Gods and Religion in Hellenistic Poetry

This volume contains the papers of the 'Groningen Workshop on Hellenistic Poetry 9: Gods and Religion in Hellenistic Poetry' (Groningen 2008). During the workshop a first draft of the papers was commented on by an international group of specialists in the field of Hellenistic poetry.Following developments in recent research, where the study of ancient religion is flourishing, the articles in this volume explore the ways in which Hellenistic poets deal with issues relating to gods and religion. Some themes have been selected for special treatment. Thus some articles focus on the way in which Hellenistic poets inscribe the old gods in their poetry and give them a new role and meaning: they discuss, for instance, the role of Aphrodite, who is prominent in Hellenistc epigram, or the role of Zeus, who is portrayed as a model and example for the Ptolemies and thus adds an extra dimension to the first hymn of Callimachus. Besides, there is room for more general aspects, such as the chronology of myth, the interaction between the rule of gods and the acts of human characters in Apollonius' Argonautica, or the role of gods in Lycophron's Alexandra or in Hellenistic metamorphoses.The volume is part of a series. Every two years a 'Workshop on Hellenistic Poetry' takes place at the University of Groningen, the papers of which are published in the series 'Hellenistica Groningana'.