元祖ツイッターともいうべき寸鉄詩の世界へ。ギリシアにおける発祥から、ローマにおける濫觴、そして中世初期までの研究を一冊で見わたせる至便なハンドブック。This book examines the entire history of the epigram, from its beginnings as a purely epigraphic phenomenon in the Greek world, where it moved from being just a note attached to physical objects to an actual literary form of expression, to its zenith in late 1st century Rome, and further through a period of stagnation up to its last blooming, just before the beginning of the Dark Ages.