DOCSLIB.ORG

This Thesis Has Been Submitted in Fulfilment of the Requirements for a Postgraduate Degree (E.G. Phd, Mphil, Dclinpsychol) at the University of Edinburgh

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
This Thesis Has Been Submitted in Fulfilment of the Requirements for a Postgraduate Degree (E.G. Phd, Mphil, Dclinpsychol) at the University of Edinburgh This thesis has been submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for a postgraduate degree (e.g. PhD, MPhil, DClinPsychol) at the University of Edinburgh. Please note the following terms and conditions of use: • This work is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights, which are retained by the thesis author, unless otherwise stated. • A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. • This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author. • The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author. • When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given. Xenophon’s Theory of Moral Education Houliang Lu PhD in Classics University of Edinburgh 2014 Acknowledgement This thesis cannot be completed without the help of many people. First of all, I express my profound gratitude to my supervisors, Prof. Douglas Cairns and Prof. Andrew Erskine, for their careful correction and valuable advice for my thesis. I should also thank my former supervisor, Prof. Xiaoling Guo in Beijing Normal University as well as Prof. Shaoxiang Yan in Capital Normal University of Beijing, whose support and recommendation enable me to do my PhD program in University of Edinburgh. Besides, I am very grateful to the Chinese Scholarships Council and the University of Edinburgh, whose funding covers my tuition fee as well as my living expenses, so that I can finish my PhD programme in Edinburgh much more easily. Special thanks must also be given to Mr. Christopher Strachan, Dr. Lisa Hau, Dr. Sandra Bingham, Mr. John Houston as well as editors of Journal of Cambridge Studies. Mr. Strachan gave me a lot of guidance and encouragement to help me improve my ancient Greek. Dr. Hau kindly sent me her PhD thesis on ancient Greek historiography for reference. Dr. Sandra Bingham took part in the first and second annual reviews of my dissertation and provided lots of valuable advice for me. Mr. Houston proofread all my chapters and carefully corrected some English grammar mistakes in this work. And the editors of Journal of Cambridge Studies offered me a chance to publish an article based on Part 3, Chapter 2 of this thesis and provided some good advice for its later revision. I dedicate this thesis to my parents and my wife. ii Abstract Xenophon the Athenian, who is well known as a historian and a witness of Socratic philosophy but is usually excluded from the list of classical writers on education, actually developed his own systematic thought on moral education from a social and mainly political perspective in his extant works. His discourse on moral education presents for us the view of an unusual historical figure, an innovative thinker as well as a man of action, a mercenary general and a world citizen in his age; and is therefore different from that of contemporary pure philosophers, such as Plato and Aristotle. Furthermore, as a prolific author respected in both the classical world and the early modern era, Xenophon’s doctrine on moral education greatly influences the later development of European cultural history. This thesis explores the background and content of Xenophon’s thought on moral education, as well as its application in his other literary works, which are not directly on the same topic but are indirectly influenced by it. Part 1 discusses the background which produces Xenophon’s thought on moral education. As a historian of his own age, Xenophon’s negative view of the world he lived in is fully expressed in his Hellenica; and his idea of social education organised by a competent political leader serves as a proposal to transform the disordered Greek world in his time. As a follower of Socrates, Xenophon adopts his teacher’s approach of focusing on the study of moral issues and leadership; and the need to make apology for Socrates helps to shape many heroes in Xenophon’s works into extremely pious men and beneficial moral teachers. Part 2 analyses the content of Xenophon’s thought on moral education. This idea is systematically explained in his Cyropaedia and advocated in a rhetorical and persuasive manner in his Hiero. By modern ethical standards, Xenophon’s moral education is supported by dark art of government and cannot always be justified; but this dark side is tolerable in Xenophon’s view as long as it ultimately serves for good purpose. In his Poroi and Oeconomicus, Xenophon iii makes a further development of his thought by confirming that the art of accumulating and using wealth is also an indispensable skill for organisers of social education. Part 3 presents the application of Xenophon’s theory of moral education in his epoch-making literary composition. His Agesilaus, which serves as a prototype for later biographies, depicts a historical figure living and acting