Product Description
Charles Rowan Beye'’s critically acclaimed interpretive introduction to the epic poetry and poets of Ancient Greece, Rome, and Assyria is here reprinted in an expanded second edition with a new preface, new chapter on Gilgamesh, and an Appendix of Further Reading 1993–2005. For centuries the beginnings of the literary history of the West were defined by the Hebrew Bible - —what most people call the Old Testament - and Homer's epic poems, the Iliad and Odyssey. These texts were once naively imagined to have come about in splendid isolation either as a miracle of divine creation or the spontaneous combustion of the '“Greek genius.'” The mighty stream of words down over the millennia to our own time are so many generations of offspring still somehow beholden to their initial begetters. Thus do we construe Western Literature. -from Chapter 8: Gilgamesh

Also available:

The Evolution of the Gilgamesh Epic - ISBN 0865165467
The Epic of Gilgamesh: A Myth Revisited - ISBN 0865165270

For over 30 years Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers has produced the highest quality Latin and ancient Greek books. From Dr. Seuss books in Latin to Plato's Apology, Bolchazy-Carducci's titles help readers learn about ancient Rome and Greece; the Latin and ancient Greek languages are alive and well with titles like Cicero's De Amicitia and Kaegi's Greek Grammar. We also feature a line of contemporary eastern European and WWII books.

Some of the areas we publish in include:

Selections From The Aeneid
Latin Grammar & Pronunciation
Greek Grammar & Pronunciation
Texts Supporting Wheelock's Latin
Classical author workbooks: Vergil, Ovid, Horace, Catullus, Cicero
Vocabulary Cards For AP Selections: Vergil, Ovid, Catullus, Horace
Greek Mythology
Greek Lexicon
Slovak Culture And History ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

An informative and interpretive introduction to classic epic poetry written for readers of all backgrounds
Distinguished Professor of Classics Emeritus Charles Rowan Beye presents Ancient Epic Poetry: Homer, Apollonius, Virgil With A Chapter On The Gilgamesh Poems, an informative and interpretive introduction to classic epic poetry written for readers of all backgrounds including students, non-specialists, and scholars. Now in an expanded second edition with a new preface, a new chapter about the mythic figure of Gilgamesh, and an updated appendix of further reading, Ancient Epic Poetry familiarizes readers with history, tradition, backgrounds, philosophies, and much more pertinent to a more thorough understanding of ancient epic works. Highly recommended, especially for college library and classical poetry reference and literary criticism shelves.
... Read more

Product Description
Written by eminent scholar David O. Ross, this guide helps readers to engage with the poetry, thought, and background of Virgil’s great epic, suggesting both the depth and the beauty of Virgil’s poetic images and the mental images with which the Romans lived.

• Guides readers through the complexity of Virgil’s poetic style and imagery
  
• All extracts are translated, with original Latin given when necessary
  
• Provides useful historical and social context in which to understand the poem as it was viewed in its time
  
• Includes short introductions to important topics such as Roman religion and the Roman concept of ‘character’
  
• Features a helpful appendix which clarifies how to read and hear the poem's Latin hexameter

Customer Reviews (1)

Incredible
I'm a big Virgil Finlay fan and this is a great comprehensive collection of his art. Not only are his drawing incredibly detailed and precisely drawn, the subject matter from which he draws inspiration is something I enjoy very much as well.
The printing of the book could have been done on a little thicker paper for increased opacity but serves it's purpose.
This is a great coffee table book. One to pick up and contemplate a single piece or the entire collection. ... Read more

Product Description
The book has no illustrations or index. Purchasers are entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Subjects: Poetry / General; ... Read more

Product Description
In a time of increasing cultural pluralism and vast religious restructuring in the United States, Christian social ethics must take account of how values and commitments shape Christian communities. In Public Worship and Public Work Christian Scharen examines theological claims about the relationship of worship and ethics by means of ethnographic study of the life, worship, and work of three vibrant congregations.

