Review: Holy Men of Mount Athos
This bulky volume is the work of a team of scholars experienced in the study of hagiographical texts. All translations were undertaken on the basis of extant editions, with the notable exception of the first one. An innovative aspect of this volume is that it includes a new critical edition of the Life of St. Euthymios the Younger, by Alexander Alexakis, who has prepared a markedly better Greek text than the one published by the Assumpsionist Louis Petit in 1903. Unlike
Review: The Old English History of the World
Like its Latin source text, The Old English History of the World maintains a narrative of four successive, war-torn empires, culminating in a Roman empire that becomes more peaceful as it adopts Christianity. The Old English does not extend all the way back to creation as Orosius’s Latin account does but begins with Ninus, King of Assyria, becoming the first king in the world, 1300 years before Rome. This volume will be a useful addition to many libraries, both institutional and personal.
In Praise of Everyone
We’re excited to announce the publication of two new volumes in the Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library series: the Latin Poems of Venantius Fortunatus, and a selection of six Christian novels from the Menologion of Symeon Metaphrastes. Both texts, in full English translation for the first time, trace the lives of political and religious figures, with special attention to women testing the gender boundaries of their societies. Christian Novels from the Menologion of Symeon Metaphrastes, edited and translated by Stratis Papaioannou, director of the program of medieval studies at
Review: On Plato’s Timaeus
Cet ouvrage offre la première édition anglo-saxonne, par John Magee, de la traduction (partielle) du Timée et de son commentaire par Calcidius. Calcidius était-il “médio-” ou “néo-platonicien?” Il utilise, selon Magee, les deux types de sources, avant de devenir à son tour une source d’inspiration fondamentale pour les penseurs du XIIe siècle. Cette postérité, rapidement traitée, justifie cependant la publication de cette édition dans une collection dédiée au Moyen Âge (“Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library”). Béatrice Bakhouche The Medieval Review Read
Review: Holy Men of Mount Athos
Given the diachronic importance of the Holy Mountain, as it is often styled, the editors and translators of Holy Men of Mount Athos have done a great service to the academy and the wider reading public by providing the lives of five Athonite saints in accessible Greek texts and, more importantly, first-ever English translations. Richard P.H. Greenfield and Alice-Mary Talbot were the main editors and translators, while Alexander Alexakis re-edited the first Life and Stamatina McGrath translated the last one. In terms
Review: Allegories of the Iliad
As a good Byzantine Christian, [John] Tzetzes did not believe in the gods. But he did believe in nature. Following a long tradition of Platonic exegesis, he treated each intervention of the gods in human affairs as a meteorological event. Each god was a code name for some powerful weather formation, much as hurricanes are spoken of by their Christian names—with bated breath—on the more excitable modern weather channels. Zeus was a lightning storm. Themis and the Nymphs stood for