according to the ethical principles which Xenophon sets for ideal political leaders; while his Oeconomicus, which influenced Hellenistic and Roman agricultural works greatly, attempts to bring the experience of public education into the domestic sphere. The analysis of these themes confirms that Xenophon actually established a theory of moral education, which is social, highly political but also philosophical, in his extant corpus. On the one hand, Xenophon’s theory is less profound than that of Plato or Aristotle and is sometimes superficial and occasionally self-contradictory; on the other hand, the theory is original, innovative and influential in the history of classical literature, and therefore deserves our respect and serious treatment. iv Table of Contents Declaration of Own Work i Acknowledgement ii Abstract iii Table of Contents v Editions vi Introduction 1 Part 1: Background of Xenophon’s Thought on Moral Education 13 Chapter 1: Xenophon’s View of His Time 14 Chapter 2: Influence of Socrates on Xenophon’s Thought on Moral Education 46 Part 2: A Systematic Theory of Moral Education from a Social Perspective 68 Chapter 1: Nature and Origin of Xenophon’s Cyropaedia 69 Chapter 2: Xenophon’s Hiero: A Rhetorical Dialogue to Persuade the Organiser of Social Education 108 Chapter 3: Dark Side of Xenophon’s Social Education 139 Chapter 4: A Supplement to Political Education of Social Morality: The Primitive Model of Moral Economics Established in Xenophon’s Oeconomicus and Poroi 173 Part 3: Application of Xenophon’s Theory of Social Education in His Literary Composition 197 Chapter 1: Xenophon’s Agesilaus and the Moral Tradition of Ancient Biography 199 Chapter 2: Queen Bee and Housewife: Extension of Social Education into the Private Sphere in Xenophon’s Oeconomicus 229 Conclusion 250 Bibliography 256 v Editions As one of the most important and popular writers in classical age, Xenophon’s most works are available in almost all the four major modern series of classical texts. BT (Bibliotheca Scriptorium Graecorum et Latinorum Teubneriana) offers Xenophon’s works edited by Gemoll, Hude and other scholars in around 1910. The older edition of BT prepared by German scholar G. Sauppe is the basis of almost all later academic editions of ancient Greek texts of Xenophon, and is still adopted by Loeb Classical Library. The major drawback of the latest Teubner edition is that it is compiled by many hands and many volumes of it are already out of print and not always easily available in libraries. The Budé edition offers original texts of a few works of Xenophon, including the Anabasis, Oeconomicus and Memorabilia, usually with quite accurate and highly praised French translation, brief critical apparatus and full notes. The edition is still incomplete. Generally speaking it is conservative and does not make much crucial correction of former standard Greek texts. Up to now, the standard edition of Xenophon’s complete works is still that of Oxford Classical Texts, prepared by E.C. Marchant from 1900 to 1920. This edition is complete with brief critical apparatus, and is widely accepted and used for academic studies. For the English translation, one of the most popular editions is that of Loeb Classical Library, translated by C.L. Brownson, E.C. Marchant and other scholars in early twentieth century. Most of these books adopt the old edition of Greek text prepared by G. Sauppe, which is in need of correction itself. The translation is not always accurate and is occasionally quite old in language style. For example, Sarah Pomeroy points out that E.C. Marchant translates γύναι as ‘my dear’ instead of the more proper address ‘wife’ in the translation of Oeconomicus according to the common usage in English at his time, which lends the original word affective quality vi it does not have at all and may prevent us from finding out some information for gender studies in ancient texts. In 1989, Loeb Classical Library published a revised edition of Xenophon’s works. They are not thoroughly reworked but offer some useful correction on certain texts of translation and notes made by John Dillery and G.W. Bowersock. Apart from the four major series above, certain separate editions and commentaries on Xenophon’s individual works are more up-dated and therefore noteworthy, including Pomeroy’s Xenophon, Oeconomicus, A Social and Historical Commentary (1994), with a new English translation from E.C. Marchant’s OCT text; A.J. Bowen’s Xenophon, Symposium, with an Introduction, Translation and Commentary (1998); and Michael Lipka’s Xenophon’s Spartan Constitution, Introduction, Text, Commentary (2002) with both new Greek text produced by study of manuscripts and a new English translation. For the purpose of my dissertation, I use E.C.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Keeping Tradition Alive: Just War and Historical Imagination Cian O’Driscoll
