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Sophocles' Oedipus Rex: a Deconstructive Study
Advances in Language and Literary Studies ISSN: 2203-4714 Vol. 6 No. 5; October 2015 Flourishing Creativity & Literacy Australian International Academic Centre, Australia Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex: A Deconstructive Study Javed Akhter (Corresponding author) Department of English Literature and Linguistics University of Balochistan Quetta Balochistan Pakistan E-mail: [email protected] Khair Muhammad Department of English Literature and Linguistics University of Balochistan Quetta Balochistan Pakistan E-mail: [email protected] Naila Naz Department of English Literature and Linguistics University of Balochistan Quetta Balochistan Pakistan E-mail: [email protected] Doi:10.7575/aiac.alls.v.6n.5p.9 Received: 19/04/2015 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.6n.5p.9 Accepted: 04/07/2015 Abstract Jacques Derrida (1930-2004) is the most prominent figure in contemporary philosophical and literary debate. He originates a trend-breaking theory of deconstruction. He opines the persistence in west European philosophical tradition of what he labels is logocentric metaphysics of presence. He argues that the different theories of philosophy, from Plato until structuralism are versions of a single or authoritative system. Though we cannot hope to escape this system we can at least identify the conditions of thought it imposes by attending to that which it seek to impress. Derridean deconstruction may present a new perspective to Sophocles’ “Oedipus Rex”, which has always been a research target for world researchers. The researchers studied it from different angles, but the present study tries to reveal different facets of the play on Derridean deconstructive bedrock. Applying Derrida’s deconstruction to the text of the play, the study tries to present it in a new and innovative way. -
Teiresias As Magus in Oedipus Rex Kent J
Teiresias as Magus in "Oedipus Rex" Rigsby, Kent J Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies; Summer 1976; 17, 2; ProQuest pg. 109 Teiresias as Magus in Oedipus Rex Kent J. Rigsby AVING QUESTIONED an obstinate Teiresias with increasing irrita H tion only to be himself accused as the country's plague, Oedipus concludes that the seer has conspired with Creon to overthrow him and denounces them both (OT 385ft): KpEWV 0 mcroc, oug apxfjc t/JLAOC Aa8p~ p.' U1T€A8wv EKf3aA€LV ip.€Lp€TaL, V't'€tc<,/.., p.ayov1 TOLOVO€1 ~ p.7JXavoppa't'0V','/'' ~ 1\ 'I " , ~ 'I:' OO/UOV ayvpT7Jv, oene EV TO Le KEPO€CLV , ~ ,~ " ~, "A.. A.. \ , P.OVOV OEOOPK€, T7JV TEXV7JV 0 €'t'V TV't'I\Oe. He goes on to attack Teiresias' supposed prophetic powers, which could not solve the riddle of the sphinx; he, Oedipus, had had the wisdom to do that (and thus become king). Creon is motivated by envy (380ft), Teiresias by the ambition to stand next to Creon's throne (399£). Why does he call Teiresias a 'Magus'? The traditional view is eloquently stated by Jebb: "The word p.ayoc expresses contempt for the rites of divination practised by Teiresias: ayvpT7Je taunts him as a mercenary imposter ... The passage shows how Asiatic superstitions had already spread among the vulgar, and were scorned by the edu cated, in Greece ... So Bur. Or. 1496 (Helen has been spirited away), ~ t/Jap/LaKOLCLV (by charms), ~ p.aywv I TExvaLCLv, ~ 8€wv KA01TaLc."l Kamerbeek has commented recently in a somewhat different vein: "The word is very common in Hdt. -
Oedipus Rex Crossword Puzzle
