Uncovering Writing

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What a delicious and fantastic read for those of us who love classical works and books in general. Dickey’s introduction makes picking up this book worth it all by itself. She follows with more specific material, giving us two chapters on extant scholia, commentaries, lexica, and other scholarly works. A chapter on how to read and engage with classical scholarship precedes another chapter full of exercises to hone the ability to read these works. The glossary at the end is very useful. Her annotated bibliography is a treasure trove of works to explore for more detailed information. From start to finish, this is a great book to have.

I was moved many times by how much we have lost from antiquity. Some works are gone forever, some epitomized, and some have only fragments which are cited in other works we still have. Whenever I read about the great Library at Alexandria, I come across mention of Callimachus’s Pinakes. Oh, if only this work were extant, to scroll through his catalog of authors and their works that were contained in that library in the third century BCE. Or to have access to the documents Photius had when he pulled together his “encyclopedic” Bibliotheca in the 9th century CE or the anonymous authors of the Suda had at their fingertips in the 10th century CE.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A fun read and a great reference, this selection of epigrams from the Greek Anthology is well worth the time. Some have advice, some are funny, some are crude, others will make you cry. Almost all of them will make you think.

Several interesting ones are Plato’s 7.670 (#28 in this edition), used by Shelley in his Adonais elegy, and 9.506 (#36), calling Sappho the 10th Muse. Theokritos offers sage advice on drinking and night sailing in 7.660 (#122).

Herakleitos had a tombstone epigram that struck me to the core: “Stranger, I am Aretemias of Cnidus. I was the wife / of Euphro. Labour-pains were not withheld / from me. I left one twin to guide my husband’s old age / and took the other to remind me of him” (7.465, #162)

Anything that invokes Homer for me is special, so I liked Antipater of Thessalonika talking of morning with “You grow old, Tithonos. Why else would you thus chase / your bedfellow Dawn from your pillow at first light?” (5.3, #380) This reminds me of the opening lines of Iliad 11. He also mentions the seven wonders of the ancient world in 9.58 (#404) when discussing the Temple of Artemis at Ephesos. Asklepiodotos mocks Achilles and Thetis in an epigram on Memnon’s statues in Egypt (M9.19, #595). Memnon’s statue was said to “sing” when the morning sun touched it. The epigram calls to Thetis, Achilles’s mother, to say that this statue speaks. “But your son speaking, war-hungry Achilles? / Not a word in the Trojan plain or Thessaly.” Memnon fought with the Trojans and killed one of the Greek’s best fighters; Achilles then slew him.

Antimedon shows us that some things in human nature never change: Drinking together in the evening we are human. / When dawn comes, animals / we rise up against each other” (11.46, #481).

Ammianus has a strong comment on a grave marker: “May the soil cover / your interred corpse / lightly, pathetic Nearchos, / so that the dogs / have less trouble dragging you out” (11.226, #593).

Palladas reminds me of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. Beckett wrote “They give birth astride a grave, the light gleams an instant, then its night once more.” Palladas say “Born naked. Buried naked. So why fuss? / All life leads to that first nakedness” (10.58, #644). Another piece of Palladas on death: “Fate didn’t hustle Gessius to his death / He ran there well before it, out of breath” (7.682, #646). For the grammarians, he offers us “Having slept with a man / the grammarian’s daughter / gave birth to a child, in turn / masculine, feminine & neuter” (9.489, #681).

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

An excellent reference and deep dive into five emigre scholars who helped bring classical Greek knowledge back to the West in the 15th & 16th century, primarily through their time spent in Venice. An added bonus was the penultimate chapter on Erasmus, always a favorite of mine.

I ran across this somewhere in one of the news feeds I read. I heard that the University of Cambridge has been working on an amazing new classical Greek - English lexicon. They’ve put together a great site on the project, with videos and even a sample typeset page of the volume that is supposed to come out in 2019.  This is just pure “porn” for me.

To see the page, click here.  Definitely watch the video, it was a ton of fun.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a fantastic reference book, filled with 55 entries of Greek & Roman women writers. Each entry has a wonderful introduction with many references, the extant work (or a sampling for those whose work has survived in quantity), and endnotes. I’d heard of only a few of these women, so I was very happy to be introduced to so many more. Their work still resonates today. I have to add, though, that whenever I read things like this, I always weep for how many works we have lost from antiquity.

