Thomas A. Schmitz
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780197265420
- eISBN:
- 9780191760471
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197265420.003.0003
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter looks at Ancient Greek texts as a foil for Ancient Egyptian literature. Scholars who work on cultural products of premodern societies will always be faced with the question whether, by ...
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This chapter looks at Ancient Greek texts as a foil for Ancient Egyptian literature. Scholars who work on cultural products of premodern societies will always be faced with the question whether, by using modern terminology, they are unconsciously importing anachronistic and thus inappropriate concepts into their research. The word ‘literature’ implies literacy, but it is an open question whether the fundamental qualities of writing can reside in texts which have been produced and received as written and read texts. The chapter argues that the awareness of the special quality of literary texts can indeed be found in the earliest Greek texts. It compares the ways in which speaker and addressee are constructed in early oral poetry (such as lyrics and epic) and early written texts (such as epigrams) and argues that there is no clear-cut boundary between the two modes.Less
This chapter looks at Ancient Greek texts as a foil for Ancient Egyptian literature. Scholars who work on cultural products of premodern societies will always be faced with the question whether, by using modern terminology, they are unconsciously importing anachronistic and thus inappropriate concepts into their research. The word ‘literature’ implies literacy, but it is an open question whether the fundamental qualities of writing can reside in texts which have been produced and received as written and read texts. The chapter argues that the awareness of the special quality of literary texts can indeed be found in the earliest Greek texts. It compares the ways in which speaker and addressee are constructed in early oral poetry (such as lyrics and epic) and early written texts (such as epigrams) and argues that there is no clear-cut boundary between the two modes.
Mark Griffith
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199208791
- eISBN:
- 9780191709029
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199208791.003.0005
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter argues that Murray is best seen as a man who articulated contemporary concerns with supreme skill in a period of transition. It cites two main phases, or two modes to Gilbert Murray's ...
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This chapter argues that Murray is best seen as a man who articulated contemporary concerns with supreme skill in a period of transition. It cites two main phases, or two modes to Gilbert Murray's career as a Greek scholar. The first (‘mode A’) was that of an upwardly-mobile professional classicist of the conventional kind, self-consciously engaged in close philological analysis and on-going debate with rival scholars. The second (‘mode B’) was aimed instead at a wider audience, including many non-classicists, and largely eschewed the apparatus of professional scholarship.Less
This chapter argues that Murray is best seen as a man who articulated contemporary concerns with supreme skill in a period of transition. It cites two main phases, or two modes to Gilbert Murray's career as a Greek scholar. The first (‘mode A’) was that of an upwardly-mobile professional classicist of the conventional kind, self-consciously engaged in close philological analysis and on-going debate with rival scholars. The second (‘mode B’) was aimed instead at a wider audience, including many non-classicists, and largely eschewed the apparatus of professional scholarship.
Robert Parker
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199208791
- eISBN:
- 9780191709029
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199208791.003.0006
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter discusses Murray's writing on Greek religion between 1907 and 1915, showing how he saw in it as imaginative ideal which reflected was his in own mixture of rationalism and aspirational ...
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This chapter discusses Murray's writing on Greek religion between 1907 and 1915, showing how he saw in it as imaginative ideal which reflected was his in own mixture of rationalism and aspirational agnosticism. The following works — A History of Ancient Greek Literature, The Rise of the Greek Epic, and Four Stages in Greek Religion — are analysed.Less
This chapter discusses Murray's writing on Greek religion between 1907 and 1915, showing how he saw in it as imaginative ideal which reflected was his in own mixture of rationalism and aspirational agnosticism. The following works — A History of Ancient Greek Literature, The Rise of the Greek Epic, and Four Stages in Greek Religion — are analysed.
Lowell Edmunds
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691165127
- eISBN:
- 9781400874224
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691165127.003.0006
- Subject:
- Literature, Folk Literature
This chapter explores the fifth-century strands of reception of Helen. The Helens discussed in this chapter are a selection made to illustrate the postepic narrative as presupposed by various writers ...
