Ships and sea-power before the great Persian War : the ancestry of the ancient trireme /
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This book presents a new theory about the developments in shipping and naval organization that culminated in the invention - around 530 BC in the eastern Mediterranean - of the trireme, and the subsequent adoption of this first specialized warship of antiquity by all the naval powers of the time. New interpretations are proposed of Greek and Assyrian iconographic data and of hitherto ignored evidence in Herodotos and Thukydides, the non-military factors determining developments are emphasized. Thukydides' fundamental essay on the genesis of Greek sea-powers is studied in depth, the rarity of these sea-powers stressed, and the peculiar background of the naval power of Phokaia and the Samian tyrant Polykrates exposed. The problem of the trireme's place of origin, the factors determining its invention, probably in Saïte Egypt, and its immediate adoption by the Persian king Kambyses are discussed. The first naval operations of the Persians are surveyed, reasons and circumstances of the trireme's introduction into the navies of the Greek city-states analysed with special attention for Themistokles' navy bill. The book offers ancient historians and classical philologists a radically new approach to archaic maritime and naval history. It will also be useful to (nautical) archaeologists.
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1 online resource (xv, 217 pages) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 187-193) and indexes. :
9789004329171 :
0169-8958 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Aitolian prosopographical studies /
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This aim of this work is to provide part of the basis for the study of a widely misunderstood people of Ancient Greece, the Aitolians. It is the people of any society who are its constituents, and only when we know who they were and what they did can that society be properly investigated. By accumulating a list of all known Aitolians, their origins, parentage, their place in the society, and any other details discoverable, it is possible to reconstitute Aitolian families, and to study various sections and aspects of their society. The prosopography and the studies based on it form part of the essential background for the author's history of The League of the Aitolians (published by Brill earlier in 1999), and they also form a contribution to the study of the society which was Ancient Greece.
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1 online resource (xii, 339 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references. :
9789004351189 :
0169-8958 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Athenian generals : military authority in the classical period /
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This study of the Athenian strategia is concerned with identifying the locus of military authority in the Athenian polis . Consideration of the role played by generals in the deliberative and final stages of military expeditions and of the relationship between strategoi and their subordinates, colleagues, and the Athenian demos itself suggests that Athens' generals did not exercise significant authority over their city's military operations. Rather, the demos controlled its generals both by means of its direct involvement in decision-making related to campaigns and by establishing in Athens a climate of fear which was very often sufficient to dissuade generals from acting in opposition to the Athenians' will. This volume is important reading for anyone who is interested in ancient military history or the question of sovereignty in Athens.
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1 online resource (xvi, 250 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 217-222) and index. :
9789004351486 :
0169-8958. Supplementum ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Athenian settlements of the fourth century B.C. /
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This work surveys all available evidence on Athenian settlements and settlers of the fourth century B.C., calling several conventional interpretations about them into question, through a rigorous preference for evidence over speculation. Three chapters trace a chronology of events relating to the settlements, examine their personnel collectively, statistically, and individually, and discuss evidence for their political, economic, and religious institutions. Long appendixes establish improved texts of numerous inscriptions relevant to the topic and provide several kinds of data on more than 1000 definite, probable, or possible settlers.
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1 online resource (xxvii, 487 pages) : maps. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 442-462) and index. :
9789004329508 :
0169-8958 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Linguistics into interpretation : speeches of war in Herodotus VII 5 and 8-18 /
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This volume is a sustained exercise in the genre of secondary literature which aims at explaining a literary work as much as possible in and through the author's own words. A crucial passage in direct speech by different speakers from the History of Herodotus, the earliest long Greek prose text, has been made the object of a systematic effort to distill and analyse the linguistic characteristics relevant to its interpretation, by confronting it with the rest of the work as well as with earlier and contemporary writings. This is done with the primary aim of placing the interpretation of a major author on the firmest ground available, the author's inches per secondissimi verba . The result, made accessible by full indexes, will prove helpful to readers of any part of Herodotus' History .
