Medea

First I note that this review is of the ancient Greek edition of Medea with notes and commentary by Alan Elliott, just in case Amazon misplaces it somehow.This edition includes grammar notes below the Greek text on every page, in addition to an overview of the history of tragedy, the history of the play, etc., commentary, and a glossary in the back. The grammar notes are best suited for students just beginning their study of ancient Greek tragedy. The help they give is probably too frequent and basic for a more experienced reader (they frequently translate lines outright). The commentary is brief, but gives enough information to pique the reader's interest in various scholarly debates about the play, and relevant topics in ancient Athenian history and culture. Also, I can't overstate the usefulness of a glossary for those of us who read Greek on the go and can't lug around a dictionary all the time.Overall, I found the book competent and useful, but I would have appreciated a bibliography for those wanting to study the play and the conversations surrounding it more deeply. Nonetheless, I would recommend this edition to someone looking for a fairly painless introduction to Greek tragedy, though more advanced students will find it lacking.

As and ageing student but a novice in the study in Greek I have found Page's paperback edition very useful (it is in fact the prescribed text for the course I am doing), but it has deficiencies. It appears to be a facsimile print and the Greek text in particular is not as clear as it might be. The print size could be a little larger and the off-white page colour makes the reading harder for ageing eyes. The Greek text is, however, more readable than some classical Greek texts which are little better than appalling.Another aspect of Page's commentary is that he occasionally uses Latin in the Commentary. Those of us who studied Latin a long time ago (or not at all) find this no help to us at all. I would recommend that anyone studying Medea in Greek seriously should certainly have this edition and should also buy the edition edited by Alan Elliott (Oxford Press). The latter has a very clear Greek text, notes which are on a slightly easier plane than those of Page, and a useful vocabulary at the back.I must make it clear that I make no comment on the Medea play itself. That is left to others of greater knowledge.

One of the best tragedies I have read. Also, different to other Tragedy versions I have found for kindle, this is actually a good, well-written, version. Buy it.

Excellent commentary with very helpful grammatical notes and imaginative ways of helping mid to advanced level readers of ancient greek understand complicated constructions: even contains a vocabulary at the back which is most useful.