The Argonautica

Of Rhodes, Apollonius

ISBN 10: 1689241756 / ISBN 13: 9781689241755

Editore: Independently Published, 2019

May have limited writing in cover pages. Pages are unmarked. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less. Codice articolo G1689241756I4N00

Riassunto:

Much has been written about the chronology of Alexandrian literature and the famous Library, founded by Ptolemy Soter, but the dates of the chief writers are still matters of conjecture. The birth of Apollonius Rhodius is placed by scholars at various times between 296 and 260 B.C., while the year of his death is equally uncertain. In fact, we have very little information on the subject. There are two "lives" of Apollonius in the Scholia, both derived from an earlier one which is lost. From these we learn that he was of Alexandria by birth, 1001 that he lived in the time of the Ptolemies, and was a pupil of Callimachus; that while still a youth he composed and recited in public his "Argonautica", and that the poem was condemned, in consequence of which he retired to Rhodes; that there he revised his poem, recited it with great applause, and hence called himself a Rhodian.
He seems to have written the "Argonautica" out of bravado, to show that he could write an epic poem. But the influence of the age was too strong. Instead of the unity of an Epic we have merely a series of episodes, and it is the great beauty and power of one of these episodes that gives the poem its permanent value—the episode of the love of Jason and Medea. This occupies the greater part of the third book. The first and second books are taken up with the history of the voyage to Colchis, while the fourth book describes the return voyage. These portions constitute a metrical guide book, filled no doubt with many pleasing episodes, such as the rape of Hylas, the boxing match between Pollux and Amyeus, the account of Cyzicus, the account of the Amazons, the legend of Talos, but there is no unity running through the poem beyond that of the voyage itself.

-Taken from "The Argonautica" written by Apollonius of Rhodes and translated by R. C. Seaton

Dati bibliografici

Titolo: The Argonautica
Casa editrice: Independently Published
Data di pubblicazione: 2019
Legatura: Paperback
Condizione: Very Good
Condizione sovraccoperta: No Jacket