Hidden presences: Monuments, gravesites, and corpses in Greek funerary epigra

The question of the continuity between inscribed and literary epigram has not been examined closely by scholars. This leaves at least partially unanswered the self-perception of the Hellenistic epigrammatists. This dissertation therefore examines the relationship of the inscribed and literary epigrams of the funerary sub-genre. By looking at examples of inscribed and literary epigram which contain themes surrounding the hiddenness in burial of the deceased, the placement of the grave monument (specifically, roadside placement), and cenotaphic "burials" for those lost at sea, a compelling argument can be made that the literary epigrammatists of the Hellenistic period when composing funerary epigrams understood themselves as standing within the tradition of inscribed sepulchral epigram. This is exhibited in their deliberate use of out-of-date themes (notably roadside placement of the monument), their creative and subversive use of the inscribed epigrams' attempt to betray the "hidden presence" of the deceased, and their exploitation of sepulchral conceits surrounding cenotaph.;The results of the survey of these themes and their interaction demonstrate that the hypothesis of a larger and deeper influence of inscribed epigram on literary epigram than had heretofore been suggested is true. Indeed, this study shows not only that the poets at the headwaters of the literary tradition were interested in inscriptional precedents, but also that poets further downstream maintained that interest. The dialectical relationship between the authors of this variative community is therefore not simply between themselves, but is between themselves and the inscribed tradition, and among themselves about the inscribed tradition.