Palatine Anthology (12 volumes)

Description

The Palatine, or Greek, Anthology is one of the most valuable sources for understanding not only ancient Greek poetry but also the everyday life of the ancient world. It captures timeless human concerns—love and sorrow, joy and grief, youth and old age, daily toil as well as the small pleasures of everyday life.

It is a vast collection of poetic epigrams spanning from antiquity to the Byzantine period, featuring the most important practitioners of the genre. It offers insight into how poets across different eras and centuries perceived death, existence, and love.

The Greek Anthology consists of approximately 4,000 epigrams, most of which are preserved in the manuscript of the Palatine Library in Heidelberg, with the second part housed in the National Library of Paris. This collection from the Palatine manuscript, also known as the Palatine Anthology, was compiled at the end of the 10th century AD, based on an earlier anthology by Constantine Cephalas, who himself drew on previous anthologies.

This anthology contains epigrams of varied content, organized by theme. It is a unique source for this challenging and masterful genre of Greek literature—the epigram—which, in just a few words, often conveys a wealth of information, allusions, wit, ideas, and emotion.

The “Palatine Anthology” series, which includes the original ancient Greek text, a modern Greek translation, and commentary, consists of twelve volumes. Specifically, it includes:

• Palatine Anthology, Volumes I–IV: The Christian Epigrams, The Expression of Christodorus, The Epigrams of Cyzicus, and All the Proems
• Palatine Anthology, Volume V: Erotic Epigrams
• Palatine Anthology, Volume VI: Dedicatorial Epigrams
• Palatine Anthology, Volume VII: Epitaphic Epigrams (1–150)
• Palatine Anthology, Volume VIII: Epitaphic Epigrams (151–450)
• Palatine Anthology, Volume IX: Epitaphic Epigrams (451–748)
• Palatine Anthology, Volume X: From the Poems of Saint Gregory the Theologian
• Palatine Anthology, Volume XI: Epideictic Epigrams (1–350)
• Palatine Anthology, Volume XII: Epideictic Epigrams (351–827)
• Palatine Anthology, Volumes XIII–XIV: Incitative Epigrams and Sympotic and Satirical Epigrams
• Palatine Anthology, Volumes XV–XVII: Straton of Sardis, The Children’s Muse, Epigrams in Various Meters, and Numerical Epigrams and Riddles,
• Palatine Anthology, Volumes XVIII–XIX: Miscellaneous Epigrams and The Anthology of Maximus Planudes