Search

In the ancient Greek alphabet, three of the seven letters representing vowels were called dichrona, “of two quantities”: unlike ε, η, ο, ω, which distinguished a quantity, α, ι, and υ could indicate both a short and a long quantity. Among the surviving ancient grammatical treatises on dichrona, the one attributed to Aelius Herodianus (2nd century CE) is the most famous. This volume offers a new critical edition of the treatise on dichrona attributed to Herodianus, the first to be based on its entire manuscript tradition. In the introduction, the contents of this treatise are related to other Herodianic fragments on vowel quantities (these fragments mainly come from the ancient scholia to Homer, but also the epitomes of Ps.- Arcadius and John Philoponus, the grammatical work of Georgius Choeroboscus, Byzantine lexica and etymologica, etc.), as well as to three other anonymous treatises on vowel quantities that are also related to the theory on dichrona elaborated by Herodianus (in the appendix, new critical editions of these three texts are provided, too). By comparing the contents of all these sources, it is possible to shed light on the theory on vowel quantities elaborated by Herodianus.

How ideas and experiences of beauty informed human relationships with the divine in ancient GreeceBeginning with the earliest Greek literature, the epics of Homer and Hesiod, beauty was seen as having a special connection with the divine. The gods of ancient Greece were defined by their exceptional beauty; even today, ‘to look like a Greek god'is proverbial for human beauty. In Beauty and the Gods, Hugo Shakeshaft explores the relationship between the beautiful and divine in ancient Greece, principally in the Archaic period (ca. 750–480 BCE). Analysing evidence that ranges from poetry, art, and philosophical texts to architecture and the natural landscape, Shakeshaft shows how ideas and experiences of beauty shaped Greek relations with the divine.With a powerful call for the place of beauty and aesthetics in the writing of history, Shakeshaft uncovers the cultural dialogue between beauty and the gods in a variety of contexts in the Archaic Greek world: in forms of divine worship; in poetry, music, and dance; in attitudes to the natural environment; and in architecture and art. This early chapter of Greek history, he argues, holds an unrecognised key to understanding some long-running threads in the histories of religion, art, and aesthetics, from Plato's aesthetic theories to beauty's status in contemporary discourse. Beauty's deep past and divine connection in ancient Greece can help us see beauty now in sharper focus.

'Imagina una ciudad romana, de esas que salen en el cine o en una serie: las tiendas, las calles… ¿Cuántas mujeres piensas que trabajarían como médicas o en una fragua? ¿Cuántas han financiado o participado activamente en la construcción y decoración de sus monumentos? Si dudas ante la respuesta, la siguiente pregunta es clara: ¿cuánto sabes de las mujeres del mundo antiguo, de su papel en Grecia y Roma? Este libro no solo busca visibilizar el protagonismo que tuvieron nuestras antepasadas en la Antigüedad, sino algo aún más importante: por qué, hasta hace poco, no éramos conscientes de ello. No es un simple libro de historia, sino de cómo se hace la historia. Una historia que no está escrita en piedra, que debe someterse a continua revisión. Según se avanza en su lectura, se va abriendo un panorama inimaginable no hace muchos años y que apenas esboza lo que aún está por llegar. Y una cosa queda clara: la mujer no es precisamente ese ser dócil, sumiso, pasivo, al que nos han tenido acostumbrados.'