Sat. 111-118

Petronius' Satyrica, one of the most authoritative fictional texts of ancient literature, has been the focus of international research since the 1960s. For a long time, only the central part of this text, the famous Cena Trimalchionis, was analysed in modern commentaries. The commentary presented here remedies this situation for the particularly neglected second half of the work. It provides the reader with everything they need to understand the language, the realia and the plot. In addition, it analyses the scholarly discussion of the novel in an exemplary manner and thus makes a fundamental contribution to the still controversial interpretation of the Satyrica as a whole. At the centre of the exegesis is the famous novella of the "Widow of Ephesus", whose controversial discussion in modern secondary literature is examined as well as its role in the context of the novel.

Peter Habermehl, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.