The Antiatticist

Book excerpt: The so-called Antiatticista is a Greek Atticistic lexicon crucial for understanding the Atticism of the 2nd cent. CE. The anonymous author approved a broader idea of Attic language in contrast to the most rigorous Atticists. For this (polemic) purpose, he used some older sources (in particular Hellenistic ones, such as Aristophanes of Byzantium) where he could find rich quotations from classical authors, especially from comic poets. Given that many of them are no longer extant, this work now represents the only source for them. The first critical edition of this lexicon is prefaced by a survey of its textual tradition, direct and indirect, which concerns its relationship to the Byzantine lexicon Synagoge. The authorship, the typology, and the sources of the work are also investigated. The unedited annotations by David Ruhnkenius for his planned edition of the text are appended. Comprehensive indexes are provided at the end of the book.