purports to be a prophecy by the Trojan princess, Kassandra, who foretells the conflicts between Europe and Asia from the Trojan Wars to the establishment of Roman ascendancy over the Greek world in the poet's own time. The central section narrates in the future tense the dispersal of returning Greek heroes throughout the Mediterranean zone, and their founding of new cities. This section culminates in the Italian wanderings and foundational activity of the Trojan refugee Aineias, Kassandra's own kinsman.

Following Simon Hornblower's detailed full-length commentary on the Alexandra (OUP 2015; paperback 2017), this monograph asserts the poem's importance as not only a strongly political work, but also as a historical document of interest to cultural and religious historians and students of myths of identity. Divided into two Parts, the first explores Lykophron's geopolitical world, paying special attention to south Italy (perhaps the bilingual poet's own area of origin), Sicily, and Rhodes; it suggests that the recent hostile presence of Hannibal in south Italy surfaces as a frequent yet indirectly expressed concern of the poem. The thematic second Part investigates the Alexandra 's relation to the Sibylline Oracles and to other apocalyptic literature of the period, and argues for its cultural and religious topicality. The Conclusion puts the case for the 190s BC as a turning-point in Roman history and contends that Lykophron demonstrates a veiled awareness of this, especially of certain
peculiar features of Roman colonizing policy in that decade.

280 pages, Hardcover

Published August 14, 2018

About the author

Simon Hornblower is Professor of Classics and Grote Professor of Ancient History at University College London.

Born in 1949, he was educated at Jesus College, Cambridge, and Balliol College, Oxford, where he took a DPhil in 1978.

In 1971 he was elected to a Prize Fellowship of All Souls College, which he held until 1977. From 1978 until 1997, he was University Lecturer in Ancient History at the University of Oxford and Fellow and Tutor in Classics at Oriel College, Oxford, including one year, 1994/95, in which he was a member of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. He moved to University College London in September 1997, where he was Senior Lecturer before being appointed Professor of Classics, then Professor of Ancient History in 2006.

He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 2004.

His current focus is classical Greek historiography (especially Herodotus and Thucydides) and the relation between historical texts as literature and as history. He has published two volumes of a historical and literary commentary on Thucydides (Oxford University Press, 1991 and 1996) and the third and final volume will be published in late 2008. His latest book is Thucydides and Pindar: Historical Narrative and the World of Epinikian Poetry (2004). He is also co-editor, with Professor Cathy Morgan of King's College London, Pindar's Poetry, Patrons, and Festivals: From Archaic Greece to the Roman Empire (Oxford University Press, 2007).

Since 1979 he has been involved with the ongoing project Lexicon of Greek Personal Names and in 2000 co-edited a book called Greek Personal Names: their Value as Evidence (Oxford University Press for the British Academy).

He co-edited the new (3rd edn, 1996) Oxford Classical Dictionary.