Results by title

38 books match the query 'Ancient Languages'

cover of 1 Clement: A Reader's Edition

1 Clement

A Reader's Edition

Theodore A. Bergren

Catholic University of America Press, 2020

The present volume is a "reader's edition" of 1 Clement, an important early Christian epistolary writing in Greek that probably dates from the late first century CE. The volume is designed for rapid reading and for classroom use. On each left-facing page is printed a running, sequential section of the Greek text. Next to that, on each right-facing page, are recorded all of the more unusual words in that section of Greek text, with dictionary form, part of speech, and definition(s). All of the more common words in that same section of Greek text are included in a comprehensive glossary at the end of the book. This system, then, is designed so that the reader of the Greek text will not have to stop to look up every unusual Greek word in a printed or online dictionary. He or she will simply have to look to the facing page. Such constant lookups in a printed or online dictionary are tedious and time-consuming, and have little pedagogical value. Since in the present edition the words recorded on the right-facing page are not parsed, the reader is still faced with the challenge of parsing the word and determining its place in the overall structure of the sentence. It is this process that does serve a useful pedagogical purpose, and the present system preserves the challenge of this process. The introduction to the volume covers (1) 1 Clement’s genre, date, setting in life, purpose, sources, and main themes; (2) the compositional outline of the book; (3) the book’s authorship, history of reception, and textual attestation; (4) discussion of the present “reader’s edition”; (5) a list of scriptural quotations and allusions; and (6) a comprehensive bibliography on the text of 1 Clement.
[more]
cover of A Commentary on Aristophanes' Knights

A Commentary on Aristophanes' Knights

Carl Arne Anderson and T. Keith Dix

University of Michigan Press, 2020

A Commentary on Aristophanes’ Knights presents a fresh look at the play that cemented Aristophanes’ reputation as a rising star in comic theater. Knights offers an examination of social and political life in ancient Athens during the empire-destroying Peloponnesian War, as well as giving us Aristophanes’ comic send-up of the dangerous populist demagogue Cleon. This is a thoroughly modern commentary on a key play in the theatrical genre of Old Comedy, which satirized virtually every aspect of Athenian life in a period when Athens was at the height of its power and international prestige.

In addition to the complete Greek text and commentary, this volume includes a substantial introduction to the playwright’s career and to the historical and political background of the play. It includes advice for students on grammar and syntax, meter, festivals and staging, as well as topical and literary references and allusions that will help guide students to a mature appreciation of the comedy’s humor, seriousness, and artistic quality. Priced and sized for classroom use, this is the first full commentary on Knights since 1901 and will be widely welcomed.

[more]
cover of A Grammar of Ugaritic

A Grammar of Ugaritic

John Screnock

SBL Press, 2022

A Grammar of Ugaritic is an accessible yet academically rigorous textbook for first-year students of Ugaritic. Eight digestible lessons include more than 150 exercises to strengthen readers’ understanding through translation and composition of not only vocalized Ugaritic but also transcribed texts and cuneiform script—strategies that develop language skills and provide a sound basis for classroom teaching. Short stories interspersed among the lessons help students consolidate their knowledge and bolster recognition of forms. An introduction to the language and its historical context, glossaries, paradigms, and a bibliography and guide for further learning supplement the lessons. Students who work through the grammar in the classroom or individually will be rewarded with the ability to read real Ugaritic texts in cuneiform.
[more]
cover of A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature

A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature

Walter Bauer

University of Chicago Press, 2000

Described as an "invaluable reference work" (Classical Philology) and "a tool indispensable for the study of early Christian literature" (Religious Studies Review) in its previous edition, this new updated American edition of Walter Bauer's Wörterbuch zu den Schriften des Neuen Testaments builds on its predecessor's staggering deposit of extraordinary erudition relating to Greek literature from all periods. Including entries for many more words, the new edition also lists more than 25,000 additional references to classical, intertestamental, Early Christian, and modern literature.

In this edition, Frederick W. Danker's broad knowledge of Greco-Roman literature, as well as papyri and epigraphs, provides a more panoramic view of the world of Jesus and the New Testament. Danker has also introduced a more consistent mode of reference citation, and has provided a composite list of abbreviations to facilitate easy access to this wealth of information.

Perhaps the single most important lexical innovation of Danker's edition is its inclusion of extended definitions for Greek terms. For instance, a key meaning of "episkopos" was defined in the second American edition as overseer; Danker defines it as "one who has the responsibility of safeguarding or seeing to it that something is done in the correct way, guardian." Such extended definitions give a fuller sense of the word in question, which will help avoid both anachronisms and confusion among users of the lexicon who may not be native speakers of English.

