Ralph Rosen
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195309966
- eISBN:
- 9780199789443
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195309966.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This book explores the dynamics of comic mockery and satire in Greek and Latin poetry, and argues that poets working in such genres composed their “attacks” on targets, and constructed their ...
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This book explores the dynamics of comic mockery and satire in Greek and Latin poetry, and argues that poets working in such genres composed their “attacks” on targets, and constructed their relationships with audiences, in accordance with a set of common poetic principles, protocols, and tropes. It encourages a synoptic, synchronic view of such poetry, from archaic iambus through Roman satire, and argues that only when we appreciate how an abstracted “poetics of mockery” governs individual poets can we fully understand how such poetry functioned diachronically in its own historical moment. The book examines in particular the strategies deployed by satirical poets to enlist the sympathies of a putative audience and convince them of the legitimacy of their personal attacks. It discusses the tension deliberately created by such poets between self-righteous didactic claims and a persistent desire to undermine them, and concludes that such poetry was felt by ancient audiences to achieve its greatest success as comedy precisely when they were left unable to ascribe to the satirist any consistent moral position. Several early chapters look to Greek myth for paradigms of comic mockery, and argue that these myths can illuminate the ways in which ancient audiences conceptualized specifically poeticized forms of satire. Poets addressed in this part of the book include Archilochus, Hipponax, Horace, Homer, Aristophanes, and Theocritus. Two chapters follow which address the satirical poetics of Callimachus and Juvenal, and a final chapter on the question of how ancient audiences responded the inherently controversial elements of such poetry.Less
This book explores the dynamics of comic mockery and satire in Greek and Latin poetry, and argues that poets working in such genres composed their “attacks” on targets, and constructed their relationships with audiences, in accordance with a set of common poetic principles, protocols, and tropes. It encourages a synoptic, synchronic view of such poetry, from archaic iambus through Roman satire, and argues that only when we appreciate how an abstracted “poetics of mockery” governs individual poets can we fully understand how such poetry functioned diachronically in its own historical moment. The book examines in particular the strategies deployed by satirical poets to enlist the sympathies of a putative audience and convince them of the legitimacy of their personal attacks. It discusses the tension deliberately created by such poets between self-righteous didactic claims and a persistent desire to undermine them, and concludes that such poetry was felt by ancient audiences to achieve its greatest success as comedy precisely when they were left unable to ascribe to the satirist any consistent moral position. Several early chapters look to Greek myth for paradigms of comic mockery, and argue that these myths can illuminate the ways in which ancient audiences conceptualized specifically poeticized forms of satire. Poets addressed in this part of the book include Archilochus, Hipponax, Horace, Homer, Aristophanes, and Theocritus. Two chapters follow which address the satirical poetics of Callimachus and Juvenal, and a final chapter on the question of how ancient audiences responded the inherently controversial elements of such poetry.
Wallace Matson
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199812691
- eISBN:
- 9780199919420
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199812691.003.0011
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
The intensely human culture of newly literate Ionia spread into every field of intellectual endeavor. Though it was obviously anti-religious, serious opposition to it took nearly a century to ...
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The intensely human culture of newly literate Ionia spread into every field of intellectual endeavor. Though it was obviously anti-religious, serious opposition to it took nearly a century to develop. Ionian thought came to Athens later than to Italy. It was introduced by Anaxagoras of Clazomenae and by members of a new “profession,” the Sophists –itinerant lecturers and tutors. The most famous of these was Protagoras, the first Relativist and explicit agnostic. Socrates, a native Athenian, started out as a friend of the scientific side of Pythagoreanism. As such he was caricatured by the comic poet Aristophanes; and as such he was condemned and put to death for “impiety.” But by that time he had undergone a conversion from science to the moral and religious interests also associated with the Brotherhood.Less
The intensely human culture of newly literate Ionia spread into every field of intellectual endeavor. Though it was obviously anti-religious, serious opposition to it took nearly a century to develop. Ionian thought came to Athens later than to Italy. It was introduced by Anaxagoras of Clazomenae and by members of a new “profession,” the Sophists –itinerant lecturers and tutors. The most famous of these was Protagoras, the first Relativist and explicit agnostic. Socrates, a native Athenian, started out as a friend of the scientific side of Pythagoreanism. As such he was caricatured by the comic poet Aristophanes; and as such he was condemned and put to death for “impiety.” But by that time he had undergone a conversion from science to the moral and religious interests also associated with the Brotherhood.
ANDREAS WILLI
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199215102
- eISBN:
- 9780191718915
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199215102.003.0008
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter presents a synthesis of discussions in the preceding chapters. The most important conclusion from studying the six Aristophanic case studies is that it is feasible to operate with ...
