Initiating Ajax: Mystery Ritual in Sophocles' Play I Contend That Three Major Plot Movements in Sophocles' Ajax—The Slaugh
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Functions and Uses of Egyptian Myth Fonctions Et Usages Du Mythe Égyptien
Revue de l’histoire des religions 4 | 2018 Qu’est-ce qu’un mythe égyptien ? Functions and Uses of Egyptian Myth Fonctions et usages du mythe égyptien Katja Goebs and John Baines Electronic version URL: http://journals.openedition.org/rhr/9334 DOI: 10.4000/rhr.9334 ISSN: 2105-2573 Publisher Armand Colin Printed version Date of publication: 1 December 2018 Number of pages: 645-681 ISBN: 978-2-200-93200-8 ISSN: 0035-1423 Electronic reference Katja Goebs and John Baines, “Functions and Uses of Egyptian Myth”, Revue de l’histoire des religions [Online], 4 | 2018, Online since 01 December 2020, connection on 13 January 2021. URL: http:// journals.openedition.org/rhr/9334 ; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/rhr.9334 Tous droits réservés KATJA GOEBS / JOHN BAINES University of Toronto / University of Oxford Functions and Uses of Egyptian Myth* This article discusses functions and uses of myth in ancient Egypt as a contribution to comparative research. Applications of myth are reviewed in order to present a basic general typology of usages: from political, scholarly, ritual, and medical applications, through incorporation in images, to linguistic and literary exploitations. In its range of function and use, Egyptian myth is similar to that of other civilizations, except that written narratives appear to have developed relatively late. The many attested forms and uses underscore its flexibility, which has entailed many interpretations starting with assessments of the Osiris myth reported by Plutarch (2nd century AD). Myths conceptualize, describe, explain, and control the world, and they were adapted to an ever-changing reality. Fonctions et usages du mythe égyptien Cet article discute les fonctions et les usages du mythe en Égypte ancienne dans une perspective comparatiste et passe en revue ses applications, afin de proposer une typologie générale de ses usages – applications politiques, érudites, rituelles et médicales, incorporation dans des images, exploitation linguistique et littéraire. -
University of Groningen Myth and Ritual in Ancient Greece Bremmer
University of Groningen Myth and Ritual in Ancient Greece Bremmer, J.N. Published in: Griechische Mythologie und Frühchristentum IMPORTANT NOTE: You are advised to consult the publisher's version (publisher's PDF) if you wish to cite from it. Please check the document version below. Document Version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Publication date: 2005 Link to publication in University of Groningen/UMCG research database Citation for published version (APA): Bremmer, J. N. (2005). Myth and Ritual in Ancient Greece: Observations on a Difficult Relationship. In R. von Haehling (Ed.), Griechische Mythologie und Frühchristentum (pp. 21-43). Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft. Copyright Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). Take-down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Downloaded from the University of Groningen/UMCG research database (Pure): http://www.rug.nl/research/portal. For technical reasons the number of authors shown on this cover page is limited to 10 maximum. Download date: 23-09-2021 N. Oettinger, ‘Entstehung von Mythos aus Ritual. Das Beispiel des hethitischen textes CTH 390A’, in M. Hutter and S. Hutter-Braunsar (eds), Offizielle Religion, lokale Kulte und individuelle Religiosität (Münster, 2004) 347-56. MYTH AND RITUAL IN ANCIENT GREECE: OBSERVATIONS ON A DIFFICULT RELATIONSHIP by JAN N. -
Sophocles' Philoctetes Roisman, Hanna M Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies; Summer 1997; 38, 2; Proquest Pg
