Ancient history Books

Book SynopsisFor the first time investigates the ways that technological, and especially mechanical, strategies were integrated into ancient Greek religion. Presents in full the evidence from the fifth century BCE to the second century CE, thereby revealing the shifting matrices of agency between technical objects, mechanical knowledge, gods, and mortals.

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Book SynopsisNational armies, as we know them today, are a comparatively recent development. It has been assumed that the Romans had an army similar to the national institutions of advanced, almost exclusively European, powers at the end of the nineteenth century. But the assumption was wrong as is the belief that changes seen in the armies can be explained because the Romans reformed their armies. Up to the death of Augustus, the Romans had no permanent military forces. Roman armies were raised for particular campaigns and disbanded at their conclusion. Repeated campaigns were conducted in places like northern Italy and Spain but the armies were always disbanded. These armies were not seen by Romans as part of a national institution as modern armies are; they were simply a part of the life of a Roman citizen, like religion or elections. These armies were more like a militia than a national army. There is little evidence even of systematic training and what changes can be detected can be better exp

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Book SynopsisThe Second part of this ground-breaking trilogy covers the reigns of Ptolemy III, Ptolemy IV, Ptolemy V and Ptolemy VI.

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Book SynopsisHow Romans used the world of the house to interpret and interrogate the role of the emperor. The Julio-Claudian dynasty, beginning with the rise of Augustus in the late first century BCE and ending with the death of Nero in 68 CE, was the first ruling family of the Roman Empire. Elite Romans had always used domestic space to assert and promote their authority, but what was different about the emperor's house? In The Ruler's House, Harriet Fertik considers how the emperor's household and the space he called home shaped Roman conceptions of power and one-man rule. While previous studies of power and privacy in Julio-Claudian Rome have emphasized the emperor's intrusions into the private lives of his fellow elites, this book focuses on Roman ideas of the ruler's lack of privacy. Fertik argues that houses were spaces that Romans used to contest power and to confront the contingency of their own and others' claims to rule. Describing how the Julio-Claudian period provoked anxieties not onTrade ReviewFertik's study offers many such insights....[Her] writing is always clear, her literary analyses are always convincing....This book makes an important contribution to our understanding of Julio-Claudian Rome.—GnomonTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction Chapter 1 Playing House: New Families and New Rulers in Lucan's Bellum Civile Chapter 2 Contest and Control in the Emperor's House Chapter 3 Where to See the Emperor: Augustus and Nero in Rome Chapter 4 Exposing the Ruler: Seneca on Visibility and Complicity Chapter 5 Interdependence and Intimacy: Power at Home in Roman Pompeii Chapter 6 Bathing, Dining, and Digesting with the Ruler ConclusionNotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisCharts the decline of Spartan power from the Peloponnesian War (arguing that victory in this war actually contained the seeds of their downfall) down to the Roman conquest of Greece and Sparta's absorption into the Achaean League in 146 BC.

