Christopher Athanasious Faraone is the Edward Olson Professor of Classics at University of Chicago. His publications include Ancient Greek Love Magic, The Stanzaic Architecture of Archaic Greek Elegy, and The Getty Hexameters: Poetry, Magic and Mystery in Ancient Greek Selinous

"Although primarily directed toward specialists, the tight organization and meticulous argumentation make the book accessible to nonspecialists in related fields." -- P. E. Ojennus, CHOICE

"This is a valuable contribution to the early history of hexametric poetry, in particular, forms with local, occasional, specific, and ritual background." -- Bryn Mawr Classical Review

"In his ground-breaking book, Chris Faraone conjures up a world of pre-Homeric hexametrical poetry whose existence we did not know of. He shows that the early poets did not only avail themselves of oral epics but also of a number of traditional genres, such as curses, laments and oracles, to embed in their work. With one magisterial stroke, Faraone thus has completely revolutionised our idea of the literary culture of early Greece." -- Jan N. Bremmer, University of Groningen

"Faraone brings an extraordinary command of everything written in (and about) hexameters from the archaic to the Hellenistic periods: major and minor poetry, inscriptions and incisings, incantations, laments, oracles, and ritual prayers, as well as of their accompanying ritual practices. He very carefully reconstructs individual hexameter genres that pre-existed the epics, were put to use within them, and continued to influence the poetic tradition. The result is a significant revision of how we understand Homeric and Hellenistic composition." -- Joel Lidov, City University of New York