The Ascription of Fables to Aesop in Archaic and Classical Greece
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Beginning Again: on Aristotle's Use of a Fable in the Meteorologica
Beginning Again: On Aristotle’s Use of a Fable in the Meteorologica Doron Narkiss Foremost of false philosophies, The sea harangues the daft, The possessed logicians of romance. — Laura Riding Book Two, Chapter Three of Aristotle’s Meteorologica opens as follows: The sea’s saltiness is our next subject. This we must discuss, and also the question whether the sea remains the same all the time, or whether there was a time when it did not exist, or will be a time when it will cease to exist and disappear as some people think. It is, then, generally agreed that the sea had a beginning if the universe as a whole had, for the two are supposed to have come into being at the same time. So, clearly, if the universe is eternal we must suppose that the sea is too. The belief held by Democritus that the sea is decreasing and that it will in the end disappear is like something out of Aesop’s fables [mythos]. For Aesop has a fable about Charybdis in which he says that she took one gulp of the sea and brought the mountains into view, and a second one and the islands appeared, and that her last one will dry the sea up altogether. Α fable like this was a suitable retort for Aesop to make when the ferryman annoyed him, but is hardly suitable for those who are seeking the truth [aletheia].' (Met. II.iii.356b) I want to focus on Aristotle’s apparently casual use of “Aesop” here — Ae sop as a representative of a certain way of knowing, and of the knowledge thus implied. -
Alexander the Great and Hephaestion
2019-3337-AJHIS-HIS 1 Alexander the Great and Hephaestion: 2 Censorship and Bisexual Erasure in Post-Macedonian 3 Society 4 5 6 Same-sex relations were common in ancient Greece and having both male and female 7 physical relationships was a cultural norm. However, Alexander the Great is almost 8 always portrayed in modern depictions as heterosexual, and the disappearance of his 9 life-partner Hephaestion is all but complete in ancient literature. Five full primary 10 source biographies of Alexander have survived from antiquity, making it possible to 11 observe the way scholars, popular writers and filmmakers from the Victorian era 12 forward have interpreted this evidence. This research borrows an approach from 13 gender studies, using the phenomenon of bisexual erasure to contribute a new 14 understanding for missing information regarding the relationship between Alexander 15 and his life-partner Hephaestion. In Greek and Macedonian society, pederasty was the 16 norm, and boys and men did not have relations with others of the same age because 17 there was almost always a financial and power difference. Hephaestion was taller and 18 more handsome than Alexander, so it might have appeared that he held the power in 19 their relationship. The hypothesis put forward here suggests that writers have erased 20 the sexual partnership between Alexander and Hephaestion because their relationship 21 did not fit the norm of acceptable pederasty as practiced in Greek and Macedonian 22 culture or was no longer socially acceptable in the Roman contexts of the ancient 23 historians. Ancient biographers may have conducted censorship to conceal any 24 implication of femininity or submissiveness in this relationship. -
Pharaonic Egypt Through the Eyes of a European Traveller and Collector
Pharaonic Egypt through the eyes of a European traveller and collector Excerpts from the travel diary of Johann Michael Wansleben (1672-3), with an introduction and annotations by Esther de Groot Esther de Groot s0901245 Book and Digital Media Studies University of Leiden First Reader: P.G. Hoftijzer Second reader: R.J. Demarée 0 1 2 Pharaonic Egypt through the eyes of a European traveller and collector Excerpts from the travel diary of Johann Michael Wansleben (1672-3), with an introduction and annotations by Esther de Groot. 3 4 For Harold M. Hays 1965-2013 Who taught me how to read hieroglyphs 5 6 Contents List of illustrations p. 8 Introduction p. 9 Editorial note p. 11 Johann Michael Wansleben: A traveller of his time p. 12 Egypt in the Ottoman Empire p. 21 The journal p. 28 Travelled places p. 53 Acknowledgments p. 67 Bibliography p. 68 Appendix p. 73 7 List of illustrations Figure 1. Giza, BNF Ms. Italien 435, folio 104 p. 54 Figure 2. The pillar of Marcus Aurelius, BNF Ms. Italien 435, folio 123 p. 59 Figure 3. Satellite view of Der Abu Hennis and Der el Bersha p. 60 Figure 4. Map of Der Abu Hennis from the original manuscript p. 61 Figure 5. Map of the visited places in Egypt p. 65 Figure 6. Map of the visited places in the Faiyum p. 66 Figure 7. An offering table from Saqqara, BNF Ms. Italien 435, folio 39 p. 73 Figure 8. A stela from Saqqara, BNF Ms. Italien 435, folio 40 p. 74 Figure 9. -
