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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 October 2017
If you still haven't chosen a book to take with to the desert island, I have a suggestion: L'encyclopédie du ciel. At 1,202 pages, it will keep you occupied day and night: what you read as text by day will help you read by night in the sky. This wonderful and extremely useful book is as difficult to classify as it is to put down. Essentially, it is a compendium of Greco-Roman discourse on the stars and planets, divided into three parts. The first (‘Les images: histoire et mythologie: voir et raconter’) is about the constellations and the planets. It opens with a catalogue in which each constellation is illustrated, explained, and accompanied with appropriate quotations from Eratosthenes’ Catasterismoi and Hyginus’ Astronomica. There follow essays about the names of the constellations, on the Sun, Moon, and the planets, and one on Greek and Roman creation myths. All are accompanied by long passages of appropriate Greek and Latin texts in translation. The second part of the book (‘Les lois: l'astronomie: observer et calculer’) is about the ancient attempts to make sense of and explain the stars and planets as a system, about calendars, and about ancient astronomical instruments and objects. This part of the book also contains a complete translation of Hipparchus’ Commentary on the Phaenomena of Eudoxus and Aratus. It closes with an account of Greek star catalogues. The third part of the book is concerned with various attempts to interpret the celestial phenomena (‘Les messages: signes et influence: interpréter et prédire’). It includes, but is not restricted to, astrology; philosophical ideas are also discussed, such as astral apotheosis, the ascent of the soul through the sky, and the music of the spheres. There is a dictionary of astronomical and astrological terms and a dictionary of ancient astronomers and authors dealing with astronomy. The book closes with parallel star catalogues of Eratosthenes, Hipparchus, and Ptolemy.
1 L'encyclopédie du ciel. Mythologie, astronomie, astrologie. Edited by Zucker, Arnaud. Paris, Éditions Robert Laffont, 2016. Pp. 1202, ills. Paperback €30, ISBN: 978-2-221-09790-8 Google Scholar.
2 The Fall of Cities in the Mediterranean. Commemoration in Literature, Folk-Song, and Liturgy. Edited by Bachvarova, Mary R., Dutsch, Dorota, and Suter, Ann. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2016. Pp. xviii + 277. 2 maps. Hardback £64.99, ISBN: 978-1-107-03196-8 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
3 Alexiou, M., The Ritual Lament in Greek Tradition, second edition (Lanham, MD, 2002), 83 Google Scholar.
4 Classical Commentaries. Explorations in a Scholarly Genre. Edited by Kraus, Christina S. and Stray, Christopher. Oxford and New York, Oxford University Press, 2016. Pp. xvii + 533. 13 b/w illustrations 4 colour plates. Hardback £120, ISBN: 978-0-19-968898-2 Google Scholar.
5 Deep Classics. Rethinking Classical Reception. Edited by Butler, Shane. London, Bloomsbury Academic, 2016. Pp. x + 347. 30 b/w illustrations. Hardback £70, ISBN: 978-1-4742-6052-7; paperback £19.99, ISBN: 978-1-4742-6051-0 Google Scholar.
6 See www.postclassicisms.org.
7 Food, Identity and Cross-Cultural Exchange in the Ancient World. Edited by Broekaert, Wim, Nadeau, Robin, and Wilkins, John. Collection Latomus 354. Brussels, Éditions Latomus, 2016. Pp. 106. Paperback €22, ISBN: 978-90-429-3304-0 Google Scholar.
8 Greek Homosexuality. By Dover, K. J.. With forewords by Halliwell, Stephen, Masterson, Mark and Robson, James. Pp. xxxii + 246. 105 b/w illustrations. London, Bloomsbury Academic, 2016. Paperback £28.99, ISBN: 978-1-4742-5715-2 Google Scholar.