Athenaeus And His World
Reading Greek Culture in the Roman Empire

Edited by David Braund and John Wilkins

Subjects: Classical Studies and Ancient History

About the Book
Contents
Reviews
Author Biography

An international team of literary specialists explore Athenaeus’ work as a whole, and in its own right.

Almost all classicists and ancient historians make use of Athenaeus; Athenaeus and his World is the first sustained attempt to understand and explore his work as a whole, and in its own right. The work emerges as no mere compendium of earlier texts, but as a vibrant work of complex structure and substantial creativity. The book makes sense of the massive and polyphonous Deipnosophistae, the quarry upon which classicists and ancient historians depend for their knowledge of much ancient literature, particularly Comedy, and also the source of much of the data used by modern historians for the social history of the classical and Hellenistic worlds.

The 41 chapters; written by an international team of literary specialists and historians, each tackle a significant feature, and the book is divided into seven sections, each prefaced by introductory remarks from the editors.

Contributions by
Graham Anderson, Karim Arafat, Geoffrey Arnott, Rosemary Bancroft-Marcus, Andrew Barker, Glen Bowersock, Ewen Bowie, David Braund, Roger Brock, Maria Broggiato, Paola Ceccarelli, Jean-Nicolas Corvisier, Andrew Dalby, James Davidson, John Davies, Rebecca Flemming, Maria Gambato, Dwora Gilula, Danielle Gourevitch, Lucía Rodríguez-Noriega Guillén, Malcolm Heath, Madeleine Henry, Keith Hopwood, Chrstian Jacob, Antonia Marchiori, Silvia Milanezi, Konstantinos Niafas, Christopher Pelling, Luciana Romeri, Keith Sidwell, Richard Stoneman, Dorothy J. Thompson, Yun Lee Too, Michael Trapp, Elisabetta Villari, Frank Walbank, Ruth Webb, Timothy Whitmarsh, John Wilkins and Giuseppe Zecchini

Contents: Text, transmission and translation; Athenaeus the reader and his world; structural overviews; key authors; sympotica; the other Athenaeus; epilogue.

‘those interested in particular themes in the Deipnosophistae will therefore want to browse the contents of several sections. Fortunately this is made easy by the editors’ introductory remarks to each section, which summarise each chapter’s main arguments as well as defining its place within the section and in Athenian scholarship. These remarks provide valuable orientation in a collection of this scope’. (Scholia Reviews ns 13 (2004) 35.) ‘From the team that brought you Food in Antiquity, and in matching format, Athenaeus has everything: lots of food, buckets of otherwise unknown texts, material on dining customs in late antiquity, and a considerable body of material on sex . . . This volume should go some way towards a broader understanding.’ (Petits Propos Culinaires No. 66, Feb 2001) ‘Ce magnifique ouvrage . . . Mais les amateurs de musique, tout comme les lecteurs d’Homère et de Platon, auront également beaucoup à glaner dans cet ouvrage qui, sans nul doute, marque une étape nouvelle et incontournable dans le renouveau des études sur Athénée.’ (Revue des Etudes Greques, No. 114, 2001) "Although Athenaeus' magnum opus is so crucial a text for our knowledge of classical literature and society, his own work has received astonishingly little interest among scholars. In response to this palpable oversight, the editors some years ago organised an international conference to celebrate and explore Athenaeus and his legacy. This weighty volume includes most of the papers from that conference . . . Each contributor is an expert in his specialist field and so offers a uniquely scholarly insight into Athenaeus, his sources and reliability . . . Each contribution is backed up by a wealth of scholarly notes and a helpful general bibliography . . . There is something for everyone here, whether scholar or just interested Hellenist. It might even make you turn to Athenaeus himself and start reading him." (The Anglo-Hellenic Review, No. 25, Spring 2002) "As the first major book on the Deipnosophistae, Athenaeus and His World provides a pleasingly varied introduction to an under-explored monument.” (Times Literary Supplement, March 2002)

David Braund is Professor of Ancient History, and head of the Classics and Ancient History department at the University of Exeter. His particular specialism lies in the Black Sea region, especially Russia, Ukraine and Georgia, and he speaks Russian and Georgian fluently.His books include The Administration of the Roman Empire (Exeter, 1988); Georgia in Antiquity: A History of Transcaucasian Georgia, 550 BC-AD 562 (Oxford, 1994); Ruling Roman Britain: Kings, Queens, Governors and Emperors from Caesar to Agricola (Routledge, 1996). John Wilkins is Professor at the University of Exeter. He is a specialist in the history of food in Greco-Roman culture, with current interests in literature (especially comic drama) and medicine (especially nutrition). His books include Food in Antiquity: Studies in Ancient Society and Culture (Exeter, 1996).

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1QDA, 2AHA, 3D, HP

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University of Exeter Press