Changes

If a text is [[historical]], or is produced within a culture assumed to be of limited familiarity to a reader, a broader range of issues may require elucidation. These include, but are by no means limited to, [[biographical]] [[data]] pertaining to the [[author]], historical [[events]], [[customs]] and [[laws]], technical terminology and [[facts]] of daily life, religious [[beliefs]] and philosophical [[perspectives]], literary allusions, geographical settings, and cross-references to related passages in the same [[work]], other works by the author, or sources used by the author.[1]

If a text is [[historical]], or is produced within a culture assumed to be of limited familiarity to a reader, a broader range of issues may require elucidation. These include, but are by no means limited to, [[biographical]] [[data]] pertaining to the [[author]], historical [[events]], [[customs]] and [[laws]], technical terminology and [[facts]] of daily life, religious [[beliefs]] and philosophical [[perspectives]], literary allusions, geographical settings, and cross-references to related passages in the same [[work]], other works by the author, or sources used by the author.[1]

Some commentaries from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_Antiquity Classical Antiquity] or the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_Ages Middle Ages] (more strictly referred to as scholia) are a valuable source of [[information]] otherwise unknown, including [[references]] to works that are now lost. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerome Jerome] provides a list of several commentaries that were in use during his days as a student in the 350s A.D.[2] One of the most used of the ancient scholia today is that of Servius on Vergil’s [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeneid Aeneid], written in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4th_Century 4th century].

Some commentaries from [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_Antiquity Classical Antiquity] or the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_Ages Middle Ages] (more strictly referred to as scholia) are a valuable source of [[information]] otherwise unknown, including [[references]] to works that are now lost. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerome Jerome] provides a list of several commentaries that were in use during his days as a student in the 350s A.D.[2] One of the most used of the ancient scholia today is that of Servius on Vergil’s [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeneid Aeneid], written in the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4th_Century 4th century].

The production of commentaries began to flourish in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/16th_Century 16th century] as part of the humanist project to recover the [[texts]] of antiquity, with its related boom in [[publishing]]. In the modern era, a commentary differs from an annotated edition aimed at students or the casual reader in that it attempts to address an exhaustive range of scholarly questions, many of which may be of concern or interest primarily to specialists. The commentator may take a position on variant readings of the text or on a point of scholarly [[Argument|dispute]], but arguments are usually succinct, a paragraph or less than a page in length.

The production of commentaries began to flourish in the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/16th_Century 16th century] as part of the humanist project to recover the [[texts]] of antiquity, with its related boom in [[publishing]]. In the modern era, a commentary differs from an annotated edition aimed at students or the casual reader in that it attempts to address an exhaustive range of scholarly questions, many of which may be of concern or interest primarily to specialists. The commentator may take a position on variant readings of the text or on a point of scholarly [[Argument|dispute]], but arguments are usually succinct, a paragraph or less than a page in length.

==Bibliography==

==Bibliography==

* Cameron, Alan. Greek Mythography in the Roman World. Oxford University Press, 2004. ISBN 0195171217. New perspectives on the purpose and use of scholia and annotations within the Roman intellectual milieu.

* Cameron, Alan. Greek Mythography in the Roman World. Oxford University Press, 2004. ISBN 0195171217. New perspectives on the purpose and use of scholia and annotations within the Roman intellectual milieu.