Published by De Gruyter

Sozomena

Studies in the Recovery of Ancient Texts

Edited by: Alessandro Barchiesi, Robert Fowler, Lucia Prauscello and Nigel Wilson
On behalf of: Herculaneum Society

ISSN: 1869-6368

Overview
Volumes

“Sozomena” means “saved” in Greek. The series is dedicated to the recovery and presentation of texts that have only survived from Greek or Roman antiquity thanks to extraordinary find circumstances. It is primarily concerned with papyri, thousands of which await deciphering in universities and libraries.

The primary intention of the series is to edit and interpret texts, but methods of recovery and presentation will also be discussed, so that different types of books will be published: editions of texts, commentaries, monographs and collections. The main language is English, together with German and Italian.

Author / Editor information

A. Barchiesi, Harvard, USA; R. Fowler, Bristol, UK; L. Prauscello, Oxford, UK; N. Wilson, Oxford, UK, on behalf of "Herculaneum Society"

Book 2022

Song Regained

Working with Greek Poetic Fragments

Margarita Alexandrou, Chris Carey, Giovan Battista D´Alessio

Volume 20 in this series

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Apart from relatively few exceptions of texts which survive intact, what we have of Ancient Greek literature remains, to a great degree, fragmentary. As a result it is often misread, overlooked or mined not for its own sake but to support the investigation of texts which survive in their entirety. This collection of chapters addresses a range of poetic fragments, with a strong (though not exclusive) focus on Archaic epic and lyric, and an emphasis on the papyrological tradition. Its main purpose is to showcase effective methodologies through case studies, through a “hands-on” approach assisted by a robust theoretical underpinning. The topics covered include textual criticism, the editing of fragmentary corpora, the role of palaeography and the physical features of writing materials, the study of ancient editions, annotations and paraliterary texts, matters of indirect or mixed tradition, and fragment placement and attribution. This volume will certainly be a rewarding read, intended equally for new researchers who wish to acquire or improve the skills needed to deal with fragmentary texts and for established scholars who may draw on the authors’ insights to navigate the field improving their experience and enriching their knowledge.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110711004
ISBN:: 9783110711004
ISBN:: 9783110710960
ISBN:: 9783110711011
Subject:: Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies
Subject:: Classical Studies
Subject:: Greek
Subject:: Greek Language and Literature
Subject:: Papyrology
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2020

The Original Verses of Apollodorus’ ›Chronica‹

Edition, Translation and Commentary on the First Iambic Didactic Poem in the Light of New Evidence

Kilian Fleischer

Volume 19 in this series

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The Chronica by the grammarian Apollodorus of Athens (2nd century BC) was an exemplary chronographical reference work. It was composed in trimeters and represents the first Iambic didactic poem ever. So far, the surviving original verses have hardly been appreciated and analyzed in their own terms. Therefore a comprehensive collection of these verses is provided, including an introduction, edition, translation and commentary. Most verses stem from Philodemus' Index Academicorum, a Herculanean papyrus. Through the use of new imaging techniques and cutting-edge editing methods, enormous textual progress has been made. Many verses have been newly restored or significantly improved. They often reveal new hard facts about Academic philosophers and also bear some relevance for the dating of the Chronica and for Apollodorus' biography. In short, this collection guarantees easy access to the genuine verses of the Chronica, as originally drafted by Apollodorus, and thereby facilitates a contextualization or comparison with other (Iambic) didactic poems on a dramatically changed textual basis. The scope of the book fulfills various scholarly desiderata from a historical, philosophical, philological and literary-critical standpoint.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110703726
ISBN:: 9783110703726
ISBN:: 9783110703382
Subject:: Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies
Subject:: Classical Studies
Subject:: Greek
Subject:: Greek Language and Literature
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2020

Volume I APHex I

Marco Perale

Part of the multi-volume work Adespota Papyracea Hexametra Graeca (APHEX)

Volume 18 in this series

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Adespota Papyracea Hexametra Graeca provides a comprehensive corpus of ‘anonymous’ hexameter texts on papyri, parchments, ostraca and tablets that have appeared in the current and past two centuries. The project has three main objectives: i) to retrieve and determine how many and what type of unidentified hexameter poems reached us via Egyptian papyri; ii) to restore a readable and reliable text for these poems, providing straightforward access to material that has been hard-to-reach in print format, is still unavailable online, or has not been previously translated into English or any other modern language; iii) to discuss, insofar as the fragmentary state of the evidence allows, issues of style, metre, and attribution. Overall, it aspires to serve as a fresh and solid starting-point for future assessment of Greek poetry in Egypt from the Archaic period to Late Antiquity.