    Journal of Global Security Studies, 3(2), 2018, 234–247 doi: 10.1093/jogss/ogy003 Research Article Keeping Tradition Alive: Just War and Historical Imagination Cian O’Driscoll University of Glasgow Abstract The just war tradition is one of the key constituencies of international political theory, and its vocab- ulary plays a prominent role in how political and military leaders frame contemporary conflicts. Yet, it stands in danger of turning in on itself and becoming irrelevant. This article argues that scholars who wish to preserve the vitality of this tradition must think in a more open-textured fashion about its historiography. One way to achieve this is to problematize the boundaries of the tradition. This article pursues this objective by treating one figure that stands in a liminal relation to the just war tradition. Despite having a lot to say about the ethics of war, Xenophon is seldom acknowledged as a bona fide just war thinker. The analysis presented here suggests, however, that his writings have much to tell us, not only about how he and his contemporaries thought about the ethics of war, but about how just war thinking is understood (and delimited) today and how it might be revived as a pluralistic critical enterprise. Keywords: just war, ancient Greece, Xenophon, historiography, changing character of war “The past is a different country, they do things differ- its totality, as a rolling story, rather than as an index of ently there.” discrete individuated contributions (Johnson 2009, 252). L. P. Hartley Proponents of this
    [Show full text]
  • Female Property Ownership and Status in Classical and Hellenistic Sparta
    Female Property Ownership and Status in Classical and Hellenistic Sparta Stephen Hodkinson University of Manchester 1. Introduction The image of the liberated Spartiate woman, exempt from (at least some of) the social and behavioral controls which circumscribed the lives of her counterparts in other Greek poleis, has excited or horrified the imagination of commentators both ancient and modern.1 This image of liberation has sometimes carried with it the idea that women in Sparta exercised an unaccustomed influence over both domestic and political affairs.2 The source of that influence is ascribed by certain ancient writers, such as Euripides (Andromache 147-53, 211) and Aristotle (Politics 1269b12-1270a34), to female control over significant amounts of property. The male-centered perspectives of ancient writers, along with the well-known phenomenon of the “Spartan mirage” (the compound of distorted reality and sheer imaginative fiction regarding the character of Spartan society which is reflected in our overwhelmingly non-Spartan sources) mean that we must treat ancient images of women with caution. Nevertheless, ancient perceptions of their position as significant holders of property have been affirmed in recent modern studies.3 The issue at the heart of my paper is to what extent female property-holding really did translate into enhanced status and influence. In Sections 2-4 of this paper I shall approach this question from three main angles. What was the status of female possession of property, and what power did women have directly to manage and make use of their property? What impact did actual or potential ownership of property by Spartiate women have upon their status and influence? And what role did female property-ownership and status, as a collective phenomenon, play within the crisis of Spartiate society? First, however, in view of the inter-disciplinary audience of this volume, it is necessary to a give a brief outline of the historical context of my discussion.
    [Show full text]
  • Anton Powell, Nicolas Richer (Eds.), Xenophon and Sparta, the Classical Press of Wales, Swansea 2020, 378 Pp.; ISBN 978-1-910589-74-8
    ELECTRUM * Vol. 27 (2020): 213–216 doi:10.4467/20800909EL.20.011.12801 www.ejournals.eu/electrum Anton Powell, Nicolas Richer (eds.), Xenophon and Sparta, The Classical Press of Wales, Swansea 2020, 378 pp.; ISBN 978-1-910589-74-8 The reviewed book is a collection of twelve papers, previously presented at the confe- rence organised by École Normale Supérieure in Lyon in 2006. According to the edi- tors, this is a first volume in the planned series dealing with sources of Spartan his- tory. The books that follow this will deal with the presence of this topic in works by Thucydides, Herodotus, Plutarch, and in archaeological material. The decision to start the cycle from Xenophon cannot be considered as surprising; this ancient author has not only written about Sparta, but also had opportunities to visit the country, person- ally met a number of its officials (including king Agesilaus), and even sent his own sons for a Spartan upbringing. Thus his writings are widely considered as our best source to the history of Sparta in the classical age. Despite this, Xenophon’s literary work remains the subject of numerous controver- sies in discussions among modern scholars. The question of his objectivity is especial- ly problematic and the views about the strong partisanship of Xenophon prevailed for a long time; allegedly, he was depicting Sparta and king Agesilaus in a possibly overly positive light, even omitting inconvenient information.1 In the second half of the 20th century such opinion has been met with a convincing polemic, clearly seen in the works of H.
