Matro Of Pitane and the Tradition Of Epic Parody in the Fourth Century BCE: Text, Translation, and Commentary

by S. Douglas Olson, Alexander Sens

Overview

The fragments of Matro of Pitane (c. 300 BC) offer insights not only into the largely forgotten and obscure late-classical genre of epic parody, but also into 4th-century Athenian history, the role of food and dining in antiquity, and the history of the text of Homer and the reception of the Iliad and the Odyssey in the pre-Alexanderian period. Sens and Olson offer a new text of the 144 surviving lines of Matro's parodies based on a fresh examination of the manuscripts; a translation; a detailed philological, historical, and gastronomic commentary; and a lively introduction to the poet and his times.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780788506147
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	05/01/1999
Series:	Society for Classical Studies American Classical Studies , #44
Pages:	192
Product dimensions:	9.26(w) x 6.32(h) x 0.68(d)

Editorial Reviews

"This careful new edition...deserves a warm welcome... interestingly sites Matro at the heart of...important cultural and literary issues...The commentary is thorough (without becoming burdensome) and...a model of culinary...accuracy, which can now be used as a reference tool."—Richard Hunter, Classical World (forthcoming)

From the Publisher

Scholars S. Douglas Olson and Alexander Sens translate the 142 lines of existing poetry by Matro of Pitane, all but 20 of which lines belong to a single long fragment of a poem known as the . A substantial introduction discusses the poet, the tradition of epic parody, the text in relation to Homeric texts, dining in late classical and early Hellenistic Greece, and other topics. Extensive footnotes and commentary are included. Formerly distributed by Scholars Press (now defunct); this volume is part of a series now distributed by the American Philological Association. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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