This book is a guide to the extraordinarily diverse literature of the Hellenistic period.

• A guide to the literature of the Hellenistic age, from the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BCE to the Battle of Actium in 31 BC
• Provides overviews of the social, political, intellectual and literary historical contexts in which Hellenistic literature was produced
• Introduces the major writers and genres of the period
• Provides information about style, meter and languages to aid readers with no prior knowledge of the language in understanding technical aspects of literary Greek
• Distinctive in its coverage of current issues in Hellenistic criticism, including audience reception, the political and social background, and Hellenistic theories of literature

Kathryn Gutzwiller is Professor of Classics at the University of Cincinnati. Her recent publications include Poetic Garlands: Hellenistic Epigrams in Context (1998) and The New Posidippus: A Hellenistic Poetry Book (edited, 2005). She is the winner of the American Philological Association’s Goodwin Award of Merit and has twice won the Gildersleeve Prize for the best article in the American Journal of Philology.