It is perhaps a truism to note that ancient religion and rhetoric were closely intertwined in Greek and Roman antiquity. Religion is embedded in socio-political, legal and cultural institutions and structures, while also being influenced, or even determined, by them. Rhetoric is used to address the divine, to invoke the gods, to talk about the sacred, to express piety and to articulate, refer to, recite or explain the meaning of hymns, oaths, prayers, oracles and other religious matters and processes. The 13 contributions to this volume explore themes and topics that most succinctly describe the firm interrelation between religion and rhetoric mostly in, but not exclusively focused on, Greek and Roman antiquity, offering new, interdisciplinary insights into a great variety of aspects, from identity construction and performance to legal/political practices and a broad analytical approach to transcultural ritualistic customs. The volume also offers perceptive insights into oriental (i.e. Egyptian magic) texts and Christian literature.

This volume acknowledges the centrality of comic invective in a range of oratorical institutions (especially forensic and symbouleutic), and aspires to enhance the knowledge and understanding of how this technique is used in such con-texts of both Greek and Roman oratory. Despite the important scholarly work that has been done in discussing the patterns of using invective in Greek and Roman texts and contexts, there are still notable gaps in our knowledge of the issue. The introduction to, and the twelve chapters of, this volume address some understudied multi-genre and interdisciplinary topics: first, the ways in which comic invective in oratory draws on, or has implications for, comedy and other genres, or how these literary genres are influenced by oratorical theory and practice, and by contemporary socio-political circumstances, in articulating comic invective and targeting prominent individuals; second, how comic invective sustains relationships and promotes persuasion through unity and division; third, how it connects with sexuality, the human body and male/female physiology; fourth, what impact generic dichotomies, as, for example, public-private and defence-prosecution, may have upon using comic invective; and fifth, what the limitations in its use are, depending on the codes of honour and decency in ancient Greece and Rome.

In the light of recent scholarly work on tragic patterns and allusions inFlavian epic, the publication of a volume exclusively dedicated to therelationship between Flavian epic and tragedy is timely. The volume,concentrating on the poetic works of Silius Italicus, Statius and ValeriusFlaccus, consists of eight original contributions, two by the editorsthemselves and a further six by experts on Flavian epic. The volume ispreceded by an introduction by the editors and it concludes with an‘Afterword’ by Carole E. Newlands.Among key themes analysed are narrative patterns, strategies or type-scenesthat appear to derive from tragedy, the Aristotelian notions of hamartia andanagnorisis, human and divine causation, the ‘transfer’ of individualcharacters from tragedy to epic, as well as instances of tragic language andimagery.The volume at hand showcases an array of methodological approaches to thequestion of the presence of tragic elements in epic. Hence, it will be ofinterest to scholars and students in the area of Classics or Literary Studiesfocusing on such intergeneric and intertextual connections; it will be also ofinterest to scholars working on Flavian epic or on the ancient reception ofGreek and Roman tragedy.

Alexandrianism was among the trends that defined the formation of Roman literature across genres since the early decades of Roman literary history. This volume introduces a collection of original essays that contribute to a developing appreciation of the comedy of Plautus, the leading representative of Roman comedy, as a multi-faceted text that engages in a creative dialogue with various contemporary cultural and literary developments. The studies here, both individually and as parts of a longer, interactive discussion, offer a comprehensive examination of the first complete expression of the intellectual reception of Greek and Hellenistic literature and culture in Rome, and, at the same time, examine Plautus’ correspondence with the popularization of science and medicine, the Romanization of philosophy, and contemporary religious practices. As the first Latin poet whose work survives in extant form, Plautus is also examined here as a major literary figure who significantly influenced the development of Latin literature. This book will appeal to specialist scholars of Roman comedy, but also to graduate students working in the fields of classics and literary history. All long quotations of Greek and Latin are translated.