The appropriation of a son: Sophocles' Philoctetes Roisman, Hanna M Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies; Summer 1997; 38, 2; ProQuest pg. 127 The Appropriation of a Son: Sophocles' Philoctetes Hanna M. Roisman ANHOOD in archaic and classical Greece-as in modern times-is generally manifested not so much in relation M ships with women as in relationships with other men, especially in the relationship between father and son. The Greek male is expected to produce sons who will continue his oikos (e.g. Soph. Ant. 641-45; Eur. Ale. 62lf, 654-57). Further, as Hesiod makes clear, sons should resemble their fathers in both looks and conduct, especially the latter (Op. 182,235; ef Ii. 6.476-81; Theophr. Char. 5.5). Such resemblance earns the father public esteem and proves his manliness; the lack of it may be cause for disparagement and calls his manliness into question. 1 We learn from Ajax and Philoctetes that Sophocles follows the Hesiodic imperative that sons should resemble their fathers in their natures and their accomplishments. Ajax sees himself as an unworthy son, having lost Achilles' arms to Odysseus, and prefers to commit suicide rather than face his father, Telamon, who took part in Heracles' expedition to Troy and got Hesione, the best part of the booty, as a reward (Aj. 430-40,462-65, 470ff, 1300-303; Diod. 4.32.5). At the same time, he expects his son, Eurysaces, to be like himself in nature, valor, and in everything else ('ttl.~' aA.A.' OIlOlO~, Aj. 545-51). Sophocles' Philoctetes, on the other hand, presents the strug gle between Odysseus and Philoctetes for the 'paternity' of Neoptolemus, as each tries to mold the young man in his own 1 Even in contemporary Greece the intense male rivalry for proving oneself takes place among men alone, while women and flocks serve as the object of this rivalry. -
Sophocles' Ajax and the Greek Epic Cycle
Eating from the Tables of Others: Sophocles’ Ajax and the Greek Epic Cycle1 Athenaeus in his Deipnosophistai remarks that “Sophocles took great pleasure in the Epic Cycle and composed whole dramas in which he followed the Cycle’s version of myths” (ἔχαιρε δὲ Σοφοκλῆς τῷ ἐπικῷ κύκλῳ, ὡς καὶ ὅλα δράματα ποιῆσαι κατακολουθῶν τῇ ἐν τούτῳ μυθοποιίᾳ, Deipnosophistai 277c).2 This statement is equally apposite for his Ajax Philoctetes, Oedipus (both Tyrannus and Coloneus) and Antigone. However, while examining in depth the plot and the construction of some of the characters in Sophoclean tragedy, one realizes that Sophocles, although indebted to the poets of the Epic Cycle for his plots, feasts at Homer’s table as well, reminding us of what Aeschylus said about his tragedies as being slices from Homer’s great dinner parties (τὸ τοῦ καλοῦ καὶ λαμπροῦ Αἰσχύλου, ὃς τὰς αὑτοῦ τραγῳδίας τεμάχη εἶναι ἔλεγεν τῶν Ὁμήρου μεγάλων δείπνων, Athenaeus Deipnosophistai 347e). The second point I would like to make refers to a methodological principle. I subscribe to the view that a playwright of fifth c. BCE Athens not only “feasts” at the tables of others but freely transforms and adapts his borrowings to the new ideology of his genre and the social and political circumstances of his time.3 In Sophocles’ time, there is the polis, with a value system that has evolved gradually but steadily, from the Homeric, through the archaic, down to the classical period. Moreover, Sophocles, as with all poets, had a particular style and personal preoccupations that characterize his work.4 1 I would like to thank the participants in the Greek Epic Cycle Conference, held in ancient Olympia on 9–10 July 2010, for their useful comments on the oral presentation of the present paper. -
SOPHOCLES' AJAX, a Translation by Dennis Daly
Wilderness House Literary Review 6/4 Dennis Daly SOPHOCLES’ AJAX ©2012 Dennis Daly Introduction Sophocles lived during the golden age of ancient Greece. He was born around 496 BC in Colonus, just outside of Athens, and died 90 years later. He probably came from a wealthy merchant family and lived what many would think of as a near perfect life. So the dry facts seem to say. At sixteen years of age Sophocles led the paean, celebrating a decisive Greek victory over the Persians at Salamis. This was more than just an everyday honor. You needed the physique, athleticism, a stage presence and the ability to sing. Sophocles held numerous civic positions of high honor including treasurer, gen- eral (he served with the legendary Pericles), priest, and commissioner. His friends included the great historian Herodotus. Of all of Sophocles’ 123 plays only seven survive. They are Oedipus Rex, Antigone, Oedipus at Colonus, Electra, Women of Trachis, Philoctetes, and