Saturday, September 30, 2023

Karen Rørby Kristensen (2005). Gortynloven: Den store indskrift fra Gortyn på Kreta. København: Museum Tusculanums Forlag.

Museum Tusculanum Press publishes a series of books called Selskabet til Historiske Kildeskrifters Oversættelse (The Society for Translation of Historical Source Texts) which I first noticed when I saw in shops their latest offering, a complete Danish translation of Pausanias' Beskrivelse af Grækenland (Description of Greece) in a very attractive hardbound volume with lots of pretty maps and illustrations (but I've been having difficulties convincing myself to purchase a copy for the asking price while I am not yet fully fluent in the Danish language). The series seems to translate all manner of historical source texts primarily from Ancient Greek and Latin, although I note there is also a Danish translation of the Old English poem The Battle of Maldon (Sangen om slaget ved Maldon) as well.

While I was looking up the other titles in this series I noticed that there is among them also Gortynloven: Den store inskrift fra Gortyn på Kreta (The Gortyn Law: The large inscription from Gortyn on Crete), and I am not going to lie: those who know me know that I am an enjoyer of archaic Greek dialectal inscriptions. I am also supposed to be teaching the MA Greek (Indo-European) course next spring which has had a selection from the Gortyn Code on its reading list in the past syllabus and I'm probably going to keep it on mine. So this seems like a useful thing to have around and possibly something I can recommend to students that they can read in their own first language if they want and not have to resort to English, German, or French publications for once.


As it turns out the ordering system on Museum Tusculanum Press's website is currently borked (I know the person responsible for making the new website so hopefully that will be fixed soon), but I did manage to find a copy of the book at the Paludan Bogcafé & Antikvariat on Fiolstræde for the low, low price of 125 DKK (approx. $17.72 USD) which frankly I think is a steal for a recent-ish introduction, text, translation, and historical commentary of such an important Ancient Greek text. I do not need to think twice about adding this to my collection.


No comments:

Post a Comment

F. W. Walbank. 1957–1967. <i>A Historical Commentary on Polybius</i> (Volumes 1 & 2). Oxford: Clarendon Press.

In downtown Copenhagen Vangsgaards Antikvariat has an ongoing Antikvariske Bogudsalg  (Antiquarian Book Sale) that is kind of run like a Dut...