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I hadn’t read any Euripides since a college classics course. Of the three major Greek dramatists, I never really liked Aeschylus and didn’t read too much Euripides. Everyone focused on Sophocles, who was very good. But, having read this recent translation, Euripides has rocketed up into first place among these three (even though he won the fewest competitions when he was alive).

If I had to list these plays in order of my favorites, it would be Andromache, then Hecuba, then closely followed by The Trojan Women. In the Trojan Women, I loved Hecuba’s retort to Helen’s unwillingness to accept any blame for the destruction of Troy, when in reference to the Judgement of Paris, Hecuba says, “After all, why should the goddess Hera have conceived so great a desire to be beautiful? Was it so that she could win a better husband than Zeus? Was Athena in eager pursuit of a match with one of the gods? But she shunned marriage and asked her father to let her stay a virgin. Don’t try to give respectability to your crime by making the goddesses out to be fools” (p. 65, lines 975-981). As a footnote mentions, contemporary belief in the judgement of Paris is not questioned, but the “rationalizing of myth for the sake of argument is thoroughly Euripidean” (p. 142).

In Andromache, there are many excellent lines were Andromache and Peleus put Hermione and Menelaus in their places. Andromache says to Hermione, in reference to her mother Helen, “Do not try to outdo your mother, lady, in the love of men. All sensible children should steer clear of the ways of bad mothers” (p. 82, lines 229-231). Peleus chews out Menelaus several times, partly reflecting the real world fact that Athens was at war with Sparta when Euripides produced this particular play.

The pathos of these plays, the stories, the characters, all spoke out loudly across the ages. While certainly having political as well as dramatic significance when they were first produced, these plays still resonate today with issues of war, violence, inner strength, and ego. I thoroughly recommend them.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A fun read, including dabbling with the Latin original (and some classical Greek with the Res Gestae Divi Augusti). Lots of interesting historical facts that helped to reinforce various moments of Roman history I’ve picked up over the last few years listening to great podcasts like Emperors of Rome (Rhiannon Evans & Matt Smith). I really also enjoyed the short second piece on Augustus’s works/CV. While the pseudo-modesty is easily seen through, the impact of his reign on Rome (the late Republic and the Empire) is hard to understate. All in all, fun and a great future reference to have on the shelf.

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Park Chan-wook, Quentin Tarantino, and John Carpenter are lightweight happy-go-lucky people compared to Seneca! This selection of plays, translated by the most excellent classicist Emily Wilson (lately of Homer’s Odyssey translation fame), can be described with two words: dark & violent. Did I mention dark? If not, see his “Thyestes”. But, I would also toss out one more word: bewitching.

Emily Wilson’s introduction is one of the finest I’ve ever read of a classical author and their works. Her third sentence nails Seneca’s tragedies: “Passion is constantly set against reason, and passion wins out” (p. vii). She says his characters “are obsessed and destroyed by their emotions: they are dominated by rage, ambition, lust, jealousy, desire, anger, grief, madness, and fear”" (p. vii). Seneca’s tragedies are timeless, perhaps why they had such an impact on Elizabethan tragedy and can still serve us well today.

Wilson’s translation choices make the at times dense Seneca flow smoothly, as a knife through … well, you get the picture… Her translation is also melodic. I was reading Medea while listening to John Coltrane’s “India”. It was scary how well they synced up, with the cadence and emotional fury of the text.

As for Seneca, his first acts are amazing, in setting the tone and characters. Medea’s was wonderful, and the opening by Juno (Hera) in Hercules Furens blew me away. I enjoyed all the plays. And, continuing my love of astronomy and ancient literature, I liked these lines from Medea when discussing those who first ventured far away from their shores on ships: “The constellations were still unknown, / and the bright stars with which heaven is painted / remained unused” (Medea, 2.309-311, p. 81).

This collection is well worth your time.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A most enjoyable collection on mythology, even though at times the stories were severely edited with one eye on Victorian sensibilities and another on space. One of the best parts of this volume were the quotations from writers that referenced the people and actions in the included myths. I loved the entries from Milton, Byron, Shelley, and Gray. While this is a good book, it’s still important to engage with the original sources, many of which are very accessible. Homer, Hesiod and Ovid cover so much, and there are wonderful translations out there (Caroline Alexander, Dorothea Wender, and Charles Martin, respectively).

