Author Description

The editors extract from the Palatine Anthology such epigrams as can be assumed to have been written between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the compilation by Meleager of Gadara, about 100 BC, of the anthology which he called The Garland. The first volume arranges the epigrams by their authors, adds from other sources further epigrams by these authors and prints with a full critical apparatus about 850 epigrams in all. The second volume contains a commentary on the text and Greek and English indexes. The assignment of many of the epigrams to the Hellenistic period depends on the assumption that they were included in Meleager's Garland, and the introduction therefore discusses the date, arrangement, and contents of that anthology. It also discusses the reliability of the ascriptions attached to the epigrams and the authorities for the text.