Lyric Addresses to Ancient and New Gods

Between 100 and 160 AD, Mesomedes, a Cretan court musician to Hadrian and Antoninus Pius, wrote several short lyric poems. This volume presents six of these texts, namely addresses, hymns and prayers to gods, Greek traditional divinities and "new" gods. Apart from a new edition of the Greek text, it also contains a fresh, annotated translation into English and Italian. Furthermore, the contributors provide essays offering diverse perspectives on these texts and their author, aiming to reveal characteristic aspects of a certain cultural and religious climate that developed in the Roman Empire from the second century AD onward.