Achilles Tatius

The first modern commentary in English on this most sophisticated and brilliant of ancient Greek novels. With its freewheeling plotline, its setting on the edge of the Greek world, its ironic play with the reader's expectations and its sallies into obscenity, it will appeal strongly to students and instructors.

Publisher Description

The sole surviving work of Achilles Tatius, a Greek writer from Alexandria, is a novel in eight books, ‘The Adventures of Leucippe and Clitophon’, one of the five surviving Ancient Greek romances. Delphi’s Ancient Classics series provides eReaders with the wisdom of the Classical world, with both English translations and the original Greek texts. This comprehensive eBook presents the complete extant text of ‘The Adventures of Leucippe and Clitophon’, with relevant illustrations, informative introductions and the usual Delphi bonus material. (Version 1) * Beautifully illustrated with images relating to Achilles Tatius’ life and work * Features the complete text of ‘The Adventures of Leucippe and Clitophon’, in both English translation and the original Greek * Concise introduction to ‘The Adventures of Leucippe and Clitophon’ * Includes Stephen Gaselee’s translation from the Loeb Classical Library edition of Achilles Tatius * Images of famous paintings inspired by ‘The Adventures of Leucippe and Clitophon’ * Excellent formatting of the texts * Provides a special dual English and Greek text, allowing readers to compare the sections paragraph by paragraph – ideal for students * Features a bonus biography – discover Achilles Tatius’ ancient world Please visit www.delphiclassics.com to explore our range of Ancient Classics titles or buy the entire series as a Super Set CONTENTS: The Translation LEUCIPPE AND CLITOPHON The Greek Text CONTENTS OF THE GREEK TEXT The Dual Text DUAL GREEK AND ENGLISH TEXT The Biography INTRODUCTION TO ACHILLES TATIUS by Stephen Gaselee Please visit www.delphiclassics.com to browse through our range of exciting titles

This volume presents a new account, informed by recent scholarship on ancient narrative fiction, of a world that calls to mind the scenes of the Palestrina mosaic, with ships traversing the Nile delta, hippopotamus hunting, religious processions and festivities, and leizurely sightseeing. The commentary argues that the author was most probably an erudite Alexandrian with a polymathic interest in topics as diverse as the arrival of the phoenix in Heliopolis, contemporary art, medical theories of the function of blood in causing psychological imbalances in the young, herbal remedies for poisoning, and the colour of Nile water in glass.

Using a reader-oriented approach, Shadi Bartsch reconsiders the role of detailed descriptive accounts in the ancient Greek novels of Heliodorus and Achilles Tatius and in so doing offers a new view of the genre itself. Bartsch demonstrates that these passages, often misunderstood as mere ornamental devices, form in fact an integral part of the narrative proper, working to activate the audience's awareness of the play of meaning in the story. As the crucial elements in the evolution of a relationship in which the author arouses and then undermines the expectations of his readership, these passages provide the key to a better understanding and interpretation of these two most sophisticated of the ancient Greek romances. In many works of the Second Sophistic, descriptions of visual conveyors of meaning--artworks and dreams--signaled the presence of a deeper meaning. This meaning was revealed in the texts themselves through an interpretation furnished by the author. The two novels at hand, however, manipulate this convention of hermeneutic description by playing upon their readers' expectations and luring them into the trap of incorrect exegesis. Employed for different ends in the context of each work, this process has similar implications in both for the relationship between reader and author as it arises out of the former's involvement with the text. Originally published in 1989. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.