Naming People in Ancient Greek and Latin Prefaces: Some Considerations

Abstract This article explores various possible roles played by personal names in prefaces to Ancient Greek and Latin literature and their contribution to creating or manipulating literary, social, or intellectual networks. After briefly discussing the well-known figure of the dedicatee, it turns to two groups of people which can be mentioned in the preface, contemporary and historical figures respectively. The case studies explored (Apollonius of Perga, Xenophon, Strabo, Columella, Statius, and Martial) demonstrate the breadth of functions that inclusion of names in the prefatory material could have and their importance for the reception of the work by the potential reader.