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Although ancient hope has attracted much scholarly attention in the past, this is the first book-length discussion of the topic. The introduction offers a systematic discussion of the semantics of Greek elpis and Latin spes and addresses the difficult question of whether hope -ancient and modern- is an emotion. On the other hand, the 16 contributions deal with specific aspects of hope in Greek and Latin literature, history and art, including Pindar's poetry, Greek tragedy, Thucydides, Virgil's epic and Tacitus' Historiae. The volume also explores from a historical perspective the hopes of slaves in antiquity, the importance of hope for the enhancement of stereotypes about the barbarians, and the depiction of hope in visual culture, providing thereby a useful tool not only for classicist but also for philosophers, cultural historians and political scientists.
About the author
George Kazantzidis, University of Patras, Patras, Greece;
Dimos Spatharas, University of Crete, Rethymno, Greece.
Report
"The editors and contributors are to be congratulated in opening up this subject for further research and synthesis. We look forward to subsequent volumes on other emotions."
Jeremy Mynott in: Classics For All (08.01.2019), https://classicsforall.org.uk/book-reviews/hope-in-ancient-literature-history-and-art-ancient-emotions-i/
"[...] the book is valuable reading for anybody interested in how the ancients represented the experience of hope and the complexities of its implications."
Pia Campeggiani in: Clio Online 161/1 (2019)
"This is a well-edited (excellent indexes) and substantial volume, containing meticulously researched contributions. Nobody will be able to neglect it, and, for many issues concerning elpis/spes, both methodological and related, this will now be the first port of call."
Andrej Petrovic in: Greece and Rome 66.1 (2019), 163-178
