Scale, Space and Canon in Ancient Literary Culture

906 Pages·2020·13.315 MB·English

by  Reviel Netz

SCALE, SPACE AND CANON IN ANCIENT
LITERARY CULTURE
Greek culture matters because its unique pluralistic debate shaped
modern discourses. This groundbreaking book explains this feature
byretellingthehistoryofancientliteraryculturethroughthelensesof
canon,spaceandscale.Itproceedsfromtheinventionoftheperfor-
mative “author” in the archaic symposium through the “polis of
letters” enabled by Athenian democracy and into the Hellenistic
era, in which one’s space mattered and culture became bifurcated
between Athens and Alexandria. This duality was reconfigured into
an eclectic variety consumed by Roman patrons and predicated on
scale,withaboutathousandauthorsactiveatanygivenmoment.As
patronage dried up in the third century CE, scale collapsed and
literary culture was reduced to the teaching of a narrower field of
authors, paving the way for the Middle Ages. The result is a new
historyofancientculturewhichissociological,quantitativeandall-
encompassing,cuttingthrougherasandgenres.
reviel netz isthePatrickSuppesProfessorofGreekMathematics
and Astronomy at Stanford University. He is a prolific author in
many fields, from verse through literary theory to modern environ-
mental history, and his core field is the history of the ancient exact
sciences. He has pursued a more cultural, cognitive and literary
approachtothehistoryofscienceandhaspublishedaseriesofstudies,
beginning with The Shaping of Deduction in Greek Mathematics
(Cambridge, 1999). He is also the translator and editor of the
Cambridge editions of the works of Archimedes, two volumes of
whichhavebeenpublishedtodate,andoneofthemaincontributors
tothestudyoftheArchimedesPalimpsest,onwhichheco-authored
(with William Noel) The Archimedes Codex, which has been trans-
latedinto18languages.

SCALE, SPACE AND CANON
IN ANCIENT LITERARY
CULTURE
REVIEL NETZ
StanfordUniversity,California
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www.cambridge.org
Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781108481472
doi:10.1017/9781108686945
©RevielNetz2020
Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception
andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements,
noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten
permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublished2020
PrintedintheUnitedKingdombyTJInternationalLtd,PadstowCornwall
AcataloguerecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
names:Netz,Revielauthor.
title:Scale,space,andcanoninancientliteraryculture/RevielNetz.
description:Cambridge,UK;NewYork:CambridgeUniversityPress2019.|Includes
bibliographicalreferencesandindex.
identifiers:lccn2019019510
subjects:lcsh:Greekliterature–Historyandcriticism.|Greekliterature,
Hellenistic–Historyandcriticism.|Greece–Intellectuallife–To146B.C.|
Civilization,Western–Greekinfluences.
classification:lccpa3009.n482019|ddc880.9–dc23
LCrecordavailableathttps://lccn.loc.gov/2019019510
isbn978-1-108-48147-2Hardback
CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyof
URLsforexternalorthird-partyinternetwebsitesreferredtointhispublication
anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuchwebsitesis,orwillremain,
accurateorappropriate.
To Maya, Darya and Tamara

Contents
ListofMaps pagex
ListofAbbreviations xii
Acknowledgements xiii
GeneralIntroduction 1
part i canon 7
1 Canon:TheEvidence 11
1.1 DatafromthePapyri 13
1.2 TheSignificanceoftheDatafromthePapyri 25
1.2.1 GeneralRemarks 25
1.2.2 SpatialHomogeneityinsideEgypt 31
1.2.3 ChronologyandContinuity 36
1.2.4 EducationandScholarship,CurationandDiscard 42
1.3 OutofEgypt 52
1.3.1 TheInternalEvidenceofthePapyri 52
1.3.2 TheTLGEvidence 57
1.3.3 TheEvidenceofthePortraits 63
1.3.4 TheCodicesandtheBigLibrary 69
1.4 AdjustingtheSample 79
1.4.1 BringingintheAdespota 79
1.4.2 ConsiderationsofSampleBias 89
1.5 TheAncientGreekCanon:Conclusions 93
2 CanoninPractice:ThePolisofLetters 96
2.1 Introduction 96
2.1.1 SettingtheQuestions... 96
2.1.2 ...AndTheory 103
2.2 ThePolisofLetters:Structure 114
2.2.1 Genre/Author/Work:TheWorksbeneaththeAuthor 115
2.2.2 Genre/Author/Work:TheGenreabovetheAuthor 126
2.2.3 TheTopologyofAncientLiterature 136
vii
viii Contents
2.2.4 ThePolisofLetters 156
2.3 ThePolisofLetters:History 176
2.3.1 BecominganAuthor:WhatDidItTake? 177
2.3.2 TheMakingoftheAthenianCanon:ChronologicalData 195
2.3.3 TheInventionoftheBrandinEarlyGreekPhilosophyand
Literature 218
2.3.4 TheTyrannyofAthensoverGreece 230
part ii space 239
3 Space,theSetting:TheMakingofanAthens-against-Alexandria
Mediterranean 241
3.1 ANoteonMeasuringCities 241
3.2 TheUnlikelihoodofanEnduringCenter:CitiesinTransit 245
3.3 TheRoadtoAlexandria 257
3.3.1 AlexandriaandtheScientificMediterranean 257
3.3.2 CourtsandCanons–beforeandafterChaeronea 279
3.3.3 AlexandrianGenerations 290
3.4 TheRoadtoAthens 306
3.4.1 BeforeAthens:TheRiseofPhilosophicalSpatialOrganization 306
3.4.2 FoundationsofAthens 322
4 SpaceinAction:WhenWorldsDiverge 349
4.1 Alexandria:ALiterarySurvey 350
4.1.1 Alexandria:GeneralComments 350
4.1.2 Alexandria:Vignettes 353
4.1.3 Alexandria:AFormula 368
4.2 Athens:“BeneathLiterature”? 375
4.2.1 AContrast:OutsideAthens 375
4.2.2 AContrast:BeforeAthens 381
4.2.3 TheRoutinizationofSocrates 384
4.3 TheViewfromAlexandria:WhatDidAlexandriaKnowabout
Philosophy? 400
4.3.1 TheExactSciences 401
4.3.2 Medicine 404
4.3.3 TheThinnessofContact 409
4.3.4 AClose-Up:Aratus 416
4.4 TheViewfromAthens:WhatDidAthensKnowaboutScience? 421
4.4.1 GeneralObservations 421
4.4.2 TheStoaandMedicine 429
4.4.3 TheStoaandtheMixedExactSciences 434
4.4.4 MathematicalNotes 443
4.4.5 InterimConclusion 456
4.5 CodatoHellenism:WhenWorldsConverge 458
4.5.1 ExhibitNumberOne:Posidonius 459