Public Worship and Public Work moves beyond two caricatures of the relationship between worship and social ethics. Rather than resolute portrayals of the Church as a reflection of its culture and context and causal accounts of the Church’s liturgy forming a Christian witness over and against culture, this book lifts up congregational identity as an area of dynamic interaction between worship, social ethics, and culture.

Chapters in Part One are "Liturgy and Social Ethics: Characterizing a Debate," and "Sociologizing the Debate: Identity, Ritual, and Public Commitment." Chapters in Part Two, Three Case Studies in Atlanta’s Old Downtown are " ‘People Living Church’: The Catholic Shrine of the Immaculate Conception," "’Jesus Saves’: Big Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church,’" and "’The Church at Work’: Central Presbyterian Church.’ " Part Three concludes with "The World in the Church in the World." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Reviewed by Jacqueline WENGER, The Catholic University of America
This review was written by Jacqueline WENGER, The Catholic University of America, in Catholic Books Review and I hope it is helpful to you in learning more about my book.

"In Public Work and Public Worship Christian Scharen examines how participation in church liturgy shapes people for service to the larger world. Scharen is interested in promoting a better understanding of the public role of the church from both a theological and sociological perspective. He rejects a simple linear model of the relationship between public worship and social ethics, common in contemporary discussions of liturgy and ethics, that people are formed in Christian-likeness by their worship and bring this re-formed self directly into the public realm through acts of justice and service. Scharen argues that the relationship between worship and service is considerably more complex. He believes that the connection between liturgy and service is greatly influenced by the unique conditions of each congregation and its surrounding environment. The type and intensity of a congregation's connection with the "world" will be strongly guided by its history, its leadership, and its perception of its identity.

Following an informative review of the literature in ritual and moral formation, Scharen presents in-depth studies of three Christian congregations, all located in urban Atlanta. He selects these churches not because they are representative of congregations in general but because they provide good examples of the identity issues that he finds so crucial to how congregations connect with their communities. The Catholic Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Big Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, and Central Presbyterian Church differ in their denominational affiliation, their polity and hierarchy, and their membership. They are alike in that each had its beginning in downtown Atlanta before the exodus to the suburbs changed the shape of this and many other cities. They are alike, as well, because despite the struggle for survival in membership and finances each church made a decision to remain in Atlanta and to adjust itself to the realities of a changing community. Each congregation has a conscious public service agenda that is significant part of its church identity and each highly values its worship and liturgy.

Scharen does a masterful job of making each of these churches come alive so that the flavor, the harmony, and the tensions help the reader comprehend each congregation's unique sense of identity. At the Shrine conflicts and discomfort with the pastor's outreach to the gay community drive some congregants away but cause others to find the vital connections between worship and inclusion. Big Bethel's spirited preaching and music requires a constant balancing of the lively and the staid to meet the members' wide range of expectations but the message is always uplifting and the outreach focused on self-empowerment. Central is proud of its history as The Church That Stayed (the title of a book about the congregation published in 1979) but recognize that their outreach ministries must address current needs not just rest on history. The introduction by the pastor of more liturgy into their worship has caused unease, but not unrest, for some parishioners. The differences among the three congregations in history, liturgy and worship, membership, and vision for community service are dramatically portrayed. The interconnectedness of these factors makes each congregation unique and, consequently, each envisions and implements its community outreach in very different ways.

Having successfully demonstrated the complexities of the relationship between worship and service, Scharen analyzes the linear model of liturgy and public service in light of his findings. He then proposes a more comprehensive "interactive model" for understanding the role of community identity in connecting worship and public service. He proposes a model that includes a congregation's view of "who we are" and "how it should be done" (p.222). A graphic depiction of his model (p.223) provides a succinct description of the ongoing influences of both worship and identity on the public service that evolves from the Christian community.

