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Books > Language & Literature > Literature: texts > Essays, journals, letters & other prose works > Classical, early & medieval
The Chronicle of the Logothete covers the period from the Creation of the World to the burial of emperor Romanos I Lekapenos in the summer of 948 AD. If we deduce a medieval text's importance and success from the number of extant manuscripts, this work must score highly. While some medieval chronicles have come down to us in only one manuscript, about thirty manuscripts transmit the Chronicle of the Logothete in its main form, and there are also manuscripts containing different kinds of elaborated versions of the text. Also, the chronicle was translated into Old Slavonic at least twice. In spite of the work's popularity, the chronicler himself remains obscure. It has been suggested that this could be Symeon Metaphrastes, an illustrious Byzantine literate who collected and edited, or wrote, Saints' Lives. However, fairly certain is only that the final compilation of the text was made in the second half of the tenth century, and there seems to be a pro-Lekapenian bias and an antipathy towards the Macedonian dynasty. This volume is based on the translator's 2006 edition of the text and constitutes the first translation ever into English.
Meineck and Woodruff's new annotated translations of Sophocles' Ajax , Women of Trachis , Electra , and Philoctetes combine the same standards of accuracy, concision, clarity, and powerful speech that have so often made their Theban Plays a source of epiphany in the classroom and of understanding in the theatre. Woodruff's Introduction offers a brisk and stimulating discussion of central themes in Sophoclean drama, the life of the playwright, staging issues, and each of the four featured plays.
This book assesses a narrow but vital - and so far understudied - part of Roman women's lives: puberty, preparation for pregnancy, pregnancy and childbirth. Bringing together for the first time the material and textual sources for this key life stage, it describes the scientific, educational, medical and emotional aspects of the journey towards motherhood. The first half of the book considers the situation a Roman girl would find herself in when it came to preparing for children. Sources document the elementary sexual education offered at the time, and society's knowledge of reproductive health. We see how Roman women had recourse to medical advice, but also turned to religion and magic in their preparations for childbirth. The second half of the book follows the different stages of pregnancy and labour. As well as the often-documented examples of joyous expectation and realisation of progeny, there are also family tragedies - young girls dying prematurely, stillbirth, death in childbirth, and death during confinement. Finally, the book considers the social change that childbirth wrought on the mother, not just the new baby - in many ways it was also a mother who was in the process of being conceived and brought into the world.
Aristophanes's satirical masterpieces, immensely popular with the Athenian public, were frequently crude, even obscene. His plays revealed to his contemporaries, and now teach us today, that when those in power act obscenely, patriotic obscenity is a fitting response. Until now English translations have failed to capture Aristophanes's poetic genius. Aaron Poochigian, the first poet-classicist to tackle these plays in a generation, offers "effortlessly readable and genuinely theatrical" (Simon Armitage) versions of four of Aristophanes's most entertaining, provocative and lyrically ingenious comedies, finally giving twenty-first-century readers a sense of the subversive pleasure audiences felt when these works were first performed on the Athenian stage.
This book offers a new English translation of Musaeus' poem Hero and Leander, with the original Greek on the facing page, a substantial introduction and a detailed commentary. The tragic romance of Hero and Leander has had and still has a great appeal, inspiring countless writers, painters, sculptors, and musicians. The Introduction aims at situating the poem within its literary tradition and cultural context as well as at drawing its major themes and describing the salient features of its style. Because Hero and Leander enjoyed an immense and uninterrupted popularity, the Introduction also devotes a large section to the poem's reception in literature, which crosses paths with the reception of the other main ancient poetic treatment of the legend, Ovid's Heroides 18 and 19. The commentary, which follows the Greek text and its translation, is addressed to a variety of readers: the student and the scholar of Greek literature, as well as those of other literatures in which the poem has been inspirational. This work has no precedent in the English language. This new translation will be of interest to students and scholars of Greek and late antique literature, as well as those working on mythology and classical reception.
