Literary Commemoration In Imperial Greek Epigram: Niobe In The Living Landscape (SGO 05/01/55)

In a funerary inscription likely from the first 1st or 2nd centuries c.e., the dedicator mourns the loss of her child, Paula, using Niobe and kingfisher similes known from the Homeric poems. Homer was thought to be from Smyrna, where the epitaph is located, and by emphasizing the Niobe simile, the epigram taps into the rich mythic tradition of the region; the "actual" Niobe rock formation on Mount Sipylus was located nearby. SGO 05/01/55 creates dual deictic reference to its literary and physical topography to surround the reader with a visual memorial that keeps the mother's grief alive in the landscape.