Literary studies: ancient, classical Books

Book SynopsisDemosthenes’ oration On the Chersonese is a masterpiece of rhetorical brilliance and contains some of the best examples of his skill as a political orator, coming as one of his final surviving speeches in the corpus. It was delivered to the Athenians in 341 BC, at a time of turbulent events when Athens was coming under increasing pressure resulting from the actions of Philip of Macedon. The Chersonese was a region of great importance for Athens. At the time of the speech, Philip was in the middle of an extensive military and diplomatic campaign in Thrace that would threaten the security of the Athenian grain trade from the Black Sea. The resulting pressure in the Chersonese, however, was seen by Demosthenes as an attempt by Philip to weaken Athens as a prelude to taking the whole of Greece. In this context he argued in the speech that the general Diopeithes, who had been sent out to the Chersonese in 346 with a naval force, be supported in the face of protest from Philip regarding Diopeithes’ actions in the wider area. He focuses on Athenian relations with Philip in this crucial northern region and why Philip was a threat to Athenian interests in the area. This edition with Greek text, translation and commentary contains the first detailed commentary on this speech. The introduction explains the historical background in some detail, as well as examining Demosthenes’ deliberative oratory, the structure and style of the speech, and relationship to the speeches that followed, including the famous Third Philippic. The commentary focuses on all political, military, social and religious references presented by Demosthenes, as well as oratorical aspects.Table of ContentsIntroductionText and translationCommentaryAppendicesMapsIndex

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Book SynopsisAn Introduction to Greek Mythology and Modern Society provides students with a collection of curated readings that discuss the placement of myths in ancient and modern societies. The anthology reveals how myths serve as tools for analysing, dissecting, and embracing the impact of past and present traditions in forming and shaping the world around us. Many of the examinations centre on the characters and events in the Harry Potter series written by J.K. Rowling, a modern and beloved tale that mirrors many themes and stories found in classic Greek myths.Unit I discusses the interpretation of myths, with articles that examine how Harry Potter is grounded in the humanistic nature of the beloved title character and other members of the wizarding community; the influences of Near Eastern mythology in Greek culture; and the birth of Hercules, a cornerstone hero within Greek mythology. Unit II draws connections between Greek gods and the wizards of Harry Potter. The readings explore the role of deities and the demand of human morality; social structures as defined by the gods; and the relationships between gods, demigods, and mortals. The final unit centres on heroes, including Achilles, Odysseus, Heracles, and Harry Potter.Featuring a unique and highly relatable approach, An Introduction to Greek Mythology and Modern Society is an ideal textbook for courses and programs in Classics, Greek mythology, and the enduring power of storytelling in society.

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Book SynopsisThe characteristic alliterative poem of the 14th and 15th centuries tells a story of incident and adventure: it is pre-eminently the poetry of narrative. Yet it is also, more than any other kind of medieval verse, remarkable for passages of vivid description, taking advantage of the extraordinary rich verbal resources of the alliterative poets and the characteristic strengths of the alliterative line. Memorable examples are the green chapel in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the storm at sea in Patience, the dream-landscape in Pearl, and the mysterious tomb in St Erkenwald; there are violent battle-scenes, descriptions of hunting and hawking, beautiful meadows and terrifying mountains, purling streams and wild rivers. Here is a seeming contradiction, or at least a tension that needs to be explored. The descriptive passages are digressions that interrupt the narrative; the story must pause to take in a visual effect. In Description and Narrative in Middle English Alliterative Poetry, Thorlac Turville-Petre explores this relationship between description and narrative, and the contribution of description to the narrative. Passages from all the major alliterative poems are analysed, and translated as necessary, so that the book may meet the needs of students as well as scholars familiar with the language and the topics discussed.Trade ReviewReviews 'These essays cap Thorlac Turville-Petre's nearly half-century career devoted to the alliterative poetic tradition. They ably explore a variety of paradoxes, most notably the tensions between narrative progress and descriptive stasis, and between the perceived 'otherness' of alliterative language and style and various forms of familiarisation (appeals to lived experience, manifold connections with other Middle English writing, as well as with previously unnoted inspirations outwith English). Above all, the essays testify to the power of skills almost forgotten in today's academy, for Turville-Petre's careful unpacking of the poets' capacity to visualise rests always upon an impressive readerly attentiveness.'Ralph Hanna, Professor of Palaeography (Emeritus) and Emeritus Fellow at Keble College, Oxford.‘This book can be approached as a treasury of close readings of the Gawain group and related Middle English alliterative romances, with attention to sources, representation, and locality. On that basis, the book deserves praise, indeed gratitude, for its interpretive precision.’Eric Weiskott, Modern Philology‘[Offers] an informative summary of Turville-Petre’s body of work and provides a critical anthology of vivid passages of alliterative description […] Elegantly written and intellectually engaging.’Alex Mueller, The Review of English Studies'Thorlac Turville-Petre has produced a vade mecum for readers of Middle English alliterative poetry. The most important poems all receive attention. Two preliminary chapters define the corpus and introduce readers to its language and form. The bibliography lists preferred editions. Yet this is not a companion in the sense popularized by Cambridge University Press and Boydell & Brewer. A new “companion to Middle English alliterative poetry” would be welcome, but Turville-Petre offers something more interesting: he reads the poems. His subject is poetic technique, especially descriptive technique and the way that descriptions sit within the flow of narrative.' Ian Cornelius, Anglia'The book as a whole is the work of a scholar immersed in the corpus of late-medieval alliterative verse. Turville-Petre's command of the material is impressive and the texts are lovingly described in clear and crisp prose. That alliterative poets excel at descriptio is a commonplace of criticism, and this study will provoke further analysis of their context and rhetoric.' Richard J. Moll, The Medieval ReviewTable of ContentsAbbreviations1. Introduction2. The Vocabulary of Description3. Narrative and Description in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight4. Morte Arthure: A Hero for our Time5. Alexander’s Entry into Jerusalem in the Wars of Alexander6. Authenticity and Interpretation in St Erkenwald7. Landscapes and Gardens8. Siege Warfare9. Storms10. ConclusionBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisThis is the second volume of a collection which includes all the significant remains of tragedies produced by the contemporaries and successors of the three classic Greek tragedians (Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides). Greek texts and sources are accompanied by English translations, related historical information, detailed explanatory notes and bibliographies. Volume Two includes more than a dozen poets of the fourth and early third centuries (Astydamas, Carcinus, Chaeremon, Theodectas, Moschion and others), the Alexandrian Pleiad, Ezechiel’s Exagôgê (a tragedy based on the biblical Exodus), and some anonymous material derived from ancient sources or rediscovered papyrus texts. Remnants of the satyr-plays of this period are included in a separate Aris & Phillips Classical Texts volume, Euripides Cyclops and Major Fragments of Greek Satyric Drama, edited by Patrick O’Sullivan and Christopher Collard (2013).Trade Review‘Cropp offers an effective overview of what we know of Greek tragedy from the fourth century onwards… the commentary, concise and fluent but at the same time punctual and not without original suggestions, allow one easy use of the text even for those who do not have specialist knowledge on the subject.’ Paolo B. Cipolla, Exemplaria Classica (translated from Italian)

