Poikiles Historias (Varia Historia). Translated by James G. Devoto.

Aus der Bibliothek von Prof. Wolfgang Haase, langj�igem Herausgeber der ANRW und des International Journal of the Classical Tradition (IJCT) / From the library of Prof. Wolfgang Haase, long-time editor of ANRW and the International Journal of the Classical Tradition (IJCT). - altersgem�sehr guter Zustand / very good condition for age - Introduction -- Claudius Aelianus of Praeneste (mod. Palestrina), a picturesque town in the Apennine foothills a hundred kilometers east of Rome, was probably born about a.d. 170 during the reign of Marcus Aurelius. His floruit dates to the time of Septimius Severus. He apparently outlived Egalabalus against whom he wrote an invective when that emperor was safely dead (a.d. 222). -- Though he came from the freedman class, Aelian attained the rank of �hier� or pontifex, perhaps at Sulla�s notorious FanumFortunae, which was Praeneste�s most imposing architectural monument. Pausanias of Caesarea (mod. Kayseri in e. Turkey) was his teacher in Rome. He learned Attic Greek so well there that his contemporaries called him mel�lottos (honeytongued) or mel�hongos (honey-voiced). It was also claimed that his speech could not be distinguished from that of a native Athenian. -- A man of his time, his writing reflects the excesses of striving for le bon mot or la belle phrase, obscure pedantic allusions, wordiness and odd diction. These characteristics which marred the so called "second sophistic" often detract from his avowed preference for Herodotean af�ia (simplicity). ISBN 9780890055489