This first volume of papyrus adespota contains: i) a catalogue of hexameter adespota, and ii) critical editions with English translation and commentary of: cosmologies and foundation poems (no. 01–06), astronomical and astrological texts (07–12), didactic and technical poetry (13–16), hymns (17–32), fragments of erotic content (33–38); epithalamia (39–43); and two hexameter anthologies, the Goodspeed papyrus (44) and the so-called Pamprepius codex (45). Future volumes will contain: Encomia and Lamentations (46–67); Bucolic (68–71), and Epic poetry (72–144); assemblages of Homeric verses (145–154); magical verses (155–166); oracles (167–169); fragments of uncertain genre or content (170–204); hexameter quotes from grammatical papyri and ancient commentaries (205–216); παίγνια (217–219); gnomic hexameters (220–221); pangrams (222–235); texts copied or produced within a school context (236–242).

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110295085
ISBN:: 9783110295085
ISBN:: 9783110295030
Subject:: Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies
Subject:: Classical Studies
Subject:: Greek
Subject:: Greek Authors
Subject:: Greek Language and Literature
Subject:: Papyrology
Subject:: Byzantine Studies
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2022

The Demades Papyrus (P.Berol. inv. 13045)

A New Text with Commentary

Davide Amendola

Volume 17 in this series

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Despite the significance of its contents, the so-called Demades papyrus (P.Berol. inv. 13045) has received scarce scholarly attention since the 1923 editio princeps by Karl Kunst. This unique late second-century BCE document of almost 430 lines was found in the Egyptian chora, but it is supposed to have been written in Alexandria, where it probably served as a textbook for the highest level of rhetorical education. Besides shedding new light on its find circumstances and physical aspects, the volume offers a full re-edition and commentary of the two adespota texts contained in it, namely a eulogy of the Lagid monarchy and a historical work consisting of a dialogue between Demades and his prosecutor in the trial of 319 BCE at the court of Pella. The aim of the accompanying introduction is to address the question of the origin, nature and purpose of such fragments and of the collection itself, as well as to show to what extent the papyrus contributes to a better understanding of some of the main historical events of the early Hellenistic period. This book is thus meant to fill a significant gap in Classical scholarship, all the more so as a close investigation of most of the topics dealt with therein has hitherto been lacking.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110602371
ISBN:: 9783110602371
ISBN:: 9783110600919
ISBN:: 9783110600407
Subject:: Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies
Subject:: Classical Studies
Subject:: Greek
Subject:: Greek Language and Literature
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2017

Apollodoriana

Ancient Myths, New Crossroads

Jordi Pàmias

Volume 16 in this series

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A growing interest in myth over the last decades has brought to the fore the main mythographical manual that has came down to us from Antiquity: Apollodorus’ Bibliotheca. A number of recent editions shows this trend, like the commented translations of Carrière & Massonie (1991) and Scarpi & Ciani (1996), the translations of Guidorizzi (1995), Brodersen (2004), Dräger (2005) and Smith & Trzaskoma (2007) or the critical text by Papathomopoulos (2010). The publication of the first two volumes (2010 and 2012) of Cuartero’s massive critical and commented bilingual edition for the Fundació Bernat Metge series seemed the occasion to address this text from innovative scholarly perspectives. The origins of the present volume lay in a colloquium held at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona in 2013. Despite its crucial interest for the scientific study of ancient myth, no conference devoted to this engaging text was held prior to that one. And, to this date, no monographic volume on Apollodorus’ mythology exists either. To cover a broader scope of analysis, three further papers have been commissioned to other specialists. This collection of essays is meant to be a homage to Francesc J. Cuartero.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110545326
ISBN:: 9783110545326
ISBN:: 9783110544305
ISBN:: 9783110540741
Subject:: Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies
Subject:: Classical Studies
Subject:: Greek
Subject:: Greek Authors
Subject:: Greek Language and Literature
Subject:: Ancient Religion
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2015