This is a helpful book which adds thought-provoking insight into the way churches, and people in churches, involve themselves in the community. Worship is not discarded here in favor of social influences but rather is viewed as affecting people in the midst of and in conjunction with the many conditions that influence human beings "in the world." The examination of these complexities and the resulting model for study are useful additions to how we view the connection between liturgy and ethics. The descriptions of the congregations are compelling works in themselves." ... Read more

Product Description
Perhaps the oddest and most influential collaboration in the history of American modernism was hatched in 1926, when a young Virgil Thomson knocked on Gertrude Stein's door in Paris. Eight years later, their opera Four Saints in Three Acts became a sensation--the longest-running opera in Broadway history to date and the most widely reported cultural event of its time. Prepare for Saints is Steven Watson's brilliant and absorbing account of how that revolutionary opera was born.Amazon.com Review
This crisp and accessible work offers both a penetratingreconstruction of the 1934 American productions of Gertrude Stein andVirgil Thomson's modernist opera Four Saints in Three Acts anda delightful study of an unprecedented artisticcollaboration--involving not only Stein and Thomson, but a large castof supporting characters. From arbiters of taste like Carl Van Vechtento the society hostess Mabel Dodge Luhan to the plucky, well-connectedband of Harvard-trained art professionals who eventually set "thecourse of 'official' modernist culture in America's most prestigiousinstitutions for nearly half a century," Steven Watson tracks theimprobable development of an audience for a quintessentially Americanopera that happened to be set in Spain, peopled by nuns and saints,and staged with an all-black cast performing an incoherent story infront of combustible sets. Along the way, Watson illuminates thelarger history of modernism in Paris and New York between the wars, aswell as many smaller histories, like the growth of museums in Americaand the influence of high bohemia on the worlds of fashion and design.--Regina Marler ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Fascinating cultural history
I came to this book hoping to learn about the creation and production of Stein's opera, and I was not disappointed. I thought the book delivered that information, and more.Watson writes well, and he tells a fascinating story of the complicated network of interpersonal relationships that were finally led this unlikely opera into production.I think Watson understands the nature of Stein's as well as anybody, although the focus of the book was not on the way the opera was written.He manages to express the way that all the participants were inspired by Stein's words in different ways, the "miracle" of their all having "to create and all of them did."

Opera is used as a hook for a less saleable topic
This is a meandering, disappointing, misleadingly titled book. Clearly the author wanted to write a book about the Harvard modernists and their era, including exploring "Negro chic" and the homosexual culture ofthe period. This would be a harder sell as a mass-circulation book, andhence the device of recruiting FOUR SAINTS as a distillation of the worldhe is interested in.

But the result is that one does not get enough ofanything, and too much of what you didn't buy the book for. Chick Austin,Muriel Draper, and the others may have provided physical settings relevantto the gestation of FOUR SAINTS, but they did not CREATE the piece. Assuch, the lingering over their particular biographies is excessive in abook purportedly devoted to the birth of the opera. Too often we get listsof celebrities present at this gathering or another, complete with fawningdescriptions of what they were wearing and how they decorated their rooms-- but this stems from a fan's love of a period, not a chronicling of FOURSAINTS itself.

Thus while we read through elegant page after page gushingabout Mrs. Harrison Williams and Lucius Beebe, by the end we have littleidea of what went on on stage in the opera, what more than a few of thelyrics were, or how the music sounded. If it is vital for us to know howJulien Levy founded his art gallery blow by blow, why so little info onblack theatre in New York before and after FOUR SAINTS? Why spend aparagraph following up on, say, Alfred Barr after SAINTS but only briefmention of what happened to any of the SAINTS cast members? This is a bookabout art museums mispackaged as one about the theatre.

This book is abit of a cynical hoax. You can just feel the editor "shaping" abook about largely forgotten arts administrators and critics, the partiesthey went to, who they slept with, and how openly, via hanging it all on anopera which fascinates in legend because of combining a black cast withGertrude Stein's lyrics. In the end, this book is a collection ofwell-written personality sketches of pictorial artists and their patrons.The author clearly has but subsidiary interest in music or theatre -- fatalin a book purporting to be about an opera.

