Synopses & Reviews
After the composition of the Decameron, and under the influence of Petrarch's humanism, Giovanni Boccaccio(1313-1375) devoted the last decades of his life to compiling encyclopedic works in Latin. Among them is
Famous Women, the first collection of biographies in Western literature devoted exclusively to women.
The 106 women whose life stories make up this volume range from the exemplary to the notorious, from historical and mythological figures to Renaissance contemporaries. In the hands of a master storyteller, these brief biographies afford a fascinating glimpse of a moment in history when medieval attitudes toward women were beginning to give way to more modern views of their potential.
Famous Women, which Boccaccio continued to revise and expand until the end of his life, became one of the most popular works in the last age of the manuscript book, and had a signal influence on many literary works, including Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and Castiglione's Courtier. This edition presents the first English translation based on the autograph manuscript of the Latin.
Review
In 1362, Boccaccio...wrote specifically "for the ladies," this time in Latin...[on] a subject as stately as the city's soaring ruins and luminous marble statues: "Famous Women"...(biographies of 106 women, beginning with "Eve Our First Mother" and ending with the monarch to whose lady-in-waiting he dedicated the book, Queen Joanna "of Sicily and Jerusalem")...In a pungent new translation by Virginia Brown, [Boccaccio's] famous women hold up very well indeed. This beautiful little book...spearheads a new publication program designed to make accessible important works of Renaissance Latin to modern readers...the success of Famous Women suggests that the ladies read their Boccaccio as we are invited to read him: with forbearance for his foibles and delight in the tales he tells with such gusto and skill. Ingrid D. Rowland
Review
In 1362, Boccaccio...wrote specifically "for the ladies," this time in Latin...[on] a subject as stately as the city's soaring ruins and luminous marble statues: "Famous Women"...(biographies of 106 women, beginning with "Eve Our First Mother" and ending with the monarch to whose lady-in-waiting he dedicated the book, Queen Joanna "of Sicily and Jerusalem")...In a pungent new translation by Virginia Brown, [Boccaccio's] famous women hold up very well indeed. This beautiful little book...spearheads a new publication program designed to make accessible important works of Renaissance Latin to modern readers...the success of Famous Womensuggests that the ladies read their Boccaccio as we are invited to read him: with forbearance for his foibles and delight in the tales he tells with such gusto and skill.
Review
An aristocratic devotion to our culture continues to manifest itself even today in the most prestigious centers of study and thought. One has merely to look at the very recent (begun in 2001), rigorous and elegant humanistic series of Harvard University, with the original Latin text, English translation, introduction and notes. New York Times Book Review
Review
Harvard University Press' The I Tatti Renaissance Library is the only library offering to scholars, students and citizens the sublime works of the Italian Renaissance written in Latin and translated into lucid English. Its first work is Giovanni Boccaccio's Famous Women. Boccaccio is the author of the first novel, Decameron influenced by Petrarch, the creator of the modern world, to bring a new literary form into the world...Boccaccio wrote this work for our enjoyment. Famous Women is a wonderfully enjoyable book to read in its style of fine clearness. The stories are tales of virtue. Courageous women defend honor and truth and in their defense they give us magnificent models to follow in this life of adversity. Vittore Branca - Il Sole 24 Ore
Review