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Book SynopsisA new history of the fall of the Roman republic, told through the gripping story of Caesar's longest-surviving assassinTrade ReviewClear and urgent as the day's news, The Last Assassin is a grim study of unintended consequences. It brings into sharp focus events that many of us only half-know, and tells a story sadder and more complex than we can imagine, giving a new life not only to Caesar and his killers but to the common people who filled the mass graves of the Roman wars. It is written with authority, passion and insight - a political thriller, and a human story that astonishes. -- Hilary MantelPeter Stothard is a master of modern writing about ancient Rome. An implacable dictator cannot rest happy until each of his father's many killers is dead. A gripping history for today of how the assassins of Julius Caesar fell one-by-one, with ever fewer places to hide, before the vengeance of a would-be emperor -- Mary BeardHalf thriller, half elegy for a lost Republic, The Last Assassin traces the after-shocks of Caesar's murder as one by one the conspirators were eliminated to make way for a new Roman order. Stothard's writing is atmospheric and gripping, and his scholarship impeccable -- Greg Woolf, author of THE LIFE AND DEATH OF ANCIENT CITIES AND ROME: AN EMPIRE'S STORYThe Last Assassin is a compelling true-life thriller, profoundly researched, beautifully written, and a dire lesson in what happens when idealism meets tyranny and political freedom dies -- Christopher Hart * DAILY MAIL 'Book of the Week' *Stothard's history of the hunting down of the murderers by Antony and Octavian, Caesar's great-nephew and heir, who are first accomplices then bitter rivals as they each seek the throne, is a riveting, fast-paced thriller that makes one think of the brutal settling of scores at the end of The Godfather -- Patrick Kidd * THE TIMES *[A] gripping, gorgeously written new account of the killing and its consequences ... Stothard explores the familiar ground with fresh, engaging and learned eyes, displaying a novelist's knack for redolent and evocative detail, from cicadas and lizards to the press and horror of battle ... Stothard is excellent on the machinations and murmurings that recruited the killers ... the excitement and danger of the times are skilfully drawn ... Stothard weaves wonders from threads ... This book reminds us powerfully of the supreme importance of individual freedom against an overweening state; of being able to speak truth to those in authority -- Philip Womack * THE SPECTATOR *In this stimulating book, Peter Stothard focuses on the less-heralded players in the aftermath of Caesar's murder, tracing the period through the varied ends of his killers - in battle, by suicide or at the executioner's hand ... Stothard's compelling book gives shape to the political infighting, combining vivid personal detail ... Stothard writes with a poet's eye for atmosphere and a novelist's imagination in reconstructing events ... he also draws on a deep knowledge of the Roman context, and a sensitivity to the human complexity of events; his account stresses above all the plotters' uncertainty, fear and misery. All in all, this is a striking and evocative treatment of this transformative period -- Edwin Shaw * BBC HISTORY MAGAZINE *The Last Assassin is the most immediate account of Caesar's murder I have ever read. Even though the outcome of the Ides of March is one everybody knows, Stothard manages to endow it with something of the urgency and tension of a thriller -- Tom Holland * NEW STATESMAN *Peter Stothard knows how to deploy the telling diamond stud of a detail - whether in Senate debates, sea battles or describing the fusion of poetry and propaganda ... Stothard has woven a taut thriller from scant historical threads. But most of all this is a story of principles and the fight against tyranny, and all the better for focusing on one of history's forgotten players -- Alec Russell * FINANCIAL TIMES *Stothard's portrait of Parmensis as a tragic poet - a Thyestes was among his works - and keen Epicurean philosopher certainly humanises him. He emerges, indeed, as a most sensitive killer. If his initial motivations remain shadowy, then his gumption and determination to stay alive - or at the very least stare death honourably in the face - reverberate clearly through Stothard's tense and thrilling narrative -- Daisy Dunn * THE CRITIC *The excellent Last Assassin by Peter Stothard is a group biography of the killers of Julius Caesar, including Cassius Parmensis ... Stothard has a good eye for revealing questions ... The tale also is told with the genuine elegance we have come to expect from this author -- Roy Gibson * TLS *First murder, then mayhem. Mark Antony, determined to avenge the assassination of his pal Julius Caesar, sent his henchmen far and wide to hunt down his killers. One of those nasty fellows was a bloke called Publius Cornelius Dolabella, renowned as a rapist. His sidekick, known only as the Samarian, was a sadist handy with a heated knife, who also had a stretchy torture machine called the Horse. Peter Stothard, former editor of The Times, presents ancient Rome told in the style of a Coppola Mob movie. Wonderful detail and great fun. -- Gerard de Groot * THE TIMES 'Books of the Year' *Vivid, dramatic, evocative, and a unique narrative line tracking the assassination and its aftermath -- Adrian Spooner * CLASSICS FOR ALL *A thrilling account of the vengeful manhunt for Julius Caesar's assassins. Most readers' knowledge of the assassination in 44 B.C.E. ends with the bloody deed, but Stothard brings its aftermath to pulsing life... Stothard writes as if he lives and breathes the air of this tumultuous time. His readers will feel, for a brief time, that they are there as well. A deep immersion in a bloody era of ancient Rome, perfect for readers of Mary Beard and Tom Holland * KIRKUS REVIEWS, USA *A writer of rare talent... he weaves a tense, fast-paced tale from the many strands of a turbulent era... The vigor of Mr. Stothard's prose, and the acuity of his insight, will propel many readers... into an ancient Roman world that is startlingly real * WALL STREET JOURNAL, USA *

