Abstract

The influence of Phaedrus the fabulist on Martial the epigrammatist has long been neglected by scholarship. Quite recently scholars have started to pay more attention to Phaedrus’ literary techniques and allusive art, thus also paving the way for a reassessment of the role which Phaedrus played as a model for Martial. This paper examines the question to what extent the Flavian epigrammatist was inspired by Phaedrus’ literary techniques and argues that Phaedrus served as an important link in the process of the reception of Neoteric and Augustan poetry. Although there are not many thematic parallels between Phaedrus and Martial, the later poet seems to have been inspired considerably by Phaedrus’ metapoetic techniques. Furthermore, the paper also investigates the epigrammatic potential of Phaedrus’ own poems, a potential which seems to have made the fabulist especially attractive as a model for Martial.