Download or read book The Alexandra of Lycophron written by Charles McNelis and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2016-04-21 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This monograph is a literary study of Lycophron's Alexandra, whose obscurity, a quality notorious already in antiquity, has long hampered holistic approaches. Through a series of distinct but closely integrated literary studies of major aspects of the poem, including its style, its engagement with the traditions of epic and tragedy, and it's treatment of heroism and of the gods, the book explores the way the Alexandra reconfigures Greek mythology. In particular, as it is presented in Homeric epic and Athenian tragedy, in order to cast the Romans and their restoration of Trojan glory as the ultimate telos of history. In this sense, the poem emerges as an important intermediary between Homeric epic and Latin poetry, particularly Vergil's Aeneid. By rewriting specific features of the epic and tragic traditions, the Alexandra denies to Greek heroes the glory that was the traditional compensation for their suffering, while at the same time attributing to Cassandra's Trojan family honours framed in the traditional language of Greek heroism. In this sense, the figure of Cassandra, a prophetess traditionally gifted with the power of foresight but denied credibility, self-reflexively serves as a vehicle for exploring the potentials and limitations of poetry.
Download or read book Lykophron Alexandra written by Lykophron and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2022-11-03 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'In requital for one man's sin, all Greece/ shall mourn the empty tombs of ten thousand of its children'. These lines from a powerful but neglected Greek poem, Lykophron's Alexandra, were admiringly imitated by Virgil. Priam's beautiful daughter, prophetic Kassandra, foresees her rape in Athena's temple by the hateful Greek Ajax at Troy's fall, and warns of disastrous returns (nostoi) for all the Greek 'heroes'. But Troy will rise again as Rome, founded by Trojan refugees. The Alexandra (also known as Kassandra) narrates Mediterranean foundation myths as failed Greek nostoi, and culminates in 'prophecies-after-the-event' of Roman rule over land and sea. This pseudonymous poem, a generic mix but closest to tragedy, is an ingeniously constructed masterpiece. It is ascribed to a third-century BCE tragedian, but was probably written c.190, when Rome had defeated Carthaginian Hannibal and was poised to humble the Seleukid king Antiochos III. The Alexandra anticipates, by over two millennia, modern Trojan War novels which adopt bitterly disillusioned female perspectives.
Download or read book Lykophron Alexandra written by Lykophron and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2022-10-06 with total page 175 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Traditionally ascribed to the early third-century BCE tragedian Lykophron, the Alexandra is a powerful Greek poem by an unknown author, probably written c. 190, when Rome had defeated Hannibal and the Carthaginians and was poised to humble the Seleukid king Antiochos III. The poem is an ingeniously constructed masterpiece, a generic mix with elements of tragedy, epic, and history. Priam's beautiful daughter, the prophetic Kassandra, foresees her rape in Athena's temple by the hateful Greek warrior Ajax after Troy's fall, and warns of disastrous returns (nostoi) for all the Greek 'heroes'. But Troy will rise again as Rome, founded by Trojan refugees. Alexandra (another name for Kassandra), narrates these Mediterranean foundation myths, adopting a bitterly disillusioned female perspective, but culminating in prophecies of Roman rule over land and sea.
Download or read book Tradition and Innovation in Hellenistic Poetry written by Marco Fantuzzi and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2005-01-13 with total page 530 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hellenistic poets of the third and second centuries BC were concerned with the need both to mark their continuity with the classical past and to demonstrate their independence from it. In this revised and expanded translation of Muse e modelli: la poesia ellenistica da Alessandro Magno ad Augusto, Greek poetry of the third and second centuries BC and its reception and influence at Rome are explored allowing both sides of this literary practice to be appreciated. Genres as diverse as epic and epigram are considered from a historical perspective, in the full range of their deep-level structures, providing a different perspective on the poetry and its influence at Rome. Some of the most famous poetry of the age such as Callimachus' Aitia and Apollonius' Argonautica is examined. In addition, full attention is paid to the poetry of encomium, in particular the newly published epigrams of Posidippus, and Hellenistic poetics, notably Philodemus.
Download or read book Greek Tragedy After the Fifth Century written by Vayos Liapis and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2019 with total page 431 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What happened to Greek tragedy after the death of Euripides? This book provides some answers, and a broad historical overview.
Download or read book Achilles in Love written by Marco Fantuzzi and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2012-12-20 with total page 339 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tracing the escapades of Achilles' erotic history - whether in same-sex or opposite-sex relationships - this book explains how these relationships were developed and revealed, or elided and concealed, in the writing and visual arts following Homer.