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This chapter presents a synthesis of discussions in the preceding chapters. The most important conclusion from studying the six Aristophanic case studies is that it is feasible to operate with categories of variation which are more fine-grained than the well-known ones of ‘foreign dialect’, ‘paratragic style’, or ‘colloquial language’. The universally recognised absence of linguistic continuity in Aristophanes, and the lack of continuous linguistic characterization should not discourage the analysis of discontinuous characterization: first because variation is an interesting topic in its own right, and secondly because linguistic characterization is possible even in a discontinuous mode.Less
This chapter presents a synthesis of discussions in the preceding chapters. The most important conclusion from studying the six Aristophanic case studies is that it is feasible to operate with categories of variation which are more fine-grained than the well-known ones of ‘foreign dialect’, ‘paratragic style’, or ‘colloquial language’. The universally recognised absence of linguistic continuity in Aristophanes, and the lack of continuous linguistic characterization should not discourage the analysis of discontinuous characterization: first because variation is an interesting topic in its own right, and secondly because linguistic characterization is possible even in a discontinuous mode.
John Lombardini
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780520291034
- eISBN:
- 9780520964914
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520291034.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Archaeology: Classical
How was Socrates funny? Was he an ironist? Did he mock his interlocutors and, in doing so, show disdain for both them and the institutions of Athenian democracy? These questions were debated with ...
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How was Socrates funny? Was he an ironist? Did he mock his interlocutors and, in doing so, show disdain for both them and the institutions of Athenian democracy? These questions were debated with great seriousness by three generations of Greek writers and helped to define a primary strand of the Western tradition of political thought. This book reconstructs the debate between ancient Greek authors concerning the nature and purpose of Socratic humor. It compares the Socrates presented in Aristophanes, Plato, Xenophon, Aristotle, and the Hellenistic philosophical schools in order to demonstrate that humor was a key aspect of Socrates’s legacy in and after the classical period. It further shows how these ancient depictions of Socratic humor were shaped by the political context in which they were written and illustrates why Socratic intellectualism was thought to be dangerous to democratic authority. Practices of humor are connected with the operations of power; this book details how humor enabled Socrates to navigate relations of power between himself and his interlocutors. By attending to the politics of humor, these ancient writers explored the political implications of Socratic conversation in ways that shed new light on the relationships between humor, power, and democratic authority.Less
How was Socrates funny? Was he an ironist? Did he mock his interlocutors and, in doing so, show disdain for both them and the institutions of Athenian democracy? These questions were debated with great seriousness by three generations of Greek writers and helped to define a primary strand of the Western tradition of political thought. This book reconstructs the debate between ancient Greek authors concerning the nature and purpose of Socratic humor. It compares the Socrates presented in Aristophanes, Plato, Xenophon, Aristotle, and the Hellenistic philosophical schools in order to demonstrate that humor was a key aspect of Socrates’s legacy in and after the classical period. It further shows how these ancient depictions of Socratic humor were shaped by the political context in which they were written and illustrates why Socratic intellectualism was thought to be dangerous to democratic authority. Practices of humor are connected with the operations of power; this book details how humor enabled Socrates to navigate relations of power between himself and his interlocutors. By attending to the politics of humor, these ancient writers explored the political implications of Socratic conversation in ways that shed new light on the relationships between humor, power, and democratic authority.
Emmanuela Bakola
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199569359
- eISBN:
- 9780191722332
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199569359.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Poetry and Poets: Classical, Early, and Medieval
Cratinus, one of the great lost poets of fifth-century Athenian comedy and a canonical author of the classical world, had a formative influence on the comic genre, including Aristophanes himself. In ...