L I T ERARY CROSSWO RD PUZZ LE Oedipus Rex 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 Across Down Across 2. Animals useful in prophecy Down1. The wife of Oedipus 2. Animals4. useful Tiresias in prophecy says Oedipus is “the unholy ________ 1. 3.The How wife Jocasta of Oedipus died of this land.” 5. Laius was killed at the intersection of ________ 4. Tiresias 7.says The Oedipus famous is “the Oracle unholy dwells ________ here. of this land.” 3. How________. Jocasta died (2 words) 7. The famous9. What Oracle has dwells killed here. Polybus? (2 words) 5. 6.Laius The was shepherd killed at claimsthe intersection that Oedipus of ________ was born________. this (2 11. Who has killed Laius? words)way. 9. What has15. killedThe entirePolybus? play (2 words)takes place outside of here. 8. Oedipus is revealed to have married his 11. Who has16. killed Adoptive Laius? mother of Oedipus 6. The_________. shepherd claims that Oedipus was born this way. 15. The entire17. playMeaning takes placeof “Rex” outside of here. 8.10. Oedipus The baby is revealed Oedipus to have was married to be killed his _________. before he 19. What Oedipus decrees will happen to Laius’ could ________ ________ ________. (3 16. Adoptive mothermurderer of Oedipus 10. Thewords) baby Oedipus was to be killed before he could ________ ________ ________. (3 words) 17. Meaning20. of King “Rex” of the Greek gods 12. Oedipus hopes the herdsman will say ________ 24. -
Female Familial Relationships in Valerius' Argonautica and Statius
W&M ScholarWorks Undergraduate Honors Theses Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects 5-2021 Female Familial Relationships in Valerius’ Argonautica and Statius’ Thebaid Sophia Warnement Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/honorstheses Part of the Classical Literature and Philology Commons Recommended Citation Warnement, Sophia, "Female Familial Relationships in Valerius’ Argonautica and Statius’ Thebaid" (2021). Undergraduate Honors Theses. Paper 1619. https://scholarworks.wm.edu/honorstheses/1619 This Honors Thesis -- Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects at W&M ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Undergraduate Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of W&M ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Female Familial Relationships in Valerius’ Argonautica and Statius’ Thebaid A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Bachelor of Arts in Department of Classical Studies from The College of William and Mary by Sophia Irene Warnement Accepted for ______Honors___________________________ (Honors, Highest Honors) __Vassiliki Panoussi___________________ Vassiliki Panoussi, Director __Molly Swetnam-Burland____________ Molly Swetnam-Burland __Jennifer Gülly___ ____________________ Jennifer Gülly Williamsburg, VA May 07, 2021 Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .......................................................................................................................................... -
Parthenopaeus and Statius' Testing of the Aeneid
Parthenopaeus and Statius’ Testing of the Aeneid In the closing lines of his epic the Thebaid (12.810-819) Statius hopes that his poem will achieve success similar to that of the Aeneid but not rival the earlier classic too aggressively. uiue, precor; nec tu diuinam Aeneida tempta, sed longe sequere et uestigia semper adora. (12.816-817) Live, I pray; and test not the divine Aeneid, But follow from afar and always venerate her footsteps. The Thebaid’s sphragis is considered one of the most intertextual passages in all of Roman literature and the epic as a whole has a highly allusive quality (Dominik 2003). Despite Statius’ intention of not “testing” the Aeneid, he in fact engages in a literary certamen with Vergil and his work. A central figure in this contest is the Arcadian youth Parthenopaeus, whom Statius consistently uses as a device for measuring his poem against that of Vergil. In the sphragis Statius refers to the Thebaid as new: “already, for sure, powerful Fama has laid out a pleasant path for you and begun to show you, a new poem, to future generations” …iam certe praesens tibi Fama benignum / strauit iter coepitque nouam monstrare futuris, 12.812-813. The Thebaid may be a new publication, yet because of its imitative features and treatment of the well-trodden saga of the family of Oedipus is anything but new (Vessey 1973). Furthermore, Parthenopaeus is one of epic’s most recycled characters and one who embodies many of Vergil’s youthful warriors (Pallas, for example) who populate the second half of the Aeneid (Hardie 1989). -
Seven Tragedies of Sophocles Oedipus at Colonus
