Solon and Early Greek Poetry

Examining the interaction between poetics and politics in ancient Greece''s archaic period in relationship to the work of Solon this volume argues that in general the political expressions of martial exhortation elegy were aristocratic in nature and that the symposiasts attempted to assert a heroic identity on the wider polis community. The study demonstrates how Solon''s poetry subverts this practice using the poetic traditions of epic and Hesiod to further different political aims. It concludes by looking beyond the confines of Solon''s poetic appropriations to argue for other influences on his poetry in particular that of tyranny.