Ajax. Sophocles wrote his plays specifically as entries for the Dionysia festivals held annually in Athens. Playwrights usually entered four plays at a time into these competitions. The so-called Theban plays of Sophocles, Oedipus Rex, Antigone, and Oedipus at Colonus, were never entered together, but were each entered with another set of plays. Early on Sophocles bested his older rival Aeschylus and never looked back winning many more competitions than either Aeschylus or his young- er rival, Euripides. The power of these tragedies and their subject matter belie the official biogra- phy of Sophocles. The dramatist simply understood shame, degradation, alien- ation, despair and madness a little too well. -
Die Zukunft Einer Provokation Religion Im Liberalen Staat
1 bupBERLIN UNIVERSITY PRESS FFischer_65-0.inddischer_65-0.indd 1 220.08.20090.08.2009 007:21:517:21:51 2 FFischer_65-0.inddischer_65-0.indd 2 220.08.20090.08.2009 007:21:517:21:51 3 Karsten Fischer Die Zukunft einer Provokation Religion im liberalen Staat Berlin University Press FFischer_65-0.inddischer_65-0.indd 3 220.08.20090.08.2009 007:21:517:21:51 4 Karsten Fischer Die Zukunft einer Provokation Religion im liberalen Staat Erste Aufl age im September 2009 © Berlin University Press Alle Rechte vorbehalten Ausstattung und Umschlag Groothuis, Lohfert, Consorten | glcons.de Satz und Herstellung Dittebrandt Verlagsservice, Baden-Baden Schrift Borgis Joanna MT Druck DruckPartner Rübelmann GmbH, Hemsbach ISBN 978-3-940432-65-0 FFischer_65-0.inddischer_65-0.indd 4 220.08.20090.08.2009 007:21:517:21:51 5 Vorwort Die hiermit vorgelegten, im einzelnen aus verschiedenen An- lässen entstandenen und für dieses Buch allesamt überarbei- teten religionspolitischen Studien verdanken ihren gedankli- chen Zusammenhang der Arbeit im »Forschungsbereich Re- ligion und Politik« an der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Gegründet hat ihn Rolf Schieder, dem ich nicht nur für die Schaffung dieses Diskussionszusammenhangs zu danken habe, sondern vor allem für unermüdliche Unterstützung meiner religionspolitischen Forschungsaktivitäten mit Rat und Tat, (Auf-)Forderung und Förderung. Danken möchte ich ferner Friedrich Wilhelm Graf, der den ersten Anstoß zu meiner systematischen Beschäftigung mit dem Thema Religionspolitik gegeben hat, indem er mich zum Vortrag auf dem Kongreß der Troeltsch-Gesellschaft im Jahr 2004 gedrängt hat und mich damit erstmalig auf das von ihm selbst so instruktiv bearbeitete Problemfeld religiö- ser Liberalität geführt hat, das mich seitdem nicht mehr los- gelassen hat. -
Melammu: the Ancient World in an Age of Globalization Max Planck Research Library for the History and Development of Knowledge
Melammu: The Ancient World in an Age of Globalization Max Planck Research Library for the History and Development of Knowledge Series Editors Ian T. Baldwin, Jürgen Renn, Dagmar Schäfer, Robert Schlögl, Bernard F. Schutz Edition Open Access Development Team Lindy Divarci, Nina Ruge, Matthias Schemmel, Kai Surendorf Scientific Board Markus Antonietti, Antonio Becchi, Fabio Bevilacqua, William G. Boltz, Jens Braarvik, Horst Bredekamp, Jed Z. Buchwald, Olivier Darrigol, Thomas Duve, Mike Edmunds, Fynn Ole Engler, Robert K. Englund, Mordechai Feingold, Rivka Feldhay, Gideon Freudenthal, Paolo Galluzzi, Kostas Gavroglu, Mark Geller, Domenico Giulini, Günther Görz, Gerd Graßhoff, James Hough, Man- fred Laubichler, Glenn Most, Klaus Müllen, Pier Daniele Napolitani, Alessandro Nova, Hermann Parzinger, Dan Potts, Sabine Schmidtke, Circe Silva da Silva, Ana Simões, Dieter Stein, Richard Stephenson, Mark Stitt, Noel M. Swerdlow, Liba Taub, Martin Vingron, Scott Walter, Norton Wise, Gerhard Wolf, Rüdiger Wolfrum, Gereon Wolters, Zhang Baichun Proceedings 7 Edition Open Access 2014 Melammu The Ancient World in an Age of Globalization Edited by Markham J. Geller (with the cooperation of Sergei Ignatov and Theodor Lekov) Edition Open Access 2014 Max Planck Research Library for the History and Development of Knowledge Proceedings 7 Proceedings of the Sixth Symposium of the Melammu Project, held in Sophia, Bulgaria, September 1–3, 2008. Communicated by: Jens Braarvig Edited by: Markham J. Geller Editorial Team: Lindy Divarci, Beatrice Hermann, Linda Jauch -
