Of Gods and Men: 100 Stories from Ancient Greece & Rome

Product Description

Daisy Dunn offers a deeply researched collection of stories reflecting the eclectic richness and depth of the classical literary canon. Striking a balance between the “classic classic” (such as Dryden’s translation of the Aeneid) and the less familiar or expected, Of Gods and Men ranges from the epic poetry of Homer to the histories of Arrian and Diodorus Siculus and the sprawling Theogony of Hesiod; from the tragedies of Aeschylus and Euripides to the biographies of Suetonius and Plutarch and the pen portraits of Theophrastus; and from the comedies of Plautus to the the fictions of Petronius and Apuleius. Of Gods and Men is embellished by translations from writers as diverse as Queen Elizabeth I (Boethius), Percy Bysshe Shelley (Plato), Walter Pater (Apuleius’s Golden Ass), Lawrence of Arabia (Homer’s Odyssey), Louis MacNeice (Aeschylus’s Agamemnon), and Ted Hughes (Ovid’s Pygmalion), as well as a number of accomplished translations by Daisy herself.

Review

“Lyrical, playful and startlingly original . . . Breathes extraordinary new life into the classical world. An unforgettable journey into the high art and low life of
ancient Rome.” —Dan Jones on
Catullus’ Bedspread

“Simultaneously imaginative and learned, Dunn has written the perfect introduction to Catullus and his world.” —Tom Holland on
Catullus’ Bedspread

“Dunn does a brilliant job of recreating Rome in the first century BC . . . This is a triumph of modern classical scholarship made accessible through lucid writing.” —Independent on
Catullus’ Bedspread

“A haunting reminder of how little humanity has changed over two thousand years and a moving introduction to the greatest love poet of all time.” —Robert Harris on
Catullus’ Bedspread

“Dunn’s brilliant new biography of the Roman master will shine beams of light on his darkly passionate poetry.” —Professor Paul Cartledge on
Catullus’ Bedspread

About the Author

Daisy Dunn read Classics at Oxford, before winning a scholarship to the Courtauld and completing a doctorate in Classics and History of Art at University College London. She writes and reviews for publications including the Daily Telegraph, Evening Standard, and Standpoint, and is editor of Argo, a Greek culture magazine. She was longlisted for the 2015 Notting Hill Editions Essay Prize. She is the author of Catullus’ Bedspread and an accompanying volume of the poems in translation, The Poems of Catullus.