The article focuses on the analysis of one compositional technique of Russian panegyric poetry — «journey» descriptions of ancient heroes to 18th century Russia and heroes of the Russian 18th century to antiquity. Heroes of the18th century retain their greatness when they move to antiquity, while the ancients, on the contrary, lose it when they move to Russia. The article describes various motives and plot situations that arise in panegyric poetry when using this compositional technique.