Focusing on the 'Margins' of Sophocles' Ajax
Focusing on the “Margins” of Sophocles’ Ajax and Philoctetes Associate Professor Christy Stanlake United States Naval Academy Adjusting Our Lenses: When we read the classic plays of 5th Century B.C. Athens, we have to shift our contemporary notions of what a play is and how theatre functioned in Attica. We notice that the structure of these plays is different. There are choral odes in which a group of characters sing and dance in unison (kind of like today’s musical theatre numbers) and episodes in which the central characters speak or sing to one another, to the chorus, to the gods, and to the audience. The odes are broken into strophes, “turning,” and antistrophes, “turning back,” that rhythmically mirror one another. The parallel structure allowed for viewers to understand the agon, the “struggle” or “contest,” between opposing views through three physical senses: sight (as the chorus danced one direction and then literally turned the opposite direction); sound (the equally balanced measures of music that supported each view); and touch (the rhythm the dancers’ feet made as they stepped in rhythm with the odes’ poetry. [Incidentally, the way we describe lines of poetry as being comprised of “feet” comes from the Greek tradition of literally stomping out the odes’ rhythm upon the ground with one’s feet.] Aristotle’s Poetics (335 B.C.), the first work of theatrical criticism, sought to describe the substance and nature of theatre. His thesis that classical tragedy was intended to influence catharsis, a purging of emotions such as pity and fear, forever shaped how people view western drama. -
Cultural Techniques
Cultural Techniques Cultural Techniques Assembling Spaces, Texts & Collectives Edited by Jörg Dünne, Kathrin Fehringer, Kristina Kuhn, and Wolfgang Struck We acknowledge support by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the Open Access Publication Fund of Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. ISBN 978-3-11-064456-2 e-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-064704-4 e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-11-064534-7 DOI https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110647044 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. For details go to: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. Library of Congress Control Number: 2020939337 Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de. © 2020 Jörg Dünne, Kathrin Fehringer, Kristina Kuhn, and Wolfgang Struck, published by Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston Cover image: porpeller/iStock/Getty Images Plus Typesetting: Integra Software Services Pvt. Ltd. Printing and binding: CPI books GmbH, Leck www.degruyter.com Contents Jörg Dünne, Kathrin Fehringer, Kristina Kuhn, and Wolfgang Struck Introduction 1 Spaces Tom Ullrich Working on Barricades and Boulevards: Cultural Techniques of Revolution in Nineteenth-Century Paris 23 Jörg Dünne Cultural Techniques and Founding Fictions 47 Wolfgang Struck A Message in a Bottle 61 Gabriele Schabacher Waiting: Cultural Techniques, Media, and Infrastructures 73 Christoph Eggersglüß Orthopedics by the Roadside: Spikes and Studs as Devices of Social Normalization 87 Hannah Zindel Ballooning: Aeronautical Techniques from Montgolfier to Google 107 Texts/Bodies Bernhard Siegert Attached: The Object and the Collective 131 Michael Cuntz Monturen/montures: On Riding, Dressing, and Wearing. -
The World of Greek Religion and Mythology
Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament Herausgeber/Editor Jörg Frey (Zürich) Mitherausgeber/Associate Editors Markus Bockmuehl (Oxford) ∙ James A. Kelhoffer (Uppsala) Tobias Nicklas (Regensburg) ∙ Janet Spittler (Charlottesville, VA) J. Ross Wagner (Durham, NC) 433 Jan N. Bremmer The World of Greek Religion and Mythology Collected Essays II Mohr Siebeck Jan N. Bremmer, born 1944; Emeritus Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Groningen. orcid.org/0000-0001-8400-7143 ISBN 978-3-16-154451-4 / eISBN 978-3-16-158949-2 DOI 10.1628/978-3-16-158949-2 ISSN 0512-1604 / eISSN 2568-7476 (Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament) The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbiblio- graphie; detailed