Τα Λατινικά του Wheelock είναι η πρώτη ελληνική μετάφραση του Wheelock's Latin (7η έκδοση, επικαιροποιημένη και ανανεωμένη), ενός από τα δημοφιλέστερα εγχειρίδια εκμάθησης της Λατινικής γλώσσας παγκοσμίως. Με τρόπο μεθοδικό, ευχάριστο και εύληπτο αναδεικνύει την ομορφιά, τη ζωντάνια και τη διαχρονική αξία της Λατινικής. Περιλαμβάνει:- 40 κεφάλαια με λεπτομερή παρουσίαση της Γραμματικής και του Συντακτικού, και εφαρμογή των κανόνων πάνω σε κείμενα σπουδαίων Ρωμαίων συγγραφέων, συνοδευόμενα από σημειώσεις, μεταφραστικές συμβουλές και ερωτήσεις κατανόησης.- Εκτενές Ελληνο-Λατινικό και Λατινο-Ελληνικό λεξιλόγιο.- Ασκήσεις αυτοβελτίωσης, με τις απαντήσεις τους, για ανεξάρτητη μελέτη.- Πλούσια συλλογή από αυθεντικά, μη διασκευασμένα, λατινικά κείμενα για μετάφραση, μαζί με πλήρη λεξιλογική υποστήριξη.- Ετυμολογικές πληροφορίες, χάρτες και γκραφίτι που αναδεικνύουν ποικίλες πτυχές του ρωμαϊκού πολιτισμού.Το βιβλίο απευθύνεται πρωτίστως σε φοιτητές/φοιτήτριες φιλοσοφικών σχολών αλλά και σε μαθητές/μαθήτριες που επιθυμούν να μάθουν Λατινικά με τρόπο έγκυρο και παιδαγωγικά άρτιο, καθώς και στο ευρύτερο κοινό που φιλοδοξεί μέσα από τη μεθοδική κατάκτηση της Λατινικής να απολαύσει από το πρωτότυπο τη λογοτεχνία των Ρωμαίων και να γνωρίσει την ιστορία και τον πολιτισμό τους.

This volume is the first systematic study of Seneca’s interaction with earlier literature of a variety of genres and traditions. It examines this interaction and engagement in his prose works, offering interpretative readings that are at once groundbreaking and stimulating to further study. Focusing on the Dialogues, the Naturales Quaestiones, and the Moral Epistles, the volume includes multi-perspectival studies of Seneca’s interaction with all the great Latin epics (Lucretius, Vergil and Ovid), and discussions of how Seneca’s philosophical thought is informed by Hellenistic doxography, forensic rhetoric and declamation, the Homeric tradition, Euripidean tragedy and Greco-Roman mythology. The studies analyzes the philosophy behind Seneca’s incorporating exact quotations from earlier tradition (including his criteria of selectivity) and Seneca’s interaction with ideas, trends and techniques from different sources, in order to elucidate his philosophical ideas and underscore his original contribution to the discussion of established philosophical traditions. They also provide a fresh interpretation of moral issues with particular application to the Roman worldview as fashioned by the mos maiorum. The volume, finally, features detailed discussion of the ways in which Seneca, the author of philosophical prose, puts forward his stance towards poetics and figures himself as a poet.

This volume presents essays written in honour of Stratis Kyriakidis, Emeritus Professor of Latin Literature at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. Greece. It offers a rich assortment of scholarship on classical literature, ranging from Homeric epic, and the tradition of ecphrasis it spawned in a number of genres, to 17th-century English translations of Virgil’s Aeneid. The collection is divided into two sections, the first on Greek literature, and the second on Latin literature. The sixteen chapters within offer fresh insights and thoughtful readings of a variety of works of classical literature, as well-known as the Iliad and the Aeneid and as exotic as the epigrams of Geminus.

This volume brings together a variety of approaches to the different ways in which the role of animals was understood in ancient Greco-Roman myth and religion, across a period of several centuries, from Preclassical Greece to Late Antique Rome. Animals in Greco-Roman antiquity were thought to be intermediaries between men and gods, and they played a pivotal role in sacrificial rituals and divination, the foundations of pagan religion. The studies in the first part of the volume examine the role of the animals in sacrifice and divination. The second part explores the similarities between animals, on the one hand, and men and gods, on the other. Indeed, in antiquity, the behaviour of several animals was perceived to mirror human behaviour, while the selection of the various animals as sacrificial victims to specific deities often was determined on account of some peculiar habit that echoed a special attribute of the particular deity. The last part of this volume is devoted to the study of animal metamorphosis, and to this end a number of myths that associate various animals with transformation are examined from a variety of perspectives.

