1698 Roman Flaccus Greek Mythology Jason Argonauts

1698 Roman Flaccus Greek Mythology Jason Argonauts

Extremely Rare & Valuable Historia argonautarum

This is a wonderful and rare offering of the following work written in Latin & Greek

Main author: Valerius Flaccus, Gaius, 1st cent.

Title details: Historia argonautarum : seu ad vellus aureum expeditio et de navigationis origine, cum variorum eruditorum notis.

[ Argonautica ]

Published: Parisiis : Carolum Osmont, 1698.

Physical desc.: 4, [8], 396 p. ; 18 cm.

Notes: Includes notes on the text by Louis Carrion, Andreas Schottus, and Laurentius Balbus.

In part an imitation or translation of Apollonius Rhodius.

Contents: Carmina Apollonii quae Valerius aut pene ad verbum transtulit ad ingeniose est imitatus (Latin & Greek).--In laudem Laurentii Balbi Liliensis poetae a c oratoris clarissimi / Constantini Fontii Silva.

Subject: Argonauts (Greek mythology)

Other names: Apollonius, Rhodius.

Carrion, Louis, 1547-1595.

Schottus, Andreas, 1552-1629.

Balbus, Laurentius.

Language: Latin

This is a wonderful volume with fantastic contents and would make a great addition to any collection. I have recently been so pleased by hearing how much my books have been delightful gifts for others. Therefore, I encourage you to think ahead…Anniversary, Birthday, Father’s Day, Mother’s Day, or any other special occasion! As a book lover there is not much I would rather receive as a gift. This is one of several such works I am listing, so be sure to check out my other listings.

I have included a biography at the end of the listing for those interested.

Wear:  some slight darkening and wear to the ancient vellum binding in places as seen in the photos; some loss of vellum material at the bottom of the spine; very attractive appearance with gold gilt design; see photos

Binding: tight and secure vellum binding

Pages: complete with all 396 pages plus indexes, prefaces, and such; generally free from markings or foxing

Publisher: Parisiis : Carolum Osmont, 1698.

Unique features:  rare and excellent contents; ~7in X 4.5in

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I am not using a reserve price and hope that whoever wins considers this a treasure. Thanks again and happy bidding!

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Gaius Valerius Flaccus (died ca AD 90) was a Roman poet who flourished in the "Silver Age" under the emperors Vespasian and Titus and wrote a Latin Argonautica that owes a great deal to Apollonius of Rhodes' more famous epic.

He has been identified on insufficient grounds with a poet friend of Martial (1.61.76), a native of Padua, and in needy circumstances; but as he was a member of the College of Fifteen, who had charge of the Sibylline books (1.5), he must have been well off. The subscription of the Vatican manuscript, which adds the name Setinus Balbus, points to his having been a native of Setia in Latium. The only ancient writer who mentions him is Quintilian (10.1.90), who laments his recent death as a great loss; as Quintilian's work was finished about 90 AD, this gives a limit for the death of Flaccus.

His only surviving work, the Argonautica, dedicated to Vespasian on his setting out for Britain, was written during the siege, or shortly after the capture, of Jerusalem by Titus in 70 AD. As the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD is alluded to, its composition must have occupied him a long time. The Argonautica is an epic poem probably intended to be in eight books (though intended totals of ten and twelve books, the latter corresponding to Virgil's "Aeneid", an important poetic model, have also been proposed) written in traditional dactylic hexameters, which recounts Jason's quest for the Golden Fleece. The poem's text, as it has survived, is in a very corrupt state; it ends so abruptly with the request of Medea to accompany Jason on his homeward voyage, that it is assumed by most modern scholars[1] that it was never finished. It is a free imitation and in parts a translation of the Argonautica of Apollonius of Rhodes, "to whom he is superior in arrangement, vividness, and description of character" (Loeb Classical Library). The familiar subject had already been treated in Latin verse in the popular version of Varro Atacinus. The object of the work has been described as the glorification of Vespasian's achievements in securing Roman rule in Britain and opening up the ocean to navigation (as the Euxine was opened up by the Argo).

In 1911, the compilers of Encyclopaedia Britannica remarked, "Various estimates have been formed of the genius of Flaccus, and some critics have ranked him above his original, to whom he certainly is superior in liveliness of description and delineation of character. His diction is pure, his style correct, his versification smooth though monotonous. On the other hand, he is wholly without originality, and his poetry, though free from glaring defects, is artificial and elaborately dull. His model in language was Virgil, to whom he is far inferior in taste and lucidity. His tiresome display of learning, rhetorical exaggeration and ornamentations make him difficult to read, which no doubt accounts for his unpopularity in ancient times."

