{"product_id":"meursius-johannes-1","title":"MEURSIUS, Johannes.","description":"\u003cp\u003e.A very good copy, with interesting contemporary Mexican provenance, of the first edition of this important work on Greek antiquity by the Dutch antiquary Johannes Meursius (1579-1639), professor of Greek at Leiden. This copy was in two Jesuit  collegia  in Mexico: at Veracruz, where the Jesuits first landed in 1572, and at Tepotzotlan. The latter, established in c.1600 near Mexico City, became one of the most influential novitiates, especially under the rectorship of the chronicler Andr és P érez de Ribas (1575-1655), probably in office when this copy was acquired. He called the Collegium  one of the principal and most necessary  in Mexico, especially as an institution which also focused on the teaching of the Nahuatl and Otom‚àö‚↠languages (Molina, 101). This included the staging of adapted Spanish plays translated into Nahuatl and performed in local churches (Burkhart, 35).  \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n .An invaluable didactic instrument, Meursius s work was intended first and foremost for university students. This copy was very likely employed at the collegia as the  Ratio studiorum  of 1599, which systematised the Jesuit curriculum,  considered Greek a part of required studies  and generally  saw history as ancient history  (Worcester, 661).  Lectiones Acticae  built on previous works on Greek antiquity by the great classicists Graevius and Gronovius, to create a compact encyclopaedia of ancient history and customs. It includes sections on Athens, the oath of junior magistrates (thesmotetai), the history of the Metr_on sanctuary, the obscure painter Micon, the seating places for senators and ephebi at the theatre, and the walls of Piraeus, with the addition of detailed interpretative emendations of Greek words through comparative etymology. Each statement is followed by the specific Greek passage whence it was taken, Meursius s main sources being Strabo, Suidas, Thucydides, Aristophanes, Pollux, Plutarch and epigraphic inscriptions. The result is a compact collection of all that was known on those topics, enhanced by a detailed final index. Although Meursius was an  auctor damnatus  added to the Index, this work was  permissum , as specified in this copy by the C18 Inquisitor Martinus de Sezama. A very interesting copy.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"MEURSIUS, Johannes.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57859628106063,"sku":"L3538","price":2450.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/DSC_9000.jpg?v=1781793801","url":"https:\/\/sokol-books-ltd.myshopify.com\/products\/meursius-johannes-1","provider":"Sokol Books Ltd","version":"1.0","type":"link"}