Project MUSE®: Acta Classica - Latest Articles
https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/759
Project MUSE®: Latest articles in Acta Classica.daily12026-05-16T00:00:00-05:00text/htmlen-USVol. 61 (2018) through current issueLatest Articles: Acta ClassicaTWOProject MUSE®Acta Classica2227-538X0065-1141Latest articles in Acta Classica. Feed provided by Project MUSE®Isidore of Seville on the Course of the Nile
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/982874
<p></p>
The Etymologiae or Origines of Isidore (c. 560–636 CE), the bishop of Seville, provides an explanation of the meaning of thousands upon thousands of Latin words and names on the basis of their roots and origins.1 It is a veritable encyclopaedia arranged thematically rather than alphabetically. It was, moreover, at once a distillation of Antiquity’s common stock of knowledge and the standard reference work on practically every subject throughout the Latin Middle Ages.2 As a consequence, there is a great deal riding on Isidore’s accuracy and reliability in conveying the information he offers. On the whole, Isidore shows himself to be a trustworthy reporter, meticulously copying the data he gleaned from recognizable
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/982883">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-16T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/759/image/coversmallIsidore of Seville on the Course of the Nile2026-02-08text/htmlen-USIsidore of Seville on the Course of the Nile2026-02-082026TWOProject MUSE®755912026-05-16T00:00:00-05:002026-02-08Cimon and Pericles: Authority and/or dominance in democratic Athens
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/982875
<p></p>
In memory of P.J. RhodesWe focus here on two famous Athenians, Cimon and Pericles, who have much in common in spite of the differences that are marked in the sources and in the literature. They belonged, according to historical tradition, to opposing political currents. Cimon is considered a leader of the aristocracy, Pericles a democratic leader. Their role in Athenian politics was so great that in the literature we frequently find such terms as the ‘Cimonian Era’ and ‘Periсles’ Golden Age’. In any case, we can discuss the political direction led (or even pursued) by Cimon and Pericles. The period of Cimon’s and Pericles’ dominance (though interrupted from time to time) covers most of the fifth century, from the
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/982883">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-16T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/759/image/coversmallCimon and Pericles: Authority and/or dominance in democratic Athens2026-02-08text/htmlen-USCimon and Pericles: Authority and/or dominance in democratic Athens2026-02-082026TWOProject MUSE®1017032026-05-16T00:00:00-05:002026-02-08The fragmentary interpretation of Heliodorus’ Aethiopica attributed to ‘Philip the Philosopher’: The topographical evidence
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/982876
<p></p>
The identity and the date of the author of this fragmentary text are disputed.1 In 1908 Oldfather argued that the author was an unknown late Neoplatonic philosopher, who wanted to pass his work off as that of Philip of Opus (Φίλιππος ὁ Ὀπούντιος), also known as Philip of Medma (a place about 50 km north of Rhegion in Calabria in southern Italy), the fourth century BCE disciple of Plato (Diog. Laert. 3.46), the copyist of the Laws, and the author of the Epinomis, Περὶ ἔρωτος, and other works (Diog. Laert. 3.37; Suda s.v. φιλόσοφος).2In 1937 Von Fritz argued that this theory was unsubstantiated, not least because he did not believe that the author would have cited 1 Cor. 3.13–15 and the Song of Solomon 1.3 if he had
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/982883">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-16T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/759/image/coversmallThe fragmentary interpretation of Heliodorus’ Aethiopica attributed to ‘Philip the Philosopher’: The topographical evidence2026-02-08text/htmlen-USThe fragmentary interpretation of Heliodorus’ Aethiopica attributed to ‘Philip the Philosopher’: The topographical evidence2026-02-082026TWOProject MUSE®590892026-05-16T00:00:00-05:002026-02-08Observations on Ovid’s Metamorphoses I