Danker's edition of Bauer's Wörterbuch will be an indispensable guide for Biblical and classical scholars, ministers, seminarians, and translators.
[more]
cover of A Sanskrit Grammar

A Sanskrit Grammar

Manfred Mayrhofer

University of Alabama Press, 1972

A translation of the revised version of the 1965 German edition
 
Translated for the benefit of English­speaking students of Sanskrit and students of comparative Indo-European linguistics. Mayrhofer's Sanskrit grammar can be used successfully in three different types of course: in elementary Sanskrit courses along with such an elementary text as Jan Gonda's A Concise Elementary Grammar of the Sanskrit Language, with exercises, reading selections, and a glossary, translated from the German by Gordon B. Ford, Jr.; in courses where the linguistic structure of Sanskrit is to be presented; and, finally, in comparative lndo-European courses together with such texts as Antoine Meillet's Introduction to the Comparative Study of the Inda-European Languages, translated from the French by Gordon B. Ford, Jr. All three groups of students should find this im­portant book extremely useful, and I hope that its publication in an English edition will promote the study of Sanskrit in the English-speaking world.
 
[more]
cover of A Sourcebook for Ancient Greek: Grammar, Poetry, and Prose

A Sourcebook for Ancient Greek

Grammar, Poetry, and Prose

John Tomarchio

Catholic University of America Press, 2022

This book was designed for students transitioning from the study of Greek grammar to translation of texts. It was developed in classroom use for classroom use, in the context of an integrated Great Books program in liberal arts and sciences. It is meant for students not only of Classics, but more, for students of Humanities interested in direct engagement of primary sources. Each Greek text offered for translation was chosen for its theoretical interest as well as the interest of its Greek. The selections of Greek literature offered in this Sourcebook are wide-ranging. The indisputable standard of excellence for classicists is of course the Attic dialect of Athens in its glory. However, this Sourcebook is meant for students of liberal arts and sciences whose interests range far more widely. Thus, it does not hesitate to extend not only backward to the archaic Greek of Homer, but also forward to the koine Greek of the Alexandrian and Roman empires. Greek works were chosen for being seminal to Western thinking today, chosen to give students of Western arts and sciences introductions to its Greek sources Naturally, Greek grammar is taught to the newcomer analytically and sequentially, but the continuing student needs to synthesize these distended enumerations of elements and principles. Accordingly, grammatical synopses are not appended as reference tables but placed front and center as objects of study. The grammar tables offer synoptic views of integral parts of Greek grammar to show the form and logic of the whole part of speech or part of a sentence. On the basis of these tables, detailed grammatical notes and commentary appended to Greek selections that follow are tailored for continuing students.
[more]
cover of A Student Commentary on Pausanias Book 2

A Student Commentary on Pausanias Book 2

Patrick Paul Hogan

University of Michigan Press, 2018

Patrick Paul Hogan guides students through Pausanias’ description of the strategic and rich city of Corinth and its neighbors
[more]
cover of A Student Commentary on Plato’s Euthyphro

A Student Commentary on Plato’s Euthyphro

Charles Platter

University of Michigan Press, 2019

The Euthyphro is crucially important for understanding Plato’s presentation of the last days of Socrates, dramatized in four brief dialogues: Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, and Phaedo. In addition to narrating this evocative series of events in the life of Plato’s philosophical hero, the texts also can be read as reflecting how a wise man faces death. This particular dialogue contains Socrates’ vivid examination of the intentions of Euthyphro to prosecute his own father for murder and culminates in an attempt to understand holiness—a topic central both to Euthyphro’s justification of his actions and to the charge of impiety that Socrates faces before the Athenian court.
 
This accessible student commentary by Charles Platter presents an introduction to the Euthyphro, the full Greek text, and a commentary designed for undergraduates and selected graduate students. As part of the series Michigan Classical Commentaries, now edited by Josiah Osgood and Alexander Sens at Georgetown University, and K. Sara Myers at the University of Virginia, the volume is sized and priced for student use.
 
[more]
cover of An Introduction to Chaghatay: A Graded Textbook for Reading Central Asian Sources

An Introduction to Chaghatay

A Graded Textbook for Reading Central Asian Sources

Eric Schluessel

Michigan Publishing Services, 2018

The Chaghatay language was used across Central Asia from the 1400s through the 1950s. Chroniclers, clerks, and poets in modern-day Afghanistan, Xinjiang, Uzbekistan, and beyond wrote countless volumes of text in Chaghatay, from the famed Baburnama to the documents of everyday life. However, even more and more material in Chaghatay is becoming available to scholars, few are able to read the language with ease.

An Introduction to Chaghatay is the first textbook in over a century to introduce this language to English-speaking students. This book is designed to build a foundation in reading Chaghatay without assuming any background knowledge on the part of the reader. These graded, cumulative lessons include common vocabulary, accessible grammar explanations, and examples of Chaghatay manuscripts. Authentic texts introduce the student to different genres, including hagiographies, documents, “stories of the prophets,” and newspapers while introducing critical skills in paleography.

Eric Schluessel is Assistant Professor of Chinese History and Politics at the University of Montana. He holds a PhD in History and East Asian Languages from Harvard University, an MA in Linguistics from the School of Oriental and African Studies, and an MA in Central Eurasian Studies from Indiana University. He is the author of several articles on the history of Chinese Central Asia and is currently preparing a critical edition and translation of Mullah Musa Sayrami’s Tarikh-i Hamidi, a chronicle of Xinjiang in the nineteenth century.
 
