Scrinium Classical Antiquity

RICHTER, M., Priscorum poetarum et scriptorum de se et aliis iudicia. Teubner, Leipzig, 1914. 55p. Sewn. Diss. Univ. Jena. € 22.50 (Antiquarian)

RICHTER, W., Caesar als Darsteller seiner Taten. Eine Einführung. Carl Winter Universitätsverlag, Heidelberg, 1977. 231p. Sewn. Front cover partly yellowed. Edges a bit yellowed. Series: Bibliothek der Klassischen Altertumswissenschaften, Neue Folge, R. Reihe, Band 61. 'Richter follows faithfully in the footsteps of Rambaud. His chief interest is, by minute examination of the text, to detect where Caesar has covered up his failures, misinterpreted his motives, and exaggerated his successes, in the hope of winning the voters os 51 B.C by a consummate work of literary propaganda. (…) A necessary part of his case is that the seven books were composed as a whole in 51 B.C. rather than individually year by year (pp.71 ff.). He argues forcefully that any evolution of style which can be traced between the books is due not to the passage of time but to developing artistry. (…) The question of the composition of the B.G. is a vital one but cannot, I think, on the evidence available to us be settled definitely. (…) The core of Richter’s book (…) is four specimen analyses (pp.102-140) in which he attempts to lay bare Caesar’s technique. (…) In these specimen analyses, Richter concentrates purely on the logic of the case, not on the style of their presentation. (…) The book contains much of incidental interest - useful accounts of the other works in the Caesarian ‘corpus’, linguistic differences between the B.G. and B.C, Caesar’s practice in quoting figures and casualties, and so on. But the over-all effect is depressing.' (R.M. OGILVIE in The Classical Review (New Series), 1979, pp.51-53). € 25.00 (Antiquarian)

RICHTER, W., Caesar als Darsteller seiner Taten. Eine Einführung. Carl Winter Universitätsverlag, Heidelberg, 1977. 231p. Original blue gilt titled cloth. Errata leaflet loosely inserted. Series: Bibliothek der Klassischen Altertumswissenschaften, Neue Folge, R. Reihe, Band 61. Nice copy. 'Richter follows faithfully in the footsteps of Rambaud. His chief interest is, by minute examination of the text, to detect where Caesar has covered up his failures, misinterpreted his motives, and exaggerated his successes, in the hope of winning the voters os 51 B.C by a consummate work of literary propaganda. (…) A necessary part of his case is that the seven books were composed as a whole in 51 B.C. rather than individually year by year (pp.71 ff.). He argues forcefully that any evolution of style which can be traced between the books is due not to the passage of time but to developing artistry. (…) The question of the composition of the B.G. is a vital one but cannot, I think, on the evidence available to us be settled definitely. (…) The core of Richter’s book (…) is four specimen analyses (pp.102-140) in which he attempts to lay bare Caesar’s technique. (…) In these specimen analyses, Richter concentrates purely on the logic of the case, not on the style of their presentation. (…) The book contains much of incidental interest - useful accounts of the other works in the Caesarian ‘corpus’, linguistic differences between the B.G. and B.C, Caesar’s practice in quoting figures and casualties, and so on. But the over-all effect is depressing.' (R.M. OGILVIE in The Classical Review (New Series), 1979, pp.51-53). € 40.00 (Antiquarian)

RICKMAN, G., The Corn Supply of Ancient Rome. Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1996. XIII,290p. Hard bound with dust wrps. (Sandpiper edition). Nice copy.‘The student of ancient history has much to be gratify for, but notoriously there are wide areas on his maps which have to be left blank or filled in only in sketchy outline. Economic and administrative details far too often elude his eye. (…) The difficulties and expense of overland transport and the falling away of local sources of cereals for the growing capital of a world empire forced Roman eyes to turn to Sicily and Sardinia, Spain, Africa, and Egypt to uncover major and reliable sources of supply. Which all sounds straightforward enough, until we remember the enormity of the task involved: the sheer cost of it all, the checking of quantities and qualities of cargoes on embarkation and disembarkation, the trickiness of carrying and storing a very heavy and unstable bulk commodity vulnerable to pests and rot and double-germination, and only too commonly until Augustus created a standing Roman navy the ravages of pirates who not long before Pompeu’s command of 67 B.C. could even sail coolly into the mouth of the Tiber, sink a consular fleet, and plunder Ostia itself. (…) The harsh truth wat that if Rome could not keep the seas and secure the grain-supplies, the city would die. (…) The arrangement of the material is clear and orderly: after an excellent exposition of ‘The Governing Factors’ the historical account moves through Republic, Transition (Pompey, Caesar, and augustus), to Early Empire. The author then turns his attention to the corn lands themselves, to transport and storage and prices, and to the actual distributions of corn in the city, before a final chapter on the Late Empire, when the emergence of Constantinople as the imperial capital displaced Rome from the centre of the stage. Eleven appendices bring up the rear with their detailed discussion of special topics. The manner, as well as the matter, is first class. (…). The book is essential reading for all Roman historians, teachers and taught alike. (…) a first-rate book on a subject of central importance and great intrinsic interest.’ (DAVID STOCKTON in The Classical Review (New Series), 1981, pp.91-93). € 50.00 (Antiquarian)

RIDDER, A. de, and W. DEONNA, Art in Greece. Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1968. Reissued. 375p. ill. Bound wrps. This penetrating study show the place taken by art in the practical life of the Greeks throughout their history. Deonna writes as an archaeologist and student of Hellenic history, not as an art-critic. He throws a vivid light on the influences exercised on art by the composite racial origin of the Greek nation, an on the meaning of the two opposite tendencies of Ionianism and the Dorian spirit – tendencies reconciled only in the measured Atticism which held the balance between the early Oriental exuberance and feminine grace of the one and the primitively severe, almost mathematical, schematism of the other, between Dorian anthropomorphism and Ionian pan-naturalism. He shows how the art of Hellenistic Greece is the outcome of renewed Oriental contacts following on the exhaustion caused by the Peloponnesian wars, when Dorian discipline and Dorian virility were extinguished and a warweary Atticism grew old and lived only on memories of a glorious past. (Publisher's information). € 26.50 (Antiquarian)

RIDDER-SYMOENS, H. de, (ed.), A History of the University in Europe. Volume I. Universities in the Middle Ages. Volume II. Universities in Early Modern Europe (1500 - 1800). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (...), 1994/96. Reprint 1st ed/1st ed. XXVIII,506;XXV,693p. Cloth wrps. Gilt lettering on spine.Nice copy. € 158.50 (Antiquarian)

RIDDERBOS, B., Saint and Symbol. Images of Saint Jerome in early Italian Art. Bouma, Groningen, 1984. 130p. ills. Theses. Sewn. Diss. Rijksuniversiteit Groningen. € 175.00 (Antiquarian)

RIDDERBOS, S.J., Zon op de bergen... Gedachten over leven en dood op Socrates' laatste dag volgens de Phaedo van Plato. Kok Agora, Kampen, 1994. 147p. Paperback. Bit yellowed. € 9.50 (Antiquarian)

RIDGEWAY, W., The Origin of Tragedy. With Special Reference to The Greek Tragedians. Cambridge University Press, London, 1910. XI,228p. ills.(B&W line drawings). Nice green cloth library binding. Sticker Central Reference Library glued to paste-down endpaper. Small stamps on title page and last page. Spine gilt titled. € 30.00 (Antiquarian)

RIECHE, A., Das antike Italien aus der Luft. Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach, 1979. 304p. ills. Cloth wrps. € 26.50 (Antiquarian)