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Book SynopsisThe catalogue is the first step towards a systematic description of the manuscripts of the Wycliffite Bible, one of the most influential medieval English works. The Bible is the first complete translation of the Vulgate in English, produced at the end of the 14th century by the followers of the Oxford theologian John Wyclif. In spite of being condemned and banned within twenty five years of its appearance, it became the most widely disseminated medieval English text. The catalogue contains detailed descriptions of all (64 in total) manuscripts of the Wycliffite Bible in Oxford collections (the Bodleian and college libraries). This is a substantial part of the whole corpus: 250 manuscripts of the Bible survive and Oxford has the largest number of copies in any single location. The descriptions are subdivided into sections covering textual contents, decoration, dialect, physical makeup and binding of each manuscript, and are accompanied by bibliographies. The descriptions are preceded by an introduction with a discussion of the manuscript tradition of the Wycliffite Bible and the findings resulting from the study of Oxford copies. The catalogue also contains several appendices illustrating important features of the manuscripts.Trade ReviewReviews 'This is in every important respect a model exercise in clear, careful and methodical description of a complex body of material.'TLS'Manuscripts of the Wycliffite Bible will be a necessary resource for scholars working on the Wycliffite Bible, and also for codicologists examining Middle English book production.' Kathleen E. Kennedy, Journal for Manuscript Studies'It will become an invaluable tool for anyone interested in the study of the Wycliffite Bible, and will surely be joined by deeper analyses and other tools that will further our understanding of this--now less understudied-- class of manuscripts.' Eyal Poleg, The Medieval Review‘The Wycliffite Bible… has received little serious scholarly attention. Elizabeth Solopova’s research is changing all that. […] It is to be hoped that other scholars will follow Solopova’s exemplary lead in cataloguing additional location-specific subgroups of WB manuscripts.’Michael P. Kuczynski, Medium AevumTable of ContentsAcknowledgementsAbbreviations List of manuscripts List of illustrations Introduction The form of entries The Catalogue Appendix 1. The contents of the Wycliffite Bible 2. Manuscripts containing the Earlier Version or combining the Earlier and Later Versions 3. The contents of manuscripts 4. The origin and provenance of manuscripts 5. Types of medieval owners 6. Presentation of text 7. Rubrics to Gospels and their Prologues (collation) Index

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Book SynopsisThe three poems (Satires 7, 8 and 9) that comprise Book 3 of the Satires form a brilliant collection, displaying Juvenal at the height of his powers and in the full breadth of his interests. Satire 7 takes a jaundiced look at intellectual life in Rome, bemoaning the financial poverty which is the lot of the writer, the lawyer and the teacher in an age where patrons may shower them with praise but rarely with cash. Satire 8 is an excoriating account of the old ‘noble’ families and how their current representatives are anything but noble in their behaviour both at home and in the provinces. The scandalous Satire 9 returns to the theme of patronage in a superbly acid dialogue with a certain Naevolus who has served his patron sexually and who now complains of the poor returns for his extensive and energetic labours. All three poems purport to describe and to critique Roman society, but they do so with an irony which draws attention to the medium as well as the message and which makes the speaker of the poetry often the target of his own abuse. This is the first edition of Book 3 as a unit by itself and the first edition intended for students with limited knowledge of Latin. The introduction sets the scene for the text and gathers background information on a range of essential topics pertinent to the text. The commentary as well as dealing with textual transmission, the metre, the factual background and advanced points of stylistic interest also aims to impart something of the pleasure and interest to be gained from reading this sublimely skilful poetry.Trade Review‘This most welcome edition… should be useful for the experienced Latinist while offering a translation that is fluent and with enough exegesis to convey Juvenal’s meaning, tone and style for the non-Latinist.’ Alan Beale, Classics for All‘Godwin’s translation is an enjoyable read that makes Juvenal’s challenging language pleasurable… Godwin’s terse and lively style, which runs effortlessly through the key concepts of the poet’s work, is a great asset.’ Marta M. Perilli, Bryn Mawr Classical Review

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Book SynopsisThis volume offers the first fully scholarly translation into English of the Tale of Livistros and Rodamne, a love romance written around the middle of 13th century at the imperial court of Nicaea, at the time when Constantinople was still under Latin dominion. With its approximately 4700 verses, Livistros and Rodamne is the longest and the most artfully composed of the eight surviving Byzantine love romances. It was almost certainly written to be recited in front of an aristocratic audience by an educated poet experienced in the Greek tradition of erotic fiction, yet at the same time knowledgeable of the Medieval French and Persian romances of love and adventure. The poet has created a very 'modern' narrative filled with attractive episodes, including the only scene of demonic incantation in Byzantine fiction. The language of the romance is of a high poetic quality, challenging the translator at every step. Finally, Livistros and Rodamne is the only Byzantine romance that consistently constructs the Latin world of chivalry as an exotic setting, a type of occidentalism aiming to tame and to incorporate the Frankish Other in the social norms of the Byzantine Self after the Fall of Constantinople to the Latins in 1204.Trade Review'[The Tale of Livistros and Rodamne] is a fascinating text that will be of interest to a broad range of scholars including Byzantinists as well as anyone working on cross cultural literary and cultural interactions in the medieval Mediterranean.' Nicholas Morton, The Journal of Religious History, Literature & Culture'Agapitos captures every sound, rhythm, and movement with attention to the lyricism of the original language... The Tale of Livistros and Rodamne is a literary triumph and a solid step forward in the right direction in Byzantine and world literary studies.' Christina Christoforatou, Speculum‘Panagiotis Agapitos’ translation of the mid-thirteenth-century romance Livistros and Rodamne does justice to one of the great works of Byzantine literature through one of its great scholars. [Agapitos] restores the poetry to the poem, in terms of both its verse layout and the pleasures of its inventive diction and intricate structure.’ Adam J. Goldwyn, Byzantine and Modern Greek StudiesTable of ContentsPreface Introduction I. General issues 1. The genre of Byzantine romance 2. L&R in older scholarship 3. Textual history and editorial situation 4. Date, place of composition, primary audience II. Literary matters 1. A brief summary of L&R 2. Relation to the Komnenian and Ancient Greek novels 3. Relation to the Old French romances 4. Byzantine occidentalism? Exoticism in L&R 5. The ‘awe-inspiring mysteries’ of a poet’s art 6. Narrative and the organization of time 7. Narrative space and narrated spaces 8. L&R as an instruction manual on the ‘art of love’ 9. Eros, hybrid power and the politics of desire 10. Poetic language and the blended style in L&R III. The translation The Tale of Livistros and Rodamne Bibliography

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Book SynopsisBooks V-VI of Julius Caesar’s The Gallic War narrate Caesar’s campaigns in Britain, Gaul, and Germany in 55 and 54 BCE. His political rival Pompey was at the height of his popularity in Rome, making it all the more incumbent upon Caesar to deliver exciting news of victories. Book V should have been the tale of triumphant conquest in Britain, but Caesar’s campaign was underwhelming; Caesar the politician and general thus needed assistance from Caesar the author. In Books V and VI Caesar masterfully compensates for the lacklustre British campaign with a dramatic account of his forceful suppression of Ambiorix’s revolt and new incursions into Germany; the narrative is further enlivened with speeches and digressions on the Britons, Germans, and the wonders of the Hercynian Forest. This English translation faithfully represents the clarity and precision of Caesar’s Latin while also conveying the drama of Caesar’s narrative in a voice that modern readers will find lively and accessible. A substantial introduction orients the reader to the historical and literary context of The Gallic War as well as to the complicated political and authorial career of Julius Caesar. The commentary covers topics of historical, literary, and linguistic interest, providing support to readers of both the English and Latin texts.