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Cratinus, one of the great lost poets of fifth-century Athenian comedy and a canonical author of the classical world, had a formative influence on the comic genre, including Aristophanes himself. In what is the first major monograph in the best part of a century devoted to this author, Emmanuela Bakola offers a modern, comprehensive overview of Cratinus and his position within the genre of Greek comedy using a methodologically innovative approach. Unlike traditional ways of addressing fragmentary drama, this book does not merely reconstruct plays or texts, but by drawing on a range of hermeneutic frameworks, it adopts a thematic approach which allows her to explore Cratinus' poetics. Major issues which this book addresses include the creation of a poetic persona within a performative tradition of vigorous interpoetic rivalry; comedy's interaction with lyric poetry, iambos, and the literary-critical debates reflected by these genres; the play with the boundaries of the comic genre and the interaction with satyr drama and tragedy, especially Aeschylus; the multiple levels of comic plot-construction and characterization; comedy's reflection on its immediate political, social, and intellectual context; stagecraft and dramaturgy; comedy and ritual. Whilst being firmly based on principles of rigorous textual analysis, philology, and papyrology, by taking a broad and diverse outlook this study offers not just an insight into Cratinus, but a way of opening up and enriching our understanding of fifth-century Athenian comedy in a dynamic evolving environment.Less
Cratinus, one of the great lost poets of fifth-century Athenian comedy and a canonical author of the classical world, had a formative influence on the comic genre, including Aristophanes himself. In what is the first major monograph in the best part of a century devoted to this author, Emmanuela Bakola offers a modern, comprehensive overview of Cratinus and his position within the genre of Greek comedy using a methodologically innovative approach. Unlike traditional ways of addressing fragmentary drama, this book does not merely reconstruct plays or texts, but by drawing on a range of hermeneutic frameworks, it adopts a thematic approach which allows her to explore Cratinus' poetics. Major issues which this book addresses include the creation of a poetic persona within a performative tradition of vigorous interpoetic rivalry; comedy's interaction with lyric poetry, iambos, and the literary-critical debates reflected by these genres; the play with the boundaries of the comic genre and the interaction with satyr drama and tragedy, especially Aeschylus; the multiple levels of comic plot-construction and characterization; comedy's reflection on its immediate political, social, and intellectual context; stagecraft and dramaturgy; comedy and ritual. Whilst being firmly based on principles of rigorous textual analysis, philology, and papyrology, by taking a broad and diverse outlook this study offers not just an insight into Cratinus, but a way of opening up and enriching our understanding of fifth-century Athenian comedy in a dynamic evolving environment.
Alan H. Sommerstein
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199554195
- eISBN:
- 9780191720604
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199554195.003.0012
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Plays and Playwrights: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter argues that neither Aristophanes, nor his creation Lysistrata, can reasonably be regarded as a pacifist, or even as an unconditional advocate of ending the current war against Sparta. ...
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This chapter argues that neither Aristophanes, nor his creation Lysistrata, can reasonably be regarded as a pacifist, or even as an unconditional advocate of ending the current war against Sparta. Lysistrata herself uses violence and the infliction of pain to achieve her ends; every reference made by her or her supporters to wars against enemies other than Sparta is a favourable one (as is typical of Aristophanes); and the peace terms she makes with Sparta would have been utterly, and obviously, unattainable for a democratic Athens in early 411 bc, as is virtually admitted within the play itself. The play transports the audience into a dream world where, with divine aid, the impossible is achieved. There is no sign, here or elsewhere, that Aristophanes would have accepted, let alone advocated, any peace that did not leave Athens free to maintain her empire.Less
This chapter argues that neither Aristophanes, nor his creation Lysistrata, can reasonably be regarded as a pacifist, or even as an unconditional advocate of ending the current war against Sparta. Lysistrata herself uses violence and the infliction of pain to achieve her ends; every reference made by her or her supporters to wars against enemies other than Sparta is a favourable one (as is typical of Aristophanes); and the peace terms she makes with Sparta would have been utterly, and obviously, unattainable for a democratic Athens in early 411 bc, as is virtually admitted within the play itself. The play transports the audience into a dream world where, with divine aid, the impossible is achieved. There is no sign, here or elsewhere, that Aristophanes would have accepted, let alone advocated, any peace that did not leave Athens free to maintain her empire.
Katherine Clarke
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199291083
- eISBN:
- 9780191710582
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199291083.003.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE
This chapter discusses different forms of temporal calibration and articulation, as well as the complementary nature of natural time and culturally-determined time. After introducing some ...
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This chapter discusses different forms of temporal calibration and articulation, as well as the complementary nature of natural time and culturally-determined time. After introducing some philosophical problems concerning the nature of time, it examines evidence for the proposition that time as a malleable and constructed concept was familiar within the everyday life of the Greek polis, through the plays of Aristophanes and publicly displayed inscriptions. The connections between time as mapped out on a recurring annual cycle through the calendar and historical time which spans the past of a place are also considered.Less
This chapter discusses different forms of temporal calibration and articulation, as well as the complementary nature of natural time and culturally-determined time. After introducing some philosophical problems concerning the nature of time, it examines evidence for the proposition that time as a malleable and constructed concept was familiar within the everyday life of the Greek polis, through the plays of Aristophanes and publicly displayed inscriptions. The connections between time as mapped out on a recurring annual cycle through the calendar and historical time which spans the past of a place are also considered.
Kathleen Riley
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199534487
- eISBN:
- 9780191715945
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199534487.003.0007
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter looks in detail at Robert Browning's poem Aristophanes' Apology (1875) and his transcription, within this, of Euripides' Herakles. Browning applies himself at length to the whole issue ...
