Greek scoptic Epigram, Ekphrasis, and the Visual Arts

Greek scoptic epigram often engages jocularly with “traditional” epigrammatic subgenres, such as epitaphs or dedications. Particularly striking is the interplay with the conventions of ekphrastic epigram, which involves not only the parody of specific models or the adoption of the general structure of ekphrasis in non-ekphrastic contexts, but also the re-use (and often the reversal) of ekphrastic themes and stylemes in poems dealing with different topics. This paper analyses some of the ways in which scoptic epigram engages with the ekphrastic tradition and thus contributes to the understanding of the role of ekphrasis in the scoptic genre as opposed to other epigrammatic subgenres. Epigrams of different poets/periods, from the I-II century A.D. to the early Byzantine era, are examined under the same hermeneutic model. Such an analysis allows us to argue, in particular, that in scoptic epigram ekphrastic materials are often evoked and mimicked not as a simple framework for building a joke, but in order to prompt an actual visual response from the audience, who are invited to supplement the poet’s words with images of works of art. By way of appealing to the capacity of readers/listeners to produce mental images as a response to verbal stimuli, scoptic authors can boost involvement in their derisory strategy, and thus, ultimately, add to the efficacy of their jokes. Therefore, on the one hand the use of ekphrasis serves the purpose of stressing the continuity between scoptic epigram and “traditional” epigrammatic typologies, and this ultimately contributes to our understanding of the origins of the subgenre, which have often puzzled scholars (the very appearance of scoptic epigram in the history of the genre entails a paradox: a poetic form which was by its very nature eulogistic – inscriptional epigrams were born in order to record, and thus celebrate, the dedication of an object, or the death of a man – became the genre of mockery and abuse). On the other hand, far from playing a purely esornative role, ekphrasis becomes an integral part of the joke. In spite of their jocular character, scoptic epigrams ultimately elicit the same kind of response prompted by an actual ekphrastic epigram, as they implicitly request their audience to supplement words with images of specific works of art. But while in actual ekphrastic epigrams such a response serves the purpose of showing that words can be as effective as images are (ut pictura poesis), scoptic epigram requests cooperation between words and images: images can help words to provoke laughter.