Literary studies: ancient, classical Books

Book SynopsisHomer Vol. I. Iliad (Books I-XII)Trade ReviewExcellent standard text. * Jeanne G. Kurtz, University of New Hampshire *

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Book SynopsisThe Oxford Guide to Arthurian Literature and Legend is both a critical history of the Arthurian tradition and a reference guide to Arthurian works, names, and symbols. It offers a comprehensive survey of the legends in all of their manifestations, from their origins in medieval literature to their adaptation in modern literature, arts, film, and popular culture. Not only does it analyse familiar Arthurian characters and themes, it also demonstrates the tremendous continuity of the legends by examining the ways that they have been reinterpreted over the years. For instance, the motif of the abduction of Guinevere can be traced from Chrétien de Troyes''s Lancelot or the Knight of the Cart and the vulgate cycle of French romances in the 13th century, to Malory''s retelling of the story in the Morte d''Arthur, through various modern adaptations like those in T. H. White''s The Once and Future King and the contemporary film First Knight. This indispensable reference guide contains seven essTable of ContentsIntroduction ; Bibliography of Basic Resources for the Study of the Arthurian Legends ; 1. Early Accounts of Arthur, Chronicles, and Historical Literature ; 2. The Romance Tradition ; 3. Malory, his Influence, and the Continuing Romance Tradition ; 4. The Holy Grail ; 5. Gawain ; 6. Merlin ; 7. Tristan and Isolt ; Afterword ; Arthurian People, Places, and Things ; Index

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Book SynopsisOne of the most popular and widely read books of the Middle Ages, Physiologus contains allegories of beasts, stones, and trees both real and imaginary, infused by their anonymous author with the spirit of Christian moral and mystical teaching. This book explains the origins, history, and literary value of this curious text.Trade Review"An elegant little book... still diverting to look at today.... The woodcuts reproduced from the 1587 Rome edition are alone worth the price of the book." - Raymond A. Sokolov, New York Times Book Review "Curley gives a careful account of the history and development of Physiologus, including the insoluble problem of its authorship." - Anne Clark, Washington Post Book World"

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Book SynopsisIn Theater of the Word: Selfhood in the English Morality Play, Julie Paulson sheds new light on medieval constructions of the self as they emerge from within a deeply sacramental culture. The book examines the medieval morality play, a genre that explicitly addresses the question of what it means to be human and takes up the ritual traditions of confession and penance, long associated with medieval interiority, as its primary subjects.The morality play is allegorical drama, a theater of the word, that follows a penitential progression in which an everyman figure falls into sin and is eventually redeemed through penitential ritual. Written during an era of reform when the ritual life of the medieval Church was under scrutiny, the morality plays as a whole insist upon a self that is first and foremost performedconstructed, articulated, and known through ritual and other communal performances that were interwoven into the fabric of medieval life.This fascinating loTrade Review“An insightful and elegant approach to late medieval and early modern morality plays, ritual practice, and selfhood, this book offers a much needed study of the morality play. It is beautifully written and full of thoughtful, and sometimes brilliant, readings. It should find a ready and enthusiastic audience.”—Shannon Gayk, associate professor of English and director of the Medieval Studies Institute, Indiana University "According to Theater of the Word, English morality plays perform spectacles of penitence that fashion religious pedagogy out of a carefully crafted dramaturgy. Paulson innovatively approaches these dramas as both responses to late medieval religious debates and unlikely illustrations of Wittgenstein’s notion of the embodied, social nature of verbal meaning. Along the way, this book makes a coherent and compelling case for the construction of medieval penitential selves through the dynamic medium of theatrical performance." —Theresa Coletti, University of Maryland“In her remarkable new study, Julie Paulson turns our assumptions about the medieval morality play—as well as medieval selfhood—inside out. Taking her cue from the work of Ludwig Wittgenstein and Stanley Cavell, Paulson argues that these plays depict an embodied, ritual performance of penance that produces a recognition of the self as a being created by God: a self constituted communally, rather than individually; a self whose body reveals rather than conceals the soul within. Theater of the Word crucially revises both the history of English drama and the history of the self: it will be essential reading for anyone studying medieval and Renaissance theater, literature, or history.” —Maura Nolan, University of California, Berkeley"This is a careful study, rich in readings of theology, philosophy, and literature, illustrating how the medieval Christian subject emerges from the rites and relationships that structure penance rather than from the self-scrutiny of confession. Theatre of the Word is essential reading because of its compelling articulation of the centrality of performance to medieval understandings of the self but also because it is a trenchant articulation of the tenacity of Cartesian dualism, even in medieval studies, and a call to attend to the words and worlds of human interaction." —Patricia Badir, University of British Columbia“Looking at this oft-forgotten genre of theatre, readers will learn more about medieval drama and how religious rule affected human actions and performances.” —Playbill“Paulson views the English morality play and a selection of related Reformation dramas through the lens of Wittgenstein’s philosophy of language as verbally and publicly performed constitutions of selfhood. . . . The analysis that follows illustrates this new approach to morality plays and related drama.” —ChoiceTable of ContentsIntroduction 1. The Castle of Perseverance and Penitential Platea 2. A Theater of the Soul’s Interior: Contemplative Literature and Penitential Education in Wisdom 3. Speaking for Mankind Everyman and Community 4. A New Theater of the Word: The Morality Play and the English Reformation Conclusion: Morality Drama Inside Out Works Cited

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Book SynopsisThis introduction provides the guidance that modern readers need to come to an informed appreciation of the writings of medieval England. An introduction to English literature written in the four centuries following the Norman Conquest. Written by the well-known medievalist, Thorlac Turville-Petre.Table of ContentsList of Plates. Preface. Abbreviations. Introduction. 1. The Use of English. Three Languages. The Choice of English. Social Register. 2. Texts and Manuscripts. Information from Manuscripts. Scribes and their Manuscripts. Audiences. Authors. 3. Literature and Society. Bond and Free. Social Tensions in the Reeve's Tale. Ploughing Piers' Half Acre. At the Court of King Arthur. In Criseyde's Palace. 4. History and Romance. Definitions. Monastic History. The History of St Erkenwald. Englishing Arthur. The Fairy World. 5. Piety. From Pecham to Arundel. Christ the Lover and God the Unknowable. Retelling Biblical Stories. The Death of a Child. 6. Love and Marriage. Marriage and Love - and Sex. A Lover's Confession. Love's Craft. 'All this Mean I by Love'. Bibliography. Index.