My favorite Greek entry was the story of Phaëton and the chariot of the Sun (p. 46-53). Two non-Greek items from northern mythology were really exciting. The first was of the Valkyries, female warriors from Norse mythology. The story says that light emanated from their armor as they rode through the sky, and this shimmering was the aurora borealis, i.e. the “Northern Lights”. So cool! Also, I really enjoyed the story of a visit to the Giant’s country (Jotunheim) (pp. 351-357). His description of the contests of Thor and his companions was excellent. I loved the comparisons to battling Fire, Thought, the Sea and Old Age (p. 356).

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Erasmus pulled together adages (sayings or proverbs), constantly revising, adding to, and using them as a point of departure for political, cultural and social commentary in his era. He drew almost exclusively from classical Greek and Latin sources. He was very well read and had access to many manuscripts and books. In all, he collected and published 4,151 adages with commentary.

For this volume, William Barker selected and introduced 119 of these adages. His effort is a perfect complement to the work Erasmus did. Barker contextualizes and provides detailed references to sources for each entry. His introduction is wonderful! He also includes a few of the misinterpretations or mistranslations Erasmus made, including one that has been passed down to our day: Pandora’s “Box”, which should have been translated as Pandora’s “jar” from the original Greek.

Some of my favorite adages include: I ii 21: simile gaudet simili (“like rejoices in like”); I iii 86: omnium horarum homo (“a man for all hours”); I v 4: evitata Charybdi in Scyllam incidi (“having escaped Charybdis I fell into Scylla”, i.e. between a rock and a hard place); I vii 17: in vino veritas (“wine speaks the truth”); I vii 28: plaustrum bovem trahit (“The cart before the horse”); II iv 17: tempus omnia revelat (“time reveals all things”)

A very interesting one is I viii 46: convertere pollicem: “Thumbs down. Thumbs up.” Barker suggests that today’s meaning of this phrase has flipped from its original intent. In the gladiatorial games, a thumbs up was a sign to kill the victim. A thumbs down meant to put the weapon down and spare the victim. Another interesting adage is I viii 91: bis dat qui cito dat: “he that gives quickly gives twice”. This means that the person who helps you out before being asked is twice as good as the person who helps when asked.

Erasmus brutally attacks those in the Catholic Church who abuse their positions to gain money and power and who act very un-Christian like. Of these, I ix 12: a mortuo tributum exigere (“to exact tribute from the dead”) is an especially good condemnation, especially of priests demanding money for all of their official duties. Another is III iii 1: Sileni Alcibiadis (“The Sileni of Alcibiades”). This one talks of how the Church is for and about the followers, not the leaders and hierarchy. These could have been written today.

The entire book is worth the money and time just for adage IV i. 1 (pp. 317-356): dulce bellum inexpertis, which translates as “war is sweet for those who have not tried it.” This is a fantastic antiwar piece where Erasmus hits each and every point with power and finesse. Like his comments on the Church, this essay could have been written a few days ago instead of the early 1500s. “It is remarkable how widely these days, how rashly, for what trivial reasons war is begun, how cruelly and barbarously it is waged…” (p. 319) and “war is now such an accepted thing that people are astonished to find anyone who does not like it” (p. 319). He talks of how nature created man defenseless, not armored; desirous of friendship, not hatred, etc. (p. 320). It’s a wonderfully written and argued piece. Another, smaller, antiwar essay is in II v 1: Spartam nactus es, hanc orna (“Sparta is your portion; do you best for her”).

I thoroughly enjoyed this work and it will be a welcome reference in the years to come.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Reynolds & Wilson’s Scribes and Scholars was such a great read, though its true value to me will be as a reference work that I will no doubt turn to again and again. I read the 3rd edition, which a large number of reviewers said was the best in that it immensely improved upon the earlier editions and that the 4th edition didn’t add that much more to the work.

