Myth Made Fact Lesson 12: Oedipus the Scapegoat with Dr
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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. -
The Dream Narrative As a Mode of Female Discourse in Epic Poetry
Transactions of the American Philological Association 140 (2010) 195–238 Incohat Ismene: The Dream Narrative as a Mode of Female Discourse in Epic Poetry* emma scioli University of Kansas summary: This article examines Ismene’s nightmare in book 8 of Statius’s Thebaid by contextualizing it within the epic’s narrative, comparing it with the dream narrations of other female characters in epic poetry, and aligning it with other typically female modes of subjective expression in epic, such as weaving, teichoscopy, and lamentation. My analysis shows that by exposing the diffi- culties inherent in retelling a dream, Statius demonstrates sympathy with the female perspective on the horrific war that constitutes the central action of his poem and foreshadows the subsequent inadequacy of words in reaction to such horror. i. introduction: ismene begins ismene, daughter of oedipus, is a character who has virtually no presence in the narrative of Statius’s Thebaid either before or after the small section devoted to the retelling of her dream and its aftermath (8.607–54); for this reason, the intricacy and allusiveness of this passage are all the more striking. In this scene, Ismene recounts to her sister Antigone a dream she has had, in which her wedding to her fiancé Atys is violently interrupted by a fire. After questioning the dream’s origin, Ismene discounts its meaning as incongruous with her understanding of her own waking reality and resumes * Shorter versions of this paper were delivered at the University of Rome, Tor Vergata, in 2004 and the 2005 APA meeting in Boston. I would like to thank audience members at both venues for useful feedback. -
Llt 121 Classical Mythology Lecture 32 Good Morning
LLT 121 CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY LECTURE 32 GOOD MORNING AND WELCOME TO LLT 121 CLASSICAL MYTHOLOGY IN WHICH WE RESUME OUR ADVENTURES IN THE CITY OF THEBES. THE CITY THAT THE GODS SEEM TO LOVE TO HATE. THE ORIGINAL FOUNDER TURNS INTO A SNAKE. WE'VE GOT THAT AT THEBES. A YOUNG MAN IS TURNED INTO A STAG FOR SEEING ARTEMIS BATHING IN THE NUDE. YES, WE HAVE THAT AT THEBES. THE SON KILLS THE FATHER. WE HAVE GOT THAT. WE DO THAT AT THEBES. THE SON MARRIES MOTHER. WE DO THAT TOO. BROTHER KILLS BROTHER, YEP. IF IT'S BAD AND IT HAPPENED IN ANCIENT GREEK MYTHOLOGY YOU CAN BET IT HAPPENED AT ANCIENT THEBES. I'VE ALREADY TOLD YOU WHY THAT IS. IT HAPPENS TO BE RIGHT NEXT DOOR TO ATHENS. WHERE I WANT TO START TODAY IS WITH ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS CHARACTERS IN ALL WESTERN CIVILIZATION, ONE OF THE MOST COMPLEX PEOPLE YOU'LL EVER WANT TO MEET. THIS GUY IS BY THE NAME OF OEDIPUS. OEDIPUS STARTS OFF AS A LITTLE BABY. HE IS A CUTE LITTLE BABY. HE USED TO BE A LITTLE BOY. THEN HE WINDS UP AS THIS SAD, MULING, PUKING, UNHAPPY MAN WHO HAS POKED HIS OWN EYES OUT WITH A BROOCH. THIS IS THE GORE DRIPPING OUT OF HIS EYES AND ALL OF THAT BECAUSE HE SUFFERS FROM CLASSICAL GREEK MYTHOLOGY'S WORST DOCUMENTED CASE OF ARTIMONTHONO. NOW I GET IT. I PAUSE FOR YOUR QUESTIONS UP TO THIS POINT. WHEN LAST WE LEFT OFF LAIUS HAD BECOME KING AFTER A LONG WAIT WITH SOME INTERESTING MATHEMATICS BEHIND IT IF YOU'LL RECALL. -
Folktale Types and Motifs in Greek Heroic Myth Review P.11 Morphology of the Folktale, Vladimir Propp 1928 Heroic Quest
Mon Feb 13: Heracles/Hercules and the Greek world Ch. 15, pp. 361-397 Folktale types and motifs in Greek heroic myth review p.11 Morphology of the Folktale, Vladimir Propp 1928 Heroic quest NAME: Hera-kleos = (Gk) glory of Hera (his persecutor) >p.395 Roman name: Hercules divine heritage and birth: Alcmena +Zeus -> Heracles pp.362-5 + Amphitryo -> Iphicles Zeus impersonates Amphityron: "disguised as her husband he enjoyed the bed of Alcmena" “Alcmena, having submitted to a god and the best of mankind, in Thebes of the seven gates gave birth to a pair of twin brothers – brothers, but by no means alike in thought or in vigor of spirit. The one was by far the weaker, the other a much better man, terrible, mighty in battle, Heracles, the hero unconquered. Him she bore in submission to Cronus’ cloud-ruling son, the other, by name Iphicles, to Amphitryon, powerful lancer. Of different sires she conceived them, the one of a human father, the other of Zeus, son of Cronus, the ruler of all the gods” pseudo-Hesiod, Shield of Heracles Hera tries to block birth of twin sons (one per father) Eurystheus born on same day (Hera heard Zeus swear that a great ruler would be born that day, so she speeded up Eurystheus' birth) (Zeus threw her out of heaven when he realized what she had done) marvellous infancy: vs. Hera’s serpents Hera, Heracles and the origin of the MIlky Way Alienation: Madness of Heracles & Atonement pp.367,370 • murders wife Megara and children (agency of Hera) Euripides, Heracles verdict of Delphic oracle: must serve his cousin Eurystheus, king of Mycenae -> must perform 12 Labors (‘contests’) for Eurystheus -> immortality as reward The Twelve Labors pp.370ff. -
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 .......................................................................................................................................... -
Theban Walls in Homeric Epic Corinne Ondine Pache Trinity University, [email protected]
