Cart
Free US shipping over $10
Proud to be B-Corp

Decimus Laberius Costas Panayotakis (Reader in Classics, University of Glasgow)

Decimus Laberius By Costas Panayotakis (Reader in Classics, University of Glasgow)

Summary

First English translation of, and detailed commentary on the fragments of Laberius, who composed mimes, a form of scripted comic drama that was political, satirical, and amusingly obscene. It was very popular in the first century BC and in late antiquity, and shaped medieval theatre and the Italian commedia dell'arte.

Decimus Laberius Summary

Decimus Laberius: The Fragments by Costas Panayotakis (Reader in Classics, University of Glasgow)

This is a newly revised, critical text of the fragments attributed to the Roman knight and mimographer Decimus Laberius, a witty and crudely satirical contemporary of Cicero and Caesar. Laberius is perhaps the most celebrated comic playwright of the late Republic, and the fragments of plays attributed to him comprise the overwhelming majority of the extant evidence for what we conventionally call 'the literary Roman mime'. The volume also includes a survey of the characteristics and development of the Roman mime, both as a literary genre and as a type of popular theatrical entertainment, as well as a re-evaluation of the place of Laberius' work within its historical and literary context. This is the first English translation of all the fragments, and the first detailed English commentary on them from a linguistic, metrical, and (wherever possible) theatrical perspective.

About Costas Panayotakis (Reader in Classics, University of Glasgow)

Costas Panayotakis is Senior Lecturer in Classics at the University of Glasgow. His books include Theatrum Arbitri. Theatrical Elements in the Satyrica of Petronius (1995) and annotated book-length translations into modern Greek of Plautus' Rudens (2004) and Terence's Adelphoe (1996) and Eunuchus (2001). He has published widely on the Roman novel and Roman drama, and is the Review Editor of the journal Ancient Narrative.

Table of Contents

Introduction; 1. Defining the Roman mime; 2. Origins and chronological development of the genre; 3. Testimonia on Laberius; 4. Facts and problems; 5. Laberius' language and themes; 6. Laberius' prosody; 7. The history of the text of Laberius' mimes; 8. An overview of the anthologies containing Laberius' mimes; Sigla codicum; The fragments; Text; Translation; Commentary; Appendices.

Additional information

NPB9780521885232
9780521885232
052188523X
Decimus Laberius: The Fragments by Costas Panayotakis (Reader in Classics, University of Glasgow)
New
Hardback
Cambridge University Press
2010-02-11
544
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
This is a new book - be the first to read this copy. With untouched pages and a perfect binding, your brand new copy is ready to be opened for the first time

Customer Reviews - Decimus Laberius