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This chapter explores the fifth-century strands of reception of Helen. The Helens discussed in this chapter are a selection made to illustrate the postepic narrative as presupposed by various writers in various media. In addition to these fifth-century strands, the chapter also turns to the fourth century, which is another important strand of reception. The fourth century traces a strand which begins with the Pythagoreans in Croton in southern Italy and leads on to Goethe by way of Simon Magus. Another strand begins with the first fictional Helen, which can be found in Ovid. The chapter accompanies this discussion with an introduction into the concept of fiction. Finally, this chapter provides an example of the parallel phenomenon in Greek literature.Less
This chapter explores the fifth-century strands of reception of Helen. The Helens discussed in this chapter are a selection made to illustrate the postepic narrative as presupposed by various writers in various media. In addition to these fifth-century strands, the chapter also turns to the fourth century, which is another important strand of reception. The fourth century traces a strand which begins with the Pythagoreans in Croton in southern Italy and leads on to Goethe by way of Simon Magus. Another strand begins with the first fictional Helen, which can be found in Ovid. The chapter accompanies this discussion with an introduction into the concept of fiction. Finally, this chapter provides an example of the parallel phenomenon in Greek literature.
Stefan Tilg
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199576944
- eISBN:
- 9780191722486
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199576944.003.0008
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
Chapter eight substantiates the claim that Chariton looked to Virgil, adds further evidence to this, and considers conseqences for our general assessment of Narratives about Callirhoe. More parallels ...
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Chapter eight substantiates the claim that Chariton looked to Virgil, adds further evidence to this, and considers conseqences for our general assessment of Narratives about Callirhoe. More parallels in phrases and motifs suggest that Chariton conceived of his novel to some extent as a romantic answer to Virgil's tragic story of Dido and Aeneas. A discussion of the general question of the reception of Roman literature in the Greek world is followed by an account of the significance of Aeneas (and his mother Aphrodite) in the historical relations between Aphrodisias and Rome. Three different scenarios explore how Chariton would have gained access to the Aeneid. For an interpretation of Narratives about Callirhoe, the exclusively psychological and emotional reception of the political Roman model discourages political readings of Chariton.Less
Chapter eight substantiates the claim that Chariton looked to Virgil, adds further evidence to this, and considers conseqences for our general assessment of Narratives about Callirhoe. More parallels in phrases and motifs suggest that Chariton conceived of his novel to some extent as a romantic answer to Virgil's tragic story of Dido and Aeneas. A discussion of the general question of the reception of Roman literature in the Greek world is followed by an account of the significance of Aeneas (and his mother Aphrodite) in the historical relations between Aphrodisias and Rome. Three different scenarios explore how Chariton would have gained access to the Aeneid. For an interpretation of Narratives about Callirhoe, the exclusively psychological and emotional reception of the political Roman model discourages political readings of Chariton.
SIMON SWAIN
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199245062
- eISBN:
- 9780191715129
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199245062.003.0006
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter explores the problem of Roman Latin-Creek bilingualism in the Late Republic. There is an abundance of evidence to show that Romans at this time knew classical Greek literature well ...
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This chapter explores the problem of Roman Latin-Creek bilingualism in the Late Republic. There is an abundance of evidence to show that Romans at this time knew classical Greek literature well enough. Some of them, like Cicero, knew key parts of it extremely well. Cicero himself was able to compose Greek prose and verse and to deliver set speeches in Greek before a Greek audience. No one would deny that he could speak Greek well. It is a commonly held view that Cicero’s peers were fluent in Greek and regularly used it in conversation with each other. There are, however, no grounds for the latter belief. This chapter places Cicero’s choices against the general background and function of bilingualism in Rome.Less
This chapter explores the problem of Roman Latin-Creek bilingualism in the Late Republic. There is an abundance of evidence to show that Romans at this time knew classical Greek literature well enough. Some of them, like Cicero, knew key parts of it extremely well. Cicero himself was able to compose Greek prose and verse and to deliver set speeches in Greek before a Greek audience. No one would deny that he could speak Greek well. It is a commonly held view that Cicero’s peers were fluent in Greek and regularly used it in conversation with each other. There are, however, no grounds for the latter belief. This chapter places Cicero’s choices against the general background and function of bilingualism in Rome.
Owen Hodkinson
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199203956
- eISBN:
- 9780191708244
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199203956.003.0013
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter suggests some ways of thinking about the epistolary genre and its development in Greek literature, focusing on some particular examples from ‘Second Sophistic’ epistolographers who built ...