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This chapter looks in detail at Robert Browning's poem Aristophanes' Apology (1875) and his transcription, within this, of Euripides' Herakles. Browning applies himself at length to the whole issue of Euripidean reception, both ancient and modern, and, as the coup de grâce in his defence of the playwright, he translates Herakles faithfully and in full. The play is deemed by Browning ‘the consummate Tragedy’ and ‘the perfect piece’ by which to ‘test true godship’. The chapter considers Browning's version of Herakles in relation to his very different translations of Alkestis and Agamemnon, and in terms of the Victorian translation debate.Less
This chapter looks in detail at Robert Browning's poem Aristophanes' Apology (1875) and his transcription, within this, of Euripides' Herakles. Browning applies himself at length to the whole issue of Euripidean reception, both ancient and modern, and, as the coup de grâce in his defence of the playwright, he translates Herakles faithfully and in full. The play is deemed by Browning ‘the consummate Tragedy’ and ‘the perfect piece’ by which to ‘test true godship’. The chapter considers Browning's version of Herakles in relation to his very different translations of Alkestis and Agamemnon, and in terms of the Victorian translation debate.
Frisbee C. C. Sheffield
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199286775
- eISBN:
- 9780191713194
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199286775.003.0008
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Ancient Greek, Roman, and Early Christian Philosophy
This chapter explores the relationship between Socrates and his predecessors, and gives a significant philosophical role to all the speeches of the dialogue. It argues that Socrates' speech is ...
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This chapter explores the relationship between Socrates and his predecessors, and gives a significant philosophical role to all the speeches of the dialogue. It argues that Socrates' speech is continuous with his predecessors, and completes and resolves some of the issues raised in the previous speeches. In this way, the previous speeches can be compared to Aristotelian endoxa. The contrast between Socrates and his predecessors also exemplifies the contrast between the two sorts of lovers described in the lower and higher mysteries of Socrates' speech. Reading the speeches in light of this contrast provides a further reason to think that the previous speeches are for the sake of our philosophical education, in much the same way as the lower mysteries were taught to Socrates for the sake of the higher. The philosophy of the Symposium, in other words, is extended throughout the dialogue and is not limited to Socrates'speech.Less
This chapter explores the relationship between Socrates and his predecessors, and gives a significant philosophical role to all the speeches of the dialogue. It argues that Socrates' speech is continuous with his predecessors, and completes and resolves some of the issues raised in the previous speeches. In this way, the previous speeches can be compared to Aristotelian endoxa. The contrast between Socrates and his predecessors also exemplifies the contrast between the two sorts of lovers described in the lower and higher mysteries of Socrates' speech. Reading the speeches in light of this contrast provides a further reason to think that the previous speeches are for the sake of our philosophical education, in much the same way as the lower mysteries were taught to Socrates for the sake of the higher. The philosophy of the Symposium, in other words, is extended throughout the dialogue and is not limited to Socrates'speech.
A. P. David
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199292400
- eISBN:
- 9780191711855
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199292400.003.0003
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Poetry and Poets: Classical, Early, and Medieval
A fresh interpretation of ‘όξύς’ and ‘βαρύς’ underpins a new theory of the ancient Greek accent, applying W. Sidney Allen’s observation that there must have been in Greek a down-glide in pitch, ...
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A fresh interpretation of ‘όξύς’ and ‘βαρύς’ underpins a new theory of the ancient Greek accent, applying W. Sidney Allen’s observation that there must have been in Greek a down-glide in pitch, cognate with the Vedic svarita, in addition to the rise whose vowel mora is marked by the received written system of signs devised by Aristophanes of Byzantium. The diachronic analysis is confirmed by Allen’s separate discovery of a pattern of stress in Greek, whose rules predict the same places of accentual prominence as the new theory; by modern synchronic descriptions of the Greek tonal phenomena; and by the fact that the contextual dominance of the svarita proposed for Greek also helps formulate a law that corresponds to the received rules for Latin prosody. Various loci antiqui, including disputed passages from Plato’s Timaeus, are seen in some cases to be inconsistent with received interpretations, but always consistent with the new theory.Less
A fresh interpretation of ‘όξύς’ and ‘βαρύς’ underpins a new theory of the ancient Greek accent, applying W. Sidney Allen’s observation that there must have been in Greek a down-glide in pitch, cognate with the Vedic svarita, in addition to the rise whose vowel mora is marked by the received written system of signs devised by Aristophanes of Byzantium. The diachronic analysis is confirmed by Allen’s separate discovery of a pattern of stress in Greek, whose rules predict the same places of accentual prominence as the new theory; by modern synchronic descriptions of the Greek tonal phenomena; and by the fact that the contextual dominance of the svarita proposed for Greek also helps formulate a law that corresponds to the received rules for Latin prosody. Various loci antiqui, including disputed passages from Plato’s Timaeus, are seen in some cases to be inconsistent with received interpretations, but always consistent with the new theory.
