S. Douglas Olson – författare

Thesmophoriazusae was performed in Athens in 411 BCE, most likely at the City Dionysia, and is among the most brilliant of Aristophanes'' eleven surviving comedies. It is the story of the crucial moment in a quarrelbetween the tragic playwright Euripides and Athens'' women, who accuse him of slandering them in his plays and are holding a meeting at one of their secret festivals to set a penalty for his crimes. Thesmophoriazusae is a brilliantly inventive comedy, full of wild slapstick humour and devastating literary parody, and is a basic source for questions of gender and sexuality in late 5th-century Athens and for the popular reception of Euripidean tragedy. Austin and Olson offer a text based on a fresh examination of the papyri and manuscripts, and a detailed commentary covering a wide range of literary, historical, and philological issues. The introduction includes sections on the date and historical setting of the play; the Thesmophoria festival; Aristophanes'' handling of Euripidean tragedy; staging; Thesmophoriazusae II; and the history of modern critical work on the text. All Greek in the introduction and commentary not cited for technical reasons is translated.

Aristophanes' Peace was performed at the City Dionysia in Athens in 421 BC as a decade-long war with Sparta seemed finally to be drawing to an end, and is one of only eleven extant plays by the greatest Old Comic poet. Olson's edition of the play, which replaces Platnauer's of 1969, is based on a complete new collation of the manuscripts, many of which have never been adequately reported before. The extensive commentary explores matters of all sorts, but it focuses in particular on the realities of day-to-day life in classical Athens and also examines the practical problems of staging. The substantial introduction includes essays on Aristophanes' early career, the politics of the Greek world in the late 420s, and the poet's theology.

Aristophanes' Acharnians was performed at the Lenaia festival in Athens in 425 BCE. The play is the story of an old peasant farmer, Dikaiopolis, who has grown so disgusted with the Peloponnesian War and the patent self-serving of the city's leading politicians (abetted by the stupidity of his fellow-citizens) that he concludes a separate peace with the enemy. As a result, he gains access to an immense supply of wonderful things, including wine, eels, thrushes, and a pair of beautiful and compliant women. Whether he is a traitor and a villain, or simply the cleverest and most daring man in the city, is a matter of extensive debate within the play. Acharnians itself, at any rate, took first place and is generally regarded as one of Aristophanes' two or three most brilliant surviving comedies. Olson offers the first complete new scholarly edition of the play in almost a century. The text and apparatus are based on a fresh examination of the papyri and manuscripts, many of which have never been studied systematically, and are supported by a new manuscript stemma. The Introduction contains sections on the poet himself; the historical setting and political argument of the play; the mythological and literary background; division of parts, costumes, and props; staging; the use of dialects; and the history of the text. The commentary covers a wide range of literary, historical, and philological issues, with particular attention to staging and details of everyday life. All Greek in the introduction and commentary not cited for technical reasons is translated, making much of the edition accessible to general scholarly readers.

Archestratos of Gela was the author of a mock-epic poem, most likely entitled the Hedupatheia or Life of Luxury, that presented itself as a gastronomic tour of the Mediterranean world. Written sometime in the first two-thirds of the fourth century BCE, the Hedupatheia was widely read in the late classical and early Hellenistic periods and was translated into Latin by Ennius, through whom it influenced the work of later Roman poets including Horace. It survives today in fragments totalling about 330 lines. The Hedupatheia is a fundamental source for our understanding not only of fourth-century literature but also of the significance of food and dining and the reception of epic poetry in late classical society. This edition is based on a fresh examination of the manuscripts and is the first to combine an authoritative critical text of the fragments with a translation, a detailed philological and historical commentary, and an extensive introduction situating the poem in its literary, social, and cultural context.

Aristophanes' Peace was performed at the City Dionysia in Athens in 421 BC as a decade-long war with Sparta seemed finally to be drawing to an end, and is one of only eleven extant plays by the greatest Old Comic poet. Olson's edition of the play, which replaces Platnauer's of 1969, is based on a complete new collation of the manuscripts, many of which have never been adequately reported before. The extensive commentary explores matters of all sorts, but it focuses in particular on the realities of day-to-day life in classical Athens and also examines the practical problems of staging. The substantial introduction includes essays on Aristophanes' early career, the politics of the Greek world in the late 420s, and the poet's theology.