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Book SynopsisAntipater was a key figure in the rise of Macedon under Philip II and instrumental in the succession of Alexander III (the Great). Alexander entrusted Antipater with ruling Macedon in his long absence and he defeated the Spartans in 331 BC. After Alexander's death he crushed a Greek uprising and became regent of the co-kings, Alexander's mentally impaired half-brother (Philip III Arrhideus) and infant son (Alexander IV). He brokered a settlement between the contending Successors but died in 319 BC, having first appointed Polyperchon to succeed as regent in preference to his own sons. Antipater's eldest son Cassander later became regent of Macedon but eventually had Alexander IV killed and made himself king. Three of his sons in turn briefly succeeded him but could not retain the throne. Antipater's female heirs are shown to be just as important, both as pawns and surprisingly independent players in this Macedonian game of thrones. The saga ends with the failed bid by Nikaia, the widow of Antipater's great grandson Alexander of Corinth, to become independent ruler of Macedon.

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Book SynopsisPaul Coby here proposes a new system for the recording and mapping of Roman forts and fortifications that integrates all the data, including size, dating and identification of occupying units. Application of these methods allows analysis that brings new insights into the placement of these forts, the units garrisoning them and the strategy of conquest and defence they underpinned. This is a new and original contribution to the long-running debate over whether the Roman Empire had a coherent grand strategy or merely reacted piecemeal to emerging needs. Although the author focusses on several major campaigns in Britain as case studies, the author stresses that his method's are also applicable to elsewhere in the Empire. Lavishly illustrated with colour maps, the book is also supported by a website and blogs, encouraging further investigation and discussion.

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Book SynopsisIn 2016, in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, some forty scholars from around the world attended the People of the Ancient World conference. This was organized within the framework of the Romans 1 by 1 project, and its main focus was on improving knowledge on ancient populations, employing a variety of methodologies, tools and research techniques. The presentations provided the editors with ten papers to be further developed and reunited under these covers. They encompass diverse approaches to Roman provincial populations and the corresponding case-studies highlight the multi-faceted character of Roman society. The volume takes four main directions: prosopography (from Italy to Spain); ancient professions and professionals (merchants in Noricum, Lower Moesia, general nomenclature and encoding of professions, associations and family life); onomastics and origins, and finally, the military (iconography of funerary monunments and centurions’ social life). The publication is intended, on one hand, to enhance knowledge of the diversity of Roman social standings, of the exhibited social markers and – perhaps most important – stress the variety of forms which express status and place within the community, and on the other, to reiterate a series of fresh, modern views on these matters, resulting from a gathering of mostly junior researchers.Table of ContentsForeword; The Barbii, trade in Noricum and the influence of the local epigraphic habit on status display – by Markus Zimmermann; The professionals of the Latin West – by Rada Varga; Latin Occupational Titles in Roman Textile Trade – by Iulia Dumitrache; The professions of private slaves and freedmen in Moesia Inferior – by Lucrețiu Mihăilescu-Bîrliba; Prosopography of the Leading Families of Larinum in the Roman period – by Elizabeth C. Robinson; The kindred dimension of the Black Sea associations: between fictive and real meaning – by Pázsint Annamária – Izabella; Tarraco. Town and society in a 2nd century AD Roman provincial capital – by Diana Gorostidi, Ricardo Mar and Joaquín Ruiz de Arbulo; Soldiers and their monuments for posterity. Manifestations of martial identity in the funerary iconography of Roman Dacia – by Monica Gui, Dávid Petruț; Origo as identity factor in Roman epitaphs – by Tibor Grüll; Centurions: Military or Social Elite? – by George Cupcea

