Artificial Intelligence in Greek and Roman Epic

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This is the first scholarly exploration of concepts and representations of artificial intelligence in ancient Greek and Roman epic, including their reception in later literature and culture. Contributors look at how Hesiod, Homer, Apollonius of Rhodes, Moschus, Ovid and Valerius Flaccus have elaborated on the first literary texts that deal with automata and the quest for artificial life as well as technological intervention improving human life. Parts I and II consider, respectively, Greek, and Hellenistic and Roman epics. Contributors explore the presentations of Pandora in Hesiod, Homeric automatons such as Hephaestus wheeled tripods, the Phaiakian king Alkinos' golden and silver guard dogs, and even the Trojan Horse. Later examples include AI and automation in the Argonauticas of Apollonius and Valerius Flaccus, and Pygmalions ivory woman in Ovids Metamorphoses. Part III underlines how these concepts benefit from analysis of the ekphrasis device, within which they often feature. Chapters investigate the cyborg potential of the epic hero and the literary implications of ancient technology. Moving finally into contemporary examples, the final chapters consider the reception of ancient automation in contemporary film, for example the sci-fi epic Starvoyage, or Small Cosmic Odyssey (1995), and The Holy Machine by Chris Beckett (2004).

Author Bio

Silvio Br is Professor of Classics at the University of Oslo, Norway. His research interests include epic, tragedy, lyric poetry, mythology, rhetoric, the Second Sophistic, intertextuality, narratology, cognitive theory, and reception. He is an expert on Quintus of Smyrna, has written a monograph on Herakles in Greek epic, and co-edited three volumes. Andriana Domouzi is Lecturer in Greek Drama at the National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece. Her research interests include fragmentary tragedy, epic, artificial intelligence in antiquity, and reception.