Innovations of Antiquity is a major collective work in classical studies, representing the cutting edge of critical thinking on Greek and Roman literature in America today. This collection of essays bridges the gap between classical studies and current work on modern European literature by addressing a spectrum of authors, genres, and literary problems, from archaic Greece to late antiquity and beyond. The contributors share no single theoretical vantage point, except for the belief that methodological self-consciousness and rigor produce the strongest criticism. Each of the essays not only makes a major contribution to the understanding of its subject matter, but instructs the reader generally about the enterprise of literary criticism by demonstrating procedures useful to the close reading of ancient texts. Although each piece stands independently on its own merits, it is as a whole that the essays make the strongest statement. The volume is organized by theoretical issue, with pedagogically oriented introductions to each section, thereby offering a multi-faceted presentation of advanced criticism of the classics.