Past and Present in Hellenistic Poetry

The papers in this volume show how the past 'is present' in a variety of forms and contexts in the work of the Hellenistic poets and how these poets cannot escape dealing with it in depth, often in a creative and intriguing manner, which may help to give further meaning to the present as well. Some papers discuss the subject of past and present from a general point of view, others deal with issues of literary tradition and intertextuality or discuss the connections between past and present as they are used and established on an ideological level. The papers show that the past, though almost 'omnipresent', is never used in a purely antiquarian way. The Hellenistic poets clearly manage to link it to the present in a meaningful way and are able to use it to establish their own position in the literary tradition as well as in issues of ideological importance.