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1 online resource (xlv, 325 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004351264 :
0169-0985 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Aristophanes and Athenian society of the early fourth century B.C. /
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The purposes of this short monograph are to identify and analyze the problems of Athenian society with which the last two extant plays of Aristophanes - the Ekklesiazousai and the Ploutos - are concerned, as well as to examine the playright's views on the essence of these problems and on attempts to find satisfactory solutions to them. The work contains an introduction and seven sections: 1. Historical Background; 2. Poverty: Symptoms, Ideas regarding Solutions and Criticisms of Ideas; 3. Poverty versus Riches; 4. The sources of the ''Communistic'' Ideas; 5. Misthos Ekklesiastikos ; 6. The Censure of Materialism; 7. Aristophanes and the ''Middle Road''. The author has attempted here to set forth both the value of Aristophanes' last plays as historical sources and the significance of their social message.
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1 online resource (46 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 44-46). :
9789004328167 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Three Aeginetan odes of Pindar : a commentary on Nemean V, Nemean III and Pythian VIII /
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A study of three epinicia of Pindar, which have in common that they celebrate victories of Aeginetan athletes and that they respond to the contemporary political situation in Aegina and to circumstances of the victory. The primary objective of this book is to provide an interpretation of each of the three odes as meaningful, coherent works of the literary art. For each ode, it provides a commentary in which problems of text and interpretation are discussed in detail, a structural and metrical analysis, and an interpretative essay, in which the observations of detail are brought together in order to provide an answer to the question as to how the ode at hand could have functioned as a coherent, meaningful epinicion . The introduction addresses questions of method and provides a description of Pindar's style.
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1 online resource (xii, 721 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 667-698) and indexes. :
9789004351240 :
0169-8958 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Voice into text : orality and literacy in ancient Greece /
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This volume deals with orality and literacy in ancient Greece and what consideration of these areas yields for that society, its literature, traditions and practices. Individual chapters focus on art, comedy, historiography, oratory, religion, rhetoric, philosophy, poetry, tragedy, and on orality in contemporary cultures (Greek and South African), which have a bearing on the ancient world. By considering such factors as oral elements in various genres and practices and how these have shaped the texts we have today, as well as the extent of literacy and the impact of literacy on oral traditions and on singers/writers, the book presents another insight into ancient Greek society and its people.
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1 online resource (x, 232 pages, [8] pages of plates) : illustrations. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 221-230) and index. :
9789004329836 :
0169-8958 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Statius Thebaid VII : a commentary /
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The epic poem the Thebaid by P. Papinius Statius, written about AD 80 to 92, deals with the fraternal strife between Oedipus' sons Eteocles and Polynices for the mastery of Thebes. Book VII describes the forced march of the Seven and their arrival at Thebes, Jocasta's vain attempt at mediation and Amphiaraus' spectacular katabasis . This book is the first which deals with Thebaid VII since Barth (1664) and Amar andamp; Lemaire (1825-30). Apart from being a commentary in the philological sense, it examines in close detail the poet's mannered style and analyses the text as a system of intertextual references. In addition to Homer and Vergil, specific passages from Euripides, Lucan, Seneca and especially Valerius Flaccus were exploited by Statius to create his challenging imitation. The identification of these sources offers the key to interpret and evaluate the poet's artistic intentions. The Introduction discusses Statius' technique of multiple imitation. The information brought together has been made easily accessible by full indexes and an appendix listing the passages imitated by Statius.
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1 online resource (xlii, 462 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 424-434) and indexes. :
9789004329393 :
0169-8958 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Warrior women : the anonymous Tractatus de mulieribus /
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This study analyzes the anonymous Tractatus de Mulieribus , a brief, virtually unknown Greek work, telling of fourteen outstanding women, Greek and barbarian, notable for their intelligence, initiative and courage. The first part of the book is a comprehensive introduction to the treatise and includes - in addition to the original text and an English translation - an examination of both the content and form of De Mulieribus , particularly as a catalogue of women. The times, methods, and purposes of the anonymous author are also investigated. Commentary-essays on the individual women then follow. A wide variety of sources are utilized in order to sketch the fullest possible portrait of each of these lively women. This book, the very first study of De Mulieribus , is a useful introduction to a remarkable treatise.
