History of Classical Scholarship

Autobiographical Contributions in HCS

Lorenzo Calvelli — 2024-06-28

We have decided to welcome the submission of autobiographical pieces, in which the author may reflect on their own intellectual trajectory and the contexts in which they studied and worked: these may take the form of an interview, as is the case with the conversation between Eck and Stefan Rebenich published in this issue, or an essay discussion.

The Descent of Milman: A Darwinian Reading of Parry on the Homeric Formula

R. Drew Griffith — 2024-02-02

The opposition of synchrony to diachrony represents a false dichotomy for understanding Parry’s work, for, like Darwin before him, he sought to reconstruct from the present state of the evidence historical developments (in his case the oral, formulaic style). Since no pre-Homeric Greek was known to him, he used the noun-epithet formulae he found in Homer’s finished text and later that of South Slavic oral song. Many aspects of his work echo what Darwin’s Origin of Species has to say about evolution.

Falsificazioni umanistiche in aree periferiche: un caso dal Veneto

Sofia Piacentin — 2024-02-07

Falsificazioni umanistiche in aree periferiche: un caso dal Veneto

La ricerca esamina un gruppo di falsi epigrafici in lingua latina, trasmessi in forma manoscritta e attribuiti alla città di Arzignano, Vicenza. Si tratta di testi costruiti sull’onomastica di iscrizioni genuine e ispirati da rinvenimenti archeologici locali. L’indagine rivela che questi falsi epigrafici ebbero un ruolo significativo nella costruzione della memoria collettiva di alcuni luoghi del territorio vicentino. In particolare, i testi contribuirono alla costruzione di leggende popolari legate all’esistenza di un’arce del dio Giano ad Arzignano, finalizzata a dar lustro alle origini del paese tra il XIV e il XVI secolo. Infine, l’analisi testuale suggerisce che la diffusione e la conoscenza dei testi classici in età umanistica nella provincia di Vicenza fu notevole, anche grazie al lavoro dei maestri di grammatica, probabili autori di questi falsi.

Humanistic forgeries in peripheral areas: a case from Veneto

This work examines a group of fake Latin inscriptions, recorded by the manuscript tradition, allegedly found in Arzignano, Vicenza, northeastern Italy. These texts were written using names found in genuine inscriptions and were also inspired by local archaeological findings. These inscriptions played a significant role in the making of the collective memory of some places in the Vicenza region. Some of these fakes were used to make up local legends linked to the existence of a fort of the god Janus at Arzignano, which aimed at dignifying the origins of this town, between the XIV and XVI centuries. The textual analysis suggests that the knowledge of the classics in the province of Vicenza, during the age of Humanism, was remarkable, thanks also to the work of grammar teachers, who might have been behind these forgeries.

Composition as Reception: An English Version of Classics

Christopher Stray — 2024-04-23

In eighteenth-century England, a long tradition of free composition in Latin gave way to translation of English texts into Latin or (especially) Greek. This new kind of ‘composition’ became popular in the reformed boarding (‘public’) schools and in the ancient universities; its social foundations lay in the new bourgeois groups thrown up by the industrial revolution, its cultural foundations in the rise of romantic Hellenism. The practice of this kind of composition became characteristic of the shared masculine world of the public schools, the universities, the London clubs and the Inns of Court. The varieties and development of this practice are surveyed, in the hope of encouraging further and more detailed analysis.

Interview von Stefan Rebenich mit Werner Eck am 14. April 2023 in Bergisch Gladbach

Werner Eck — 2024-06-25

Stefan Rebenich führt ein ausführliches Gespräch mit Werner Eck, in dem seine wissenschaftliche Entwicklung breit thematisiert wird — angefangen mit seinem Studium in Erlangen über seine langjährige Tätigkeit an der Universität zu Köln bis in die Gegenwart. Zudem gibt Werner Eck Aufschluss über die ihn wissenschaftlich prägenden Personen, beschreibt seine zahlreichen wissenschaftlichen Verbindungen außerhalb von Deutschland, erinnert an seine größeren Forschungsprojekte und reflektiert über seine Erfahrungen in der Hochschulpolitik.

Stefan Rebenich conducts a long interview with Werner Eck, in which his academic trajectory is discussed in detail — from his studies in Erlangen through his many years of activity at the University of Cologne up to the present day. In addition, Werner Eck provides information about the persons who influenced him academically, describes his numerous academic connections outside Germany, recalls his major research projects, and reflects on his experiences in university politics.