Mario Telò
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780226309699
- eISBN:
- 9780226309729
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226309729.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Plays and Playwrights: Classical, Early, and Medieval
Aristophanes, whose eleven surviving plays are all that remain of Old Comedy, has been stereotyped since ancient times as the poet who brought order and stability to this rowdy theatrical genre. But ...
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Aristophanes, whose eleven surviving plays are all that remain of Old Comedy, has been stereotyped since ancient times as the poet who brought order and stability to this rowdy theatrical genre. But how did this image arise, and why were the rivals Cratinus and Eupolis relegated to secondary status and merely fragmentary survival? This book traces Aristophanes’ supremacy, paradoxically, back to the defeat of his Clouds at the Great Dionysia in 423 BCE. Both Wasps (422) and the revised Clouds (419–417), the two plays at the center of this study, depict the earlier Clouds as a failed attempt by Aristophanes, the good son, to heal the comic audience—reflected in the plays in a pair of dysfunctional fathers. Through this narrative of failure, Aristophanes advances a “proto-canonical” discourse that anticipates the contours of the Hellenistic comic canon by elevating his aesthetic mode while delegitimizing his rivals. Aristophanic comedy is cast as a prestigious object, an expression of the supposedly timeless values of dignity and self-control. This discourse, which depends on both internal and external textual connections, is grounded in the distinctive feelings that different comic modes purportedly transmitted to an audience. In Wasps and Clouds the Aristophanic style is figured as a soft, protective cloak meant to shield an audience from debilitating competitors and restore it to paternal responsibility and authority. Aristophanes’ narrative of afflicted fathers and healing sons, of audience and poet, is thus shown to be at the center of the proto-canonical discourse that shaped his eventual dominance.Less
Aristophanes, whose eleven surviving plays are all that remain of Old Comedy, has been stereotyped since ancient times as the poet who brought order and stability to this rowdy theatrical genre. But how did this image arise, and why were the rivals Cratinus and Eupolis relegated to secondary status and merely fragmentary survival? This book traces Aristophanes’ supremacy, paradoxically, back to the defeat of his Clouds at the Great Dionysia in 423 BCE. Both Wasps (422) and the revised Clouds (419–417), the two plays at the center of this study, depict the earlier Clouds as a failed attempt by Aristophanes, the good son, to heal the comic audience—reflected in the plays in a pair of dysfunctional fathers. Through this narrative of failure, Aristophanes advances a “proto-canonical” discourse that anticipates the contours of the Hellenistic comic canon by elevating his aesthetic mode while delegitimizing his rivals. Aristophanic comedy is cast as a prestigious object, an expression of the supposedly timeless values of dignity and self-control. This discourse, which depends on both internal and external textual connections, is grounded in the distinctive feelings that different comic modes purportedly transmitted to an audience. In Wasps and Clouds the Aristophanic style is figured as a soft, protective cloak meant to shield an audience from debilitating competitors and restore it to paternal responsibility and authority. Aristophanes’ narrative of afflicted fathers and healing sons, of audience and poet, is thus shown to be at the center of the proto-canonical discourse that shaped his eventual dominance.
Ralph M. Rosen
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195309966
- eISBN:
- 9780199789443
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195309966.003.0003
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter is concerned with how satiric genres of poetry distinguished “blamers” from targets, and how poets enlisted the sympathies of their audiences. The main focus is on the Thersites of ...
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This chapter is concerned with how satiric genres of poetry distinguished “blamers” from targets, and how poets enlisted the sympathies of their audiences. The main focus is on the Thersites of Homer, Iliad 2 who is often regarded as a kind of “proto-satirist”. This chapter, however, urges a more nuanced approach to this formulation: by comparing the Iliadic portrait of Thersites (where Thersites is portrayed as having been justifiably punished) to the stories about his death at the hands of Achilles (a patently unjust act) found in other sources, it argues that the Iliadic Thersites is conceptualized by Homer more as a “target” than an actual satirist. Comparanda discussed in this chapter include Aristophanes' Knights and Aesopic fable.Less
This chapter is concerned with how satiric genres of poetry distinguished “blamers” from targets, and how poets enlisted the sympathies of their audiences. The main focus is on the Thersites of Homer, Iliad 2 who is often regarded as a kind of “proto-satirist”. This chapter, however, urges a more nuanced approach to this formulation: by comparing the Iliadic portrait of Thersites (where Thersites is portrayed as having been justifiably punished) to the stories about his death at the hands of Achilles (a patently unjust act) found in other sources, it argues that the Iliadic Thersites is conceptualized by Homer more as a “target” than an actual satirist. Comparanda discussed in this chapter include Aristophanes' Knights and Aesopic fable.
