Catullus 63, the poem on Attis' self-castration, regret, and final subjection to the goddess Cybele, has been called 'the most remarkable poetical creation in the Latin language'. Scholarly debate has focused on the poem's relationship to the myths and cults of Attis and Cybele, its dependence on Hellenistic models, its meanings for a Roman audience, and its unusual language and metre. In the present volume these questions are being addressed by a team of specialists in religious history, Hellenistic poetry, Roman poetry and culture, and Latin linguistics. The volume not only sheds much new light on a fascinating poem, it also demonstrates how the various disciplines of Classics may cooperate towards a better understanding of ancient culture. The contents of this volume also appear in Mnemosyne , 57,5. (2004), as a special issue on Catullus.
Catullus 63, the poem on Attis’ self-castration, regret, and final subjection to the goddess Cybele, has been called ‘the most remarkable poetical creation in the Latin language’. Scholarly debate has focused on the poem’s relationship to the myths and cults of Attis and Cybele, its dependence on Hellenistic models, its meanings for a Roman audience, and its unusual language and metre. In the present volume these questions are being addressed by a team of specialists in religious history, Hellenistic poetry, Roman poetry and culture, and Latin linguistics. The volume not only sheds much new light on a fascinating poem, it also demonstrates how the various disciplines of Classics may cooperate towards a better understanding of ancient culture. The contents of this volume also appear in Mnemosyne, 57,5. (2004), as a special issue on Catullus.
Catullus, who lived from about 84 to 54 BC, was one of ancient Rome's most gifted, versatile and passionate poets. Living at a time of radical social change at the end of the Roman Republic, he belonged to a group of young poets who embraced Hellenistic forms to forge a new literary style, the so-called 'neoterics'. This comprehensive edition includes the complete, unabridged and unbowdlerised poems and is the definitive student edition of Catullus' work. The extensive introduction covers topics including the role of Catullus' literary paramour Lesbia, the few biographical certainties known about Catullus' life and other figures from the contemporary political scene. In addition to this, there is a brief overview of the poems' textual history, discussion of Catullus' style across the collection and linguistic discussions of morphology, vocabulary, syntax and metre. The commentary notes include individual introductions and bibliographies to each poem, as well as line by line notes which translate difficult phrases and gloss obscure words. In addition to this, more detailed explanations of poetic, structural and contextual points are also provided.
Both passionate and artful, learned and bawdy, Catullus is one of the best-known and critically significant poets from classical antiquity. An intriguing aspect of his poetry that has been neglected by scholars is his interest in silence, from the pauses that shape everyday conversation to linguistic taboos and cultural suppressions and the absolute silence of death. In Silence in Catullus, Benjamin Eldon Stevens offers fresh readings of this Roman poet's most important works, focusing on his purposeful evocations of silence. This deep and varied "poetics of silence" takes on many forms in Catullus's poetic corpus: underscoring the lyricism of his poetry; highlighting themes of desire, immortality-in-culture, and decay; accenting its structures and rhythms; and, Stevens suggests, even articulating underlying philosophies. Combining classical philological methods, contemporary approaches to silence in modern literature, and the most recent Catullan scholarship, this imaginative examination of Catullus offers a new interpretation of one of the ancient world's most influential and inimitable voices.
This book is an attempt to read the poems of Gaius Valerius Catullus in his own context; to look at the poet and his works against the cultural realities of the first century BC as recent advances in historical research allow us to understand them. Catullus' own social background, the circumstances of the literary life of his time, the true extent of his works and the variety of audiences he addressed - these and other questions are explored by Professor Wiseman with new and startling results. Contemporary high society and politics are illustrated through Clodia and Caelius Rufus, considered not as mere adjuncts to Catullus' story but as significant historical personalities in their own right. A final chapter on nineteenth- and twentieth-century interpretations of Catullus' world shows how anachronistic preconceptions have prevented a proper understanding of it, and made this radical reappraisal necessary. Anyone with a serious interest in Latin literature or Roman history will want to read this book. Students in the upper levels of school or at university will find it essential background reading to their work on Catullus and Cicero's Pro Caelio.
The Poems of Catullus describes the lifestyle of the Latin poet Catullus, his friends, and his lover, Lesbia. Catullus writes about each of his subjects in tones unique to them. With wild stories of the trouble and comradery shared by his friends, Catullus provides insight on more scandalous aspects of high society Roman culture. However, Catullus’ most shocking and compelling subject is his lover, Lesbia, the wife of an aristocrat. The two share a secret and sensual love, taboo not just because of the infidelity, but because Lesbia is many years older than Catullus. Throughout his poems, Catullus depicts their complicated relationship, first in a tender, lustful way, detailing their affairs, then gradually becomes more heated with angst and confusion. In his exploration of their relationship, Catullus embodies the possibility of simultaneously loving and hating someone. With vivid emotion and imagery, The Poems of Catullus provide a clear picture of the poet, his friends, and his lover and invoke a strong impression on its audience. Because of the deep emotions infused with each word and the visceral depictions of ancient Roman life, this collection of poetry is relatable to a modern-day audience, and is an essential educational source. Catullus paved the way and inspired change in the art of poetry, influencing countless poets and poetry styles. The Poems of Catullus also helped create the idea of poetry as a profession. The Poems of Catullus serves a valuable and educational source, enlightening audiences on the culture of the upper-class of the late Roman Republic. However, because Catullus also explores the complex human emotions regarding friendship, sex, and love, The Poems of Catullus have proven to be a timeless testament to the duality of humankind, embracing emotions that lie between the extremes in the spectrum of feeling. Catering to a contemporary audience, this edition of The Poems of Catullus features a new, eye-catching cover design and is reprinted in a modern font to accompany the timeless exploration of human emotion and the humorous, exciting life events of the influential poet Catullus.
Volume 33 in the Oklahoma Series in Classical Culture, this title provides primary sources on Clodia Metelli, the Roman woman who influenced Cicero, Catullus, and countless others. Hejduk (classics, Baylor U.) provides accessible translations in entirety of the majority of the primary sources, including all classical texts that mention Clodia. The book is presented in three sections; the first gives the context of the woman and the time in which she lived; the second presents sources from Cicero, Catullus, Sallust, Quintilian, and Plutarch; the final offers the legacy of Clodia through Propertius, Tibullus, Ovid, and Martial. This publication contains a helpful glossary of persons and places from the classical world though does not include the original Latin of the primary sources. It is intended for advanced high school or undergraduate students.
The poems of Catullus have notoriously been subjected to numerous accidental corruptions. This work represents a radical reappraisal of his text. It recommends some six hundred changes to the Oxford Text of R.A.B. Mynors; many of these proposals are easily accessible elsewhere, but many are either original or else more or less forgotten. It is suggested here that Catullus' text was also subjected to significant deliberate change, much of it probably dating back to classical antiquity. These changes consist in part of around seventy interpolated lines, often designed to explain or paraphrase what Catullus had written, and in part of modernizations designed to adapt a Republican poet, the near contemporary of Cicero and Lucretius, to the poetical norms of the early Empire. Students of Catullus will certainly wish to take account of the arguments here advanced, even where they find themselves in disagreement with the conclusions.
