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Books > Language & Literature > Literature: texts > Essays, journals, letters & other prose works > Classical, early & medieval
The New Politics of Olympos explores the dynamics of praise, power,
and persuasion in Kallimachos' hymns, detailing how they
simultaneously substantiate and interrogate the radically new
phenomenon of Hellenistic kingship taking shape during Kallimachos'
lifetime. Long before the Ptolemies invested vast treasure in
establishing Alexandria as the center of Hellenic culture and
learning, tyrants such as Peisistratos and Hieron recognized the
value of poetry in advancing their political agendas. Plato, too,
saw the vast power inherent in poetry, and famously advocated
either censoring it (Republic) or harnessing it (Laws) for the good
of the political community. As Xenophon notes in his Hieron and
Pindar demonstrates in his politically charged epinikian hymns,
wielding poetry's power entails a complex negotiation between the
poet, the audience, and political leaders. Kallimachos' poetic
medium for engaging in this dynamic, the hymn, had for centuries
served as an unparalleled vehicle for negotiating with the
super-powerful. The New Politics of Olympos offers the first
in-depth analysis of Kallimachos' only fully extant poetry book,
the Hymns, by examining its contemporary political setting,
engagement with a tradition of political thought stretching back to
Homer, and portrayal of the poet as an image-maker for the king. In
addition to investigating the political dynamics in the individual
hymns, this book details how the poet's six hymns, once juxtaposed
within a single bookroll, constitute a macro-narrative on the
prerogatives of Ptolemaic kingship. Throughout the collection
Kallimachos refigures the infamously factious divine family as a
paradigm of stability and good governance in concert with the
self-fashioning of the Ptolemaic dynasty. At the same time, the
poet defines the characteristics and behaviors worthy of praise,
effectively shaping contemporary political ethics. Thus, for a
Ptolemaic reader, this poetry book may have served as an education
in and inducement to good kingship.
ADanielA, which is counted among the earliest of the so-called
post-classical Arthurian romances, was composed during the period
1210 to 1225 and is considered the first freely invented Arthurian
romance in the German language. This revised edition represents a
comprehensive reworking of the critical edition of 1983. The
introduction has been rewritten, the readings of MS b (which was
rediscovered in Krakow in the early 1980s) are taken into account,
the critical text has been revised and the selected bibliography
updated.
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The Iliad
(Paperback)
Homer; Translated by Robert Fitzgerald; Introduction by G.S. Kirk
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R253
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'Fitzgerald has solved virtually every problem that has plagued
translators of Homer.' Atlantic Monthly The Iliad is the story of a
few days' fighting in the tenth year of the legendary war between
the Greeks and the Trojans, which broke out when Paris, son of King
Priam of Troy, abducted the fabulously beautiful Helen, wife of
King Menelaus of Sparta. After a quarrel between the Greek
commander, Agamemnon, and the greatest of the Greek warriors,
Achilles, the gods become more closely involved in the action.
Their intervention leads to the tragic death of Hector, the Trojan
leader, and to the final defeat of the Trojans. But the Iliad is
much more than a series of battle scenes. It is a work of
extraordinary pathos and profundity that concerns itself with
issues as fundamental as the meaning of life and death. Even the
heroic ethic itself - with its emphasis on pride, honour, prowess
in battle, and submission to the inexorable will of the gods - is
not left unquestioned. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford
World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature
from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's
commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a
wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions
by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text,
up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.
Myth, Locality, and Identity argues that Pindar engages in a
striking, innovative style of mythmaking that represents and shapes
Sicilian identities in his epinician odes for Sicilian victors in
the fifth century BCE. While Sicily has been thought to be lacking
in local traditions for Pindar to celebrate, Lewis argues that the
Sicilian odes offer examples of the formation of local traditions:
the monster Typho whom Zeus defeated to become king of the gods,
for example, now lives beneath Mt. Aitna; Persephone receives the
island of Sicily as a gift from Zeus; and the Peloponnesian river
Alpheos travels to Syracuse in pursuit of the local spring nymph
Arethusa. By weaving regional and Panhellenic myth into the local
landscape, as the book shows, Pindar infuses physical places with
meaning and thereby contextualizes people, cities, and their rulers
within a wider Greek framework. During this time period, Greek
Sicily experienced a unique set of political circumstances: the
inhabitants were continuously being displaced, cities were founded
and resettled, and political leaders rose and fell from power in
rapid succession. This book offers the first sustained analysis of
myth in Pindar's odes for Sicilian victors across the island that
accounts for their shared context. The nodes of myth and place that
Pindar fuses in this poetry reinforce and develop a sense of place
and community for citizens locally; at the same time, they raise
the profile of physical sites and the cities attached to them for
larger audiences across the Greek world. In addition to providing
new readings of Pindaric odes and offering a model for the
formation of Sicilian identities in the first half of the fifth
century, the book contributes new insights into current debates on
the relationship between myth and place in classical literature.