Emmanuela Bakola
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199569359
- eISBN:
- 9780191722332
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199569359.003.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Poetry and Poets: Classical, Early, and Medieval
After a preface devoted to the poet, his works, his reputation in antiquity, and the nature of the surviving material, the introduction clarifies the book's methodology. Unlike traditional ways of ...
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After a preface devoted to the poet, his works, his reputation in antiquity, and the nature of the surviving material, the introduction clarifies the book's methodology. Unlike traditional ways of addressing fragmentary comedy, Cratinus and the Art of Comedy does not merely reconstruct plays or texts, but draws on a range of hermeneutic frameworks and adopts a thematic approach, which offers a means to explore the author's poetics. The introduction further addresses the problem of the ‘shadow’ of Aristophanes, the only author of the period for whom whole plays survive, and suggests ways in which the extant comedies might be used in a productive way while avoiding the distortion caused by superimposing Aristophanes on a fragmentary poet like Cratinus. It closes by discussing earlier scholarship on Cratinus.Less
After a preface devoted to the poet, his works, his reputation in antiquity, and the nature of the surviving material, the introduction clarifies the book's methodology. Unlike traditional ways of addressing fragmentary comedy, Cratinus and the Art of Comedy does not merely reconstruct plays or texts, but draws on a range of hermeneutic frameworks and adopts a thematic approach, which offers a means to explore the author's poetics. The introduction further addresses the problem of the ‘shadow’ of Aristophanes, the only author of the period for whom whole plays survive, and suggests ways in which the extant comedies might be used in a productive way while avoiding the distortion caused by superimposing Aristophanes on a fragmentary poet like Cratinus. It closes by discussing earlier scholarship on Cratinus.
Kenneth Dover
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199245475
- eISBN:
- 9780191714993
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199245475.003.0004
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter establishes the range of evaluative strategies found in Greek comedy and then concentrates on an explicit lexical evaluation in comedy. It argues that it would be easy to understand why ...
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This chapter establishes the range of evaluative strategies found in Greek comedy and then concentrates on an explicit lexical evaluation in comedy. It argues that it would be easy to understand why the language of Aristophanes abstains from the use of the ‘basic’ obscene metaphor in reproaching stupidity and unpleasantness if it also abstained from (1) the metaphorical use of ‘deviant’ obscenity and (2) the use of both basic and deviant obscene words in their literal meanings. However, those conditions are not fulfilled, leaving something that resembles an ecological niche inexplicably unoccupied.Less
This chapter establishes the range of evaluative strategies found in Greek comedy and then concentrates on an explicit lexical evaluation in comedy. It argues that it would be easy to understand why the language of Aristophanes abstains from the use of the ‘basic’ obscene metaphor in reproaching stupidity and unpleasantness if it also abstained from (1) the metaphorical use of ‘deviant’ obscenity and (2) the use of both basic and deviant obscene words in their literal meanings. However, those conditions are not fulfilled, leaving something that resembles an ecological niche inexplicably unoccupied.
Simon R. Slings
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199245475
- eISBN:
- 9780191714993
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199245475.003.0005
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter illustrates some of the problems that arise when we try to separate literary and non-literary language. It argues that a figure of speech such as chiasmus (and similarly anaphora) is a ...
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This chapter illustrates some of the problems that arise when we try to separate literary and non-literary language. It argues that a figure of speech such as chiasmus (and similarly anaphora) is a natural (or universal) means to package complex information. As long as it fulfils this primary aim, a chiasmus is therefore not a literary embellishment. If, on the other hand, the information complexity is minor so that the chiasmus is functionally ‘unnecessary’, the addressee will perceive it as a literary figure. Most of the Aristophanic examples of chiasmus and anaphora are not ‘justified’ by an excessive information complexity, leading to the conclusion that Aristophanes' style is in this respect more literate than oral.Less
This chapter illustrates some of the problems that arise when we try to separate literary and non-literary language. It argues that a figure of speech such as chiasmus (and similarly anaphora) is a natural (or universal) means to package complex information. As long as it fulfils this primary aim, a chiasmus is therefore not a literary embellishment. If, on the other hand, the information complexity is minor so that the chiasmus is functionally ‘unnecessary’, the addressee will perceive it as a literary figure. Most of the Aristophanic examples of chiasmus and anaphora are not ‘justified’ by an excessive information complexity, leading to the conclusion that Aristophanes' style is in this respect more literate than oral.
