Peter E. Knox - Böcker

Though the wonders of ancient Roman culture continue to attract interest across the disciplines, it is difficult to find a lively, accessible collection of the full range of the era's literature in English. The Oxford Anthology of Literature in the Roman World provides a general introduction to the literature of the Roman empire at its zenith, between the second century BC and the second century AD. Two features of this extraordinarily fertile period in literary achievement as evidenced by this anthology are immediately and repeatedly clear: how similar the Romans' view of the world was to our own and, perhaps even more obviously, how different it was. Most of the authors included in the anthology wrote in Latin, but as the anthology moves forward in time, relevant Greek texts that reflect the cultural diversity of Roman literary life are also included, something no other such anthology has done in the past. Roman literature was wonderfully creative and diverse, and the texts in this volume were chosen from a broad range of genres: drama, epic, philosophy, satire, lyric poetry, love poetry. By its very nature an anthology can abbreviate and thus obscure the most attractive features of even a masterpiece, so the two editors have not only selected texts that capture the essence of the respective authors, but also have included accompanying introductions and afterwords that will guide the reader in pursuing further reading. The presentations of the selections are enlivened with illustrations that locate the works within the contexts of the world in which they were written and enjoyed. The student and general reader will come away from this learned yet entertaining anthology with a fuller appreciation of the place occupied by literature in the Roman world.

Though the wonders of ancient Roman culture continue to attract interest across the disciplines, it is difficult to find a lively, accessible collection of the full range of the era's literature in English. The Oxford Anthology of Literature in the Roman World provides a general introduction to the literature of the Roman empire at its zenith, between the second century BC and the second century AD. Two features of this extraordinarily fertile period in literary achievement as evidenced by this anthology are immediately and repeatedly clear: how similar the Romans' view of the world was to our own and, perhaps even more obviously, how different it was. Most of the authors included in the anthology wrote in Latin, but as the anthology moves forward in time, relevant Greek texts that reflect the cultural diversity of Roman literary life are also included, something no other such anthology has done in the past. Roman literature was wonderfully creative and diverse, and the texts in this volume were chosen from a broad range of genres: drama, epic, philosophy, satire, lyric poetry, love poetry. By its very nature an anthology can abbreviate and thus obscure the most attractive features of even a masterpiece, so the two editors have not only selected texts that capture the essence of the respective authors, but also have included accompanying introductions and afterwords that will guide the reader in pursuing further reading. The presentations of the selections are enlivened with illustrations that locate the works within the contexts of the world in which they were written and enjoyed. The student and general reader will come away from this learned yet entertaining anthology with a fuller appreciation of the place occupied by literature in the Roman world.

No other ancient poet has had such a hold on the imagination of readers as Ovid. Through the centuries, artists, writers, and poets have found in his work inspiration for new creative endeavours.This anthology of twenty of the most influential papers published in the last thirty years represents the broad range of critical and scholarly approaches to Ovid's work. The entire range of his poetry, from the Amores to the Epistles from the Black Sea, is discussed by some of the leading scholars of Latin poetry, employing, critical methods ranging from philology to contemporary literary theory. In an introductory essay, Peter Knox surveys Ovidian scholarship over this period and locates the assembled papers within recent critical trends. Taken together, the articles in this collection offer the interested reader, whether experienced scholar or novice, an entrée into the current critical discourse on Ovid, who is at once one of the most accessible authors of classical antiquity and one of the least understood.

Ovid's Heroides, a collection of twenty-one epistles in elegiac verse, consists of two groups, the first comprising fourteen poems addressed by heroines of mythology to their absent lovers or husbands. In this edition, Professor Knox offers a commentary on seven of these epistles, addressing problems of language and style, and focusing on the relationship of the Heroides to the classic works of Greek and Roman literature on which Ovid bases his representation of these women. In addition, he has included a commentary on the Epistula Sapphus, a separate poem of doubtful authorship which was composed in the manner of Ovid and is believed by many to be by him. The Introduction provides an account of the genre, a survey of language, style and metre, and an outline of the problems concerning the authenticity of parts of the collection.

Angelo Poliziano (1454–1494) was one of the great scholar-poets of the Renaissance and a leading figure in Florence during the Age of the Medici. His poetry, composed in a variety of meters, includes epigrams, elegies, and verse epistles, as well as translations of Hellenistic Greek poets. Among the first Latin poets of the Renaissance to be inspired by Homer and the poems of Greek Anthology, Poliziano’s verse also reflects his deep study of Catullus, Martial, and Statius. It ranges from love songs to funeral odes, from prayers to hymns, from invectives directed against his rivals to panegyrics of his teachers, artists, fellow humanists, and his great patron, Lorenzo de’ Medici, “il Magnifico.” The present volume includes all of Poliziano’s Greek and Latin poetry (with the exception of the Silvae, published in 2004 as ITRL 14), all translated into English for the first time.

A Companion to Ovid is a comprehensive overview of one of the most influential poets of classical antiquity. Features more than 30 newly commissioned chapters by noted scholars writing in their areas of specializationIlluminates various aspects of Ovid's work, such as production, genre, and stylePresents interpretive essays on key poems and collections of poemsIncludes detailed discussions of Ovid's primary literary influences and his reception in English literatureProvides a chronology of key literary and historical events during Ovid's lifetime

A Companion to Ovid is a comprehensive overview of one of the most influential poets of classical antiquity. Features more than 30 newly commissioned chapters by noted scholars writing in their areas of specializationIlluminates various aspects of Ovid's work, such as production, genre, and stylePresents interpretive essays on key poems and collections of poemsIncludes detailed discussions of Ovid's primary literary influences and his reception in English literatureProvides a chronology of key literary and historical events during Ovid's lifetime

This volume comprises a series of studies focusing on the Latin poetry of the first and second centuries BCE, its relationship to earlier models both Greek and Latin, and its reception by later writers. A point of particular focus is the influence of Greek poetry, including not only Hellenistic writers like Callimachus, Theocritus, and Lycophron, but also archaic poets like Pindar and Bacchylides. The volume also includes studies of style, as well as treatments of the influence of Latin poetry on writers like Marvell and Dylan. Contributers include J. N. Adams, Barbara Weiden Boyd, Brian Breed, Sergio Casali, Julia Hejduk, Peter Knox, Leah Kronenburg, Charles Martindale, Charles McNelis, James O’Hara, Thomas Palaima, Hayden Pelliccia, David Petrain, David Ross, and Alexander Sens.