DOCSLIB.ORG

Gender, Crisis and the Conservation of Spain in the Early Seventeenth Century

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Gender, Crisis and the Conservation of Spain in the Early Seventeenth Century Assuming Roles: Gender, Crisis and the Conservation of Spain in the Early Seventeenth Century By Copyright 2010 Ryan Christopher Gaston Submitted to the graduate degree program in History and the Graduate Faculty of the University of Kansas in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. ________________________________ Chairperson: Professor Luis Corteguera ________________________________ Professor Hannah Britton ________________________________ Professor Elizabeth Kuznesof ________________________________ Professor Eve Levin ________________________________ Co-Chairperson: Professor Marta Vicente Date Defended: December 3, 2010 i The Dissertation Committee for Ryan Christopher Gaston certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: Assuming Roles: Gender, Crisis and the Conservation of Spain in the Early Seventeenth Century ________________________________ Chairperson: Professor Luis Corteguera ________________________________ Co-Chairperson: Professor Marta Vicente Date approved: December 3, 2010 ii Abstract: Fearful that recent military losses and continued economic difficulties indicated the decline of their once powerful state, Spanish reformers and royal officials during the first quarter of the seventeenth century dedicated themselves to finding reform programs to conserve Spain and its monarchy. They were led by the Junta Grande de Reformación, a unique committee formed by the monarchy to rehabilitate what many saw as the central factor in Spain’s condition: faltering popular customs (costumbres). Reformers reached the conclusion that Spanish society had grown “effeminate,” exchanging the strength and virility of Spain’s successful empire for widespread foppishness and idleness. Focused on the efforts to reform customs during this era and the gendered rhetoric and notions that filled related reform writings, this dissertation seeks to understand how gender shaped the policies intended to rehabilitate popular conduct. It shows that these representations of gender revealed not only reformers’ understandings of Spain’s failing empire and diminished world power, but also the unique gender assumptions that gave rise to the reform plans proposed and enacted to stave off decline. Complaints of widespread effeminacy betrayed the monarchy’s disdain for allegedly self-interested conduct, which royal officials felt had displaced the empire’s initial commitment to king, community and the established social order. These gendered criticisms also pointed to a set of virtues, which stressed activity, productivity, duty and other qualities associated with idealized, manly conduct. The models of productive merchants or martially trained nobles offered by reformers met the needs of the state, but also conveyed a sense of balance and order that underpinned the contemporary understanding of gender and reinforced the roles Spaniards needed to fill to conserve Spain. iii Acknowledgements: The development of this dissertation would not have been possible without the assistance of many. Funding for archival research for this project came from the Harry S. Truman Foundation, and the Latin American Studies Program and the Office for Graduate Research and Studies both at the University of Kansas. I am grateful to them and to the Hall Center for the Humanities for granting me additional funding and the opportunity to present my material in a joint meeting of their Early Modern and Latin American Seminars. I also owe a debt of gratitude to the Institute for International Education and the Spanish Fulbright Commission for allowing me to undertake archival investigations during the 2007-2008 academic year. I would like to extend thanks to James Amelang for his guidance during my time in Spain, and to him and María José del Río Barredo for including me in the Seminario de Historia Culural. Of course, my colleagues and mentors at the University of Kansas have been invaluable. John Schneiderwind and Karenbeth Zacharias graciously took time from their own projects to provide comments, corrections, and insights. My appreciation also goes to the members of my dissertation committee (Hannah Britton, Betsy Kuznesof and Eve Levin) for their support and guidance, and of course to Luis Corteguera and Marta Vicente for their unceasing and generous direction of this project and my graduate formation. Finally, I would like to thank my wife Emily for embarking on this journey with me, and showing me the kindness and patience without which this project and degree would never have been completed. iv Contents Acceptance Page ii Abstract iii Acknowledgements iv Chapter 1 Introduction: Assuming Roles 1 Chapter 2 Revisiting Rome, Reviving Virtue 22 La Mudanza: The Shift in Customs 24 Selecting an Efficacious Policy 36 Revisiting the Censura 42 Reviving the Censura 51 Conclusion 63 Chapter 3 Foreign Goods and Common Good 66 Restoring “industry” 68 Trade Winds of War 78 