The Names of Homeric Heroes

Problems and Interpretations

Nikoletta Kanavou

Volume 15 in this series

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The purpose of this book is to contribute to the appreciation of the linguistic, literary and contextual value of Homeric personal names. This is an old topic, which famously interested Plato, and an object of constant scholarly attention from the time of ancient commentators to the present day. The book begins with an introduction to the particularly complex set of factors that affect all efforts to interpret Homeric names. The main chapters are structured around the character and action of selected heroes in their Homeric contexts (in the case of the Iliad, a heroic war; the Odyssey chapter encompasses more than one planes of action). They offer a survey of modern etymologies, set against ancient views on names and naming, in order to reconstruct (as far as possible) the reception of significant names by ancient audiences and further to shed light on the parameters surrounding the choice and use of personal names in Homer. An Appendix touches on the underexplored career of Homeric personal names as historical names, offering data and a preliminary analysis.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110421972
ISBN:: 9783110409970
ISBN:: 9783110421972
ISBN:: 9783110578201
ISBN:: 9783110422023
Subject:: Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies
Subject:: Classical Studies
Subject:: Greek
Subject:: Greek Language and Literature
Subject:: Linguistics and Semiotics
Subject:: Other Languages of Europe
Subject:: Greek
Subject:: Literary Studies
Subject:: Topics in Literary Studies
Subject:: Literary Studies and Linguistics
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2013

Doctrine and Doxography

Studies on Heraclitus and Pythagoras

David Sider, Dirk Obbink

Volume 14 in this series

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Pythagoras and Heraclitus developed theories of the universe and mankind’s place in it which were taken seriously by all later Greek thinkers. None of their works remains, however, except in later paraphrases that all too often are misrepresentations. Pythagoras had followers who attributed their own ideas to their master; Heraclitus wrote in a prose style so ambiguous that he came to be known as the Shadow, so that even the most earnest attempts to paraphrase his views had to smooth out his intentional rough edges. Nonetheless, enough remains to allow the authors of this volume, edited by David Sider and Dirk Obbink (Oxford), to offer new ways of viewing their views and the way others perceived them. The contributors are Gábor Betegh (Budapest), Roman Dilcher (Heidelberg), Aryeh Finkelberg (Tel Aviv), Daniel Graham (Brigham Young University), Herbert Granger (Wayne State University), Carl Huffman (DePauw), Enrique Hülsz Piccone (Mexico City), Anthony Long (Berkeley), Richard McKirahan (Pomona), Catherine Rowett (East Anglia), David Sider (New York), and Leonid Zhmud (St. Petersberg).

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110331370
ISBN:: 978-3-11-033116-5
ISBN:: 978-3-11-033137-0
Subject:: Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies
Subject:: Classical Studies
Subject:: Greek
Subject:: Greek Language and Literature
Subject:: Ancient Philosophy
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2012

The Lyric of Ibycus

Introduction, Text and Commentary

Claire Louise Wilkinson

Volume 13 in this series

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Ibycus is one of the nine canonical lyric poets, a crucial figure in the history of Greek poetry and the archaic world. His work has value both for its own poetic qualities and for its importance from a literary-historical point of view. Ibycus’ imagery is complex and demanding, his intertextual relationships sophisticated and his use of metre both traditional and innovative. His work also helps us to understand the relationship between the poetry of West and East Greece and to further our knowledge of patronage and the epinician tradition. This commentary includes an introduction to Ibycus’ life and poetry, covering the internal and external evidence for his life and the content, imagery and metre of his poetry. It then offers an individual analysis and detailed commentary on a selection of Ibycus' poems, including both the more famous poems and less well-known fragments, all of which give insight into his style and themes, as well as his relationship to other poets of the period. The commentary also offers a re-examination of the fragments preserved on the Oxyrhynchus papyri, providing a new edition of these poems which gets as close as possible to the material preserved.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110295146
ISBN:: 978-3-11-028894-0
ISBN:: 978-3-11-029514-6
Subject:: Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies
Subject:: Classical Studies
Subject:: Greek
Subject:: Greek Authors
Subject:: Greek Language and Literature
Subject:: Ancient History
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2012

