A History of Ancient Greek: From the Beginnings to Late Antiquity. Edited by A.-F. CHRISTIDIS. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007. Pp. xli + 1617. Cloth, $250.00. ISBN 978-0-521-83307-3
The Classical Journal, 2009
A.-F. Christidis (ed.). A History of Ancient Greek: From the Beginnings to Late Antiquity. Cambri... more A.-F. Christidis (ed.). A History of Ancient Greek: From the Beginnings to Late Antiquity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007. Pp. xli, 1617. $250.00. ISBN 978-0-521-83307-3. With the assistance of Maria Arapopoulou and Maria Chriti.
Matro of Pitane and the Tradition of Epic Parody in the Fourth Century: Text, Translation, and Commentary
The Classical World, 2001
The fragments of Matro of Pitane (c. 300 BC) offer insights not only into the largely forgotten a... more The fragments of Matro of Pitane (c. 300 BC) offer insights not only into the largely forgotten and obscure late-classical genre of epic parody, but also into 4th-century Athenian history, the role of food and dining in antiquity, and the history of the text of Homer and the reception of the Iliad and the Odyssey in the pre-Alexandrian period. Sens and Olson offer a new text of the 144 surviving lines of Matro's parodies based on a fresh examination of the manuscripts; a translation; a detailed philological, historical, and gastronomic commentary; and a lively introduction to the poet and his times.
Pleasures Recalled: A.R. 3.813-814, Asclepiades, and Homer
Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, 2003
Ocav6vre) and Nicander (Th. 613 gtvtv rw vi "ooot yTpioPLtov).6 Moreover, both contexts inv... more Ocav6vre) and Nicander (Th. 613 gtvtv rw vi "ooot yTpioPLtov).6 Moreover, both contexts involve maidens (HE 817 i6prl/ - AR 3.814 icouprl/) who are presented with the putative choice between death on the one hand and yielding to their desires on the other. No convincing internal ...
Archestratos of Gela : Greek culture and cuisine in the fourth century BCE : text, translation, and commentary
Archestratos of Gela was the author of a mock-epic poem, most likely entitled the Hedupatheia or ... more Archestratos of Gela was the author of a mock-epic poem, most likely entitled the Hedupatheia or Life of Luxury, that presented itself as a gastronomic tour of the Mediterranean world. Written sometime in the first two-thirds of the fourth century BCE, the Hedupatheia was widely read in the late classical and early Hellenistic periods and was translated into Latin by Ennius, through whom it influenced the work of later Roman poets including Horace. It survives today in fragments totalling about 330 lines. The Hedupatheia is a fundamental source for our understanding not only of fourth-century literature but also of the significance of food and dining and the reception of epic poetry in late classical society. This edition is based on a fresh examination of the manuscripts and is the first to combine an authoritative critical text of the fragments with a translation, a detailed philological and historical commentary, and an extensive introduction situating the poem in its literary, s...
INTRODUCTION I. Life and works II. The development of Hellenistic epigram III. Asclepiades and in... more INTRODUCTION I. Life and works II. The development of Hellenistic epigram III. Asclepiades and inscribed epigram IV. Erotic epigram and its generic background V. Narrative voice and genre VI. Asclepiades and his contemporaries VII. Asclepiades at court VIII. Language and style IX. Metre X. The transmission of the text TESTIMONIA SIGLA TEXT AND COMMENTARY
Lycophron, Alexandra 261–2 and Homeric Αγκυλοχηλησ
The Classical Quarterly, 2011
The imagery of the passage is complex, and combines two separate but closely related ideas. On th... more The imagery of the passage is complex, and combines two separate but closely related ideas. On the one hand, in treating Achilles as a raptor who will swoop down and carry off Hector (cf. 265 ἁρπάσας μετάρσιον), the passage makes concrete the bird similes of Iliad 22, where first Achilles (139–44) and then Hector (308–11) are compared to birds of prey as they engage in their final battle. On the other, as the scholia observe, verses 261–2 draw on the image of a chariot or other vehicle cutting a track in the ground as it rounds a stadium course (χέρσον ... διαγράφων / ῥαιβοῖ τυπωτὴν τόρμαν). The language thus simultaneously evokes Achilles’ dragging of Hector’s corpse behind his chariot and anticipates Cassandra’s characterization of the Greek hero as a ploughman cutting furrows in the earth (268 λευρᾶς βοώτης γατομῶν δι ̓ αὔλακος) as he defiles the body. The phrase ἀγκύλῃ βάσει contributes to the conflation of avian and vehicular imagery.1 At one level, the phrase is appropriate to the progress of the round wheels of a chariot (cf. Soph. El. 718, τροχῶν βάσεις, i.e. ‘rolling wheels’). At the same time, the context simultaneously allows βάσις to be understood in the sense ‘feet’, as often (LSJ, s.v. II), and the noun–adjective combination to refer to the curved talons of an eagle. Thus the phrase as a whole serves as a linchpin that brings together the images of Achilles as a bird of prey, on the one hand, and a charioteer rounding the bend of a racecourse, on the other.
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