bibliographic data are available at http://dnb.dnb.de. © 2019 Mohr Siebeck Tübingen, Germany. www.mohrsiebeck.com This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, in any form (beyond that permitt- ed by copyright law) without the publisher’s written permission. This applies particular- ly to reproductions, translations and storage and processing in electronic systems. The book was typeset using Stempel Garamond typeface and printed on non-aging pa- per by Gulde Druck in Tübingen. It was bound by Buchbinderei Spinner in Ottersweier. Printed in Germany. in memoriam Walter Burkert (1931–2015) Albert Henrichs (1942–2017) Christiane Sourvinou-Inwood (1945–2007) Preface It is a pleasure for me to offer here the second volume of my Collected Essays, containing a sizable part of my writings on Greek religion and mythology.1 Greek religion is not a subject that has always held my interest and attention. -
The Recovery of Helen
THE RECOVERYOF HELEN JrT is my purposehere to examineaspects of the iconographyof the Recoveryof Helen on the night that Troy fell. The attempt seems the more worth while now that a canonical pattern of interpretation is likely to be established by Kunze's short but authoritative study and by the detailed, well-illustrated treatment in the recent book by Mme. Lilly B. Ghali-Kahil.1 The main episodes of the Recovery, established by the end of -the sixth century B.C., are credited to the Cyclic Epic poets Arktinos and Lesches, the lyricists Ibykos and his older contemporary Stesichoros. The first three alone are concerned with the iconography of the Recovery as it appears during the sixth and fifth centuries B.C.2 The earliest extant reference to an episode of the Recovery is found at Andro- mache 627-631, Euripides' play staged about 425 B.C.3 The old lord Peleus speaks, insulting Menelaos: EAXW&E Tpotav.. OvKOKKravEg EKT,E 7VcvKLyvvatKa XEtptav~'~ XacW,8AaBV, aAAX,g eTet&Eg pacrrov, EK/ctXOv ti'oo 4n I E8E!, IT/ O8OTlV atKaAXOVKva, 71rTOIV -7TE4VK&J KVmpt8og, d' KaaKUtrTE 01. When you took Troy, you failed to put your wife to death, though you had her in your power- on the contrary, when you looked at her breast, you threw away your sword and accepted her kiss, caressing the traitorous bitch, you miserable wretch, born slave to lust. E. Kunze, Archaische Schildbander (Olympische Forschungen, II, 1950), pp. 163-167; Lilly B. Ghali-Kahil, Les enlevements et le retour d'Helene, Paris, 1955, particularly pp. -
GREEK RELIGION Walter Burkert
GREEK RELIGION Walter Burkert Translated by John Raffan r Harvard University Press Cambridge, Massachusetts THINGS’ ANIMAL SACRIFICE II t . I ‘WORKING SACRED 55 diverted activity for the apathy which remains transfixed in reality; it lays claim to the highest seriousness, to the absolute. II When considered from the point of view of the goal, ritual behaviour appears as magic. For a science of religion which regards only instrumental 4 since acts action as meaningful, magic must be seen as the origin of religion, Ritual and Sanctuary which seek to achieve a given goal in an unclear but direct way are magical. The goal then appears to be the attainment of all desirable boons and the elimination of possible impediments: there is rain magic, fertility magic, love magic, and destructive magic. The conception of ritual as a kind of language, however, leads beyond this constraining artifice; magic is present only insofar as ritual is consciously placed in the service of some end — which may then undoubtedly affect the form of the ritual. Religious ritual is given as a collective institution; the individual participates within the framework of social communication, with the strongest motivating force being the need not in the study of religion which came to be generally acknowledged to stand apart. Conscious magic is a matter for individuals, for the few, and An insight are more important and end of the last century is that rituals is developed accordingly into a highly complicated pseudo-science. In early towards the ancient religions than are instructive for the understanding of the Greece, where the cult belongs in the communal, public sphere, the more is no longer seen in myths.’ With this recognition, antiquity importance of magic is correspondingly minimal.