$30.00
Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns
FREE delivery Tuesday, May 14 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35
Or fastest delivery Friday, May 10. Order within 14 hrs 3 mins
Only 12 left in stock (more on the way).
$$30.00 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details
Price
Subtotal
$$30.00
Subtotal
Initial payment breakdown
Shipping cost, delivery date, and order total (including tax) shown at checkout.
Ships from
Amazon.com
Ships from
Amazon.com
Sold by
Amazon.com
Sold by
Amazon.com
Returns
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Read full return policy
Returns
Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt
This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.
Read full return policy
Payment
Secure transaction
Your transaction is secure
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
Payment
Secure transaction
We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more
Amazon book clubs early access
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Amazon book clubs early access

Join or create book clubs

Choose books together

Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Explore Amazon Book Clubs
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Ambrosius Aurelius Theodosius Macrobius
+ Follow
More books from this author
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

Saturnalia, Volume I: Books 1–2 (Loeb Classical Library) Hardcover – January 5, 2011

by Macrobius (Author), Robert A. Kaster (Translator)
4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 20 ratings
See all formats and editions
{"desktop_buybox_group_1":[{"displayPrice":"$30.00","priceAmount":30.00,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"30","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"00","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"7qQ7K0LU177WA%2Fdp95QphEFavs1e7w5W4uuig4mNZiYA8dkbrD0%2FwSbBSSbobXQCuqNgHTQnI9LaIumtU9s5ScHKy49xRncChpXn%2BybrAuqAPmUnOgPP03fu3qeSFw6Yf5j09EDceaQ%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW","aapiBuyingOptionIndex":0}]}

Purchase options and add-ons

An antiquarian’s festival.

The Saturnalia, Macrobius’ encyclopedic celebration of Roman culture written in the early fifth century AD, has been prized since the Renaissance as a treasure trove of otherwise unattested lore. Cast in the form of a dialogue, the Saturnalia treats subjects as diverse as the divinity of the Sun and the quirks of human digestion while showcasing Virgil as the master of all human knowledge from diction and rhetoric to philosophy and religion.

The new Latin text is based on a refined understanding of the medieval tradition and improves on Willis’ standard edition in nearly three hundred places. The accompanying translation―only the second in English and the only one now in print―offers a clear and sprightly rendition of Macrobius’ ornate Latin and is supplemented by ample annotation. A full introduction places the work in its cultural context and analyzes its construction, while indexes of names, ancient works cited in both text and notes, and topics make the work more readily accessible than ever before.

Read more Read less
Previous page
  1. Print length
    464 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Harvard University Press
  4. Publication date
    January 5, 2011
  5. Dimensions
    4.25 x 1 x 6.37 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0674996496
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0674996496
  8. See all details
Next page
The Amazon Book Review
The Amazon Book Review
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now.

Frequently bought together

Saturnalia, Volume I: Books 1–2 (Loeb Classical Library)
$30.00
Get it as soon as Tuesday, May 14
Only 12 left in stock (more on the way).
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
+
Commentary on the Dream of Scipio by Macrobius (Records of Western Civilization Series) (Records of Western Civilization (Pap
$34.14
Get it as soon as Tuesday, May 14
Only 6 left in stock (more on the way).
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
Total price:
To see our price, add these items to your cart.
Details
Added to Cart
One of these items ships sooner than the other.
Show details Hide details
Choose items to buy together.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Robert A. Kaster is Professor of Classics and Kennedy Foundation Professor of Latin, Emeritus, at Princeton University.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harvard University Press; Bilingual edition (January 5, 2011)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 464 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0674996496
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0674996496
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12.2 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 4.25 x 1 x 6.37 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 20 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Ambrosius Aurelius Theodosius Macrobius

Ambrosius Aurelius Theodosius Macrobius

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
4.7 out of 5
20 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Native Oregonian
5.0 out of 5 stars Kaster is the best Latinist I know
Reviewed in the United States on July 7, 2022
Verified Purchase
The Saturnalia is a great work and there is no better Latinist working than Kaster.
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Nico
5.0 out of 5 stars Saternalia
Reviewed in the United States on January 25, 2014
Verified Purchase
If you want to learn all about ancient Rome and its major holiday Saturnalia this is the book for you.
4 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Joseph Abrahamson
4.0 out of 5 stars Well done.
Reviewed in the United States on August 10, 2015
Verified Purchase
Well done text, great and readable translation, excellent resource.
2 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
SkookumPete
5.0 out of 5 stars New Loeb fills a gap
Reviewed in the United States on December 16, 2010
It's a real joy to see Harvard University Press publishing new titles in the venerable Loeb Classical Library series, not just fresh translations (such as the updated volumes of Vergil and Martial) but in this case a work that has never before been included. Indeed, the only previous English translation of the Saturnalia, by D.P. Vaughan, has long been out of print and is very rare, besides being based on a critical text even older than the current Teubner edition. So this new bilingual edition, based on  Kaster's own recension of the manuscripts  (Oxford Classical Texts), is doubly welcome.

Not that it will ever be a best-seller. Macrobius is nowadays better known for his  Commentary on the Dream of Scipio , a textbook of neoplatonism that still shows up on college reading lists, if only because of its use by Chaucer. The Saturnalia is a diverse, fragmentary work (Kaster estimates that 40 percent has been lost) in the form of a symposium featuring some of the learned gentlemen of the late fourth century, meeting over several days during the solstice festival to trot out their knowledge on bookish subjects. Macrobius intended the work to be a treasure-house of things worth knowing by a cultivated person, but its value today is more as a peek into the intellectual ideals of his time than for the lore itself. Much of this is concerned with Vergil, who is presented as virtually omniscient. There are some interesting diversions into famous jests and the ancients' peculiar views of physiology, as well as a few tidbits about daily life, such as the fact that the tastiest fish in the Tiber were those that fed on the sewage from the Cloaca Maxima!

Kaster's introduction and notes are very helpful, and the breadth of his cross-referencing to other sources is astonishing. An "index locorum" is included, so that you can find, for example, quotations or citations of a particular verse of the Aeneid in the text and notes. In the Loeb tradition, the critical apparatus (i.e. notes on variant readings of the text) is kept to a minimum.

The release is timely as well, since it coincides with the publication of Alan Cameron's  The Last Pagans of Rome , an important work that deals extensively with Macrobius, and which Kaster was able to consult in manuscript.
42 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Amazon Customer
2.0 out of 5 stars Two Stars
Reviewed in the United States on November 21, 2015
Verified Purchase
Not as insightful as advertised by Santos Bonacci. Smaller book size than expected.
I would buy Celsus instead.
Helpful
 Report