Thesmophoriazusae was performed in Athens in 411 BCE, most likely at the City Dionysia, and is among the most brilliant of Aristophanes' eleven surviving comedies. It is the story of the crucial moment in a quarrelbetween the tragic playwright Euripides and Athens' women, who accuse him of slandering them in his plays and are holding a meeting at one of their secret festivals to set a penalty for his crimes. Thesmophoriazusae is a brilliantly inventive comedy, full of wild slapstick humour and devastating literary parody, and is a basic source for questions of gender and sexuality in late 5th-century Athens and for the popular reception of Euripidean tragedy. Austin and Olson offer a text based on a fresh examination of the papyri and manuscripts, and a detailed commentary covering a wide range of literary, historical, and philological issues. The introduction includes sections on the date and historical setting of the play; the Thesmophoria festival; Aristophanes' handling of Euripidean tragedy; staging; Thesmophoriazusae II; and the history of modern critical work on the text. All Greek in the introduction and commentary not cited for technical reasons is translated.

Aristophanes' Acharnians was performed at the Lenaia festival in Athens in 425 BCE. The play is the story of an old peasant farmer, Dikaiopolis, who has grown so disgusted with the Peloponnesian War and the patent self-serving of the city's leading politicians (abetted by the stupidity of his fellow-citizens) that he concludes a separate peace with the enemy. As a result, he gains access to an immense supply of wonderful things, including wine, eels, thrushes, and a pair of beautiful and compliant women. Whether he is a traitor and a villain, or simply the cleverest and most daring man in the city, is a matter of extensive debate within the play. Acharnians itself, at any rate, took first place and is generally regarded as one of Aristophanes' two or three most brilliant surviving comedies. Olson offers the first complete new scholarly edition of the play in almost a century. The text and apparatus are based on a fresh examination of the papyri and manuscripts, many of which have never been studied systematically, and are supported by a new manuscript stemma. The Introduction contains sections on the poet himself; the historical setting and political argument of the play; the mythological and literary background; division of parts, costumes, and props; staging; the use of dialects; and the history of the text. The commentary covers a wide range of literary, historical, and philological issues, with particular attention to staging and details of everyday life. All Greek in the introduction and commentary not cited for technical reasons is translated, making much of the edition accessible to general scholarly readers.

A collection of over 200 of the most interesting and important fragments of Greek comedy, accompanied by a commentary; an extensive introduction discussing the history of comic genre; a series of appendixes on the individual poets, the inscriptional evidence, and the like; and a complete translation of the fragments. Individual sections illustrate the earliest Greek comedy from Syracuse; the characteristic features of Athenian `Old', `Middle', and `New Comedy'; the comic presentation of politicians, philosophers, and women; the comic reception of other poetry; and many aspects of daily life, including dining and symposia.

Thesmophoriazusae was performed in Athens in 411 BCE, most likely at the City Dionysia, and is among the most brilliant of Aristophanes' eleven surviving comedies. It is the story of the crucial moment in a quarrel between the tragic playwright Euripides and Athens' women, who accuse him of slandering them in his plays and are holding a meeting at one of their secret festivals to set a penalty for his crimes. Thesmophoriazusae is a brilliantly inventive comedy, full of wild slapstick humour and devastating literary parody, and is a basic source for questions of gender and sexuality in late 5th-century Athens and for the popular reception of Euripidean tragedy. Austin and Olson offer a text based on a fresh examination of the papyri and manuscripts, and a detailed commentary covering a wide range of literary, historical, and philological issues. The introduction includes sections on the date and historical setting of the play; the Thesmophoria festival; Aristophanes' handling of Euripidean tragedy; staging; Thesmophoriazusae II; and the history of modern critical work on the text. All Greek in the introduction and commentary not cited for technical reasons is translated.

