The "Palatine or Greek Anthology" is one of the most valuable sources for our acquaintance, not only with ancient Greek poetry, but also with poetry in general!
It is a vast collection of poetic epigrams from antiquity to the Byzantine period, which includes the most important representatives of the genre, giving an insight into how poets perceived death, existence, and love in different eras and centuries.
The "Greek Anthology" consists of approximately 4,000 epigrams, most of which are preserved in the manuscript of the Palatine Library of Heidelberg, the second part of which is located in the National Library of Paris. This collection of the Palatine manuscript, known as the Palatine Anthology, was formed in the late 10th century AD, based on a previous anthology by Constantine Cephalas, who himself relied on earlier anthologies. In the late 13th century, the monk Maximus Planudes also compiled an anthology of epigrams known as the Planudean Anthology. Today, the epigrams of the Planudean Anthology that are not included in the Palatine Anthology are appended as the 16th book of the second, so that the two anthologies together, Palatine and Planudean, constitute the Greek Anthology. This anthology includes epigrams of various content, classified by theme, constituting a unique source for this difficult and masterful genre of Greek literature, the epigram, which summarizes a multitude of information, insinuations, meanings, and emotions in a few, usually, words.
The series "Palatine Anthology," which includes the ancient text, modern Greek translation, and commentary, consists of 12 volumes. Specifically, it includes:
- Palatine Anthology A-D: Christian epigrams, Expression of Christodorus, Epigrams in Cyzicus, Prooimia Apanta 1
- Palatine Anthology E: Love epigrams Apanta 2
- Palatine Anthology F: Dedication epigrams Apanta 3
- Palatine Anthology Z: Epitaph epigrams (1-150) Apanta 4
- Palatine Anthology Z: Epitaph epigrams (151-450) Apanta 5
- Palatine Anthology Z: Epitaph epigrams (451-748) Apanta 6
- Palatine Anthology H: From the hymns of St. Gregory the Theologian Apanta 7
- Palatine Anthology Θ: Exemplary epigrams (1-350) Apanta 8
- Palatine Anthology Θ: Exemplary epigrams (351-827) Apanta 9
- Palatine Anthology I-IA: Exhortatory epigrams, Convivial and satirical epigrams Apanta 10
- Palatine Anthology IB-ID: Strato of Sardis, Children's Muse, Epigrams of various meters, Numerical and riddle epigrams Apanta 11
- Palatine Anthology IE-IST: Miscellaneous, Anthology of Maximus Planudes Apanta 12
