Editing the Carmen de bello Aegyptiaco for CLTP. New Results and Further Perspectives

This chapter deals with the unattributed Latin poem in hexameters preserved in P.Herc. 817 and known as the Carmen de bello Aegyptiaco (or Actiaco). It aims to further the discussion on this text by offering some insights on both the anatomy of the book-roll and the constitution of the text. Moving from the material features of the volumen, the first part of the paper attempts to cast light on the amount of text that survives and on that which was lost. Then, it focusses on the edition of the Carmen de bello Aegyptiaco in CLTP, discussing some textual problems which are still worthy of consideration. Finally, in its third part, the chapter deals with the content of the poem: special attention is paid to the main novelties emerging from the new reconstruction of the roll, with the twofold aim of better understanding the sequence of events displayed in the poem and outlining some future research perspectives.