An Anthology with Translation
This collection contains 78 letters from the ancient world, selected for content and function. The letters are in Greek and Latin with English translation and date from approximately 500 B.C. to 400 A.D. They range from naive and high style to real and fictional texts.
Description
The 78 letters in this Anthology with translation (41 Greek, 36 Latin, and 1 bilingual) illustrate the diverse functions of letters in classical antiquity. Well-known authors such as Cicero, Horace, Ovid, Seneca, and Augustine appear alongside anonymous writers and archaeological finds on a wide range of materials. Four closing pieces address the theory of the ancient epistolary genre. The extensive commentaries provide linguistic and contextual explanations and emphasize epistolary features and stylistic differences in Greek and Latin. The introduction covers epistolary topics, the formulaic nature and biographies of the authors, as well as the history of writing and reading letters in antiquity.
Product information
- Author: Michael Trapp (King's College London)
- Series: Cambridge Greek and Latin Classics
- Publisher: Cambridge University Press
- Binding type: Trade paperback (US)
- Publication date: March 6, 2003
- Number of pages: 360
- ISBN: 9780521499439
- Topic: Literary studies: antiquity, classics and the Middle Ages
- BISAC: Literary Criticism / Ancient & Classical
About the author
Michael Trapp is a Reader in Greek in the Department of Classics at King's College London. He is, among other things, the author of the Dialexeis of Maximus of Tyre.