Commentary on the Pseudonymous Letters of Aeschines (Themes and Forms in Graeco-roman Literature)

Guo, Zilong

ISBN 10: 3161646886 / ISBN 13: 9783161646881

Published by Mohr Siebeck, 2025

About this Item

Seller Inventory # 408329962

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Commentary on the Pseudonymous Letters of Aeschines (Themes and Forms in Graeco-roman Literature)
• Publisher: Mohr Siebeck
• Publication Date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 3161646886
• ISBN 13: 9783161646881
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

Through a comprehensive introduction and detailed commentary, Zilong Guo reappraises the letters attributed to the Attic orator Aeschines. These letters merit a place in Greek literature for their synthesis of preexisting literary forms. Letters 2, 3, 7, 11, and 12 imitate the letters of Demosthenes in a manner akin to rhetorical exercises. Letters 1, 5, 6, 8, 9, and 10 exhibit features reminiscent of the epistolary fiction that flourished in the first centuries AD. Letter 4 is a prose paraphrase of Pindar's victory odes. Like other literary forgeries, these letters are both problematic and fascinating. Likely products of rhetorical culture, they nevertheless hold a unique place as early - and remarkably successful - examples of how literary and political trends were interwoven to (re)shape the Classical tradition.