Collection Budé
Encyclopedia
Ancient Greek literature
Ancient Greek literature refers to literature written in the Ancient Greek language until the 4th century.- Classical and Pre-Classical Antiquity :...
and Latin
Latin literature
Latin literature includes the essays, histories, poems, plays, and other writings of the ancient Romans. In many ways, it seems to be a continuation of Greek literature, using many of the same forms...
classics up to the middle of the 6th century (before emperor Justinian). It is published by Les Belles Lettres
Les Belles Lettres
Les Belles Lettres is a French publisher specializing in the publication of ancient authors. Its publications include the Collection Budé.The publisher house, originally named Société Les Belles Lettres pour le développement de la culture classique, was founded by the Association Guillaume Budé,...
, and is sponsored by the Association Guillaume Budé
Association Guillaume Budé
The Association Guillaume Budé, named after the 16th century humanist Guillaume Budé, is a French cultural and learned society dedicated to the promotion of Humanities. The current president of the society is the hellenist Jacques Jouanna....
.
Each title of the series includes an introduction, notes and a critical apparatus
Critical apparatus
The critical apparatus is the critical and primary source material that accompanies an edition of a text. A critical apparatus is often a by-product of textual criticism....
, as well as a facing-page French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
translation, comparable to the Loeb Classical Library
Loeb Classical Library
The Loeb Classical Library is a series of books, today published by Harvard University Press, which presents important works of ancient Greek and Latin Literature in a way designed to make the text accessible to the broadest possible audience, by presenting the original Greek or Latin text on each...
in the English-speaking world, but with considerably more detailed introductions, apparatus, and critical or explanatory annotations. Some titles even comprise full-scale commentaries. The Greek authors in the series can be recognized by a yellow cover on which Athena
Athena
In Greek mythology, Athena, Athenê, or Athene , also referred to as Pallas Athena/Athene , is the goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilization, warfare, strength, strategy, the arts, crafts, justice, and skill. Minerva, Athena's Roman incarnation, embodies similar attributes. Athena is...
's Little Owl
Little Owl
The Little Owl is a bird which is resident in much of the temperate and warmer parts of Europe, Asia east to Korea, and north Africa. It is not native to Great Britain, but was first introduced in 1842, and is now naturalised there...
can be seen, the Latin ones by a red one where one finds a she-wolf reminiscent of the Capitoline Wolf
Capitoline Wolf
The Capitoline Wolf is a bronze sculpture of a she-wolf suckling twin infants, inspired by the legend of the founding of Rome. According to the legend, when Numitor, grandfather of the twins Romulus and Remus, was overthrown by his brother Amulius, the usurper ordered the twins to be cast into...
. Recent volumes are published in hard (carton) cover. A new series, called "Classiques en poche" and aimed at students, has been added : it reproduces the text and translation of the standard editions, but without the critical apparatus.
The first Budé volume, Plato
Plato
Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
's Hippias Mineur
Hippias Minor
Hippias Minor is thought to be one of Plato's early works. Socrates matches wits with an arrogant polymath who is also a smug literary critic. Hippias believes that Homer can be taken at face value, and that Achilles may be believed when he says he hates liars...
, was published in 1920. Soon afterwards appeared the first Latin work of the series, namely Lucretius
Lucretius
Titus Lucretius Carus was a Roman poet and philosopher. His only known work is an epic philosophical poem laying out the beliefs of Epicureanism, De rerum natura, translated into English as On the Nature of Things or "On the Nature of the Universe".Virtually no details have come down concerning...
' De rerum natura
On the Nature of Things
De rerum natura is a 1st century BC didactic poem by the Roman poet and philosopher Lucretius with the goal of explaining Epicurean philosophy to a Roman audience. The poem, written in some 7,400 dactylic hexameters, is divided into six untitled books, and explores Epicurean physics through richly...
, edited by Alfred Ernout. More than 800 volumes of the series have been published, with the Greek authors (approx. 430 vol.) outnumbering the Latin ones (ca. 370 vol.). Both pagan
Paganism
Paganism is a blanket term, typically used to refer to non-Abrahamic, indigenous polytheistic religious traditions....
authors and Church Fathers
Church Fathers
The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were early and influential theologians, eminent Christian teachers and great bishops. Their scholarly works were used as a precedent for centuries to come...
are included although, for the latter, the Sources Chrétiennes series (Éditions du Cerf, Paris), comprising both Greek and Latin authors, are much more complete.
External links
- Listing of titles: Greek series (by genre), Latin series (by genre) Qu'est-ce qu'un "Budé"?