Customer Reviews

Athenaeus: The Deipnosophists, Volume III, Books 6-7 (Loeb Classical Library No. 224)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Athenaeus lived in the third century A.C. and was born in Naucratis in Egypt. His 'Dipnosophistae' (Banquet of Scholars) is not complete anymore but we have extensive summaries of this work.

There are thirty scholars at the banquet and each tells about a subject which is his speciality. To name a few of these subjects: antiquities (already at that time!),art,literature,gastronomy,etc. One of the main subjects is gastronomy (not something scholars are used to talk about but this is a banquet after all).

In this work are a lot of excerpts from different authors we would not know about without Athenaeus.For instance several poems of Sappho are only known because they are cited in this work of Athenaeus. Another topic is travelling (A hazardous enterprise in those days even on the Roman 'speedways').

In one of those travel stories, a large Roman ship, built for the transport of corn, is described in detail. We read for example about the facilities for the representative of Hiero (Hiero is the owner of the ship and is to busy to travel himself). These facilities were big enough for fifteen places to sleep and was divided in three large cabins. A galley - only for this representative and his family or friends - was located at the stern. Each cabin had a mosaic on the floor showing scenes from the Iliad. (Can you imagine? Such a passenger facility on a cargo ship!).

All this is very interesting but sometimes you have to read twenty tedious pages or more to read finally one interesting page. But to me that one page makes it worthwile to read the other twenty pages.