The Plays of Hrotswitha of Gandersheim

Called by Renaissance humanist Conrad Celtes "the German Sappho," Hrotswitha (ca. 935-1000) was a prolific author who wrote eight legends in verse, two historical epics, and six plays in rhythmic prose. This bilingual edition contains the complete Latin text with facing English translation of her six plays, Gallicanus, Dulcitius, Callimachus, Abraham, Paphnutius, and Sapientia. The Latin text, from the 2001 Teubner edition of Hrotswitha's works, appears with a facing English translation. The translations are adaptations for the stage, and include stage directions, which have been added in order to facilitate reading and performance. Students, historians, and lovers of drama will find much to enjoy. In 1501 Celtes published Hrotswitha's works, which he found in a forgotten manuscript, along with eight woodcut illustrations by Dürer and other contemporary artists, three of which are reprinted in this bilingual edition. The influence of ancient and classical Latin authors is evident in the style of Hrotswitha's Latin. Her plays present a Christian alternative to Terence's six plays. Based on the lives of saints and martyrs and featuring monks, nuns, hermits, and other religious figures, all of Hrotswitha's plays show, as she says in her Preface to the Plays, "weak women who triumph and cause strong men to retreat in confusion."