Greek and Latin literature and the classical tradition

Greek and Latin literature and the classical tradition

Homer Iliad 6.168-170 “So he sent him to Lycia with lying letters of introduction, written on a folded tablet …”

Athens, 5th c. BCE: writing

Papyrus (modern)

Derveni papyrus, ca. 340 BCE • covered with protokollon – first sheet for protection • ink: carbon, gum arabic, water • pens: reeds • posture: sitting at surface • contains paragraphoi ‒ small strokes on left edge = new section of text • typical: ~12” x 12”-14” sheets, inscribed with 2” lines of prose or 4” lines of poetry

Library at Alexandra, ca. 300 BCE Ca. 300: Creation of the Bibliotheke(“book warehouse”) in Alexandria adjoining the Musaion (“home of the Muses) Scholars (philologoi) combine textual criticsm with scientific methods Number of scrolls: 150-500,000 • Scrolls on rods (umbelici) with sillyboi (labels), grouped in bins by genres with pinakes(title, author, birthplace, teacher, background, career) organized alphabetically; gave name to catalog (Pinakes) of Callimachus ca. 245. Genres: • rhetoric tragic poetry mathematics • law comic poetry medicine • epic poetry lyric poetry history; natural history

Papyri scrolls from the Villa deiPapiri, Herculaneum, first owned by Caesar’s father-in-law, LuciusCalpurniusPiso: 1,800 scrolls

1st c. CE papyrus from Oxyrhynchus, Egypt: Euclid’s Elements

House of Terentius Nero, Pompeii, 1st c. CE

2ndc. BCE: pergamenum from Pergamon: increased popularity of parchment(modern goatskin)

Books, booksellers and parchment (sheep/goat-skin; later, vellum or calfskin) “You who are anxious that my books should be with you everywhere, and desire to have them as companions on a long journey, buy a copy of which the parchment leaves are compressed into a small compass. Bestow book-cases upon large volumes; one hand will hold me. But that you may not be ignorant where I am to be bought, and wander in uncertainty over the whole town, you shall, under my guidance, be sure of obtaining me. Seek Secundus, the freedman of the learned Lucensis, behind the Temple of Peace and the Forum of Pallas” (Martial Epigrams 1.2)

(Modern) Roman wax tablets, precursor to the codex (codices, Lat. “block of wood”)

2nd c. CE codices from Nag Hammadi, Egypt

Palimpsest (πάλιν ψάειν, palinpsaein – “to scrape again”)

Siege of Constantinople, 1453

Gutenberg Bible, Johannes Gutenberg, ca. 1455 (cost: 3 years’ wages for a clerk)

(Modern) movable type, organized by letter of the alphabet

Printing press (16th c.): movable type, inking and completed sheet

Aldus Manutius, 1450-1515 (Aldine Press), vol. 1 of Aristotle (1495) • festinalente(“make haste slowly”) • grammarian, humanist, typographer(Greek and italic fonts) • founder of “Philhellenic Academy” • clean, unfiltered, portable texts

Greek and Latin literature and the classical tradition

Greek and Latin literature and the classical tradition

Presentation Transcript

Latin and Greek

Greek and Latin Roots

Greek and Latin

Latin and Greek Roots

Greek and Latin Roots

Latin and Greek ROOTS

Latin and Greek Roots

Latin and Greek roots .

Greek and Latin Roots

Greek and Latin Roots

Greek and Latin Roots

Greek and Latin Roots

Latin and Greek Roots

Greek and Latin Roots

Greek and Latin roots

Latin and Greek Roots

Latin and Greek Roots

Latin and Greek Roots

Greek and Latin Roots

Greek and Latin Roots

Latin and Greek...