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This chapter suggests some ways of thinking about the epistolary genre and its development in Greek literature, focusing on some particular examples from ‘Second Sophistic’ epistolographers who built upon and added to these developments. Taking examples from fictional letters in which there seems to be no obstacle to verbal communication, this chapter argues that they do not constitute lapses in verisimilitude on the author's part; rather, such letters add variety to the imagined situations of their letter-writers, allowing the reader to reconstruct possible motives for writing where none is mentioned. The authors thus illustrate some potential advantages of the letter over verbal communication.Less
This chapter suggests some ways of thinking about the epistolary genre and its development in Greek literature, focusing on some particular examples from ‘Second Sophistic’ epistolographers who built upon and added to these developments. Taking examples from fictional letters in which there seems to be no obstacle to verbal communication, this chapter argues that they do not constitute lapses in verisimilitude on the author's part; rather, such letters add variety to the imagined situations of their letter-writers, allowing the reader to reconstruct possible motives for writing where none is mentioned. The authors thus illustrate some potential advantages of the letter over verbal communication.
Deborah Kamen
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691138138
- eISBN:
- 9781400846535
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691138138.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Ancient History / Archaeology
Ancient Greek literature, Athenian civic ideology, and modern classical scholarship have all worked together to reinforce the idea that there were three neatly defined status groups in classical ...
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Ancient Greek literature, Athenian civic ideology, and modern classical scholarship have all worked together to reinforce the idea that there were three neatly defined status groups in classical Athens—citizens, slaves, and resident foreigners. But this book—the first comprehensive account of status in ancient democratic Athens—clearly lays out the evidence for a much broader and more complex spectrum of statuses, one that has important implications for understanding Greek social and cultural history. By revealing a social and legal reality otherwise masked by Athenian ideology, the book illuminates the complexity of Athenian social structure, uncovers tensions between democratic ideology and practice, and contributes to larger questions about the relationship between citizenship and democracy. Each chapter is devoted to one of ten distinct status groups in classical Athens (451/0–323 BCE): chattel slaves, privileged chattel slaves, conditionally freed slaves, resident foreigners (metics), illegitimate children, privileged metics, disenfranchised citizens, naturalized citizens, female citizens, and male citizens. Examining a wide range of literary, epigraphic, and legal evidence, as well as factors not generally considered together, such as property ownership, corporal inviolability, and religious rights, the book demonstrates the important legal and social distinctions that were drawn between various groups of individuals in Athens. At the same time, it reveals that the boundaries between these groups were less fixed and more permeable than Athenians themselves acknowledged. The book concludes by trying to explain why ancient Greek literature maintains the fiction of three status groups despite a far more complex reality.Less
Ancient Greek literature, Athenian civic ideology, and modern classical scholarship have all worked together to reinforce the idea that there were three neatly defined status groups in classical Athens—citizens, slaves, and resident foreigners. But this book—the first comprehensive account of status in ancient democratic Athens—clearly lays out the evidence for a much broader and more complex spectrum of statuses, one that has important implications for understanding Greek social and cultural history. By revealing a social and legal reality otherwise masked by Athenian ideology, the book illuminates the complexity of Athenian social structure, uncovers tensions between democratic ideology and practice, and contributes to larger questions about the relationship between citizenship and democracy. Each chapter is devoted to one of ten distinct status groups in classical Athens (451/0–323 BCE): chattel slaves, privileged chattel slaves, conditionally freed slaves, resident foreigners (metics), illegitimate children, privileged metics, disenfranchised citizens, naturalized citizens, female citizens, and male citizens. Examining a wide range of literary, epigraphic, and legal evidence, as well as factors not generally considered together, such as property ownership, corporal inviolability, and religious rights, the book demonstrates the important legal and social distinctions that were drawn between various groups of individuals in Athens. At the same time, it reveals that the boundaries between these groups were less fixed and more permeable than Athenians themselves acknowledged. The book concludes by trying to explain why ancient Greek literature maintains the fiction of three status groups despite a far more complex reality.
Joshua Billings
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691159232
- eISBN:
- 9781400852505
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691159232.003.0003
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
This chapter examines the antiquity of tragedy. Thought about tragedy feeds on ulterior discussions of ancient political systems and of ancient epic, but the most significant factor may be a change ...
