In 2022, Mnemosyne celebrates its 75th anniversary – or, to be more precise, the 4th series celebrates its 75th anniversary. In 1948, the members of the editorial board of that time decided to start a quarta series. By then, the actual foundation of the journal (one of the oldest still existing journals in the field of Classics) was almost one hundred years in the past.
The first volume of the first series appeared in 1852, at the time still with a Dutch subtitle (Tijdschrift voor Classieke Litteratuur) and a Dutch preface. After 11 volumes, the series stopped in 1862. Eleven years later, in 1873, the second series started being published, ending with volume 60 in 1932. At that time, the editors decided that it was better for the journal not to enter the age of senility (the Roman senectus) and started the third series afresh in 1933, which appeared (almost) annually for just 13 volumes until 1947.
In 2022, old age starts decidedly later than was thought in 1933. Still, Mnemosyne’s fourth and longest series is a senex by now. Nevertheless, the editorial board is not planning to rejuvenate it artificially with the start of a fifth series. We hope that our authors prove with every issue the journal’s youthful spirit and its ability to participate in the current academic discourse and shape it! Instead, in order to celebrate the 75th anniversary, the editors want to recur to the tutelary spirit of the deity Mnemosyne.
In 2022, old age starts decidedly later than was thought in 1933. Still, Mnemosyne’s fourth and longest series is a senex by now. Nevertheless, the editorial board is not planning to rejuvenate it artificially with the start of a fifth series. We hope that our authors prove with every issue the journal’s youthful spirit and its ability to participate in the current academic discourse and shape it! Instead, in order to celebrate the 75th anniversary, the editors want to recur to the tutelary spirit of the deity Mnemosyne.
Mnemosyne - 75th Anniversary
Every month, we will bring to our readers’ minds articles from the past that we consider good examples of what Mnemosyne stands for: inspiring scholarship of high standing in the field of Greek and Roman literature and culture. These articles will be highlighted on the website and made publicly accessible via open access.
We hope that you will enjoy the jubilee year with us!
Christoph Pieper, Executive Editor
Publicly accessible as of 20 February, 2022
A.J. Kleywegt, Fate, Free Will, and the Text of Cicero
'In this substantial article, Verdenius creates a convenient and illuminating assembly and analysis of the Homeric passages that speak about the composition and appreciation of poetry. Verdenius skillfully links these Homeric items to later passages expressing similar thoughts. Although one does not necessarily need to agree with all the author's proposed categories or conclusions, the crisp clarity and useful gathering of material ensure the article's enduring relevance and interest, making it eminently suitable for educational purposes.'
B.A. van Groningen, EKΔOΣIΣ
Mnemosyne, 16 Issue 1 (1963)
Mnemosyne, 16 Issue 1 (1963)
“Still the golden standard for the ancient concept of ‘edition’.”
Recommended by Ineke Sluiter, member of the advisory board of Mnemosyne
***
D.M. Schenkeveld, Oi Kpitikoi in Philodemus
Mnemosyne, 21, 176-214 (1968)
“Study of a group of ancient literary critics for whom the akoustic form provided the main argument for literary quality.”
Recommended by Ineke Sluiter, member of the advisory board of Mnemosyne
***
G.J. de Vries, Phaeacian Manners
Mnemosyne, 30, 113-121(1977)
“Are the Phaeacians good or bad guys? Are they another problematic people that Odysseus has to deal with or an opportunity for Odysseus to re-invent himself before returning home?”
Recommended by Ineke Sluiter, member of the advisory board of Mnemosyne
***
A.J. Kleywegt, Fate, Free Will, and the Text of Cicero
Mnemosyne, 26, 342-349 (1973)
“A careful analysis of the grammar of De Fato 44, with important implications for Chrysippus’ position in the philosophical debate on fate and free will.”
Recommended by Ineke Sluiter, member of the advisory board of Mnemosyne
***
D.M. Schenkeveld, Studies in the History of Ancient Linguistics Ii Stoic and Peripatetic Kinds of Speech Act and the Distinction of Grammatical Moods
Mnemosyne, 37 Issue 3-4 (1984)
Mnemosyne, 37 Issue 3-4 (1984)
“An influential paper on the relationship between ancient Greek philosophy and the development of the theory of grammar (still much cited in studies on ancient linguistic thought).”