Seven Tragedies of Sophocles Oedipus at Colonus Translated in verse by Robin Bond (2014) University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand Seven Tragedies of Sophocles : Oedipus at Colonus by Robin Bond (Trans) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Available at: http://hdl.handle.net/10092/10505 Oedipus at Colonus (Dramatis Personae) Oedipus Antigone Xenos Chorus of Attic Elders Ismene Theseus Creon Polyneices Messenger Seven Tragedies of Sophocles : Oedipus at Colonus Page 2 Oedipus Antigone, my child, since I am blind and old, what is this place that we have reached, to whom belongs the city here and who will entertain the vagrant Oedipus today with meagre gifts? My wants are small and what I win is often less, but that small gain is yet sufficient to content me; for my experience combines with length of life and thirdly with nobility, teaching patience to a man. If, though, my child, you see some resting place beside the common way or by some precinct of the gods, 10 then place me there and set me down, that we may learn our whereabouts; our state is such we must ask that of the natives here and what our next step is. Antigone Long suffering, father Oedipus, as best as my eyes can judge, the walls that gird the town are far away. It is plain to see this place is holy ground, luxuriant with laurel, olives trees and vines, while throngs of sweet voiced nightingales give tongue within. So rest your limbs here upon this piece of unhewn stone; your journey has been long for a man as old as you. -
The Optimistic Rationalist in Euripides: Theseus, Jocasta, Teiresias
UC Berkeley Classical Papers Title The Optimistic Rationalist in Euripides: Theseus, Jocasta, Teiresias Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0mn5q9c5 Author Mastronarde, Donald J. Publication Date 1986 eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California Postprint from Greek Tragedy and its Legacy: Essays presented to D. J. Conacher, ed. by Martin Cropp, Elaine Fantham, S. E. Scully (Calgary 1986) 201-211 [201]THE OPTIMISTIC RATIONALIST IN EURIPIDES: THESEUS, JOCASTA, TEIRESIAS DONALD J. MASTRONARDE University of California, Berkeley Near the end of Act 3 of Corneille’s Oedipe of 1659, Thésée delivers a ringing denunciation of fatalism:1 Quoi? la nécessité des vertus et des vices D’un astre impérieux doit suivre les caprices, Et Delphes, malgré nous, conduit nos actions Au plus bizarre effet de ses prédictions? L’âme est donc toute esclave: une loi souveraine Vers le bien ou le mal incessamment l’entraîne, Et nous ne recevons ni crainte ni désir De cette liberté qui n’a rien à choisir, Attachés sans relâche à cet ordre sublime, Vertueux sans mérite, et vicieux sans crime. Qu’on massacre les rois, qu’on brise les autels, C’est la faute des Dieux, et non pas des mortels. De toute la vertu sur la terre épandue, Tout le prix à ces dieux, toute la gloire est due; Ils agissent en nous quand nous pensons agir; Alors qu’on délibère on ne fait qu’obéir; Et notre volonté n’aime, hait, cherche, évite, Que suivant que d’en haut leur bras la précipite. D’un tel aveuglement daignez me dispenser. -
Seneca's Phoenician Women — Genre, Structure, Thematic Unity
UDC 821.124 Philologia Classica. 2021. Vol. 16. Fasc. 1 Seneca’s Phoenician Women — Genre, Structure, Thematic Unity Tomasz Sapota University of Silesia in Katowice, Faculty of Humanities, pl. Sejmu Śląskiego 1, 40-032 Katowice, Poland; [email protected] Iwona Słomak University of Silesia in Katowice, Faculty of Humanities, pl. Sejmu Śląskiego 1, 40-032 Katowice, Poland; [email protected] For citation: Sapota T., Słomak I. Seneca’s Phoenician Women — Genre, Structure, Thematic Unity. Philologia Classica 2021, 16 (1), 77–89. https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu20.2021.107 This article revises current perspectives on the generic status, composition, and subject mat- ter of Phoenician Women by Seneca. It adopts a new approach, focusing on selected elements of text organisation. In particular, emphasis is given to the construction of characters and the analogies and contrasts between them which were already of interest to ancient poetics and rhetoric. Moreover, the