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This chapter examines the antiquity of tragedy. Thought about tragedy feeds on ulterior discussions of ancient political systems and of ancient epic, but the most significant factor may be a change in the status of poetics, and a diminution of Aristotle's authority. This development is associated in Germany with the Sturm und Drang, and receives much of its impetus from discussions in England. However, it is parallel to discussions in France, where normative Aristotelianism was similarly being criticized as inadequate to the task of grasping changes in the genre of tragedy. Across Western Europe, then, one can discern a broad shift away from the foundations of neoclassicism, and towards a philhellenism that emphasizes the singularity of antiquity. Taken together, these new ways of conceiving Greek literature within history represent a fundamental shift in thought about antiquity, which has tragedy as an important focal point.Less
This chapter examines the antiquity of tragedy. Thought about tragedy feeds on ulterior discussions of ancient political systems and of ancient epic, but the most significant factor may be a change in the status of poetics, and a diminution of Aristotle's authority. This development is associated in Germany with the Sturm und Drang, and receives much of its impetus from discussions in England. However, it is parallel to discussions in France, where normative Aristotelianism was similarly being criticized as inadequate to the task of grasping changes in the genre of tragedy. Across Western Europe, then, one can discern a broad shift away from the foundations of neoclassicism, and towards a philhellenism that emphasizes the singularity of antiquity. Taken together, these new ways of conceiving Greek literature within history represent a fundamental shift in thought about antiquity, which has tragedy as an important focal point.
G. O. Hutchinson
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199203956
- eISBN:
- 9780191708244
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199203956.003.0002
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This chapter examines papyrus letters, with emphasis on private letters and their relationship with literature. The role of critical analysis in understanding the link between papyrus private letters ...
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This chapter examines papyrus letters, with emphasis on private letters and their relationship with literature. The role of critical analysis in understanding the link between papyrus private letters and literature are discussed by citing the Greek document The Oxyrhynchus Papyri 2190, a letter from a student to his father dating from around AD 100. The document clearly has a pragmatic function, which must be related to its form; and, as with oratory, any persuasive shaping of the text would scarcely be separable from the text itself. Two approaches can be envisaged from the letter with respect to critical analysis. First, then, the category of literature could be conceived in institutional terms: one might try distinguishing, say, between writing essentially for one reader and writing for readers or listeners beyond one's immediate circle. The second approach, which should be added, would look beyond an institutional division.Less
This chapter examines papyrus letters, with emphasis on private letters and their relationship with literature. The role of critical analysis in understanding the link between papyrus private letters and literature are discussed by citing the Greek document The Oxyrhynchus Papyri 2190, a letter from a student to his father dating from around AD 100. The document clearly has a pragmatic function, which must be related to its form; and, as with oratory, any persuasive shaping of the text would scarcely be separable from the text itself. Two approaches can be envisaged from the letter with respect to critical analysis. First, then, the category of literature could be conceived in institutional terms: one might try distinguishing, say, between writing essentially for one reader and writing for readers or listeners beyond one's immediate circle. The second approach, which should be added, would look beyond an institutional division.
Alan Cameron
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199297375
- eISBN:
- 9780191708978
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199297375.003.0013
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, World History: BCE to 500CE
The reign of Augustus was the golden age of Latin poetry, and it continued to flourish throughout the first century (Ovid, Lucan, Persius, Seneca, Statius, Martial, and Juvenal). But by the middle of ...
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The reign of Augustus was the golden age of Latin poetry, and it continued to flourish throughout the first century (Ovid, Lucan, Persius, Seneca, Statius, Martial, and Juvenal). But by the middle of the second it was in even steeper decline than Greek poetry. There is little of any sort that can be dated to the second half of the second or the third century. Yet by Late Antiquity poetry had made a remarkable comeback. Indeed the resurgence of poetry after centuries of hibernation is one of the most intriguing features of the literary culture of Late Antiquity. Historically, Latin literature was heavily influenced by classical and Hellenistic Greek literature. The influence of Latin poetry on Greek is more problematic, as is the postulate of mutual influence with knowledge of Greek declining sharply in the West. Despite important differences between the two poetic revivals, this chapter suggests a common or at any rate similar explanation.Less
The reign of Augustus was the golden age of Latin poetry, and it continued to flourish throughout the first century (Ovid, Lucan, Persius, Seneca, Statius, Martial, and Juvenal). But by the middle of the second it was in even steeper decline than Greek poetry. There is little of any sort that can be dated to the second half of the second or the third century. Yet by Late Antiquity poetry had made a remarkable comeback. Indeed the resurgence of poetry after centuries of hibernation is one of the most intriguing features of the literary culture of Late Antiquity. Historically, Latin literature was heavily influenced by classical and Hellenistic Greek literature. The influence of Latin poetry on Greek is more problematic, as is the postulate of mutual influence with knowledge of Greek declining sharply in the West. Despite important differences between the two poetic revivals, this chapter suggests a common or at any rate similar explanation.
Silvia Montiglio
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199916047
- eISBN:
- 9780199980239
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199916047.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Prose and Writers: Classical, Early, and Medieval, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
The core of this book is an investigation of the treatment of the recognition motif in the Greek novels. It also includes forays into the Roman novels, early Jewish and Christian narratives, and an ...