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Book SynopsisHow were the libraries of aristocratic women in the late French-speaking Middle Ages developed? Which reading trends and topics were embraced by female readers of the fifteenth century? What substantial gaps in evidence and data loss impede our knowledge of medieval women’s libraries? Combining literary, historical, and cultural studies, Women’s Libraries in Late Medieval Bourbonnais, Burgundy, and France: A Family Affair addresses these questions in its examination of the wide cultural, literary, and familial webs influencing fifteenth-century high- and mid-level female aristocrats’ acquisition of books. It explores the roles of gifting and borrowing and reading trends in the formation of several generations of women’s libraries to demonstrate the integrally connected nature of literary culture at the various French-speaking courts. The book’s analysis clarifies the powerful role that women played in the formation of important intellectual edifices in French-speaking regions, demonstrating the impact of women on female and male literary culture.Trade Review‘Kaplan’s case studies shine a detailed spotlight on female book owners and their interactions with books… [and] allows us to rethink and understand part of the nobility and their cultural practices.’ Translated from German: ‘Kaplans Fallstudien die weiblichen Buchbesitzerinnen und ihren Umgang mit Büchern detailliert ins Rampenlicht rücken… [und] der es uns erlaubt, einen Teil des Adels und seine kulturellen Praktiken neu zu überdenken und zu begreifen.’ Vanina Kopp, Francia Recensio

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Book SynopsisThe Boke of Gostely Grace is the anonymous Middle English version of the Liber specialis gratiae by the German visionary Mechthild of Hackeborn (1241–1298). The original Liber, compiled at the convent of Helfta in Saxony, presents Mechthild’s visions as she experienced them in the liturgy of the Christian year. Her famous visions of the Sacred Heart follow, along with instructions on the religious life in community and her visions of the afterlife. The Middle English version adapts the text to a new fifteenth-century audience, probably a Birgittine community such as the newly founded Syon Abbey on the Thames near London; it emphasises imagery of the dance of the liturgy, the vineyard and the Sacred Heart in new and vivid terms, while other aspects, such as the bridal imagery, are played down. Within a generation, the English text had become popular among the nobility, and stimulated lay piety and private prayer. While scholars have traced the influence and reception of many continental European women writers, Mechthild’s revelations have often escaped their attention, through the lack of suitable editions. This edition of Bodley 220, the manuscript written in the London area, includes introduction, commentary and glossary, and breaks new ground in the study of late medieval vernacular translation and women’s literary culture.

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Book SynopsisImperial Panegyric from Diocletian to Honorius examines one of the most important literatures of the late Roman period – speeches of praise addressed to the reigning emperor – and the panegyrical culture of the late Roman world more generally. Unlike much previous work on this topic, Imperial Panegyric takes a consciously comparative approach, especially between eastern and western, Greek and Latin texts.Each contributor draws upon evidence taken from multiple authors or from different kinds of panegyric in order to explore both the communal and the particular in this most idiosyncratic of media. The volume investigates to what extent there was a unified concept of imperial panegyric, and how local circumstances shaped individual speeches. It also considers the ways in which traditional forms of praise-giving respond to fourth-century phenomena such as the expansion of Christianity, collegial rulership, and the decline of Rome as the political centre of the empire. Its contributors include a roster of some of the most important names in the field of panegyric studies, both established researchers and the rising stars of the new generation.Trade Review‘The questions of how late-antique panegyric was interpreted, and should be interpreted, remain at the heart of our understanding of late-antique political culture.’ Richard Flower, Acta Classica 'Across [Imperial Panegyric from Diocletian to Honorius], there is a consistently high standard, and the different analyses enrich and extend the range of approaches from the definition of panegyric as a genre to the weight given in some panegyrics to women, to Christianity and to barbarians'Marzia Fiorentini, The Classical ReviewThe volume... offers a good starting point for further research into late antique panegyric... It not only shows which works need to be studied in more detail and which questions are still open, but also which possibilities exist to solve these problems.Raphael Brendel, Zeitschrift für GeschichtswissenschaftTranslated from German, 'Der Band... er einen guten Ansatzpunkt für die weitere Erforschung der spätantiken Panegyrik... Er zeigt nicht nur auf, welche Werke ausführlichererund welche Fragen noch offen sind, sondern auch, welche Möglichkeiten bestehen, um diese um diese Probleme.''This is a very worthwhile study to read. It both instructs readers with some general outlines and encourages them to consider several interesting key details of panegyric of Late Antiquity.' Felix Maier, Bryn Mawr Classical Review'The anthology offers something for many, whether one wants to pursue specific individual topics or also want to gain an overall impression of late antique panegyric, beyond the much-examined collection of the Panegyrici Latini.' Ulrich Lambrecht, PlekosTable of Contents1. Imperial Panegyric from Diocletian to HonoriusAdrastos Omissi & Alan J. RossPANEGYRIC: THEORY AND PRACTICE2. What is a ‘panegyric’?Laurent Pernot3. (Not) Making Faces: Prosopopeia in Late Antique PanegyricRoger Rees4. Libanius’ Imperial Speech to Constantius II and Constans (Or. 59): Context, Tradition, and InnovationGrammatiki KarlaTHE IMPERIAL IMAGE5. Playing with Conventions in Julian’s Encomium to Eusebia: Does Gender Make a Difference?Belinda Washington6. Julian and Claudius Mamertinus: Panegyric and Polemic in East and West Shaun TougherTHE ORATOR AND ORATORIAL IDENTITY7. How to Praise a Christian Emperor: The Panegyrical Experiments of Eusebius of CaesareaJames Corke-Webster8. Neoplatonic Philosophy in Tetrarchic and Constantinian PanegyricDiederik Burgersdijk9. Roman and Gallic in the Latin Panegyrics of Symmachus and AusoniusRobert ChenaultOUTSIDERS WITHIN THE SPEECH10. Civil War and the Late Roman Panegyrical CorpusAdrastos Omissi11. Inviting the Enemy in: Assimilating Barbarians in Theodosian PanegyricRobert Stone12. The Audience in Imperial PanegyricAlan J. RossAppendix: Editions, Translations and Commentaries of Imperial Panegyrics

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Book SynopsisThis is not a commentary on Juvenal Satire 10 but a critical appreciation of the poem which examines it on its own and in context and tries to make it come alive as a piece of literature, offering one man’s close reading of Satire 10 as poetry, and concerned with literary criticism rather than philological minutiae. In line with the recent broadening of insight into Juvenal’s writing this book often addresses the issues of distortion and problematizing and covers style, sound and diction as well. Much time is also devoted to intertextuality and to humour, wit and irony. Building on the work of scholars like Martyn, Jenkyns and Schmitz, who see in Juvenal a consistently skilful and sophisticated author, this is a whole book demonstrating a high level of expertise on Juvenal’s part sustained throughout; a long poem (rather than intermittent flashes). This investigation of 10 leads to the conclusion that Juvenal is an accomplished poet and provocative satirist, a writer with real focus, who makes every word count, and a final chapter exploring Satires 11 and 12 confirms that assessment. Translation of the Latin and explanation of references are included so that Classics students will find the book easier to use and it will also be accessible to scholars and students interested in satire outside of Classics departments.Trade ReviewReviews 'A meticulous, sophisticated, and humane treatment, designed for undergraduates, of Juvenal’s thought and poetic craft in his Satire 10.' Dr Ian Goh, University of Exeter'This would be a very good book to put into the hands of somebody who is coming to the text of Juvenal for the first time and wants to see what all the fuss is about. Murgatroyd tells us that this book is aimed at ‘senior undergraduates and above’, but in fact his language is at all times accessible to anybody with an interest in the subject-matter—all Latin is well translated into fluent English and the author’s style can even be chatty and light-hearted to suit the highly unsolemn nature of some of the Latin under discussion.' John Godwin, Classics for All

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Book SynopsisThe Council of Constantinople of 869-70 was highly dramatic, with its trial and condemnation of Patriarch Photius, a towering figure in the Byzantium of his day, and the tussle of wills at the council between the papal legates, the imperial representatives and the bishops. It was church politics and personalities rather than issues of doctrine, such as icon veneration, that dominated the debates. Out of all the acts of the great early councils, the acts of this council, of which this edition is the first modern translation, are the nearest to an accurate and complete record. Its protest against secular interference in ecclesiastical elections was taken up later in the West and led to this council’s being accorded full ecumenical status, although it had been repudiated in Byzantium soon after it was held. No early council expresses so vividly the tension between Rome’s claim to supreme authority and the Byzantine reduction of this to a primacy of honour.

