Ebook: On the Months (De mensibus)

Translated with introduction and annotations by Mischa Hooker.

Dedicated to the origins and meaning of the days and months of the Roman calendar, John of Lydus' 'De mensibus' meanders through nearly all the intellectual fields of sixth-century Byzantium. Astrology, number-mysticism, and cosmogony, rooted in late-antique traditions of Neoplatonism and Pythagoreanism, intermingle with Roman scholarship of the late Republic and early Empire, frequently choked with antiquarian offshoots such as the origin of chariot-racing and the commonplace controversy over the source of the Nile. The whole may be far less than the sum of its parts, yet the 'De mensibus' is nonetheless a noteworthy document of intellectual history. By devoting so much labor to the untoward task of translating it and offering the result as a free download, Mischa Hooker has performed a singular act of scholarly generosity, made all the more notable with the release of a second edition. Even though a translation by Anastasius Bandy appeared posthumously in 2013, Hooker’s gift is all the more valuable not only because Bandy’s edition has its quirks and flaws, but because no translation can be definitive, at least not for long.