article refers to observations, accurate but isolated and largely ignored, made by scholars who recognised Seneca’s originality and suggested that his plays might have been inspired by the declamatory tradition and should be read in the context of evolving post- classical literature. By adopting this perspective, it becomes possible to bring together a large number of partial conclusions that are related to Phoenician Women as well as other plays by Seneca. What is more important, the work brings to light the purposeful composition of the drama and its thematic unity, allowing us to return to the MS versions that until now have been replaced by conjectures, which often distort the meaning of the text. -
Jocasta and the Sin of Thebes Bernadette Waterman Ward
Jocasta and the Sin of Thebes Bernadette Waterman Ward ABSTRACT: The tragic victim of Oedipus the King is not Oedipus, who after his sufferings shall be raised to divinity; it is his mother Jocasta. She attempted the death by her torture of her own son. When she discovers that he has survived and is her husband, she seeks even to continue her mother-son incest so as to conceal her misdeeds. Cowardly silence among the citizens of doomed Thebes seals their collusion in evil. An examina- tion of the culture of the fatal city can bring the play more vitally into the world that our students actually inhabit, and serve as a warning against the moral collapse that encourages the killing of children. EDIPUS THE KING, the most famous drama of Sophocles, invites many approaches in the classroom. One can delve into such Oquestions as the proper limits of human knowledge, the relation of fate and freewill, responsibility for inadvertent crime, the proper understanding of piety and the power of the gods, and the relation of kingship and self-sacrifice. One can address hubris – pride, overreaching – and hamartia – the mistake or tragic flaw. One can trace dramatic irony in the images of vision and deliberate blindness, or perhaps, with Freud leering in the background, contemplate sexual taboos. Many scholars investigate the guilt of Oedipus, but rarely does the focus shift from the polluted scapegoat to the deep corruption in the scapegoating city of Thebes. The Thebans cast out Oedipus as impure, but in fact they cause their own destruction. By considering the fate of the city, rather than that of Oedipus, our students can make this play vital in the world that we actually inhabit. -
Stravinsky Oedipus
London Symphony Orchestra LSO Live LSO Live captures exceptional performances from the finest musicians using the latest high-density recording technology. The result? Sensational sound quality and definitive interpretations combined with the energy and emotion that you can only experience live in the concert hall. LSO Live lets everyone, everywhere, feel the excitement in the world’s greatest music. For more information visit lso.co.uk LSO Live témoigne de concerts d’exception, donnés par les musiciens les plus remarquables et restitués grâce aux techniques les plus modernes de Stravinsky l’enregistrement haute-définition. La qualité sonore impressionnante entourant ces interprétations d’anthologie se double de l’énergie et de l’émotion que seuls les concerts en direct peuvent offrit. LSO Live permet à chacun, en toute Oedipus Rex circonstance, de vivre cette passion intense au travers des plus grandes oeuvres du répertoire. Pour plus d’informations, rendez vous sur le site lso.co.uk Apollon musagète LSO Live fängt unter Einsatz der neuesten High-Density Aufnahmetechnik außerordentliche Darbietungen der besten Musiker ein. Das Ergebnis? Sir John Eliot Gardiner Sensationelle Klangqualität und maßgebliche Interpretationen, gepaart mit der Energie und Gefühlstiefe, die man nur live im Konzertsaal erleben kann. LSO Live lässt jedermann an der aufregendsten, herrlichsten Musik dieser Welt teilhaben. Wenn Sie mehr erfahren möchten, schauen Sie bei uns Jennifer Johnston herein: lso.co.uk Stuart Skelton Gidon Saks Fanny Ardant LSO0751 Monteverdi Choir London Symphony Orchestra Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971) Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971) The music is linked by a Speaker, who pretends to explain Oedipus Rex: an opera-oratorio in two acts the plot in the language of the audience, though in fact Oedipus Rex (1927, rev 1948) (1927, rev 1948) Cocteau’s text obscures nearly as much as it clarifies. -