Cathy Gutierrez
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195388350
- eISBN:
- 9780199866472
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195388350.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
The creation of a white-collar class in America brought with it changes in demographic patterns, particularly where romance was concerned. No longer largely economic, marriage became increasingly ...
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The creation of a white-collar class in America brought with it changes in demographic patterns, particularly where romance was concerned. No longer largely economic, marriage became increasingly seen as an emotional and romantic fulfillment of human needs. Spiritualists agreed that love was of utmost importance but recognized that many unhappy marriages resulted in women and children caught in impossible situations. Spiritualists advocated an eternal love between soul mates but fought for reform of marriage and divorce law at the same time. True love was understood using Aristophanes’ portrayal of the primal androgynous unit from Plato’s Symposium—love gathered the halves of bodies as well as souls. At the fringes of the movement were sex radicals and free-love adherents like Victoria Woodhull who called for dramatic legal reform in both marriage and eugenics.Less
The creation of a white-collar class in America brought with it changes in demographic patterns, particularly where romance was concerned. No longer largely economic, marriage became increasingly seen as an emotional and romantic fulfillment of human needs. Spiritualists agreed that love was of utmost importance but recognized that many unhappy marriages resulted in women and children caught in impossible situations. Spiritualists advocated an eternal love between soul mates but fought for reform of marriage and divorce law at the same time. True love was understood using Aristophanes’ portrayal of the primal androgynous unit from Plato’s Symposium—love gathered the halves of bodies as well as souls. At the fringes of the movement were sex radicals and free-love adherents like Victoria Woodhull who called for dramatic legal reform in both marriage and eugenics.
René Nünlist
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199245475
- eISBN:
- 9780191714993
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199245475.003.0010
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter describes the dramatic use of speech within speech in Menander's comedies. It begins with a historical review that stretches from Homer down to Hellenistic literature, then considers the ...
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This chapter describes the dramatic use of speech within speech in Menander's comedies. It begins with a historical review that stretches from Homer down to Hellenistic literature, then considers the specific role ‘speech within speech’ takes on in New Comedy. By distinguishing factual and imagined quoted speech, it shows that Menander's usage is closer to that of Euripides than to that of Aristophanes even though the absolute frequency of quoted speech is comparable in all three authors.Less
This chapter describes the dramatic use of speech within speech in Menander's comedies. It begins with a historical review that stretches from Homer down to Hellenistic literature, then considers the specific role ‘speech within speech’ takes on in New Comedy. By distinguishing factual and imagined quoted speech, it shows that Menander's usage is closer to that of Euripides than to that of Aristophanes even though the absolute frequency of quoted speech is comparable in all three authors.
Alan H. Sommerstein
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199554195
- eISBN:
- 9780191720604
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199554195.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Plays and Playwrights: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This book brings together fourteen studies on Aristophanes and his fellow comic dramatists, some of which have not previously appeared in print while others were published (between 1980 and 2005) in ...
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This book brings together fourteen studies on Aristophanes and his fellow comic dramatists, some of which have not previously appeared in print while others were published (between 1980 and 2005) in out-of-the-way journals, collections, or conference volumes. They appear here as originally written, but are accompanied by updating addenda. They cover a wide range of topics—the nature and functions of comedy in Aristophanes' time, its connections with the society and politics of its day, the question of Aristophanes' own political stances, the light comedy can throw on classical Athenians' perception of basic social divisions (age, gender, citizen/alien, free/slave), comedy's exploitation of the expressive resources of the Greek language, the composition and production history of individual plays, and the history of the genre as a whole. Aristophanes comes across as a poet committed to the spirit of seeking enjoyment for oneself and others, as inclusively as possible, believing that nothing was beyond imagination, that no one was contemptible save those who chose to make themselves so, that everything which could be seen, felt and experienced was of interest and could generate happiness through laughter, that we are what our past has made us, but that our nature also impels us to reach out for an ideal future.Less
This book brings together fourteen studies on Aristophanes and his fellow comic dramatists, some of which have not previously appeared in print while others were published (between 1980 and 2005) in out-of-the-way journals, collections, or conference volumes. They appear here as originally written, but are accompanied by updating addenda. They cover a wide range of topics—the nature and functions of comedy in Aristophanes' time, its connections with the society and politics of its day, the question of Aristophanes' own political stances, the light comedy can throw on classical Athenians' perception of basic social divisions (age, gender, citizen/alien, free/slave), comedy's exploitation of the expressive resources of the Greek language, the composition and production history of individual plays, and the history of the genre as a whole. Aristophanes comes across as a poet committed to the spirit of seeking enjoyment for oneself and others, as inclusively as possible, believing that nothing was beyond imagination, that no one was contemptible save those who chose to make themselves so, that everything which could be seen, felt and experienced was of interest and could generate happiness through laughter, that we are what our past has made us, but that our nature also impels us to reach out for an ideal future.
