Pieter-Jan Mannens (KU Leuven) Anyone wishing to study bilingualism in Roman literature is reliant on written sources that have been handed down to us by medieval scribes. Errors inevitably creep into the text during the copying process, and matters become particularly difficult when a scribe has to copy passages that he or she can barelyContinue reading ““Eine reine Geschmacksache”: textual criticism of Latin-Greek code-switching in Roman satire”
Author Archives: hermes1517
Hospitality and a Translation into Greek
Tobias Heiss (Universität Innsbruck) Writing Greek verse takes practice. So much so that the better part of New Ancient Greek poetry was never intended to have a broader readership at all. Scribblings, attempts, and exercises are easily discarded, especially by authors who have outgrown them.[1] In this context, the translation of Latin poems into GreekContinue reading “Hospitality and a Translation into Greek”
Greek and Latin Paratexts in the “Novum Testamentum”
Laura Truzzu (KU Leuven) Erasmus of Rotterdam’s edition of the New Testament is a monument to early modern bilingual scholarship. Published in 1516 as the Novum Instrumentum, it presented a Greek text of the New Testament, the first ever to appear in print, alongside a revised Latin translation, supplemented by an extensive collection of annotations.Continue reading “Greek and Latin Paratexts in the “Novum Testamentum””
A “Pindaric Lyre” under the Dragon’s Wing: Tito Prospero Martinengo’s Greek Poetry
Elena Maria Cassol (Università Ca’ Foscari Venice) On 13 May 1572, Ugo Boncompagni was elected Pope with the name Gregory XIII and his heraldic dragon would come to dominate the cultural and political landscape for the next thirteen years. Meanwhile, somewhere in Northern Italy, Tito Prospero Martinengo was waiting for the storm to pass. OnlyContinue reading “A “Pindaric Lyre” under the Dragon’s Wing: Tito Prospero Martinengo’s Greek Poetry”
Zeus, the Fool?
Criticizing the Pagan Father of the Gods in Lorenz Rhodoman’s Ilias parva (1588/1604) Karen Lelittka (Bergische Universität Wuppertal) The Greeks began their education with Homer. Homer retained his reputation as the king of poets throughout the Middle Ages, although his texts could not be read directly except in Byzantium. It was not until the RenaissanceContinue reading “Zeus, the Fool?”
Trojan Heroes of the Eighty Years’ War (1568–1648): New Ancient Greek, Liberty and Remembrance
Thijs Kersten (Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen) Writing to one of his pen pals on January 21, 1605, the Lowlandish scholar Justus Lipsius (1547–1606) could not help but address the elephant in the room. However pleasant his contact with the Spaniard Francisco Quevedo (1580–1645) had been, Lipsius felt the need to mention the wars Quevedo’s king hadContinue reading “Trojan Heroes of the Eighty Years’ War (1568–1648): New Ancient Greek, Liberty and Remembrance”
A Woman Writing New Ancient Greek Poetry for a Leiden Disputation (1686)
Dries Nijs (KU Leuven) Leiden University library houses an extensive collection of printed disputationes. These broadsheets and pamphlets present the theses that university students — the respondentes — defended against opponentes, under the supervision of a professor acting as praeses. This corpus extends from shortly after the founding of Leiden University (1575) into the 20thContinue reading “A Woman Writing New Ancient Greek Poetry for a Leiden Disputation (1686)”
Laonikos Chalkokondyles: The Last Byzantine Historian and the Dawn of Ottoman Historiography
Riccardo Stigliano (Universität Innsbruck) Should the last Byzantine historian be considered an early modern Hellenist? Yes, because he lived through the crucial years of the fall of Constantinople. After all, he started writing as soon as Constantinople fell, which was at the very beginning of the Modern Age. Yes, if we consider the literary genreContinue reading “Laonikos Chalkokondyles: The Last Byzantine Historian and the Dawn of Ottoman Historiography”
Laudes urbium, ἐγκώμια φίλων: Two friends writing city encomia and congratulating each other
Adriaan Demuynck (KU Leuven / FWO) On 27 February 1565, the new city hall of Antwerp was formally inaugurated, exactly four years after the first stone was laid. To adorn the opening of this prestigious Renaissance building, two young poets joined forces and wrote a collection of city encomia or laudes urbis on the cityContinue reading “Laudes urbium, ἐγκώμια φίλων: Two friends writing city encomia and congratulating each other”
On the Hem of Daniel Heinsius’ ‘Peplus Graecorum epigrammatum’: Poetry, Philosophy, and Paratexts in New Ancient Greek
Domenico Graziano (Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II – Universität Innsbruck) In 1613, Jan Jacobszoon Paets, Leiden University’s printer (1603-1619), published a mature fruit of Daniel Heinsius’ (1580–1655) ‘Hellenizing Muse’: the Peplus Graecorum epigrammatum. Aside from an appendix of ἐρωτικά, which fills the final pages of the last gathering (removed in subsequent editions), theContinue reading “On the Hem of Daniel Heinsius’ ‘Peplus Graecorum epigrammatum’: Poetry, Philosophy, and Paratexts in New Ancient Greek”
