Ancient Greek Literary Letters

The only major work of its kind on Greek epistolography, this book examines short selections of fictional letters, and excerpts from histories, epics and novels, from the second and third centuries CE; the so-called 'Golden Age' of prose epistolography.Arranged chronologically, with introductory sections for each time period, this book studies a wide range of writers, genres and literary levels, and analyzes love letters, philosophical letters, historical novels in letters, sketches of rural life, sketches of courtesan life, and comic letters among many more.Well-respected author Patricia A. Rosenmeyer has selected a highly entertaining selection, which include translation of previously inaccessible or untranslated works , and deftly opens up a neglected area of study to provide an enjoyable and central study text for students of Greek epistolography.

 

Introduction 1. Classical Greek Literary Letters Introduction Euripides Herodotus Thucydides Xenophon 2. Hellenistic Literary Letters Introduction Antiphanes The Greek Anthology Anacreontea 3. Letters and Prose Fictions of the Second Sophistic Introduction Lucian Phlegon of Tralleis Chariton Achilles Tatius Apollonius King of Tyre 4. The Epistolary Novella Introduction Chion of Heraclea The Letters of Themistocles 5. Pseudo-historical Letter Collections of the Second Sophistic Introduction Aeschines Anacharsis Apollonius of Tyana Demosthenes Diogenes Hippocrates Isocrates Plato Socrates and the Socratics The Sages: Solon and Thales Invented Correspondences, Imaginary Voices Introduction Aelian Alciphron Philostratus Bibliography