Yun Lee Too
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199577804
- eISBN:
- 9780191722912
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199577804.003.0004
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
Chapter 3 states that the library need not be a physical collection of texts, and it explores the phenomenon of the learned literary individual who becomes a virtual library. The personified library ...
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Chapter 3 states that the library need not be a physical collection of texts, and it explores the phenomenon of the learned literary individual who becomes a virtual library. The personified library grows out of the person who had to personify literature in an earlier period and he becomes an authorized and authorizing figure, who, as the example of Aristophanes, the first librarian at Alexandria, shows, can attest to the legitimacy of texts. Individuals such as Longinus, Nepotianus, and Apuleius come to embody their society's learning and culture, although in later antiquity, with Athenaeus, the memorization of literary texts places the library‐individuals under great pressure as the attempt to accrue literary authority becomes an exaggerated and ridiculous venture.Less
Chapter 3 states that the library need not be a physical collection of texts, and it explores the phenomenon of the learned literary individual who becomes a virtual library. The personified library grows out of the person who had to personify literature in an earlier period and he becomes an authorized and authorizing figure, who, as the example of Aristophanes, the first librarian at Alexandria, shows, can attest to the legitimacy of texts. Individuals such as Longinus, Nepotianus, and Apuleius come to embody their society's learning and culture, although in later antiquity, with Athenaeus, the memorization of literary texts places the library‐individuals under great pressure as the attempt to accrue literary authority becomes an exaggerated and ridiculous venture.
Ian Ruffell
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199587216
- eISBN:
- 9780191731297
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199587216.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Plays and Playwrights: Classical, Early, and Medieval
The collision of politics and claims of political intervention with the fantastic, absurd and impossible is characteristic of the Athenian comic drama of the late fifth and early fourth ...
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The collision of politics and claims of political intervention with the fantastic, absurd and impossible is characteristic of the Athenian comic drama of the late fifth and early fourth century BCE, but has proved persistently problematic for critics. This book sets the impossible centre-stage and argues that comic impossibility should not be ignored in political readings or, conversely, used as a reason for excluding comedy from political interventions, but that anti-realism and the absurd are precisely the mechanisms through which this sort of comedy had political and social effects, manipulated its audience, and maintained its position in an environment of many competing political claims. Drawing on a variety of theoretical paradigms, from semiotics and humour theory through to ancient literary criticism, this book seeks to articulate a model of comic narrative and argument that can be applied equally both to the impossible worlds of Old Comedy and those of related forms of comedy in other traditions. This model emphasises complex and provisional conceptual development over the linear and inflexible models of traditional models of comic narrative, and makes the joke and routine the base elements of comic plot. Pervasive comic self-reflexivity (‘metatheatre’) is presented as a special case of comic impossibility and one that intensifies and consolidates audience response. The ongoing dialogue with comic rivals and performance forms provides both foundational matter for comic worlds and a competitive dimension to those worlds, an argument about the best kind of comic world and a demonstration that comic anti-realism has the political and conceptual measure of its more widely-recognized and supposedly realist rivals.Less
The collision of politics and claims of political intervention with the fantastic, absurd and impossible is characteristic of the Athenian comic drama of the late fifth and early fourth century BCE, but has proved persistently problematic for critics. This book sets the impossible centre-stage and argues that comic impossibility should not be ignored in political readings or, conversely, used as a reason for excluding comedy from political interventions, but that anti-realism and the absurd are precisely the mechanisms through which this sort of comedy had political and social effects, manipulated its audience, and maintained its position in an environment of many competing political claims. Drawing on a variety of theoretical paradigms, from semiotics and humour theory through to ancient literary criticism, this book seeks to articulate a model of comic narrative and argument that can be applied equally both to the impossible worlds of Old Comedy and those of related forms of comedy in other traditions. This model emphasises complex and provisional conceptual development over the linear and inflexible models of traditional models of comic narrative, and makes the joke and routine the base elements of comic plot. Pervasive comic self-reflexivity (‘metatheatre’) is presented as a special case of comic impossibility and one that intensifies and consolidates audience response. The ongoing dialogue with comic rivals and performance forms provides both foundational matter for comic worlds and a competitive dimension to those worlds, an argument about the best kind of comic world and a demonstration that comic anti-realism has the political and conceptual measure of its more widely-recognized and supposedly realist rivals.