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1 online resource (252 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 225-236) and indexes. :
9789004329881 :
0169-8958 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Xenophon's Sparta : an introduction /
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Xenophon is usually believed to have written his Hellenica as a general ''history of his own times'' in Greece, and is criticized for his disproportionately close attention to Spartan affairs and his apparent bias in favour of the Spartans. But his treatment of Sparta is much more coherent and purposive than has been noticed; and knowing the cirumstances of his life, we should consider that there were ample reasons of prudence (at least) for him to have written with much circumspection about Sparta and especially about Agesilaus and Agesilaus' friends. This methodical interpretative study of Lysander in the Hellenica as well as of the Polity of the Lacedaemonians demonstrates that Xenophon wrote aobut this city - famous for the communal life of its citizens - with critical and philosophic intent. As a case study in reading classical history, it might signal the need for a complete reevaluation of other historians as well.
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1 online resource (xxii, 116 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. 112-114) and index. :
9789004328334 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Grammar as interpretation : Greek literature in its linguistic contexts /
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Looking at its subject from the standpoint of modern discourse analysis, this study deals with problems of style and grammar in Greek and Latin texts. Its aim is to shed light on the interaction between the mechanism of the Greek and Latin languages as interactive tools and the structure of the texts that have come down to us. The interpretive orientation offered differs from most literary studies in its taking linguistic observations as point of departure, and its considering grammar as a positive factor in the interpretive process. It differs from most linguistic studies in the field in demonstrating the importance of linguistic methodology for classical philology in general. The book contains studies of various authors, genres, and text types, preceded by an introductory essay on the role of grammar in philology.
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1 online resource (262 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789004330061 :
0169-8958 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Ancient Greeks west and east /
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This volume deals with the concept of 'West' and 'East', as held by the ancient Greeks. Cultural exchange in Archaic and Classical Greece through the establishment of Hellenic colonies around the ancient world was an important development, and always a two-way process. To achieve a proper understanding of it requires study from every angle. All 24 papers in this volume combine different types of evidence, discussing them from every perspective: they are examined not only from the point of view of the Greeks but from that of the locals. The book gives new data, as well as re-examining existing evidence and reinterpreting old theories. The book is richly illustrated.
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1 online resource (xxi, 623 pages) : illustrations, maps. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004351257 :
0169-8958. Supplementum ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Die Lieder des Bakchylides.
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This is the first complete commentary for ninety years on the surviving poems of Bacchylides. Part I, covering the Victory Odes, was published in 1982. Part II, with the Dithyrambs and the fragments of Bacchylides' other books, now completes the work. Like the first part, this volume contains an introduction, the Greek text with facing German prose translation, the commentary, and the indices to Parts I and II. Bacchylides, a contemporary of Pindar, was one of the nine \'classical\' lyric poets whose songs were collected, edited and studied by the scholars of Alexandria. The commentary, in addition to providing linguistic and factual information, aims to highlight the poet's qualities of style and composition which have so far been generally underrated.
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1 online resource (xxvi, 381 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789004329911 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The Gorgon's severed head : studies in Alcestis, Electra, and Phoenissae /
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The Gorgon's Severed Head looks at three plays of Euripides, one early, one middle and one late in his career. Innovations in genre, in the use of the traditional stories, in the representation of women and of gender issues are present at every period. In all three plays characters are depicted creating themselves and each other. Chapter One on Alcestis looks at the artistry of the two main characters and is especially concerned with finding a role for Admetus, the play's most serious problem. The second chapter treats the physical displacement of the myth in Euripides' version of the Electra-Orestes story. A last section approaches the layers of time and space in Phoenissae .
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1 online resource (xv, 255 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789004329799 :
0169-8958 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The propaganda of power : the role of panegyric in late antiquity /
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The 13 essays presented here shed new light on the role of panegyric in the western and eastern Roman Empire in the late antique world. Introductory chapters give an overview of panegyrical theory and practice, followed by studies of major writers of the early empire and the anonymous Panegyrici latini . The core of the volume deals with prose and verse panegyric under the Christian Roman Empire (4th-7th century): key themes addressed are social and political context, the 'hidden agenda', and the impact of Christianity on the pagan tradition of the panegyric, including the portrayal of patriarchs and holy men.
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1 online resource (x, 378 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004351479 :
0169-8958 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.