The Letters of Alciphron (second century CE) constitute one of the most attractive products of the Second Sophistic. They are fictitious compositions based on an astonishingly wide variety of circumstances, though the theme of erotic love is constantly sounded. The imagination shown by the author and his convincing realism win him a place of distinction in the early development of romantic prose. The letters, which are highly literary, owing much to the New Comedy of Menander, purport to give us a sketch of the social life of Athens in the fourth century BCE. The collection is arranged in four divisions: Letters of Fishermen; Farmers; Parasites; Courtesans. Senders and addressees are mostly invented characters, but in the last section Alciphron presents us with several attempts at historical fiction, the most engaging being an exchange of letters between Menander and Glycera.
This volume also includes twenty Letters of Farmers ascribed to Aelian (c. 170–235 CE) and a collection of seventy-three Erotic Epistles of Philostratus (probably Flavius of that name, also born c. 170 CE). In style and subject matter these resemble those of Alciphron, by whom they may have been influenced.
Alciphron, Aelian, Philostratus / Loeb Classical Library
Loeb Classical Library 383, Alciphron, Aelian and Philostratus, The Letters. In one volume. Translated by Allen Rogers Benner and Francis H. Fobes.
Out of stock
Isbn
0674994213
€20.00
- Condition / Etat: good, dust jacket with minor shelf wear / bon état, minimes traces d'usures.
- Volumes : 1 volume.
- Binding / Reliure : original green titled cloth with fine dust jacket, cartonné avec jaquette.
- Format : In-16 / 17 x 11 cm.
- Pages : XI, 587 pp.
- Editor : Cambridge, Harvard University Press.
- Date : 1990.
- Language / Langue: Ancient Grec and English on opposite pages / Bilingue grec et anglais.
Condition | Used - Very Good |
---|---|
Language | United Kingdom |
Illustrated | No |
Publicaton Date | 1 Jan 1990 |
Year | 1990 |
Author / Cartographer / Photographer | Aelianus Claudius, Alciphron, Philostratos Lucius Flavius |
Editor | Harvard University Press |
First edition | No |
Signed edition | No |
Signed binding | No |
Armorial binding | No |
Binding / Format | Hardcover |
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