This is the first full-scale commentary on poems by Theocritus since Gow's edition of 1950, and the first to exploit the recent revolution in the study of Hellenistic and Roman poetry; the poems included in this volume (Idylls 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 10, 11 and 13) are principally the bucolic poems which, through their influence on Virgil, established the Western pastoral tradition. The focus of the commentary is literary - both on how Theocritus exploited the classical heritage for a new type of poetry, and on what that poetry meant in the third century BC. The commentary, together with the introductory essays to each poem, makes a major contribution to the understanding of this extraordinary poetic form. The Introduction explores the meaning of 'bucolic', the presentation of a stylised countryside, the importance of eros in the bucolic world, and Theocritus' verbal and metrical style.
First published in 1950 and followed by this second edition in 1952, Gow's Theocritus comprises an authoritative text and translation of the works of the creator of Greek bucolic poetry, with an extensive commentary. The first volume presents an accessible edition with a full apparatus criticus, along with an elegant facing translation. In addition, there is a full introduction covering the life of Theocritus and the text of the poems (including a history of the manuscript). In this volume, the text of the Idylls, Epigrams, the Syrinx and Fragments can be found. The second volume presents the commentary on which Gow worked for sixteen years. Following this there is a full Greek index and a plate section, designed to render many passages of the Greek more easily accessible.
A key figure in the development of Western literature, the Greek poet Theocritus of Syracuse, was the inventor of "bucolic" or pastoral poetry in the first half of the third century BC. These vignette
Theocritus of the third century BCE, born at Syracuse, travelled widely in the Greek world. Having studied poetry at Cos with poet and critic Philitas, he composed poetry under patronage, chiefly perh