Focuses on transversions of Ovid's 'Iphis and Ianthe' in both
English and French literature Medieval and early modern authors
engaged with Ovid's tale of 'Iphis and Ianthe' in a number of
surprising ways. From Christian translations to secular retellings
on the seventeenth-century stage, Ovid's story of a girl's
miraculous transformation into a boy sparked a diversity of
responses in English and French from the fourteenth to the
seventeenth centuries. In addition to analysing various
translations and commentaries, the volume clusters essays around
treatments of John Lyly's Galatea (c. 1585) and Issac de
Benserade's Iphis et Iante (1637). As a whole, the volume addresses
gender and transgender, sexuality and gallantry, anatomy and
alchemy, fable and history, youth and pedagogy, language and
climate change. Key Features: The only scholarly monograph to focus
on Ovid's 'Iphis and Ianthe' Intervenes in the history of Ovidian
reception and literary history, particularly in terms of gender and
sexuality Broadens readings of 'Iphis and Ianthe' beyond concerns
of gender and sexuality Brings medieval and early modern, English
and French appropriations of the tale into productive dialogue
Provides new readings of John Lyly's Galathea and Issac Benserade's
'Iphis and Ianthe', and of medieval versions of the story
Intervenes in the history of 'trans' phenomena
This volume showcases for the first time in the Clarendon Ancient
History Series one of the best-known prose authors of classical
Athens: Xenophon. Poroi (or, Revenue-Sources) was the final work of
his large and varied output, written in the mid-350s BCE at a time
when Athens had failed to prevent the collapse of her second Aegean
'empire', and was impoverished and demoralized in consequence. Back
in Athens after a lifetime abroad, the elderly Xenophon took an
optimistic view of the plight of his fellow-citizens: though their
days as a free-spending imperial power may have been over, they
could fall back on the city's own, unique assets - both human (the
large community of resident and visiting foreigners) and material
(the natural resources of Attica itself, notably the silver-mines)
- strategically exploiting them in order to set the city on the
road to peace and prosperity. Xenophon fleshed out this general
position with many specific proposals, in doing so situating Poroi
not only in a tradition of early economic thought, but also in the
realm of practical politics. Framed by a General Introduction and
the first-ever full Commentary on the work in English, this new and
unprecedentedly accurate translation offers an authoritative yet
accessible overview of the text, its context, and its historical,
socio-political, and economic implications that will be invaluable
to both students new to the work and to more experienced scholars.
Challenging the view that there is a significant overlap between
Xenophon's ideas and the policies associated (in the 350s and 340s)
with Euboulos, it argues, rather, that Poroi was ahead of its time
and in fact anticipated the programme of Athens' leading statesman
of the 330s and 320s: Lykourgos.
A Cyclops is popularly assumed to be nothing more than a
flesh-eating, one-eyed monster. In an accessible, stylish, and
academically authoritative investigation, this book seeks to
demonstrate that there is far more to it than that - quite apart
from the fact that in myths the Cyclopes are not always one-eyed!
This book provides a detailed, innovative, and richly illustrated
study of the myths relating to the Cyclopes from classical
antiquity until the present day. The first part is organised
thematically: after discussing various competing scholarly
approaches to the myths, the authors analyse ancient accounts and
images of the Cyclopes in relation to landscape, physique
(especially eyes, monstrosity, and hairiness), lifestyle, gods,
names, love, and song. While the man-eating Cyclops Polyphemus,
famous already in the Odyssey, plays a major part, so also do the
Cyclopes who did monumental building work, as well as those who
toiled as blacksmiths. The second part of the book concentrates on
the post-classical reception of the myths, including medieval
allegory, Renaissance grottoes, poetry, drama, the visual arts,
contemporary painting and sculpture, film, and even a circus
performance. This book aims to explore not just the perennial
appeal of the Cyclopes as fearsome monsters, but the depth and
subtlety of their mythology which raises complex issues of thought
and emotion.
