The Client, the Hetaera and the Servant: Comic Sketches from the Greek Anthology (AP V 46 and 101)

The paper examines two closely linked epigrams from the Greek Anthology, AP V 46 and 101, written by Philodemus and an anonymous author respectively. Both epigrams stage a dialogue which takes place in the street: in the first epigram a passer-by manages to persuade a hetaera to follow him to his home, while in the second one the dialogue involves another passer-by and the servant of a hetaera. The analysis will focus on the relationship between the structure, themes and language of these two epigrams and Greek comedy. All in all, AP V 46 and 101 will be regarded as two interesting examples of the tendency of many poets of the Greek Anthology to write epigrams which take the form of 'miniature versions' of earlier literary genres conceived for oral performance.