Medieval liturgical practice both expressed and helped shape habits of thought and imagination in ways which were deep and far-reaching, encompassing embodied, lived experience and the most sophisticated theological thought. This book argues that Dante, in common with his contemporaries, saw the liturgical rituals of the Church as a mode of religious practice which manifested what he considered to be the central truths regarding the relationship between God, human beings, and the world. It also shows how Dante's Commedia engages with medieval understandings of the sacraments, an idea which has been largely neglected in studies of Dante. Seen in this way, the poet's engagement with liturgy is central to the daring and highly original poetic project of the Commedia, shaping its treatment of time, its engagement with theology, and its portrayal of the soul's awakening to the condition of creation itself.
One of the most important philosophical works of all time, in a new Penguin Classics translation by Adam Beresford 'Right and wrong is a human thing' What does it mean to be a good person? Aristotle's famous series of lectures on ethical topics ranges over fundamental questions about good and bad character; pleasure and self-control; moral wisdom and the foundations of right and wrong; friendship and love in all their forms - all set against a rich and humane conception of what makes for a flourishing life. Adam Beresford's freshly researched translation presents many of Aristotle's key terms and idioms in standard English for the first time, and faithfully preserves the unvarnished style of the original.
Italian children's literature has a diverse and unusual tradition of fantasy. With the exception of Carlo Collodi's Pinocchio, however, it has remained almost entirely unknown outside of Italy. Why is it that Italian children's fantasy has remained such a well-kept secret? How 'international' is the term 'fantasy', and to what extent has its development been influenced by local as well as global factors? Cross-cultural and cross-linguistic research into this neglected area is essential if we are to enrich our understanding of this important literary genre. This book charts the history and evolution of Italian children's fantasy, from its first appearance in the 1870s to the present day. It traces the structural and thematic progression of the genre in Italy and situates this development against the changing backdrop of Italian culture, society and politics. The author argues that ever since the foundation of Italy as a nation-state the Italian people have been actively involved in an ongoing process of identity formation and that the development of children's fantasy texts has been inextricably intertwined with sociopolitical and cultural imperatives.
L'Italia comunale e rinascimentale ha ricoperto un ruolo precursore nella formazione dell'Europa moderna, per quanto riguarda il costituirsi sia delle strutture e istituzioni europee che delle singole culture nazionali. Ancora oggi e vitale il valore fondativo delle esperienze culturali elaborate nel 'Rinascimento lungo' della storia d'Italia, in specie nell'ambito letterario e artistico, specifico della stessa identita e civilta italiana. Italienisch- und deutschsprachige Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftler gehen in diesem Band gemeinsam der Frage nach, welche kulturellen Ideen Italien in Mittelalter und Renaissance als wegweisend fur Europa hervorgebracht hat und in welcher Weise die vielfaltigen literarischen und kunstlerischen Projekte aus der Ideenfabrik Italien heute noch aktuell sind.
Gathering together over 60 new and revised discussions of textual issues, this volume represents notorious problems in well-known texts from the classical era by authors including Horace, Ennius, and Vergil. A follow-up to Vegiliana: Critical Studies on the Texts of Publius Vergilius Maro (2017), the volume includes major contributions to the discussion of Horace's Carmen IV 8 and IV 12, along with studies on Catullus Carmen 67 and Hadrian's Animula vagula, as well as a new contribution on Livy's text at IV 20 in connection with Cossus's spolia opima, and on Vergil's Aeneid 3. 147-152 and 11. 151-153. On Ennius, the author presents several new ideas on Ann. 42 Sk. and 220-22l, and in editing Horace, he suggests new principles for the critical apparatus and tries to find a balance by weighing both sides in several studies, comparing a conservative and a radical approach. Critica will be an important resource for students and scholars of Latin language and literature.