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Book SynopsisThe Middle Kingdom (c.1940-1640 BC) was a golden age of Ancient Egyptian writing. This pioneering book is the first comprehensive study of this literary legacy. The status of literature is controversial in many ancient civilizations, and Middle Kingdom poems have often been regarded as propaganda for the ruling dynasty. This study radically reassesses their cultural role, drawing on recent studies of the individual texts, some by the author, and on general developments in literary criticism, to argue that they were entertainments that voiced potentially dissident views while also being integral to elite culture. The book explores literature's status as a differentiated form of discourse, suggesting what social practices made its role possible and offering an innovative model for the reader's engagement with these subtle and complex ancient works. The book also surveys the social and ideological context of literature and proposes readings of the main tales, discourses, and teachings. The conclusion sets the readings in a broad context, while an appendix surveys the entire range of surviving texts.Trade Review'[T]he book reviewed here certainly represents a landmark. It is the first monograph devoted to an integral study and interpretation of the entire corpus of literature preserved from the Egyptian Middle Kingdom.' Joachim Friedrich Quack, Freie Universitat Berlin, Journal of the American Oriental Society, 124.2 'This is an extremely important book' Piotr Michalowski, George G. Cameron Professor of Ancient Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations University of Michigan 'Dr Parkinson has produced a work which surpasses all that has been written on Egyptian literature of the classicA" period till now.' E. Hornung, Professor Emeritus, University of BaselTable of ContentsPart One: Approaches 1. The Study of Middle Kingdom "Literature" 2. General Considerations: Definitions, Genre, Interpretation Part Two: Context and Intertext 3. Texts and Intertext 4. The Social Context 5. Literature and Culture 6. Literary Form 7. Cultural Themes of Literature Part Three: Readings 8. Tales 9. Discourses and Dialogues 10. Teachings 11. Reading the Poems Appendix 1: Survey of the Middle Kingdom Literary Corpus Appendix 2: Kemit

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Book SynopsisDespite the death of contemporary witnesses for the late Augustan and early Tiberian Principates, Ovid''s Fasti has remained curiously neglected as an historical source for the period. The aim of this new research is to show that the poem of some five thousand lines on the Roman calendar, written and revised in the years between AD 4-16, provides students of the Augustan age with a wealth of information, both about the author himself, and about his cultural and political environment. The author discovers important new insights into the way in which Augustus and his family were incorporated into the ancient religion of the city of Rome, and reveals Ovid as a unique contemporary witness of the last decade of Augustus'' life and the first years of Tiberius'' rule. From his poem the Fasti, Dr Herbert-Brown finds new evidence of the processes which marked the transition from the Republic to Empire.Trade ReviewThis study will be essential reading for anyone interested in the Augustan period, from a literary, topographical, or political point of view. * Christopher Smith, The Classical Review *A fine example of how to analyse the effect of political power on a writer and his work. * Thomas Wiedemann, Greece and Rome *Herbert-Brown's powerful discussions of those episodes in the Fasti that relate to the imperial house stand in an older tradition of scholarship on 'history of Ovid'...H.B. is very impressive in her control of the historical evidence and in her ability to combine it into large-scale hypothetical structures to provide usually convincing backgrounds to details of selection and emphasis in Ovid's treatment of the imperial household. * Philip Hardie, New Hall, Cambridge *This revised doctoral thesis is a learned and closely argued work that reads Ovid's Fasti essentially as a historical document. The book is well organized and produced ... There is no question but that the author has a thorough command of the historical evidence that bears on her subject. Her imagination is vivid and detailed, her attempts to reconstruct the ideological forces that shaped Augustus' Principate and Ovid's poem always challenging and instructive ... can ... be read with profit: it is full of useful information and challenging analysis ... A book to be used. * Joseph Farrell, University of Pennsylvania, American Journal of Philology 12/97 *Table of ContentsWhy "Fasti"; Augustus; Julius Caesar; Livia; Germanicus. Appendix: omissions in the Fasti.

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewThe story of China is written in the objects buried in its tombs over many millennia, but for most of us they are as hard to read as Chinese characters. Jessica Rawson is the master-interpreter. In a dozen tombs she tells the story of China across thousands of years, pointing out again and again the profound ways in which the Chinese are not like us. If you want to understand China today, start by visiting these twelve tombs in the enlightening company of Jessica Rawson. A dozen tombs - an underground journey to the heart of China. -- Neil MacGregorTime and time again, Jessica Rawson has demonstrated her extraordinary ability to explain the unfamiliar in terms that everyone can understand. Life and Afterlife in Ancient China is a perfect book for someone new to China. Unusually, it is also ideal for the more knowledgeable because it offers such an up-to-date portrayal of the complex relations between the ancient Chinese and their neighbors -- Valerie Hansen, author of The Year 1000: When Explorers Connected the World—and Globalization BeganNo book better attests to the most basic point of history - and not just China's - that we are profoundly shaped by our cultural heritages. Rawson's lucid and intimate account of the extraordinary contents of twelve ancient tombs stretching four millennia into the past brings readers inside Chinese culture and mentality in ways that instruct, surprise, and delight. A masterwork -- Timothy Brook, author of Vermeer's Hat and Great StateJessica Rawson understands the long history of China through a lifetime's engagement with its ancient sites and artefacts. Her book evokes both the internal dynamics and external influences of China's deep past with great clarity, allowing us to appreciate their continuing force and importance to the present -- Chris Gosden, Professor of European Archaeology, University of OxfordA distinguished art historian ... Rawson succeeds in distilling and animating a great deal of dry scholarship ... impressive and engaging. -- Robert Bickers * Literary Review *majestic history -- Andrew Robinson * nature *insightful ... Jessica Rawson has the ability to bring an unfamiliar subject to life ... rich ... an invaluable book for anyone wishing to learn more about the future of China by exploring its diversity and glorious ancient past. -- James Lin * BBC *