Lucretius and His Sources

A Study of Lucretius, "De rerum natura" I 635-920

Francesco Montarese

Volume 12 in this series

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This book discusses Lucretius’ refutation of Heraclitus, Empedocles, Anaxagoras and other, unnamed thinkers in De Rerum Natura 1, 635-920. Chapter 1 argues that in DRN I 635-920 Lucretius was following an Epicurean source, which in turn depended on Theophrastean doxography. Chapter 2 shows that books 14 and 15 of Epicurus’ On Nature were not Lucretius’ source-text. Chapter 3 discusses how lines 635-920 fit in the structure of book 1 and whether Lucretius’ source is more likely to have been Epicurus himself or a neo-Epicurean. Chapter 4 focuses on Lucretius’ own additions to the material he derived from his sources and on his poetical and rhetorical contributions, which were extensive. Lucretius shows an understanding of philosophical points by adapting his poetical devices to the philosophical arguments. Chapter 4 also argues that Lucretius anticipates philosophical points in what have often been regarded as the ‘purple passages’ of his poem - e.g. the invocation of Venus in the proem, and the description of Sicily and Aetna - so that he could take them up later on in his narrative and provide an adequate explanation of reality.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110218817
ISBN:: 978-3-11-019452-4
ISBN:: 978-3-11-021881-7
Subject:: Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies
Subject:: Classical Studies
Subject:: Papyrology
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2011

The Sacred Law of Andania

A New Text with Commentary

Laura Gawlinski

Volume 11 in this series

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The inscribed text referred to as the sacred law of Andania contains almost 200 lines of regulations about a mystery festival and the sanctuary in which it took place. Although it concerns one annual festival in Messenia, it imparts information relevant to the general nature of sanctuary activity and the issues that were important in the routine management of cult. This book contributes to the recent shift in scholarship that has sought to view sanctuaries as more than simply settings for temples, but as locations created and affected by people's various needs, activities, and agendas. This examination of the inscription includes a new and accurate edition of its text with full critical apparatus, an English translation, and copious images of the stone. The accompanying introduction and commentary incorporate literary and epigraphical comparanda and on-site topographical research to present a holistic view of the cultic regulations in their historical and geographical context.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110268140
ISBN:: 978-3-11-026757-0
ISBN:: 978-3-11-026814-0
Subject:: Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies
Subject:: Classical Studies
Subject:: Ancient History
Subject:: Classical Archaeology
Subject:: Epigraphy
Subject:: History
Subject:: Historical Periods
Subject:: Ancient History
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2011

Tracing Orpheus

Studies of Orphic Fragments

Miguel Herrero de Jáuregui, Ana Isabel Jiménez San Cristóbal, Eugenio R. Luján Martínez, Raquel Martín Hernández, Marco Antonio Santamaría Álvarez, Sofía Torallas Tovar

Volume 10 in this series

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There is hardly a more controversial issue in the study of ancient religion than Orphism. More than two centuries of debate have not closed the subject, since new evidence and divergent approaches have kept appearing regularly. This volume sheds light on the most relevant pieces of evidence for ancient Orphism, collected in the recent edition by Alberto Bernabé. It contains 65 short new studies on Orphic fragments by leading international scholars who comment one of the most controversial phenomena in Antiquity from a plurality of perspectives. Readers will acquire a global vision of the multiple dimensions of the Orphic tradition, as well as many new insights into particular Orphic fragments.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110260533
ISBN:: 978-3-11-026052-6
ISBN:: 978-3-11-026053-3
Subject:: Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies
Subject:: Classical Studies
Subject:: Papyrology
Subject:: Ancient Philosophy
Subject:: Philosophy
Subject:: History of Philosophy
Subject:: Ancient Philosophy
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2011

The Poetics of Philosophical Language

Plato, Poets and Presocratics in the "Republic"

