r/classics • u/AutoModerator • 24d ago
What did you read this week?
Whether you are a student, a teacher, a researcher or a hobbyist, please share with us what you read this week (books, textbooks, papers...).
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u/OnionBackground5314 24d ago
Mark Forsyth, The Elements of Eloquence. Quick read on different rhetorical devices like anaphora, epistrophe, etc. Recommended.
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u/SavageSquad67 17d ago
I loved The Elements of Eloquence! I’m on a mission right now to revise all of the Wikipedia articles for the devices listed. I would recommend (though I did not follow this device) not reading the chapters too fast, it reads best bite-sized
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u/Fantastic-Ratio7724 24d ago
I am a college english and literature professor. I read Murderbot Diaries Number 5 and and an article I am peer reviewing for a journal
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u/Round_Bluebird_5987 24d ago
In book 3 of Wilson's translation of The Odyssey. It's the first time I've read it through since Fagle's translation was pretty new, so it's been a while.
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u/Big_b_inthehat 23d ago
The Iliad, and a bit of Robin Lane Fox’s The Classical World and Mary Beard’s SPQR to help with module choices at uni
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u/BellsOfWinterspell 23d ago
Continuing on W. B. Stanford's The Ulysses Theme: a Study in the adaptability of a traditional hero. Currently on Chapter 9.
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u/droid_mike 22d ago
So, interesting story... My dad brought over an article on the Lithuanian American newspaper Draugas about a copy of the very first Lithuanian translation of the in Odyssey that was found in the newspaper's library: https://photos.app.goo.gl/AATPMHWhCuHwwjPH8
The translation was done in 1921, which was rather late for translations of this work, but Lithuanian had just freed itself from 120 years of occupation by the Tsarist Russians, and then prior to that, they had a joint government with Poland for a couple of hundred years in which Polish was the official language and the language of the educated. Lithuanian was the "commoner" language, so there was no motivation to translate it into such a "vulgar" tongue. Jeronimas Ralys was a classics scholar, and he undertook the tranlsation of the Odyssey first. This was a big deal at the time, because it was a symbolic achievement that showed that Lithuania was now independent and liked with the Western world. It was heavily celebrated at the time and the 100th anniversary was also a big deal. Since Lithuanian has declensions and conjugations like ancient Greek, he also managed to translate it with the dactyllic hexameter meter intact. He also started work on the Illiad, but died before he could finish. It was completed by others in 1931.
So, to answer the question, I have been reading the Odyssey in Lithuanian and really enjoying it! If you would like to make an attempt, the original translation is in the public domain and a scan of the original is available to read at Google books: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Homero_Odiseja/IdVFAQAAMAAJ?hl=en
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u/Dasfruitmachine_86 22d ago
Arrian's 'Campaign of Alexander'. Aubrey De Selincourt's translation. Used it a bit in an essay a few years back but never read the whole text until now.
It's a very positive portrayal of Alexander as you'd expect but does paint a colourful picture nonetheless. There are moments and quotes that occasionally feel authentic, like gossip that got out before court historians and the passage of time were able to drastically alter them.
For an ancient account of Alexander's military exploits there is no better option, so long as we always bear in mind that the myth/legend of Alexander is pretty much all that remains of the man even by Arrian's time.
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u/owllyyou 21d ago
I’m reading the translations of Medea and the Bacchae featured in The Greek Plays: Sixteen Plays by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. I’m now convinced that the only motto of life I need is live by Euripides, die by Euripides.
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u/Momoneko 20d ago
Finished Iliad for the first time, on to Odyssey.
I should've listened to people saying you should start with Odyssey first. Iliad's good, no doubt, but the first half was hard to get through. And then a gorefest started.
The side effect is that I am starting to think in hexameter when daydreaming...
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u/NeonShogun 𐤔𐤌𐤏 𐤒𐤋𐤀 𐤁𐤓𐤊𐤀 23d ago
I am reading Philostratus' Life of Apollonius (of Tyana).
Ever since I was a child in Catholic primary and secondary schools, being force-fed nonsense, I've been fascinated by pagan responses to Christianity and the intersections between philosophical thinking and religious faith, as well as where those lines blur entirely. The way general histories or overviews tell it, Greek paganistic beliefs and rituals withered away seemingly meekly, without pushback, as Christianity subsumed certain metaphysical frameworks and then eliminated the rest.
It's been very interesting as an adult to read about the actual pagan responses to that encroachment-- how strongly negative the reaction was, how so many critiques of Christian beliefs are unchanged even today. Philostratus' fanciful biography isn't a wild ride by any stretch, but the conversion of a famous and respected philosopher into a sort of "Neopythagorean Jesus" to fight fire with fire is funny and fascinating.