Frederick Naerebout & Alkis Raftis
Joannes Meursius and his "Orchestra,
sive de saltationibus veterum" of 1618
The first monograph
on ancient Greek dance since Antiquity
Authors: Frederick Naerebout & Alkis Raftis
Title: Joannes Meursius and his "Orchestra, sive de saltationibus veterum" of 1618.
The first monograph on ancient Greek dance since Antiquity
Publishers: Greek Dances Theatre "Dora Stratou"
8 Scholiou Street, Plaka, GR-10558 Athens, Greece
tel. (30)210.324.4395, 210.324.6188, fax 210.324.6921
mail@[Link] www. g r d a n c e . o r g
Year of publication: 2003
Under the auspices of the:
International Dance Council - CID
UNESCO, 1 rue Miollis, FR-75732 Paris 15, France
Tel. (33)[Link].53; fax (33)[Link].89 cid@[Link]
[Link]/ngo/cid [Link]
ISBN 978-960-86150-5-4
Joannes Meursius and his "Orchestra,
sive de saltationibus veterum" of 1618
Frederick Naerebout & Alkis Raftis
Joannes Meursius and his "Orchestra,
sive de saltationibus veterum" of 1618
The first monograph
on ancient Greek dance
since Antiquity
Greek Dances Theatre "Dora Stratou"
Athens
Contents
Introduction 7
Facsimile reproduction of "Orchestra" 19
Commentary 63
Bibliography 74
Illustrations
Front cover of Lamius' edition of Meursius' book Opera Omnia, reduced size front cover
Portrait of Meursius; from Joannes Meursius' book: Athenae Batavae. Sive, De Urbe Leidensi, et Academia, Virisque claris; qui utramque
ingenio suo, atque scriptis, illustrarunt libri duo. Leiden, Apud Andream Cloucquium et Elsevirios, 1625. 4
Memorial portrait of the Meursius family. The portrait is hanging in the nave of Soro [o with a slash] church, Denmark. 18
Frontispiece of Lamius' edition of Meursius' book Opera Omnia 19
The main building of Leiden University as it appeared in 1614; from Joannes Meursius, Athenae Batavae 62
The interior of the library of Leiden University in 1610; engraving by Willem Swanenburgh after a drawing by Jan Cornelisz. Woudanus 65
Frontispiece of Joannes Meursius' book Athenae Batavae 73
Seal of Leiden University 79
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Meursius' Orchestra was first published in 1618, as an individual volume.
The present edition includes a reprint of the same work as edited by Lamius
in Meursius' Opera Omnia, which in its turn was based on the re-edition by Gronovius.
This is the best version of the work in existence, but hard to find.
It is now made widely available in this new volume edited by Naerebout and Raftis,
which includes a description of Meursius' life and work, as well as a commentary on Meursius' text.
Dr Frederick(HNaerebout is a historian who teaches at the Dutch Open University,
Department of Cultural Studies, and at Leiden University, Department of Ancient History.
He has published mainly in the field of dance history (Attractive performances.
Ancient Greek dance, Amsterdam 1997; La danza greca antica,
Lecce 2001) and ancient history (De Oudheid, Amsterdam 2002, 7th edition).
Prof. Alkis Raftis has taught at the universities of Patras and Paris.
He has published several books, mainly in the field of Greek dance (The world of Greek dance;
Dance, culture and society; Encyclopedia of Greek dance; Dance 1900; Dance in poetry, etc.).
He is president of the Dora Stratou Dance Theatre in Athens
Greek Dances Theatre "Dora Stratou"
Athens