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Book SynopsisThis comprehensive and well-documented book provides a critically up-to-date analysis of trade in the ancient world, which takes into account a diverse range of evidence.Trade Review'... the editors are to be congratulated, both on identifying so timely a theme and on assembling and coordinating so stimulating a collection of papers.' - John Percival, The Classical ReviewTable of ContentsList of Figures Notes on Contributors Preface List of Abbreviations 1. Time for Change? Shaping the Future of the Ancient Economy Helen Parkins 2. The Old Assyrian Merchants Amelie Kuhrt 3. Traders and Artisans in Archaic Central Italy Christopher Smith 4. Trade on the Black Sea in the Archaic and Classical Periods: Some Observations Gocha R. Tsetskhladze 5. Ceramics and Positivism Revisited: Greek Transport Amphoras and History Mark Lawall 6. The Grain Trade of Athens in the Fourth Century BC Michael Whitby 7. Land Transport in Roman Italy: Costs, Practice and the Economy Ray Laurence 8. Trade and Traders in the Roman World: Scale, Structure, and Organization Jeremy Paterson 9. Trade and the City in Roman Egypt Richard Alston 10. Soul Merchants: Trade Networks, Religious Diffusion and Christian Origins in Northern Italy Mark Humphries 11. Ancient Economies: Models and Muddles John Davies Indexes.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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Book SynopsisThis series of essays by prominent academics and practitioners investigates in detail the history of performance in the classical Greek and Roman world. Beginning with the earliest examples of 'dramatic' presentation in the epic cycles and reaching through to the latter days of the Roman Empire and beyond, this 2007 Companion covers many aspects of these broad presentational societies. Dramatic performances that are text-based form only one part of cultures where presentation is a major element of all social and political life. Individual chapters range across a two thousand year timescale, and include specific chapters on acting traditions, masks, properties, playing places, festivals, religion and drama, comedy and society, and commodity, concluding with the dramatic legacy of myth and the modern media. The book addresses the needs of students of drama and classics, as well as anyone with an interest in the theatre's history and practice.Table of ContentsIntroduction Marianne McDonald and J. Michael Walton; Part I. Text in context: 1. 'Telling the tale': a performing tradition from Homer to pantomime Mark Griffith; 2. Ancient theatre and performance culture Richard P. Martin; 3. Religion and drama Fritz Graf; 4. The socio-political dimension of ancient tragedy Jon Hesk; 5. Aristotle's Poetics and ancient dramatic theory David Wiles; 6. Politics and Aristophanes: watchword 'caution!' Gonda Van Steen; 7. Comedy and society from Menander to Terence Sander Goldberg; 8. Lost theatre and performance traditions in Greece and Italy Hugh Denard; Part II. The nature of performance: 9. Art and theatre in the ancient world Richard Green; 10. Festivals and audiences in Athens and Rome Rush Rehm; 11. Playing places: the temporary and the permanent Richard Beacham; 12. Chorus and dance in the ancient world Yana Zarifi; 13. Masks in Greek and Roman theatre Greg McCart; 14. A material world: costume, properties and scenic effects Graham Ley; 15. Commodity: asking the wrong questions J. Michael Walton; 16. The dramatic legacy of myth: Oedipus in opera, television and film Marianne McDonald.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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Book SynopsisThe NKJV Word Study Reference Bible balances deep study of the biblical languages with clear application to help transform the way you live. Uncover a wealth of meaning in Scripture with more than 2000 Greek and Hebrew word studies.Bring the words of Scripture to life and discover the richness and significance of the original languages of the Word of God. The NKJV Word Study Reference Bible includes in-text subheadings and 2,000 easy-to-use word studies with select Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek words explained in every chapter from Genesis to Revelation. By looking into these ancient texts, we are able to read scripture as it was originally written and passed on from generation to generation. In addition, this Bible’s Topic-by-Topic studies give a practical framework for understanding scripture, along with more helpful resources.Features include:

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Book SynopsisLearn about the origins of stories about the Round Table, Excalibur and Camelot in this informative full-colour guide, exploring the mysterious King Arthur and the accompanying images of power, chivalry and romance.

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Book SynopsisKhnumhotep I was the first governer of the Oryx nome during Egypt's formative Twelfth Dynasty. The report includes a description of the tomb's architecture, its various scenes on daily life, desert-hunting and militaristic activities, as well as a new copy and translation of Khnumhotep I's biography.

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Book SynopsisOffering an understanding of politics in fifth-century Athens, this title constructs models of Athenian political groupings to explain the rise of the 'new politicians', young men who launched a different kind of democracy by appealing to the citizenry at large.Trade Review. . . a valuable book, and written in such a way that its interest should by no means be limited to classical scholars.—Times Literary Supplement. . . a major, stimulating, and positive contribution to our understanding of late fifth-century Athenian politics.--J. K. Davies, Gnomon

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Book SynopsisOffering an understanding of politics in fifth-century Athens, this title constructs models of Athenian political groupings to explain the rise of the 'new politicians', young men who launched a different kind of democracy by appealing to the citizenry at large.Trade Review. . . a valuable book, and written in such a way that its interest should by no means be limited to classical scholars.—Times Literary Supplement. . . a major, stimulating, and positive contribution to our understanding of late fifth-century Athenian politics.--J. K. Davies, Gnomon

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Book SynopsisOriginally adapted for stage, Peter Meineck's revised translation features a general introduction and introductions to the plays. Detailed notes on staging, history, religious practice and myth combine to make a this a practical teaching text.Trade ReviewStorey's contributions are solid, and conduct the beginner clearly and logically through the various minefields of Aristophanic scholarship, without oversimplification. . . . The particular virtue of Meineck lies in the fact that he is a theatre director who has worked with these texts in an attempt to realize them for modern audiences. . . . His aim of producing translations ‘that are understandable, performable, accessible, and entertaining’ has clearly been fulfilled. --Keith Sidwell, Classical Review. . . lively and entertaining. It conveys the astonishing vigor of the original Greek, while keeping close to the text. The notes would be useful in the classroom. --Margaret E. Reesor, Queen's University

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Book SynopsisOriginally adapted for the stage, Peter Meineck''s revised translations achieve a level of fidelity appropriate for classroom use while managing to preserve the wit and energy that led The New Yorker to judge his CloudsThe best Greek drama we''ve ever seen anywhere, and The Times Literary Supplement to describe his Wasps as Hugely enjoyable and very, very funny. A general Introduction, introductions to the plays, and detailed notes on staging, history, religious practice and myth combine to make this a remarkably useful teaching text.Trade ReviewStorey's contributions are solid, and conduct the beginner clearly and logically through the various minefields of Aristophanic scholarship, without oversimplification. . . . The particular virtue of Meineck lies in the fact that he is a theatre director who has worked with these texts in an attempt to realize them for modern audiences. . . . His aim of producing translations ‘that are understandable, performable, accessible, and entertaining’ has clearly been fulfilled. --Keith Sidwell, Classical Review. . . lively and entertaining. It conveys the astonishing vigor of the original Greek, while keeping close to the text. The notes would be useful in the classroom. --Margaret E. Reesor, Queen's University