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Book SynopsisSidonius Apollinaris was an inhabitant of southern Roman Gaul in the mid fifth century AD, when it was threatened by invasions from beyond the boundaries of the Roman Empire and by competing warlords. His many poetic works include three panegyrics to emperors at the beginnings of their reigns; these are carefully translated and annotated, and provided with comment and synopses. His multiple shorter poems, in a variety of metres, are translated into good and lively English and given separate introductions and notes of various kinds, historical and literary. There is an extensive and informative introduction to the whole work.This book by Roger Green, a lifelong expert in Late Antiquity, gives a firsthand account of the political strife and manoeuvring of the times but also a vivid picture of the lives of Sidonius’s like-minded friends in an almost post-Roman episode of Rome’s existence. Sidonius was read widely in the Middle Ages, with a golden age in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and also in the fifteenth century revival of Late Antique literature. Today his poetry will awaken new study and interest, without the archaism of many older translations and with a fresh and updated approach to many issues.

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Book SynopsisThe two romances translated in this volume, the Roman de Thèbes and the Roman d’Eneas, form, along with the Roman de Troie by Benoît de Sainte-Maure, a group of texts that are of considerable importance within French and European literature and culture. Composed between c. 1150 and c. 1165, these romances create a bridge between classical tales (the Thèbes is based on the Thebaid of Statius, the Eneas on the Aeneid of Virgil) and the burgeoning vernacular romances, represented especially by Chrétien de Troyes. As a group, these three works are frequently known as the romances of antiquity (romans d’antiquité) and they introduce into French literature the dominant contemporary themes of chivalry and love. They are set against a feudal and courtly background in which themes such as war, prowess inheritance and the possession of land are crucial. As they adapt their Latin sources, these romances, especially the Eneas, exploit the works of Ovid, especially in the presentation of the theme of love, and they also make use of the principles of rhetorical composition as studied in the schools (both romances contain remarkable examples of descriptions of both people and objects).This is the first volume to contain two complete translations of the three romances of antiquity. The translation of the Roman d’Eneas is the first English translation of this text since that of John A. Yunck in 1974.Trade Review‘[B]eautifully produced... this book triumphantly completes the set of “romans d’antiquité”: the stories of Thebes, Troy, and Aeneas.’ Jane Bliss, Speculum‘The translations themselves combine the virtues of being usable as a crib with being as fluent as is possible… If they encourage a wider readership for these romances, as they surely will, that is very much to the good.’ Helen Cooper, Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen und LiteraturenTable of ContentsPreface Acknowledgements Manuscripts Editions and Translations Introduction The Roman de Thèbes Outline of the Plot Translation The Roman d’Eneas Outline of the Plot Translation Appendix Bibliography Indexes of Personal and Geographical Names

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Book SynopsisAn ancient tomb is discovered deep in the foundations of St Paul's. It is decorated with a mysterious inscription in letters of gold. The body within is unblemished, dressed as a judge and with a crown and sceptre. Obviously an important person, but unidentified. The citizens are both curious and alarmed, and so Erkenwald, bishop of London, is summoned to uncover the mystery. The answer is as unexpected for Erkenwald as it is for the reader. The moving alliterative poem St Erkenwald, long associated with the Gawain-Poet, is here presented in a new critical edition designed to offer maximum support for the general reader, as well as to provide fresh insights for the specialist and guidance into the intriguingly complex eschatology. The text is accompanied by a close translation and an extensive commentary and glossary. An introduction covers questions of authorship and date, sources and area of composition, examines the rich poetic vocabulary, and explores the theological issues raised by the poem. An up-to-date bibliography presents important studies of the poem, its concepts and its contexts. Over fifty years Thorlac Turville-Petre has been editing and commenting on alliterative poems of the fourteenth century.

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Book SynopsisThe twenty-one sermons translated here were not, as was so often the case, exercises in belles-lettres but a sustained effort to bring about both social and moral reform as a precondition for the recovery of Constantinople from the Latins.

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Book SynopsisBooks V-VI of Julius Caesar's The Gallic War narrate Caesar's campaigns in Britain, Gaul, andGermany in 55 and 54 BCE. A substantial introduction orients the reader to the historical and literary context of The Gallic War as well as to the complicated political and authorial career of Julius Caesar.

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Book SynopsisLibanius of Antioch (AD 314-93), teacher, rhetorician and eloquent exponent of Greek paideia, was one of the most prolific letter writers of late antiquity with more than 1500 surviving letters from an even greater total. This volume contains the first English-language translation of all the letters written between 388 and 393, which provide insights both into his professional and personal circumstances and the changes taking place in the political, religious and social environment of the late fourth century. The letters while fulfilling many of the usual functions of late antique correspondence as vehicles in creating or maintaining friendship networks, promoting relationships with men in power, supporting rhetoric and Hellenic learning and seeking favours for friends, students and protégés, also reveal Libanius’ reaction to his circumstances at the end of his life – his waning influence as a teacher, the hostility directed towards him by factions in Antioch and in Constantinople, the loss of friends and loved ones, in particular his son, and his ill health and impending mortality. Trade Review‘[E]xcellent… not only an extremely useful resource for bringing together a still seldom-considered group of texts, but an overall exemplar which gives hope that, in in the not-too-distant future, all the letters of Libanius will be available in translation.’ Translated from German: ‘[V]orzüglichen… nicht nur ein extrem nützliches Hilfsmittel für die Erfassung einer noch immer viel zu selten in den Blick genommenen Textgruppe, sondern hat auch allgemeinen Vorbildcharakter, der hoffen lässt, dass in nicht allzu ferner Zukunft sämtliche Libaniosbriefe in Übersetzung vorliegen warden.’ Raphael Brendel, Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaft

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Book SynopsisOvid’s Fasti is a journey through ancient Rome, using the calendar as a guide. The reader of this poem tours the monuments of the Augustan-era city, witnesses both urban and rustic seasonal festivals, and commemorates the epic events of long-past history. The reader also experiences the passage of the year, as measured by the natural world: the rising and setting of constellations, the migration of birds, and the comforting rhythms of agriculture. Throughout, Ovid enlivens the narrative with myths, including Romulus and Remus, Callisto and Jupiter, Lucretia and Tarquinius, Hercules and Cacus, and many more. In doing so, he evokes the questions of what constitutes justice, or glory, or patriotism. The result is a lively tour of the Roman year—sometimes thoughtful, sometimes tragic, sometimes triumphant or even farcical—that interweaves human customs into the natural world, and gives occasional glimpses of awe-inspiring divinities on the streets of Rome. This volume covers the first half of the Fasti (Books I-III), including the original Latin text and also a new translation in clear, idiomatic prose on facing pages. An introduction on Ovid’s life and Augustan literature, as well as an incisive commentary with up-to-date bibliography, give the reader extensive background to interpret the text.