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Book SynopsisWe know more of Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 BC), lawyer, orator, politician and philosopher, than of any other Roman. Besides much else, his work conveys the turmoil of his time, and the part he played in a period that saw the rise and fall of Julius Caesar in a tottering republic.Trade ReviewIf I could make one Christmas wish, it would be that every MP receives these two volumes in their stocking next week, and is obliged to recite a passage of Cicero—in D. R. Shackleton Bailey’s crystalline translation—on Boxing Day morning, to understand how great speeches are made… The great advantage of the Loeb editions is that readers who are interested in the language of Rome but whose Latin is weak (a category in which I am emphatically included) can compare the original side by side with the translation. Thus one can get a sense of how Cicero’s words sounded, before glancing across and seeing them in English… This translation is throughout a joy to read. -- Robert Harris * Sunday Times *Table of Contents* List of Cicero's Works * Preface * Preface to the Original Edition * Introduction * Introduction to the Original Edition * Note on Manuscripts and Editions * Abbreviations * Bibliography * Chronology * Maps * Philippic 1 * Philippic 2 * Philippic 3 * Philippic 4 * Philippic 5 * Philippic 6

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Book SynopsisWe know more of Marcus Tullius Cicero (10643 BC), lawyer, orator, politician and philosopher, than of any other Roman. Besides much else, his work conveys the turmoil of his time, and the part he played in a period that saw the rise and fall of Julius Caesar in a tottering republic.Trade ReviewIf I could make one Christmas wish, it would be that every MP receives these two volumes in their stocking next week, and is obliged to recite a passage of Cicero—in D. R. Shackleton Bailey’s crystalline translation—on Boxing Day morning, to understand how great speeches are made… The great advantage of the Loeb editions is that readers who are interested in the language of Rome but whose Latin is weak (a category in which I am emphatically included) can compare the original side by side with the translation. Thus one can get a sense of how Cicero’s words sounded, before glancing across and seeing them in English… This translation is throughout a joy to read. -- Robert Harris * Sunday Times *Table of Contents* List of Cicero's Works * Abbreviations * Philippic 7 * Philippic 8 * Philippic 9 * Philippic 10 * Philippic 11 * Philippic 12 * Philippic 13 * Philippic 14 * Fragments * Index

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Book SynopsisThe comedies of Plautus , who brilliantly adapted Greek plays for Roman audiences ca. 205–184 BC, are the earliest Latin works to survive complete and cornerstones of the European theatrical tradition from Shakespeare and Molière to modern times. Twenty-one of his plays are extant.

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Book SynopsisRichard Foltz is Professor of Religions and Cultures at Concordia University, Canada.Trade Review‘This engagingly written, excellent new history of the Tajik people is an outstanding achievement’. * Rustam Shukurov, Professor of History, Moscow State University, Russia *"an informative introduction to an important subject that has been ill-served both in history and in scholarship" * Daniel Beben, Central Asian Survey *Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Preface Preface to the second edition Acknowledgments Historical Timeline A Note on Transliteration Introduction: Who are the Tajiks? 1 The Prehistory of Central Asia 2 Sogdians and Bactrians 3 The Samanid Empire and the New Persian Renaissance 4 Tajiks and Turks 5 The Soviet Period 6 The Republic of Tajikistan 7 Tajiks in Uzbekistan Excursus: Afghanistan at a Stone’s Throw Conclusion: Differing Contexts, Manifold Challenges Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisXenophon’s Symposium is a work as useful for its Greek as it is precious for its content, a document of prime importance for the study of classical Greek society. This edition offers an unprecedented amount of help with the language, a large vocabulary and notes on the content. Greek text with facing translation, introduction and commentary.Table of ContentsPreface Map IntroductionBibliographyNote on the Text and TranslationSYMPOSIUM: Parallel Greek Text and English TranslationCommentaryVocabulary of Greek WordsIndexes

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Book SynopsisThe first book-length study of sexuality and gender in De rerum natura. Argues that the understanding of the universe it presents represents an unremitting assault upon the fictions that comprise Roman masculinity. Nevertheless, Lucretius offers an Epicurean vision of masculinity that just might save the Republic.

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Book SynopsisCultural memory theory explains why, how, and with what results we remember. This book explores these questions in relation to late Republican and Augustan Rome and provides an excellent and accessible starting point for readers who are new to the topic, whilst also appealing to the seasoned scholar.

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Book SynopsisMany modern critics have treated Seneca as an innovator in historical understandings of 'selfhood' and self-awareness. This volume of essays by internationally well-known scholars promises to reshape our understanding of Seneca, and to establish once and for all his place as a student of the human psyche.