A monument of classical scholarship for its time, [Famous Women] contains the biographies of women renowned for valor in warfare and fearlessness in the face of death, for writing and the arts, for political rulership, and for the particularly womanly virtues of marital chastity and devotion to husbands living and dead...The book became immensely popular in the late Middle Ages, and it was quickly translated into the major languages of Western Europe. It has now been given an expert and readable English translation...Famous Women is an appropriate book with which to inaugurate this series, since it stands at a cusp in cultural history between medieval attitudes and the new mental universe of the Renaissance. Window on Italy
Review
Inspired by Petrarch's Lives of Famous Men, [Boccaccio's Famous Women] represents the first biographical compendium of women's lives. Boccaccio prepared 106 brief lives of women...covering both the virtuous and the infamous...This edition provides the original Latin with a graceful and accurate translation by medievalist Brown on facing pages, the first translation in almost 40 years. Her efforts are a profound contribution to literature. Highly recommended. Library Journal
Review
Whispered in the language of the dead, tales of one hundred and six famous and infamous women of ancient times breathe new life in this inaugural edition of the Harvard I Tatti Renaissance Library's Famous Women...Giovanni Boccaccio's book emerges as the earliest amalgam of biographies celebrating and describing the deeds of women exclusively, flushed with the timeless air of antiquity...[I]n its first English translation, [Famous Women] bridges the boundaries of language and fosters the perpetual rediscovery of Renaissance intellectualism. David Quint - New Republic
Review
The Loeb Classical Library...has been of incalculable benefit to generations of scholars...It seems certain that the I Tatti Renaissance Library will serve a similar purpose for Renaissance Latin texts, and that, in addition to its obvious academic value, it will facilitate a broadening base of participation in Renaissance Studies...These books are to be lauded not only for their principles of inclusivity and accessibility, and for their rigorous scholarship, but also for their look and feel. Everything about them is attractive: the blue of their dust jackets and cloth covers, the restrained and elegant design, the clarity of the typesetting, the quality of the paper, and not least the sensible price. This is a new set of texts well worth collecting. Karen Wyckoff - Fore Word Magazine
Synopsis
After the composition of the Decameron, and under the influence of Petrarch's humanism, Giovanni Boccaccio(1313-1375) devoted the last decades of his life to compiling encyclopedic works in Latin. Among them isFamous Women, the first collection of biographies in Western literature devoted exclusively to women. The 106 women whose life stories make up this volume range from the exemplary to the notorious,from historical and mythological figures to Renaissance contemporaries. In the hands of a master storyteller, these brief biographies afford a fascinating glimpse of a moment in history when medieval attitudes toward women werebeginning to give way to more modern views of their potential. Famous Women, which Boccaccio continued to revise and expand until the end of his life, became one of the most popular works in the lastage of the manuscript book, and had a signal influence on many literary works, including Chaucer's Canterbury Talesand Castiglione's Courtier. This edition presentsthe first English translation based on the autograph manuscript of the Latin.
About the Author
Virginia Brown is Senior Fellow, Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, Toronto.
Pontifical Insitute of Mediaeval Studies, Toronto
Table of Contents
Introduction
Famous Women
Dedication
