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95/275 Photius: the Bibliotheca: A Selection Translated with Notes N G Wilson Duckworth, London, 1994, vii + 264 pp., ISBN 0-7156-- 2612-4, L30.00
We read ancient Greek literature as through a glass, darkly: classical texts have come down to us through the filter of Alexandrian and Byzantine editors and scholars. We have much to thank them for in preserving ancient literature for us, but much to regret that they allowed to disappear. So much of ancient Greek (and Latin) literature is now only known to us at second-hand or in fleeting fragments. In that, the work of Photius is of particular interest, especially in our circumstances since it may be considered in the light of an early reference work and review work combined. The work of Photius remained unrecognized for hundreds of years in its scholarly and historical importance (it was not published until...