* Letters from the Editor
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Articles

* Budelmann, Felix. The Reception of Sophocles' Representation of Physical Pain

Abstract:

Two of Sophocles' surviving tragedies contain scenes that portray the main character in excruciating pain for a sustained period of time: Philoctetes and Trachiniae. This article discusses three important stages in the reception history of these pain scenes: (1) Hercules Oetaeus, attributed to Seneca, (2) Gotthold Ephraim Lessing's Laocoon treatise, and (3) recent European adaptations. In each case, it analyzes how the later playwrights, directors, and theorists responded to certain complexities inherent in Sophocles' representation of pain. The conclusion considers this reception history overall.

* Corbeill, Anthony, 1960- "Going Forward": A Diachronic Analysis of the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae Dictionaries.

Abstract:

The article anteeo, written by Wilhelm Bannier, was published in the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae (TLL) in 1901. This entry has been rewritten according to contemporary standards at the institute and edited at each step in the process by editors currently at TLL. In comparing the two versions, I discuss differences between anteeo 1901 and 2007 in matters such as methods of data retrieval, rates of composition, levels of accuracy, and editorial policies. The article evaluates both the pros and cons of developments at Munich, while also serving as a primer on how to "read" a TLL article.

* O'Sullivan, Timothy M. Walking with Odysseus: The Portico Frame of the Odyssey Landscapes

Abstract:

This article examines the cultural and artistic context of one of the most famous Roman frescoes, the Odyssey Landscapes. It argues that the painting's fictive portico frame would have evoked in the Roman viewer the experience of the ambulatio, the act of walking for leisure and contemplation that came to be an essential element of a properly Hellenized otium. The painted portico thus puts the viewers in the proper frame of mind to appreciate the intellectual associations of the painting as they walk with Odysseus on a parallel journey of philosophical reflection.

Illustrations follow page 550

* Beck, Deborah. Ecphrasis, Interpretation, and Audience in Aeneid 1 and Odyssey 8

Abstract:

In the first ecphrasis in Vergil's Aeneid (1.441–94) describing Dido's temple to Juno through the eyes of Aeneas, Aeneas comes across as an isolated and confused interpreter of images of his sufferings: he understands the images he sees in one way, while the external audience understands them and his interpretation of them differently. Odysseus is neither alone nor confused when he hears Demodocus' songs in Odyssey 8. Moreover, the Odyssey—unlike the Aeneid—sees art as a basically straightforward and positive force in human life. Vergil draws on this contrast to depict Aeneas and interpretation in Aeneid 1.

* Hardie, Alex. Juno, Hercules, and the Muses at Rome

Abstract:

The Aedes Herculis Musarum (AHM), embodying musical harmony, was a symbolic focal point for political concordia at Rome. The treatment of its cult honorands in high poetry also embraces Juno Regina, whose contemporary temple was adjacent to the AHM. Juno (as Moneta) and the Muses are further associated in the function of "memory," and Juno, when offended, is susceptible to musical propitiation. The AHM is prominently identified with concord and Junonian reconciliation at the end of the Fasti, and in the Aeneid, Vergil evokes his Muse's Roman cult identity in exploring Juno's hostility towards the "Herculean" Aeneas, as also when he foreshadows her assent to the existence of Rome.

Book Reviews

* Debnar, Paula. Thucydides and the Philosophic Origins of History (review)

* Rossiter, Jeremy. Dining Posture in Ancient Rome: Bodies, Values, and Status (review)

* Damon, Cynthia, 1957- The Art of Forgetting: Disgrace and Oblivion in Roman Political Culture (review)

* Fredrick, David, 1959- Gender, Domesticity, and the Age of Augustus: Inventing Private Life (review)

Books Received

* Books Received

Index to Volume 128, 2007

* Index to Volume 128, 2007