[more]
cover of Aristophanes' Clouds: A Commentary

Aristophanes' Clouds

A Commentary

S. Douglas Olson

University of Michigan Press, 2021

This is the first substantial commentary on Clouds since Dover’s 1968 edition. Intended for intermediate Greek students at undergraduate and graduate levels, the commentary pays careful attention to the basic characteristics of ancient Greek syntax, as well as to how Greek words are formed and can be analyzed.  It offers robust staging notes, information about daily life in late 5th-century Athens, and constant reference to the rhetorical and dramatic strategies of the text. Full support is offered for those interested in the metrical structure of the songs, but in a way that allows instructors to leave such issues aside, should they choose to do so. The first and second appendices offer a basic means of entry into the rich but complex world of the comic fragments. An English-language bibliography is provided. The edition will interest professional classicists of all sorts seeking an accessible introduction to one of Aristophanes’ greatest plays, to philosophers concerned with Socrates and the sophistic movement, and to theater professionals who wish to stage the play.

[more]
cover of Commentary on Thucydides, Book 3

Commentary on Thucydides, Book 3

Rachel Bruzzone

University of Michigan Press, 2025

Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War is one of the most significant historical and political texts of Ancient Greece, enjoying a broad appeal among the educated general public since at least 1628. The past decade has seen the historian garner significant attention even in the popular press, as scholars and politicians alike have sought to employ the History to analyze current international relations. Despite this popularity, the complexity of Thucydides’ Greek has left the original language surprisingly challenging. 

Commentary on Thucydides, Book 3 remedies this situation by offering detailed linguistic explanations and grammatical clarifications designed to appeal both to seasoned Classicists and to a broader group of non-specialist readers who may still be developing their Greek language skills. Starting with 428 BCE, Book 3 covers a critical period of the Peloponnesian War in which the conflict began to manifest its extraordinary violence and scale. The book contains influential and controversial discussions, including Thucydides’ own analysis of the nature of war and the ways that it teaches “lessons of violence” to individuals and states. Book 3 also features the famous Mytilenean Debate, an argument premised on the thesis that all international relations are, or should be, fundamentally amoral. Educated readers have always looked to Thucydides in turbulent times, and this commentary will open up his text to a wider audience.
[more]
cover of Ecclesiastical Latin: A Primer on the Language of the Church

Ecclesiastical Latin

A Primer on the Language of the Church

Charles G. Kim, Jr.

Catholic University of America Press, 2024

Ecclesiastical Latin: A Primer on the Language of the Church offers a thorough introduction to the Latin language in 32 chapters, which can be completed in one academic year. The text presents each section in plain language, fully explaining complicated grammar terms which may be unfamiliar to a contemporary audience. Every chapter includes copious examples and practice sentences of the grammar covered, as well as stories drawn from the Vulgate, or Church tradition. In addition to encountering the vocabulary and grammar in practice sentences, the text also offers prayers from the liturgy which illustrate the grammar, as well as sentences which come directly from the corpus of original Ecclesiastical Latin. By the end of the book, students will feel comfortable reading through the Vulgate or praying the liturgy in Latin with more understanding. The grammar structures for each chapter roughly follow the organization of grammar as it is presented in Hans Orberg's Lingua Latina. The student can thus practice more of the language in full immersion with confidence, while also learning the vocabulary and style of later Ecclesiastical Latin.
[more]
cover of Ecclesiastical Latin: An Answer Key and Commentary

Ecclesiastical Latin

An Answer Key and Commentary

Charles G. Kim Jr.

Catholic University of America Press, 2026

This supplemental guide to Ecclesiastical Latin: a Primer on the Language of the Church includes provides important aids to both the instructor and those using the book for self-study. Within the book, the reader will find some thoughts on the nature of translation and how best to approach translating the Latin sentences found in the main book. Many of the translations given of the fabulae fictae, sententiae interpretandae, and sententiae fictae include additional explanations and guides as to why the sentences are translated in the way they are. Moreover, the translations provided help clarify in the mind of the student of Latin what is happening in the Latin on the other side of the translation. In sum, this guide contains an introduction to translation, translations of the stories and answers to the questions in Latin, in addition to translation of all the exercises of the main book. It also has many additional comments on the translations themselves.
[more]
cover of Elementary Classical Greek, Revised Edition

Elementary Classical Greek, Revised Edition

Frederick Williams

Southern Illinois University Press, 2004

Now in paperback for the first time, Elementary Classical Greek is a trusted handbook for learning the language that does not presuppose a knowledge of Latin. Based on the premise that average American students can learn the language, the lessons are thorough but not pedantic, simple but not superficial, and the textbook has been proven in the classroom and for independent learners.

Elementary Classical Greek stresses a clear and orderly presentation of the language, accompanied by individual sentences or short passages that illustrate grammar, give practice in reading, and help build vocabulary. Drawing on decades of experience teaching classical Greek, Frederick Williams presents a text in which grammatical explanations are clear, succinct, and correct and the selected readings are varied, interesting, and useful. Included in the nearly one-hundred reading passages are excerpts from Plato’s Ion and Republic, Aristophanes’s Clouds, and Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians.

