Description
Priapea
Book summary
This critical edition of the Priapea offers a fresh look at one of the most unique poetic collections in Latin literature. Moving away from the reductionist reading that sees only obscene poems within it, editors Juan A. González Iglesias and Carmen Codoñer present a work of refined technical craftsmanship, elegant humor, and surprising variety. The reader will find a reliable Latin version, the result of an exhaustive textual study, accompanied by an introduction that reveals the literary richness of these poems dedicated to Priapus, the guardian god of gardens, written between the 1st and 2nd centuries AD.
What is it about?
The Priapea collection brings together a series of short poems featuring Priapus, a minor deity of Roman mythology associated with fertility and the protection of gardens. Traditionally labeled as a work of obscene content, this edition demonstrates that its value transcends that superficial aspect. The poems, likely composed in a context of literary aesthetic refinement, play with the figure of the god, presenting him as always the same and always diverse. Through a single setting—the garden watched over by Priapus—the authors explore humor, irony, and parody, achieving technically impeccable poetry. The volume includes a detailed textual study that reconstructs the history of the text from the first known exemplar, a copy made by Boccaccio, and offers a refined Latin version based on the analysis of numerous manuscripts.
Main themes
- Latin poetry of the Imperial era (1st–2nd centuries AD)
- Humor and parody in classical literature
- The figure of Priapus as a symbol of fertility and protection
- Textual criticism and manuscript transmission of the classics
- Aesthetic refinement versus apparent vulgarity
Who is it recommended for?
This book is intended for scholars of classical literature, philologists, students of Latin and the Humanities, as well as readers interested in ancient poetry who are looking for a deep and unprejudiced understanding of a traditionally misunderstood work. It will also be of interest to those researching the transmission of classical texts and the history of critical editing.
What this book offers
- An updated critical edition of the Priapea based on the study of numerous manuscripts.
- A reinterpretation of the collection that goes beyond commonplaces about its content, highlighting its literary and technical value.
- The reconstruction of the textual history of the work, from Boccaccio's copy to the present day.
- A detailed analysis of the humor and formal elegance that characterize these poems.
Technical specifications
- Author: González Iglesias, Juan A.; Codoñer, Carmen
- Publisher: University of Huelva
- Language: Spanish
- Subject: CLASSICAL TEXTS, LITERATURE: HISTORY AND CRITICISM, LITERARY STUDIES: CLASSICAL, PRIMITIVE AND MEDIEVAL, CLASSICAL HISTORY/CLASSICAL CIVILIZATION
- Collection: ANEJOS EXEMPLARIA CLASSICA
- Binding: Other
- Publication date: April 2014
- Number of pages: 374
- Weight: 705 g
Editorial review
This edition of the Priapea represents a significant contribution to the study of Latin poetry by offering not only a rigorous critical text, but also a reading that invites us to rediscover a work frequently marginalized due to its subject matter. The work of González Iglesias and Codoñer manages to balance philological rigor with an accessibility that will allow both the specialist and the advanced student to appreciate the complexity and wit of these poems. It is, without a doubt, a reference work for those who wish to delve into classical literature from a modern and unprejudiced perspective.