    [Show full text]
  • Ancient History Sourcebook: 11Th Brittanica: Sparta SPARTA an Ancient City in Greece, the Capital of Laconia and the Most Powerful State of the Peloponnese
    Ancient History Sourcebook: 11th Brittanica: Sparta SPARTA AN ancient city in Greece, the capital of Laconia and the most powerful state of the Peloponnese. The city lay at the northern end of the central Laconian plain, on the right bank of the river Eurotas, a little south of the point where it is joined by its largest tributary, the Oenus (mount Kelefina). The site is admirably fitted by nature to guard the only routes by which an army can penetrate Laconia from the land side, the Oenus and Eurotas valleys leading from Arcadia, its northern neighbour, and the Langada Pass over Mt Taygetus connecting Laconia and Messenia. At the same time its distance from the sea-Sparta is 27 m. from its seaport, Gythium, made it invulnerable to a maritime attack. I.-HISTORY Prehistoric Period.-Tradition relates that Sparta was founded by Lacedaemon, son of Zeus and Taygete, who called the city after the name of his wife, the daughter of Eurotas. But Amyclae and Therapne (Therapnae) seem to have been in early times of greater importance than Sparta, the former a Minyan foundation a few miles to the south of Sparta, the latter probably the Achaean capital of Laconia and the seat of Menelaus, Agamemnon's younger brother. Eighty years after the Trojan War, according to the traditional chronology, the Dorian migration took place. A band of Dorians united with a body of Aetolians to cross the Corinthian Gulf and invade the Peloponnese from the northwest. The Aetolians settled in Elis, the Dorians pushed up to the headwaters of the Alpheus, where they divided into two forces, one of which under Cresphontes invaded and later subdued Messenia, while the other, led by Aristodemus or, according to another version, by his twin sons Eurysthenes and Procles, made its way down the Eurotas were new settlements were formed and gained Sparta, which became the Dorian capital of Laconia.
    [Show full text]
  • FALL 2008 Columbia University in the City of New York Co
    FALL 2008 Columbia University in the City of New York CO 435 West 116th Street, Box A-2 L UM New York, NY 10027 BI A L RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED A W S C HO O L M ag azine www.law.columbia.edu/alumni fall 2008 BREAKING THE CODE NEW FACULTY MEMBER MICHAEL GRAETZ HAS AN INNOVATIVE PLAN FOR REVAMPING AMERICA’s TAX CODE TALKINGTALKING TETELECLECOM: TIM WU CHATS WITH JEFFREY TOOBIN SCOTUS ANALYSIS FROM BLASI, BRIFFAULT, GREENAWALT, HAMBURGER, AND PERSILY Opportunity The Future of Diversity and Opportunity in Higher dean Columbia Law School Magazine David M. Schizer is published three times annually for alumni and friends of associate dean Education: A National Columbia Law School by the for development and Office of Development and alumni relations Alumni Relations. Forum on Innovation and Bruno M. Santonocito Opinions expressed in Columbia Law Collaboration executive director School Magazine do not necessarily of communications reflect the views of Columbia Law and public affairs School or Columbia University. Elizabeth Schmalz This magazine is printed December 3-5, 2008 guest editor on FSC certified paper. Matthew J.X. Malady editorial director James Vescovi assistant editor Mary Johnson Change of address information should be sent to: copy editors Lauren Pavlakovich, Columbia Law School Joy Y. Wang 435 West 116 Street, Box A-2 New York, NY 10027 During the first week in December, design and art direction Attn: Office of Alumni Relations Empire Design Studio Alumni Office university presidents, provosts, and photography 212-854-2680 Peter Freed, Robyn Twomey, Magazine Notices Eric van den Brulle, Jon Roemer 212-854-2650 academic innovators will gather for David Yellen [email protected] an historic conference focused on new printing Copyright 2008, Columbia Maar Printing Service, Inc.
    [Show full text]
  • DEMOCRITUS Democritus
    CHAPTER FOUR DEMOCRITUS Democritus (c. 460-396 B.C.) was a younger contemporary ofProtagoras; both were born in Abdera. 1 Although he had encyclopedic interests and was the author of many works, the 298 fragments ascribed to him in Diels-Kranz are at most all that has survived of his writings? Almost all of these fragments concern ethical matters. But despite this, Democritus has generally not been known for his moral theory. He has always, and rightly, been considered an important figure in the history of natural philosophy for his theory of atomism. Commentators on the ethical fragments have often found them to be of little or no philosophical importance3 and have sometimes questioned their authenticity. The issue of whether these fragments are authentic is not important in the context of the present study, which is only interested in these fragments insofar as they re­ present the views of an early Greek moral theorist concerned with the issue of the compatibility of self-interest and morality. Thus, it would make little difference here whether the fragments be attributed to Democritus or one of his contemporar­ ies, although my own view is that they probably should be assigned to Democri­ tus.4 On the other hand, it is a crucial question in the present context whether the fragments have philosophical importance. It is true, of course, that the ethical fragments are written in a style closer to the philosophically unrigorous fragments of Antiphon's On Concord than to those from On Truth. But it cannot be concluded from this fact that they are trivial.
