Description: The fragments of Matro of Pitane (c. 300 BC) offer insights not only into the largely forgotten and obscure late-classical genre of epic parody, but also into 4th-century Athenian history, the role of food and dining in antiquity, and the history of the text of Homer and the reception of the Iliad and the Odyssey in the pre-Alexanderian period. Sens and Olson offer a new text of the 144 surviving lines of Matro's parodies based on a fresh examination of the manuscripts; a translation; a detailed philological, historical, and gastronomic commentary; and a lively introduction to the poet and his times.
Review Quotes: "This careful new edition...deserves a warm welcome... interestingly sites Matro at the heart of...important cultural and literary issues...The commentary is thorough (without becoming burdensome) and...a model of culinary...accuracy, which can now be used as a reference tool."--Richard Hunter,
Classical World (forthcoming)