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Book SynopsisThe author of more than 70 plays, Aeschylus is the earliest of the great Attic tragedians. Of these plays, only seven remain. The "Oresteia" is his only complete surviving trilogy. Peter Meineck has aimed to translate this version of the "Oresteia" for the modern stage.Trade ReviewPeter Meineck's new rendition of the Oresteia is that rare and wonderful thing: a text accessible to the Greekless audience while still preserving the vocabulary of Aeschylus. Those of us who have seen Peter Meineck's performances have long marveled at his ability to turn Greek into clear English, how he does not do 'versions' of the plays, how he does not rewrite the ancients into modern jargon (even his comedies maintain more Aristophanic text than is usual). Here lines that students have always needed explicated stand clear. . . . Helene Foley has provided a fine introduction for this translation. Introduction and translation together provide an exciting text, one that should be widely read, widely used. --Karelisa Hartigan, University of Florida, in The Classical Outlook. . . a translation for the stage by an experienced man of the theater. Its virtues are very real, and, though Meineck makes them seem easy, very hard to achieve. The idiom is contemporary without yielding to the siren song of gimmicky updating; it manages to be clear without betraying Aeschylus’ complexity or sacrificing his intricate imagery. What makes it effective on stage makes it work on the page, too. With the added guidance of Helene Foley's characteristically intelligent Introduction and Meineck's own crisp annotation and full stage directions, this translation offers the most approachable and in many ways most communicative Oresteia now available. It will be the Oresteia of choice for many teachers and their students, as well as for readers interested in what makes Greek tragedy great theater. --Peter Burian, Duke University

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Book SynopsisStanley Lombardo's translation of Homer's classic work aims to offer the distinctive speed and clarity of his other tranlations.Trade Review"The definitive English version of Homer for our time." —The Common Review: The Magazine of the Great Books Foundation"Lombardo weaves his cherished idioms into important patterns of repetition and transformation so familiar to the telling of the Odyssey. . . . Above all, such familiar phrases serve to remind us of the oral character of the original Odyssey, providing the reader with an uncanny immediacy and relevance." —Christina Zwarg, The Bryn Mawr Classical Review"Lombardo has the simple gift of summoning up a Homeric flavor wherever he turns. He may even blend contemporary colloquialisms with an antique epic grandeur, and the effect remains unimpaired. As Lombardo tells us, he recites and performs, he impersonates the poem as if he were the bard. We follow, we explore, plunging into 'medias res'. Homer arises before him as an encompassing reality. Lombardo moves at ease through this Homeric world, without artifice or rhetoric, attuning his verse to Homer's composition. Homer is here a vindication of poetry." —Paolo Vivante, McGill University"Lombardo has created a Homeric voice for his contemporaries: fresh, quick, and verbally engaging to the modern ear, as the original was to the ancient. His characters come alive as real people expressing real feelings with urgency and verve. I very much like the language and the pace of this version, and would welcome it for classroom use." —Joseph Russo, Haverford College"What could be finer / Than listening to a singer of tales / . . . with a voice like a god's?' So Odysseus on the bard Demodocus. And the singer, the oral poet, the 'aoidos', is what Lombardo embodies in his Homer. With a line and a language hammered out in public performance, he has made a verse that can move his audience to tears and even to laughter. At first glance, the simplicity startles—spare syntax, the highest proportion of short words in modern English poetry, colloquialism in the saddle, sudden and direct contact with the matter. But then the wonders of how he works become evident. So much was already to be seen/heard in Lombardo's version of the Iliad. But his Odyssey moves beyond, its verse widening its range to everything in between tears and laughter, able to present a storm, a battle, a chiding, a fable, a tale, and a whine with equal deftness. No version of the Odyssey is more immediate. No version shows better one of Homer's essentials: the oral poet at work. The persona is there, and it's real." —Douglass Parker, University of Texas at Austin"Ever since the publication of Stanley Lombardo's extraordinary translation of the Iliad, we have been waiting eagerly for his Odyssey, and it has been well worth the wait. Lombardo has done it again: he has rendered the Odyssey into English just as accurate, as perspicuous, and as gripping as that in his Iliad. Students will probably be unable to resist reading it in great long chunks. Lombardo's translation is enhanced by Sheila Murnaghan's characteristically lucid and accurate introduction, which will be a boon to teachers of undergraduates (or even high school students)." —John Kirby, Purdue University"It sheds new light, guiding us through a psychology of language we understand in order to show us the shadows of something quite alien to contemporary, secular experience. The language is honed, so that event, object and emotion are revealed by a tone of voice, or a compressed stanza that draws out an essential element without the accompanying poetic distortions of romance. This translation delivers the goods without dallying in over-amplified academic considerations. Instead, the words retain a kind of artful weight, with the emotional stress intact." —First Intensity Magazine

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