Percorsi d’autore. Autorialità nella letteratura popolare di età ellenistica. Il panorama epigrafico dei “poeti vaganti”

Abstract

The itinerant intellectuals and professionals of literature and music contributed
to shape a “popular culture” shared by communities and their artistic contribution
significantly impacted city life in the Hellenistic period. Inscriptions are
the primary sources attesting to this phenomenon and, depending on chronological,
geographical or thematic investigations, various approaches can be used in order to
effectively reconstruct the “poeti vaganti” cultural movement. A productive key of
interpretation lies in the analysis of professional profiles as it allows speculating on the
interaction of the itinerant artist with socio-cultural environment. Particularly, literary
production was one main aspect of this cultural expression and epigraphy provides us
with a large spectrum of valuable elements that aid in focusing on the itinerant poet’s
identity and role. Thus, by means of data categorization, the investigation on authorship
allows placing the author and his product in the proper context and reconstructing
the profiles of “poeti vaganti” in relation to performative occasions and audiences.