More gossip than information
For those who know little or nothing about the Gertrude Stein/Virgil Thompson opera "Four Saints in Three Acts," this book will provide some basic information.Those searching for any kind of in depthanalysis either of the libretto or the music will be disappointed, as Iwas.Long on the sexual preferences of the members of the 1930's modernistelite, short on any discussion of a landmark work of art.Listen to theoriginal cast album instead. ... Read more

Product Description
Fated to be an exile, a hero must roam the world to follow his destiny. The city of Troy has fallen. Only a few of its citizens remain. The brave hero Aeneas must save his family and escape before the invading Greeks murder them all. But he is cursed by Juno, Queen of Heaven. Chasing him across the seas, the revenging goddess summons up every torment in her powers to destroy him. Can Aeneas survive to fulfil his destiny and create the proud city of Rome? Or will the charms of the beautiful Dido tempt him to abandon this great task? ... Read more

Product Description
* Contains text for X.420-509 and XII.791-842, 887-952
* Introduction for each section
* Notes and vocabulary on same pages
* Complete vocabulary in back

For over 30 years Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers has produced the highest quality Latin and ancient Greek books. From Dr. Seuss books in Latin to Plato's Apology, Bolchazy-Carducci's titles help readers learn about ancient Rome and Greece; the Latin and ancient Greek languages are alive and well with titles like Cicero's De Amicitia and Kaegi's Greek Grammar. We also feature a line of contemporary eastern European and WWII books.

Some of the areas we publish in include:

Selections From The Aeneid
Latin Grammar & Pronunciation
Greek Grammar & Pronunciation
Texts Supporting Wheelock's Latin
Classical author workbooks: Vergil, Ovid, Horace, Catullus, Cicero
Vocabulary Cards For AP Selections: Vergil, Ovid, Catullus, Horace
Greek Mythology
Greek Lexicon
Slovak Culture And History ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

more vocab
Boyd produces a good product, I just wish she would have taken a few more pages and included the vocab which she omits.When students have to refer to 3 different vocabulary lists (Pharr 13 - 24, Pharr 25 and over, and her glossary) it makes translating a much more tedious process.

A must have for AP Latin
This small paperback is intended to be a supplement to Pharr's textbook covering books 1-6 of the Aeneid.It includes those passages from Books 10 and 12 that are now included on the Advanced Placement Exam for High schoolseniors.Pallas' death,Hercules' appeal to Zeus to spare Pallas' lifeand the Final battle between Aeneas and Turnus are included. The pages areset up like Pharr's Aeneid with rarely seen vocabulary on the same page asthe text.All of these words are also in a dictionary in the back. Readers who do not know basic vocabulary well with need to use this bookwith Pharr's book or a good dictionary. This is a must have for anyoneteaching the new Advanced Placement syllabus.Figures of speech areincluded in the book as well. ... Read more

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Edited with Introduction, Notes and Vocabulary by E. C. Kennedy & A. R. Davis ... Read more

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This beginner's method presents clear, concise instruction for learning to play the traditional three-stringed mountain dulcimer. Thirty-eight songs are taught with notation and fret numbers for each note. Chord symbols are also included for playing with guitar, banjo, or another chording instrument. Melody playing with drones and basic chord playing are both taught. Lyrics are included with the songs for added fun. From the time this text was first published, it has been a steady best seller. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

great
Thank you for these two books.My friend and I will enjoy learning to play the dulcimer.

Great starting guide
Mel Bay produces vast numbers of how to guides and songbooks for myriad instruments.This little book makes it easy to pick up a dulcimer and start playing old time and other familiar songs, even if you have never played before.That's what Mel Bay does best:get us started. ... Read more

Product Description
In "Aeneid II" Aeneas relates to Dido his own experiences of the final sack of Troy, the treachery of Sinon, the awful fate of Laocoon and the mayhem that follows once the Greek warriors descend from the Wooden Horse. Aeneas loses campanions attempting to defend Cassandra, witnesses the death of Polites and Priam at the hands of Pyrrhus, and, restrained from killing Helen by the intervention of his divine mother Venus, makes his escape from Troy with his father and son.
All the main elements of the "Ilioupersis" (sack of Troy) are included in vivid narrative. Book II contains some of the best Latin poetry ever written and thus makes an ideal introduction to the "Aeneid." This edition aims to provide students with help in translation without overwhelming them with intricate details of grammar and syntax. At the same time it encourages them to consider the sound of the poetry and appreciate the emotional impact of the story as Virgil portrays it. The edition includes general introduction, select bibliography, notes and full vocabulary; appendices deal with metre and scansion. ... Read more