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The core of this book is an investigation of the treatment of the recognition motif in the Greek novels. It also includes forays into the Roman novels, early Jewish and Christian narratives, and an overview of a sample of early modern European texts, which have been influenced by the ancient novel in their recognition scenes. The ancient novels inherit the recognition motif from epic and drama, and acknowledge their debts by citations or allusions. They also share an ideological mainstay underlying the poetics of recognition in ancient literature: poetic justice, or “goodness wins.” Recognition rewards the deserving couple with the happy ending (this idealistic scenario is not endorsed by the Roman novels). At the same time, the Greek novels also innovate, adding more “natural” ways of recognition (the voice, appearance, the telling of one’s life, instinct, even breathing) to the artificial and conventional ones (tokens or bodily marks) preferred by tradition. This shift of emphasis is related to the idealization of love typical of the genre. Love itself is recognition and should suffice for lovers to recognize each other. Novelists play with this dictate in a variety of ways, romantically endorsing it or challenging it irreverently. Recognitions of family identity likewise negotiate tradition with innovation, bringing the call of blood, or nature’s voice, to bear on the revelation of kinship between family members unknown to each other. The final pages of this book follow the fortunate developments of the motif of blood’s call in later literature.Less
The core of this book is an investigation of the treatment of the recognition motif in the Greek novels. It also includes forays into the Roman novels, early Jewish and Christian narratives, and an overview of a sample of early modern European texts, which have been influenced by the ancient novel in their recognition scenes. The ancient novels inherit the recognition motif from epic and drama, and acknowledge their debts by citations or allusions. They also share an ideological mainstay underlying the poetics of recognition in ancient literature: poetic justice, or “goodness wins.” Recognition rewards the deserving couple with the happy ending (this idealistic scenario is not endorsed by the Roman novels). At the same time, the Greek novels also innovate, adding more “natural” ways of recognition (the voice, appearance, the telling of one’s life, instinct, even breathing) to the artificial and conventional ones (tokens or bodily marks) preferred by tradition. This shift of emphasis is related to the idealization of love typical of the genre. Love itself is recognition and should suffice for lovers to recognize each other. Novelists play with this dictate in a variety of ways, romantically endorsing it or challenging it irreverently. Recognitions of family identity likewise negotiate tradition with innovation, bringing the call of blood, or nature’s voice, to bear on the revelation of kinship between family members unknown to each other. The final pages of this book follow the fortunate developments of the motif of blood’s call in later literature.
John Boardman
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780691181752
- eISBN:
- 9780691184043
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691181752.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, Ancient History / Archaeology
This chapter examines how fantastic tales about Alexander's life and adventures after he had conquered the “known world,” were current soon after his death. Very possibly these were to some degree ...
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This chapter examines how fantastic tales about Alexander's life and adventures after he had conquered the “known world,” were current soon after his death. Very possibly these were to some degree modelled on the early epic and heroic legends in Greek literature. The new stories seem to find their origin mainly in Ptolemaic Egypt, which is hardly surprising given Alexander's associations there in life and death. Such documents provide writers and artists with a corpus of tales about the mystic east which were to echo in later centuries through the works of Marco Polo, the stories of Sinbad the Sailor, and Sir John de Mandeville's record of imaginary journeys in the east, and much else.Less
This chapter examines how fantastic tales about Alexander's life and adventures after he had conquered the “known world,” were current soon after his death. Very possibly these were to some degree modelled on the early epic and heroic legends in Greek literature. The new stories seem to find their origin mainly in Ptolemaic Egypt, which is hardly surprising given Alexander's associations there in life and death. Such documents provide writers and artists with a corpus of tales about the mystic east which were to echo in later centuries through the works of Marco Polo, the stories of Sinbad the Sailor, and Sir John de Mandeville's record of imaginary journeys in the east, and much else.
Bruce Heiden
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195341072
- eISBN:
- 9780199867066
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195341072.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Poetry and Poets: Classical, Early, and Medieval
Although scholars routinely state that the Iliad is an “oral poem,” it has circulated as a text stabilized in writing since near the time of its composition. Thus, the Iliad undoubtedly has features ...