Aristophanes' Wasps was produced in Athens in 422 BCE. Like other Aristophanic comedies, it is a satire on Athenian society and democratic institutions, in this case focusing on the legal system and its supposed manipulation for personal ends by corrupt democratic leaders.This critical edition of the play includes the full Greek text, detailed commentary notes, and an extensive introduction. It represents a thorough re-evaluation of the play, providing a wealth of insights and advances in our understanding of the work and related topics since the last full scholarly commentary by Douglas M. MacDowell in 1971. The text depends on a complete, independent collation of the manuscripts and contains numerous new choices of readings and emendations. The introduction guides readers around fundamental information; not just on Aristophanes' life, but on poetic and political interpretations of the play, matters of staging, and the manuscript tradition. The extensive commentary aims to equip readers of all levels with the information they will need to appreciate the play in its original performance context, and to evaluate it as both an historical document and an artistic creation. This new critical edition will be a starting point for all further research on Wasps, and will serve readers and scholars for decades to come.

This is the first substantial commentary on Clouds since Dover’s 1968 edition. Intended for intermediate Greek students at undergraduate and graduate levels, the commentary pays careful attention to the basic characteristics of ancient Greek syntax, as well as to how Greek words are formed and can be analyzed. It offers robust staging notes, information about daily life in late 5th-century Athens, and constant reference to the rhetorical and dramatic strategies of the text. Full support is offered for those interested in the metrical structure of the songs, but in a way that allows instructors to leave such issues aside, should they choose to do so. The first and second appendices offer a basic means of entry into the rich but complex world of the comic fragments. An English-language bibliography is provided. The edition will interest professional classicists of all sorts seeking an accessible introduction to one of Aristophanes’ greatest plays, to philosophers concerned with Socrates and the sophistic movement, and to theater professionals who wish to stage the play.

This is the first substantial commentary on Clouds since Dover’s 1968 edition. Intended for intermediate Greek students at undergraduate and graduate levels, the commentary pays careful attention to the basic characteristics of ancient Greek syntax, as well as to how Greek words are formed and can be analyzed. It offers robust staging notes, information about daily life in late 5th-century Athens, and constant reference to the rhetorical and dramatic strategies of the text. Full support is offered for those interested in the metrical structure of the songs, but in a way that allows instructors to leave such issues aside, should they choose to do so. The first and second appendices offer a basic means of entry into the rich but complex world of the comic fragments. An English-language bibliography is provided. The edition will interest professional classicists of all sorts seeking an accessible introduction to one of Aristophanes’ greatest plays, to philosophers concerned with Socrates and the sophistic movement, and to theater professionals who wish to stage the play.

Scholars at dinner.In The Learned Banqueters, Athenaeus describes a series of dinner parties at which the guests quote extensively from Greek literature. The work (which dates to the very end of the second century AD) is amusing reading and of extraordinary value as a treasury of quotations from works now lost. Athenaeus also preserves a wide range of information about different cuisines and foodstuffs; the music and entertainments that ornamented banquets; and the intellectual talk that was the heart of Greek conviviality. S. Douglas Olson has undertaken to produce a complete new edition of the work, replacing the previous seven-volume Loeb Athenaeus (published under the title Deipnosophists).

Scholars at dinner.In The Learned Banqueters, Athenaeus describes a series of dinner parties at which the guests quote extensively from Greek literature. The work (which dates to the very end of the second century AD) is amusing reading and of extraordinary value as a treasury of quotations from works now lost. Athenaeus also preserves a wide range of information about different cuisines and foodstuffs; the music and entertainments that ornamented banquets; and the intellectual talk that was the heart of Greek conviviality. S. Douglas Olson has undertaken to produce a complete new edition of the work, replacing the previous seven-volume Loeb Athenaeus (published under the title Deipnosophists).