Product Description
1909. Edited by Charles W. Eliot. Contents: Introduction; Dedication of John Dryden; Books 1-12 of the Aeneis; Postscript. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

This review is for the kindle edition
The book has a lot of great issue and you can't beat it for the price. Before each chapter it has comments by professors, ect about opinions of the work.This edition is worth it for that alone.I read the hardback version (Fagels) but at the begining of each book read the comments in this.This book has the actual work of Virgil, that follows each comment but is is formatted, as all poetry that I have come across on Kindle, with odd page line breaks and large gaps in between words in seemily random places.This doesn't affect meaning in reading, but since I had another edition, I usually read the commentary in this, then the books in Fagles, if I didn't have the hardback with me, I read it on kindle without difficulty.It is just a preference.This book, on Kindle can stand on it's own as a good read (if the white space doesn't bother you) and for a dollar is a great investment just for the commentary. ... Read more

Product Description
This work provides a guide both to the key problems and to important discussions in the study of Virgil's work. It is intended to be of use to graduate students and university teachers. Many of the issues are difficult and artificial simplifications seem to offer no advantages. Apart from ample discussion of the poems and the main issues they raise, the book offers chapters examining topics such as the life of Virgil, his style, and his influence on late Latin epic and on Latin life and culture. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Useful, but terribly written
A useful guide to the whole of Virgil's corpus, but it is painful to read. In the second sentence of the Introduction, for example, we are told that "G. and Aen. in particular have become ... battlefields." Of course the author means the Georgics and the Aeneid, but the Short Title list appears AFTER the Introduction. For the sake of the reader, should not the FIRST use of a title be the "long" one?
Consider also the prose-style. Although it is not impenetrable, one wonders whether its worth the effort getting into:
"The question can perhaps be answered better at the end of the poem, but it may prove helpful to air it at the outset, in as much as the poet seems, if (conventional or traditional) critics have read the text's explicit rhetoric in lines (say) 1-296 with some degree of insight and understanding, to have been exceptionally generous with his indications of the levels at which he proposes to write and the manner in which he wishes -- or so it would appear -- to be understood."
The next sentence is worse still: "If that remark is in itself now, in some eyes, a critical fallacy, then I can only say that here I am writing about what I (and the scholars I cite) have seen and heard in the prooemium."

A somewhat annoying companion
This book may be of value to someone who really knows Virgil and Virgilian scholarship, but Horsfall's style is so idiosyncratic, and his approach so random, that students and other intermediate readers are best warned off. Ideas are presented, or hinted at, in sentences or sentence fragments overflowing with parentheses, exclamation points, question marks, footnotes, and cross-references. The text is poorly edited and in places doesn't make any sense at all. Overall, one gets the impression that Horsfall (who wrote most of the book, and translated two chapters from Italian into his own idiom) is a brilliant scholar who welcomes us into his brain but really can't be bothered tidying up before we come in.
... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

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Product Description
These two volumes provide a commentary, with text, on Virgil's Georgics, a poem in four books probably written between 35 and 29 BC. The introduction, in Volume 1, treats the poem's historical background and its relationship to the early years of Augustan Rome, Virgil's use of prior literary material, his stylistic and metrical expertise, and questions of poetic structure. There is also a section interpreting the poem in light of recent scholarship, which seeks to consider the poem as part of the broad unity of Virgil's career, rather than from a narrow didactic approach. A new Latin text of the poem is followed by extensive line-by-line commentary, explaining difficult passages, interpreting poetic intent, and tracing the influence ofVirgil's Greek and Roman antecedents. A subject index and indexes of important Greek and Latin words conclude each volume. ... Read more