Claudian was one of the last great Latin poets of the classical tradition, writing in the fourth century AD. J. B. Hall has already produced two editions of his poem De Raptu Proserpinae which deal exhaustively with the complicated manuscript traditions of the work. But he self-confessedly leaves aside literary questions which are the subject of this commentary. With the current upsurge of research into late antiquity, Claudian is of great interest as one
of the foremost poets of the age who has been undeservedly neglected as a creative artist with an immense knowledge of classical literature and a distinctive literary style. His works have been mined for what they can tell us about the history of the late fourth-early fifth century AD, as he largely wrote
political propaganda for members of the court circle, but the De Raptu Proserpinae is fascinating for the longest glimpse of him working with subject matter of more personal choice. In addition to the commentary, the book includes a text designed to simplify Hall's apparatus, and a translation to make the work more accessible to non-specialists.
- ISBN10 0198147775
- ISBN13 9780198147770
- Publish Date 25 February 1993
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Oxford University Press
- Imprint Clarendon Press
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 340
- Language English