Scholars at dinner.In The Learned Banqueters, Athenaeus describes a series of dinner parties at which the guests quote extensively from Greek literature. The work (which dates to the very end of the second century AD) is amusing reading and of extraordinary value as a treasury of quotations from works now lost. Athenaeus also preserves a wide range of information about different cuisines and foodstuffs; the music and entertainments that ornamented banquets; and the intellectual talk that was the heart of Greek conviviality. S. Douglas Olson has undertaken to produce a complete new edition of the work, replacing the previous seven-volume Loeb Athenaeus (published under the title Deipnosophists).

Scholars at dinner.In The Learned Banqueters, Athenaeus describes a series of dinner parties at which the guests quote extensively from Greek literature. The work (which dates to the very end of the second century AD) is amusing reading and of extraordinary value as a treasury of quotations from works now lost. Athenaeus also preserves a wide range of information about different cuisines and foodstuffs; the music and entertainments that ornamented banquets; and the intellectual talk that was the heart of Greek conviviality. S. Douglas Olson has undertaken to produce a complete new edition of the work, replacing the previous seven-volume Loeb Athenaeus (published under the title Deipnosophists).

Scholars at dinner.In The Learned Banqueters, Athenaeus describes a series of dinner parties at which the guests quote extensively from Greek literature. The work (which dates to the very end of the second century AD) is amusing reading and of extraordinary value as a treasury of quotations from works now lost. Athenaeus also preserves a wide range of information about different cuisines and foodstuffs; the music and entertainments that ornamented banquets; and the intellectual talk that was the heart of Greek conviviality. S. Douglas Olson has undertaken to produce a complete new edition of the work, replacing the previous seven-volume Loeb Athenaeus (published under the title Deipnosophists).

Scholars at dinner.In The Learned Banqueters, Athenaeus describes a series of dinner parties at which the guests quote extensively from Greek literature. The work (which dates to the very end of the second century AD) is amusing reading and of extraordinary value as a treasury of quotations from works now lost. Athenaeus also preserves a wide range of information about different cuisines and foodstuffs; the music and entertainments that ornamented banquets; and the intellectual talk that was the heart of Greek conviviality. S. Douglas Olson has undertaken to produce a complete new edition of the work, replacing the previous seven-volume Loeb Athenaeus (published under the title Deipnosophists).

Scholars at dinner.In The Learned Banqueters, Athenaeus describes a series of dinner parties at which the guests quote extensively from Greek literature. The work (which dates to the very end of the second century AD) is amusing reading and of extraordinary value as a treasury of quotations from works now lost. Athenaeus also preserves a wide range of information about different cuisines and foodstuffs; the music and entertainments that ornamented banquets; and the intellectual talk that was the heart of Greek conviviality. S. Douglas Olson has undertaken to produce a complete new edition of the work, replacing the previous seven-volume Loeb Athenaeus (published under the title Deipnosophists).

Scholars at dinner.In The Learned Banqueters, Athenaeus describes a series of dinner parties at which the guests quote extensively from Greek literature. The work (which dates to the very end of the second century AD) is amusing reading and of extraordinary value as a treasury of quotations from works now lost. Athenaeus also preserves a wide range of information about different cuisines and foodstuffs; the music and entertainments that ornamented banquets; and the intellectual talk that was the heart of Greek conviviality. S. Douglas Olson has undertaken to produce a complete new edition of the work, replacing the previous seven-volume Loeb Athenaeus (published under the title Deipnosophists).

The fragments of Matro of Pitane (c. 300 BC) offer insights not only into the largely forgotten and obscure late-classical genre of epic parody, but also into 4th-century Athenian history, the role of food and dining in antiquity, and the history of the text of Homer and the reception of the Iliad and the Odyssey in the pre-Alexandrian period. Sens and Olson offer a new text of the 144 surviving lines of Matro's parodies based on a fresh examination of the manuscripts; a translation; a detailed philological, historical, and gastronomic commentary; and a lively introduction to the poet and his times.