Edith Hamilton [Mis-]Reads Two Unusual Texts: Ps.-Xenophon’s Athenaion Politeia and a Delphic Honorific Inscription

Donald Lateiner — 2024-07-21

Edith Hamilton, America’s mid-century popularizer of classical Greek and Roman cultures, enjoyed a long career as a preparatory school Latin teacher and administrator before publishing her first book The Greek Way at age 62 in 1930 (2^nd expanded edition, 1942). The title embodies her reductionist view of what and who mattered. Disdaining scholarship and most scholars, she introduced pre- and post-World War II generations of Americans to a celebratory view of the Periclean age. Her appealingly (1942) retold tales in Mythology has always remained in print. Her admiration for the celebrity Sir Gilbert Murray, and possible acquaintance with him, encouraged her to depend on his Rise of the Greek Epic (1907/34⁴), especially in her titular essay for the posthumous collection The Ever Present Past (1958/64). There, praise of Athenian culture and “mind” produced mis-readings of Ps.-Xenophon’s crabby journalism, The Constitution of Athens, and a misunderstanding of an honorific inscription at Hellenistic Delphi. Her dedication to individualism, self-reliance, and certain democracies made her useful to the United States State Department in the Cold War. Robert Kennedy quoted her translation of Aeschylus’ Agamemnon with sincere passion. Her star qualities as a public intellectual representing Classics have yet to be replicated.

Van Wageningen, Lindsay and Owen on Housman. With Two Unpublished Letters

Bram van der Velden — 2024-07-30

This article discusses two hitherto unpublished letters sent to J. van Wageningen by W.M. Lindsay and S.G. Owen, in which these scholars comment on the editorial methods of A.E. Housman.

Un «maniaco della tradizione indiretta»? Trattazioni e ritrattazioni di Sebastiano Timpanaro

Anna Zago — 2024-07-30

Dopo una disamina delle principali enunciazioni di Sebastiano Timpanaro a proposito della tradizione indiretta, l’articolo prende in considerazione due casi esemplari (Verg. Aen. 1, 703–704 ed Enn. Ann. spur. 5 Skutsch = 609 Vahlen²) ai quali il filologo si dedicò a più riprese, rivedendo la propria posizione.

After an examination of Sebastiano Timpanaro’s main statements regarding the indirect tradition, this paper considers two exemplary cases (Verg. Aen. 1, 703–704 and Enn. Ann. spur. 5 Skutsch = 609 Vahlen²) to which the philologist devoted his efforts on several occasions and revised his position.

Gli studi lucreziani di Sebastiano Timpanaro

Lisa Piazzi — 2024-08-13

L’articolo ripercorre i principali contributi di argomento lucreziano di Sebastiano Timpanaro, dalle note più brevi dedicate alla discussione di singoli problemi testuali, alla riflessione metodologica sulla stemmatica contenuta ne La genesi del metodo del Lachmann, fino a una più ampia interpretazione del poema a cui Timpanaro giunge nel saggio su Epicuro, Lucrezio e Leopardi, con particolare attenzione al problema del pessimismo lucreziano e della fedeltà di Lucrezio alla dottrina epicurea. In questi contributi l’interesse per Lucrezio si interseca con le principali linee di ricerca di Timpanaro, come la rivalutazione della tradizione indiretta, il rapporto tra critica testuale e interpretazione, l’interesse per Giacomo Leopardi e per il pensiero materialista.

The article deals with the main contributions on Lucretius by Sebastiano Timpanaro, starting from the shorter notes dedicated to the discussion of detailed issues of textual criticism, to the reflection on the philological method contained in The Genesis of Lachmann’s Method, and the general interpretation of the poem to which Timpanaro arrives in the essay on Epicurus, Lucretius and Leopardi, with particular attention to the problem of Lucretian pessimism and Lucretius’ loyalty to the Epicurean doctrine. The article shows many connections between the Lucretian papers and Timpanaro’s main lines of investigation, such as the re-evaluation of the indirect tradition, the relationship between textual criticism and interpretation, and the interest in Giacomo Leopardi and materialist thought.

Classics at Newcastle: An Insider’s Personal Perspective

A.J. Woodman — 2024-08-16

Life in the Department of Classics at Newcastle University in the 1960s and 1970s as experienced by an undergraduate who became a member of staff.

An Unpublished Letter from A. E. Housman on Tibullus, Juvenal and Horace

Maxwell Hardy — 2024-08-22

This note gives the text of a letter drafted by A. E. Housman in reply to an unnamed correspondent, perhaps J. P. Postgate, concerning the textual criticism of four passages in classical Latin poetry: Tibullus 1.1.39–40, 2.1.47–62; Juvenal 12.92; and Horace, Odes 1.35.22.