The popular textbook is designed for a course meeting for two semesters. There are twenty-four lessons in all, with appendixes on prepositions, Greek numbers, and the Greek verb, plus Greek-English and English-Greek vocabularies, a grammatical index of subjects, and a list of Greek authors cited. Selected readings are presented first in simple, then more complex, language until the reader is led to the actual words of the ancient author—all within the same lesson. This elementary device helps bridge many of the difficult gaps between modern English and ancient Greek.

[more]
cover of Engaging Classical Texts in the Contemporary World: From Narratology to Reception

Engaging Classical Texts in the Contemporary World

From Narratology to Reception

Louise Pratt and C. Michael Sampson, Editors

University of Michigan Press, 2018

Contemporary classicists often find themselves advocating for the value and relevance of Greco-Roman literature and culture, whether in the classroom, or social media, or newsprint and magazines. In this collection, twelve top scholars apply major critical approaches from other academic fields to open new channels for dialogue between ancient texts and the contemporary world.

This volume considers perennial favorites of classical literature—the Iliad and Odyssey, Greek tragedy, Roman comedy, the Argonautica, and Ovid’s Metamorphoses—and their influence on popular entertainment from Shakespeare’s plays to Hollywood’s toga films. It also engages with unusual and intriguing texts across the centuries, including a curious group of epigrams by Artemidorus found on the island sanctuary of Thera, mysterious fragments of two Aeschylean tragedies, and modern-day North African novels. These essays engage an array of theoretical approaches from other fields—narratology, cognitive literary theory, feminist theory, New Historicist approaches to gender and sexuality, and politeness theory—without forsaking more traditional philological methods. A new look at hospitality in the Argonautica shows its roots in the changed historical circumstances of the Hellenistic world. The doubleness of Helen and her phantom in Euripides’ Helen is even more complex than previously noted. Particularly illuminating is the recurrent application of reception studies, yielding new takes on the ancient reception of Homer by Apollonius and of Aeschylus by Macrobius, the reception of Plautus by Shakespeare, and more contemporary examples from the worlds of cinema and literature.

Students and scholars of classics will find much in these new interpretations and approaches to familiar texts that will expand their intellectual horizons. Specialists in other fields, particularly English, comparative literature, film studies, and gender and sexuality studies, will also find these essays directly relevant to their work.
[more]
cover of Florentine Codex: Book 1: Book 1: The Gods

Florentine Codex

Book 1: Book 1: The Gods

Bernardino de Sahagun

University of Utah Press, 1981

Two of the world’s leading scholars of the Aztec language and culture have translated Sahagún’s monumental and encyclopedic study of native life in Mexico at the time of the Spanish Conquest. This immense undertaking is the first complete translation into any language of Sahagún’s Nahuatl text, and represents one of the most distinguished contributions in the fields of anthropology, ethnography, and linguistics.

Written between 1540 and 1585, the Florentine Codex (so named because the manuscript has been part of the Laurentian Library’s collections since at least 1791) is the most authoritative statement we have of the Aztecs’ lifeways and traditions—a rich and intimate yet panoramic view of a doomed people.

The Florentine Codex is divided by subject area into twelve books and includes over 2,000 illustrations drawn by Nahua artists in the sixteenth century.

Book One describes in detail the gods of the Aztec people, including Uitzilopochtli, Tlatoc, and Quetzalcoatl. This colorful and clear translation brings to life characteristics of each god, describing such items as clothing or adornment worn by individual gods, as well as specific personality traits.

[more]
cover of From Puella to Platus: An Introduction to Latin Language and Thought, Volume 2

From Puella to Platus

An Introduction to Latin Language and Thought, Volume 2

Tamara Trykar-Lu

Catholic University of America Press, 2019

Whether to enlarge your general education, improve your English, or just because you are curious about the society that has had such a lasting influence on our history, our language, our thoughts, and our culture, you should and can learn Latin. Tamara Trykar-Lu's charming and delightful introduction to Latin, From Puella to Plautus, Part I, is designed for beginning to intermediate Latin study, at the high school or college level, either with the aid of a teacher and classroom or simply for personal enjoyment and enrichment. A thorough review of English grammar with detailed explanations makes it easy for the reader to grasp new concepts in Latin. Learning Latin vocabulary becomes manageable once you realize how much ‘Latin’ vocabulary there is in English. You will quickly learn to read Latin with short stories and, gradually, more demanding selections. Readers will translate the story of Romulus and Remus and the founding of Rome, but also the tale of Nivea -- Snow White -- and some parts of Shakespeare's plays. Short sections show how English developed, how Latin influenced it, and where they both belong in the world of languages. Each chapter ends with a brief outline of some aspect of Roman culture, such as housing, fauna and flora, games, crafts, water supply, and cooking – with recipes. And last but not least there are informative tidbits, drawings, cartoons, jokes, riddles, crossword puzzles, and, of course, pictures distributed throughout the book. For while foreign-language study should be logical, coherent, and rigorous, it need not be heavy-handed or pedantic, and certainly not dull. Ideal for use in courses or for brushing up your language skills, From Puella to Plautus is a lively and engaging book about the Latin language and life in the Roman Empire.
[more]
cover of From Puella to Plautus: An Introduction to Latin Language and Thought, Volume 1

