"Tradition and originality, the interplay of present and past, are a concern of poets in any age. " Peter Bing's seminal monograph, The Well-Read Muse: Present and Past in Callimachus and the Hellenistic Poets , chases this idea through the thickets of Hellenistic poetry and particularly among the lines of Callimachus' Hymn to Delos . In this carefully argued and stimulating study, the author investigates the era in which the written work - the book - superseded the assumption of oral composition and performance. In this and in other respects, as this study demonstrates, Hellenistic poets saw themselves as now being part of a new world, remote from the great genres and achievements of the earlier literary tradition. That sense of distance from the past gave authors freedom to experiment. At the same time, it incited them to view their poetic heritage as something deserving intense scholarly study. The author examines one fundamental result of this attitude, the Hellenistic tendency toward learned allusion, and what this meant to a period pursuing a different literary approach. The Well-Read Muse concludes with an analysis of Callimachus' Hymn to Delos as a paradigmatic instance of the play between present and past, tradition and originality that typified the age. Here the author sheds important light on the poet's choice not to make Apollo his theme, as his models had, but to focus rather on the diminutive, slender island, through which the god of song was born. Accompanied by a new Introduction by the author and corrections to the text and notes, as well as by an extensive bibliography and indices of passages and subjects discussed, The Well-Read Muse provides an important understanding of this turning point in Greek poetical development. There was no escaping the new world of which these poets were a part: Peter Bing's impressive work examines the ways in which poets confronted this new reality.

The Well-Read Muse: Present and Past in Callimachus and the Hellenistic Poets

Literature & Fiction

Bing, Peter

History & Criticism

Michigan Classical Press

Original in conception and powerful in scope, Generic Composition in Greek and Roman Poetry remains one of the most important books on early Greek, Hellenistic and Roman poetry in a generation. First published in the philological climate of the early 1970s, Francis Cairns' book was among the first works that sought to further our comprehension of difficult or obscure ancient poems by applying new literary-critical conventions and terminology, notably the concept of genre. Ancient literary studies have grown more sophisticated over the last years, and Generic Composition in Greek and Roman Poetry now finds itself very much in the midst of current debates. The new edition includes a new Postscript by the author, and important corrections to the text, notes, and indices. The original publisher remarked, "This is the first serious attempt to formulate a system of literary criticism for ancient poetry, derived wholly from ancient evidence. It is based on methods of generic analysis, assignment and interpretation applicable to all Greek and Roman poetry. It outlines what the author deduces are the creative principles informing ancient poets' approach to their subject matter, and establishes criteria that enable an objective discussion of the poems' originality and merit." Generic Composition in Greek and Roman Poetry examines uses of topoi and categories of genres, and offers detailed and insightful interpretations of many individual poems in both languages. It also highlights five specific generic sophistications, among them inversion and inclusion. The work is accompanied by extensive notes and indices, together with translations of the original texts that make it accessible and valuable to classicists and non-classicists alike. One of the great contributions of Francis Cairns' work has been firmly to move the study of ancient poetry away from the realm of fictive literary biography, while grounding critical analysis in the techniques that were employed by ancient authors to create meaning.

Generic Composition in Greek and Roman Poetry

Cairns, Francis

John Matthews' brilliant analysis of Ammianus and his world is foundational for the study of the Roman Empire in the fourth century CE. Matthews' Ammianus is a man very much in touch with his times, engaged in many of the exciting events that he describes, and a commentator motivated by a passionate devotion to justice. The empire that he depicts in The Roman Empire of Ammianus is undergoing a profoundly important intellectual transition as Christians and non-Christians dealt with each other in new ways, and a profoundly important political transition as Rome's ability to control its frontiers was severely challenged. This new edition of the volume offers a new Introduction by the author, and corrections to the original text. In Matthews' brilliantly researched and compellingly written pages we encounter brigands, philosophers, bishops, barbarians and one of the most extraordinary figures in all of Roman history: the Emperor Julian, who occupies for Matthews - as he did for Ammianus - a central place in the history of these times. Ammianus has been recognized for centuries as the last great historian of the Classical Latin tradition. It is thanks to Matthews that we can at last begin to appreciate the brilliance and complexity of the tapestry he wove with his words.