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Book SynopsisAn Open Access edition of this book will be available on publication on the Liverpool University Press and African Minds websitesThough Greco-Roman antiquity (‘classics’) has often been considered the handmaid of colonialism, its various forms have nonetheless endured through many of the continent’s decolonising transitions. Southern Africa is no exception. This book canvasses the variety of forms classics has taken in Zimbabwe, Mozambique and especially South Africa, and even the dynamics of transformation itself. How does (u)Mzantsi classics (of southern Africa) look in an era of profound change, whether violent or otherwise? What are its future prospects? Contributors focus on pedagogies, historical consciousness, the creative arts and popular culture. The volume, in its overall shape, responds to the idea of dialogue – in both the Greek form associated with Plato’s rendition of Socrates’ wisdom and in the African concept of ubuntu. Here are dialogues between scholars, both emerging and established, as well as students – some of whom were directly impacted by the Fallist protests of the late 20-teens. Rather than offering an apologia for classics, these dialogues engage with pressing questions of relevance, identity, change, the canon, and the dynamics of decolonisation and potential recolonisation. The goal is to interrogate classics – the ways it has been taught, studied, perceived, transformed and even lived – from many points of view.Table of Contents1 Nothing about us? Reflections on classics in southern Africa (Samantha Masters, Imkhitha Nzungu and Grant Parker) I FIRST DIALOGUE: ON BAGGAGE 2 Classical imagery and policing the African body (Ian Glenn) 3 Classics and colonial administration in Southern Rhodesia (Obert Mlambo and John Douglas McClymont) 4 Conversation with Christiaan Bronkhorst II SECOND DIALOGUE: ON INTERSECTING IDENTITIES 5 Classics for the third millennium: African options after The Fall (Jo-Marie Claassen) 6 The liberatory potential of Latin studies: Stellenbosch University’s Latin Project (Reshard Kolabhai and Shani Viljoen) 7 Conversation with Chanté Bhugwanth III THIRD DIALOGUE: ON CLASSICS AND THE CANON 8 Responses to crisis: Cicero in Zimbabwe (Madhlozi Moyo) 9 Rethinking the commemorative landscape in South Africa after The Fall: A pedagogical case study (Samantha Masters) 10 Conversation with Amy Daniels IV FOURTH DIALOGUE: FROM RECEPTION TO RE-IMAGINATION 11 African port cities and the classics (Carla Bocchetti) 12 ‘Wilder than Polyphemus’: Towards a tragic poetics of the post-colonial consumption of symbols (David van Schoor) 13 Conversation with Nuraan Essop 14 Ovid in the time of statues (Grant Parker)

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Book SynopsisThis book reconceives the rewriting of Byzantine hagiography between the eighth and fourteenth centuries as a skilful initiative in communication and creative freedom, and as a form of authorship. Three men – Makarios (late C13th-C14th), a monk; Constantine Akropolites (d.c.1324), a statesman; and an Anonymous educated wordsmith (c. C9th) – each opted to rewrite the martyrdom of a female virgin saint who suffered and died centuries earlier. Their adaptations, respectively, were of St. Ia of Persia (modern-day Iran), St. Horaiozele of Constantinople, and St. Tatiana of Rome. Ia is described as a victim of the persecutions of the Persian Shahanshah, Shapur II (309–79 C.E), Horaiozele was allegedly a disciple of St Andrew and killed anachronistically under the emperor Decius (249–51 C.E), and Tatiana, we are told, was a deaconess, martyred during the reign of emperor Alexander Severus (222–35 C.E). Makarios, Akropolites, and the Anonymous knowingly tailored their compositions to influence an audience and to foster their individual interests. The implications arising from these studies are far-reaching: this monograph considers the agency of the hagiographer, the instrumental use of the authorial persona and its impact on the audience, and hagiography as a layered discourse. The book also provides the first translations and commentaries of the martyrdoms of these virgin martyrs.Trade Review'The three texts are translated into clear English, which is pleasant to read. The notes shed light on several aspects of the stories, notably their lexical richness. Alwis brings three female figures from Byzantine hagiography out of oblivion while creating an original discussion about re-writing not only as a linguistic and rhetorical practice but also a social one. This is a fine study about hagiography as a literary object, drawing on the ancestral strength of story/ narrative as a means of communication.’ Anna Lampadaridi, Revue des Études ByzantinesTranslated from French. 'As first-time translations to English, these texts, and the monograph that introduces them, are valuable additions to the extant research, and provide new insight and perspectives for anyone interested in mediaeval history and hagiography.' Sissel Undheim, Plekos‘[Narrating Martyrdom] is a welcome addition to the growing number of Greek hagiographical texts available in English… and offers valuable insights into the three authors’ techniques of rewriting their model texts.’ Alice-Mary Talbot, Church HistoryTable of Contents1. A Note on the Editions and Translations2. IntroductionNarratology, Focalisation, and CommunicationThe Rewritten Text: the SimulacrumManuscript Context and AudienceRewriting as Social Action, and Hagiography as Double-DiscourseRewriting Perceptions from the Past3. The Authors: Makarios, Constantine Akropolites, and the Anonymous4. The Virgin Martyrs5. AdaptationMakarios and Saint IaAkropolites and Saint HoraiozeleThe Anonymous and Saint TatianaWhat is Metaphrasis?6. Conclusions7. Translations and Commentaries for each martyrdom

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Book SynopsisAlthough Richard Rolle, hermit of Hampole, was perhaps the most influential spiritual author of the later English Middle Ages, the coming of print was not kind to him. Although a large collected Latin Opera appeared in the 1530s, it was scarcely exhaustive, and a number of the texts there included, notably Rolle's Latin Psalter commentary, have not been critically examined since. This volume partially redresses this silence by providing a sequence of four Latin texts that have remained in manuscript. Central to Rolle's oeuvre (and to this volume) is Rolle's meditative reading of the first three verses of The Song of Songs, 'Super Canticum'. Also included are two relatively brief unedited texts, 'Super Magnificat' and 'De vita activa et contemplativa'. In addition, the volume reassesses the universal manuscript ascription to Rolle of 'Viridarium, vel De misericordia Dei'; although the work is here reascribed, there is also an edition of selected passages. Unprinted Latin Writings also includes an introduction, critical and textual, some textual annotation, a description of all those previously undescribed manuscripts used here, and an index of the medieval sources cited.Trade Review‘As can be expected, Hanna’s editorial choices are sound, and his editorial considerations, especially for the Super Canticum, are explained with admirable clarity in the introduction… [a] slim but highly erudite and ambitious volume.’ Greti Dinkova-Bruun, SpeculumTable of ContentsForewordAbbreviated ReferencesIntroductionBibliographyThe Texts:Super Canticum CanticorumSuper MagnificatDe vita activa et contemplativaViridarium, vel De misericordia DeiNotes to the textsAppendix: Manuscripts previously undescribedIndex fontium

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Book SynopsisIn the ancient Mediterranean world, the sea was an essential domain for trade, cultural exchange, communication, exploration, and colonisation. In tandem with the lived reality of this maritime space, a parallel experience of the sea emerged in narrative representations from ancient Greece and Rome, of the sea as a cultural imaginary. This imaginary seems often to oscillate between two extremes: the utopian and the catastrophic; such representations can be found in narratives from ancient history, philosophy, society, and literature, as well as in their post-classical receptions. Utopia can be found in some imaginary island paradise far away and across the distant sea; the sea can hold an unknown, mysterious, divine wealth below its surface; and the sea itself as a powerful watery body can hold a liberating potential. The utopian quality of the sea and seafaring can become a powerful metaphor for articulating political notions of the ideal state or for expressing an individual’s sense of hope and subjectivity. Yet the catastrophic sea balances any perfective imaginings: the sea threatens coastal inhabitants with floods, tsunamis, and earthquakes and sailors with storms and the accompanying monsters. From symbolic perspectives, the catastrophic sea represents violence, instability, the savage, and even cosmological chaos. The twelve papers in this volume explore the themes of utopia and catastrophe in the liminal environment of the sea, through the lens of history, philosophy, literature and classical reception.Contributors: Manuel Álvarez-Martí-Aguilar, Vilius Bartninkas, Aaron L. Beek, Ross Clare, Gabriele Cornelli, Isaia Crosson, Ryan Denson, Rhiannon Easterbrook, Emilia Mataix Ferrándiz, Georgia L. Irby, Simona Martorana, Guy Middleton, Hamish Williams.Table of ContentsIntroduction (Hamish Williams and Ross Clare)Section 1: Ancient History and SocietyFrom the Edge of the Deep Green Sea: Tsunamis and Coastal Catastrophes in the Ancient Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean (Guy Middleton)The Greek Notions of Sea Power (Vilius Bartninkas)Plato Sailing Upstream: The Image of the Ship in the Republic (Gabriele Cornelli)Sailing to Find Utopia or Sailing to Found Utopia? The Pragmatic and Idealistic Pursuit of Ideal Cities in Greek and Roman Political Philosophy (Aaron L. Beek)Ruling the Catastrophic Sea: Roman Law and the Gains of a Utopic Mediterranean (Emilia Mataix Ferrándiz)Section 2: Ancient LiteratureThe Seas are Full of Monsters: Divine Utopia, Human Catastrophe (Georgia L. Irby)Order Among Disorder: Poseidon’s Underwater Kingdom and Utopic Marine Environments (Ryan Denson)The Women and the Sea: The Subjective Seascape in Ovid’s Heroides (Simona Martorana)The Anti-Tyrannical Adriatic in Lucan’s Civil War (Isaia Crosson)Section 3: Classical ReceptionsHow to Detain a Tsunami: Impassable Boundaries against Ocean Chaos in Ancient and Modern Imaginaries (Manuel Álvarez-Martí-Aguilar)Classical Dimensions of the Robinsonade Pantomime: Neptune, Aphrodite, and the Threat to Civilization (Rhiannon Easterbrook)Minoan Utopias in British Fiction, after the Thalassocracy: Lawrence Durrell’s The Dark Labyrinth and Robert Graves’ Seven Days in New Crete (Hamish Williams)Bibliography

