[HGY]⋙ Libro Free The Satyricon Of Petronius eBook Petronius Alfred R Allinson

The Satyricon Of Petronius eBook Petronius Alfred R Allinson

Download As PDF : The Satyricon Of Petronius eBook Petronius Alfred R Allinson

The Satyricon Of Petronius eBook Petronius Alfred R Allinson

I was very happy to find this edition of the Satyricon, since it was the one I originally read after seeing the Fellini movie in a college film series many years ago. I like the translation ‘s clear yet colorful style. It’s reminiscent of similar work by Robert Graves. Some scholars and classical professors have nominated this work as one of the first books ever to adopt the form of a novel, centuries before works like Pamela and Robinson Crusoe.

It’s an exciting and funny tale which relates the travels of two friends wandering around Ancient Rome and neighboring locales. Along the way, you get a taste of the culture, society, and religious practices of the time, told in an engaging manner which never slows down. The book is often playfully bawdy but never dull! One of my favorite classics and the rare work which also has a decent movie based on it. Thoughtful yet bumbling character Encolpius s is the perfect hero for this epic/ farce hybrid.


Tags : The Satyricon Of Petronius - Kindle edition by Petronius, Alfred R. Allinson. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading The Satyricon Of Petronius.,ebook,Petronius, Alfred R. Allinson,The Satyricon Of Petronius,FICTION Historical,FICTION Classics,FICTION Religious,HISTORY Latin America General,HISTORY Ancient Rome

The Satyricon Of Petronius eBook Petronius Alfred R Allinson Reviews

The Satyricon is an interesting story on many levels. It includes a fascinating look into concepts of friendship and love in Rome, and is one important source we have for views of magic and witchcraft in Rome. The work has a great deal to tell us about Roman society, and perceptions of Roman society despite its satirical nature. Secondly, just as Livy and Virgil tend to draw a great deal from the Illiad, this work draws from the Odyssey but does so in what seems to be intended to be a humorous way. It is also an enjoyable read.

The Apocolocyntosis is a humorous skit mocking the late emperor Claudius's ascent into godhood. The title includes a play on words (if Apotheosis is turning a person into a god, then Apocolocyntosis is turning a person into a gourd or pumpkin). The message seems to be that Claudius was a gambler who was more fit to be remembered for his gambling tools (made of gourd?) than honored as a god. There are subtle elements to this metaphor which are dependent on a good knowledge of the Hellenistic world (such as the widespread cult of Tyche, the goddess of luck).

The translations are easy to read and well put together. This edition also adds insightful introductions and copious end-notes to help the serious student get more out of these works. I would highly recommend it.
That's five stars for the Satyricon of Petronius, not for this particular translation, although the introduction and notes are very good. I have not read any other translation to completion, but from what I have read in the Penguin edition, that translation is better to my tastes. This Oxford World Classics translation attempts to lower the Satyricon to a "hip" colloquialist style that the translator thinks would appeal more to youthful college age readers. To me it came across as a stodgy classics professor trying to act cool. Again, the notes and introduction are very helpful for setting the context of the scenes and explaining some of the satire that would probably not be apparent to the modern reader.

But the genius and charm of the original could shine clearly through even the most inept translation! Satyricon is a Roman novel from the first century A.D. that has come down to us only in fragments. The plot is sort of a mock epic that revolves around a lovers' spat between two youthful male lovers, Encolpius and Acyltus, who fight between themselves over a beautiful slave boy Giton. The work is a unique creation from a wholly different cultural mindset that interweaves a high literary tone with the most bawdy, even pornographic subject matter. Even the fragments draw the most memorable, compelling characters in Trimalchio, the neuveau riche lord, and Eumolpius, the prolific but incompetent poet. Satyricon is truly a gem of world literature, even if a shattered one.

It's possible, very possible, that the fragments of Satyricon that we have form the bulk of the original work, but tantalyzing hints found in ancient sources suggest a vast novel which is largely lost. The pain of this loss can only be compared to those agonizing gaps in the fossil record that may never be revealed, or to the vague hints at wonderous creatures forever beyond our ken, such as the giant teeth of the Meglodon, which in the absence of a complete skeleton leave us only to wonder at how splendid this prodigy of the seas was in life. Thankfully though, enough of the Satyricon survives to bite any reader of taste and discrimination.
I feel that the most often asked question for the contemporary student of the classics or any student is why bother reading this particular work, when you can see the movie. For any student of the novel this work is touted as the first novel written which would probably surprise those students of Henry Fielding. As with all lasting works, this work appeals to the reader. First, historical in its depiction of Roman life at the time of Nero, secondly as a story of youth, while not quite a coming of age story, Encolpius and Giton do smack of the antics of characters and attitudes of Salinger, Kingsleym or Knowles and finally there is a ring of familiarity in this ancient world and our own Trimalchio and the great restauranteurs of the, obsession with sexual matters (the dreaded ED) etc.

While not great in the sense of a Virgil or Horace, it is nevertheless a great yarn.
I was very happy to find this edition of the Satyricon, since it was the one I originally read after seeing the Fellini movie in a college film series many years ago. I like the translation ‘s clear yet colorful style. It’s reminiscent of similar work by Robert Graves. Some scholars and classical professors have nominated this work as one of the first books ever to adopt the form of a novel, centuries before works like Pamela and Robinson Crusoe.

It’s an exciting and funny tale which relates the travels of two friends wandering around Ancient Rome and neighboring locales. Along the way, you get a taste of the culture, society, and religious practices of the time, told in an engaging manner which never slows down. The book is often playfully bawdy but never dull! One of my favorite classics and the rare work which also has a decent movie based on it. Thoughtful yet bumbling character Encolpius s is the perfect hero for this epic/ farce hybrid.