The hatching of the Cosmic Egg, the swallowing of Phanes by Zeus, and the murder of Dionysus by the Titans were just a few of the many stories that appeared in ancient Greek epic poems that were thought to have been written by the legendary singer Orpheus. Most of this poetry is now lost, surviving only in the form of brief quotations by Greek philosophers. Orphic Tradition and the Birth of the Gods brings together the scattered fragments of four Orphic theogonies: the Derveni, Eudemian, Hieronyman, and Rhapsodic theogonies. Typically, theogonies are thought to be poetic accounts of the creation of the universe and the births of the gods, leading to the creation of humans and the establishment of the present state of the cosmos. The most famous example is Hesiod's Theogony, which unlike the Orphic theogonies has survived. But did Orphic theogonies look anything like Hesiod's Theogony? Meisner applies a new theoretical model for studying Orphic theogonies and suggests certain features that characterize them as different from Hesiod: the blending of Near Eastern narrative elements that are missing in Hesiod; the probability that these were short hymns, more like the Homeric Hymns than Hesiod; and the continuous discourse between myth and philosophy that can be seen in Orphic poems and the philosophers who quote them. Most importantly, this book argues that the Orphic myths of Phanes emerging from the Cosmic Egg and Zeus swallowing Phanes are at least as important as the well-known myth of Dionysus being dismembered by the Titans, long thought to have been the central myth of Orphism. As this book amply demonstrates, Orphic literature was a diverse and ever-changing tradition by which authors were able to think about the most current philosophical ideas through the medium of the most traditional poetic forms.
This collection of essays is a tribute to Andrzej Kopcewicz, the first professor ordinarius of American literature in the history of English studies in Poland. It coincides with the centenary of Imagism and what would have been Professor Kopcewicz's 80th birthday. The title alludes to his first book which was devoted to the image and the objective correlative in early 20th-century Anglo-American poetry. Image in Modern(ist) Verse opens with a revised and abridged version of that publication. Kopcewicz's study can be still read as a useful historical, theoretical, and practical introduction to modern poetry. The bulk of the volume is made up of contributions by contemporary academics - Paulina Ambrozy, Joseph Kuhn, Pawel Stachura, Jorgen Veisland, and Milosz Wojtyna - who discuss various facets, strands and sub-strands of Imagism, as well as its ongoing legacy.
Combining the studies of modern film, traditional narratology, and Roman art, this interdisciplinary work explores the complex and highly visual techniques of Tacitus' Annales. The volume opens with a discussion of current research in narratology, as applied to Roman historians. Narratology is a helpful and insightful tool, but is often inadequate to deal with specifically visual aspects of ancient narrative. In order to illuminate Tacitus' techniques, and to make them speak to modern readers, this book focuses on drawing and illustrating parallels between Tacitus' historiographical methods and modern film effects. Building on these premises, Waddell examines a wide array of Tacitus' visual narrative devices. Tacitean examples are discussed in light of their narrative effect and purpose in the Annales, as well as the ways in which they are similar to contemporary Roman art and modern film techniques, including focalization, alignment, use of the ambiguous gaze, temporal suggestion and quick-cutting. Through this approach the modern scholar gains a deeper understanding of the many ways in which Tacitus' Annales act upon the reader, and how his narrative technique helps to shape, guide, and deeply layer his history.
The final chapter of Sophocles' classic Oedipus cycle, "Antigone" epitomizes the clash between law, social obligations, familial duty, and the honor of the gods. Oedipus' sons have slain each other on the battlefield, but Kreon, their uncle and Thebes' new ruler, has decreed that only Eteokles be buried. Polyneikes will be left to rot - the greatest dishonor imaginable for a Greek warrior. When their sister Antigone, however, attempts to see Polyneikes properly honored, she garners a death sentence for breaking Kreon's edict. Neither she nor Kreon's son Haemon can convince Kreon to reconsider, forcing the blind prophet Tiresias to reveal the terrible legacy that Kreon's hubris will bring to Thebes. Yet by then it is too late - Thebes will run with the blood of its ill-fated royal family, their fate for those who would act against the will of the gods. "Antigone" is Sophocles' classic investigation of the fallout that occurs when pride overwhelms social dignity - in Kreon's case - and when passion overwhelms perseverance - in Antigone's case. This phenomenal translation by Robert Bagg achieves an accurate but idiomatic rendering of the Greek original, suited for reading, teaching, or performing, and sure to open a new generation to the depth and power of Greek drama.
Euripides' Ion is a highly complex and elusive play and thus poses considerable difficulties to any interpreter. On the basis of a new recension of the text, this commentary offers explanations of the language, literary technique, and realia of the play and discusses the main issues of interpretation. In this way the reader is provided with the material required for an appreciation of this entertaining as well as provocative dramatic composition.