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/982877
<p></p>
Luck has revived the variant effugito cited by Heinsius from his manuscripts. The elision that this produces is paralleled at Rem. am. 682; Ars am. 1.225, and Pont. 1.2.96. His argument is that effugio in the sense of ‘avoid’ is unparalleled when the subject is a geographical feature and that hac sit iter should correspond with via.1 In fact the two correspond already, so this leaves only the sense of effugio, but there are more reasons to give to bolster this argument. The verb effugio and the adjective contentus are most regularly used for people. Here they are used for a path, but there is as little rhetorical reason to give the path Phaethon is to take human qualities as there is every reason to give the
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/982883">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-16T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/759/image/coversmallObservations on Ovid’s Metamorphoses I2026-02-08text/htmlen-USObservations on Ovid’s Metamorphoses I2026-02-082026TWOProject MUSE®906152026-05-16T00:00:00-05:002026-02-08Senecan Atreus and Shakespearean Aaron as intratextual doubles of the poet
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/982878
<p></p>
Betrayal, lust for power, death, and revenge are some of the main themes in Shakespeare’s tragedies. The main characters are overwhelmed by their passions and often assume the role of an ‘actor’, ‘director’ and ‘playwright’ within the play; in other words, they acquire a metadramatic or metatheatrical role. The term metadrama can delineate more precisely the conscious action of the characters within a plot conceived by another character in the play.1 The actors on stage, adopting a stage persona, assume the role of the story maker by composing a secondary play, a subplot into the already existing plot, through machinations and fraud.2In order to achieve the aforementioned goal, the dramatist uses five strategies:
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/982883">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-16T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/759/image/coversmallSenecan Atreus and Shakespearean Aaron as intratextual doubles of the poet2026-02-08text/htmlen-USSenecan Atreus and Shakespearean Aaron as intratextual doubles of the poet2026-02-082026TWOProject MUSE®1409712026-05-16T00:00:00-05:002026-02-08Cornelius Nepos über die Jugendsünden des Alcibiades und seine Verhältnis zu Catull: Karl Nipperdeys vergessene Konjektur zu Nep. Alc. 2.3
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/982879
<p></p>
Wie so viele andere Emendationen der altphilologischen Wissenschaftsgeschichte ist auch eine Konjektur zum zweiten Kapitel der Alcibiades-Vita aus der Sammlung De uiris illustribus des Cornelius Nepos, die Karl Nipperdey im Jahre 1846 vorgeschlagen hat, mitsamt ihrer scharfsinnigen Begründung1 inzwischen weitgehend in Vergessenheit geraten, um lediglich noch im Schatten der Apparate ein ebensolches Dasein zu fristen: Weder der Überarbeiter von Nipperdeys Kommentar, Kurt Witte, noch die Herausgeber der maßgeblichen kritischen Editionen, Eric Otto Winstedt, Anne-Marie Guillemin, Enrica Malcovati und Peter Kenneth Marshall, sind seiner ingeniösen Änderung des überlieferten odiosa2 zu einem von licitum est abhängigen
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/982883">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-16T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/759/image/coversmallCornelius Nepos über die Jugendsünden des Alcibiades und seine Verhältnis zu Catull: Karl Nipperdeys vergessene Konjektur zu Nep. Alc. 2.32026-02-08text/htmlen-USCornelius Nepos über die Jugendsünden des Alcibiades und seine Verhältnis zu Catull: Karl Nipperdeys vergessene Konjektur zu Nep. Alc. 2.32026-02-082026TWOProject MUSE®2152832026-05-16T00:00:00-05:002026-02-08Why do the Curae have cubilia (Vergil, Aeneid 6.274)?
