{"product_id":"allegories-of-the-iliad-john-tzetzes-9780674967854","title":"Allegories of the Iliad","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn the early 1140s, the Bavarian princess Bertha von Sulzbach arrived in Constantinople to marry the Byzantine emperor Manuel Komnenos. Wanting to learn more about her new homeland, the future empress Eirene commissioned the grammarian Ioannes Tzetzes to compose a version of the \u003ci\u003eIliad\u003c\/i\u003e as an introduction to Greek literature and culture. He drafted a lengthy dodecasyllable poem in twenty-four books, reflecting the divisions of the \u003ci\u003eIliad\u003c\/i\u003e, that combined summaries of the events of the siege of Troy with allegorical interpretations. To make the \u003ci\u003eIliad\u003c\/i\u003e relevant to his Christian audience, Tzetzes reinterpreted the pagan gods from various allegorical perspectives. As historical allegory (or euhemerism), the gods are simply ancient kings erroneously deified by the pagan poet; as astrological allegory, they become planets whose position and movement affect human life; as moral allegory Athena represents wisdom, Aphrodite desire. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAs a didactic explanation of pagan ancient Greek culture to Orthodox Christians, the work is deeply rooted in the mid-twelfth-century circumstances of the cosmopolitan Comnenian court. As a critical reworking of the \u003ci\u003eIliad\u003c\/i\u003e, it must also be seen as part of the millennia-long and increasingly global tradition of Homeric adaptation.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e John Tzetzes\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0674967852\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780674967854\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Harvard University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 04\/20\/2015\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 608\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.50lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.20h x 5.50w x 1.30d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e 11\/01\/2015","brand":"John Tzetzes","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":44054604480767,"sku":"9780674967854","price":35.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_fd2a5cec-3888-4ab5-bfef-97f44faac3ed.jpg?v=1685030914","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/allegories-of-the-iliad-john-tzetzes-9780674967854","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}