The Argonautika by Apollonios Rhodios - Hardcover

Green, Peter

3.82

10,308 ratings by Goodreads

9780520076860: The Argonautika by Apollonios Rhodios

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0520076869 ISBN 13: 9780520076860

Publisher: University of California Press, 1997

View all copies of this ISBN edition:

The first commentary since 1912 on all four books of the Argonautika , the tale of Jason and the quest for the Golden Fleece, is accompanied by a dynamic translation of the Hellenistic epic which was a radical depature from the Homeric tradition, featuring a rather unsensational hero whose best quality is being a hit with the ladies, and a heroine who is a major chracter in her own right: a virgin sorceress whose magic brings Jason's triumph yet cannot save her from her own infatuation. The introduction discusses Apollonios in his Alexandrian world and proposes a new understanding of his poetic puropse and acheivement. The commentary is especially good at explaining mythical allusions which abound.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

From the Inside Flap:

"A smooth-running and highly readable verse translation of Apollonios's epic tale of the voyage of the Argonauts from the pen of a writer whose elegant verse translations of Ovid's Erotic Poems and Juvenal's Satires have long been justly admired by scholars and the general public alike. The introduction, written with Green's customary verve and wit, locates Apollonios in his Alexandrian world and proposes a new understanding of his poetic purpose and achievement. But that is not all. The translation is followed by a detailed commentary that explains difficulties and mythical allusions. The commentary will be helpful for Greek-less readers, but it will also command the attention of scholars. Though there are many commentaries available for the third book of the poem, there is nothing else in print in English that covers all four. Peter Green's Argonautika is, quite simply, invaluable."—Bernard Knox, author of Backing into the Future

"Peter Green turns his formidable classical learning and his finely nuanced sense of English verse to bear on the challenge of restoring Apollonios to his true place—on a par with the best modern poetic versions of Homer and Virgil."—Robert Fagles, translator of Homer's Iliad

"The style is crisp, energetic, and masculine in the narrative, but not unsympathetic to the love-suffering of Medeia."—Jasper Griffin, Oxford University

About the Author:

Peter Green is Dougherty Centennial Professor of Classics at the University of Texas, Austin. His other books available from California include Alexander to Actium: The Historical Evolution of the Hellenistic Age (1990), Alexander of Macedon, 356-323 B.C.: A Historical Biography (1991), The Laughter of Aphrodite: A Novel about Sappho of Lesbos (1993), and The Greco-Persian Wars (1996).

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.