The first printed edition was in 1474. Increased interest in the last decades has resulted in a full-length general introduction,[2] two new editions, in 1997 (Liberman) and 2003, and commentaries by H.J.W. Wijsman, 1996 (Book V) and 2000 (Book VI), F. Spaltenstein, 2002 (Books I and II), and Adrianus Jan Kleywegt, 2005 (Book I)[3] which attempts to amend the faulty text.

Flaccus also appears as a recurring character in Caroline Lawrence's Roman Mysteries series of children's novels.[4] In the television adaptations he is played by British actor Ben Lloyd-Hughes.

In Greek mythology, the Argonauts (Ancient Greek: Αργοναύται) were a band of heroes who, in the years before the Trojan War, accompanied Jason to Colchis (modern day Georgia) in his quest to find the Golden Fleece. Their name comes from their ship, the Argo, which was named after its builder, Argus. "Argonauts", therefore, literally means "Argo sailors". They were sometimes called Minyans, after a prehistoric tribe of the area.

Contents [hide]

1 Story

2 The crew of the Argo

3 Spoken-word myths — audio files

4 The Argonauts in literature

5 The Argonauts on film

6 The Argonauts on radio

7 See also

8 External links

9 Sources

[edit] Story

After the death of King Cretheus, the Aeolian Pelias usurped the Iolcan throne from his half-brother Aeson and became king of Iolcus in Thessaly (near the modern city of Volos). Because of this unlawful act, an oracle warned him that a descendant of Aeolus would seek revenge. Pelias put to death every prominent descendant of Aeolus he could, but spared Aeson because of the pleas of their mother Tyro. Instead, Pelias kept Aeson prisoner and forced him to renounce his inheritance. Aeson married Alcimede, who bore him a son named Diomedes. Pelias intended to kill the baby at once, but Alcimede summoned her kinswomen to weep over him as if he were stillborn. She faked a burial and smuggled the baby to Mount Pelion. He was raised by the centaur Chiron, who changed the boy's name to Jason.

When Jason was 20 years old, an oracle ordered him to dress as a Magnesian and head to the Iolcan court. While traveling Jason lost his sandal crossing the muddy Anavros river while helping an old woman (Hera in disguise) ford. The goddess was angry with King Pelias for killing his stepmother Sidero after she had sought refuge in Hera's temple.

Another oracle warned Pelias to be on his guard against a man with one shoe. Pelias was presiding over a sacrifice to Poseidon with several neighboring kings in attendance. Among the crowd stood a tall youth in leopard skin with only one sandal. Pelias recognized that Jason was his cousin. He could not kill him because prominent kings of the Aeolian family were persent. Instead, he asked Jason: "What would you do if an oracle announced that one of your fellow-citizens were destined to kill you?". Jason replied that he would send him to go and fetch the Golden Fleece, not knowing that Hera had put those words in his mouth.

Jason learned later that Pelias was being haunted by the ghost of Phrixus. Phrixus had fled from Orchomenus riding on a divine ram to avoid being sacrificed and took refuge in Colchis where he was later denied proper burial. According to an oracle, Iolcus would never prosper unless his ghost was taken back in a ship, together with the golden ram's fleece. This fleece now hung from a tree in the grove of the Colchian Ares, guarded night and day by a dragon that never slept. Pelias swore before Zeus that he would give up the throne at Jason's return while expecting that Jason's attempt to steal the Golden Fleece would be a fatal enterprise. However, Hera acted in Jason's favour during the perilous journey.

Jason was accompanied by some of the principal heroes of ancient Greece. The number of Argonauts varies, but usually totals between 40 and 55; traditional versions of the story place their number at 50.

Some have hypothesized that the legend of the Golden Fleece was based on a practice of the Black Sea tribes; they would place a lamb's fleece at the bottom of a stream to entrap gold dust being washed down from upstream. This practice was still in use in recent times, particularly in the Svaneti region of Georgia.

[edit] The crew of the Argo

There is no definite list of Argonauts. Many Greeks would claim their ancestors were Argonauts, and there were too many named for them all to be accurate. The following list is no more than an educated guess.

The Argonauts (Jason and Medea are sometimes not counted) were:

Acastus

Admetus

Aethalides

Amphion

Ancaeus

Argus

Ascalaphus

Atalanta (others claim Jason forbade her because she was a woman)

Autolycus

Bellerophon

Butes

Calais

Canthus

Castor

Cytissorus

Echion

Erginus

Euphemus

Euryalus

Heracles/Hercules

Hylas

Idas

Idmon

Iolaus

Iphitos

Jason

Laertes

Lynceus

Medea

Melas

Meleager

Mopsus

Nestor

Oedipus

Oileus

Orpheus

Palaemon

Palaimonius

Patroclus

Peleus

Philoctetes

Phrontis

Poeas

Polydeuces (or Pollux)

Polyphemos (Eilatos' son, who fought with the Lapiths against the Centaurs)

Poriclymenus

Talaus

Telamon

Tiphys

Zetes

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