This is the first translation into a modern language of Julius Pollux' Onomasticon, the most important surviving example of early Greek lexicography. As such, the Onomasticon contains not just long lists of cognate words and synonyms, but enormous quantities of information about classical institutions (including the symposium, the hunt, and the bureaucratic structure of Athenian government), cultural practices such as gambling and warfare, trades and education, human anatomy, and the theater, along with hundreds of fragments of lost authors, including many comic and tragic poets and orators. This two-volume work includes a fresh Greek text modeled on that of Erich Bethe, a substantial Introduction that contextualizes both the author and the work, including a systematic reevaluation of the manuscript tradition, thousands of interpretative notes and two detailed indexes.

Aristophanes' Knights was a sensation in its time, famous for its assault on the Athenian politician and demagogue Cleon in the first comic drama devoted to a sustained, open satire of an individual political figure. It is also the first play Aristophanes produced in his own name, and the one that solidified his reputation as a leading comic dramatist. This is the first full-scale commentary on Knights in over a century. The Greek text is based on a fresh analysis of the manuscripts, papyri and other ancient sources. The extensive commentary situates the play in its linguistic, literary and intellectual context and allows full appreciation of its original performance context. Particular attention is paid to the poet's language and to the social and literary traditions of his time, and abundant citations and quotations of parallel passages ranging far beyond the comic poets are offered, with all Greek translated.

This commentary on the 3rd book of the Iliad concentrates on the interpretation of the ceremonial single combat between the rivals for Helen, Paris and Menelaus, a scene that reflects the origins of the Trojan War. The famous parade before the walls presents Agamemnon, Odysseus and Ajax, and reveals just how much in love Paris and Helen are in spite of internal and external conflicts.

This commentary on the 3rd book of the Iliad concentrates on the interpretation of the ceremonial single combat between the rivals for Helen, Paris and Menelaus, a scene that reflects the origins of the Trojan War. The famous parade before the walls presents Agamemnon, Odysseus and Ajax, and reveals just how much in love Paris and Helen are in spite of internal and external conflicts.

Ein deutschsprachiger wissenschaftlicher Gesamtkommentar zu Homers Ilias ist seit dem Kommentar von Ameis-Hentze-Cauer (1868-1913) nicht mehr erschienen. In der Zwischenzeit hat die Homer-Forschung auf sämtlichen traditionellen Teilgebieten (Sprache, Realien, Struktur usw.) erhebliche Fortschritte gemacht. Darüber hinaus sind grundsätzlich bekannte Bereiche wie z.B. die Erzählforschung auf eine systematische Grundlage gestellt worden. Schließlich sind mit Mykenologie (Linear B) und Oral-poetry- sowie Troia-Forschung gänzlich neue Möglichkeiten der Texterschließung hinzugekommen.Ausgehend von der Basis des alten Ameis-Hentze-Cauer spiegelt der Kommentar den gegenwärtigen Kenntnisstand der Homer-Forschung in umfassender Breite wider. Der ‘Basler Kommentar’ zur Ilias wird von der Fachwelt als neues Grundlagenwerk weltweit stark beachtet.Ein inhaltlich und formal neuartiges Konzept kommt den Bedürfnissen unterschiedlicher Benutzergruppen entgegen. Der Kommentar zu einzelnen Versgruppen bzw. Versen gliedert sich in jeweils bis zu vier auch typographisch voneinander abgesetzte Erklärungsebenen, aufsteigend von Elementarerläuterungen zur homerischen Sprache bis zu Fragen der Struktur und der poetischen Technik. Adressaten sind Studierende und Dozenten an Universität und Schule, nicht nur der Altertumswissenschaften, sondern allgemein der Literatur- und Kulturwissenschaften.

Im Zentrum des Kommentars zum 24. Ilias-Gesang steht die Interpretation einer der spannendsten und bewegendsten Szenen der Ilias: wie sich der Troianerkönig Priamos auf den Weg zu seinem Todfeind Achilleus macht, durch dessen Hand sein Sohn Hektor gefallen war; wie der Gott Hermes den alten Mann beinahe märchenhaft ins Heereslager der Griechen führt; wie Achilleus am Ende einer emotionalen Begegnung Priamos zum Essen einlädt und ihm den Leichnam Hektors zur Bestattung überläßt.