Trinity University Digital Commons @ Trinity Classical Studies Faculty Research Classical Studies Department 10-2014 Theban Walls in Homeric Epic Corinne Ondine Pache Trinity University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.trinity.edu/class_faculty Part of the Classics Commons Repository Citation Pache, C. (2014). Theban walls in Homeric epic. Trends in Classics, 6(2), 278-296. doi:10.1515/tc-2014-0015 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Classical Studies Department at Digital Commons @ Trinity. It has been accepted for inclusion in Classical Studies Faculty Research by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Trinity. For more information, please contact [email protected]. TC 2014; 6(2): 278–296 Corinne Pache Theban Walls in Homeric Epic DOI 10.1515/tc-2014-0015 Throughout the Iliad, the Greeks at Troy often refer to the wars at Thebes in their speeches, and several important warriors fighting on the Greek side at Troy also fought at Thebes and are related to Theban heroes who besieged the Boeotian city a generation earlier. The Theban wars thus stand in the shadow of the story of war at Troy, another city surrounded by walls supposed to be impregnable. In the Odyssey, the Theban connections are less central, but nevertheless significant as one of our few sources concerning the building of the Theban walls. In this essay, I analyze Theban traces in Homeric epic as they relate to city walls. Since nothing explicitly concerning walls remains in the extant fragments of the Theban Cycle, we must look to Homeric poetry for formulaic and thematic elements that can be connected with Theban epic. -
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. -
MDC 2020 Full Syllabus
MDC -- Literature Humanities Fall Semester 2020 Professor Christia Mercer Columbia University Welcome to Columbia University! This is Literature Humanities, a course that all Columbia College students are required to take. If you keep up with the requirements, you will receive Columbia University credit for the course. I'm looking forward to working with you! I wish I could be there in person, but we'll have to make do with paper and DVDs. Fingers crossed that this will all work!!! Course Description In this course, we’ll analyze two famous plays from roughly 2500 years ago. As you'll see, although this literature is very weird in some ways, it also speaks to us now. Since the plays were written and performed 2500 years ago, they have been performed, discussed, and deBated. The plays that we'll discuss explore love, desire, fear, family, revenge, courage, justice, power, and gender. The questions we will ask aBout the works include: How do these ancient works of literature create imagined worlds that still resonate with us, despite their historical distance, and what do they tell us aBout the challenges of human existence? Besides examining the themes and ideas in these dramas, we’ll pay attention to the theatrical elements they employ. We’ll do close readings of passages and scenes, and sometimes explore their complications by performing or acting out parts of them. Our Main Questions/Themes Our classroom discussions will focus on the following questions: As human beings, what should we seek or love? How do our goals and loves relate to those of our family, friends, and community? Why is fulfilling our loves so hard? What gets in the way? What do we fear and how can we overcome those fears? How can we know what's right? Are we fated to do what we do? Is suffering a means to insight and knowledge? In the end, what do the answers offered to these questions by this ancient literature tell us about ourselves as human beings? Pedagogical Goals Improve writing skills. -
Antigone's Line
Bulletin de la Société Américaine de Philosophie de Langue Française Volume 14, Number 2, Fall 2005 Antigone’s Line Mary Beth Mader “Leader: What is your lineage, stranger? Tell us—who was your father? Oedipus: God help me! Dear girl, what must I suffer now? Antigone: Say it. You’re driven right to the edge.”1 Sophocles’ Antigone has solicited many superlatives. Hölderlin considered the play to be the most difficult, the most enigmatic and the most essentially Greek of plays. This paper treats a matter of enigma in the play, one that is crucial to understanding the central stakes of the drama. Its main purpose is to propose a novel account of this enigma and briefly to contrast this account with two other readings of the play. One passage in particular has prompted the view that the play is extremely enigmatic; it is a passage that has been read with astonishment by many commentators and taken to demand explanation. This is Antigone’s defense speech at lines 905-914. Here, she famously provides what appear to her to be reasons for her burying her brother Polynices against the explicit command of her king and uncle, Creon. Her claim is that she would not have deliberately violated Creon’s command, would not have ANTIGONE’S LINE intentionally broken his law or edict, had this edict barred her from burying a child or a husband of hers. She states that if her husband or child had died “there might have been another.” But since both her mother and father are dead, she reasons, “no brother could ever spring to light again.”2 Reasoning of this sort has a precedent in a tale found in Herodotus’ Histories, and Aristotle cites it in Rhetoric as an example of giving an explanation for something that one’s auditors may at first find incredible.3 To Aristotle, then, Antigone’s defense speech appears to have been “rhetorically satisfactory,” as Bernard Knox says.4 However, such a reception is rare among commentators.5 1.