Zacharoula Petraki

Volume 9 in this series

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A close analysis of the Republic’s diverse literary styles shows how the peculiarities of verbal texture in Platonic discourse can be explained by Plato’s remolding of tropes and techniques from poetry and the Presocratics. This book argues that Plato smuggles poetic language into the Republic’s prose in order to characterize the deceitful coloration and polymorphy that accompanies the world of Becoming as opposed to the Real. Plato’s distinctive discourse thus can transmit, even to those figures focused on the visual within his Republic, the shiftiness of the base and the unjust.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110262162
ISBN:: 978-3-11-026097-7
ISBN:: 978-3-11-026216-2
Subject:: Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies
Subject:: Classical Studies
Subject:: Ancient Philosophy
Subject:: Philosophy
Subject:: History of Philosophy
Subject:: Ancient Philosophy
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2010

Aristophanes' Comedy of Names

A Study of Speaking Names in Aristophanes

Nikoletta Kanavou

Volume 8 in this series

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The use of significant proper names is one of the most entertaining aspects of Aristophanes’ art; unsurprisingly, it has received much scholarly attention. But although there are a large number of articles and scattered comments on individual names, the present book offers the first systematic study on the subject. It is, as far as possible, an exhaustive discussion of significant proper names that appear in Aristophanes’ eleven extant plays: personal names (which occupy the largest part), theonyms, place-names, ethnics and demotics – all names that seem to be deliberately used for their meanings. Two appendixes discuss slave-names and selected names from Aristophanes’ fragmentary plays. Names are carefully analysed in their context, taking into account a range of factors such as language (etymology and word-plays), the content of the plays (the plots, set against their political and social background), and issues of characterisation. This work is thus meant to contribute simultaneously to Aristophanic scholarship, by enabling a deeper appreciation of Aristophanes ’ humour, and to the field of Greek literary onomastics.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110247077
ISBN:: 978-3-11-024706-0
ISBN:: 978-3-11-024707-7
Subject:: Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies
Subject:: Classical Studies
Subject:: Greek
Subject:: Greek Language and Literature
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2010

Orphism and Christianity in Late Antiquity

Miguel Herrero de Jáuregui

Volume 7 in this series

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Many recent discoveries have confirmed the importance of Orphism for ancient Greek religion, philosophy and literature. Its nature and role are still, however, among the most debated problems of Classical scholarship. A cornerstone of the question is its relationship to Christianity, which modern authors have too often discussed from apologetic perspectives or projections of the Christian model into its supposed precedent. Besides, modern approaches are strongly based on ancient ones, since Orpheus and the poems and mysteries attributed to him were fundamental in the religious controversies of Late Antiquity. Both Pagan and Christian authors often present Orphism as a precedent, alternative or imitation of Chistianity.
This free and thorough study of the ancient sources sheds light on these controversial questions. The presence of the Orphic tradition in Imperial Age, documented by literary and epigraphical evidence, is confronted with the informations transmitted by Christian apologists on Orphic poems and cults. The manifold Christian treatments of Pagan sources, and their particular value to understand Greek religion, are illuminated by this specific case, which exemplifies the complex encounter between Classical culture and Jewish-Christian tradition.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110216608
ISBN:: 978-3-11-020633-3
ISBN:: 978-3-11-021660-8
ISBN:: 9783110482355
Subject:: Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies
Subject:: Classical Studies
Subject:: Greek
Subject:: Greek Authors
Subject:: Philosophy
Subject:: History of Philosophy
Subject:: Ancient Philosophy
Subject:: Theology and Religion
Subject:: Patristics
Subject:: Introductions and Overviews
Subject:: Religious Studies
Subject:: Ancient Religions
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2009