This revised update of a well-established and valuable edition
contains an up-to-date and redesigned bibliography, now containing
page references for the research literature pertaining to the
individual verse narratives. The Preface outlines the significant
modifications the edition has undergone up to the present.
The dialogue begins with a playful discussion of erotic passion,
then extends the theme to consider the nature of inspiration, love
and knowledge. The centerpiece is the myth of the charioteer - the
famous and moving account of the vision, fall and incarnation of
the soul. Professor Hackforth here translates the dialogue for the
student and general reader. There is a running commentary on the
course of the argument and the meaning of the key Greek terms, and
a full intoduction to explain the philosophical background and the
place of this work among Plato's writings.
A BBC RADIO 4 BOOK OF THE YEAR LONGLISTED FOR THE ANGLO-HELLENIC
LEAGUE RUNCIMAN AWARD 2022 'Peter Fiennes's road trip around Greece
[is] engagingly described' Mary Beard, TLS 'Fiennes is a brilliant
and generous guide through Greece' Observer 'A wonderful... really
profound meditation on what it means to hope... a gorgeous
excursion into Greece and across the centuries on an environmental
quest' BBC Radio 4 Open Book Book of the Year choice by Anita Roy
What do the Greek myths mean to us today? It's now a golden age for
these tales - they crop up in novels, films and popular culture.
But what's the modern relevance of Theseus, Hera and Pandora? Were
these stories ever meant for children? And what's to be seen now at
the places where heroes fought and gods once quarrelled? Peter
Fiennes travels to the sites of some of the most famous Greek
myths, on the trail of hope, beauty and a new way of seeing what we
have done to our world. Fiennes walks through landscapes - stunning
and spoiled - on the trail of dancing activists and Arcadian
shepherds, finds the 'most beautiful beach in Greece', consults the
Oracle, and loses himself in the cities, remote villages and ruins
of this storied land.
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Paradise
(Paperback)
Kae Tempest
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R250
R152
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'Tempest has a gift for shattering and transcending convention.'
New York Times Philoctetes lives in a cave on a desolate island:
the wartime hero is now a wounded outcast. Stranded for ten years,
he sees a chance of escape when a young soldier appears with tales
of Philoctetes' past glories. But with hope comes suspicion - and,
as an old enemy emerges, he is faced with an even greater
temptation: revenge. Kae Tempest is now widely acknowledged as a
revolutionary force in contemporary British poetry, music and
drama; they continue to expand the range of their work with a new
version of Sophocles' Philoctetes in a bold new translation. Like
Brand New Ancients before it, Paradise shows Tempest's gift for
lending the old tales an immediate contemporary relevance - and
will find this timeless story a wide new audience.
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The Iliad
(Paperback, Revised Ed)
Homer; Edited by Peter Jones, D.C.H. Rieu; Translated by E.V. Rieu
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R312
R258
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‘Look at me. I am the son of a great man. A goddess was my mother. Yet death and inexorable destiny are waiting for me’ One of the foremost achievements in Western literature, Homer’s Iliad tells the story of the darkest episode in the Trojan War. At its centre is Achilles, the greatest warrior-champion of the Greeks, and his refusal to fight after being humiliated by his leader Agamemnon. But when the Trojan Hector kills Achilles’ close friend Patroclus, he storms back into battle to take revenge – although knowing this will ensure his own early death. Interwoven with this tragic sequence of events are powerfully moving descriptions of the ebb and flow of battle, of the domestic world inside Troy’s besieged city of Ilium, and of the conflicts between the Gods on Olympus as they argue over the fate of mortals. E. V. Rieu’s acclaimed translation of Homer’s Iliad was one of the first titles published in Penguin Classics, and now has classic status itself. For this edition, Rieu’s text has been revised, and a new introduction and notes by Peter Jones complement the original introduction.
"A Companion to Marcus Aurelius" presents the first comprehensive
collection of essays to explore all essential facets relating to
contemporary Marcus Aurelius studies.
- First collection of its kind to commission new
state-of-the-art scholarship on Marcus Aurelius- Features readings
that cover all aspects of Marcus Aurelius, including source
material, biographical information, and writings- Contributions
from an international cast of top Aurelius scholars- Addresses
evolving aspects of the reception of the "Meditations"
Sixty years ago, the University of Chicago Press undertook a
momentous project: a new translation of the Greek tragedies that
would be the ultimate resource for teachers, students, and readers.
