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Ancient Greek, Greek Texts / 20.11.2011

Introduction. Menander (342-292 B.C.) was the leading writer of Athenian New Comedy, a genre which replaced the world of Aristophanes' Old Comedy with a more romantic one, in which love entanglements, abandoned or kidnapped children, and recognition through trinkets play an important part. New Comedy also established character types such as the bragging soldier, the quick-witted slave, and the angry father, which have been central to comedy in the modern world. Howver complicated Menander's plots may be, the situations and the the characters still appear natural. Menander's plays were...

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Ancient Greek, Greek Texts / 20.11.2011

Introduction. Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) is one of the most wide-ranging authors of the ancient world. He was essentially a philosopher, but he wrote on many subjects: logic, metaphysics, natural science, ethics, politics, rhetoric and poetry. Born at Stagira in Northern Greece, he came to Athens in 367. Here he was taught by Plato. Later, he was tutor to the young Alexander the Great, and in 335 he founded the Lyceum in Athens, a philosophical school intended to rival Plato's Academy there. Iy may be that the "Poetics", from...

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Ancient Greek, Greek Texts / 14.11.2011

Introduction. In contrast to the grand public speech "On the Crown" (see previous item on this blog), the speech, from which the extract translated below is taken, was a private speech for a case of assault. The speaker, Ariston, describes the outrageous behaviour of Conon's sons when they were on garrison duty together on the borders of Attica in 343 B.C. The court action probably took place two years later. The text of this extract is taken from "A Greek Anthology", Joint Association of Classics Teachers, Cambridge University Press,...

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Ancient Greek, Greek Texts / 13.11.2011

Introduction. Demosthenes (384-322 B.C.) was the greatest of the Athenian orators. After studying rhetoric and legal procedure, he became a speech-writer for both public and private trials. Sixty-one speeches attributed to him have survived, although the authenticity of some is in doubt. He became prominent as a politician and leader of the resistance to the encroachment of Philip II of Macedon, the father of Alexander the Great. The text of the passage translated below comes from "A Greek Anthology", Joint Association of Classical Teachers, Cambridge University Press, 2002. Sections 169-173.2 News of...

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Ancient Greek, Greek Texts / 18.08.2011

Introduction The introductory sections to previous translations on this blog of the "Odyssey", Book V (17th September 2010), Book VI (24th June 2011) and Book VII (9th July 2011) give relevant supplementary information to the whole work and to Homer and his style of writing. Book IX, which is translated below, is an enthralling, albeit gruesome, tale, in which Odysseus encounters, and eventually escapes from, Polyphemus, a savage member of the giant tribe of the Cyclopes, although not without losing six of his companions, whom Polyphemus eats. Like most of the Homeric epics, this book is exciting and quick-moving. Polyphemus' outrageous behaviour continues the theme, central to the whole work, of 'xenia' , that is, the duty of hospitality to strangers, or, in this case, the grievous abuse of it by Polyphemus, whose blinding is a just punishment for his killing of Odysseus' friends.
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Ancient Greek, Greek Texts / 26.07.2011

Introduction. Xenophon (c.428-354 B.C.) was a historian and a miscellaneous writer, a military leader and a disciple of Socrates, of whom he was a pupil at an early age. As a writer, he was together with Thucydides and Plato one of the great exponents of Attic Greek. His principal works are the 'Anabasis', an account of the campaign of the Greek army which marched into Asia in 401, and their subsequent retreat along the Tigris and the plateaux of Armenia to Trapezus on the Black Sea, during which Xenophon...

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Ancient Greek, Greek Texts / 17.07.2011

Introduction. 'Ecclesiazusae', produced probably in 392 B.C. is one of the last plays Aristophanes wrote. In style and content it represents a transitional phase between the Old Comedy of the Fifth Century and the New Comedy associated with Menander: there is still a political theme, still a comic hero (here female); but the sustained attacks on individual politicians have gone, the chorus has a reduced role, and a new style of quiet, witty dialogue has emerged. Power to women? The women of Athens, led by Praxagora, have decided to seize political...

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Ancient Greek, Greek Texts / 16.07.2011

Introduction - Plato. Plato (427-347 B.C.) was the greatest of the Greek philosophers, and also one of the greatest Attic prose-writers. He was hugely influenced by the life, teaching, and death of Socrates, who himself wrote nothing. Plato wrote about twenty-four philosophical dialogues, in most of which Socrates is the principal figure. It is a matter of controversy how far Plato portrays the historical Socrates, and how far Socrates is made a mouthpiece for his own views. Central ideas (the importance of philosophical enquiry, the notion that virtue is...

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Ancient Greek, Greek Texts / 09.07.2011

Introduction. As a sequel to Book VI, this book tells of how Odysseus manages to disarm the suspicions, and indeed to gain the support, of King Alcinous and Queen Arete. The 'topos' of 'xenia', the etiquette which is required in relation to hospitality to strangers, is at the centre of the book. In the end Odysseus is very well-treated, but the long silence of Arete, whose understanding Nausicaa has told him is crucial, allows the suspense to be maintained for much of the book.
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Ancient Greek, Greek Texts / 24.06.2011

Introduction. On 17th September 2010 Sabidius published on this blog an extract from Book V of Homer's "Odyssey". He has now translated the whole of Book VI, and this translation is hereby offered to his readers below. As much of the introduction to the extract from Book V is relevant here it is not repeated, but the reader is referred to it now. Book VI explores the themes of 'xenia' (hospitality) and its abuse, and survival through endurance and cunning. After Odysseus' terrible seven year imprisonment by the nymph Calypso on the island of Ogygea, he now has the pleasure of meeting the beautiful young Nausicaa, an exemplary maiden in all respects. The manner in which Odysseus addresses the dangers and temptations of the position in which he finds himself as a naked castaway is most intriguing.
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