Music, Ritual, and Self-Referentiality in the Second Stasimon of Euripides’ Helen the Dionysian Necessity
Greek and Roman Musical Studies 6 (2018) 247-264 brill.com/grms Music, Ritual, and Self-Referentiality in the Second Stasimon of Euripides’ Helen The Dionysian Necessity Barbara Castiglioni Università di Torino [email protected]/[email protected] Abstract The imagery of Dionysiac performance is characteristic of Euripides’ later choral odes and returns particularly in the Helen’s second stasimon, which foregrounds its own connections with the mimetic program of the New Music and its emphasis on the emancipation of feelings. This paper aims to show that Euripides’ deep interest in con- temporary musical innovations is connected to his interest in the irrational, which made him the most tragic of the poets. Focusing on the musical aspect of the Helen’s second stasimon, the paper will examine how Euripides conveys a sense of the irratio- nal through a new type of song, which liberates music’s power to excite and disorient through its colors, ornament and dizzying wildness. Just as the New Musicians pres- ent themselves as the preservers of cultic tradition, Euripides, far from suppressing Dionysus as Nietzsche claimed, deserves to rank as the most Dionysiac and the most religious of the three tragedians. Keywords Euripides – tragedy – New Music – Dionysus – religion – choral self-referentiality Introduction The choral odes of tragedy regularly involve the Chorus reflecting upon an ear- lier moment in the play or its related myths. In Euripides’ Helen, all three sta- sima are distanced from the action by their mood. The first choral ode follows © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2018 | doi:10.1163/22129758-12341322Downloaded from Brill.com09/23/2021 09:44:20AM via free access 248 Castiglioni the successful persuasion of the prophetess, Theonoe, the working out of a good escape plan and high optimism on the part of Helen and Menelaus, but seems to ignore the progress of the play’s action and takes the audience back to the ruin caused by the Trojan war. -
The Shield As Pedagogical Tool in Aeschylus' Seven Against Thebes
АНТИЧНОЕ ВОСПИТАНИЕ ВОИНА ЧЕРЕЗ ПРИЗМУ АРХЕОЛОГИИ, ФИЛОЛОГИИ И ИСТОРИИ ПЕДАГОГИКИ THE SHIELD AS PEDAGOGICAL TOOL IN AESCHYLUS’ SEVEN AGAINST THEBES* Victoria K. PICHUGINA The article analyzes the descriptions of warriors in Aeschylus’s tragedy Seven against Thebes that are given in the “shield scene” and determines the pedagogical dimension of this tragedy. Aeschylus pays special attention to the decoration of the shields of the com- manders who attacked Thebes, relying on two different ways of dec- orating the shields that Homer describes in The Iliad. According to George Henry Chase’s terminology, in Homer, Achilles’ shield can be called “a decorative” shield, and Agamemnon’s shield is referred to as “a terrible” shield. Aeschylus turns the description of the shield decoration of the commanders attacking Thebes into a core element of the plot in Seven against Thebes, maximizing the connection be- tween the image on the shield and the shield-bearer. He created an elaborate system of “terrible” and “decorative” shields (Aesch. Sept. 375-676), as well as of the shields that cannot be categorized as “ter- rible” and “decorative” (Aesch. Sept. 19; 43; 91; 100; 160). The analysis of this system made it possible to put forward and prove three hypothetical assumptions: 1) In Aeschylus, Eteocles demands from the Thebans to win or die, focusing on the fact that the city cre- ated a special educational space for them and raised them as shield- bearers. His patriotic speeches and, later, his judgments expressed in the “shield scene” demonstrate a desire to justify and then test the educational concept “ἢ τὰν ἢ ἐπὶ τᾶς” (“either with it, or upon it”) (Plut.