Cesti: The Extant Fragments

ISBN-13: 9783110286762 / Angielski / Twarda / 2012 / 356 str.

Iulius Africanus;Martin Wallraff;Carlo Scardino

Opis

Iulius Africanus (3rd cent.) is a fascinating writer in a period of transition. Widely travelled, he belongs to the intellectual elite of the second sophistic. His two main works present a similar encyclopedic approach, but very different contents. He can be considered the "father of Christian chronography," since he authored the first Christian world chronicle (Chronographiae). However, he also wrote a comprehensive and multifaceted manual of many fields of knowledge, where the religious character is open to debate. The preserved fragments of the Cesti treat military, technical, medical and many other topics. These texts are presented in an entirely new critical edition. The transmission of the texts as well as questions of authenticity are highly complex. Compared to the previous edition (Vieillefond 1970), considerable progress has been reached in terms of both, quantity and quality of the material. Hitherto unknown texts have been included, and in the case of dubious authorship all necessary information is provided for a realistic picture of the transmission. In the introduction, all relevant channels of transmission are discussed. The edition is accompanied by notes and a new English translation.

Recenzje

"La traduzione inglese è molto puntuale e costituisce un sussidio assai utile per la comprensione del testo. [...] In definitiva, quest edizione si può ritenere un assoluta pietra miliare nel campo degli studi che, direttamente o indirettamente, vanno a toccare la figura di Giulio Africano e la tradizione dei suoi Cesti. Non solo, infatti, il miglioramento quantitativo e qualitativo rispetto al passato è nettamente percepibile, ma la nuova traduzione inglese, l introduzione ampia ed aggiornata e le note puntuali permetteranno di ampliare la cerchia di coloro che saranno."
Tommaso Braccini in: Lexis 32/2014

"Nevertheless, despite all criticisms, this is a valuable and erudite edition, which should stimulate further study of these often puzzling texts."
Leofranc Holford-Strevens in: Gnomon 87,6/2015

O autorze

Martin Wallraff, Carlo Scardino, and Christophe Guignard, University of Basel, Switzerland; Laura Mecella, Università Europea di Roma, Italy.