This book provides a comprehensive study of the Certamen Homeri et Hesiodi an influential
ancient Greek text that narrates the lives of Homer and Hesiod and their legendary poetic
contest. It offers new perspectives on the nature uses and legacy of the text and its tale of
literary competition. Located within a recent trend in scholarship that treats ancient
biographies as modes of literary reception the first chapter discusses how for authors
throughout antiquity and beyond staging an imaginary competition between Homer and Hesiod was
an adaptable and flexible way to convey a diverse range of speculations on epic poetry. The
study of the manuscript tradition reassesses the relationships between the text of the Certamen
preserved in its entirety in one single manuscript and a small number of fragmentary witnesses
on papyrus. It also presents new textual evidence demonstrating the success and circulation of
the text in the Renaissance and a new critical edition with translation. The commentary
focuses on how the text characterises the two poets and encourages reflection on their
respective wisdom aesthetic and ethical values divine inspiration and Panhellenic appeal. It
also addresses the role of Alcidamas as a source for the Certamen and identifies other
sophistic influences.
