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The ancient Greek hymnic tradition translated beautifully and
accessibly. The hymn—as poetry, as craft, as a tool for
worship and philosophy—was a vital art form throughout antiquity.
Although the Homeric Hymns have long been popular, other equally
important collections have not been readily accessible to students
eager to learn about ancient poetry. In reading hymns, we also gain
valuable insight into life in the classical world. In this
collection, early Homeric Hymns of uncertain authorship appear
along with the carefully wrought hymns of the great Hellenistic
poet and courtier Callimachus; the mystical writings attributed to
the legendary poet Orpheus, written as Christianity was taking over
the ancient world; and finally, the hymns of Proclus, the last
great pagan philosopher of antiquity, from the fifth century AD,
whose intellectual influence throughout western culture has been
profound. Greek Poems to the Gods distills over a thousand years of
the ancient Greek hymnic tradition into a single volume. Acclaimed
translator Barry B. Powell brings these fabulous texts to life in
English, hewing closely to the poetic beauty of the original Greek.
His superb introductions and notes give readers essential context,
making the hymns as accessible to a beginner approaching them for
the first time as to an advanced student continuing to explore
their secrets. Brilliant illustrations from ancient art enliven and
enrichen the experience of reading these poems. Â
In this new translation of Hesiod, Barry B. Powell gives an
accessible, modern verse rendering of these vibrant texts,
essential to an understanding of early Greek myth and society. With
stunning color images that help bring to life the contents of the
poems and notes that explicate complex passages, Powell's fresh
renditions provide an exciting introduction to the culture of the
ancient Greeks. This is the definitive translation and guide for
students and readers looking to experience the poetry of Hesiod,
who ranks alongside Homer as an influential poet of Greek
antiquity.
Barry Powell, acclaimed translator of the Iliad (OUP, 2013) and the
Odyssey (OUP, 2014) now delivers a graceful, lucid, free-verse
translation of the Aeneid in a pleasant modern idiom. On-page notes
explain obscure literary and historical references, while the rich
visual program lightens the text and educates students in the
history of Western art by presenting a single topic as represented
over 2,000 years. The Aeneid's first sentence charts the poem's
historical plot, taking us in one sweep of seven lines from Homer's
Troy to Augustus' Rome. These two layers of time are felt all the
way through the poem, from the distant past of Aeneas' heroic and
quasi-mythological time, over 1100 years before Vergil, down to the
"now" of Augustus' Rome, when Vergil was writing the poem between
30 and 19 BC, a period of ongoing political experimentation. The
story of Aeneas-moving from one continent to another, undergoing
and enforcing great transformations in the process-transplants
contemporary Augustan preoccupations with transition, continuity,
and change into the remote time of the poem's action. In the course
of the poem we move from the East to the West, from Troy to Italy,
as Aeneas moves from being a Trojan towards being something else, a
kind of Roman in embryo. The poem's migratory movement, together
with its wholescale assimilation of Homer, acts out another great
transition, the transition of Greek culture to Italy: just as the
people of ancient Italy become the inheritors of Troy, so the
people of Vergil's Italy become the inheritors of Greece. The very
location of the poem in time is transitional, at the pivot between
myth and history: the poem's characters are moving out of the era
of Homer into the era of what Vergil would have considered
non-fabulous history. In all these ways the Aeneid is a great poem
of history, both as lived experience and as something constructed
by people responding to the needs of society. Featuring a stellar,
up-to-date introduction, on-page notes, embedded illustrations,
five maps, a timeline of Roman history, and a genealogical chart,
Powell's Aeneid offers a full immersion into the mythological and
political workings of the poem. It is a book both good to think
with, and good to teach with.
