![]() They cover the influence of Diogenes Laertius on the arts and philology during the Renaissance, his style and literary art, political and ethical elements in the Lives, the manuscript tradition, his treatment of the history of philosophy, and his influence on Nietzsche and German classical scholarship in the nineteenth century. In addition to the splendid English translation, the book contains sixteen papers that act as a sort of Companion to Diogenes Laertius, orientating the reader with some of the most important scholarly issues pertaining to the Lives. It is, however, as a result an especially hefty tome – this is a book to be read on a solid surface. This all adds a wonderful extra visual dimension to the already kaleidoscopic text of Diogenes Laertius. There are particularly fascinating examples of artistic representations of Greek philosophers in the Indian, Arabic, and Japanese traditions. ![]() These include paintings, sculptures, coins, illuminated manuscripts, photography, all linked to what we are reading in Diogenes. There are 556 full-colour images, gathered from antiquity to the present day. ![]() It is beautifully produced – glossy paper, high quality printing, with a treasure trove of stuff far beyond a translation of an ancient author. It must be said that, as a physical object, the hardcover is a very impressive book indeed. The translation will serve as an excellent resource for scholars referring to Diogenes Laertius for the very important material he preserves concerning the history of Greek philosophy, and its high literary merits make it enjoyable for those who want simply to be entertained reading Diogenes’ quirky and idiosyncratic account of the lives of the Greek philosophers. The copious notes, helpfully placed beneath the translation on each page, are superb at giving required information on names, dates, places, technical terms, and so forth in a crisp and accurate manner. Given the number of vagaries, jokes, technicalities, and such that proliferate in the Greek, this is a most impressive achievement. The English translation by Pamela Mensch is lively, fresh, engaging, and eminently readable. In the present volume, Dorandi’s text is translated into English for the first time. Owing to the sterling work of Tiziano Dorandi, we now possess a superior Greek text of Diogenes Laertius’ Lives (Cambridge, 2013). Hicks largely used the 1850 text in the Didot series, while making amendments as he saw fit. Even for specialists, the Greek text is difficult, with problems in the manuscripts and many sequences that make little sense. Stahr, in Smith’s Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography, suggested that Diogenes’ ancestors included one who had for a patron a member of the Roman family of the Laertii.For many of us, access to Diogenes Laertius’ Lives of the Eminent Philosophers has been predominantly through the 1925 translation by R. Χολλεῖδαι, refers to him as Διογένης ὁ Λαερτιεύς, implying that he was a native of some town, perhaps Laerte in Caria or Laerte(s) in Cilicia, two of the ancient world’s most unknown places: this explanation of his name and origin was generally accepted from the Renaissance until the 18th century. ’Ενετοί calls him plain Diogenes in a passage that has been taken to refer to our Diogenes and used to emend ii. ![]() 153 refers to him as Laertes Stephanus Byz. Δρυΐδαι (in only part of the mss.), and in a lemma to Anthologia Palatina, vii. The order Diogenes Laertius occurs, so it appears, only in Stephanus of Byzantium, s.v. τετραλογία: in earlier modern scholarly works this was the customary form of his name. of his book, by Sopater in Photius, Biblioth. He is called Laertius Diogenes regularly in the mss. Longĭiogenes Laertius, as he is now generally called, is rarely named in ancient works, and even so his name appears in several forms.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |