The papers in this volume show how the past 'is present' in a variety of
forms and contexts in the work of the Hellenistic poets and how these
poets cannot escape dealing with it in depth, often in a creative and
intriguing manner, which may help to give further meaning to the present
as well. Some papers discuss the subject of past and present from a
general point of view, others deal with issues of literary tradition and
intertextuality or discuss the connections between past and present as
they are used and established on an ideological level. The papers show
that the past, though almost 'omnipresent', is never used in a purely
antiquarian way. The Hellenistic poets clearly manage to link it to the
present in a meaningful way and are able to use it to establish their
own position in the literary tradition as well as in issues of
ideological importance.