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/982880
<p></p>
Vergil depicts the first part of the Underworld as a Roman house, populated by numerous personifications (Aen. 6.273–84):1Although the use of cubile in 9.715–716 (durumque cubile / Inarime Iouis imperiis imposta Typhoeo, ‘and Inarime, placed by Jupiter’s orders on top of Typhoeus as a hard cubile’) shows that the word does not have to refer to a literal bed in the Aeneid, all of the other house-related words in this passage bring its literal meaning to the fore.2 My interest here is not why Vergil chose to depict this area of the dwelling as a Roman house but rather that, having decided to do so, he put the Curae in the cubilia.In discussing this passage, scholars have focused primarily on the location itself
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/982883">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-16T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/759/image/coversmallWhy do the Curae have cubilia (Vergil, Aeneid 6.274)?2026-02-08text/htmlen-USWhy do the Curae have cubilia (Vergil, Aeneid 6.274)?2026-02-082026TWOProject MUSE®325612026-05-16T00:00:00-05:002026-02-08Columella, De re rustica 10.43
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/982881
<p></p>
Book 10 of Columella’s treatise De re rustica stands out for its hexameter form and for its subject matter, which is gardening. As is well known, the book serves as a kind of supplement to Virgil’s Georgics from which this subject was omitted. From the apology found in the Georgics, we learn that Virgil, ‘constrained by narrow bounds’1 (spatiis exclusus iniquis, G. 4.147), was unable to write about ‘the cultivation which embellishes lush gardens’2 (pinguis hortos quae cura colendi ornaret, G. 4.118–119). Columella thus declares, at the very beginning of his poem, that he will address precisely those topics which Virgil chose to omit (10.2–5). His book therefore contains gardening advice, presented according to a
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/982883">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-16T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/759/image/coversmallColumella, De re rustica 10.432026-02-08text/htmlen-USColumella, De re rustica 10.432026-02-082026TWOProject MUSE®121842026-05-16T00:00:00-05:002026-02-08Moschus’ Ploughman Eros: Between agricultural metaphors and scurrilous rites
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/982882
<p></p>
Gow (1952) includes the epigram Ploughman Eros as no. 4 (8) among the ἀποσπάσματα of Moschus of Syracuse (second century bce). The text is transmitted by the Greek Anthology (Anth. Pal. 16.200 or Anth. Plan. 4.200), which attributes it to the Sicilian poet:The poem is likely a complete composition.2 As expected in an epigram, it builds towards a punchline in the final couplet, where the allusion to Zeus’ abduction and rape of Europa (Ploughman Eros 6) resonates with Moschus’ more extensive treatment of the myth in his famous epyllion.3 This reference reinforces the erotic undertones of the preceding verses of the epigram (1–4): the first half of this article argues that the ambiguity of these verses subtly
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/982883">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-16T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/759/image/coversmallMoschus’ Ploughman Eros: Between agricultural metaphors and scurrilous rites2026-02-08text/htmlen-USMoschus’ Ploughman Eros: Between agricultural metaphors and scurrilous rites2026-02-082026TWOProject MUSE®452812026-05-16T00:00:00-05:002026-02-08J.R.R. Tolkien’s Utopianism and the Classics by H Williams (review)
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/982883
<p></p>
Tolkien’s debt to the Classical tradition attracted some interest during the initial phases of his critical reception,1 but it is fair to say that research on this topic has truly flourished only in the past two decades, particularly with the publication of three recent volumes,2 the most comprehensive of which was edited by Hamish Williams himself (2021). Alongside these, a growing body of articles has begun to explore the Classical ancestry of Tolkien’s work in increasingly explicit and sustained terms.3 This is excellent news for both Tolkien Studies and Classical Reception.For many years, Tolkien’s medieval, Old English, and Norse sources received disproportionate attention in Quellenforschung. Yet his
... <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/982883">Read More</a>
Project MUSE®https://muse.jhu.edu/2026-05-16T00:00:00-05:00https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/759/image/coversmallJ.R.R. Tolkien’s Utopianism and the Classics by H Williams (review)2026-02-08text/htmlen-USJ.R.R. Tolkien’s Utopianism and the Classics by H Williams (review)2026-02-082026TWOProject MUSE®287862026-05-16T00:00:00-05:002026-02-08