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Book SynopsisThis book provides a survey of this complex period of European history, covering themes such as the impact of Christianisation, the formation of nations and states, the emergence of an expansionist commercial economy, the Crusades and the intellectual and cultural life of the Middle Ages.Trade ReviewPraise for previous editions'Instructors seeking an alternative to the standard political and institutional narrative found in most medieval history texts will find the new edition of Blockmans and Hoppenbrouwers to be a superb choice. With its focus on social groups and cultural movements, the text is also written in a fluid style that will engage students. I look forward to using it in my next medieval history survey.'Edward Tabri, University of Texas at Tyler, USA'Introduction to Medieval Europe provides an excellent overview into the fascinating world of the Middle Ages. It covers issues such as mentalities of men and women as well as giving an insight into the world of medieval politics. Included is a thought-provoking chapter on continuities which provides a new framework for the understanding of a world distant to us both in time and place.'Thomas Småberg, Malmö University, Sweden'This is an extraordinarily wide-ranging introduction, covering Europe in its broadest sense from the British Isles to Turkey. It not only explains the political, intellectual and religious developments that occurred between the late Roman period and the Reformation but it also gives an insight into what life must have been like for most people. An essential first port of call for anyone wishing to understand the Middle Ages.'Jonathan Harris, Royal Holloway University, UK'The particular strength of this new edition of Introduction to Medieval Europe 300–1550 is the authors’ ability to trace the development and transformation over time of large scale social, economic, and religious structures and mentalities. How did pagans become Christians? How did slaves and peasants become serfs? How did armed horsemen become knights? Few if any other textbooks at this level can offer students such a sure guide along the path to understanding how the outlines of medieval society took shape.'Sean Field, University of Vermont, USA'This commendably clear and concise overview of the medieval period should be essential reading for all stu-dents coming to the subject for the first time. The coverage of social, economic and intellectual themes is particularly strong. Readers will appreciate the profusion of maps, diagrams and other illustrations which buttress the text.'Simon Barton, University of Exeter, UK'In their new edition on the Middle Ages, Blockmans and Hoppenbrouwers offer a rich, accessible, and valuable resource for students and lecturers of medieval history alike. With its expanded list of tables, figures, illustrations, color maps, primary source boxes, and annotated bibliographies, this revised text is a must-have for anyone interested in the formation of pre-modern Europe. Through a careful re-organization of materials and an extended treatment of the period along sensible thematic and chronological lines, this work will continue to reign among the leading introductory surveys on the medieval world.'Kriston Rennie, University of Queensland, Australia'In the crowded field of historical surveys of medieval Europe, Blockmans and Hoppenbrouwers have managed to produce something distinctive and original. Their book gives a clear, well-written overview of the political, social, economic and artistic developments in these important centuries with helpful explanations of technical terms and good suggested further reading. Eastern Europe is given full weight and thoughtful illustrations give valuable insights into a culture more visual than literate. But more than this the authors demon-strate why medieval Europeans deserve to be studied, their influence on later times and different places, how many of our own preoccupations derive from theirs. Blockmans and Hoppenbrouwers make the European Middle Ages not just fascinating, but relevant as well.'Andrew Roach, University of Glasgow, UK'This is a work that helps its reader to grasp the defining contours of medieval history, without being subjected to a whirlwind of narrative detail. It is refreshing in its pan-European scope, bringing Lithuania to stand along-side France, and in its effective location of key issues in broader frameworks of change and continuity. Most of all, it treats the alterity of the Middle Ages on its own terms – and explains just what it is that makes under-standing that fundamentally different world quite so interesting and worthwhile.'Stephen Mossman, University of Manchester, UK'Blockmans and Hoppenbrouwers' Introduction to Medieval Europe has established itself as the classic survey in English on the Latin West in the Middle Ages. The second edition is even more commendable: the book’s unique European perspective has been improved by situating the Latin West within neighbouring cultures and suggesting new ways of integrating European historiography. This is an indispensable starting point for students, scholars and, indeed, for any audience that wishes to familiarise itself with the essential European dimension of the history of the Latin West between 300 and 1500.'Martial Staub, University of Sheffield, UKTable of ContentsIntroduction Part 1 The early Middle Ages, 300–1000 1. The end of the Roman Empire in the West 2. The establishment of two world religions: Christianity and Islam 3. The powerful and the poor: society and economy in the Frankish kingdoms and beyond Part 2: The Central Middle Ages, 1000-1300 4. Early kingdoms and principalities 5. Accelerated growth 6. Religious reform and renewal Part 3: Expansion and maturation, 1000-1500 7. The beginnings of European expansion 8. Thinking about man and the world 9. Towns and the urbanisation of medieval society Part 4: The Late Middle Ages, 1300-1500 10. Between crisis and contraction: population, economy and society 11. The consolidation of states 12. Crisis in the Church and the reorientation of the faithful Epilogue

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Book SynopsisThis is the first book-length exploration of the type-scenes of western medieval literature from the ninth to the fifteenth centuries, spanning both the Latinate and Germanic traditions. Type-scenes are the recurring, stock scenes comprising the basic structure and cognitive guidance for narrative. These formulaic scenes enabled medieval poets to express originality while honoring tradition. Central to medieval poetic invention, type-scenes form the vital internal organs of narrative, each serving a specialized function while working in concert with other organs to create and sustain the story. This accessible and engaging guide to medieval type-scenes consists of three parts: Part I is a compendium of the type-scenes commonly found in medieval narrative, including analyses of examples from individual poems. Part II explores combinations of type-scenes within single works of literature for purposes of chronology, characterization, or virtuosity. Part III examines how a single type-s

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Book SynopsisBrings together the many, often seminal, contributions of a leading Hellenist to our understanding of major genres of Greek literature, above all the Greek novel, but also Attic Comedy, historiography, Hellenistic and Imperial Greek poetry. An invaluable resource for scholars, enhanced by Professor Bowie's new Introduction and extensive indexes.

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Book SynopsisLivy''s Ab urbe condita Book XXII narrates Hannibal''s massive defeats of the Romans at Trasimene (217 BC) and Cannae (216 BC). It is Livy''s best and most dramatic book, and the one most likely to appeal to students at every level. Livy drew on the Greek historian Polybius, but transformed his drier treatment into a rhetorical masterpiece, which by a series of insistent thematic contrasts brings out the tensions between the delaying tactics of Fabius and the costly rashness of Flaminius, Minucius and Varro. A substantial and accessibly written introduction by two experienced commentators covers historical, religious, literary and linguistic matters, including the place of Book XXII in the structure of Livy''s long work. A new text by Briscoe is followed by a full commentary, covering literary and historical aspects and offering frequent help with translation. The volume is suitable for undergraduates, graduate students, teachers, and scholars.Trade Review'… an excellent introduction to Livy for the newcomer, indeed nearly an advanced textbook … an outstanding contribution to Livian studies. The authors deserve no less than our heartiest congratulations and warmest thanks.' Joseph B. Solodow, Cambridge Greek and Latin Classics'The very up-to-date list of references and the extensive indices … make their contribution to the fact that the present volume will quickly establish itself as an indispensable standard work … a third decade worth reading.' Dennis Pausch, Histos'… a highly independent, standard-setting commentary work …' Ann E. Killibrew, Historische ZeitschriftTable of ContentsIntroduction; 1. Livy's life and work; 2. Course of the war; 3. Sources; 4. Structure; 5. Chronology; 6. Language and style; 7. Literary aspects; 8. Religion in Livy; 9. Roman politics and Fabian strategy; 10. Manpower; 11. The text; Livy Book XXII; Commentary.

