La evolución de un género: elementos estructurales de los epigramas dedicados a animales de Ánite de Tegea

Abstract

This paper tries to analyse the evolution of funerary epigram, considering the specific ways of apparition of two of its structural elements (the deceased, and the offerer) in the epigrams devoted to animals by Anyte from Tegea. Along the discussion some specific issues concerning these epigrams are to be dealt with, particularly the problem about their inscriptionality. The analysis focusses on the degree of variation in Anyte's funerary epigrams with regard to the traditional epitaph (both inscriptional and literary), and the degree of variation in Anyte's (and her contemporaries') epigrams devoted to animals with regard to funerary epigrams devoted to human beings.