Interpreting a Classic: Demosthenes and His Ancient Commentators
Craig Gibson
Abstract
Demosthenes (384–322 B.C.) was an Athenian statesman and a widely read author whose life, times, and rhetorical abilities captivated the minds of generations. Sifting through the rubble of a mostly lost tradition of ancient scholarship, this book tells the story of how one group of ancient scholars helped their readers understand Demosthenes' writings. This book collects, translates, and offers explanatory notes on all the substantial fragments of ancient philological and historical commentaries on Demosthenes. Using these texts to illuminate an important aspect of Graeco-Roman antiquity that ... More
Demosthenes (384–322 B.C.) was an Athenian statesman and a widely read author whose life, times, and rhetorical abilities captivated the minds of generations. Sifting through the rubble of a mostly lost tradition of ancient scholarship, this book tells the story of how one group of ancient scholars helped their readers understand Demosthenes' writings. This book collects, translates, and offers explanatory notes on all the substantial fragments of ancient philological and historical commentaries on Demosthenes. Using these texts to illuminate an important aspect of Graeco-Roman antiquity that has hitherto been difficult to glimpse, this book gives a detailed portrait of a scholarly industry that touched generations of ancient readers from the first century B.C. to the fifth century and beyond. The book surveys the physical form of the commentaries, traces the history of how they were passed down, and explains their sources, interests, and readership. It also includes a complete collection of Greek texts, English translations, and detailed notes on the commentaries.
Keywords:
Demosthenes,
Athenian statesman,
philosophical commentaries,
ancient scholarship,
historical commentaries,
Graeco-Roman antiquity,
first century B.C.,
fifth century
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2002 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780520229563 |
| Published to California Scholarship Online: March 2012 |
DOI:10.1525/california/9780520229563.001.0001 |