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Although scholars routinely state that the Iliad is an “oral poem,” it has circulated as a text stabilized in writing since near the time of its composition. Thus, the Iliad undoubtedly has features that render it satisfactory to readers and reading. But the question of what these features might be has been difficult for Homeric scholarship to address within the research paradigm of “oral poetics.” This book delineates a new approach aimed at evaluating what the Iliad furnishes to readers. Its program conceptualizes the act of reading as a repertoire of cognitive functions a reader might deploy in collaboration with the poem's signs. By positing certain functions hypothetically and applying them to the poem, its experiments uncover the kind and degree of suitable “reading material” the poem provides. These analyses reveal that the trajectory of events in the Iliad manifests the central agency of one character, Zeus, and that the transmitted articulation of the epic into “books” conforms to distinct narrative subtrajectories. The analyses also show that the sequence of “books” functions as a design that cues attention to the major crises in the story, as well as to themes that develop its significance. The transmitted arrangement therefore furnishes an implicit cognitive map that both eases comprehension of the storyline and indicates pathways of interpretation.Less
Although scholars routinely state that the Iliad is an “oral poem,” it has circulated as a text stabilized in writing since near the time of its composition. Thus, the Iliad undoubtedly has features that render it satisfactory to readers and reading. But the question of what these features might be has been difficult for Homeric scholarship to address within the research paradigm of “oral poetics.” This book delineates a new approach aimed at evaluating what the Iliad furnishes to readers. Its program conceptualizes the act of reading as a repertoire of cognitive functions a reader might deploy in collaboration with the poem's signs. By positing certain functions hypothetically and applying them to the poem, its experiments uncover the kind and degree of suitable “reading material” the poem provides. These analyses reveal that the trajectory of events in the Iliad manifests the central agency of one character, Zeus, and that the transmitted articulation of the epic into “books” conforms to distinct narrative subtrajectories. The analyses also show that the sequence of “books” functions as a design that cues attention to the major crises in the story, as well as to themes that develop its significance. The transmitted arrangement therefore furnishes an implicit cognitive map that both eases comprehension of the storyline and indicates pathways of interpretation.
Sean Alexander Gurd
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199837519
- eISBN:
- 9780199919505
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199837519.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval, Prose and Writers: Classical, Early, and Medieval
This book offers an in-depth study of the role of literary revision in the compositional practices and strategies of self-representation among Roman authors at the end of the republic and the ...
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This book offers an in-depth study of the role of literary revision in the compositional practices and strategies of self-representation among Roman authors at the end of the republic and the beginning of the principate. It focuses on Cicero, Horace, Quintilian, Martial, and Pliny the Younger, but also offers discussions of earlier Greek material, including Isocrates, Plato, and Hellenistic poetry. The book argues that revision made textuality into a medium of social exchange. Revisions were not always made by authors working alone; often, they were the result of conversations between an author and friends or literary contacts, and these conversations exemplified a commitment to collective debate and active collaboration. Revision was thus much more than an unavoidable element in literary genesis: it was one way in which authorship became a form of social agency. Consequently, when we think about revision for authors of the late republic and early empire we should not think solely of painstaking attendance to craft aimed exclusively at the perfection of a literary work. Nor should we think of the resulting texts as closed and invariant statements sent from an author to his reader. So long as an author was still willing to revise, his text served as a temporary platform around and in which a community came into being. Much more was at stake than the text itself: like all communities, such textual communities were subject to imbalances and differentiation in taste, ideology, capability and willingness to participate, and above all power, the ability to propose and enforce a specific set of textual choices.Less
This book offers an in-depth study of the role of literary revision in the compositional practices and strategies of self-representation among Roman authors at the end of the republic and the beginning of the principate. It focuses on Cicero, Horace, Quintilian, Martial, and Pliny the Younger, but also offers discussions of earlier Greek material, including Isocrates, Plato, and Hellenistic poetry. The book argues that revision made textuality into a medium of social exchange. Revisions were not always made by authors working alone; often, they were the result of conversations between an author and friends or literary contacts, and these conversations exemplified a commitment to collective debate and active collaboration. Revision was thus much more than an unavoidable element in literary genesis: it was one way in which authorship became a form of social agency. Consequently, when we think about revision for authors of the late republic and early empire we should not think solely of painstaking attendance to craft aimed exclusively at the perfection of a literary work. Nor should we think of the resulting texts as closed and invariant statements sent from an author to his reader. So long as an author was still willing to revise, his text served as a temporary platform around and in which a community came into being. Much more was at stake than the text itself: like all communities, such textual communities were subject to imbalances and differentiation in taste, ideology, capability and willingness to participate, and above all power, the ability to propose and enforce a specific set of textual choices.
