De Raptu Prosperpinae (Oxford Classical Monographs) - Hardcover

Claudian

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0198147775 ISBN 13: 9780198147770

Publisher: Clarendon Press, 1993

Synopsis

Claudian was one of the last great Latin poets of the classical tradition, writing in the fourth century AD. J. B. Hall has already produced two editions of his poem De Raptu Proserpinae which deal exhaustively with the complicated manuscript traditions of the work. But he self-confessedly leaves aside literary questions which are the subject of this commentary. With the current upsurge of research into late antiquity, Claudian is of great interest as one of the foremost poets of the age who has been undeservedly neglected as a creative artist with an immense knowledge of classical literature and a distinctive literary style. His works have been mined for what they can tell us about the history of the late fourth-early fifth century AD, as he largely wrote political propaganda for members of the court circle, but the De Raptu Proserpinae is fascinating for the longest glimpse of him working with subject matter of more personal choice. In addition to the commentary, the book includes a text designed to simplify Hall's apparatus, and a translation to make the work more accessible to non-specialists.

About this title

From the Back Cover

Claudian was one of the last great Latin poets of the classical tradition, writing at the imperial court in Milan in the late fourth to early fifth century AD. With the current upsurge of research into late antiquity, he is a figure of great interest who has been undeservedly neglected - a creative artist with an immense knowledge of classical literature and a distinctive literary style. His works have been mined for what they reveal about the history of the period, as he largely wrote political propaganda for members of the court circle; but the De Raptu Proserpinae is fascinating in that it shows him working with subject matter of more personal choice. J. B. Hall has already produced two editions of the work, which deal exhaustively with the complicated manuscript traditions; but he self-confessedly leaves aside literary questions, which are the subject of this commentary. This is therefore the first study to look at the poem as a work of literary interest in its own right. The book includes a text designed to simplify Hall's apparatus, and a facing translation to make the work more accessible to non-specialists.

Edition details

• Publisher: Clarendon Press
• Publication date: 1993
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0198147775
• ISBN 13: 9780198147770
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 340
• Editor: Gruzelier Claire