The Roman Empire of Ammianus

History

MATTHEWS, JOHN

Ancient Civilizations

Now available in English for the first time, Franco Ferrari's important Sappho's Gift: The Poet and Her Community offers extraordinary new insight into the life and works of Sappho, one of the ancient world's most brilliant poets. One of the very few women writers whose works have survived from antiquity, Sappho occupies a unique spot in literature in part because of her gender but more importantly because of the light she sheds on her time and place - Archaic Greece. Ferrari's study begins with the fragmentary evidence about the poems provided by papyri, and moves on to consider Sappho's iconography, the types of poems and their occasions, and her audience, meaning both her immediate circle of companions as well as competing groups and people in the larger community.

Sappho's Gift: The Poet and Her Community

Ferrari, Franco

Acosta-Hughes, Benjamin

Prauscello, Lucia

Mabel Lang's long career as a scholar and teacher has given her a unique perspective on one of the most important authors in western literature. Thucydidean Narrative and Discourse brings together several of her most thoughtful papers on figures and issues including the 400, Cleon, and Alcibiades, and joins them with new material on narrative technique. The assembled papers are an important complement to Professor Lang's pathbreaking study of Herodotean narrative. Together with introductory essays by the volume's editors, these papers will enable students of historiography in general to obtain a better understanding of how Thucydides engaged his audience. Although they were written over many years, the papers share a consistency of insight that makes them continually relevant to all who endeavor to understand the literary art of Thucydides.

Thucydidean Narrative & Discourse

Lang, Mabel

Lang, Mabel L.

Dickey, E.

The ancient economy has long been a hotly debated topic. Did citizens of the ancient world understand markets? Did they have economic policies? Did cities produce or consume? What effect did the ager publicus have on production and prices? Now available in English for the first time, Jean Andreau's latest volume on economic behavior in the Roman world investigates these questions and more. Translated from the French, The Economy of the Roman World is written for those new to ancient economic issues, and also for those curious about the broader context of artefacts they may know well, like amphorae, glassware or the famous garumfermented fish sauce. All Greek and Latin terms are translated. Each chapter is accompanied by translations of selected original documents from across the Roman Empire: ancient inscriptions, letters, passages from contemporary essayists. Maps of Italy and the Empire mark the many cities and regions that the author discusses in his comprehensive volume.

The Economy of the Roman World

Business & Money

David Potter

Jean Andreau

Ellen Bauerle

Corina Kesler

Economics

Born about 200 B.C. in Greece to a politically prominent family, Polybius had his own political career cut short when he was deported to Rome as a hostage. During his exile, he commenced the composition of his Histories, with the original goal of examining Rome's rise to supremacy during the years from 220 to 168 B.C.; later he would extend his investigation down to the aftermath of the Third Punic and Achaean wars, which ended in 146 B.C. Of the original forty books of the Histories, today only the first five survive essentially intact, with most of the remaining books represented by fragments of various lengths. In this volume, David D. Phillips presents a commentary on Polybius' first book. The volume includes the definitive text by Theodor Buttner-Wobst, together with detailed commentary on points of linguistic and historical interest, and an introduction to Polybius' life, the Histories (with special attention to book 1), and Polybian language, style, and tone. An index of Greek words is also provided.

Polybius Book I, a Commentary

David D. Phillips

This edition offers the intermediate/advanced Latin student everything he or she needs to read Caesar's Gallic War: the complete Latin text of Books 1-5 and 6.11-24, a thorough grammatical commentary, a full Latin-English vocabulary, an internal Latin grammar cross-referenced to the usage of Caesar, and twelve color maps illustrating Caesar's campaigns and battles. No other edition provides such completeness or such depth in helping students to read Caesar's Latin with proficiency and confidence.

Julius Caesar: Commentaries on the Gallic War (English and Latin Edition)

Francis W. Kelsey

In the Hellenistic period of Greek history, communities often offered honors and titles to representatives of certain dynasties. Modeled on the earlier civic practice of creating a cult for important mythological or divine figures, the more modern ruler cult signified which figures were important to a city and its region, and represented the city's appreciation in return for favors or military services offered. Divine Honors for Mortal Men in Greek Cities: The Early Cases presents Christian Habicht's argument for the handling of these ruler cults in mainland Greece and the islands, relying upon contemporary testimony, down to 240 BCE. John Noel Dillon's faithful yet inviting translation of the 1970 German edition presents the author's updated case studies based on inscriptional discoveries since that time. Divine Honors also includes updated supplemental material encompassing additional bibliography, and detailed subject and source indices.

Divine Honors for Mortal Men in Greek Cities: The Early Cases (Cultural Legacies)

Christian Habicht

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