    [Show full text]
  • Republicanism
    ONIVI C C Re PUBLICANISM ANCIENT LESSONS FOR GLOBAL POLITICS EDIT ED BY GEOFFREY C. KELLOW AND NeVEN LeDDY ON CIVIC REPUBLICANISM Ancient Lessons for Global Politics EDITED BY GEOFFREY C. KELLOW AND NEVEN LEDDY On Civic Republicanism Ancient Lessons for Global Politics UNIVERSITY OF ToronTO PRESS Toronto Buffalo London © University of Toronto Press 2016 Toronto Buffalo London www.utppublishing.com Printed in the U.S.A. ISBN 978-1-4426-3749-8 Printed on acid-free, 100% post-consumer recycled paper with vegetable- based inks. Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication On civic republicanism : ancient lessons for global politics / edited by Geoffrey C. Kellow and Neven Leddy. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 978-1-4426-3749-8 (bound) 1. Republicanism – History. I. Leddy, Neven, editor II.Kellow, Geoffrey C., 1970–, editor JC421.O5 2016 321.8'6 C2015-906926-2 CC-BY-NC-ND This work is published subject to a Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivative License. For permission to publish commercial versions please contact University of Toronto Press. University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial assistance to its publishing program of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council, an agency of the Government of Ontario. an Ontario government agency un organisme du gouvernement de l’Ontario Funded by the Financé par le Government gouvernement of Canada du Canada Contents Preface: A Return to Classical Regimes Theory vii david edward tabachnick and toivo koivukoski Introduction 3 geoffrey c. kellow Part One: The Classical Heritage 1 The Problematic Character of Periclean Athens 15 timothy w.
    [Show full text]
  • Spartans a New History Pdf
    Spartans a new history pdf Continue For those who study or teach the ancient world but are not a disciple of ancient Sparta, Nigel Kennell has written a paper to bridge the gap between Sparta's general concept and what experts believe. He argues that this is appropriate, given the fact that while the myth of Sparta is slowly collapsing (graphic novels and films like 300 might suggest otherwise), the new picture is far more fragmentary and complex than we might imagine. Kennenell's book tries to emphasize advances in our knowledge, reconcile, where possible, contradictory explanations, and often recognize that the state of our knowledge excludes consistent and convincing conclusions. The book begins with a brief discussion of the geography/topography of the region; the brevity of this section is perhaps the clearest indicator of the lack of systematic archaeology in the region. The more well-known and subject of most of the chapter are the twelve main sources of written or epigraphic evidence that Cannell examines (and evaluates) in chronological order. While all literary sources have contributed to the Spartan myth, Cannell acknowledges that Plutarch is probably the main culprit. The second chapter, the Sons of Hercules, tries to reconcile conflicts in the myths of Spartan origin with the evidence presented by archaeology. Cannell argues that, while the Spartans themselves may have reconciled Heraclid's return to Dorian's invasion, archaeological records and linguistic evidence are milit against a consistent explanation. Kennell is more confident in the archaeological records of the eighth century, during which, he said, Laconia was and remained sparsely populated, almost exclusively in the settlements of the Eurotas Valley in Sparta and Aiklae.
    [Show full text]
  • 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.
