Lyric Addresses to Ancient and New Gods

Mesomedes, Proems - Hymns - Prayers

edited by Sara Lanna and introduction by Richard L. Gordon, Egert Pohlmann and Oliver Schelske

Book cover: Lyric Addresses to Ancient and New Gods

Extent: 310 pages

Publisher: Mohr Siebeck

Subjects: Classical Studies, Literary Studies

Series: Scripta Antiquitatis Posterioris ad Ethicam REligionemque pertinentia

Series volume number: 45

Language: English

Hardback (Published)

(February 2025)

ISBN: 9783161540202

6.02 x 9.17 inches

Price: $174.00

Out of stock

Between 100 and 160 AD, Mesomedes, a Cretan court musician to Hadrian and Antoninus Pius, wrote several short lyric poems. This volume presents six of these texts, namely addresses, hymns and prayers to gods, Greek traditional divinities and “new” gods. Apart from a new edition of the Greek text, it also contains a fresh, annotated translation into English and Italian. Furthermore, the contributors provide essays offering diverse perspectives on these texts and their author, aiming to reveal characteristic aspects of a certain cultural and religious climate that developed in the Roman Empire from the second century AD onward.

  • Introduction by Richard L Gordon
  • Introduction by Egert Pohlmann
  • Introduction by Oliver Schelske
  • Edited by Sara Lanna