Paul U. Unschuld
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520257658
- eISBN:
- 9780520944701
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520257658.003.0028
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Medical Anthropology
The idea that a body as an organism has self-interest and tries to heal its own wounds and overcome difficult crises on its own is based on the model image of the self-regulating, autonomous polis. ...
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The idea that a body as an organism has self-interest and tries to heal its own wounds and overcome difficult crises on its own is based on the model image of the self-regulating, autonomous polis. The polis had transformed itself from the monarchy and the rule of the noble families into a democratic structure that was optimal for the situation of the time, a democracy in which the citizens were the sovereigns of their own fates through their meetings. The polis was a social organism and it was entirely unavoidable that its structures lent the plausibility needed for the explanatory model of the self-healing powers to find general acceptance. The fact that sickness heals on its own is also described repeatedly in the ancient Chinese literature. The ancient Chinese literature does not contain descriptions of the course of a normally fatal illness taking an unanticipated and unexpected turn for the better. China has never known trust in the self-regulating powers of the pan-societal organism.Less
The idea that a body as an organism has self-interest and tries to heal its own wounds and overcome difficult crises on its own is based on the model image of the self-regulating, autonomous polis. The polis had transformed itself from the monarchy and the rule of the noble families into a democratic structure that was optimal for the situation of the time, a democracy in which the citizens were the sovereigns of their own fates through their meetings. The polis was a social organism and it was entirely unavoidable that its structures lent the plausibility needed for the explanatory model of the self-healing powers to find general acceptance. The fact that sickness heals on its own is also described repeatedly in the ancient Chinese literature. The ancient Chinese literature does not contain descriptions of the course of a normally fatal illness taking an unanticipated and unexpected turn for the better. China has never known trust in the self-regulating powers of the pan-societal organism.
G. O. Hutchinson
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199670703
- eISBN:
- 9780191757020
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199670703.003.0007
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
Romans' command of Greek, and the number of Roman authors who wrote Greek poetry and prose, were considerable. But the literatures remain distinct, with few Romans writing equally in both. The actual ...
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Romans' command of Greek, and the number of Roman authors who wrote Greek poetry and prose, were considerable. But the literatures remain distinct, with few Romans writing equally in both. The actual separation between the languages is especially marked in vocabulary. Latin borrowing is attended with much reserve in literature, and the incorporation of unassimilated Greek is for the most part tightly limited. Differences between the language are felt in performance; Latin is perceived as weightier. Greek is seen as richer and more precise, Attic in particular as more graceful. There are ethical dimensions to the opposition of languages. The attraction of Greek for Romans is palpable, and borne out by élite use of Greek literature in momentous situations.Less
Romans' command of Greek, and the number of Roman authors who wrote Greek poetry and prose, were considerable. But the literatures remain distinct, with few Romans writing equally in both. The actual separation between the languages is especially marked in vocabulary. Latin borrowing is attended with much reserve in literature, and the incorporation of unassimilated Greek is for the most part tightly limited. Differences between the language are felt in performance; Latin is perceived as weightier. Greek is seen as richer and more precise, Attic in particular as more graceful. There are ethical dimensions to the opposition of languages. The attraction of Greek for Romans is palpable, and borne out by élite use of Greek literature in momentous situations.
Michael W. Dols and Diana E. Immisch
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198202219
- eISBN:
- 9780191675218
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198202219.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, World Medieval History, History of Science, Technology, and Medicine
The Islamic reception of Greek scientific knowledge in the 9th and 10th centuries ad relied directly on the preceding adoption of elements of Greek culture, such as medicine, by Eastern Christians. ...
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The Islamic reception of Greek scientific knowledge in the 9th and 10th centuries ad relied directly on the preceding adoption of elements of Greek culture, such as medicine, by Eastern Christians. The transmission of medical learning from Syriac into Arabic was wholesale. Muslim support for the Arabic translations of Galen and the new hospitals was the direct result of courtly patronage, and it remained so. Apart from the desire to train Muslim doctors and to found medical institutions, the promotion of Islamic medicine may have played a part in competition with contemporary Byzantine emperors, who were well-known patrons of such charitable activity.Less
The Islamic reception of Greek scientific knowledge in the 9th and 10th centuries ad relied directly on the preceding adoption of elements of Greek culture, such as medicine, by Eastern Christians. The transmission of medical learning from Syriac into Arabic was wholesale. Muslim support for the Arabic translations of Galen and the new hospitals was the direct result of courtly patronage, and it remained so. Apart from the desire to train Muslim doctors and to found medical institutions, the promotion of Islamic medicine may have played a part in competition with contemporary Byzantine emperors, who were well-known patrons of such charitable activity.
