The Argonautika - Paperback

by Rodney Merrill (Translator), Apollonios Rhodios (Author)

The Argonautika narrates the adventures of Jason and his comrades, the Argonauts, when they sailed from Iolkos, in eastern Greece, on the ship Argo to acquire the Gold Fleece from King Aietes of Kolchis, at the far end of the Black Sea. Book 3 tells how they achieved their aim with the aid of the king's daughter, Medea, who fell in love with Jason, betrayed her father, and abandoned her homeland. Finally it relates the Argonauts' far-flung wanderings on their voyage home to Iolkos, during which Medea connived in the murder of her brother and became Jason's wife. This translation represents the rhythm of the original, a dactylic-hexameter meter like that of the poet's Homeric models, the Iliad and the Odyssey. This evocation of Homer's epics is important to the significance of the story and to the way readers understand the characters and the action of the poem. The rhythm also gives greater value to the pace of the narrative, the descriptions of places and events, and the extended Homeric similes. The music carries the reader pleasurably forward along with the voyage that it describes, especially if the epic is read aloud from time to time. The brief introduction should help readers understand the issues raised in this poem of the third century BCE, when its author Apollonios Rhodios was a scholar and librarian at the great library in Alexandria. But the epic itself provides all necessary contexts, and readers are encouraged to encounter it directly, not being overly concerned with precise mythical or geographical references. This is a work to be enjoyed, not sweated over.

Back Jacket

A smooth-running and highly readable verse translation of Apollonios's epic tale of the voyage of the Argonauts from the pen of a writer whose elegant verse translations of Ovid's Erotic Poems and Juvenal's "Satires have long been justly admired by scholars and the general public alike. The introduction, written with Green's customary verve and wit, locates Apollonios in his Alexandrian world and proposes a new understanding of his poetic purpose and achievement. But that is not all. The translation is followed by a detailed commentary that explains difficulties and mythical allusions. The commentary will be helpful for Greek-less readers, but it will also command the attention of scholars. Though there are many commentaries available for the third book of the poem, there is nothing else in print in English that covers all four. Peter Green's "Argonautika is, quite simply, invaluable."--Bernard Knox, author of "Backing into the Future

"Peter Green turns his formidable classical learning and his finely nuanced sense of English verse to bear on the challenge of restoring Apollonios to his true place--on a par with the best modern poetic versions of Homer and Virgil."--Robert Fagles, translator of Homer's "Iliad

"The style is crisp, energetic, and masculine in the narrative, but not unsympathetic to the love-suffering of Medeia."--Jasper Griffin, Oxford University

Author Biography

The translator, Rodney Merrill, has published two previous translations, Homer's Odyssey and Iliad (University of Michigan Press, 2002 and 2007 respectively), also in a dactylic hexameter meter that represents the rhythms of the ancient epics. Before embarking on his career as translator, he studied and taught medieval and Renaissance English literature, as well as some French and Italian, at Harvard College, Stanford University, and the University of California at Berkeley. This academic work taught him some of the ways that formal verse can convey complex meanings and enhance the experience of a narrative, and he has attempted to put that understanding to use in making his versions of ancient epic.