Product Description

The Argonautica is the dramatic story of Jason's quest for the Golden Fleece and his relations with the dangerous princess Medea. The only surviving Greek epic to bridge the gap between Homer and late antiquity, this epic poem is the crowning literary achievement of the Ptolemaic court at Alexandria, written by Appolonius of Rhodes in the third century BC. Appollonius explores many of the fundamental aspects of life in a highly original way: love, deceit, heroism, human ignorance of the divine, and the limits of science, and offers a gripping and sometimes disturbing tale in the process. This major new prose translation combines readability with accuracy and an attention to detail that will appeal to general readers and classicists alike.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #244535 in Books
• Published on: 1998-08-20
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 216 pages

Review

"Hunter's edition has a good introduction and useful notes."--Richard Mason, George Mason University
"The volume marks an important step forward for the study of Apollonius by those without access to it in Greek."--Bryn Mawr Classical Review
"Excellent translation! Really captures the feel of Alexandrian court in the introduction."--David R. Nix, University of Houston

Language Notes
Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Greek

About the Author
Richard Hunter is a Fellow of Pembroke College, and University Lecturer in Classics at the University of Cambridge.

Customer Reviews

THIS IS NOT THE COMPLETE EPIC!!!!!!
I teach a classics in translation course at the University of Washington and I have had a few students who buy this edition of "Jason and the Golden Fleece" through Amazon.com. While I have no problem with the translation, I do have a problem with the fact that this edition does not state clearly that it is an abridged version of the epic. It is essentially books 2 and 3 of the four book epic. If you are buying this to read Apollonius' epic then get a different version like the Oxford World Classics version which is complete. You can find this much better edition under: Jason and the Golden Fleece: (The Argonautica) (Oxford World's Classics). Please be aware that this Penguin version is ONLY books 2 and 3 of Apollonius' epic.

The Student Perspective
As a classical studies major, I have a great appreciation for classical epics. Familiar with Greek and Latin, and having read several translations of Vergil and Homer, I was rather disappointed with this edition.

Apollonius's Argonautica is the most complete version of the myth, and deserves a more poignant translation than this Oxford World's Classic. Changing the epic from poetry to prose definately does not do this tale justice. Apollonius, an Alexandrian scholar, is already complex enough, but to have a translation that fails to capture the full aspect of the myth makes it even more confusing.

It's one redeeming quality, however, is a very useful map of Jason's voyage, as well as fairly complete set of notes. The notes refer mainly to allusions to myths, however, and it would have been nice if they had more on the Homeric references found throughout the epic.

Overall, for a translation, it's not the best, and it is fairly confusing to read. Still, until someone comes out with a better translation (hopefully retaining the poetic format), this will just have to do.

Prose rendering of an important epic
I don't approve of poems being translated into prose form as a matter of principle. In the case of this poem, which has so many features derived from Homer (e. g. Apollonius' hero list as compared to Homer's ship list or the description of Jason's shield after that of Achilles'), it would be even more interesting to have a line-by-line rendering. Were it not for this and Mr. Hunter's translation would be just nice as his clear and useful introduction is. Therefore I have to go for another translation which suits my requirements, I guess Peter Green's. By the way, this same problem unfortunately seems to occur in the Loeb Classical Collection translations of poetry.