The Invectives of Sallust and Cicero

Critical Edition with Introduction, Translation, and Commentary

Anna Novokhatko

Volume 6 in this series

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This work covers the history of the text of the invectives of Sallust against Cicero and of Cicero against Sallust. Though these speeches seem unsophisticated to some, they are in fact of considerable importance. The question of the authenticity of both invectives, especially of the invective against Cicero, considered in the book diachronically, has long troubled scholars, commencing with Quintilian’s quotation from the text as though it were authentic. This dispute continues down to our own time. In all probability, both invectives are a product of the rhetorical schools of Rome, as students at such schools might have been set the task of writing a speech against Cicero imitating Sallust, or of responding to Sallust in the style of Cicero. Thus, we possess a sample of rhetorical school exercises, preserved due to their similarities to the prototypes on which they were modelled. The work covers: the full manuscript tradition of the text and also the history of the changes which arose during its transmission, the history of the printed text and the text itself with an apparatus criticus and also a translation. This work should be of interest to classicists, philologists interested in the history of medieval and renaissance texts, and also to those erudite readers concerned with rhetorical style and the functioning of the rhetorical schools of Rome.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110213263
ISBN:: 978-3-11-021325-6
ISBN:: 978-3-11-021326-3
Subject:: Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies
Subject:: Classical Studies
Subject:: Latin
Subject:: Latin Authors
Subject:: Latin Language and Literature
Subject:: History
Subject:: Historical Periods
Subject:: Ancient History
Subject:: Literary Studies
Subject:: Topics in Literary Studies
Subject:: Poetics
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2009

Prolepsis and Ennoia in the Early Stoa

Henry Dyson

Volume 5 in this series

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This book reconstructs the Stoic doctrine of prolepsis. Prolepses are conceptions that develop naturally from ordinary experience. They are often identified with preconceptions (i.e. the first conceptions one unconsciously forms of something). However, this is inconsistent with the Stoics’ claim that prolepseis are criteria of truth. Rather, prolepseis are analytically true claims embedded within one’s ordinary conceptual scheme (e.g. the good is beneficial). When they have been articulated and systematized, prolepseis can be used to judge conceptual claims that go beyond the scope of sense-perceptual knowledge (e.g. pleasure is the good). The Stoics often refer to prolepseis as “common conceptions” to emphasize that they are shared by everyone, although in most people they remain unarticulated. This reconstruction suggests that Chrysippus was influenced by Platonic recollection to a greater extent than previously recognized. It supports the orthodoxy of Epictetus’ statements about prolepsis and suggests that later authors who assimilate the Epicurean and Stoic doctrines were misled by the polemical attacks of Carneades. The argument of the book is supported by a comprehensive collection of fragments relating to prolepsis in Epicurus, the early Stoa, Cicero, Epictetus, Plutarch, Sextus Empiricus, and Alexander of Aphrodisias.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110212297
ISBN:: 978-3-11-021228-0
ISBN:: 978-3-11-021229-7
Subject:: Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies
Subject:: Classical Studies
Subject:: Ancient Philosophy
Subject:: Philosophy
Subject:: History of Philosophy
Subject:: Ancient Philosophy
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2009

From Alexandria to Babylon

Near Eastern Languages and Hellenistic Erudition in the Oxyrhynchus Glossary (P.Oxy. 1802 + 4812)

Francesca Schironi

Volume 4 in this series

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This book provides the first full edition and commentary of the Oxyrhynchus Glossary (POxy 1802 and 4812). This is a unique document both for the history of Greek lexicography and for the study of the cultural and linguistic exchange between the Greeks and the “others” in the Hellenistic near East. The fragment contains a fully alphabetized glossary with lemmas defined as “Persian,” “Babylonian,” and “Chaldaean”, as well as lemmas taken from Greek dialects or common Greek. The entries are rich in quotations from ancient authorities including Berossus, Apollodorus and Erasistratus. This glossary had never been analyzed in depth previously. Francesca Schironi provides a comprehensive introduction and commentary that places the Oxyrhynchus Glossary into the wider context of Greek lexicography and scholarship, discusses its interest for non-Greek languages and the problems related to linguistic exchanges in the Near Eastern areas, and shows the uniqueness and value of this document. The Oxyrhynchus glossary and this study will be of interest to classicists, papyrologists, comparative philologists, and scholars interested in the history of Greek lexicography and scholarship.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110215403
ISBN:: 978-3-11-020693-7
ISBN:: 978-3-11-021540-3
Subject:: Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies
Subject:: Ancient Near Eastern Studies
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2008