From Puella to Plautus

An Introduction to Latin Language and Thought, Volume 1

Tamara Trykar-Lu

Catholic University of America Press, 2019

Whether to enlarge your general education, improve your English, or just because you are curious about the society that has had such a lasting influence on our history, our language, our thoughts, and our culture, you should and can learn Latin. Tamara Trykar-Lu's charming and delightful introduction to Latin, From Puella to Plautus, Part I, is designed for beginning to intermediate Latin study, at the high school or college level, either with the aid of a teacher and classroom or simply for personal enjoyment and enrichment. A thorough review of English grammar with detailed explanations makes it easy for the reader to grasp new concepts in Latin. Learning Latin vocabulary becomes manageable once you realize how much ‘Latin’ vocabulary there is in English. You will quickly learn to read Latin with short stories and, gradually, more demanding selections. Readers will translate the story of Romulus and Remus and the founding of Rome, but also the tale of Nivea -- Snow White -- and some parts of Shakespeare's plays. Short sections show how English developed, how Latin influenced it, and where they both belong in the world of languages. Each chapter ends with a brief outline of some aspect of Roman culture, such as housing, fauna and flora, games, crafts, water supply, and cooking – with recipes. And last but not least there are informative tidbits, drawings, cartoons, jokes, riddles, crossword puzzles, and, of course, pictures distributed throughout the book. For while foreign-language study should be logical, coherent, and rigorous, it need not be heavy-handed or pedantic, and certainly not dull. Ideal for use in courses or for brushing up your language skills, From Puella to Plautus is a lively and engaging book about the Latin language and life in the Roman Empire.
[more]
cover of Greek for Reading

Greek for Reading

Gerda Seligson

University of Michigan Press, 1994

A highly innovative approach to Classical Greek for beginning students
[more]
cover of Historical Linguistics and Biblical Hebrew: Steps Toward an Integrated Approach

Historical Linguistics and Biblical Hebrew

Steps Toward an Integrated Approach

Robert Rezetko

SBL Press, 2014

A philologically robust approach to the history of ancient Hebrew

In this book the authors work toward constructing an approach to the history of ancient Hebrew that overcomes the chasm of academic specialization. The authors illustrate how cross-textual variable analysis and variation analysis advance research on Biblical Hebrew and correct theories based on extra-linguistic assumptions, intuitions, and ideologies by focusing on variation of forms/uses in the Masoretic text and variation between the Masoretic text and other textual traditions.

Features:

  • A unique approach that examines the nature of the sources and the description of their language together
  • Extensive bibliography for further research
  • Tables of linguistic variables and parallels
[more]
cover of Hittite Diplomatic Texts

Hittite Diplomatic Texts

Gary M. Beckman

SBL Press, 1999

This work presents full translations of more than 50 documents from the files of the "foreign office" of the Hittite Empire: 21 treaties, 18 diplomatic letters, and 18 royal edicts and miscellaneous records concerning the relations of the Hittites with their Anatolian and Syrian vassals, as well as with other great powers such as Egypt, Assyria, and Babylonia. Originally composed in Hittite or in the Akkadian lingua franca of the day, many of these texts have never before appeared in English. A short introduction places each document in its historical and cultural context, and a general essay acquaints the reader with the diplomatic practice of the Late Bronze Age. This collection of documents is a major source book for historians of the Ancient Near East and for students of cuneiform and Biblical law. It will also prove useful for those investigating the relationship between Biblical covenant theology and its possible antecedents in older Near Eastern treaty patterns.
[more]
cover of Hittite Myths, Second Edition

Hittite Myths, Second Edition

Harry A. Hoffner

SBL Press, 1998

This work contains the first English translations of a collection of Hittite myths. The translations are based on the original tablets on which the myths were written and take into account recent textual discoveries and published studies on the texts. Revised and corrected, this second edition includes an additional newly published Hurrian myth. In addition to translations, the volume includes a series of brief introductions to the myths, a glossary of names and technical terms, and indexes of proper names and topics/subjects. Accessible to nonspecialists, the translations also preserve column and line count for the convenience of scholars.
[more]
cover of Iliad, Book 1

Iliad, Book 1

Homer

University of Michigan Press, 2002

Homer's Iliad has captivated readers and influenced writers and artists for more than two thousand years. Reading the poem in its original language provides an experience as challenging as it is rewarding. Most students encountering Homeric Greek for the first time need considerable help, especially with vocabulary and constructions that differ from the more familiar Attic forms. For anyone who has completed studies in elementary Greek, this edition provides the assistance necessary to read, understand, and appreciate the first book of the Iliad in its original language.
Structured to maximize reading ease, P. A. Draper's volume stands out among introductions to the Greek Iliad. Readers of this edition will appreciate the positioning of all notes facing the Greek text; the frequent vocabulary entries; the complete glossary; the appendix on basic Homeric forms and grammar; and the copious annotations on vocabulary, grammar, meter, historical and mythological allusions, and literary interpretation.
Primarily designed as a textbook, this volume will be an effective classroom tool and a useful acquisition for any library supporting a classics program. The book will find readers among high school and college Greek students, advanced students in Homer or epic poetry classes, graduate students working on reading-list requirements, and anyone interested in maintaining Greek reading skills.
P. A. Draper is Humanities Librarian, Cooper Library, Clemson University.
[more]
cover of Iron Age Hieroglyphic Luwian Inscriptions

