Antoninus Liberalis

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Antoninus Liberalis was an Ancient Greek grammarian who probably flourished between AD 100 and 300.

His only surviving work is the Metamorphoses, (Μεταμορφώσεων Συναγωγή, literally "Collection of Transformations"), a collection of forty-one prose tales about mythical metamorphoses. The literary genre of myths of transformations of men and women, heroes and nymphs, into stars (see Catasterismi), plants and animals, or rocks and mountains, were widespread and popular in the classical world. This work has more polished parallels in the better-known Metamorphoses of Ovid and in the Metamorphoses of Lucius Apuleius.

The work survives in a single manuscript, of the later 9th century, now in the Palatine Library in Heidelberg; it contains several work. John Stojkovič brought it to the Dominican convent at Basel about 1437; in 1553, Hieronymus Froeben gave it to Otto Henry, Elector Palatine who gave it to the Library. in 1623, it was taken to Rome; in 1798, to Paris; in 1816, it was restored to Heidelberg.

Xylander printed the text in 1598; since some leaves have since disappeared, his edition is also a necessary authority for the text.

Many of the transformations in this compilation are found nowhere else, and some may simply be inventions of Antoninus; the manner of the narrative is a laconic and conversational prose; "this completely inartistic text," according to K. Sarah Myers, offers the briefest summaries of lost metamorphoses by more ambitious writers, such as Nicander and Boeus. Francis Celoria, the translator, regards the text as perfectly acceptable Koine Greek; perhaps humorless - it has no particles.

Tales

1. Ctesylla
2. The Daughters of Meleager
3. Hierax
4. Cragaleus
5. Aegypius
6. Periphas
7. Anthus
8. Lamia or Sybaris
9. The King's Daughters of Emathia
10. Daughters of Minyas
11. Aedon, the Nightingale
12. Cycnus, the Swan
13. Aspalis
14. Munichus
15. Meropis
16. Oenoe
17. Leucippus
18. Eeropus
19. The Thieves, who would steal from the birthplace of Zeus
20. Clinis
21. Polyphonte
22. Cerambus
23. Battus
24. Ascalabus
25. Metioche and Menippe
26. Hylas
27. Iphigeneia
28. Typhon
29. Galinthias
30. Byblis
31. The Messapians
32. Dryope
33. Alcmene
34. Smyrna
35. The Herdsmen, who refused Leto
36. Pandareus
37. The Dorians, who follow Diomedes
38. The Wolf of Peleus
39. Arceophon
40. Britomartis
41. The Fox of Procris

References

• The Metamorphoses of Antoninus Liberalis: A Translation With Commentary, trans. Francis Celoria (Routledge, 1992). ISBN 0-415-06896-7. This is the first English translation of this work. Reviewed by K. Sara Myers, University of Michigan, in Bryn Mawr Classical Review, 1994
• Manolis Papthomopoulos, Antoninus Liberalis: Les Métamorphoses (Paris, Budé, 1968) Extensive notes, except on linguistic questions; probably present standard text.
• (Stephen M. Trzaskoma). Antoninus Liberalis: three sections from Metamorphoses: Hierax; Aigypios; The Dorians
• Francis Celoria, ed. and trans. The Metamorphoses of Antonius Liberalis. Routledge, London and New York (1992); ISBN 0415068967. (English with comparative notes.)
• Encycyclopaedia Britannica 1911: "Antoninus Liberalis". .

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