I stumbled across this gem in Petrolia’s own Family Discount Depot. True to the store’s name, the book was marked down to $3.00. After reading it, I believe it’s worth the full list price.

Inside is 1300 years worth of Greek poetry, ranging from 700 B.C. to A.D. 600. Although the chronological range is broad, the works are all tied together by Santos’ masterful translating. The annotations are also particularly useful for understanding the poems. After a few pages in, I started read the annotation first, to deepen the experience.

This collection was especially interesting to me because it provides background to the life of Jesus. A number of poems spoke of the afterlife and the bleak (non)existence that humans were offered. That helped me to realize the radical nature of the eternal life that Paul & co. offered the Romans as the early church spread out.

One particular verse ran through my mind continually as I read this anthology:

For ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we too are his offspring’. (Acts 17:18, NRSV)

It’s good to have read some of their own poets.

Santos, Sherod. Greek Lyric Poetry: A New Translation. W. W. Norton, 2005.