Theophrastus' Characters is a collection of thirty short character-sketches of various types of individuals who walked the streets of Athens in the late fourth century BC. This edition presents a radically improved text for a unique work which had a profound influence on European literature. The translation is designed to be readable and reveals the nuances of the original Greek--through a comprehensive commentary that clarifies the often enigmatic references within the text.

This volume presents a new critical edition of the Greek text of Historia Animalium, Aristotle's largest and least studied work, by one of the foremost scholars of Aristotle's biological works and their philosophical significance. This posthumous edition has been completed for publication, with its Introduction expanded and updated, by Allan Gotthelf in consultation with specialists on various aspects of the project. Based on a study of every surviving manuscript, this edition is a considerable advance on previous texts.

This is the first detailed commentary to be compiled on the fragments remaining from the plays of the Greek comic poet Alexis (c. 375-270 BC), who made significant contributions to a new style of comedy that came to be associated especially with Menander. The comments discuss all aspects of the textual transmission, the language, the dramatic background and the relation of the plays to their contemporary milieu. They make important additions to our understanding of fourth-century Attic Greek. The Greek text is not included.

This volume provides a thorough philological and dramatic commentary on Euripides' Phoenissae, the first detailed commentary in English since 1911. An introduction surveys the play, its possible date, features of the original production, the background of Theban myth, the general problem of interpolation, and the textual tradition. The commentary treats the constitution of the text, noteworthy features of diction and style, dramatic technique and structure, and the controversies over possible later additions to the text.

Book 3 of Ovid's Ars Amatoria teaches women how to catch and keep men and is presented in this modern edition, based on the revised Oxford Classical Text by E.J. Kenney. In his extensive introduction and commentary, Gibson responds to recent developments in interpreting didactic poetry and the treatment of women by classical authors, especially the Latin elegiac poets. He explores how the interests of male readers are covertly served in a book addressed to women.

Julius Frontinus was appointed by the Emperor Nerva to the post of water commissioner for the city of Rome in 97 CE. In On the Water-Rights of the City of Rome he documents his duties, responsibilities and accomplishments during his first year in office. He also sketches the history of the aqueducts and furnishes a wealth of technical data. This is the most authoritative edition of this work to be published to date.

The historical tragedy Octavia focuses on Nero's divorce from the princess Octavia, Claudius' daughter by Valeria Messalina, and on the emperor's subsequent marriage to Poppaea Sabina. This book includes a full-length introduction, a new edition of the text based on a fresh examination of the manuscripts, and a detailed commentary dealing with textual, linguistic, and literary points. Spanning three days in June AD 62, the tragic action of the play ends with Octavia's deportation to the island of Pandateria, where she would be executed shortly afterwards.

'The Fifth Hymn' is arguably Callimachus' finest surviving poem; it is here printed with its English translation, an introduction and commentary.

This is a newly revised, critical text of the fragments attributed to the Roman knight and mimographer Decimus Laberius, a witty and crudely satirical contemporary of Cicero and Caesar. Laberius is perhaps the most celebrated comic playwright of the late Republic, and the fragments of plays attributed to him comprise the overwhelming majority of the extant evidence for what we conventionally call 'the literary Roman mime'. The volume also includes a survey of the characteristics and development of the Roman mime, both as a literary genre and as a type of popular theatrical entertainment, as...

The ancient Greek philosopher Antiphon was a contemporary of Socrates who lived in the fifth century BCE Athens. Antiphon wrote several major works, which have survived only in very fragmentary form. All that is known about these works as well as about Antiphon is included in this study. The material is translated, and its significance assessed in a detailed commentary that addresses the numerous problems raised by the fragmentary material. Antiphon's contribution to the wider history of ideas is addressed in conclusion.