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Book SynopsisThe definitive work on the late Byzantine romances, the dozen or so works of imaginative fiction from the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries which narrate the trials of aristocratic young lovers. Demonstrates the cultural value of these works and their centrality to the European and Mediterranean literary traditions.Trade Review'The volume offers a remarkable plurality of learned and sharp views and opinions on the Byzantine romances that should be taken into consideration by anyone working on medieval fiction, storytelling, and translation (in any language).' Foteini Spingou, Speculum: A Journal of Medieval StudiesTable of Contents1. An introduction to the Palaiologan romance: narrating the vernacular Adam J. Goldwin and Ingela Nilsson; 2. The categories of 'originals' and 'adaptations' in late Byzantine romance: a reassessment Kostas Yiavis; 3. Intercultural encounters in the late Byzantine vernacular romance Carolina Cupane; 4. Dreams and female initiation in Livistros and Rhodamne and Hypnerotomachia Poliphili Efthymia Priki; 5. The acculturation of the French romance Pierre De Provence et La Belle Maguelonne in the Byzantine Imperios and Margarona Romina Luzi; 6. Chronotopes between East and West in Apollonios of Tyre Francesca Rizzo Nervo; 7. Linguistic contacts in the late Byzantine romances: where cultural influence meets language interference Theodore Markopoulos; 8. From Herakles to Erkoulios, or the place of the war of Troy in the late Byzantine romance movement Elizabeth Jeffreys; 9. Troy in Byzantine romances: Homeric reception in Digenis Akritis, the Tale of Achilles and the Tale of Troy Adam J. Goldwyn and Ingela Nilsson; 10. Herodotean material in a late version of the Alexander romance Corinne Jouanno; 11. The Palaiologan hagiographies: saints without romance Charis Messis; 12. Homosocial desire in the War of Troy: between (wo)men Stavroula Constantinou; 13. Literary landscapes in the Palaiologan romances: an ecocritical approach Kirsty Stewart; 14. The affective community of romance: love, privilege and the erotics of death in the Mediterranean Megan Moore; 15. The bookseller's parrot: a fictional afterword Panagiotis A. Agapitos.

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Book SynopsisThrough combinations of instructive prose and incantatory verse, liturgical rituals and herbal recipes, Latinate learning and oral tradition, the Old English remedies offer hope not only for bodily ailments but also for such dangers as solitary travel, swarming bees and stolen cattle. Hybrid healing works from the premise that the tremendous diversity of Old English medical texts requires an equally diverse range of interpretative methodologies. Through a case study approach, this exploration of early medicine offers a series of close readings tailored specifically to individual remedies, drawing from a range of fields including plant biology, classical rhetoric, archaeology, folkloristics and disability studies. Embracing the endless complexity of these Old English texts, Hybrid healing argues that the healing power of individual remedies ultimately derives from a dynamic and unpredictable process that is at once both deeply traditional and also ever-changing.Table of ContentsIntroduction: an Old English poetics of health and healing1 With hope and humility: hybridity as theoretical framework2 Of swords and status: hybridity of metaphor in Ic me on þisse gyrde beluce3 When healers are heroes: hybridity of battle in Wið færstice4 To persuade a plant: hybridity of rhetoric in Harley 5855 Of mandrakes and manuscripts: hybridity of being in Harley 6258B6 On health and hearing: hybridity of environment in Bald’s Leechbook7 From remedies to riddles: hybridity of genre in an Exeter Book riddleConclusion: With empathy and imagination: hybridity in the fieldIndex

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Book SynopsisThis book brings together a range of methodological approaches to highlight royal and elite sexualities the sexualities of rulers, and those who were ruled by their sexualities and how these case studies might contribute to our broader knowledge of premodern gender and sexualities. -- .

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Book SynopsisThe first collection devoted solely to early medieval riddles, Riddles at work showcases recent research in this popular, new field. It brings together studies of Old English and Latin riddles, authors at various stages of their careers and a range of approaches, aiming to map out both the state of the field now and its future directions. -- .

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Book Synopsis'This book is an expression of love... Sublimely conceived and beautifully written' Gerard DeGroot, The Times'Immersive, conversational and intensely visual' Helen Castor------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Manuscripts teem with life. They are not only the stuff of history and literature, but they offer some of the only tangible evidence we have of entire lives, long receded.Hidden Hands tells the stories of the artisans, artists, scribes and readers, patrons and collectors who made and kept the beautiful, fragile objects that have survived the ravages of fire, water and deliberate destruction to form a picture of both English culture and the wider European culture of which it is part.Without manuscripts, she shows, many historical figures would be lost to us, as well as those of lower social status, women and people of colour, their stories erased, and the remnants of their labours destroyed.From the Cuthbert Bible, to works including those by the Beowulf poet, Margery Kempe, Julian of Norwich, Sir Thomas Malory, Chaucer, the Paston Letters and Shakespeare, Mary Wellesley describes the production and preservation of these priceless objects.With an insistent emphasis on the early role of women as authors and artists and illustrated with over fifty colour plates, Hidden Hands is an important contribution to our understanding of literature and history.Trade ReviewThis is an engaging and beautiful book - the engagement arising from the author's deep commitment to understanding the lives of medieval women and men, and the beauty from her ability to make us see and hear them talking about and living their experiences. It isn't just an introduction to literary manuscripts but also a series of glimpses of the extraordinary diversity of medieval lives. Mary Wellesley has taken jewels from our bibliographic treasures and placed them, carefully and with love, in the palm of the reader's hand -- Ian MortimerMary Wellesley is a born storyteller and Hidden Hands is as good as historical writing gets. Wellesley draws on her deep scholarly knowledge of medieval manuscripts to weave a captivating tale, told through generations of 'tremulous hands' and forgotten artistic geniuses, whose works inform so much of what we know today about the Middle Ages. This is a sensational debut by a wonderfully gifted historian. -- Dan Jones, bestselling author of The Plantagenets and The Templars.Their creators being largely anonymous, Medieval manuscripts tell their own stories in this Decameron of devotion and obsession, encryption and skullduggery, extravagance, destruction, and survival. The result is an unexpectedly swift page-turner on the era when pages were turned slowly. -- Eliot Weinberger, author of Angels & SaintsHidden Hands shines with 'bibliophilic feeling.' With care forensic and literary, Wellesley reveals the traces of their history legible in the pores of the page and in the process provides a page-turner of her own. * Amaranth Borsuk, author of The Book *Mary Wellesley has written a most original book which is at once a vivid personal account of scholarly detective work and a model of how history might be taught now that there is easy electronic access to ancient manuscripts. She traces the precarious survival of the the earliest books, expounds with clarity the methods and purposes of authors, scribes, patrons, annotators and illustrators and speculates with sympathy on their motives. Hands (especially female ones) assume personalities, indeed voices which are recognisable even when alien - and often urgently appealing. -- Nicholas PennyAuthors may write their books, but they don''t make them. Here is the chance to meet the women and men who actually made the cathedrals and palaces of medieval English literature, from the St Cuthbert Gospel to the Luttrell Psalter, from Beowulf to Chaucer. Mary Wellesley tells us about the authors, but more important, she introduces us to the artists, the ink-makers, vellum preparers and pigment grinders - and all the others who contributed their different gifts to these great communal achievements. To read this book is to meet the makers of the English literary middle ages. -- Neil MacGregorHidden Hands is a delight - immersive, conversational, and intensely visual, full of gorgeous illustrations and shimmering description. Mary Wellesley explores the lives of medieval manuscripts, and the men and - importantly - women who made them, with deep learning and unmistakable love. * Helen Castor *It is very seldom you read a book which offers gifts on every page, every paragraph, every sentence. I learned more, and was more delighted, reading Hidden Hands that the last dozen books I read. Her book brings you into the heart's core of literature and I loved it. -- Andrew O'HaganIn an age moving ever more quickly away from the physical book, Hidden Hands conjures up in vivid detail the pleasures of reading and making manuscripts. Mary Wellesley's joy in telling the stories of books long lost and found, and voices forgotten and recovered, is palpable on every page. I finished this book with a burning desire to get back to the archives. -- Ramie Targoff, author of Renaissance WomanMary Wellesley brings early Britain alive with this exciting account of the hidden world of old manuscripts. Far from an arid examination of dusty parchments this is an exhilarating journey of discovery, full of new insights not least, as the title implies , the important but unrecognised role women played in political and religious life. A refreshing and original vision of who we once were. -- David DimblebyWith her richly detailed, personal, multi-layered and unexpected stories about manuscripts and their makers - scribes and patrons, illuminators and parchment-makers - Mary Wellesley brings vividly before us anonymous and forgotten figures, several of them women. Writing con amore, she celebrates the sensuous processes involved and chronicles the vicissitudes of the works' survival: this is a warm, enthralling and original contribution to the history of the book. -- Mariner WarnerA fascinating and brilliantly narrated voyage into the little-known treasure-houses of medieval culture. -- Simon JenkinsFascinating, well-researched and (pardon the pun) illuminating. * The Countryman Mag *It is intensely personal. It wears its learning lightly. It chats easily and informally to the reader. It conveys a mass of arcane but fascinating information... Manuscripts establish a personal bond across the centuries between [the author] and the men and women who made them. Few people have described the experience so eloquently. The range is remarkable... wonderful. * The Spectator *To Wellesley, books are objects, tangible things, a million miles away from Kindles, which are insert. Her taste is not for "the sanitised, ordered blandness of the modern edited text." * The Daily Telegraph *'Highlighting instances in which texts about women were radically recentered on men, Wellesley offers a nuanced glimpse of the shifting nature of the written word' * New Yorker *This is a lovely book, beautifully written and brimming with enthusiasm . . . Wonderful. * Sunday Times (History BOTY) *A georgeously written debut work from a historian of great talent * BBC History Magazine Books of the Year *A jaw-dropping account of . . . medieval manuscripts. * The Scotsman *