Aristophanes (ca. 456 BC - ca. 386 BC) was a Greek Old Comic dramatist. He is also known as the Father of Comedy and the Prince of Ancient Comedy. "Lysistrata" was written during the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta and argues not so much for pacifism as for the idea that the states ought not be fighting one another at this point but combining to rule Greece.
Inheritance, which has its origins in the field of artificial intelligence, is a framework focusing on shared properties. When applied to inflectional morphology, it enables useful generalizations within and across paradigms. The inheritance tree format serves as an alternative to traditional paradigms and provides a visual representation of the structure of the language's morphology. This mapping also enables cross-linguistic morphological comparison. In this book, the nominal inflectional morphology of Old High German, Latin, Early New High German, and Koine Greek are analyzed using inheritance trees. Morphological data is drawn from parallel texts in each language; the trees may be used as a translation aid to readers of the source texts as an accompaniment to or substitute for traditional paradigms. The trees shed light on the structural similarities and differences among the four languages.
The concept of the soul in Platonic, Ciceronian, and Talmudic thought segues into the Celtic tradition, Thomas Aquinas, and Maeterlinck and threads its way through the tapestry of Proust's narrative and his principal characters. Bette H. Lustig uses a hermeneutic approach to the Proust texts, which are cited in French, and provides the analyses of the texts in English. Themes treating the soul include metempsychosis (transmigration), imprisonment and deliverance, eroticism and sadism, homophilia and misogyny, and time and memory. Moreover, the Celtic tradition is evident in the metempsychosis of souls to plants, animals, and inanimate objects, and their yearning to be delivered through a random encounter. Homophilia and misogyny are pendant themes. The strong preference for male company is articulated through gestures and choices by both author and characters. In Proust, homophilia leads to misogyny: disparaging, controlling, even abusive attitudes toward the souls of women, which are demonized and imprisoned. Their souls, provisionally free in sleep, do not reach total deliverance until death. The ecstasy of Platonic mystical union is shown only between two males. The soul of time travels at its own pace: by urgency, by seemingly slow passage, in narrative interruption or digression, chronological inversion, and in privileged moments. The soul of memory is present in odors or fragrances. Like Aquinas's substratum soul, it connects past and present. Its enemy is forgetfulness. Time and memory are also correlated in collective memory. Presented in a clear, lively style, this book would be excellent in courses on Proust, French literature, religion, philosophy, psychology, and sociology.
The author has selected a cross-section of Cornelius Nepos' work, which shows the literary, social, political and intellectual history of the period 90 to 30 B.C. There are also fragments of Cato, Atticus and Nepos' other works. He also translates and comments on Nepos' preface to his lives of the Foreign Generals and on the "Letter of Cornelia", preserved by Nepos. This collection is aimed not only to illuminate the study of Cicero and the late Roman Republic, but to help awaken interest in neglected areas of Roman historical writing and intellectual life, which only in the last decade have attracted serious study.
The second edition will present in two volumes, all that survives and has hitherto been published of pre-Alexandrian elegy and iambus, including relevant testimonia and critical apparatus. West reexamines many papyri and manuscript sources including preserved fragments in quotation from modern editions. Since its appearance in 1971-72, the work has been widely acknowledged as the standard critical edition of the early Greek iambic and elegiac poets. This first volume, thoroughly revised and brought up to date, contains the Theognidea, works by Hipponax, The Cologne Epode of Archilochus, several other fragments in a more complete or correct form, and hundreds of minor improvements.
This book is an edition of the Athenian Constitution, the only one to survive of 158 Constitutions written in the school of Aristotle in the fourth century B.C., of which a text on papyrus was found at the end of the nineteenth century. Based on an edition commissioned by the Fondazione Lorenzo Valla in Italy, it provides an introduction, a re-edited Greek text with a facing translation, and a commentary. The editor has been engaged with this text throughout his working life, and published a large commentary on it in 1981 and a Penguin Classics translation of it in 1984: since then scholarly advances have continued, and he has been able to take advantage of them to bring the material in this book up to date. The translation aims at an accurate rendering of the Greek text; the commentary is based on the translation, and should be accessible to readers with little or no knowledge of Greek. |
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