Download or read book Lykophron s Alexandra Rome and the Hellenistic World written by Simon Hornblower and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 'Alexandra' attributed to Lykophron is a notoriously difficult poem but one that sheds crucial light on Greek religion, foundation myths, and myths of colonial identity. This book asserts its importance as a strongly political and historical document, and argues that the probable decade of its composition was a turning-point in Roman history.
Download or read book Cassandra and the Poetics of Prophecy in Greek and Latin Literature written by Emily J. Pillinger and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2019-04-11 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Using insights from translation theory, this book uncovers the value of female prophets' riddling prophecies in Greek and Latin poetry.
Download or read book The Aesthetics of Darkness written by Evina Sistakou and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Darkness in literature manifests itself as a fascination with the evil passions of man, an emphasis on the ugly and the monstrous, an obsession with morbidity and death, a blurring of the boundaries between reality and imagination; its effect ranges from pleasure in the representation of horror to the overwhelming sense of the sublime. The premise that these trends find their most powerful expression in Romantic literature forms the basis for the exploration of darkness in Hellenistic poetry in the present study: Apollonius' Argonautica, a dark romance building around a heroic quest, is read against the background of fantasy literature and the Gothic novel; Lycophron's Alexandra, a dark remake of Kassandra's prophecy, is seen as an extreme paradigm of Gothic aesthetics; Nicander's Theriaca and Alexipharmaca, two didactic poems on snakes and their antidotes, are reviewed in the light of Romantic science and the aesthetics of Decadence. The introduction provides the theoretical framework where key notions are discussed-the fantastic, the Gothic, the grotesque, the uncanny-, whereas the afterword offers an explanation for the parallelism between the Hellenistic and the Romantic era by reference to their ideological and cultural contexts. The Aesthetics of Darkness is a comparative study which combines the 'close reading' of the Greek texts with literary criticism as well as with specific examples drawn from nineteenth century literature; by thus transcending the boundaries of conventional scholarship, the book attempts to capture the Romantic awakenings of post-Classical literature.
Download or read book A Companion to Hellenistic Literature written by James J. Clauss and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2014-01-28 with total page 578 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Offering unparalleled scope, A Companion to Hellenistic Literature in 30 newly commissioned essays explores the social and intellectual contexts of literature production in the Hellenistic period, and examines the relationship between Hellenistic and earlier literature. Provides a wide ranging critical examination of Hellenistic literature, including the works of well-respected poets alongside lesser-known historical, philosophical, and scientific prose of the period Explores how the indigenous literatures of Hellenized lands influenced Greek literature and how Greek literature influenced Jewish, Near Eastern, Egyptian, and Roman literary works
Download or read book The Muse at Play written by Jan Kwapisz and published by Walter de Gruyter. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In May 2011, a conference on riddles and word games in Greek and Latin poetry took place at the Institute of Classical Studies of the University of Warsaw. The conference was intended as an open forum where specialists working in different fields of classical studies could meet to discuss the varied manifestations of riddles and other technopaegnia - both terms being understood broadly to encompass the full range of play with language in classical antiquity, in keeping with the use made of the two terms in ancient and early modern theoretical discussions. This volume offers revised versions of the papers presented during the conference. Contributions by scholars from Europe and the USA treat a number of interconnected topics, including: ancient and modern attempts to formulate a definition of the riddle; poetic games at Greek symposia; experimentation with language in late classical poetry; riddles in the book cultures of the Hellenistic age and late antiquity; the functions of word games carved in stone, written on papyrus, or inscribed on the wall as graffiti; authors famed for their obscurity, such as Heraclitus and Lycophron; wordplay in Neo-Latin poetry; oracles, magic squares, pattern poetry, palindromes and acrostichs.
Download or read book The Alexandra of Lycophron written by Lycophron and published by . This book was released on 1921 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Jason and the Argonauts through the Ages written by Jason Colavito and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2014-04-04 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of Jason and the Argonauts is one of the most famous in Greek myth, and its development from the oldest layers of Greek mythology down to the modern age encapsulates the dramatic changes in faith, power and culture that Western civilization has seen over the past three millennia. From the Bronze Age to the Classical Age, from the medieval world to today, the Jason story has been told and retold with new stories, details and meanings. This book explores the epic history of a colorful myth and probes the most ancient origins of the quest for the Golden Fleece--a quest that takes us to the very dawn of Greek religion and its close relationship with Near Eastern peoples and cultures.
