Greek epic parody

Abstract

In this work, I will investigate the historical origins and the most essential features of Greek epic parody, a literary genre that has its roots in the archaic stages of Greek literature but that was formally codified in the fifth century BC. The aim of this work is to provide an overview of this genre through a thematic study of its poems and its literary and historical contextualisation. This thesis is divided into five chapters. In the first chapter, I will focus on the etymological and semantic analysis of the Greek name of the genre, παρῳδία (parōidia), in order to shed some light on its ambiguous meaning. This will lead to the identification of the surviving poems which constitute the corpus of the genre and the starting point for the analysis of its features in the subsequent chapters. In this chapter, I will also examine the sources on parōidia afforded by stone inscriptions. In the second chapter, I will study the peculiar nature and the principal techniques of parodic humour and I will identify them in earlier and contemporary poems. The third chapter explores the popular elements attested in the extant poems of the genre. In the fourth chapter, I will highlight the importance of the hexametric metre for the definition of parōidia and I will investigate the practice of mixing hexameters and iamboi for humorous purposes. The last chapter analyses the inherent criticism which characterises Greek epic parody