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Book SynopsisOf Gothic descent, Jordanes wrote a unique set of histories. The Getica narrates the history of the Goths from their earliest origins until the middle of the sixth century. Building on the lost history of Cassiodorus, it is the earliest example of a history told from the perspective of one of the barbarian peoples establishing kingdoms in the fifth and sixth centuries. It had great influence on later medieval historians, on national histories of the nineteenth century and on modern accounts of Gothic history. The Romana is a survey of world and Roman history. Whilst largely dependent on traditional Roman histories and chronicles for events up to the fourth century, it contains much unique information for the last two centuries it narrates. This book offers the first translation into English of the Getica for a century and the first modern translation of the Romana. The introduction locates the Getica and the Romana in the context of ancient historiography, building a new picture of Jordanes as a historian and of the two works themselves. It also offers a detailed discussion of the sources used by Jordanes, suggesting possible ways to identify his debt to Cassiodorus. Extensive notes guide the reader through these fascinating but often complex texts.Trade Review'Jordanes may get less respect than any other well-preserved ancient historian. But nowthe inexhaustible learning of Lieve Van Hoof and Peter Van Nuffelen has made himhonourable amends. This volume is now the best and essential introduction toJordanes' work, while remaining eminently serviceable for use in classroom settings.'James J. O'Donnell, Arizona State University'It is hard to overstate the value of this volume. The sheer quantity of material included beyond the publication of good, up-to-date, translations of the Romana and Getica, is one of the chief benefits of the book. This makes it invaluable in the classroom, though also for anyone less familiar with Jordanes... Van Nuffelen and Van Hoof deserve fulsome praise for their achievement.'Conor Whately, The Medieval Review'Inexhaustible learning of Lieve Van Hoof and Peter Van Nuffelen has made [Jordanes] honorable amends. This TTH volume is now the best and essential introduction to Jordanes’s work, while remaining eminently serviceable for use in classroom settings.' James J. O’Donnell, Bryn Mawr Classical Review‘It is worth taking a look at the book by Peter Van Nuffelen and Lieve Van Hoof, for in addition to the translations, it also contains an extensive introduction… The big pluses of this edition are the embedding of work in current research as well as the detailed footnote apparatus.' Michael Zerjadtke, Historischen Zeitschrift Translated from German: ‘lohnt ein Blick in das Buch von Peter Van Nuffelen und Lieve Van Hoof, denn neben den Übersetzungen ist darin auch eine umfangreiche Einleitung enthalten… Die großen Pluspunkte der Ausgabe sind die Einbettung der Werke in die aktuelle Forschung sowie der detaillierte Fußnotenapparat.’'V.’s new translations and discussions will help dispel lingering trepidation and encourage newcomers to integrate the Romana and Getica into our understanding of the momentous sixth century. Jordanes is too singular a voice to be left unheard, and it will be fascinating to see what comes next.' Brian Swaine, The Classical Review'This impressive book has been a desideratum for many years and it constitutes a valuable tool forresearch. Only a few scholars could have produced such an opus without making an injustice to the vast literature on the subject, to the complexity of the Quellenforschung, and to the discussion of the many philological issues and the labyrinth of questions that surrounds these texts.'Massimiliano Vitiello, Sehepunkte: Review Journal for Historical Studies‘This is a beautifully crafted book. It is also very thorough and meticulous, and the authors have taken great pains to introduce Jordanes to modern readers as comprehensively as possible… Peter Van Nuffelen and Lieve Van Hoof certainly deserve to be commended for their careful, meticulous and honest approach to Jordanes and all the riddles associated with him.’ Stanislav Doležal, LatomusTable of ContentsAcknowledgements Introduction 1. Life and context 2. The Romana 3. The Getica 4. Sources 5. Text and translation 6. The medieval and humanist reception Translation A summary of all times, or On the origin and deeds of the Roman people On the origin and deeds of the Getae Appendices Maps Bibliography Indices

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Book SynopsisThis is the second volume of a collection which includes all the significant remains of tragedies produced by the contemporaries and successors of the three classic Greek tragedians (Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides). Greek texts and sources are accompanied by English translations, related historical information, detailed explanatory notes and bibliographies. Volume Two includes more than a dozen poets of the fourth and early third centuries (Astydamas, Carcinus, Chaeremon, Theodectas, Moschion and others), the Alexandrian Pleiad, Ezechiel’s Exagôgê (a tragedy based on the biblical Exodus), and some anonymous material derived from ancient sources or rediscovered papyrus texts. Remnants of the satyr-plays of this period are included in a separate Aris & Phillips Classical Texts volume, Euripides Cyclops and Major Fragments of Greek Satyric Drama, edited by Patrick O’Sullivan and Christopher Collard (2013).Trade Review‘Cropp offers an effective overview of what we know of Greek tragedy from the fourth century onwards… the commentary, concise and fluent but at the same time punctual and not without original suggestions, allow one easy use of the text even for those who do not have specialist knowledge on the subject.’ Paolo B. Cipolla, Exemplaria Classica (translated from Italian)

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Book SynopsisThis volume presents the first study, critical edition, and translation of one of the earliest works by Richard Rolle (c. 1300-1349), a hermit and mystic whose works were widely read in England and on the European continent into the early modern period. Rolle’s explication of the Old Testament Book of Lamentations gives us a glimpse of how the biblical commentary tradition informed what would become his signature mystical, doctrinal, and reformist preoccupations throughout his career. Rolle’s English and explicitly mystical writings have been widely accessible for decades. Recent attention has turned again to his Latin commentaries, many of which have never been critically edited or thoroughly studied. This attention promises to give us a fuller sense of Rolle’s intellectual, devotional, and reformist development, and of the interplay between his Latin and English writings.Richard Rolle: On Lamentations places Rolle’s early commentary within a tradition of explication of the Lamentations of Jeremiah and in the context of his own career. The edition collates all known witnesses to the text, from Dublin, Oxford, Prague, and Cologne. A source apparatus as well as textual and explanatory notes accompany the edition.