Download or read book Poems from Greek Antiquity written by Paul Quarrie and published by Everyman's Library. This book was released on 2020-11-10 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A beautiful Pocket Poet selection of short poems, odes, and epigrams from ancient Greece, translated into English by a wide array of distinguished translators and poets Poems from Greek Antiquity presents a gloriously compact treasury of the enduring and influential poems of the ancient Greeks. Greek literature abounds in masterpieces, the most famous of which are lengthy epics, but it is also rich in poems of much smaller compass than The Iliad or The Odyssey. The short poems, odes, and epigrams included in this volume span a vast period of more than a thousand years. Included here are selections from the early lyric and elegiac poets, the Alexandrian poets, Alcaeus, Sappho, Pindar, and many more. Here, too, are poems drawn from the celebrated Greek Anthology, and from the Anacreontea, the collection of odes on the pleasures of drink, love, and beauty that have been popular for centuries both in the original Greek and in English. Excerpts from somewhat longer poems include Percy Bysshe Shelley’s “Homeric Hymn to Mercury” and the hugely entertaining Homeric pastiche “The Battle of the Frogs and Mice.” The English translations in this volume are works of art in their own right and come from a wide range of remarkable poets and translators, ranging from George Chapman in the seventeenth century to Robert Fagles in the twentieth.
Download or read book Alexandra written by Lycophron and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 651 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Alexandra attributed to Lykophron is a minor poetic masterpiece. At 1474 lines, it is one of the most important and notoriously difficult Greek poems dating from the Hellenistic period (most likely the early second century BC). Most of the poem purports to be a prophecy by the mythical Trojan princess, Kassandra, the most beautiful of the daughters of King Priam, and her prophecy ranges from the Trojan War to the Roman defeat of Macedon in 197 BC, which took place in the poet's own time. The poem's importance arises from the light which it sheds on Greek religion (in particular the role of women), on foundation myths and myths of colonial identity, and on local - especially Italian - cults and cult places. The difficulty of the poem stems from its unusual vocabulary - many words of ancient Greek are found only in this poem - and the riddling and indirect way in which most of the many mythological characters are introduced. As well as providing the Greek text in full and its English translation, this volume provides the first ever full-length commentary in English on the poem.
Download or read book Hellenistic Tragedy written by Agnieszka Kotlinska-Toma and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2014-11-20 with total page 341 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ancient Greek tragedy is ubiquitously studied and researched, but is generally considered to have ended, as it began, in the fifth century BC. However, plays continued to be written and staged in the Greek world for centuries, enjoying a period of unprecedented popularity and changing significantly from the better known Classical drama. Hellenistic drama also heavily influenced the birth of Roman tragedy and the development of other theatrical forms and literature (including comedies, mime and Greek romance). Hellenistic Tragedy: Texts, Translations and a Critical Survey offers a comprehensive picture of tragedy and the satyr play from the fourth century BCE. The surviving fragments of this dramatic genre are presented, alongside English translations and critical analysis, as well as a survey of the main writers involved and an exploration of the genre's formation, later influence and staging. Key features of the plays are analysed through extant texts and other evidence, including plots based on contemporary political themes, mythical subjects and Biblical themes, and features of metre and language. Practical elements of Hellenistic performance are also discussed, including those which have become the hallmarks of ancient theatre: actors' costumes of long robes, kothurnoi and high onkos-masks, the theatre building and the closed stage on the logeion. Piecing together a synthetic picture of Hellenistic tragedy and the satyr play, the volume also examines the key points of departure from earlier drama, including the mass audience, the mutual influence of Greek and Eastern traditions and the changes inside the genre which prove Hellenistic drama was an important stage in the development of the European theatre.
Download or read book Milton s Languages written by John K. Hale and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1997-08-28 with total page 263 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Milton's poetry is one of the glories of the English language, and yet it owes everything to Milton's widespread knowledge of other languages: he knew ten, wrote in four, and translated from five. In Milton's Languages, John K. Hale first examines Milton's language-related arts in verse-composition, translations, annotations of Greek poets, Latin prose and political polemic, giving all relevant texts in the original and in translation. Hale then traces the impact of Milton's multilingualism on his major English poems. Many vexed questions of Milton studies are illuminated by this approach, including his sense of vocation, his attitude to print and publicity, the supposed blemish of Latinism in his poetry, and his response to his literary predecessors. Throughout this full-length study of Milton's use of languages, Hale argues convincingly that it is only by understanding Milton's choice among languages that we can grasp where Milton's own unique English originated.