Iron Age Hieroglyphic Luwian Inscriptions

Annick Payne

SBL Press, 2012

Hieroglyphic Luwian belongs to the Anatolian group of ancient languages and was inscribed primarily on stone, using an indigenous Anatolian pictorial writing system. These Hieroglyphic Luwian inscriptions were written over a period of centuries in the region of Anatolia and northern Syria. Their authors were primarily the rulers of the so-called Neo-Hittite states, contemporaries and neighbors of early Israel. This volume collects some of the most important and representative of the inscriptions in transliteration and translation, organized by genre. Each text is accompanied by relevant information on provenance, dating, and other points of interest that will engage specialist and nonspecialist alike.
[more]
cover of Ossa Ostensa: A Proven System for Demystifying Latin, Book 2

Ossa Ostensa

A Proven System for Demystifying Latin, Book 2

Laura Pooley

Catholic University of America Press, 2023

Ossa Ostensa is the world’s first comprehensive example of how to teach and learn the Latin language using the unique teaching system of the internationally recognized authority Reginald Foster. Laura Pooley – prize-winning graduate of the University of Oxford and currently a supervisor at the University of Cambridge, brings to life the year she spent in Rome studying Latin with Reginaldus. His inspiring and transformative method of teaching combines with Laura’s twenty years of teaching experience to produce concise and crystal-clear explanations of the language. The three ‘experiences’ of Latin: beginners, intermediates and advanced, are divided between three user-friendly workbooks. Each workbook comprises around thirty lessons, where the language is presented in hand-out form requiring very little modification by prospective teachers. Each language area is then illustrated by translated reading examples. After each lesson, Laura provides translation practice targeted to the taught content. These Latin passages are divided into Classical and Post-Classical literature, to appeal to the interests of all Latin students. Not only that, but each passage is accompanied by teaching questions and translation hints, the mainstay of Reginaldus’ classroom persona and pedagogy so famously encapsulated in his Ludi. Students therefore can exercise recent language content and develop deep and spontaneous fluency in the Latin language. Enjoy continuing your experience of learning with Reginaldus with book 2 of the Ossa Ostensa series, where the significant language areas of participles and subjunctives are met for the first time.
[more]
cover of Ossa Ostensa: A Proven System for Demystifying Latin, Book 3

Ossa Ostensa

A Proven System for Demystifying Latin, Book 3

Laura Pooley

Catholic University of America Press, 0

[more]
cover of Patience and Salvation in Third Century North Africa: A Christian Latin Reader

Patience and Salvation in Third Century North Africa

A Christian Latin Reader

Sarah Wear

Catholic University of America Press, 2022

Patience and Salvation in Third Century North Africa: A Christian Latin Reader features the entirety of Tertullian’s To Martyrs and The Passion of Perpetua and Felicity, with selections from Cyprian’s On the Good of Patience and a short appendix on Augustine’s Commentary on Psalm 121.6. The Latin text has facing vocabulary and theological, historical, philosophical, and grammatical notes. In the first three centuries, Roman Carthage produced some of the earliest literature composed originally in Latin by Christians. Tertullian’s Ad Martyras (197); Passio Perpetuae et Felicitatis (203), and Cyprian’s De Bono Patientiae (256) all embody the force of this new genre of Latin literature. With this literature, we see a variant of Latin often denoted “Christian Latin.” Christian Latin featured linguistic elements marked by characteristics of biblical Latin, later Latin, as well as vulgarisms. In addition to converging philologically, Tertullian, the author of the Passio, and Cyprian align themselves in topos: they all ask the question of how one can endure torment and anxiety in this world. Patience (patientia), derived from the verb for “to suffer” (patior), is a virtue that allows one to endure troubles, anxieties, and physical pains with the hope of eternal happiness and salvation in heaven. In this Reader, the student will find three different literary perspectives on this theme. The book also draws parallels to the works of Seneca and Cicero on patience and suffering.
[more]
cover of Philodemus, On Death

Philodemus, On Death

W. Benjamin Henry

SBL Press, 2009

On Death, by the Epicurean philosopher Philodemus of Gadara, is among the most significant philosophical treatments of the theme surviving from the Greco-Roman world. The author was an influential figure in first-century B.C.E. Roman society, associated with poets such as Virgil and politicians such as the father-in-law of Julius Caesar. The surviving copies of his treatises were carbonized following the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 C.E. This edition contains the Greek text, newly reconstituted with the help of the infrared imaging technology that has revolutionized the study of Philodemus s works in the twenty-first century, and completely translated into English for the first time. An extensive introduction provides background on Philodemus and his writings, accompanying notes enrich the text, and forty-four pages of photographs illustrate the papyrus manuscript from which the translation is drawn.
[more]
cover of Philodemus, On Property Management

