Greek and Latin Letters
An Anthology with Translation

Anthology of Greek and Latin letters with facing-page English translation, full commentary and introduction.

Michael Trapp (Edited by)

9780521499439, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 6 March 2003

360 pages, 1 map
20.3 x 12.7 x 2 cm, 0.39 kg

The 78 letters in this Anthology (41 Greek, 36 Latin and 1 bilingual, with facing English translation) are selected both for their intrinsic interest, and to illustrate the range of functions letters performed in the ancient world. Dating from between c. 500 BC and c. 400 AD, they include naive and high-style, 'real' and 'fictitious', and classical and patristic items: Cicero, Horace, Ovid, Seneca, Pliny, Julian, Basil and Augustine are juxtaposed with Phalaris, Diogenes, Chion, and the authors of letters on lead, wood, papyrus and stone. Four final items exemplify ancient epistolary theory. The Commentary, besides providing contextual and linguistic assistance, draws attention to specifically epistolary features and to different stylistic levels of Greek and Latin represented. Epistolary topics and formulae are discussed in the Introduction, which also provides biographical and bibliographical information on all texts and authors included, and a history of letter-writing and letter-reading in antiquity.

Introduction
A. Private letters (1–60)
B. Public life and official correspondence (61–70)
C. Embedded letters (71–2)
D. Epistolary theory (73–6)
Commentary.

Subject Areas: The Early Church [HRCC1], Literary studies: classical, early & medieval [DSBB], Diaries, letters & journals [BJ]