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    Argo Pasimelousa. Der Argonautenmythos in der griechischen und römischen Literatur. Teil I: Theos Aitios. Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart, 1993. X,400p. Paperback. Upper edge slightly foxed. Signature on half title. Series: Palingenesia, Band 43. (Rare). 'D.'s book is a detailed study of of literary representations of the Argonautic myth, arranged around the four obvious focuses of archaic poetry (including what can be defined of pre-Homeric legend), Pindar’s ‘fourth Pythian’, the ‘Argonautica’ of Apollonius, and the ‘Argonautica’ of Valerius Flaccus. Il (…) illustrates many of the features which are both the virtues and vices of the genre; its massive and forbidding documentation (…) will simply stop people from reading it ‘as a book’ and thinking about the general issues which arise from it. This is a pity, because D. has rightly divined that the Argonautic myth is one of the best instances where we can see ancient mythopoiesis at work. There is an exciting story struggling to get out from behind D.’s wall of references. This is wonderfully positivist (not to say, optimistic) work. D. repeatedly invokes the shade of Wilamowitz to allow him to ignore ‘moderne Betrachtungsweisen’ (…) while concentrating upon how one poet after another refashioned the fixed story-lines of his predecessors. (…) (But - ND) One does not have to be a fully paid-up member of any ‘-ism’ to recognize that the whole project of reconstructing a genealogical stemma for mythic stories is fraught with theoretical and practical problems. (…) Nevertheless, such point-scoring should not obscure the virtues of D.’s book. Both ‘Pythian’ 4 and the ‘Argonautica’ of Apollonius are difficult elliptical texts which make severe demands upon the reader, and D. has treated them with the seriousness they deserve; he sets out relevant evidence clearly and fully and even where his conclusions fail to convince, his treatment will remain a good place to start. (…) It is an account to which anyone interested in the Argonauts will frequently have recourse.’ (RICHARD HUNTER in The Classical Review (New Series), 1995, pp.47-49). (Antiquarian)  (approx. delivery time: undeliverable) ISBN: 9783515059749

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