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Book SynopsisThis book is an entertaining, informative and enchanting introduction to its subject – just as those medieval banes of the farmyard, the Fox and the Vixen, were enchanting in escapades from fables and funny tales, from beastly epic poems and bestiaries, and from medieval material culture (in Danish wall-paintings and Dutch manuscript illustrations and statues, stained-glass and Italian mosaics). There exist books on medieval fox stories and on the animal’s iconography, which are important themes in this study, but this book is the first holistic approach to all types of manifestations of foxes in medieval culture – from medical recipes and fur trade, to Bible commentaries and hunting manuals.Table of ContentsPreface List of Illustrations Introduction The Fox and Medieval Religion The Fox and Medieval Scholarship The Fox and Medieval Literature Postscript Appendix Endnotes Further Reading Select Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisNumerous books have attempted to chronicle the life of Dante Alighieri, yet essential questions remain unanswered. How did this self-taught Florentine become the celebrated author of the Divine Comedy? Was his exile from Florence so extraordinary? How did Dante make himself the main protagonist in his works, in a literary context that advised against it? And why has his life interested so many readers? In Dante's New Lives, eminent scholars Elisa Brilli and Giuliano Milani answer these questions and many more. Their account reappraises Dante's life and work by assessing archival and literary evidence and examining the most recent scholarship. The book is a model of interdisciplinary biography, as fascinating as it is rigorous.Table of ContentsAbbreviations and Works Cited Preface Prologue: Lineages 1 Adolescence 2 Youth in Florence 3 Youth in Exile 4 Old Age Epilogue: Legacies References Bibliography Acknowledgements Photo Acknowledgements Index

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Book SynopsisEssays exploring medieval castration, as reflected in archaeology, law, historical record, and literary motifs. Castration and castrati have always been facets of western culture, from myth and legend to law and theology, from eunuchs guarding harems to the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century castrati singers. Metaphoric castration pervadesa number of medieval literary genres, particularly the Old French fabliaux - exchanges of power predicated upon the exchange or absence of sexual desire signified by genitalia - but the plain, literal act of castration and its implications are often overlooked. This collection explores this often taboo subject and its implications for cultural mores and custom in Western Europe, seeking to demystify and demythologize castration. Its subjects includearchaeological studies of eunuchs; historical accounts of castration in trials of combat; the mutilation of political rivals in medieval Wales; Anglo-Saxon and Frisian legal and literary examples of castration as punishment; castration as comedy in the Old French fabliaux; the prohibition against genital mutilation in hagiography; and early-modern anxieties about punitive castration enacted on the Elizabethan stage. The introduction reflects on these topics in the context of arguably the most well-known victim of castration in the middle ages, Abelard. Larissa Tracy is Associate Professor of Medieval Literature at Longwood University. Contributors: Larissa Tracy, Kathryn Reusch, Shaun Tougher, Jack Collins, Rolf H. Bremmer Jr, Jay Paul Gates, Charlene M. Eska, Mary A. Valante, Anthony Adams, Mary E. Leech, Jed Chandler, Ellen Lorraine Friedrich, Robert L.A. Clark, Karin Sellberg, LenaWånggrenTrade ReviewAnyone interested in the multiple premodern meanings of castration will enjoy this morbidly fascinating collection; it deserves the attention of all who work on ancient, medieval or early modern masculinities. * REVIEW OF ENGLISH STUDIES *Each contribution is equally engaging and provides an account that can be read as a stand-alone work; likewise, read in conjunction, the fourteen essays sit well together to provide a detailed picture of castration in medieval society. * PARERGON *Its wide temporal and geographical range, its sheaf of disciplinary approaches, make Castration and Culture a valuable collection and one that achieves a notable coherence. * ÓENACH *Table of ContentsIntroduction: A History of Calamities: The Culture of Castration - Larissa Tracy Raised Voices: The Archaeology of Castration - Kathryn Reusch The Aesthetics of Castration: The Beauty of Roman Eunuchs - Shaun Tougher Appropriation and Development of Castration as Symbol and Practice in Early Christianity - Jack Collins 'Al defouleden is holie bodi': Castration, the Sexualization ofTorture, and Anxieties of Identity in the South English Legendary - Larissa Tracy The Children He Never Had; The Husband She Never Served:Castration and Genital Mutilation in Medieval Frisian Law - Rolf H. Bremmer The Fulmannod Society: Social Valuing of the (Male) Legal Subject - Jay Paul Gates 'Imbrued in their owne bloud': Castration in Early Welsh and Irish Sources - Charlene Eska Castrating Monks: Vikings, the Slave Trade, and the Value of Eunuchs - Mary A. Valante 'He took a stone away': Castration and Cruelty in the Old Norse Sturlunga saga - Anthony Adams The Castrating of the Shrew: The Performance of Masculinity and Masculine Identity in La dame escolliee - Mary E Leech Eunuchs of the Grail - Jed Chandler Insinuating Indeterminate Gender: A Castration Motif in Guillaume de Lorris's Romans de la rose - Ellen Lorraine Friedrich Culture Loves a Void: Eunuchry in Eunuchry in De Vetula and Jean Le Fèvre's La Vieille - Robert L. A. Clark The Dismemberment of Will: Early Modern Fear of Castration - Lena Wånggren and Karin Sellberg