Beauty on Display Plato and the Concept of the Kalon
BEAUTY ON DISPLAY PLATO AND THE CONCEPT OF THE KALON JONATHAN FINE Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2018 © 2018 Jonathan Fine All rights reserved ABSTRACT BEAUTY ON DISPLAY: PLATO AND THE CONCEPT OF THE KALON JONATHAN FINE A central concept for Plato is the kalon – often translated as the beautiful, fine, admirable, or noble. This dissertation shows that only by prioritizing dimensions of beauty in the concept can we understand the nature, use, and insights of the kalon in Plato. The concept of the kalon organizes aspirations to appear and be admired as beautiful for one’s virtue. We may consider beauty superficial and concern for it vain – but what if it were also indispensable to living well? By analyzing how Plato uses the concept of the kalon to contest cultural practices of shame and honour regulated by ideals of beauty, we come to see not only the tensions within the concept but also how attractions to beauty steer, but can subvert, our attempts to live well. TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements ii 1 Coordinating the Kalon: A Critical Introduction 1 1 The Kalon and the Dominant Approach 2 2 A Conceptual Problem 10 3 Overview 24 2 Beauty, Shame, and the Appearance of Virtue 29 1 Our Ancient Contemporaries 29 2 The Cultural Imagination 34 3 Spirit and the Social Dimension of the Kalon 55 4 Before the Eyes of Others 82 3 Glory, Grief, and the Problem of Achilles 100 1 A Tragic Worldview 103 2 The Heroic Ideal 110 3 Disgracing Achilles 125 4 Putting Poikilia in its Place 135 1 Some Ambivalences 135 2 The Aesthetics of Poikilia 138 3 The Taste of Democracy 148 4 Lovers of Sights and Sounds 173 5 The Possibility of Wonder 182 5 The Guise of the Beautiful 188 1 A Psychological Distinction 190 2 From Disinterested Admiration to Agency 202 3 The Opacity of Love 212 4 Looking Good? 218 Bibliography 234 i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS “To do philosophy is to explore one’s own temperament,” Iris Murdoch suggested at the outset of “Of ‘God’ and ‘Good’”. -
2 the Cinderella Story in Antiquity
2 THE CINDERELLA STORY IN ANTIQUITY Cinderella can fairly be claimed as the best known of fairytales in modern times, as well as the first tale to be subjected to attempts at the ‘exhaustive’ collecting of its variants. It was long assumed that the story, or rather group of stories, did not date much further back than the early seventeenth century, when a recognisable form of it appeared as Basile’s La Gatta Cenerentola.1 But from time to time throughout this century discoveries have been made to show that the tale must be much older, and few who have seriously examined the evidence would be tempted to measure the tale as a whole by the yardstick of its most famous example, the version published by Charles Perrault in 1697.2 It can now be seen that a number of the Perrault features such as glass slipper, pumpkin coach, clock striking midnight, and others, are not essential, or even necessarily characteristic, of the orally transmitted story. Taken as a whole, the hundreds of versions known present the heroine under a variety of names: Cinderella, Ashiepattle and Popelutschka are the most obvious European variations; sometimes she has sisters (often less beautiful, rather than ugly), sometimes not; sometimes she has a fairy godmother helper, sometimes a helpful animal or plant, sometimes even a fairy godfather, or some combination of such forces. The basic framework for the story printed by Aarne-Thompson can be slightly abridged as follows:3 I The persecuted heroine 1. The heroine is abused by her stepmother and stepsisters; she stays on the hearth and ashes; and 2. -
Middle Comedy: Not Only Mythology and Food
Acta Ant. Hung. 56, 2016, 421–433 DOI: 10.1556/068.2016.56.4.2 VIRGINIA MASTELLARI MIDDLE COMEDY: NOT ONLY MYTHOLOGY AND FOOD View metadata, citation and similar papersTHE at core.ac.ukPOLITICAL AND CONTEMPORARY DIMENSION brought to you by CORE provided by Repository of the Academy's Library Summary: The disappearance of the political and contemporary dimension in the production after Aris- tophanes is a false belief that has been shared for a long time, together with the assumption that Middle Comedy – the transitional period between archaia and nea – was only about mythological burlesque and food. The misleading idea has surely risen because of the main source of the comic fragments: Athenaeus, The Learned Banqueters. However, the contemporary and political aspect emerges again in the 4th c. BC in the creations of a small group of dramatists, among whom Timocles, Mnesimachus and Heniochus stand out (significantly, most of them are concentrated in the time of the Macedonian expansion). Firstly Timocles, in whose fragments the personal mockery, the onomasti komodein, is still present and sharp, often against contemporary political leaders (cf. frr. 17, 19, 27 K.