There were many things that caught my attention. One was the Egyptians “borrowing” a definitive Athenian copy of Attic tragedies for the Alexandrian library. They chose to keep it, forfeiting a deposit of 15 talents of gold (p. 7). They wanted to build up their library and figured it was worth the cost in order to obtain such a fine copy. Another uber-cool item is the value of ancient dictionaries. They are useful not just for definitions of words at the time, but also for the quotes they provide from sources that are no longer extant (p. 33). The discussion of Homer was, of course, extremely intriguing for me, such as the publication of the Venetus A marginal scholia by Jean-Baptiste Gaspard d’Ansse de Viloison in 1788 and F. A. Wolf’s Prolegomena ad Homerum in 1795, which helped start the scholarly discussion of the Homeric Question (p. 198).

Speaking of ancient works, while much was lost, it was still possible in Italy circa 500 CE to obtain copies of most Latin authors. “As late as the sixth century Johannes Lydus at Constantinople had more complete texts than we have of Seneca’s Natural Questions and Suetonius' Lives of the Caesars; in Africa Fulgentius was able to cite passages of Petronius that have not come down to us; and in what is now Portugal, Martin, bishop of Braga, was able to plagiarize a lost work of Seneca that could barely have survived him” (p. 81).

When it came to Greek, much of the language was lost when the Western empire collapsed, but it continued in the East. Amazingly, Aristotle was being translated from Arabic into Latin in Spain in the 12th century (p. 120). Only after the collapse of the Eastern empire and the emigration of scholars from those lands into the West did Greek knowledge gain a foothold again. The return of Greek and textual analysis let scholars discuss and resolve various religious questions, e.g. addressing an issue with the Vulgate bible (p. 152).

There were many good sections on early and important printers and presses. I enjoyed the part on the Aldus Manitius’s Aldine press and its impact on the production and dissemination of Greek and Latin texts. It was very cool to hear that Erasmus stayed with Aldus for several months where he had access to so many Greek manuscripts. Erasmus was able to incorporate many of these into an expanded version of his Adagia (p. 159). Erasmus also helped set the established pronunciation of Classical Greek in his time (p. 159). Publishing in the Netherlands focused on two people: Christopher Plantin in the south and Louis Elzevir in the North (p. 178-179). The presses were centered in two intellectual capitals, Louvain in the south and Leiden in the north. Plantin produced many famous works, including his Polyglot Bible (1568-73) and Horace (1566). Elzevir helped further scholar studies with his small-format (duodecimo) series of classical authors that Louis’ sons put out. These small formats were affordable and portable, very useful for students.

Reynolds & Wilson highlight good Dutch scholarship, including Wilhelm Canter (p. 179), Justus Lipsius (p. 180-181), and G. J. Vossius (p. 182). The two most important editors of Latin authors in the 17th century were J. F. Gronovius for prose and Nicolaus Heinsius for poetry (p. 183). Gronovius put out very good editions of Livy, Pliny the Elder, both Senecas, Tacitus and Gellius, while Heinsius produced excellent editions of Ovid, Vergil, Valerius Flaccus, Claudia and Prudentius.

To conclude, this is a great read, but it is scholarly and dense, so it works best as a reference. I’m glad to have read it through and made some notes so that I can come back to the sections I need quickly in the future.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A fun and fast read that has found a place on my reference shelf for future use. I loved reading the summaries of the astronomical myths by Eratosthenes, the 3rd director of the Great Library at Alexandria. Sadly, his writings are lost, but two sets of summaries of his work survive and give us insight into the myths surrounding the constellations. Hyginus also wrote on astronomy and myths, using Eratosthenes as his primary source but also drawing from other places. The introduction was great, as they often are in these Oxford World’s Classics editions.

One neat fact regarding one of my favorite constellations, Orion, talks about its relationship with the constellation Scorpios. “Since the Scorpion rises as Orion sets, it could be imagined that Orion is being pursued by it, and it was this thought that inspired the myth in which he was said to have been killed by a huge scorpion, which was sent against him by Earth or perhaps by Artemis” (p. xii). This process was called catasterism, by which people or things were set in the sky as constellations (p. xii).

Another neat technique described was using the twelve constellations of the zodiac to determine how much time has elapsed at night. “For since six signs of the zodiac rise each night, and six set irrespective of the time of year, this enables the observer to form an accurate estimate of the stages of the night” (p. xxii).