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Book SynopsisLucan's epic on the Civil War has dodged in and out of fashion. Widely admired in the 17th and 18th centuries, it came in the 19th and 20th to be criticised by comparison with Virgil's Aeneid. The latter was established as the standard by which all other epic poets fail. Lucan's besetting "fault" was seen as his reliance on rhetoric. This work sets out to consider the rules of ancient rhetoric as learned by Lucan and applied in his epic. Four themes commmon to poetry and to the declamatory schools (tyranny, storms, the occult and dreams) are closely analyzed in relation to the poem, and the poem is itself set in the context of the Neronian age.

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Book SynopsisThis volume is the first to make the Middle English Breton lays available to teachers and students of the Middle Ages. Breton lays were produced by or after the fashion of Marie de France in the twelfth century and claim to be "literary versions of lays sung by ancient Bretons to the accompaniment of the harp." The poems edited in this volume are considered distinctly "English" Breton lays because of their focus on the family values of late medieval England. With the volume's helpful glosses, notes, introductions, and appendices, the door is opened for students to study Middle English poetry and the medieval family alike.Table of ContentsPreface General Introduction Sir Orfeo Introduction, Select Bibliography, Text, Notes Lay le Freine Introduction, Select Bibliography, Text, Notes Sir Degaré Introduction, Select Bibliography, Text, Notes Emaré Introduction, Select Bibliography, Text, Notes Sir Launfal Introduction, Select Bibliography, Text, Notes Sir Gowther Introduction, Select Bibliography, Text, Notes Erle of Tolous Introduction, Select Bibliography, Text, Notes Sir Cleges Introduction, Select Bibliography, Text, Notes Appendix A Marie de France, The Lay of the Ash Tree Appendix B Marie de France, The Lay of Sir Launfal Appendix C Sir Landevale Glossary

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Book SynopsisAldus Manutius was the most innovative scholarly publisher of the Renaissance. This ITRL edition contains all of his prefaces to his editions of the Greek classics, translated for the first time into English. They provide unique insight into the world of scholarly publishing in Renaissance Venice.Trade ReviewThese prefaces are important documents in the history of culture in general as well as the history of printing. * Seventeenth-Century News *

