Athenaeus and his world : reading Greek culture in the Roman empire

An exploration of the work of Athenaeus. The work emerges as no mere compendium of earlier texts, but as a vibrant work of complex structure and substantial creativity.

The volume seeks to make sense of the massive and polyphonous "Deipnosophistae" ("Philosophers at Supper"), the quarry upon which classicists and ancient historians depend for their knowledge of much ancient literature, particularly comedy, and also the source of much of the data used by modern historians for the social history of the classical and hellenistic worlds.

The 41 chapters, written by an international team of literary specialists and historians, each tackle a significant feature, and the book is divided into seven sections, each prefaced by introductory remarks from the editors.