Scrinium Classical Antiquity

MACINTOSH, Fiona, (ed.), The Ancient Dancer in the Modern World. Responses to Greek and Roman Dance. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2012. 532p. ills. Paperback. When the eighteenth-century choreographer Jean-Georges Noverre sought to develop what is now known as modern ballet, he turned to ancient pantomime as his source of inspiration; and when Isadora Duncan and her contemporaries looked for alternatives to the strictures of classical ballet, they looked to ancient Greek vases for models for what they termed 'natural' movement. This is the first book to examine systematically the long history of the impact of ideas about ancient Greek and Roman dance on modern theatrical and choreographic practices. (Publisher's information). 'This richly textured, multidisciplinary book is part of the systematic investigations of verbal and non-verbal art forms (music, movement, etc.), by the Archive of Performances of Greek and Roman Drama (University of Oxford), and was given momentum by recent publications on ancient pantomime. (…) The unique juxtaposition of eminent dance historians, classicists, and practitioners is distilled into five sections ('Dance and the Ancient Sources', 'Dance and Decadence', 'Dance and Myth', 'Ancient Dance and Modern Mind', and 'The Ancient Chorus in Contemporary Performance'). This has ensured that a wide range of scholarship illuminates both familiar and murkier histories, and also sustains a diachronic and synchronic mode of engagement throughout. (...) Classical reception is much indebted to this much anticipated collection of critical dance history in theatre.' (ZACHARY DUBAR in New Theatre Quarterly). € 75.00 (Antiquarian)

FINLEY, M.I., The Ancient Economy. Chatto & Windus, London, 1973. 222p. Cloth. Small personal library mark and name on free endpaper. 'Professor Finley's (…) aim is a wide one; essentially it is to characterize the ancient economy. (…). Although, in my view, we must have reservations about part of Finley's argument and approach, it must be said that the book is exceptionally lucid, stimulating and learned. Finley has felt the influence of the 'Annales' school in France in the stress he gives to explanatory models, quantification studies, and the result of modern specialist techniques.' (M.W. FREDERIKSEN in The Journal of Roman Studies, 1975, p.164). From the library of the late Sir Kenneth James Dover. € 29.50 (Antiquarian)

FINLEY, M.I., The Ancient Economy. Chatto & Windus, London, 1979. 2nd impr. 222p. Paperback. Names on half title. Else fine. 'Professor Finley's (…) aim is a wide one; essentially it is to characterize the ancient economy. (…). Although, in my view, we must have reservations about part of Finley's argument and approach, it must be said that the book is exceptionally lucid, stimulating and learned. Finley has felt the influence of the 'Annales' school in France in the stress he gives to explanatory models, quantification studies, and the result of modern specialist techniques.' (M.W. FREDERIKSEN in The Journal of Roman Studies, 1975, p.164). € 13.50 (Antiquarian)

FINLEY, M.I., The Ancient Economy. University of California Press, Berkeley, 1973. 222p. Paperback. Lower corner back cover slightly creased. Notae doctae from TR. A lot of pencil markings, annotations and underlings (some in red) from TR. Series: Sather Classical Lectures, 43. 'Professor Finley's (…) aim is a wide one; essentially it is to characterize the ancient economy. (…). Although, in my view, we must have reservations about part of Finley's argument and approach, it must be said that the book is exceptionally lucid, stimulating and learned. Finley has felt the influence of the 'Annales' school in France in the stress he gives to explanatory models, quantification studies, and the result of modern specialist techniques.' (M.W. FREDERIKSEN in The Journal of Roman Studies, 1975, p.164). € 16.00 (Antiquarian)

LINDSAY, W.M., The Ancient Editions of Plautus. James Parker, Oxford, 1904. 152p. Rebound. Cloth. Cover a little bit stained. (Rare). From the library of the late Prof. W. Geoffrey Arnott. € 80.00 (Antiquarian)

SPRAGUE DE CAMP, L., The Ancient Engineers. Doubleday, NewYork, 1963. 408p. ills. (line drawings and B&W photographs. Cloth. Library marks on cover and first pages. Cover bit grimy. Few small pen markings. € 15.00 (Antiquarian)

JAMES, E.O., The Ancient Gods. The History of the Diffusion of Religion in the Ancient Near East and the Eastern Mediterranean. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, 1967. 2nd impr. 359p. ills. Cloth wrps. Date on free endpaper. € 25.00 (Antiquarian)

NAGY, Gr., The Ancient Greek Hero in 24 Hours. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge (Mass.) / London, 2013. XVII,727p. Half cloth wrps.'The Ancient Greek Hero in 24 Hours is Gregory Nagy’s Mooc book. The massive open online course is one of the most significant developments in higher education in years and Nagy is one of the foremost Homerists of his generation, so the book deserves attention both as an academic publication and as a pedagogical experiment. (...) This is a densely packed book and one that repays slow consumption. 'The ancient Greek concept of hero,' starts Nagy, 'goes beyond the word’s ordinary levels of meaning in casual contemporary usage.' It denotes 'humans of the remote past, endowed with superhuman abilities and descended from the immortal gods themselves.' Like the gods, the heroes inspired worship. Ancient Greek communities sacrificed at the tombs of the heroes and prayed to them. They also listened to poems that exalted the great deeds of the heroes of old: the Homeric epics, but also shorter lyric compositions (for example, the songs of Sappho and Pindar). Nagy argues that myth and cult were intertwined, and at times antagonistic, ways of remembering the heroes. Poetry was Panhellenic in orientation: it preserved the 'imperishable fame' (kleos aphthiton) of the heroes for all those who understood Greek. Ritual was, necessarily, a local affair. It framed myth (since poetry was performed at religious festivals) but could never aspire to the same universal appeal. It was by listening to shared poems about gods and heroes that the Greeks felt united, even while they lived in independent city states and followed different ritual calendars. One of the greatest achievements of Nagy’s research is that it powerfully illuminates the relationship between myth and cult. Readers will also learn the importance of close reading and the necessity of learning Greek. Each “Hour” starts with a key Greek word, an explanation of its meaning and an investigation of how it is used in a selection of ancient texts. Linguistic analysis then gives rise to broader cultural considerations. (BARBARA GRAZIOSI in Times Higher Education 03.10.2013). € 36.50 (New)

BURY, J.B., The Ancient Greek Historians. Dover Publications, NewYork, n.d.(>1958). Reprint ed.1908. X,281p. Paperback. Edges and pages a bit yellowed. Signature and private library mark from J. van Leeuwen on title page. ‘This volume (…) gives ‘a historical survey of Greek historiography down to the first century B.C.’ It displays the same brilliant power of expounding the results of a mass of erudition which appears in the author’s ‘History of Greece’; and to that work it forms a valuable supplement, revealing the foundations upon which the building was erected.’ (H. RACKHAM in The Classical Review, 1909, p. 226). € 14.50 (Antiquarian)

SMITH, M., The Ancient Greeks. Cornell University Press, Ithaca/London, 1992. 12th impr. XI,144p. Paperback.'Although so wide a survey inevitably contains some statments open to question, the general standard of accuracy is high. Some sections are admirable examples of multum in parvo: the five-page narrative of the Persian Wars, for example, and the descritption of society and culture in the Hellenistic Age.' H.C. BALDRY in The Classical Review (New Series) 1962, p.276. € 14.50 (Antiquarian)