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Title: Athenaeus: The Deipnosophists by Athenaeus, Charles Burton Gulick ISBN: 0-674-99247-4 Publisher: Harvard Univ Pr Pub. Date: June, 1929 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $21.50 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.67 (3 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: "Scholars at Dinner, Sophists at Dinner, Profs at Dinner..."
Comment: There are supposed to be 7 volumes of this work in the
Loeb Classical Series published by Harvard Univ. Press.
So far, I have only been able to pull up two of them
on Amazon.com
The first volume of Athenaeus, which contains Books
I -- III, 106c (one through three, up to the part,
106c) has the ISBN: 0674992245.
The second volume of Athenaeus, which contains Books
III (106c) -- V (three, 106c through five) has the
ISBN: 0674992296.
According to the information on the inside cover flap,
there were originally many more volumes, but there still
survives a great part of the original in whole.
The "plot" of the work is a recounting of a dinner,
or supper, at which notable scholars were present, who
apparently had such incredible memories that they could
call forth citations from authors which related to almost
any subject or even food preparations that appeared in
the classical authors' works. That's pretty amazing
in itself. Might qualify this work for the fantasy-fiction
genre. But regardless of who had the knowledge, whether
is was Athenaeus himself, or his "guests," that is an
amazing knowledge of literature.
While some might find the reading, "boring," for the
true questing mind these delicious bites of knowledge
about food and authors and works are irresistible. For
instance, how many works of literature could you recall
that mention fried liver wrapped in a caul? Well, the
guest at the dinner, in Vol. 2, can rattle off the exact
authors in whose works that special term appears.
"What did they live on?" said Alice, who always took
great interest in questions of eating and drinking.
"They lived on treacle," said the Dormouse, after
thinking a minute or two. [-Alice in Wonderland-.]
By the by, how often are the two words, "scholars"
and "dinner" used in conjunction? More than you
might think -- seems the ol' boys like to gather,
gobble, and gabble. -- Robert Kilgore.
Rating: 5
Summary: Incorrect Listing
Comment: This listing is misleading. The Deipnosophists is a book in multiple volumes from the Loeb library. Please correct the listing. I am not sure how to order these books in the way that this title is listed.
Rating: 4
Summary: A book worthwile the trouble.
Comment: Athenaeus lived in the third century A.C. and was born in Naucratis in Egypt. His 'Dipnosophistae' (Banquet of Scholars) is not complete anymore but we have extensive summaries of this work. There are thirty scholars at the banquet and each tells about a subject which is his speciality. To name a few of these subjects: antiquities (already at that time!),art,literature,gastronomy,etc. One of the main subjects is gastronomy (not something scholars are used to talk about but this is a banquet after all). In this work are a lot of excerpts from different authors we would not know about without Athenaeus.For instance several poems of Sapfo are only known because they are cited in this work of Athenaeus. Another topic is travelling (A hazardous enterprise in those days even on the Roman 'speedways'). In one of those travel stories, a large Roman ship, built for the transport of corn, is described in detail. We read for example about the facilities for the representative of Hiero (Hiero is the owner of the ship and is to busy to travel himself). These facilities were big enough for fifteen places to sleep and was divided in three large cabins. A galley - only for this representative and his family or friends - was located at the stern. Each cabin had a mosaic on the floor showing scenes from the Iliad. (Can you imagine? Such a passenger facility on a cargo ship!). All this is very interesting but sometimes you have to read twenty boring pages or more to read finally one interesting page. But to me that one page makes it worthwile to read the other twenty boring pages.
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Title: The World of Odysseus (New York Review Books Classics Series) by M. I. Finley, Bernard Knox ISBN: 1590170172 Publisher: New York Review of Books Pub. Date: 10 August, 2002 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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