Ricerc@Sapienza

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. The inscriptions – mostly dating to the 2nd and the 1st centuries BC – that allow us to draw a vision of the performative life of the Hellenistic Crete, testify to a significant inclination towards the trends of entertainment but most of all a firm bond to tradition. In particular, preserving the local heritage appears as a priority of the Cretan cities and the 2nd century cases of the delegations from Teos and Mylasa and of the γραμματικός Dioskourides from Tarsos – whose epigraphic documents are herein reconsidered – attest to this point.