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Book SynopsisA synoptic edition of the English version of John Arderon’s De judiciis urinarum containing the commentary on Giles of Corbeil’s Carmen de urinis as preserved in Glasgow University Library, MS Hunter 328, from the early 15th century, and Manchester University Library, MS Rylands Eng. 1310, from the 16th century. The English version of De judiciis urinarum is a detailed uroscopic treatise instructing the mediaeval practitioner on the examination of urine with twenty colours and eighteen to nineteen contents, incorporating colour descriptions, diagnoses, medicines and information about urinary contents. The present edition offers the semi-diplomatic transcription of these hitherto unedited texts, accompanied by a glossary, notes and introduction, the latter containing the textual transmission of the text, a codicological/palaeographic description together with the analysis of the scribal language. The present edition will be useful as a primary source for research not only in Historical Linguistics but also in other related fields such as the History of Medicine or Ecdotics.Trade Review'This book will be most welcome to historians of medieval medicine by providing an accessible and careful transcription of a rare text. It will be an excellent tool… especially when accompanied by photographs of the manuscript.' E. Ruth Harvey, SpeculumTable of ContentsForeword (by M. Teresa Tavormina)1. Introduction1.1. Authorship1.2. The English version of De judiciis urinarum1.3. Uroscopic authorities1.4. The language1.4.1. MS Hunter 3281.4.2. MS Rylands 13101.5. Codicology1.6. Palaeography2. Text2.1. Editorial conventions2.2. Synoptic edition2.3. English translation of Giles of Corbeil’s Carmen de urinis in MS Hunter 3283. Glossary4. References

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Book SynopsisFifth-century Greek tragedy contains some of the most fascinating and important stage-ghosts in Western literature, whether the talkative Persian king Darius, who is evoked from the Underworld in Aeschylus’ Persians, or the murdered Trojan prince Polydorus, who seeks burial for his exposed corpse in Euripides’ Hecuba. These manifest figures can tell us a vast amount about the abilities of the tragic dead, particularly in relation to the nature, extent and limitations of their interaction with the living through, for example, ghost-raising ceremonies and dreams. Beyond these manifest dead, tragedy presents a wealth of invisible dead whose anger and desire for revenge bubble up from the Underworld, and whose honour and dishonour occupy the minds and influence the actions of the living. Combining both these manifest and invisible dead, this book examines harmful interaction between the living and the dead, i.e. how the living can harm the dead, and how the dead can harm the living. This includes discussions on the extent to which the dead are aware of and can react to honourable or dishonourable treatment by the living, the social stratification of the Underworld, the consequences of corpse exposure and mutilation for both the living and the dead, and how the dead can use and collaborate with avenging agents, such as the gods, the living and the Erinyes.Trade Review'Martin has produced an attractive and useful book on a topic of considerable interest. It is well written... Perhaps the book’s greatest strength is that, while exploring the beliefs and customs concerning the dead, she consistently foregrounds the interests and dynamics of the dramatic works in which they appear.' Michael R. Halleran, Bryn Mawr Classical ReviewTable of ContentsIntroductionChapter 1. A framework: The Homeric and contemporary dead1.1 Introduction1.2 The Homeric dead1.3 The contemporary fifth-century dead1.4 ConclusionChapter 2. The tragic dead: The witless and/or the aware2.1 Introduction2.2 The scale of awareness2.2.1 Death is οὐδέν2.2.2 Egocentric awareness2.2.3 Family reunion2.2.4 A (hierarchical) society of the dead2.2.5 Postmortem rewards and punishments2.2.6 Prophetic knowledge2.2.7 The manifest dead2.3 ConclusionChapter 3. The how and the why of interaction: The manifest evidence3.1 Introduction3.2 The living interacting with the dead: necromancy3.2.1 Darius in Aeschylus’ Persians3.2.2 Teiresias in Aeschylus’ Psychagōgoi3.2.3 Agamemnon in Aeschylus’ Choephori3.3 The dead interacting with the living: Dreams3.3.1 Clytemnestra in Aeschylus’ Eumenides3.3.2 Polydorus in Euripides’ Hecuba3.4 Spontaneous interaction: Achilles in Euripides’ Hecuba3.5 ConclusionChapter 4. The living harming the dead: Exposure, mutilation and exclusion4.1 Introduction4.2 A concern for the living4.3 Burial and exposure: extent and limitations4.3.1 Burial4.3.2 Exposure and mutilation4.4 Physical harm in the Underworld4.5 Exposure before enemies: remembering and dismembering4.6 Exclusion from/within the Underworld4.7 ConclusionChapter 5. The dead harming the living: Autonomy and agents5.1 Introduction5.2 Autonomous revenge from the dead5.3 Olympian agents5.4 The Erinyes5.5 Living agents5.5.1 Agamemnon in Aeschylus’ Choephori5.5.2 Achilles in Euripides’ Hecuba5.6 ConclusionConclusion: The Alcestis Effect

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Book SynopsisRichard Whitford’s Dyuers Holy Instrucyons and Teachynges Very Necessary for the Helth of Mannes Soule is the last printed work written by a brother of the Brigittine community at Syon Abbey. A vocal opponent of Lutheran reforms and Henry VIII’s agenda to install himself as the head of the Church of England, Richard Whitford was also Syon’s most prolific author. His writing provides pastoral guidance on a range of issues as well as powerful articulations of the value of religious life during the turbulent years preceding the king’s break from the Catholic Church. Published in 1541, Dyuers Holy Instrucyons is also the only Syon text printed after the dissolution of the monasteries. This text thus offers a rare perspective on the concerns of those faithful to the old religion from a religious brother who actively participated in the abbey’s campaign against Lutheran reformers. As with his previous work, Whitford’s Dyuers Holy Instrucyons maintains an openly confrontational stance toward radical reformers while offering instruction to readers on issues that would certainly have been topical for faithful who lived after the 1534 Act of Supremacy—issues focussed on patience, avoiding vice, impediments to spiritual perfection, and detraction. This edition makes this significant work available for the first time to modern readers with crucial discussions of the history and themes of the texts, including the indivisibility of politics and religion in the early years of the Reformation and the crucial role that Syon Abbey played in the textual representation of this period in English history.Table of ContentsINTRODUCTIONGeneral IntroductionThe Life of Richard WhitfordSyon Community, Lay Piety, and Vernacular Devotional LiteratureMonasticism and the ReformationDyuers Holy Instrucyons and Teachynges Very Necessary for the Helth of Mannes SouleThe Boke of PacienceA Worke of Dyuers Impediments and Lettes of PerfectionAn Instruction to auoyde and eschewe vyces and folowe good maners or the Consilia of IsidoreOf Detraction. Chrisostomus homelia terciaExtant Copies of the TextWilliam MiddletonThe Language of the TextEditorial ProceduresTHE TEXTNotes to the TextApparatusGlossaryBibliography

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Book SynopsisZoroastrianism was the religion of the ancient Persian kings and following the Arab conquest, it remained the religion of a significant portion of the population in Iran and parts of Central Asia. This book investigates the most important polemical treatise in the Zoroastrian tradition, the Škand Gumānīg-Wizār (“The Doubt-Dispelling Disquisition”), which was written by the theologian and philosopher Mardānfarrox son of Ohrmazddād. The text was composed in the ninth or tenth centuries in a language known as Middle Persian. A sophisticated work of rationalist theology, the Škand Gumānīg-Wizār systematically critiques several rival religions of the late antique and early medieval Middle East, including Islam. The critique of Islam found in chapters 11 and 12 is the only sustained, systematic polemic against Islam in premodern Zoroastrian literature, one that attacks monotheism by focusing on the problem of evil. The text is of fundamental importance for understanding Iran’s transformation from a predominantly Zoroastrian society to a predominantly Muslim one during the Early Middle Ages. This is the first book devoted to the Islamic sections of the Škand Gumānīg-Wizār. It provides a new translation and commentary of these important sections along with introductory chapters that explore Zoroastrians’ relationship with other religions in Late Antiquity and the early Islamic period; Mardānfarrox’s intellectual milieu (especially the influence of Islamic theology and interreligious debates); and the history of Zoroastrian polemics against Islam.

