Greek Anthology

Related Category: Classical Literature

a collection of short epigrammatic poems representing Greek literature from the 7th cent. B.C. to the 10th cent. A.D. It contains more than 6,000 poems on a variety of subjects by some 320 authors. Meleager compiled a collection of epigrams (which he called the Garland) probably between 100 B.C. and 80 B.C. Later others made additions or new collections. Early in the 10th cent. Constantius Cephalas made a compilation that became the basis of the Palatine Anthology, so called because the sole manuscript was found in the library of the count Palatine in Heidelberg. In the first half of the 14th cent. a monk, Maximus Planudes, rearranged this collection, making additions and excluding many poems from the older compilation. The Planudes version was used until the Palatine Anthology was rediscovered in 1606. There are several good English translations, particularly those by J. W. Mackail (3d ed. 1911), W. R. Paton (with Greek texts, 5 vol., 1916–26), Dudley Fitts (rev. ed. 1956), and Peter Jay (1973).