The book also covers the five planets the Greek knew that they thought of as wandering stars. Their name derivations are so cool. The Brilliant (Phainon) was said to be Zeus (Jupiter to the Romans). The second was The Radiant (Phaethon) and it takes its name from Helios or Cronos (Saturn). The third was Ares (Mars), the fourth Aphrodite (Venus) and lastly, Hermes (Mercury) (pp. 130-132).

The Milky Way has its own amazing origin mythology. It was called Galaxia (the milky circle). “It was not possible for sons of Zeus to have any share in the honours of the sky unless they had been suckled at Hera’s breast; and that is why Hermes, so they say, brought Heracles along after his birth and placed him at Hera’s breast, for him to be suckled at it; but when Hera became aware of it, she thrust him away, and the rest of her milk spilled out accordingly to make up the milky circle” (p. 133).

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I have two translations of Ovid’s Heroides. This is the second one I bought and the first one I read. There’s no drama, it was just that I found the second copy at a great bookstore in Saratoga Springs (Lyrical Ballad) and since I’d been reading so much Greek and Latin lately, I wanted to read this piece of Ovid right away. My first copy was on my to-read bookshelf by my bed at home. Anyway, my state of mind, a need for a book to read and a fantastic cover called out to me. So, out came a few dollars and into my purse the book went.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Harold Cannon’s translation. I enjoyed his introduction and noted his advice that “Pace is everything in reading Ovid; he should be swallowed whole and digested afterward” (p. 10). I’d read a translation of the Metamorphoses awhile back and reflecting on it now, Cannon is spot on. As I read the Heroides, his rule stayed true.

I also loved his introduction to each letter, which set the stage. Sometimes I knew the story, other times I didn’t. No matter, I still learned something new and fun with each letter’s introduction and I couldn’t wait to read the translated letter to a mythical love.

I had several favorites letters. Oenone’s to Paris (V) was excellent. Hypsipyle’s to Jason was amazing for how she tore into him for not returning to her and their child after he secured the golden fleece. “Perhaps you wanted to return to me / But found yourself denied by winds and sea; / And yet no wind prevents a letter due– / That much, at least, I have deserved from you” (VI.5-8, p. 47). Dido tears into Aeneas regarding how he left Dido now and his wife earlier at Troy. Aeneas only brought out his father and son. Dido writes “Before we met, you were a liar too; / I’m not the first to be deceived by you. / Where is the mother of the son you own? / Her husband left her, and she died alone” (VII.81-84, p. 55).

I liked Hermione to Orestes’s (VIII) letter. Ariadne to Theseus is also good in how she calls out his cold heart after he abandoned her: “Like rock or adamant the heart you own; / Its hardness would outdo the hardest stone” (X.109-110, p. 74). Medea’s anger comes out clearly when she says to Jason: “I saved him for another’s warm embrace; / She had the prize, although I ran the race” (XII.173-174, p. 87).

The two exchanges between Leander and Hero were amazing. I thoroughly enjoyed the backstory and the connection with the Bride of Abydos, from Byron, and the mention of the Hellespont. That ties into Pliny the Elder’s Natural History when he discusses the distance between Sestos and Abydos, where Hero and Leander lived. The distance, if you are interested, is seven stadia (Pliny 4.18). The letter from Leander to Hero was also great for me because I love when astronomy is mixed in with the poetry: “It’s summer now; how will I find the seas / Plagued by Arcturus, Goat, and Pleiades?” (XVIII.187-188)!

Interestingly, the one letter that originally drew me to the Heroides, Penelope’s to Odysseus, wasn’t my favorite. It was good but not great for me.

Finally, one interesting comment. When I first started reading his translation, I scribbled a small note that said “Heroic couplets never work.” A day later, I scribbled underneath that note “except when they do.”

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

An interesting read that could have been edited down a bit more. It felt, especially during the first three chapters, to be like a PBS / NatGeo program that kept reiterating the same point over and over again. But, I enjoyed it and wanted to finish it. The ending made it worth it for me, in that he notes that while all societies can and have collapsed in the past, we today can “take steps to fix things, rather than simply passively accept things as they occur” (p. 179). It reminded me of Asimov’s Harry Seldon in the Foundation series. Seldon was an historian who realized the galactic empire would collapse but he worked to make the collapse and rebirth of a new empire less painful and shorter in time span.

