French Literature Reviews - 2026

A. Willi, Sikelismos. Sprache, Literatur und Gesellschaft im griechischen Sizilien (8.-5. Jh. v. Chr.)
History, Politics and Society

Andreas Willi, Sikelismos. Sprache, Literatur und Gesellschaft im griechischen Sizilien (8.-5. Jh. v. Chr.). Biblioteca Helvetica Romana XXIX. Basel: Schwabe Verlag, 2008, xvii-477p.

• ISBN 9783796522550
• 47.50€

Reviewed by Susana Mimbrera Olarte (Cambridge/Madrid) in Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2008.12.38

Publisher's description:

Shortly after the foundation of the first colonies during the archaic and classical periods, Greek Sicily experienced a cultural and literary flowering that was in no way inferior to that of the Greek mainland. In various fields, the lyric poet Stesichorus, the comic playwright Epicharmus, the philosopher Empedocles, and the orator Gorgias emerged as pioneering figures. Their shared roots in this early colonial world are presented here comprehensively for the first time, incorporating non-literary sources. The result is a vivid picture of a vibrant cultural landscape whose distinctive character was shaped to a large extent by the heightened awareness of language and identity typical of a
(post-)colonial society, and which in turn influenced pan-Hellenic intellectual history in numerous ways.

Andreas Willi, born in 1972 in Altstätten, studied classical philology, Slavic studies, and comparative linguistics in Basel, Lausanne, Fribourg, and at the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor), before receiving his PhD from Oxford in 2001 with the dissertation "The Languages of Aristophanes: Aspects of Linguistic Variation in Classical Attic Greek" and completing his habilitation in classical philology at the University of Basel in 2007 with the present study. Since 2005 he has been the Diebold Professor of Comparative Philology at the University of Oxford.

Table of Contents / Contents:

1. Introduction 2. The Island of Languages
(On the Sociolinguistics of Ancient Sicily) 3. In Search of a Common Language
(Stesichorus' New Choral Lyric) 4. The Truth of Fiction
(On Stesichorus' Treatment of Myth) 5. The Literarization of Everyday Life
(Epicharmus' Comedy as a Paradigmatic Genre) 6. Refined Orators and Cowardly Heroes
(Themes and Parodies in Epicharmus) 7. An Epic of Alienation
(Empedocles as a Creator of Language) 8. Poetry Between Human Language and the Language of the Gods
(On the Philosophy of Language in Empedocles) 9. The Discovery of Communication
(Gorgias and the ‹Invention› of Rhetoric) 10. A Sicilian Enlightenment
(Rhetoric, Magic, and Legislation in the Colonial Sphere) 11. Concluding Remarks

Appendix: The Pre-Greek Languages of Sicily

Bibliotheca Helvetica Romana (BHR)
Edited by Christoph Riedweg and Philippe Mudry. With the BHR, the Swiss Institute in Rome (SIR) aims to continue its long-standing publication series, established in 1954, under a modern and uniform visual identity. In terms of content, the series primarily features monographs written by institute members as well as publications on the academic conferences and seminars held at the SIR.

The study examines the cultural and literary flowering of archaic and classical Greek Sicily, drawing together various non-literary sources alongside the region's prominent intellectual figures. The volume outlines the shared roots of notable writers and thinkers in this early colonial setting, presenting a comprehensive view of a vibrant landscape shaped by a heightened awareness of language and identity. Readers interested in classical philology and ancient Mediterranean intellectual history may find this volume a helpful exploration of how colonial environments influenced broader pan-Hellenic developments during the period.

Investigating the intersection of language, literature, and society in the ancient Mediterranean, the research highlights figures such as the lyric poet Stesichorus, the comic playwright Epicharmus, the philosopher Empedocles, and the orator Gorgias. These individuals emerged as pioneers within a post-colonial society that nurtured distinct linguistic and cultural characteristics. Scholars of classical antiquity often examine such regional dynamics to better understand the transmission of ideas between Magna Graecia and the wider Greek world across the archaic and classical eras.