Reviews
Review: New Testament Abstracts - June 1, 2006
C. R. BEYE, Ancient Epic Poetry. Homer, Apollonius, Virgil, with a Chapter on the Gilgamesh Poems (Wauconda, IL: Bolchazy-Carducci, 2006, paper $35) x and 313 pp. Bibliography. Indexed. LCN: 2005032689. ISBN: 0-86516-607-2.
In addition to providing a reprint of the interpretive introduction to the epic poetry and poets of ancient Greece and Rome published by Cornell University Press in 1993, this volume contains a new preface, a new chapter on Gilgamesh, and a new updated appendix on further reading. The main text first treats three general topics: oral poetry, the poet's world, and poetic technique. Then it discusses the specific epic poems known as the Iliad, Odyssey, Argonautica, and Aeneid. Beye is distinguished professor of classics emeritus at City University of New York and author of Odysseus. A Life (2004).
New Testament Abstracts, 50 (2, '06)
Review by: Midwest Book Review, Amazon.com - May 6, 2006
Distinguished Professor of Classics Emeritus Charles Rowan Beye presents Ancient Epic Poetry: Homer, Apollonius, Virgil With A Chapter On The Gilgamesh Poems, an informative and interpretive introduction to classic epic poetry written for readers of all backgrounds including students, non-specialists, and scholars. Now in an expanded second edition with a new preface, a new chapter about the mythic figure of Gilgamesh, and an updated appendix of further reading, Ancient Epic Poetry familiarizes readers with history, tradition, backgrounds, philosophies, and much more pertinent to a more thorough understanding of ancient epic works. Highly recommended, especially for college library and classical poetry reference and literary criticism shelves.
Review by: James Cox, Internet Book Watch - March 1, 2006
Ancient Epic Poetry
Charles Rowan Beye
Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers
1000 Brown Street, Unit 101, Wauconda, IL 60084
0865166072 $35.00 www.bolchazy.com
Distinguished Professor of Classics Emeritus Charles Rowan Beye presents Ancient Epic Poetry: Homer, Apollonius, Virgil With A Chapter On The Gilgamesh Poems, an informative and interpretive introduction to classic epic poetry written for readers of all backgrounds including students, non-specialists, and scholars. Now in an expanded second edition with a new preface, a new chapter about the mythic figure of Gilgamesh, and an updated appendix of further reading, Ancient Epic Poetry familiarizes readers with history, tradition, backgrounds, philosophies, and much more pertinent to a more thorough understanding of ancient epic works. Highly recommended, especially for college library and classical poetry reference and literary criticism shelves.
Review by: Robert Lamberton, Princeton University - September 30, 2005
A joy to read. This is as wonderfully refreshing a book in the ‘09s as its earlier incarnation was in the ‘60s. Beye’s book was heroic a generation ago, has lived on vigorously into another, and promises (like Nestor) to stand out among the third. If I were to tell undergraduates to read a single book to accompany the reading of Homer, Apollonius, and Virgil in translation, it would be this one.
Review by: Christopher Logue - September 30, 2005
This is an ideal book for people, like myself, who know no Greek or Latin but need to know where, how, and when our poetry began. Beye is, however, sceptical and humorous; he sees that for years many scholars have — in a polite way — lied about the cruel and violent worlds these superb poems describe. He is free of waffle.
Review by: Gregory Nagy, Harvard University - September 30, 2005
An authoritative book about classical epic, with a fine-tuned sense for lieterature as literature, written by a scholar who really knows how to write.