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Classicist Dorothea Wender’s translation of Hesiod is spectacular. Even while she says his “Theogony” is a bit boring and not written in the wonderful style of “Works and Days”, I think her talent as a translator makes this piece on a creation myth shine. Now, I’m a huge fan of mythology and the origins of various beings, so I would have liked the Theogony no matter what. But, Wender used her skill to make it enjoyable and not simply a seemingly unending onslaught of names.

When she turns her eye to Hesiod’s “Works and Days,” she is magnificent. Just reading the first stanza, I can immediately tell that this is a much stronger piece of poetry, as Wender stated in her introduction. Hesiod stressed the need to be prepared and work hard. I enjoyed his description of the five ages of man: Golden, Silver, Bronze, the demi-gods, and Iron (us). The demi-gods were the race of heroes who have great epics and stories written about them, including those who fought in the Trojan War.

Hesiod offers advice and guidance throughout. He sagely writes: “But he who neither thinks himself nor learns / From others, is a failure as a man” (p. 68, lines 96-97). Valid then, even more valid in our present times. His advice on farming is tied to astronomy, so that one can tell when to plant, harvest, etc. based on which planets and constellations are rising or setting, visible or not, in the sky. He tells sailors when to avoid voyages, saying “Gales of all winds rage when the Pleiades, / Pursued by violent Orion, plunge / Into the clouded sea” (p. 78, lines 619-621). He marries my love of astronomy and mythology with tidbits like this.

Turning to Theognis, I could have done without him. I didn’t like what he had to say, and it had nothing to do with the translation. To quote from Wender’s introduction to his Elegies, “Unfortunately, as his personality is revealed in the poems, Theognis is not at all likeable. He seems to have been a savage, paranoid, bigoted, bitter, narrow, pompous, self-pitying person” (p. 92). I cannot help but agree with her.

Wender’s notes were wonderful and illuminating. I know she probably upset some stodgy white male classicists sitting in their cloistered rooms with her tone, but her skill and passion as a translator brought life to these words without changing the meaning of the original text. I enjoyed reading her comments, alternate translations and understandings about the text.

Overall, I’d give the Hesiod a 5, the content (not the translation) of Theognis’s Elegies a 1, the Notes a 5 and to Dorothea Wender, a 5+. Well done and well worth my time.

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed Sappho’s poetry via this edition with a preface by Carol Ann Duffy and notes and commentary by Aaron Poochigian. Duffy tells us of Sappho’s impact on so many, including Plato, Catullus, Horace, Ovid, Donne, Pope, Coleridge, Byron, Tennyson, Christina Rossetti, and today’s writers. Over 2,600 years of impact is pretty impressive. Horace said that Sappho’s poems merited sacred admiration and Plato honored her as the 10th Muse (p. vii). I couldn’t agree more.

So much of her writing was lost during before the common era started, but even what little remains has such presence and impact. In the 3rd and 2nd century BCE, Sappho’s remaining works were collected into 9 books (p. xliii). Cicero, Catullus and Horace would have had access to these works but by the 12th-14th c. CE, her works were almost gone. SWhat remains of her works today are fragments here and there as well as some summaries, commentaries and quotes from other classical authors which have survived.

Poochigian has a facing page for each translated fragment that situates the poem. Even better, for those of us who care about language, he tries to explain his translation project, referring to the original Greek (when it is known) and telling us the choices he makes and does not make. This slowed my reading a bit, but it added so much wondrous context. Some of this would be the context that Plato, Aristotle and Horace knew as common knowledge that influenced their thoughts on her work.

In his introduction, Poochigian says “Sappho is important because she gives a fully human voice to female desire for the first time in Western literature” (p. xxxix). This is partly a reference to Fragment 16, which was my favorite piece (pp. 58-59). It tells the story of Helen of Troy, not as a passive object stolen by Paris but as an active agent who chooses to leave her husband and follow her own desire. Not only is the poem wonderful, but the discussion of the translation on the facing page is so interesting.

While lacking the storytelling ability of Homer and the focus of a good epic, I did enjoy the information provided in these relatively disjoint episodic pieces that ran from the death of Hector to the Greeks leaving Troy.

For the story from just before the Trojan Horse to the Greeks leaving, I much preferred Tryphiodorus’s The Destruction of Troy.