    [Show full text]
  • Copyrighted Material
    9781405129992_6_ind.qxd 16/06/2009 12:11 Page 203 Index Acanthus, 130 Aetolian League, 162, 163, 166, Acarnanians, 137 178, 179 Achaea/Achaean(s), 31–2, 79, 123, Agamemnon, 51 160, 177 Agasicles (king of Sparta), 95 Achaean League: Agis IV and, agathoergoi, 174 166; as ally of Rome, 178–9; Age grades: see names of individual Cleomenes III and, 175; invasion grades of Laconia by, 177; Nabis and, Agesilaus (ephor), 166 178; as protector of perioecic Agesilaus II (king of Sparta), cities, 179; Sparta’s membership 135–47; at battle of Mantinea in, 15, 111, 179, 181–2 (362 B.C.E.), 146; campaign of, in Achaean War, 182 Asia Minor, 132–3, 136; capture acropolis, 130, 187–8, 192, 193, of Phlius by, 138; citizen training 194; see also Athena Chalcioecus, system and, 135; conspiracies sanctuary of after battle of Leuctra and, 144–5, Acrotatus (king of Sparta), 163, 158; conspiracy of Cinadon 164 and, 135–6; death of, 147; Acrotatus, 161 Epaminondas and, 142–3; Actium, battle of, 184 execution of women by, 168; Aegaleus, Mount, 65 foreign policy of, 132, 139–40, Aegiae (Laconian), 91 146–7; gift of, 101; helots and, Aegimius, 22 84; in Boeotia, 141; in Thessaly, Aegina (island)/Aeginetans: Delian 136; influence of, at Sparta, 142; League and,COPYRIGHTED 117; Lysander and, lameness MATERIAL of, 135; lance of, 189; 127, 129; pro-Persian party on, Life of, by Plutarch, 17; Lysander 59, 60; refugees from, 89 and, 12, 132–3; as mercenary, Aegospotami, battle of, 128, 130 146, 147; Phoebidas affair and, Aeimnestos, 69 102, 139; Spartan politics and, Aeolians,
    [Show full text]
  • Remembering Music in Early Greece
    REMEMBERING MUSIC IN EARLY GREECE JOHN C. FRANKLIN This paper contemplates various ways that the ancient Greeks preserved information about their musical past. Emphasis is given to the earlier periods and the transition from oral/aural tradition, when self-reflective professional poetry was the primary means of remembering music, to literacy, when festival inscriptions and written poetry could first capture information in at least roughly datable contexts. But the continuing interplay of the oral/aural and written modes during the Archaic and Classical periods also had an impact on the historical record, which from ca. 400 onwards is represented by historiographical fragments. The sources, methods, and motives of these early treatises are also examined, with special attention to Hellanicus of Lesbos and Glaucus of Rhegion. The essay concludes with a few brief comments on Peripatetic historiography and a selective catalogue of music-historiographical titles from the fifth and fourth centuries. INTRODUCTION Greek authors often refer to earlier music.1 Sometimes these details are of first importance for the modern historiography of ancient 1 Editions and translations of classical authors may be found by consulting the article for each in The Oxford Classical Dictionary3. Journal 1 2 JOHN C. FRANKLIN Greek music. Uniquely valuable, for instance, is Herodotus’ allusion to an Argive musical efflorescence in the late sixth century,2 nowhere else explicitly attested (3.131–2). In other cases we learn less about real musical history than an author’s own biases and predilections. Thus Plato describes Egypt as a never-never- land where no innovation was ever permitted in music; it is hard to know whether Plato fabricated this statement out of nothing to support his conservative and ideal society, or is drawing, towards the same end, upon a more widely held impression—obviously superficial—of a foreign, distant culture (Laws 656e–657f).
    [Show full text]
  • An Analysis of the Historiographical Treatment of Athenian Democracy
    Ouachita Baptist University Scholarly Commons @ Ouachita Honors Theses Carl Goodson Honors Program 2019 An Analysis of the Historiographical Treatment of Athenian Democracy John Thomas Ryan Ouachita Baptist University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarlycommons.obu.edu/honors_theses Part of the Ancient History, Greek and Roman through Late Antiquity Commons, and the Political History Commons Recommended Citation Ryan, John Thomas, "An Analysis of the Historiographical Treatment of Athenian Democracy" (2019). Honors Theses. 713. https://scholarlycommons.obu.edu/honors_theses/713 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Carl Goodson Honors Program at Scholarly Commons @ Ouachita. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of Scholarly Commons @ Ouachita. For more information, please contact [email protected]. SENIOR THESIS APPROVAL This Honors thesis entitled "An Analysis Of The Historiographical Treatment Of Athenian Democracy" written by John Thomas Ryan and submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for completion of the Carl Goodson Honors Program meets the criteria for acceptance and has been approved by the undersigned readers. Dr. Bethany Hicks, thesis director Dr. Chris Mortenson, second reader Dr. Steven Thomason, third reader Dr. Barbara Pemberton, Honors Program director 29 April 2019 An Analysis Of The Historiographical Treatment Of Athenian Democracy John Thomas Ryan The government of Athens has had an uncommon influence through time. This influence is revealed by historians and writers who have examined time and time again this single city. Athens has been critiqued and praised by these writers ever since the city-state gained a position of prominence in the Greek world.
    [Show full text]