[...] Η παρούσα μελέτη του Miles gloriosus αποσκοπεί κατ' αρχάς να καταστήσει γνωστό στο ελληνικό κοινό ένα από τα δημοφιλέστερα έργα του Πλαύτου και της Ρωμαϊκής Κωμωδίας. Παράλληλα επιχειρεί να αναδείξει το αυθεντικό ταλέντο και την ευφυΐα του κορυφαίου Ρωμαίου κωμωδιογράφου, καθώς και την υψηλή ποιότητα του ιδιότυπου ρωμαϊκού θεάτρου. Η μετάφραση του κειμένου είναι η πρώτη που δημοσιεύεται στην ελληνική γλώσσα.Το πρώτο μέρος της μελέτης προσφέρει μια εκτενή εισαγωγή στο ρωμαϊκό θέατρο και τη Ρωμαϊκή Κωμωδία. Σημαντικό τμήμα είναι αφιερωμένο στη δομή, στη διάρθρωση της πλοκής, στα πρόσωπα, στους χαρακτήρες και στη θεατρική διάσταση του Miles gloriosus. Η εισαγωγή περιλαμβάνει επίσης και πιο εξειδικευμένες σύντομες ενότητες σχετικά με το μέτρο και τη χειρόγραφη παράδοση των κωμωδιών του Πλαύτου. Το δεύτερο τμήμα του βιβλίου ανήκει στο έργο καθαυτό. Πρωτότυπο κείμενο και μετάφραση παρατίθενται αντικριστά, ενώ το κείμενο της μετάφρασης έχει εμπλουτισθεί από μια σειρά πρόσθετων πληροφοριών εντός παρενθέσεων εν είδει "σκηνοθετικών οδηγιών".Το κείμενο ακολουθεί την έκδοση του Lindsay στη σειρά των στερεότυπων κειμένων της Οξφόρδης (Oxford Classical Texts) και συνοδεύεται από το κριτικό υπόμνημα του Lindsay. Προτάσεις διαφορετικών γραφών σε προβληματικά σημεία συζητούνται αναλυτικά στο ερμηνευτικό υπόμνημα, το οποίο καταλαμβάνει το τρίτο μέρος του τόμου.[...](από τον πρόλογο του βιβλίου)

The book is a detailed study on the structure and the topics of Ovid’s compedium of the Trojan Saga in Metamorphoses 12.1-13.622, the section also referred to as the “Little Iliad”. It explores the motives and the objectives behind the selected narrative moments from the Epic Cycle that found their way into the Ovidian version of the Trojan War. By thoroughly mastering and inspiringly refashioning a vast amount of literary material, Ovid generates a systematic reconstruction of the archetypal hero, Achilles. Thus, he projects himself as a worthy successor of Homer in the epic tradition, a master epicist, and a par to his great Latin predecessor, Vergil.

This study constitutes the first modern book-length, in-depth critical analysis of Ovid, Metamorphoses 13.623–14.582. In this unit Ovid, by challenging openly the artistry of his great predecessor Vergil, redraws the parameters associated with the definition and appreciation of epic poetry. The book first introduces the methodological complexity of the Ovidian embrace strategy, and, subsequently, it reads the ‘little Aeneid’ closely, discussing the network of allusions to its prototype. It assesses the structure and thematics of each episode in the cluster, and traces the recurrence of prominent motifs throughout the Metamorphoses. Not least, it explores poetics, arguing that Ovid’s selective incorporation of the Aeneid reproduces the spirit and fundamental ideas of the model in an idiosyncratic sophisticated manner.

Contrary to the two other major Augustan writers who discussed the origins of Rome, Vergil's Roman prehistory centers on the presence of Evander. An involuntary exile from the East (Greek Arcadia) who settled in Latium and instilled civilization and laws among the Italians, Evander is a duplicate of Aeneas, a cultural ancestor and a model of leadership. Aeneas is instructed by the deities of Italy (Tiberinus) to pay a visit to Pallanteum, Evander's capital and the primordial site of Rome, in order to learn about the past and receive instructions about the future. His tour of proto-Rome, led by Evander, carries Aeneas through a series of monuments that span through Rome's entire history. Aeneas is guided to follow Evander's example, and Vergil, urging reevaluation of widespread anti-Hellenic prejudices, prominently underscores the seminal contribution of Greece to the cultural and political origins of Rome.