Recommended by Ineke Sluiter, member of the advisory board of Mnemosyne
***
S.R. Slings, Critical Notes on Plato’s Politeia, I
Mnemosyne 41, 276-298 (1988)
“This article is the first in a series of ten Mnemosyne articles in which Simon Slings, professor of Greek at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, expounded his views on the text of Plato's Politeia. The OCT edition of the Politeia was published in the spring of 2003, less than a year before Slings' untimely death in January 2004. The article testifies to Slings' deep understanding of Platonic Greek and his judicious methods in establishing the text of the Politeia. His edition has been welcomed as the new standard text of Plato's most important dialogue.”
- Gerard Boter, VU University, former Executive Editor of Mnemosyne
***
Russell, D.A., ‘Longinus Revisited’,
Mnemosyne, 34, 72-86. (1981)
Recommended by Casper de Jonge, Editor of Mnemosyne
***
Mnemosyne, 36, fasc. 1/2, 14-59. (1983)'In this substantial article, Verdenius creates a convenient and illuminating assembly and analysis of the Homeric passages that speak about the composition and appreciation of poetry. Verdenius skillfully links these Homeric items to later passages expressing similar thoughts. Although one does not necessarily need to agree with all the author's proposed categories or conclusions, the crisp clarity and useful gathering of material ensure the article's enduring relevance and interest, making it eminently suitable for educational purposes.'
- Jacqueline Klooster, University of Groningen, incoming Executive Editor
***
"This thought-provoking article of the prominent Dutch hellenist and former editor-in-chief of Mnemosyne, Cornelis Ruijgh, makes a compelling case to date the creation of the Greek alphabet around 1000 BCE --- considerably earlier than the common opinion has it."
- Rutger Allan, VU University Amsterdam, member of the advisory board
- Rutger Allan, VU University Amsterdam, member of the advisory board
***
Alison Keith, Slender Verse: Roman Elegy and Ancient Rhetorical Theory
Mnemosyne 52.1, 41- 62 (1999)
“Keith’s brilliant article complicates the discussion of Callimachean aesthetics in Roman elegy. With her impressive command of a wide range of texts and traditions, Keith shows the rhetorical dimension of the corpus eroticum.”
- Irene Peirano Garrison, Harvard University, member of the advisory board
***
Doreen Innes, “Longinus and Caecilius: Models of the Sublime,”
Mnemosyne, 55, 3, 259–284 (2002)
“Innes reads Longinus, On the Sublime both as a historian of the literary and rhetorical tradition and as a reader of texts, leading us into a deep appreciation of the literary texture of this mysterious work and its rhetorical complexity.”
- Irene Peirano Garrison, Harvard University, member of the advisory board
***
R. Nauta, Catullus 63 in a Roman context.
Mnemosyne, 57, 596-628 (2004)
“A dense and convincing article on Catullus’ Atis-poem in a thematic volume on Catullus 63 that is still very important.”
- Christoph Pieper, Leiden University, current Executive Editor
***
S. Radt, Kleinigkeiten zu vielerlei Texten
Mnemosyne, 71, 3-19 (2018)
“A posthumously published article of one of the greatest philologists of the 20th century whose miscellaneous Lesefrüchte remind us of a philological tradition that seems long ago.”
- Christoph Pieper, Leiden University, current Executive Editor
***
Bexley, Erica, “What is Dramatic Recitation?”
Mnemosyne, 68, 5, 774–793 (2015)
“This article shows that by modulating the voice and gesturing with the hands and eyes, as recommended for orators by Cicero, Quintilian, and others, it would have been possible for a single performer to recite an entire play by Seneca, stichomythic passages included.”
- Kathleen Coleman, Harvard University, Editor
***
Oberrauch, Lukas, “ ‘. . . et statim concidit.’ Bemerkungen zum Tod Plinius’ des Älteren.”
Mnemosyne 53, 6, 721–725 (2000)
“This article demonstrates that, instead of previous diagnoses for the cause of the death of Pliny the Elder during the eruption of Vesuvius, a cerebral haemorrhage or stroke is the best match for the symptoms described by Pliny the Younger (Epist. 6.16.18). “
- Kathleen Coleman, Harvard University, Editor
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