Excerpt from Classical Dictionary: Containing Brief and Accurate Accounts of the Proper Names Mentioned in Classical Literature
The Literature and Art of Greece and Rome has not only furnished the models from which all that is best in subsequent literature and art has been formed, but English Literature, both of the past and the present, as well as the literature of all other civilized nations, is overflowing with allusions to the writings of ancient Greek and Latin authors. The great English historians, poets, philosophers, essayists and novelists make constant reference to the Mythology, History, Biography and Geography of the ancients. In Art, representations of classical deities and heroes confront us in every gallery and museum, and modern artists and sculptors find a never-failing treasury of subjects in the myths and legends of the past. Even the newspapers, in the course of their discussion of the topics of the day, make continual use of classical allusions to aid in pointing the useful moral, or adorning the entertaining tale. In ordinary speech, countless classical references and comparisons have become proverbial.
It is the intention of this little volume to provide the ordinary reader with brief and concise explanations of the more important of these references, those which are absolutely necessary to a complete comprehension of much that otherwise loses half its force, if, indeed, it be not wholly unintelligible.
A popular Handbook of this kind has long been needed. There are great Classical Dictionaries, for the use of scholars and students, admirably complete, and covering the vast ground with a thoroughness that leaves nothing to be desired; but such books contain a great deal, both of fact and discussion, that is of value only to the scholar, and by reason of their very completeness, their diffusiveness, their size and their technicality, are not adapted for the average reader. The present volume is unlike any other existing work in another respect, it includes all the departments of classical allusions, mythological, biographical, historical and geographical. There have been Classical Dictionaries, Mythological Dictionaries and Ancient Atlases, but until now these divisions have never been collected into one comprehensive whole.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works. Это и многое другое вы найдете в книге Classical Dictionary (Edward S. Ellis)