Liber de Morte, Polyaenus online

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susan
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Liber de Morte, Polyaenus online

Post by susan »

I've just published Karl Soundy's translation of Liber de Morte on the Alexander sources site - http://www.alexander-sources.org .

You can get to it directly on
http://websfor.org/alexander/liberdemorte/liber.asp


We've also recently added Polyaenus, thanks to Amyntoros:
http://websfor.org/alexander/polyaenus/intro.asp


If anyone has any problem accessing the site, please email me susan@alexander-sources.org


Susan
abm
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Re: Liber de Morte, Polyaenus online

Post by abm »

great!
karen
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Re: Liber de Morte, Polyaenus online

Post by karen »

Susan, your site is just getting better and better -- thanks, it's useful to all of us!Question: who wrote "Liber de Morte"?Karen
Linda
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Re: Liber de Morte, Polyaenus online

Post by Linda »

If I had any comment on the site, and it is a great resource, is to echo what Karen said; a brief bio and background to the sources would be helpful to those of us less well up on the lesser known sources.I have just spent this afternoon reading about gold couches, naked flute girls and far flung lands - they had a fair old time of it, didn't they...

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marcus
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Re: Liber de Morte, Polyaenus online

Post by marcus »

Hi KAren,We don't know. It was attached to the Metz Epitome (although it is a separate, different text), but its original provenance, and writer, are unknown. All the bestMarcus
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abm
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Re: who wrote Liber de Morte,

Post by abm »

Hi Karen,there are a few possibilities:-it's pure literary fiction and we don't know who wrote it (advocated by Seibert)-it's written by someone of Perdikkas' entourage (Merkelbach)-it originated as propaganda of Polyperchon (Heckel, The Last Days and Testament of Alexander the Great)-it is propaganda of Ptolemy, written about 309, possibly by the otherwise unknown Holkias who features in the text. This is the most plausible view to my mind and it was argued by A.B. Bosworth, 'Ptolemy and the Will of Alexander', in A.B. Bosworth & E.J. Baynham (edd.), Alexander the Great in Fact and Fiction, Oxford 2000.regards,abm
S

Re: Liber de Morte, Polyaenus online

Post by S »

Greetings Susan,I have posted a link on our discussion group to your marvelous site.Your efforts are much admired.Regards,
Sikander
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Re: who wrote Liber de Morte,

Post by Taphoi »

Just a slight correction: Holkias is not otherwise unknown. As it happens the other place he appears is Polyaenus 4.6.6, which links nicely to the other strand of this thread, so to speak.Best wishes,Andrew
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