Philodemus, On Property Management

Voula Tsouna

SBL Press, 2013

Philodemus was an important Epicurean philosopher active in southern Italy in the first century B.C.E. His treatise On Property Management, whose surviving part is completely translated here into English for the first time, focuses primarily on the vices or virtues involved in the acquisition and preservation of property and wealth. The extant remains of the work contain the most extensive and thorough treatment of property management found in any Hellenistic author. Philodemus criticizes rival writings by Xenophon and Theophrastus on the subject of oikonomia, or property management, and defends his own Epicurean views on the topic. More systematic and philosophical than rival approaches, the treatise clarifies many moral issues pertaining to the possession and preservation of property and wealth and provides plausible answers to a cluster of moral questions.
[more]
cover of Proverbs: An Eclectic Edition with Introduction and Textual Commentary

Proverbs

An Eclectic Edition with Introduction and Textual Commentary

Michael V. Fox

SBL Press, 2015

A new critical text for Proverbs drawing from many manuscripts

This first volume of The Hebrew Bible: A Critical Edition series, features a critical text of Proverbs with extensive text-critical introductions and commentaries. This and future HBCE volumes bring together a scholar’s critical decisions into a single text. construct an eclectic text, drawing from many manuscripts or placing entirely variant texts side by side. A common approach for critical editions of other ancient books, including the New Testament, the eclectic approach and scope used in the HBCE is a first of its kind for the Hebrew Bible.

Features:

  • Emendations set in context rather than singly and marginally
  • Introduction that sets out the method and purpose of the volume
  • Extensive list of abbreviations and sigla
[more]
cover of Reading Greek with Jonah: A Mini-Course in Ancient Greek

Reading Greek with Jonah

A Mini-Course in Ancient Greek

James McDonough

Catholic University of America Press, 2026

Reading Greek with Jonah gives beginners the opportunity to engage directly with a work of ancient literature in their first year of Greek. It takes as its subject and parameters the Septuagint translation of the book of Jonah, using a core vocabulary of fewer than three hundred words and introducing grammar and syntax through readings quoted or adapted from Jonah and other books of the Greek Bible. The foundational grammar of Ancient Greek is presented in traditional terms, but in an original sequence intended to minimize difficulties in learning new word forms and grammatical concepts. No prior knowledge of Greek is assumed. The principles of verb conjugation, noun declension, and tense formation are illustrated through sentences and short readings of gradually increasing complexity. Repetition of vocabulary an-Coud sentence structures throughout the lessons aids in building memory and comprehension. Once they have encountered the essential grammar and vocabulary, students can read the book of Jonah with the help of the included lexicon and notes on advanced grammatical topics. An anthology of forty passages from the Septuagint and the New Testament provides opportunities for further reading and additional context for the language and themes of Jonah. Suitable for classroom use or for independent study, Reading Greek with Jonah may serve as a standalone Greek course or as the first in a sequence, to be followed by additional grammar study or an intermediate reader in Koine, Attic, or Homeric Greek.
[more]
cover of Sahidic Coptic: An Introductory Textbook

Sahidic Coptic

An Introductory Textbook

Bill Manley

University College London, 2026

An introduction to reading and analyzing texts in Sahidic Coptic, the primary literary language in Late Antique Egypt. 

This concise textbook provides beginner students with the knowledge and skills required for reading primary sources and teaches the grammar of documents written in Sahidic Coptic. Learners are invited to study aspects of the language across twenty structured lessons and, from the beginning, apply their learning directly to reading authentic ancient texts written by men and women between 380 and 750 AD. The book introduces the language through engagement with ancient texts rather than artificial exercises, enabling students to explore the history and culture of Egyptian communities under Byzantine and early Islamic rule, as well as key topics such as the development of Christian orthodoxy, the lives of women, and the emergence of monasticism as a major cultural force.

[more]
cover of Scribal Worlds: Scholarship and Classification in Cuneiform Cultures

Scribal Worlds

Scholarship and Classification in Cuneiform Cultures

Edited by Eduardo A. Escobar, Kiersten Neumann, and C. Jay Crisostomo

University College London, 2026

Revealing the scholarly worlds behind the world’s first writing system, this volume explores how cuneiform cultures classified, transmitted, and interpreted knowledge.

Cuneiform is the world’s first preserved writing system, yet cuneiform texts and the associated cultures and practices remain undervalued across several disciplines. Scribal Worlds: Scholarship and Classification in Cuneiform Cultures explores the history of the earliest writing cultures of the ancient Middle East. Case studies reconstruct the intellectual frameworks and the transmission of knowledge of scribal cultures to show how specific texts and objects can be interpreted within their cultural contexts.