The ancient Greek hymnic tradition translated beautifully and
accessibly. The hymn-as poetry, as craft, as a tool for worship and
philosophy-was a vital art form throughout antiquity. Although the
Homeric Hymns have long been popular, other equally important
collections have not been readily accessible to students eager to
learn about ancient poetry. In reading hymns, we also gain valuable
insight into life in the classical world. In this collection, early
Homeric Hymns of uncertain authorship appear along with the
carefully wrought hymns of the great Hellenistic poet and courtier
Callimachus; the mystical writings attributed to the legendary poet
Orpheus, written as Christianity was taking over the ancient world;
and finally, the hymns of Proclus, the last great pagan philosopher
of antiquity, from the fifth century AD, whose intellectual
influence throughout western culture has been profound. Greek Poems
to the Gods distills over a thousand years of the ancient Greek
hymnic tradition into a single volume. Acclaimed translator Barry
B. Powell brings these fabulous texts to life in English, hewing
closely to the poetic beauty of the original Greek. His superb
introductions and notes give readers essential context, making the
hymns as accessible to a beginner approaching them for the first
time as to an advanced student continuing to explore their secrets.
Brilliant illustrations from ancient art enliven and enrichen the
experience of reading these poems.
Fat Wally Wills, wealthy professor of Art History, is dead at the
bottom of his stairs in his lakefront home. Who did it? The lurid
facts emerge as his friend Professor Raymond Birch, himself under
university scrutiny, delves into Wally's sordid life. Set against
an academic backdrop, there is university intrigue, friendship,
betrayal, drugs, and sex. We meet Wills's old friend Harvey
Vanderpool, a potter; his former live-in lover, Eddy, and Eddy's
new wife, Evelyn; and a hundred-year old matriarch, intimate friend
of Wally Wills. Something is going on between Birch and Evelyn.
There were unknown people at the house the night Wally Wills died.
In all this stew, something boiled over.
Barry Powell, acclaimed translator of the Iliad (OUP, 2013) and the
Odyssey (OUP, 2014) now delivers a graceful, lucid, free-verse
translation of the most important books and passages of the Aeneid
in a pleasant modern idiom. On-page notes explain obscure literary
and historical references, while the rich visual program lightens
the text and educates students in the history of Western art by
presenting a single topic as represented over 2,000 years. The
Aeneid's first sentence charts the poem's historical plot, taking
us in one sweep of seven lines from Homer's Troy to Augustus' Rome.
These two layers of time are felt all the way through the poem,
from the distant past of Aeneas' heroic and quasi-mythological
time, over 1100 years before Vergil, down to the "now" of Augustus'
Rome, when Vergil was writing the poem between 30 and 19 BC, a
period of ongoing political experimentation. The story of
Aeneas-moving from one continent to another, undergoing and
enforcing great transformations in the process-transplants
contemporary Augustan preoccupations with transition, continuity,
and change into the remote time of the poem's action. In the course
of the poem we move from the East to the West, from Troy to Italy,
as Aeneas moves from being a Trojan towards being something else, a
kind of Roman in embryo. The poem's migratory movement, together
with its wholescale assimilation of Homer, acts out another great
transition, the transition of Greek culture to Italy: just as the
people of ancient Italy become the inheritors of Troy, so the
people of Vergil's Italy become the inheritors of Greece. The very
location of the poem in time is transitional, at the pivot between
myth and history: the poem's characters are moving out of the era
of Homer into the era of what Vergil would have considered
non-fabulous history. In all these ways the Aeneid is a great poem
of history, both as lived experience and as something constructed
by people responding to the needs of society. Featuring a stellar,
up-to-date introduction, on-page notes, embedded illustrations,
five maps, a timeline of Roman history, and a genealogical chart,
Powell's Vergil's Aeneid: The Essential Books offers a full
immersion into the mythological and political workings of the poem.
It is a book both good to think with, and good to teach with.
