Ricerc@Sapienza

Whilst the literary sources of the Hellenistic Age provide us the possibility to speculate on the role that realistic or imagined performance had in authors’ works, the epigraphic sources of this period attesting the activities of itinerant intellectuals, artists, and musicians, allow us to investigate and focus what the panorama of performances was like.

In the cultural panorama of the Hellenistic period, the itinerant professionals of music and literature attended the artistic routes searching for fame, glory, and rewards. Among the epigraphic sources attesting to the arts-on-the-move, Crete has its remarkable share of specialists arriving and travelling abroad to show off their artistic skills.

This contribution examines musical and poetic tradition, in so far as it influenced the culture and society of the Hellenistic period. Epigraphy attests to the recollection of traditional heritage as one driving force for public-at-large performances. Extra-agonistic
and agonistic performances pursued by the so-called poeti vaganti, travelling all over the cultural centres of Greece chasing fame and rewards, attest to different ways to preserve the legacy of musical and poetic tradition, by lingering on it or re-modulating its

The itinerant professionals of literacy and music of the Hellenistic period performed their arts travelling from town to town all around Greece, the Aegean Sea, and coasts of Asia Minor, searching for fame, glory, rewards, and money. Inscriptions are the main instrumentum that allows us to narrate the stories and the paths of the poeti vaganti (so-called after M. Guarducci).

Epigraphy attests to the movements and performances of  the itinerant professionals of  the arts who, throughout the Hellenistic period, travelled all over the Greece searching for glory, honours, and rewards.The epigraphic testimonies allow us to trace the artistic routes that the travelling artists (the so-called poeti vaganti) attended, depending on their specialties, professionalism, and social status, and testify to Delphi as one of  the most vital centres of  the Hellenistic itinerary of the arts.