tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10659275.post114143247463640445..comments2023-11-04T01:41:23.277+00:00Comments on Memorabilia Antonina: John Barton and ThucydidesTony Keenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07125792825206480340noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10659275.post-1143414907173403122006-03-27T00:15:00.000+01:002006-03-27T00:15:00.000+01:00I agree that most of the audience were there for t...I agree that most of the audience were there for the cast, and even more so the talking heads afterwards, and that the discussion didn't spend much time on Thucydides (though Paul Cartledge kept trying to pull it back). But if we resent the presence of people at such events because they aren't sufficiently interested in the ancient authors, we risk taking an overly elitist approach. If one person in that audience went away and read some Thucydides where otherwise they would not, that is a postive result.<BR/><BR/>It wouldn't surprise me if Barton started with Warner's Penguin and other available translations rather than doing it afresh himself. That would be terribly time-consuming, and it should be remembered that this is adapted from Thucydides amd Plato, rather than actually being readings of the ancients (this is one of the bits I think Goldhill is misleading on). The final text is, I think, Barton's own, but inspired by the best of previous translations.<BR/><BR/>The talking heads afterwards did all have a copy of the script, and according to Amazon, <A HREF="http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1840026510/qid=1143414707/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl/026-2308301-8966847" REL="nofollow">it has been published</A>. But actually acquiring a copy might not be easy.Tony Keenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07125792825206480340noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10659275.post-1142703413498924442006-03-18T17:36:00.000+00:002006-03-18T17:36:00.000+00:00Very interesting. I cannot stand Germaine Greer, b...Very interesting. I cannot stand Germaine Greer, but her comment sounds apt, although your reply is even more apt. My impression, sad as it is, is that women in the ancient world accepted their status. It would indeed be foolish to kill noncombatant women when they were of great use for breeding, housekeeping, cooking, etc and they were untrained in weapons so unlikely to revolt. (The best they can do is throw roof tiles in that section of Thucydides that I cannot place now.) This is all of course most sad to us as we think of women differently now. <BR/> A friend of mine, Jaspreet, did not care as much as you did for the play and said the audience was composed of "dinner party liberals" who had come for the cast and not for Thucydides. Further, he thought they used an old Penguin edition as a crib rather than translating it afresh ... however, Thucydides is the hardest I have ever tried to translate from Greek, with Demosthenes as a second; give me Lysias any day! I'll take Aeschylus instead, believe it or not, too. <BR/> Do you know where I might get the script Barton put together?Timo-thttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04070724732631759181noreply@blogger.com