Language and Rhythm in Plautus

Synchronic and Diachronic Studies

Benjamin Fortson

Volume 3 in this series

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The plays of Plautus have long been recognized as a unique mine of information about the spoken Latin of the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC. But detailed and up-to-date linguistic treatments of the Plautine meters and other phenomena in his plays have hitherto been lacking. This book seeks to remedy that gap by presenting a series of case-studies to glean information about the synchronic grammar of Plautine Latin, in particular the rhythmic organization of Latin speech and the effects of syntactic processes on Latin prosodic phonology. Some of the topics, such as enjambement and the aphaeresis of “est”, have never before received such treatment, while others, such as Meyer’s and Luchs’s laws, split resolutions, and iambic shortening, are provided a firmer linguistic footing, and fuller discussion of allied issues, than hitherto. Topics in Italic syntax (such as the syntactic structure of adpositional phrases and their history) and in Indo-European morphophonology (such as the prosodic status of finite verbs) are dealt with as well, as is an investigation into the effects of pragmatics on the rhythmic organization of phrases. The book will be of interest to classicists, comparative philologists, and general linguists.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110210026
ISBN:: 978-3-11-020593-0
ISBN:: 978-3-11-021002-6
Subject:: Linguistics and Semiotics
Subject:: Other Languages of Europe
Subject:: Classical Languages, other
Subject:: Levels of Linguistic Analysis
Subject:: Phonology
Subject:: Syntax
Subject:: Theoretical Frameworks and Disciplines
Subject:: Historical Linguistics
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2008

Poems in Context

Greek Poetry in the Egyptian Thebaid 200-600 AD

Laura Miguélez-Cavero

Volume 2 in this series

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Examining carefully the Egyptian epic hexameter production from the 3rd to the 6th centuries AD, especially that of the southern region (Thebaid), this study provides an image of three centuries in the history of the Graeco-Egyptian literature, in which authors and poetry are related directly to the social-economic, cultural and literary contexts from which they come. The training they could get and the books and authors they came in touch with explain that we know so many names and works, written in a language and metrics that enjoyed the greatest esteem, being considered proofs of the highest culture. Laura Miguélez Cavero demonstrates that the traditional image of a “school of Nonnos” is not justified ‑ rather, Triphiodorus, Nonnus, Musaeus, Colluthus, Cyrus of Panopolis and Christodorus of Coptos are just the tip of a literary iceberg we know only to some extent through the texts that papyri offer us.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110210415
ISBN:: 978-3-11-020273-1
ISBN:: 978-3-11-021041-5
Subject:: Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies
Subject:: Classical Studies
Subject:: Greek
Subject:: Greek Language and Literature
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2010

The Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum

Archaeology, Reception, and Digital Reconstruction

Mantha Zarmakoupi

Volume 1 in this series

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The Villa of the Papyri is a unique archaeological site and has been very influential in the field of classical studies. The papyri (the only intact library to survive from Greco-Roman antiquity) and bronze sculptures found in the villa have contributed to our knowledge of the ancient world and the villa has become for us the “ideal model” of Roman luxury villa culture.
This volume brings together papers delivered by experts in various fields addressing the cultural significance of this ancient site in its contemporary Roman context as well as its cultural reception from its discovery over two hundred and fifty years ago to the most recent excavations in the late twentieth century. They also explore the ways in which digital archaeology can assist our efforts to understand and investigate ancient sites. Topics treated include the Villa’s architecture, decoration, and content (i.e., wall-paintings, sculptures, and papyri); their reception since the 18th century; and the current state of knowledge based on the recent partial excavations in the Villa, presented here in English for the first time. Furthermore, the use of digital models of the Villa that incorporate the data from the new excavations and a discussion on the ways in which such models may be used for educational and research purposes are also presented.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110215434
ISBN:: 978-3-11-020388-2
ISBN:: 978-3-11-021543-4
ISBN:: 9783110482225
Subject:: Arts
Subject:: Arts, general
Subject:: History
Subject:: Historical Periods
Subject:: Ancient History
Subject:: Topics in History
Subject:: Cultural History
Publisher:: De Gruyter