Lucretius and the Transformation of Greek Wisdom by David N. Sedley

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Lucretius and the Transformation of Greek Wisdom by David N. Sedley

Author: دیوید سدلی (David N. Sedley)

This book studies the structure and origins of De Rerum Natura (On the nature of things), the great first-century BC poem by Lucretius. By showing how he worked from the literary model set by the Greek poet Empedocles but under the philosophical inspiration of the Greek philosopher Epicurus, the book seeks to characterize Lucretius’ unique poetic achivement. It is addressed to those interested both in Latin poetry and in ancient Greek and Roman philosophy.

[highlight color=”green”]Goodreads users review :[/highlight]

I first became aware of Lucretius through Stephen Gleenblatt’s Pulitzer Prize winning book The Swerve. This is a very academic discussion of Lucretius’s De rerum natura. It focuses on the structure of the poem, its relationship to other Greek and Latin philosophy. Needless to say, its a few rungs higher on the intelligence scale that where I stand. There is much discussion ancient scrolls and scraps of writing and how they effected the design and order of the poem. This, however, led to one enjoyable section of the book – the discussion of the Herculaneum papyri find. Matt McCormick rated it: 3.0 from 5.0