Lorna Hardwick
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199296101
- eISBN:
- 9780191712135
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199296101.003.0018
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, World History: BCE to 500CE
This chapter discusses the impact of multilingual productions of Greek drama in modern theatrical contexts, including community theatre. It examines the status of English as an imperial language, as ...
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This chapter discusses the impact of multilingual productions of Greek drama in modern theatrical contexts, including community theatre. It examines the status of English as an imperial language, as a language of cross-cultural communication that has also been the vehicle for dissent and liberation, and as a language that was historically subaltern and—in terms of its function as a language of translation for classical texts—might be said to be continually so. The chapter uses examples of theatrical, poetic, and community practice as a check against totalising theory. It cautions against assimilating all examples of multilingual productions into one kind of post-colonial ‘moment’ and suggests that examination of different kinds of linguistic ‘braiding’ in translations, and in the staging of classical plays, provides an insight into the processes of engagement between and within cultures. These processes cross and reformulate social and cultural boundaries and groupings in the societies of colonisers and colonised alike. Multilingualism in stage productions, both inter-lingual and intra-lingual, is playing an important role in redefining both the classical texts and the concept of the post-colonial.Less
This chapter discusses the impact of multilingual productions of Greek drama in modern theatrical contexts, including community theatre. It examines the status of English as an imperial language, as a language of cross-cultural communication that has also been the vehicle for dissent and liberation, and as a language that was historically subaltern and—in terms of its function as a language of translation for classical texts—might be said to be continually so. The chapter uses examples of theatrical, poetic, and community practice as a check against totalising theory. It cautions against assimilating all examples of multilingual productions into one kind of post-colonial ‘moment’ and suggests that examination of different kinds of linguistic ‘braiding’ in translations, and in the staging of classical plays, provides an insight into the processes of engagement between and within cultures. These processes cross and reformulate social and cultural boundaries and groupings in the societies of colonisers and colonised alike. Multilingualism in stage productions, both inter-lingual and intra-lingual, is playing an important role in redefining both the classical texts and the concept of the post-colonial.
Tim Whitmarsh
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780520276819
- eISBN:
- 9780520957022
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520276819.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Ancient History / Archaeology
What happened to Greek literature after the classical period—when Sophocles, Plato, and Demosthenes were just a memory? Postclassical Greek culture has usually been thought of as dominated by ...
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What happened to Greek literature after the classical period—when Sophocles, Plato, and Demosthenes were just a memory? Postclassical Greek culture has usually been thought of as dominated by aristocratic elites obsessed with preserving links to the past. This book proposes a very different model. Covering popular fiction, poetry, and Greco-Jewish material, it argues for a rich, dynamic, and diverse culture that cannot be reduced to a simple model of continuity. Shining new light on a series of playful, imaginative texts that are left out of the traditional accounts of Greek literature—texts such as Euhemerus’s Sacred Inscription, Lucian’s paratragedy Gout, and Theodotus’s biblically themed epic—it models a more adventurous, exploratory approach to later Greek culture. Beyond the Second Sophistic offers not just a new way of looking at Greek literature from 300 BCE onward but also a challenge to the Eurocentric, aristocratic constructions that have traditionally been placed on the Greek heritage. The book consists of five new and ten revised essays. Accessible and lively, it will appeal to students and scholars of Greek literature and culture, Hellenistic Judaism, world literature, and cultural theory. All foreign languages are translated.Less
What happened to Greek literature after the classical period—when Sophocles, Plato, and Demosthenes were just a memory? Postclassical Greek culture has usually been thought of as dominated by aristocratic elites obsessed with preserving links to the past. This book proposes a very different model. Covering popular fiction, poetry, and Greco-Jewish material, it argues for a rich, dynamic, and diverse culture that cannot be reduced to a simple model of continuity. Shining new light on a series of playful, imaginative texts that are left out of the traditional accounts of Greek literature—texts such as Euhemerus’s Sacred Inscription, Lucian’s paratragedy Gout, and Theodotus’s biblically themed epic—it models a more adventurous, exploratory approach to later Greek culture. Beyond the Second Sophistic offers not just a new way of looking at Greek literature from 300 BCE onward but also a challenge to the Eurocentric, aristocratic constructions that have traditionally been placed on the Greek heritage. The book consists of five new and ten revised essays. Accessible and lively, it will appeal to students and scholars of Greek literature and culture, Hellenistic Judaism, world literature, and cultural theory. All foreign languages are translated.
