Scrinium Classical Antiquity

LOUD, G.A., The Age of Robert Guiscard. Southern Italy and the Norman Conquest. Longman (Pearson Education), Harlow (...), 2000. XII,329p. Paperback. ‘G.A. Loud has produced a valuable resource for scholars and students interested in southern Italy and sicily at the time of the Norman conquest. Based on years of archival research and an intimate knowledge of the sources, The Age of Robert Guiscard provides a detailed description of the conquest itself, based on the careers of the three chief protagonists, Richard of Capua, Robert Guiscard, and Roger I of Sicily, as well as a careful exegesis of the chronicles that narrate the conquest. Chapter 1 (…) includes detailed discussions of the political history of Byzantine and Lombard regions (…) and includes a short section on ‘society’, in which the author briefly discusses the economy and the religion and ethnic diversity characteristic of southern Italy. (…) Chapter 2 (…) provides an excellent synthesis of the conflicting historical accounts of the Normans’ arrival. By delineating certain themes common to all the sources, the author attempts to reconcile the contradictions and give a plausible explanation for the Norman migration to Italy. (…) Chapter 3 narrates the conquest of the mainland, tracing how the Normans went from being mercenaries to rulers in their own right. Once again Loud demonstrates his mastery over the source material (…). In chapter 4 the author focuses on the conquest of Sicily by Robert Guiscard and his brother Roger, again providing a thorough narrative of the events. (…) Chapter 5 examines the volatile relationship between the Normans and the paps as well as Robert Guiscard’s ambitions in Byzantine territories. The chapter begins with careful analysis of the oath of Melfi in 1059, in which the author insists on viewing the oath within a contemporary framework rather than from the perspective of a later time. (…) Chapter 6 examines the aristocracy, the church, and ethnicity. Loud discusses the limitations of Robert Guiscard’s state building, seen in the fragmentation of his duchy and the emergence of aristocratic particularism after his death. (…) According to Loud, the Norman takeover of southern Italy was more an infiltration than a conquest since it took many years and included only a small number of individuals who quickly assimilated into southern Italian society. In this chapter Loud also places developments in southern Italy within a larger European framework, stressing how similar southern Italy was to other areas in Latin Christendom in its economic expansion and church reform. (…) G.A. Loud’s book provides a careful reconstruction of the events surrounding the Norman takeover of southern Italy. The author has an excellent eye for detail and offers a solid and exhaustive political narrative based almost solely on primary sources. The book is clearly the product of years of research and work.’ (VALERIE RAMSEYER in Speculum, 2002, pp.584-586). € 50.00 (Antiquarian)

LOUIS, M., Doctrines Religieuses des Philosophes Grecs. Lethielleux, Paris, 1909. VII,374p. Sewn. Unopened. € 34.50 (Antiquarian)

LOURDAUX, W., and M. HAVERALS, (eds.), Bibliotheca Vallis Sancti Martini in Lovanio: A Contribution to the Study of Intellectual Life in the Netherlands (15th-18th Cent.) 2 Vols.: I. The Surviving Manuscripts. II. The History of the Library and of its Contens. Universitaire Pers, Leuven, 1978. 2 vols. LXXII,862;VII,510p. Cloth. Series: Symbolae, 8 € 100.50 (Antiquarian)

LOUWE KOOIJMANS, L.P., Opgraven in Nederland. Het werk van de archeoloog. Staatsuitgeverij, 's-Gravenhage, 1979. 131p. ills.(B&W photographs and line drawings). Sewn. Name and type ex on half title. Else fine. € 8.00 (Antiquarian)

LOUWE KOOIJMANS, L.P., Sporen in het land. De Nederlandse delta in de prehistorie. Meulenhoff Informatief, Amsterdam, 1985. 160p. ills.(B&W as well as full colour photographs and line drawings). Original brown hard bound with pictorial dust wrps. Cover vaguely ,oist stained. Dust wrps to inside vagule rust stained. € 8.00 (Antiquarian)

LOUYS, P., Aphrodite. Moeurs Antiques. Avec cinq illustrations originales en couleurs de A. Calbet. De cette édition il a été fait un tirage d'exemplaires sur vergé de voiron, tous numérotés: ex. 1844. Rombaldi, Paris, 1937. 1st ed. 240p. ills. Bound. Half leather. Head back (leather) little bit worn. Series: Collection Baldi 'Les contemporains'. € 66.50 (Antiquarian)

LOVATT, H. and C. VOUT, (eds.), Epic Visions. Visuality in Greek and Latin Epic and its Reception. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2016. 1st paperback ed. XVIII,327p. Paperback. ‘This volume has been long in the making, since it has its origin in a conference held in Nottingham in 2003, at which the reviewer was present. The result was worth the wait, as we now have a thoughtful introduction by the two editors and ten contributions over a broad range of subjects and perspectives, which nevertheless cover enough common ground to provide reasonable cohesion for the reader. The main aim is to present ‘a visual perspective on Greek and Latin epic’; the topics range from Homer to modern opera and film. (…) Lovatt’s part of the introduction summaries both the different occasions at which we may spot the visual in epic narrative, and the specifies of the epic genre. (…) Her survey (…) makes very instructive reading. Vout, too, starts from Homer, and considers the question whether the visual arts in the course of the tradition developed a specific practice to ‘capture the grandeur of epic vision’. The aim of the volume then, is to throw some light on the hypertextual character of any reaction to the Homeric poems, be they textual or visual, thereby ‘probing and reassessing the workings of the genre’. (CHRISTIANE REITZ in Mnemosyne, p.704). € 24.50 (New)

LOWENSTAM, S., As Witnessed by Images. The Trojan War Tradition in Greek and Etruscan Art. John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 2008. 230p. Richly ills. (B&W photographs). Cloth wrps. Nice copy. Like new. 'Once out of the theoretical forest, L. shows his merit as an art historian by giving lucid and always interesting exegeses of major pieces of Archaic Art. (...) The flaw in this fine work of art historical criticism is L.'s confusion of 'myth' and literature. (...) As explication of early scenes of heroic myth in Greek art, the book is an exemplary contribution of wonderful interrest, though some of the illustrations are dark and obscure.' (BARRY P. POWELL in The Classical Review, 2009, pp.586-87). € 42.50 (Antiquarian)

LÖWY, E., Die Griechiche Plastik. Klinkhardt / Biermann, Leipzig, 1920. 3rd ed. 2 vols. 154;XV,168p. Bound. Endpapges foxed. Pages a bit yellowed. € 15.00 (Antiquarian)

LUB, J.J., Sinte Augustijns Hantboec. De Middelnederlandse vertalingen van het aan Augustinus toegeschreven Manuale. Van Gorcum & Prakke & Prakke, Assen, 1962. 2 vols. 275,278-423p. Sewn. € 15.00 (Antiquarian)