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The Odyssey (Hardcover)
Barry B. Powell
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R929
R777
Discovery Miles 7 770
Save R152 (16%)
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Ships in 10 - 15 working days
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Odysseus-soldier, trickster, and everyman-is one of the most
recognizable characters in world literature. His arduous, ten-year
journey home after the Trojan War, the subject of Homer's The
Odyssey, is the most accessible tale to survive from ancient
Greece, and its impact is still felt today across many different
cultures. Barry Powell's free verse translation preserves the
clarity and simplicity of the original while conveying Odysseus'
adventures in an energetic, modern idiom. By avoiding the stylistic
formality of earlier translations, and the colloquial and sometimes
exaggerated effects of recent attempts, his translation deftly
captures the most essential truths of this vital text. Due to his
thorough familiarity with the world of Homer and Homeric language,
Powell's introduction provides rich historical and literary
perspectives on the poem. This translation also includes
illustrations from classical artwork, detailed maps, explanatory
notes, a timeline, and a glossary. Modern and pleasing to the ear
while accurately reflecting the meaning of the Greek, this Odyssey
steers a middle path between the most well-known translations and
adds something truly unique and contemporary to the canon.
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The Iliad (Hardcover)
Homer; Translated by Barry B. Powell; Ian Morris
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R968
R817
Discovery Miles 8 170
Save R151 (16%)
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Ships in 10 - 15 working days
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Homer's Iliad is one of the foundational texts of Western
Civilization. The timelessness of its story, of men battling fate
amidst the horrors of war, still stirs the imaginations of readers
year after year. What is offered here is the first translation by
someone who is both an eminent scholar and published poet. Based on
his thorough familiarity with Homeric language, Powell's free verse
translation preserves the clarity and simplicity of the original,
while recreating the original feel and sound of the oral-formulaic
style. By avoiding the stylistic formality of earlier translations,
and the colloquial and sometimes exaggerated effects of recent
attempts, he deftly captures and conveys the most essential truths
of this vital text. Helpfully included in this edition are a
detailed introduction, illustrations, maps, and notes. Modern and
pleasing to the ear while accurately reflecting the meaning of the
Greek, Powell steers a middle path between the most well-known
translations and adds something unique to the canon.
Professor Powell ties the origin and nature of archaic Greek
literature to the special technology of Greek alphabetic writing.
In building his model he presents chapters on specialized topics -
text, orality, myth, literacy, tradition and memorization - and
then shows how such special topics relate to larger issues of
cultural transmission from East to West. Several chapters are
devoted to the theory and history of writing, its definition and
general nature as well as such individual developments as
semasiography and logosyllabography, Chinese writing and the West
Semitic family of syllabaries. He shows how the Greek alphabet put
an end to the multiliteralism of Eastern traditions of writing, and
how the recording of Homer and other early epic poetry cannot be
separated from the alphabetic revolution. Finally, he explains how
the creation of Greek alphabetic texts demoticized Greek myth and
encouraged many free creations of new myths based on Eastern
images.
The purpose of this book is to dispel misunderstanding about the genesis of the Homeric poems and other knotty problems in oral studies, such as the meaning of "orality," "literacy," "tradition," "memorization," and "text." The study is about the nature and history of writing--how it was used in the Ancient Near East, and especially in Greece, and its relationship to Homer. It suggests that a Semite invented the Greek alphabet, heir to an ancient bilingual Eastern tradition of recording poetry by dictation.
In this new translation of Hesiod, Barry B. Powell gives an
accessible, modern verse rendering of these vibrant texts,
essential to an understanding of early Greek myth and society. With
stunning color images that help bring to life the contents of the
poems and notes that explicate complex passages, Powell's fresh
renditions provide an exciting introduction to the culture of the
ancient Greeks. This is the definitive translation and guide for
students and readers looking to experience the poetry of Hesiod,
who ranks alongside Homer as an influential poet of Greek
antiquity.
Who invented the Greek alphabet and why? The purpose of this
challenging book is to inquire systematically into the historical
causes that underlay the radical shift from earlier and less
efficient writing systems to the use of alphabetic writing. The
author reaches the conclusion that a single man, perhaps from the
island of Euboea, invented the Greek alphabet specifically in order
to record the Iliad and the Odyssey of Homer.
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