–A.). Then, Mnesimachus (Φίλιππος, frr. 7–10 K.–A.) and Heniochus (fr. 5 K.–A.), who show an anti- and a pro-Macedonian attitude, respec- tively. The present paper analyses the use of the political and contemporary element in Middle Comedy and the main differences between the poets named and Aristophanes, trying to sketch the evolution of the genre, the points of contact and the new tendencies. Key words: Middle Comedy, Politics, Onomasti komodein For many years, what is known as the “food fallacy”1 has been widespread among scholars of Comedy. -
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. -
Illinoisclassica171992relihan.Pdf
Rethinking the History of the Literary Symposium JOEL C. RELIHAN and the Members of Greek Seminar 420 In the Spring of 1992 it was my pleasure and privilege to direct at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign a Greek seminar called "Plato and Later Symposiac Literature." Four Greek texts were read in common: Plato's Symposium, Xenophon's Symposium, Plutarch's Banquet of the Seven Wise Men and Lucian's Symposium or The Lapiths; each member of the seminar was then responsible for the production of a study of a different text within the genre. These latter texts were assigned as follows: Joseph Leichter to Petronius' Cena Trimalchionis, Stephen Trzaskoma to Plutarch's Table Talk, Eleanor Hardin to Athenaeus' Deipnosophists, A.JL. Dollmetsh Worley to Methodius' Banquet of the Ten Virgins, John Houlihan to the Emperor Julian's Symposium or Saturnalia (popularly Caesars) and Jennifer MacDonald to Macrobius' Saturnalia; I concerned myself with the Cena Cypriani and related late classical texts. Timothy Johnson, who has just finished a dissertation on Horace's symposiac poetry, was unable to attend the seminar, but agreed to help us in our revisions with his knowledge of sympotic lyric and Homer. We present here the conclusions that we have reached about the definition of the genre, Plato's place within its history, and the relation of later texts to earlier models; it is, as it were, a potential introduction to a volume. Collected Ancient Symposia, that has not yet found its B. P. Reardon. My students have allowed me the general supervision and construction of this essay, along with the free use of the pronoun "I" and reference to my forthcoming book, Ancient Menippean Satire; I lean on their expertise not only for the specific authors which were their particular concern but also for their general hterary acumen. -
Year 2: Quarter 2
Catholic SchoolhouseTM Dialectic Level Tutor Guide Year 2: Quarter 2 by Kathy Rabideau Quarter 2 Background Information Language Arts (Literature): Aesop’s Fables— Setting: The fables attributed to Aesop were actually composed over the course of many centuries. Aesop is a semi legendary figure, about whom various stories have been told. All that can be known with any certainty about Aesop is that he was a Phrygian slave who was later freed by his Greek master because of the wit and charm of his stories. All other details about Aesop’s life appear to have been invented after his death. Aesop’s Fables—Plot: As mentioned, Aesop was a slave in ancient Greece. He was a keen observer of both animals and people. Most of the characters in his stories are animals, some of which take on human characteristic and are personified in ways of speech and emotions. However, the majority of his character retain their animalistic qualities; tortoise are slow, hares are quick, tigers eat bird, etc. Aesop uses these qualities and natural tendencies of animals to focus on human traits and wisdom. Each fable has an accompanying moral to be learned from the tale. Religion: Aesop’s Fables—Summary: Each week, you will read and discuss multiple fables using Aesop’s Fables. (Use: https://books.google.com/ books?id=UO0pAQAAMAAJ ) 1. Read the fables one by one. (Do not read the moral listed in the fable until after they have thought of a moral in their own words.) 2. Have the students put the moral in their own words (no more than one sentence in length—see example ideas in parentheses in your weekly plans. -
Meet the Philosophers of Ancient Greece
