Meander

The article is devoted to passages in Isocrates’ works in which he presents his self-image that he wishes to impress on the minds of the public.

A metrical analysis of dodecasyllables used by Cassia (ninth century) and her contemporary poets.

The article analyses some troparia of Cassia, a nun and poetess living in the ninth century in Constantinople. Her hymns, sung during the early mornin and evening church services, provide examples of saints – anchorites, ascetics and converted harlots. The examples, described in a poetic way, show the way to sanctity by conversion, repentance, and piety, at times bordering on madness. Remarkably, Cassia dedicated a number of her songs to women, underlining their role in human salvation.

A Polish translation by Agnieszka Heszen of selected hymns in honour of various saints, ascribed to Cassia, the ninth-century Byzantine abbess.

A Polish translation by Łukasz Libowski of Catullus’ poem 33 (O furum optime balnerariorum…).

An annotated Polish version of selected poems from books XIII (Xenia) and XIV (Apophoreta) of Martial’s Epigrams.

The article proves that Kochanowski’s Latin version of Sappho 1 Lobel-Page was based on Henri Estienne’s edition of Anacreontics with fragments of Sappho and Alcaeus, published in Paris in 1556. Any future commentary on the Latin poem must take this fact into account.

An annotated Polish translation of the famous hieroglyphic inscription from the stele erected by Ptolemy in 311 BC, five years before he assumed the title of King of Egypt.

The article is an analysis of the text of Agathias describing the Neoplatonic philosophers residing at Xusrō I Anōšīrvān’s court in the context of the knowledge of Iranian customs among the inhabitants of the Byzantine Empire and the cultural differences between the two great powers of Late Antiquity.

When the Second World War ended, Stefan Srebrny (1890–1962), a distinguished Polish classicist, authority on ancient theatre, producer and translator, having already translated all seven extant Aeschylus’ tragedies into Polish, started his long and tedious correspondence with the State Publishing Institute (PIW) about the publication of the volume, which appeared in print only in 1952. The present article discusses that correspondence, preserved at the Nicolaus Copernicus University Library in Toruń.

The article presents the results of a poll conducted among high school Latin teachers in Warsaw in the years 2009–2016, when teaching of Latin was drastically reduced. The poll concerned the students’ attitudes towards Latin and their correlation to the intellectual climate in their families.

A review of Jacob Howland’s book Glaucon’s Fate: History, Myth, and Character in Plato’s Republic.

A review of Kazimierz Pawłowski’s Polish translation of four biographies of Plato: Apuleius’ De Platone et eius doctrina, Olympiodorus’ introduc-tion to his commentary on Alcibiades I, an anonymous Vita and the philosopher’s biography in Diogenes Laertius’ book III.

A review of Kazimierz Pawłowski’s book Alkinous i średni platonizm. Pragnienie wejrzenia poza to, co widzialne (Alcinous and Middle Platonism. An Effort to Direct One’s Gaze beyond What Is Visible).

A review of Małgorzata Wróbel’s translation of the first book of the Bibliotheca historica, devoted to Egypt.

A review of Poggio Bracciolini’s Facetiarum liber in Inga Grześczak’s Polish translation.

A review of Marek Węcowski’s book Dylemat więźnia. Ostracyzm ateński i jego pierwotne cele (A Prisoner’s Dilemma: Athenian Ostracism and Its Original Purpose).

Filip Taterka responds to Marcin Janus’s critical remarks contained in his review, printed in “Meander” in 2018.

Jan Klata’s production of the Euripidean tragedy The Trojan Women (Wybrzeże Theatre, Gdańsk, 2018) is described from the perspective of a classicist and theatrologist that helped the director to adapt the ancient play.

An interview with Professor Włodzimierz Lengauer, a widely acclaimed expert on ancient Greek history and religion, in which he talks about his studies and the development of his scholarly interests.