Were acts of sex which we would call rape and regard as a criminal offence similarly regarded in classical Athens? That is the main question posed in this book, the first in-depth study of the topic ever to be undertaken. It considers the legal terminology for rape and discusses exactly what these different terms describe. It also examines literary stories where rape and/or seduction feature as plot devices and looks at different characters' responses to them. The book's presentation makes it accessible to a wider readership of non-classicists.

In contrast to earlier scholarly work on Achilles of the Homeric epics, this study examines how one of the most popular figures of Greek mythology was portrayed on the tragic stage of fifth-century Athens. Pantelis Michelakis asserts that dramatists persistently appropriated Achilles to address concerns ranging from heroism and education to individualism and gender. The book considers the complete corpus of extant Greek tragedy, with particular attention paid to Aeschylus' Myrmidons and Euripides' Hecuba and Iphigenia at Aulis.

The transformation of mathematics from its ancient Greek practice to its development in the medieval Arab-speaking world is approached by focusing on a single problem proposed by Archimedes and the many solutions offered. From a practice of mathematics based on the localized solution (originating in the polemical practices of early Greek science), we see a transition to a practice of mathematics based on the systematic approach (grounded in the deuteronomic practices of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages). A radically new interpretation is accordingly offered of the historical trajectory of...

Latin translations of Greek works have received much less attention than vernacular translations of classical works. This book examines the Latin translations of Aristotle and the Bible produced by Leonardo Bruni (1370-1444), Giannozzo Manetti (1396-1459) and Desiderius Erasmus (c.1469-1536). Because these translations aroused considerable controversy at the time, their authors were obliged to defend them against their critics. Drawing together the ideas of three very different translators, this book provides a broad perspective on the development of Latin writing about translation.

How did a new Egyptian dynasty cope with the problems of establishing rule in a country with a long history of developed administration? This volume publishes fifty-four Ptolemaic papyri from the Fayum and Middle Egypt, with English translations and extensive commentaries. Dating from c. 250-150 BC and written in either Greek or Egyptian demotic, the texts record lists of adults, arranged by village, occupation and social group, and by household, together with the taxes paid on their persons, their livestock and trades. Volume I provides the documentary basis for the historical studies of...

The historical studies of this second volume provide a new look at the economic and social history of Ptolemaic Egypt. The salt-tax registers of P.Count not only throw light on key aspects of the fiscal policy of the Greek pharaohs but also provide the best information for family and household structure for the Western world before the fifteenth century AD. The makeup of the population is thoroughly analysed here in both demographic and occupational terms. A constant theme running throughout is the impact of the Greeks on the indigenous population of Egypt. This is traced in cultural...

This book offers a comprehensive examination of the language of Roman comedy in general and that of Terence in particular. The study explores Terence's use of language to differentiate his characters and his language in relation to the language of the comic fragments of the palliata, the togata and the atellana. Linguistic categories in the Terentian corpus explored include colloquialisms, archaisms, hellenisms and idiolectal features. Terence is shown to give his old men an old-fashioned and verbose tone, while low characters are represented as using colloquial diction. An examination of...

Ammianus Marcellinus is usually regarded as our most important source for the history of the second half of the fourth century AD, while his literary qualities are neglected. This book demonstrates what a subtle and manipulative writer Ammianus is; attention is paid particularly to his rich and variegated intertextuality with earlier classical literature and history. Questioning the prevailing interest in the historian's life as the key to his work, Dr Kelly evaluates the historiographical function of the vivid and thrilling autobiographical passages. The range of Ammianus' allusions is...

Ancient Greek expressed the agents of passive verbs by a variety of means, and this work explores the language's development of prepositions which marked the agents of passive verbs. After an initial look at the pragmatics of agent constructions, it turns to this central question: under what conditions is the agent expressed by a construction other than hupo with the genitive� The book traces the development of these expressions from Homer through classical prose and drama, paying attention to the semantic, syntactic, and metrical conditions that favoured the use of one preposition...

Examining the interaction between poetics and politics in ancient Greece's archaic period, in relationship to the work of Solon, this volume argues that, in general, the political expressions of martial exhortation elegy were aristocratic in nature and that the symposiasts attempted to assert a heroic identity on the wider polis community. The study demonstrates how Solon's poetry subverts this practice, using the poetic traditions of epic and Hesiod to further different political aims. It concludes by looking beyond the confines of Solon's poetic appropriations to argue for other influences...