Salammbo

In this new edition: SALAMMBÔ Bilingual Edition English / French. English Version translated from French by Chartres J C (1913). Followed by an abstract from "Figures of Several Centuries: Gustave Flaubert" byArthur Symons (1916). French Original Version Illustrated (1884 to 1886) by Victor-Armand Poirson Followed by an abstract from "Histoire: La Guerre des Mercenaires, d'après Polybe"Translated into French by Dom Vincent Thuillier (1727). Salammbô (1862) is a historical novel by Gustave Flaubert. It is set in Carthage during the 3rd century BCE, [1] immediately before and during the Mercenary Revolt which took place shortly after the First Punic War. Flaubert's main source was Book I of Polybius's Histories. The novel jumpstarted a renewed interest in the history of pre-Imperial Rome's conflict with the North African Phoenician colony of Carthage. Contemporary readers, familiar with Flaubert's previous realistic work, Madame Bovary, were shocked and, in some instances, appalled by the indiscriminate violence and sensuality prevalent throughout the novel, which is why, notwithstanding the praise it received for its style and story, Salammbô remains controversial in literary circles to this day. Nevertheless, it was a massive best-seller, which sealed the author's reputation as one of the most prominent French writers of the 19th century, with even some of the Carthaginian costumes described influencing contemporary French fashion. Since then, however, it has fallen into obscurity in much of the Anglophone world. PlotAfter the First Punic War, Carthage is unable to fulfill promises made to its army of mercenaries, and finds itself under attack. The fictional title character, a priestess and the daughter of Hamilcar Barca, the foremost Carthaginian general, is the object of the obsessive lust of Matho, a leader of the mercenaries. With the help of the scheming freed slave, Spendius, Matho steals the sacred veil of Carthage, the Zaïmph, prompting Salammbô to enter the mercenaries' camp in an attempt to steal it back. The Zaïmph is an ornate bejewelled veil draped about the statue of the goddess Tanit in the sanctum sanctorum of her temple: the veil is the city's guardian and touching it will bring death to the perpetrator.