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Book Synopsis"You said that you would not fail to improve yourself according to my teaching and correction, and you would do everything in your power to behave according to my wishes." [Prologue] "I urge you to bewitch and bewitch again your future husband, and...Trade ReviewA cookbook section contains over 350 recipes, and if many of them are taken from authorities such as the royal chef Taillevent, the author is quite opinionated about what works and what doesn't; he improves some recipes and offers others that seem to be his own. No man before or since has known more about running an affluent household, from keeping vermin out of linen to shopping in the market to caring for hunting hawks. The work has a peculiar tone, bossy yet tender, even elegiac. In their introduction the translators emphasize the husband's firm desire to subordinate his wife, but acknowledge that they found the book more appealing than they had originally expected. -- Paul Freedman * Times Literary Supplement *Table of ContentsIntroduction. Maid to Order: The Good Wife of Paris The Book: Backgrounds, Narrator, Genre, Sources Contexts: Conduct Books and Household Books Glossing the Tale of Griselda: The Model Wife and Marriage in Le Ménagier de Paris Translation ProtocolsThe Good Wife's Guide: The English Text of Le Ménagier de Paris Prologue Introductory Note to Articles 1.1-1.3 Prayers and Orderly Dress (1.1) Behavior and Attire in Public (1.2) The Mass, Confession, the Vices and Virtues (1.3) On Chastity (1.4) Devotion to Your Husband (1.5) Obedience (including the Story of Griselda) (1.6) The Care of the Husband's Person (1.7) The Husband's Secrets (1.8) Introductory Note to Article 1.9 Providing Your Husband with Good Counsel (including the Story of Melibee) (1.9) Introductory Note to Article 2.1 Le Chemin de povreté et de richesse (2.1) Horticulture (2.2) 2 Choosing and Caring for Servants and Horses (2.3) Introductory Note to Article 3.2 Hawking Treatise (3.2) Menus (2.4) Recipes (2.5)Glossary of Culinary Terms Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisDuring the Middle Ages, the arresting motif of the walled garden - especially in its manifestation as a sacred or love-inflected hortus conclusus - was a common literary device. During the Middle Ages, the arresting motif of the walled garden - especially in its manifestation as a sacred or love-inflected hortus conclusus - was a common literary device. Usually associated with the Virgin Mary or the Lady of popular romance, it appeared in myriad literary and iconographic forms, largely for its aesthetic, decorative and symbolic qualities. This study focuses on the more complex metaphysical functions and meanings attached to it between 1100 and 1400 - and, in particular, those associated with the gardens of Eden and the Song of Songs. Drawing on contemporary theories of gender, gardens, landscape and space, it traces specifically the resurfacing and reworking of the idea and image of the enclosed garden within the writings of medieval holy women and other female-coded texts. In so doing, it presents the enclosed garden as generator of a powerfully gendered hermeneutic imprint within the medieval religious imaginary - indeed, as an alternative "language" used to articulate those highly complex female-coded approaches to God that came to dominate late-medieval religiosity. The book also responds to the "eco-turn" in our own troubled times that attempts to return the non-human to the centre of public and private discourse. The texts under scrutiny therefore invite responses as both literary and "garden" spaces where form often reflects content, and where their authors are also diligent "gardeners": the apocryphal Lives of Adam and Eve, for example; the horticulturally-inflected Hortus Deliciarum of Herrad of Hohenburg and the "green" philosophies of Hildegard of Bingen's Scivias; the visionary writings of Gertrude the Great and Mechthild of Hackeborn collaborating within their Helfta nunnery; the Middle English poem, Pearl; and multiple reworkings of the deeply problematic and increasingly sexualized garden enclosing the biblical figure of Susanna.Trade ReviewThe Enclosed Garden provides much food for thought for any reader interested in the intersections of medieval women's literature and history, postmodern feminist theory, and feminist ecocriticism. With each re-reading, it offers new insights and details to ponder, much like a garden itself. -- JOURNAL OF MEDIEVAL RELIGIOUS CULTURESPlates allow easy reference to certain iconographic documents... the bibliography is rich and has the merit of not being limited to the English language alone: ​​there are also references in French and German. Overall, it is appropriate to salute a work which invites reflection by tracing new, little-explored paths, particularly in the French-speaking sphere. Planches permettent de se reporter aisément à certains documents iconographiques... La bibliographie est riche et a le mérite de ne pas s'en tenir à l'unique langue anglaise : on y trouve également des références en français et en allemand. Au total, il convient de saluer un ouvrage qui invite à la réflexion en traçant des voies nouvelles, peu explorées, notamment dans la sphère francophone. * LE MOYEN AGE *Table of ContentsIntroduction: Gardens, Landscape and the Human Imaginary Out of Eden: The Framing of Eve Une communion inimitable: Material Garden Hermeneutics in the Work of the Women of Mechelen, Herrad of Hohenbourg and Hildegard of Bingen Gertrude of Helfta and Mechthild of Hackeborn: An Arboreal Imaginary of Flourishing Relocating Mechthild's Garden Hermeneutics: The Middle English Poem Pearl 'Straightened on Every Side': Susanna's Garden Dilemma Afterword: The Garden Hermeneutic in the Age of COVID-19 Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisBorn in Tuscany in 1304, Italian poet Francesco Petrarca is widely considered one of the fathers of the modern Italian language. His writings inspired the Humanist movement and, subsequently, the Renaissance, but few figures are as complex or as misunderstood. He was a devotee of the ancient pagan Roman world and a devout Christian, a lover of friendship and sociability, yet at times an intensely private and almost misanthropic man. He believed life on earth was little more than a transitory pilgrimage, and took himself as his most important subject-matter. Christopher S. Celenza provides the first general account of Petrarch's life and work in English in over thirty years, and considers how his reputation and identity have changed over the centuries. He brings to light Petrarch's unrequited love for his poetic muse, Laura, the experiences of his university years, the anti-institutional attitude he developed as he sought a path to modernity by looking toward antiquity, and his endless focus on himself. Drawing on both Petrarch's Italian and Latin writings, this is a revealing portrait of a paradoxical figure: a man of mystique, historical importance and endless fascination.Trade Review'Complexities of interpretation are food and drink to Petrarchan scholars, and Christopher Celenza tucks into them with quiet determination in his short life-and-works overview . . . Celenza's book introduces us to the breadth of Petrarch's intellectual world.' - Charles Nicholl, London Review of Books; 'Celenza's account, easily the best and most accessible life of Petrarch to appear in English in a century . . . ranges easily over the whole of the poet's life and times, following him in the "wanderings" Celenza describes as characterising Petrarch's somewhat peripatetic career in the service of the wealthy Visconti family and others. The book's main strength is its literary sensitivity; Celenza finds echoes of Petrarch's life in a far wider array of his writings than marquee sonnets - his various treatises, essays, and Latin verse all receive refreshingly intelligent integration into the broader narrative . . . the book's most memorable Petrarch is also its best achievement: the man himself, querulous, self-doubting, eager for fame but distrustful of it. That Petrarch very much does speak to our own age, and in these pages by Celenza, he finally gets a life of his own.' - The National; '[Petrarch] himself turned again and again in his writings to the flaws of humanity. Celenza exposes the Italian writer's flaws throughout his book, while simultaneously eliciting pity and respect. If he's a "misunderstood" man, then this book makes us want to understand him, contradictions and all.' - Times Higher Education; 'The entire book shines with Celenza's close attention to historical and philological detail, his superb textual and contextual analyses, and his deep understanding of how much Petrarch's legacy contributed to European cultural life. This brief review can barely suggest the subtlety with which the author interweaves such familiar texts as the poet's account of climbing Mount Ventoux with his evolving idea of Italy, and such ongoing endeavours as the poet's incursions into Italian verse with his efforts to secure a political future for Italy. Though designed for and accessible to a wide readership, the book will delight Petrarchan specialists with up-to-date nuggets of scholarly information, smart insights into cultural contexts, and powerful reinterpretations of landmark texts.' - Renaissance and Reformation; '[a] well-informed yet highly readable and elegant presentation . . . an impressive publication with which Celenza has set a standard for future research that will not be easy to surpass, when it comes to outlining Petrarch's intellectual profile both from the perspective of his life and work.' - Bernhard Huss, Germanisch-Romanische Monatsschrift; 'The Epilogue connects several facets of Petrarch's posthumous reputation, reviewing his identities as a Latinist, classicist and Tuscan love-poet, and arguing that his complex personality "speaks to our age more than ever". For scholars hoping to join that Petrarchan dialogue, Celenza's biography will serve as a vital interlocutor.' - Forum for Modern Language Studies; 'No one who wants an up-to-date introduction to Petrarch will do better than Christopher Celenza's life and letters treatment, Petrarch: Everywhere a Wanderer, beautifully printed by Reaktion Books. The prose is direct, demotic, and engaging, sometimes professorial, but pleasantly professorial.' - Brian Copenhaver, Journal of Modern History; 'The book on my table is beautiful, on the inside as well as the outside. And it is not only attractive to look at, it is also well written - a pleasure to read . . . This is a book that is meant to read from start to finish, rather than as a reference work; reading it is a little like walking through a labyrinth, or solving puzzles (which the present writer at least loves doing). It is stimulating and it gives you new ideas.' - Bryn Mawr Classical Review; 'not least among this book's virtues is the wealth of color illustrations, which include not only portraits of the poet and photographs of important Petrarchan sites, but also copies of manuscripts owned, annotated, or written by Petrarch, as well as later editions of his works. For the uninitiated, these images and their commentary grant special access into Petrarch's own reading and writing habits. Combined with the author's breadth of reference and limpid prose style, they make this book a pleasurable and accessible guide to Petrarch for the twenty-first-century neophyte.' - Speculum; 'The striking appeal of Christopher Celenza's study is how the scattered worlds of Petrarch are brought together in vigorous unity - the passionate classicist haunted by a yearning for modernity, the Tuscan love poet whose melodious sonnets for Laura would be imitated for centuries, the restless Augustinian pilgrim, and the self-conscious yet enigmatic spider in a network of powerful friends and acquaintances. In his elegant and poetic style, Celenza combines reader-friendliness with scholarly sophistication and depth. This is a timely intellectual biography written by one of today's leading Renaissance scholars.' - Professor Unn Falkeid, University of Oslo, author of The Avignon Papacy Contested: An Intellectual History from Dante to Catherine of Siena

