I'd really like to know from you who you think is the hardest writer, why and which text in particular .
Thanks a lot,
GreekGeek2
P.s. The hardest text in my opinion is the Frogs of Aristophanes. Translating it and it takes me ages because of all the strange words and grammatical difficulties!
Most difficult text
- GreekGeek2
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Callimachus is certainly the one I've struggled the most with (esoteric vocabulary, unusual forms, and a highly conscious, artificial style...and I had all this thrown at me with only a couple semesters of reading Greek texts behind me).
IPHIGENIE: Kann uns zum Vaterland die Fremde werden?
ARKAS: Und dir ist fremd das Vaterland geworden.
IPHIGENIE: Das ist's, warum mein blutend Herz nicht heilt.
(Goethe, Iphigenie auf Tauris)
ARKAS: Und dir ist fremd das Vaterland geworden.
IPHIGENIE: Das ist's, warum mein blutend Herz nicht heilt.
(Goethe, Iphigenie auf Tauris)
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Is that a fair mention? It's designed to be obtuse.Didymus wrote:Lycophron, Alexandra. Why? Well, try reading it.
Pindar has a terrible reputation, but after some reading his language becomes easier, if not always his obscurity of sense.
In general I have a harder time with the Alexandrian poets, too. The Aoidoi workup of Theocritus 13 cured me of any desire to read more of him any time soon.
William S. Annis — http://www.aoidoi.org/ — http://www.scholiastae.org/
τίς πατέρ' αἰνήσει εἰ μὴ κακοδαίμονες υἱοί;
τίς πατέρ' αἰνήσει εἰ μὴ κακοδαίμονες υἱοί;