They succeeded. Under the expert management of eminent classicists
David Grene and Richmond Lattimore, those translations combined
accuracy, poetic immediacy, and clarity of presentation to render
the surviving masterpieces of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides
in an English so lively and compelling that they remain the
standard translations. Today, Chicago is taking pains to ensure
that our Greek tragedies remain the leading English-language
versions throughout the twenty-first century. In this highly
anticipated third edition, Mark Griffith and Glenn W. Most have
carefully updated the translations to bring them even closer to the
ancient Greek while retaining the vibrancy for which our English
versions are famous. This edition also includes brand-new
translations of Euripides' "Medea", "The Children of Heracles",
"Andromache", and "Iphigenia among the Taurians", fragments of lost
plays by Aeschylus, and the surviving portion of Sophocles'
satyr-drama "The Trackers". New introductions for each play offer
essential information about its first production, plot, and
reception in antiquity and beyond. In addition, each volume
includes an introduction to the life and work of its tragedian, as
well as notes addressing textual uncertainties and a glossary of
names and places mentioned in the plays. In addition to the new
content, the volumes have been reorganized both within and between
volumes to reflect the most up-to-date scholarship on the order in
which the plays were originally written. The result is a set of
handsome paperbacks destined to introduce new generations of
readers to these foundational works of Western drama, art, and
life.
POETAE COMICI GRAECI is now the standard and indispensable
reference work for the whole of Greek Comedy, a genre which
flourished in Antiquity for over a millenium, from the VI century
B.C. to the V century A.D.: More than 250 poets are conveniently
arranged in alphabetical sequence and all the surviving texts have
been carefully edited with full testimonia, detailed critical
apparatus, and brief but illuminating subsidia interpretationis.
The commentaries are in Latin. This great enterprise has won
universal acclaim, Vol. VI 2 Menander being singled out by the
Times Literary Supplement as one of the "International Books of the
Year 1998".
Book seven, a oeOf a happy lifea (De uita beata), closes Lactaniusa
(TM) (AD 250-325) a oeIntroduction to Christianitya (Diuinae
institutiones). In it the church father, who was renowned as a
Christian Cicero, describes the end of the world, the thousand year
Kingdom of God and the Last Judgment, from a standpoint influenced
by the Christian persecutions. This significant text, which offers
insight into early Christiansa (TM) views of the end of the world,
is presented together with an introduction, translation (the first
since 1787) and an extensive commentary.
The "Nicomachean Ethics" is one of Aristotle's most widely read and
influential works. Ideas central to ethics - that happiness is the
end of human endeavor, that moral virtue is formed through action
and habituation, and that good action requires prudence - found
their most powerful proponent in the person medieval scholars
simply called "the Philosopher." Drawing on their intimate
knowledge of Aristotle's thought, Robert C. Bartlett and Susan D.
Collins have produced here an English-language translation of the
"Ethics" that is as remarkably faithful to the original as it is
graceful in its rendering. Aristotle is well known for the
precision with which he chooses his words, and in this elegant
translation his work has found its ideal match. Bartlett and
Collins provide copious notes and a glossary providing context and
further explanation for students, as well as an introduction and a
substantial interpretive essay that sketch central arguments of the
work and the seminal place of Aristotle's "Ethics" in his political
philosophy as a whole. The "Nicomachean Ethics" has engaged the
serious interest of readers across centuries and civilizations - of
people ancient, medieval, and modern; pagan, Christian, Muslim, and
Jewish - and this new edition will take its place as the standard
English-language translation.
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Republic
(Paperback)
Plato; Translated by Christopher Rowe
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R336
R276
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An authoritative new translation of Plato's The Republic by
Christopher Rowe, with notes and an introduction. 'We set about
founding the best city we could, because we could be confident that
if it was good we would find justice in it' The Republic, Plato's
masterwork, was first enjoyed 2,400 years ago and remains one of
the most widely-read books in the world: as a foundational work of
Western philosophy, and for the richness of its ideas and
virtuosity of its writing. Presented as a dialogue between Plato's
teacher Socrates and various interlocutors, it is an exhortation to
philosophy, inviting its readers to reflect on the choices to be
made if we are to live the best life available to us. This complex,
dynamic work creates a picture of an ideal society governed not by
the desire for money, power or fame, but by philosophy, wisdom and
justice. Christopher Rowe's accurate and enjoyable new translation
remains faithful to the many variations of the Republic's tone,
style and pace. This edition also contains a chronology, further
reading, an outline of the work's main arguments and an
introduction discussing Plato's relationship with Socrates, and the
Republic's style, ideas and historical context.
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