Just In Case You Were Wondering...

What in the world?! Who would make fun of you for this? When I saw what you were up to, I ran to dig out my own (Spanish) translation of Chaereas and Callirhoe, which I worked on (along with other selections from Hellenistic novels) over the course of a semester of independent study in Hellenistic Greek. Exciting stuff! Better than daytime soaps. ;-)

A much to-be-desired digitization would be of Ps-Lucian’s ΛΟΥΚΙΟΣ Η ΟΝΟΣ. This is a relatively short narrative that’s fun to read, including adventure, witchcraft, sex, and fast-moving, relatively easy Hellenistic Greek. It’s the source, by the way, of Apuleius’ Metamorphoses, a.k.a. Golden Ass. There used to be a handsome site in Brazil with a nice online text and even a brief Hellenistic Greek grammar -- but the site has been taken down, alas. I used to refer my good students who’d finished a year of Attic to try this as summer reading.

Eric> Actually no, I haven’t blogged about it--I started the blog only a year ago, which was already two years after my courses. But perhaps I’ll pick up the topic in the future! I did a semester of theoretical research in the ancient novel and then a semester of translation (in which, I realized earlier today from looking at my archives, I also completed Daphnis and Chloe). I found then that Hellenistic Greek was thrilling to me, plain and simple; I experienced a level of enjoyment reading it that was unknown to me from working with texts of the Classical period. And the thrill really set me on fire for the study of ancient narrative, which at some point (fingers crossed!) I intend to research as it relates to the interpretation of Luke-Acts.

Carl> Any chance you might still have the URL for this Brazilian website around? Perhaps some (or all) of the material you mention can still be found in the deep recesses of the Internet!

Eric,

You realize, of course, that we don’t need some romance novel, even in Greek, as an excuse to make fun of you?

Now just imagine how we’d treat you if we didn’t like you....

Eric, the site was: http://deeneserver.deene.ufu.br/wwwonos/onos1-1.html