Percorsi d'autore. Autorialità nella letteratura popolare di età ellenistica. Il panorama epigrafico dei "poeti vaganti"

The itinerant intellectuals and professionals of literature and music contributed

to shape a “popular culture” shared by communities and their artistic contribution

significantly impacted city life in the Hellenistic period. Inscriptions are

the primary sources attesting to this phenomenon and, depending on chronological,

geographical or thematic investigations, various approaches can be used in order to

effectively reconstruct the “poeti vaganti” cultural movement. A productive key of

interpretation lies in the analysis of professional profiles as it allows speculating on the

interaction of the itinerant artist with socio-cultural environment. Particularly, literary

production was one main aspect of this cultural expression and epigraphy provides us

with a large spectrum of valuable elements that aid in focusing on the itinerant poet’s

identity and role. Thus, by means of data categorization, the investigation on authorship

allows placing the author and his product in the proper context and reconstructing

the profiles of “poeti vaganti” in relation to performative occasions and audiences.