In May 2011, a conference on riddles and word games in Greek and Latin poetry took place at the Institute of Classical Studies of the University of Warsaw. The conference was intended as an open forum where specialists working in different fields of classical studies could meet to discuss the varied manifestations of riddles and other technopaegnia - both terms being understood broadly to encompass the full range of play with language in classical antiquity, in keeping with the use made of the two terms in ancient and early modern theoretical discussions. This volume offers revised versions of the papers presented during the conference. Contributions by scholars from Europe and the USA treat a number of interconnected topics, including: ancient and modern attempts to formulate a definition of the riddle; poetic games at Greek symposia; experimentation with language in late classical poetry; riddles in the book cultures of the Hellenistic age and late antiquity; the functions of word games carved in stone, written on papyrus, or inscribed on the wall as graffiti; authors famed for their obscurity, such as Heraclitus and Lycophron; wordplay in Neo-Latin poetry; oracles, magic squares, pattern poetry, palindromes and acrostichs.

Nel solco degli studi sul "greco umanistico", che negli ultimi decenni hanno conosciuto un notevole e fervido sviluppo, il volume presenta il caso di una rara traduzione in greco classico della celebre orazione "Pro Archia poeta" di Cicerone. Com'e noto, a partire da Petrarca e per generazioni essa costitui un'ode alla bellezza e al giovamento procurati dall'arte e dalla poesia. Lo studio, oltre a proporre il testo, accompagnato da un'approfondita analisi linguistico-filologico-stilistica, mira a far luce sul contesto storico-letterario in cui opero l'autore, il polacco Mikolaj Z orawski (1595-1665). Figura poco nota del primo barocco sarmatico, fu non soltanto astrologo e medico, ma altresi appassionato traduttore di Cicerone all'Accademia di Cracovia. In the wake of the studies on Humanist Greek, which have recently known a lively development, the volume presents the case of a rare Greek translation of Cicero's speech "Pro Archia poeta". As is known, starting from Petrarch and for generations the oration represented an ode to the beauty and the benefits deriving from art and poetry. The book provides the text, accompanied by an in-depth linguistic and stylistical analysis, and it also sheds light on the historical and literary background in which the author worked. The Pole Mikolaj Z orawski (1595-1665), an interesting though little known figure of the early Polish Baroque, was not only an astrologer and a physician, but also a passionate translator of Cicero at the Academy of Cracow.

Narses, ein Eunuch und Feldherr des Ostroemischen Kaisers Justinian, war eine bedeutende Gestalt der ausgehenden Spatantike. Von den 530er Jahren bis etwa 568 spielte er als Politiker und Feldherr eine wichtige Rolle im Ostroemischen Reich. Trotzdem sind viele Aspekte seiner Karriere umstritten. Das Buch untersucht die Karriere von Narses und bietet einen Einblick in die Faktoren, die zu seinem politischen Aufstieg beitrugen. Das Hauptaugenmerk der Untersuchung richtet sich auf seinen realen Wirkungskreis, der sich im Laufe vieler Missionen kristallisierte, wahrend er als kaiserlicher Sonderbeauftragter agierte. Im Fokus der Studie stehen die konkreten Ereignisse, an denen Narses aktiv teilnahm, u. a. der Nika-Aufstand, die religionspolitischen Wirren in AEgypten und die Gotenkriege. Das Buch versteht sich auch als eine quellenkritische Studie zur spatantiken Historiographie, deren Aufgabe ist, die einzelnen historiographischen Traditionsstrange, die sich auf Narses beziehen, zu identifizieren, voneinander abzugrenzen und zu untersuchen.