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Book SynopsisHeroic epic of the eighth to the fifth century BCE includes poems about Hercules and Theseus, as well as the Theban Cycle and the Trojan Cycle. Genealogical epic of that archaic era includes poems that create prehistories for Corinth and Samos. These works are an important source of mythological record.Trade ReviewA magnificent achievement...As one would expect of a scholar of West's distinction these are accurate, keenly alive to each nuance of the Greek...Scholars owe a considerable debt of gratitude to West for [this] new Loeb. -- Richard Whitaker * Scholia Reviews *

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Book SynopsisAeschylus (ca. 525–456 BC) is the dramatist who made Athenian tragedy one of the world’s great art forms. Seven of his eighty or so plays survive complete, including the Oresteia trilogy and the Persians, the only extant Greek historical drama. Fragments of his lost plays also survive.Trade ReviewAlan Sommerstein’s three-volume Aeschylus…is in many respects the best critical edition of this playwright available in any format. Sommerstein’s authority as a linguist and expert in Aeschylean drama is second to none… Particularly welcome is the well-documented and clearly presented volume of Fragments—for of course the seven plays we happen to possess are by no means all that Aeschylus wrote, and not necessarily even the seven best: the trilogies dealing with Achilles at Troy, or with Pentheus and the Bacchants, for example, seem to have been especially daring and influential. The facing English translation is a trustworthy guide for all who want help in figuring out what Aeschylus (probably) wrote and meant. -- Mark Griffith * Times Literary Supplement *

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Book SynopsisQuintus Smyrnaeus' Posthomerica, composed between the late second and mid-fourth centuries AD, boldly adapts Homeric diction and style to fill in the story of the Trojan expedition between the end of the Iliad and the beginning of the Odyssey. This edition replaces the earlier Loeb Classical Library edition by A. S. Way (1913).

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Book SynopsisPaints a lucid picture of the medieval world view, providing the historical and cultural background to the literature of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. This, Lewis's last book, has been hailed as 'the final memorial to the work of a great scholar and teacher and a wise and noble mind'.Table of ContentsPreface; 1. The medieval situation; 2. Reservations; 3. Selected materials: the classical period; 4. Selected materials: the seminal period; 5. The heavens; 6. The longaevi; 7. Earth and her inhabitants; 8. The influence of the model; Epilogue; Index.

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Book SynopsisIn letters to his friend Atticus, Cicero (106–43 BC) reveals himself as to no other of his correspondents except perhaps his brother, and vividly depicts a momentous period in Roman history, marked by the rise of Julius Caesar and the downfall of the Republic.

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Book SynopsisVolume VI of the nine-volume Loeb edition of Early Greek Philosophy includes the later Ionian and Athenian thinkers Anaxagoras, Archelaus, and Diogenes of Apollonia, along with chapters on early Greek medicine and the Derveni Papyrus.Trade ReviewIn brief, André Laks and Glenn Most give us a brilliant and beautiful reference work that can, at the same time, be easily enough read straight through. And spending a few months doing so gives the reader almost all that she needs (perhaps along with Loeb #258, Greek Elegiac Poetry) to reconstruct for herself the origins of the discipline of philosophy. I should want any graduate student or colleague in ancient philosophy or intellectual history to acquire and make their way through it. -- Christopher Moore * Classical Journal *The publication of the Loeb Classical Library’s nine-volume set, Early Greek Philosophy, gives us a new edition of the original texts, with fresh translations. It is a monumental achievement—the result of many years of dedicated work on the part of the two editors/translators André Laks and Glenn W. Most… We owe a profound debt of gratitude to the editors/translators for their thorough and impeccable scholarship, and to the publishers for their usual high standards of production. If you can afford them, don’t hesitate: you will be all the richer for having these volumes on your shelves. -- Jeremy Naydler * Minerva *André Laks and Glenn W. Most have made available to the world of scholarship in early Greek philosophy a resource of immense value. Every study of a thinker or of an issue within the thematic ambit of Early Greek Philosophy must henceforth start by canvassing and taking into account the appropriate selections in the Loeb set. -- Alexander P. D. Mourelatos * Bryn Mawr Classical Review *The publication of a Loeb Classical Library edition of the evidence for early Greek philosophy is a major event in classical scholarship…The editors and their assistants are to be commended for their exemplary execution of such a vast and difficult task. They have succeeded in producing what is far and away the best available edition of the texts of the early Greek philosophers with accompanying English translation…More than that, their edition effectively supersedes Hermann Diels and Walter Kranz’s Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker, which has long held sway as the standard edition of the Presocratics, but it only does so because Laks and Most have respectfully taken Diels-Kranz as their model…Laks and Most have set such a high standard with this work that it is hard to imagine that we will see a better general collection on early Greek philosophy in our lifetimes…Laks and Most’s philological acumen, judiciousness as editors, and excellence as translators is evident on every page. -- John Palmer * Arion *

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Book SynopsisSeneca (ca. AD 4 65) authored verse tragedies that strongly influenced Shakespeare and other Renaissance dramatists. Plots are based on myth, but themes reflect imperial Roman politics. John G. Fitch has thoroughly revised his two-volume edition to take account of scholarship that has appeared since its initial publication.

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Book SynopsisAppian (ca. AD 95–161) is a principal source for the history of the Roman Republic. His theme is the process by which Rome achieved her contemporary prosperity, and his method is to trace in individual books the story of each nation’s wars with Rome up through her own civil wars. This Loeb edition replaces the original by Horace White (1912–13).Trade ReviewA superb, nuanced translation…It is not simply that McGing updates the translation to reflect contemporary idiom; he also breathes new life into Appian’s prose on almost every page…This exceptionally well executed Loeb is a welcome resource that will be deeply appreciated by all those interested in Appian and his remarkable Roman History as well as expand his appeal to a new generation of readers. -- Alain M. Gowing * Bryn Mawr Classical Review *I have not read any fictions that have more dramatic tension, philosophy, or narrative curiosities than this history of Appian’s. * Pennsylvania Literary Journal *

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