Meet the Philosophers of Ancient Greece Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Ancient Greek Philosophy but didn’t Know Who to Ask Edited by Patricia F. O’Grady MEET THE PHILOSOPHERS OF ANCIENT GREECE Dedicated to the memory of Panagiotis, a humble man, who found pleasure when reading about the philosophers of Ancient Greece Meet the Philosophers of Ancient Greece Everything you always wanted to know about Ancient Greek philosophy but didn’t know who to ask Edited by PATRICIA F. O’GRADY Flinders University of South Australia © Patricia F. O’Grady 2005 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher. Patricia F. O’Grady has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identi.ed as the editor of this work. Published by Ashgate Publishing Limited Ashgate Publishing Company Wey Court East Suite 420 Union Road 101 Cherry Street Farnham Burlington Surrey, GU9 7PT VT 05401-4405 England USA Ashgate website: http://www.ashgate.com British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Meet the philosophers of ancient Greece: everything you always wanted to know about ancient Greek philosophy but didn’t know who to ask 1. Philosophy, Ancient 2. Philosophers – Greece 3. Greece – Intellectual life – To 146 B.C. I. O’Grady, Patricia F. 180 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Meet the philosophers of ancient Greece: everything you always wanted to know about ancient Greek philosophy but didn’t know who to ask / Patricia F. -
Problems in Athenian Democracy 510-480 BC Exiles
Loyola University Chicago Loyola eCommons Dissertations Theses and Dissertations 1971 Problems in Athenian Democracy 510-480 B. C. Exiles: A Case of Political Irrationality Peter Karavites Loyola University Chicago Recommended Citation Karavites, Peter, "Problems in Athenian Democracy 510-480 B. C. Exiles: A Case of Political Irrationality" (1971). Dissertations. Paper 1192. http://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_diss/1192 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Loyola eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Loyola eCommons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. Copyright © 1971 Peter. Karavites PROBLEMS IN ATHENIAN DEMOCRACY 510-480 B.C. EXILES A Case of Political Irrationality A DISSERTATION Submitted to the Faculty o! the Department of History of Loyola University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy b;y Peter Karavites ?ROBLEt'.n IN ATP.EHIA:rT n:s::ocRACY 5'10-480 n.c. EXIL:ffi: A case in Politioal Irrationality Peter·KARAVIT~ Ph.D. Loyola UniVGl'Sity, Chicago, 1971 This thesis is m attempt to ev"aluate the attitude of the Athenian demos during the tormative years of the Cleisthenian democracy. The dissertation tries to trace the events of the period from the mpul sion of Hippian to the ~ttle of Sal.amis. Ma.tural.ly no strict chronological sequence can be foll.amtd.. The events are known to us only f'ragmen~. some additional archaeological Wormation has trickled dcmn to us 1n the last tro decad.all 11h1ch shed light on the edating historical data prO\Tided ma:1nly by Herodotus md Arletotle. -
Kalasiris and Charikleia: Mentorship and Intertext in Heliodorus' Aithiopika
W&M ScholarWorks Undergraduate Honors Theses Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects 5-2017 Kalasiris and Charikleia: Mentorship and Intertext in Heliodorus' Aithiopika Lauren Jordan Wood College of William and Mary Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/honorstheses Part of the Classical Literature and Philology Commons Recommended Citation Wood, Lauren Jordan, "Kalasiris and Charikleia: Mentorship and Intertext in Heliodorus' Aithiopika" (2017). Undergraduate Honors Theses. Paper 1004. https://scholarworks.wm.edu/honorstheses/1004 This Honors Thesis 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]. Kalasiris and Charikleia: Mentorship and Intertext in Heliodorus’ Aithiopika A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Bachelor of Arts in Classical Studies from The College of William and Mary by Lauren Wood Accepted for ___________________________________ (Honors, High Honors, Highest Honors) ________________________________________ William Hutton, Director ________________________________________ Vassiliki Panoussi ________________________________________ Suzanne Hagedorn Williamsburg, VA April 17, 2017 Wood 2 Kalasiris and Charikleia: Mentorship and Intertext in Heliodorus’ Aithiopika Odyssean and more broadly Homeric intertext figures largely in Greco-Roman literature of the first to third centuries AD, often referred to in scholarship as the period of the Second Sophistic.1 Second Sophistic authors work cleverly and often playfully with Homeric characters, themes, and quotes, echoing the traditional stories in innovative and often unexpected ways. First to fourth century Greek novelists often play with the idea of their protagonists as wanderers and exiles, drawing comparisons with the Odyssey and its hero Odysseus.