Preface
I. Eve, Our First Mother
II. Semiramis, Queen of the Assyrians
III. Opis, Wife of Saturn
IV. Juno, Goddess of the Kingdoms
V. Ceres, Goddess of the Harvest and Queen of Sicily
VI. Minerva
VII. Venus, Queen of Cyprus
VIII. Isis, Queen and Goddess of Egypt
IX. Europa, Queen of Crete
X. Libya, Queen of Libya
XI-XII. Marpesia and Lampedo, Queens of the Amazons
XIII. Thisbe, a Babylonian Maiden
XIV. Hypermnestra, Queen of the Argives and Priestess of Juno
XV. Niobe, Queen of Thebes
XVI. Hypsipyle, Queen of Lemnos
XVII. Medea, Queen of Colchis
XVIII. Arachne of Colophon
XIX-XX. Orithya and Antiope, Queens of the Amazons
XXI. The Sybil Erythraea or Heriphile
XXII. Medusa, Daughter of Phorcus
XXIII. Iole, Daughter of the King of the Aetolians
XXIV. Deianira, Wife of Hercules
XXV. Jocasta, Queen of Thebes
XXVI. The Sybil Almathea, or Deiphebe
XXVII. Nicostrata, or Carmenta, Daughter of King Ionius
XXVIII. Pocris, Wife of Cephalus
XXIX. Argia, Wife of Polynices and Daughter of King Adrastus
XXX. Manto, Daughter of Tiresias
XXXI. The Wives of the Minyans
XXXII. Penthesilea, Queen of the Amazons
XXXIII. Polyxena, Daughter of King Priam
XXXIV. Hecuba, Queen of the Trojans
XXXV. Cassandra, Daughter of King Priam of Troy
XXXVI. Clytemnestra, Queen of Mycenae
XXXVII. Helen, Wife of King Menelaus
XXXVIII. Circe, Daughter of the Sun
XXXIX. Camilla, Queen of the Volscians
XL. Penelope, Wife of Ulysses
XLI. Lavinia, Queen of Laurentum
XLII. Dido, or Elissa, Queen of Carthage
XLIII. Nicaula, Queen of Ethiopia
XLIV. Pamphile, Daughter of Platea
XLV. Rhea Ilia, Vestal Virgin
XLVI. Gaia Cyrilla, Wife of King Tarquinius Priscus
XLVII. Sappho, Girl of Lesbos and Poetess
XLVIII. Lucretia, Wife of Collatinus
XLIX. Tamyris, Queen of Scythia
L. Leaena, a Prostitute
LI. Athaliah, Queen of Jerusalem
LII. Cloelia, a Roman Maiden
LIII. Hippo, a Greek Woman
LIV. Megullia Dotata
LV. Veturia, a Roman Matron
LVI. Thamyris, Daughter of Micon
LVII. Artemisia, Queen of Caria
LVIII. Virginia, Virgin and Daughter of Virginius
LIX. Irene, Daughter of Cratinus
LX. Leontium
LXI. Olympias, Queen of Macedonia
LXII. Claudia, a Vestal Virgin
LXIII. Virginia, Wife of Lucius Volumnius
LXIV. Flora the Prostitute, Goddess of Flowers and Wife of Zephyrus
LXV. A Young Roman Woman
LXVI. Marcia, Daughter of Varro
LXVII. Sulpicia, Wife of Fulvius Flaccus
LXVIII. Harmonia, Daughter of Gelon of Sicily
LXIX. Busa of Canosa di Puglia
LXX. Sophonisba, Queen of Numidia
LXXI. Theoxena, Daughter of Prince Herodicus
LXXII. Berenice, Queen of Cappadocia
LXXIII. The Wife of Orgiagon the Galatian
LXXIV. Tertia Aemilia, Wife of the Elder Africanus
LXXV. Dripetrua, Queen of Laodice
LXXVI. Sempronia, Daughter of Gracchus
LXXVII. Claudia Quinta, a Roman Woman
LXXVIII. Hypsicratea, Queen of Pontus
LXXIX. Sempronia, a Roman Woman
LXXX. The Wives of the Cimbrians
LXXXI. Julia, Daughter of the Dictator Julius Caesar
LXXXII. Portia, Daughter of Cato Uticensis
LXXXIII. Curia, Wife of Quintus Lucretius
LXXXIV. Hortensia, Daughter of Quintus Hortensius
LXXXV. Sulpicia, Wife of Cruscellio
LXXXVI. Cornificia, a Poetess
LXXXVII. Mariamme, Queen of Judaea
LXXXVIII. Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt
LXXXIX. Antonia, Daughter of Antony
XC. Agrippina, Wife of Germanicus
XCI. Paulina, a Roman Woman
XCII. Agrippina, Mother of the Emperor Nero
XCIII. Epicharis, a Freedwoman
XCIV. Pompeia Paulina, Wife of Seneca
XCV. Sabina Poppaea, Wife of Nero
XCVI. Triaria, Wife of Lucius Vitellius
XCVII. Proba, Wife of Adelphus
XCVIII. Faustina Augusta
XCIX. Symiamira, Woman of Emesa
C. Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra
CI. Joan, an Englishwoman and Pope
CII. Irene, Empress of Constantinople
CIII. Gualdrada, a Florentine Maiden
CIV. Constance, Empress of Rome and Queen of Sicily
CV. Camiola, a Sienese Widow
CVI. Joanna, Queen of Jerusalem and Sicily
Conclusion
Note on the Text
Notes
Bibliography
Index