[more]
cover of The Afterlife of Virgil

The Afterlife of Virgil

Edited by P Mack and John North

University of London Press, 2017

Virgil has always been copied, studied, imitated, and revered as perhaps the greatest poet of the Latin language. He has been centrally important to the transmission of the classical tradition, and has played a unique role in European education. In recognition of the richness of his reception the fourth conferences in the joint Warburg Institute and Institute of Classical Studies series on the afterlife of the Classics was devoted to the afterlife of Virgil.  This volume focuses on the reception of the Eclogues and the Aeneid in three main areas: Italian Renaissance poetry, scholarship and visual art; English responses to Virgil’s poetry; and emerging literatures in Eastern Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Contributors are Giulia Perucchi, M. Elisabeth Schwab, Clementina Marsico, David Quint, Marilena Caciorgna, Maté Vince, Hanna Paulouskaya, Tim Markey, Charles Martindale, and Francesca Bortoletti.  
[more]
cover of The Ahhiyawa Texts

The Ahhiyawa Texts

Gary M. Beckman

SBL Press, 2011

Twenty-six texts found in the Hittite capital of Hattusa dating from the fifteenth–thirteenth centuries B.C.E. contain references to a land known as “Ahhiyawa,” which most scholars now identify with the Late Bronze Age Mycenaean world. The subject of continuing study and controversy since they were first published in 1924, the letters are still at the center of Mycenaean-Hittite studies and are now considered in studies and courses concerned with Troy, the Trojan War, and the role of both Mycenaeans and Hittites in that possible conflict. This volume offers, for the first time in a single source, English translations of all twenty-six Ahhiyawa texts and a commentary and brief exposition on each text’s historical implications. The volume also includes an introductory essay to the whole Ahhiyawa “problem” as well as a longer essay on Mycenaean-Hittite interconnections and the current state of the discipline.
[more]
cover of The Best of the Grammarians: Aristarchus of Samothrace on the Iliad

The Best of the Grammarians

Aristarchus of Samothrace on the Iliad

Francesca Schironi

University of Michigan Press, 2018

A founding father of the “art of philology,” Aristarchus of Samothrace (216–144 BCE) made a profound contribution to ancient scholarship. In his study of Homer’s Iliad, his methods and principles inevitably informed, even reshaped, his edition of the epic. This systematic study places Aristarchus and his fragments preserved in the Iliadic scholia, or marginal annotations, in the context and cultural environment of his own time.

Francesca Schironi presents a more robust picture of Aristarchus as a scholar than anyone has offered previously. Based on her analysis of over 4,300 fragments from his commentary on the Iliad, she reconstructs Aristarchus’ methodology and its relationship to earlier scholarship, especially Aristotelian poetics. Schironi departs from the standard commentary on individual fragments, and instead organizes them by topic to produce a rigorous scholarly examination of how Aristarchus worked.
​
Combining the accuracy and detail of traditional philology with a big-picture study of recurrent patterns and methodological trends across Aristarchus’ work, this volume offers a new approach to scholarship in Alexandrian and classical philology. It will be the go-to reference book on this topic for many years to come, and will usher in a new way of addressing the highly technical work of ancient scholars without losing philological accuracy. This book will be valuable to classicists and philologists interested in Homer and Homeric criticism in antiquity, Hellenistic scholarship, and ancient literary criticism.
[more]
cover of The Concise Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament

The Concise Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament

Frederick William Danker

University of Chicago Press, 2009

Frederick William Danker, a world-renowned scholar of New Testament Greek, is widely acclaimed for his 2000 revision of Walter Bauer’s A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. With more than a quarter of a million copies in print, it is considered the finest dictionary of its kind.

Danker’s Concise Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament will prove to be similarly invaluable to ministers, seminarians, translators, and students of biblical Greek. Unlike other lexica of the Greek New Testament, which give only brief glosses for headwords, The Concise Greek-English Lexicon offers extended definitions or explanations in idiomatic English for all Greek terms.

Each entry includes basic etymological information, short renderings, information on usage, and plentiful biblical references. Greek terms that could have different English definitions, depending on context, are thoughtfully keyed to the appropriate passages. An overarching aim of The Concise Greek-English Lexicon is to assist the reader in recognizing the broad linguistic and cultural context for New Testament usage of words.

The Concise Greek-English Lexicon retains all the acclaimed features of A Greek-English Lexicon in a succinct and affordable handbook, perfect for specialists and nonspecialists alike.

[more]
cover of The Myths of Fiction: Studies in the Canonical Greek Novels

The Myths of Fiction

Studies in the Canonical Greek Novels

Edmund P. Cueva

University of Michigan Press, 2004

The tradition of historical literature begun by Herodotus and Thucydides molded the early Greek novel. As the genre evolved, however, Greek novels moved away from their historical roots to become more heavily influenced by mythological traditions. Edmund Cueva's new book examines the literary uses to which the ancient novelists put their mythological material. His work offers a stimulating discussion of myths and their rise to prominence as the key feature of the fully developed Greek novel. He also takes into account the impact of the Roman conquest on the development of the Greek novel, the last true literary creation of the Greek world. The Myths of Fiction will interest scholars of Greek literarure, imperial history, literary myth, intertextuality, and comparative literature.

Edmund Cueva is Associate Professor and Chair of Classics at Xavier University.

[more]