Kategoria BISAC: Foreign Language Study >> Ancient Languages (see also Latin)

Latin text, with Latin-English vocabulary and notes in English.

The Persians (Persae) is Aeschylus' first surviving play. Unlike all other surviving Greek tragedies, which deal with persons and events from the remote, mythical past, it is about living persons and events that took place barely eight years before it was produced in March 472 BC. The setting of the play is Susa, the Persian capital: its hero, the Persian king who came so close to defeating the Greeks in 480: its theme, his own defeat at their hands. Anthony J. Podlecki's translation of the play is complemented by a comprehensive introduction and notes, drawing the reader's...

In the ancient world Homer was recognised as the fountainhead of culture. His poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey, were universally admired as examples of great literature which could never be surpassed. In this study, Richard Jenkyns re-examines the two Homeric epics and the work that is perhaps their closest rival, the Aeneid of Virgil. A wide range of topics is covered, including chapters on heroism and tragedy in the Iliad, morality in the Odyssey and Virgil's skilful reworking of elements from the two earlier epics.

Essential reading for those who are unfamiliar with the works of...

An analysis of Suetonius' account of the emperor Domitian. The book provides a detailed commentary on matters of historical importance in the text, together with a discussion of Suetonius' life. A comparison is offered between Suetonius' account and Dio's version. Latin sources are utilized.

A title in the Bristol Classical Press Latin texts series, in Latin with English notes, vocabulary and introduction. Titus Livius lived from 59 BC to AD 17 and was a native of the northern Italian town of Patavium. It is generally agreed that he settled in Rome at about the age of 30, and spent the last forty years of his life in the composition of his great history. In writing the history of Rome, Livy sought to emphasize the traits in the national character that had made Rome great, and to impress upon his readers that Rome had developed into a great empire under their guidance and...

The Odes of Horace are the cornerstone of lyric poetry in the Western world. This edition of the Odes was first published in the outstanding 'red Macmillan' series, in which it finally replaced the late nineteenth century edition of T.E. Page.

Quinn's edition is designed to meet the need for a modern approach to students in upper school and university. He begins with the assumption that Horace is a major poet, and that the Odes should be recognised and enjoyed as poetry. The commentary provides linguistic aid at the appropriate level but also attempts to reconstruct the...

Euripides' "Cyclops" is the only complete surviving example of a Satyric drama. The Satyr-play drama has a nature entirely of its own, neither tragic nor comic, but something between the two. Its most distinctive feature is its chorus of Satyrs, strange creatures, half goat and half men, the attendants of Dionysus. This edition was originally published by Cambridge University Press and is intended for students who have previously read little or no Greek drama. The notes provide linguistic help and more difficult verb forms are given separately in the vocabulary. There is also an additional...

This text aims to overturn the frequent dismissal of Roman art as 'mosaics and uninspiring copies of Greek sculpture'. In place of the usual historical outline approach, this book looks at the subject by genre and considers the attitudes of Romans themselves to art. Drawing on literary sources as well as illustrations from many parts of the Roman world, this survey of Roman art to the time of Constantine considers what Romans hoped to achieve and how far they were successful.

Based on Ziegler's revised text, this book provides a commentary on Plutarch's "Life of Alexander." It devotes most of its space to historical matters, comparing Plutarch's narrative at every point with the sources. In addition, it adds a fresh introduction and select bibliographies on Plutarch and on Alexander himself.

Modern students' lack of formal training in the grammar even of their own language leads to an impatience with the jargon and rules of syntax in their study of the ancient inflected languages. This comparative approach to Greek and Latin (first published in 1934) serves to intruduce students to the syntax of both languages side by side. It has three main thrusts: the first critical - to explain usages and the labels and theories attached to them; the second historical - to explain the process by which the languages developed and changed; the third psychological - how did the working of...

The original aim of this book was to provide an updated reprint of J.P. Postgate's "Short Guide to the Accentuation of Ancient Greek" (1924). It has developed considerably during the preparation, still including what was most useful in Postgate but now incorporating much additional material and information based on the latest scholarship. It is intended for those who have already learned some Greek but who wish to acquaint themselves with the workings of the accent system, either for the first time or by way of revision. An introductory part outlines clearly the evidence for our knowledge...

A fascinating and almost fantastic chapter in the history of Virgil's reception concerns the 'Thirteenth Book of the Aeneid' written at Pavia in 1428 by Maphaeus Vegius, then a mere lad of twenty-two. For a century and a half after the invention of printing, this book was invariably placed alongside the Aeneid as though an integral part of it, but much more rarely thereafter and now it is seldom available in print. In it the Rutulians surrender to Aeneas; Latinus returns Turnus' body to his father, who performs the burial with due ceremony; Aeneas marries Lavinia and founds a city named...

Homer's mighty epic, the Iliad, is the first work of western literature
and one of the defining masterpieces of our culture. The purpose of
this new line-by-line commentary is to help as wide an audience as
possible to understand and appreciate the poem through the best of
recent scholarship on the man and his work.

Peter Jones has
selected three of the most widely used translations on which to base
his commentary, those of E.V. Rieu (revised and updated by Peter
Jones), Martin Hammond, and Richmond Lattimore.
There is a useful
introduction to the whole...

Acclaimed as one of the pioneering texts to introduce narratology (the theory that deals with the general principles underlying narrative texts) to classical scholarship, Irene de Jong's work explains the key concepts such as "narrator," "focalization" and "prolepsis," highlighting their relevance by using them for the analysis and interpretation of Homer's "Iliad." What is the role of the narrator and how do the parts of the story told by the narrator relate to the many speeches for which Homer is famous? This work was first published in 1987 and it is reissued here with a new...

"Orestes" was one of Euripides' most popular plays in antiquity. Its plot, which centres on Orestes' murder of his mother Clytemnestra and its aftermath, is exciting as well as morally complex; its presentation of madness is unusually intense and disturbing; it deals with politics in a way which has resonances for both ancient and modern democracies; and, it has a brilliantly unexpected and ironic ending. Nevertheless, "Orestes" is not much read or performed in modern times. Why should this be so? Perhaps it is because "Orestes" does not conform to modern audiences' expectations of what a...