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Book SynopsisThis volume provides the first English (or indeed any modern) translation of two early ninth-century hagiographical texts that deal with the Virgin Mary and the apostle Andrew. Both texts are attributed to a Constantinopolitan monk and priest called Epiphanios of the Monastery of Kallistratos. The Life of the Virgin represents the earliest attempt by a Greek-speaking Christian author to provide a full-length biography of this holy figure, from the time of her conception to her death and assumption into heaven. The Life of St Andrew not only provides a brief account of this apostle’s life and mission, but also traces the dissemination of his cult, including relics and an icon, in Asia Minor especially during the iconoclast period. Epiphanios reveals his iconophile opinions in this text, accusing iconoclasts of having attempted to destroy some of these objects. A detailed introduction and commentary provide background on Epiphanios and his literary sources, along with assessment of his contribution to the Byzantine Mariological and hagiographical traditions.

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Book SynopsisUnlike books familiar to us from print culture, every medieval book is unique, the product of individual circumstances of planning, execution, and history. This is a fundamental difficulty for study, particularly for those beginning the investigation of texts in manuscript. There are two conventional ways of approaching this difficulty: explaining the series of processes by which a manuscript book is constructed and explaining how to construct a professional description of a manuscript book. Neither addresses a problem fundamental for beginners: what happens when a librarian presents you with a manuscript? How should you proceed? Fundamentally, this is a problem of visual examination, and taking its procedure from the grand M. R. James and M. B. Parkes, this book attempts to stimulate the visual and experiential. It attempts, in a heavily exemplified account, to explain what might be there in a manuscript to perceive and what it might mean. The argument follows a process of examination that begins with the physical bulk of what's in front of you (and its cover, or binding) and ends with traces of the book's history.Table of ContentsPrefaceWhat's in front of you? What's its shape? How big is it? The closed book: what do you see first?Opening the book: what's it made of? Membrane PaperWhere's the first leaf? What does the first leaf look like? How come it looks so neat? How does the scribe write? What texts does it contain? How's it been put together? Are there other discontinuities? Where's it been all this time? Looking at Cambridge, Queens' College, MS 10

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Book SynopsisA collection of papers that introduces the notion of the technosoma (techno body) into discussions on the representations of the body in classical antiquity. By applying the category of the technosoma to the ‘natural’ body, this volume explicitly narrows down the discussion of the technical and the natural to the physiological body. In doing so, the present collection focuses on body technologies in the specific form of beautification and body enhancement techniques, as well as medical and surgical treatments. The volume elucidates two main points. Firstly, ancient techno bodies show that the categories of gender and sexuality are at the core of the intersection of the natural and the technical, and intersect with notions of race, age, speciesism, class and education, and dis/ability. Secondly, the collection argues that new body technologies have in fact a very ancient history that can help to address the challenges of contemporary technological innovation. To this end, the volume showcases the intersection of ‘natural’ bodies with technology, gender, sexuality and reproduction. On the one hand, techno bodies tend to align with normative ideas about gender, and sexuality. On the other hand, body modification and/or enhancement techniques work hand in hand with economic and political power and knowledge, thus they often produce techno bodies that are shaped according to individual needs, i.e. according to a certain lifestyle. Consequently, techno bodies threaten to alter traditional ideas of masculinity, femininity, male and female sexuality and beauty.Table of ContentsIntroduction Maria Gerolemou TECHNOLOGIES AND BODIES Short Introduction: In Search of a Definition: What is an (Ancient) Technosoma? Giulia Maria Chesi Dysfunction (δυσέργεια) and Deformity (ἀπρέπεια) in Paul of Aegina’s Surgical Chapters Alessia Guardasole Medical Equipment to repair Broken Bodies: The Plinthion for the Reduction of Dislocations Irene Calà Bodies with Organs, Bodies without Organs Chiara Thumiger Natural born Cyborgs OR when Talos met Medea Genevieve Liveley The Bear Necessities: Thrasyleon, Lucius, and the Status of Skins in The Golden Ass Martin Devecka BODY TECHNOLOGIES AND GENDER Short Introduction: Prosthetic Beauty Giulia Maria Chesi Galen’s Thrasybulus: Medicine, Gymnastic Trainers, and the Technosoma Daniel King Body Beautification and Black Ethiopians in Herodotus’ Ethiopian Logos Giulia Maria Chesi Want to look Younger and Stronger? Cosmetic Hot Baths in Classical Antiquity Maria Gerolemou Mansplaining with Ovid: Ars-cultus-munditia and the ‘Natural’ Body Marguerite Johnson O Tempora, O Morays: Eels and Luxury in Imperial Rome Martin Devecka The Technê that Races: Phoenician-Punic Technosomata in Homer and Plautus Elena Giusti BODY TECHNOLOGIES AND SEXUALITY Short Introduction: Hybrid Pleasures Giulia Maria Chesi Orchids, Lizards and Lettuce: Aphrodisiacs and Technosomata Laurence Totelin Lucian’s lunar Tree-people: Between sexual Technology and the prosthetic Imagination Karen ní Mheallaigh Negotiating Women’s Sexual Identity with a Scalpel: Ancient and Contemporary Views on Female Genital Surgery Elisa Groff Epilogue: Technosomata and Moral Anxiety Rebecca Langlands

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Book SynopsisThe 'De venenis' attributed to 'Malachias Hibernicus' is a portable discussion of vices and virtues. Probably composed about 1280, originally as an aid for Franciscan preachers, it adopts the innovative metaphor that sin is a poison removed by various 'treacles'. Its argumentative mode is to adduce scientific data about venomous beasts, the sins, and the antidotes to their poisons, the 'remedial' virtues. From these 'facts' of natural history, Malachy constructs homiletic similitudines (analogical figures). These, typically of a sort designed for use in sermones ad status, he applies to vicious and virtuous activities, and perhaps particularly ones peculiar to Ireland. Although Malachy the Irishman and his On Poison have received only a handful of scholarly notices in the last century, in the later Middle Ages, his was a widely known book. A lengthy introduction presents evidence for the wide circulation of Malachy's text and the little that is known of the author. It further addresses literary issues: the work's genre, hovering between a treatise on vices and virtues, a compendium of scientific information, and a handbook for preachers; Malachy's efforts at compilation of authoritative materials; and a preliminary account of some early users, including William Langland and Robert Holcot. The introduction concludes by examining the insuperable difficulties involved in editing the text. The centre of the volume presents an annotated preliminary text and translation, together with some account of early interpolations the text received. The volume concludes with three indexes, one with all biblical citations, one of all Malachy's other citations, and a third of Malachy's similitudines, his moralised scientific information.Trade Review‘Perhaps the greatest gift a longtime editor and skilled Latinist can leave for less experienced successors is a reliable edition and accurate translation of an influential text that they may not have encountered and cannot read as fluently. Hanna has given his colleagues exactly that.’ Edwin D. Craun, The Medieval Review‘Hanna’s book is the first edition of De veneno since 1518, and his excellent translation on facing pages makes the text easily accessible beyond a scholarly audience… This book belongs on the shelf of every medievalist and may also be of interest to many a lay person.’ Rüdiger Spahl, Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen und Literaturen

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisMaldon is the only substantial late Old English heroic poem to survive and provides unique testimony to the poetics of its period: close re-analysis of it shows it to be a striking mix of old and new, combining features found in much earlier verse with others only otherwise attested in Middle English alliterative poetry.

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Book SynopsisThe result is a lively tour of the Roman yearsometimes thoughtful, sometimes tragic, sometimes triumphant or even farcicalthat interweaves human customs into the natural world, and gives occasional glimpses of awe-inspiring divinities on the streets of Rome.

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