Allegories of the Odyssey Hardback
by John Tzetzes
Part of the Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library series
Hardback
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Description
Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey were central to the educational system of Byzantium, yet the religion and culture of the Homeric epics—even the ancient Greek language itself—had become almost unrecognizable to Byzantine Greek readers coming to the texts nearly two millennia later.
The scholar, poet, and teacher John Tzetzes (ca. 1110–1180) joined the extensive tradition of interpreting Homer by producing his Allegories of the Iliad, dedicated to the foreign-born empress Eirene.
Tzetzes later composed the Allegories of the Odyssey, a more advanced verse commentary, to explain Odysseus’s journey and the pagan gods and marvels he encountered.
Through historical allegory, the gods become ancient kings deified by the pagan poet; through astrological interpretation, they become planets whose positions and movements affect human life; through moral allegory Athena represents wisdom, Aphrodite desire.
This edition presents the first translation of the Allegories of the Odyssey into any language.
Information
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Out of StockMore expected soonContact us for further information
- Format:Hardback
- Pages:384 pages
- Publisher:Harvard University Press
- Publication Date:19/11/2019
- Category:
- ISBN:9780674238374
Information
-
Out of StockMore expected soonContact us for further information
- Format:Hardback
- Pages:384 pages
- Publisher:Harvard University Press
- Publication Date:19/11/2019
- Category:
- ISBN:9780674238374