Good Fathers, Good Governance 86 Conclusion 98 Chapter 4 Farmers and Families 101 The Question of Depopulation 102 From Court to Countryside 105 A Natural(ized) Addition 128 Making Fathers and Sons 132 Conclusion 141 Chapter 5 All the King’s Men 144 Defining Nobility 146 The Reales Estudios 150 (En)gendering a Rebuttal 163 The Academies 166 Conclusion 178 Chapter 6 Conclusion: Breaking with Customs 181 Bibliography 192 v Chapter 1 – Assuming Roles –An Introduction In the 1620s, the Spanish monarchy was at a crossroads. Its several military losses suggested that Spanish imperial hegemony had peaked or even begun to decline. In 1588 Spain suffered the devastating defeat of its Armada at the hands of the English navy. Despite decades of fighting against a modest Dutch military, the king’s troops had also failed to regain control of the rebellious provinces of the Netherlands, forcing Madrid to grant the Dutch Republic its independence. Since the 1590s the monarchy had also suffered drastic losses in its economy and population. Burdened by the cost of prolonged warfare and suffering from a decreased importation of silver from the Americas, the royal treasury had run out of money to pay debts and fund vital projects. The monarchy could only declare bankruptcy to escape its obligations, a strategy it employed multiple times during this period. Meanwhile, the population of Spain, especially in its central kingdom of Castile, seemed to be dropping. Whether affected by plague, migration or other possible causes of depopulation, Spain’s rural regions and trades had been abandoned and were in disrepair. In all, the Spanish monarchy and its empire seemed to be in grave danger of collapse. Despite the bleak circumstances, between the final years of the reign of Philip III, who died in 1621, and the early rule of his son Philip IV (1621-1665) many still believed possible the arrest of a decline and reversal of the monarchy’s fortunes. Along with reformers from all backgrounds – collectively known as arbitristas for their creation of reform schemes called arbitrios – top officials partook in a profound introspection, considering all aspects of Spanish life as potential sources of decline. 1 In 1619, the Consejo de Castilla, the monarchy’s highest council, analyzed the troubled state of affairs in Spain at the behest of Philip III. After months of deliberation the Council submitted its report (consulta) to the king in January 1620. It asserted that Spaniards had lost “the old, natural virtue of this crown.” Explaining further, the council averred that the “presumption and perspective that should govern behavior is in decline [such that Spaniards] forget their obligation, their thoughts are muddled and effeminate, resulting in idleness and sloth in life…a lack of spirit in the king’s subjects, and abandonment of work and other noble exercises appropriate to their station.” Spain, as they concluded, faced collapse “not only because it is without a spine, by which it conserves itself, that being men that look and act like men, but also because with their vices and disorder they destroy it.”1 The Council’s depiction of Spain’s situation represented well the era’s reform writings. Through its consulta, it claimed that Spaniards had experienced a shift in customs or conduct (costumbres). Council members cited the neglect of obligations to king and kingdom, and the deterioration of bonds between Spaniards, their communities and their monarch as proof. Most notably, it couched this loss of past virtue in gendered 1 The entire passage reads: “Envilecense los naturales y degeneran del valor antiguo y propio de esta Corona…Declina la presunción, y punto que había de gobernar las acciones, olvidar [sic] su obligación, entorpecen y afeminan los pensamientos, y de todo junto resulta ociosidad y torpeza en la vida…poquedad en los sujetos, y hacen que huya la ocupación y ejercicios nobles, y debidos de su estado, y que sean inútiles para cuantas ocasiones se puedan ofrecer; finalmente ocasionan la ruina de la República, no sólo porque en los efectos está sin el nervio, con que se conserva, que son hombres que lo parezcan y sean, sino también porque con sus vicios y desordenes la estragan, con grande deservicio de Dios nuestro Señor y de Vuestra Majestad”; Consulta de Consejo Real a Felipe IV, January 9, 1620 in Ángel González Palencia, La Junta de Reformación: Documentos procedentes del Archivo Histórico Nacional y del General de Simancas, 1618-1625 (Valladolid: Academia de Estudios Histórico-Sociales de Valladolid, 1932), 35-36. For more analysis of this passage as
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Jusepe De Ribera's Ixion and Tityus in the Seventeenth-Century S
    The Confrontation with Horror and the Practice of Restraint: Jusepe de Ribera’s Ixion and Tityus in the Seventeenth-Century Spanish Court Klea Hawkins The Department of Art History and Communication Studies McGill University, Montréal April 2018 Hawkins 1 Table of Contents 1. Abstract/ Résumé ………………………………………………………………………...2 2. Acknowledgements ………………………………………………………………………4 3. List of Figures ……………………………………………………………………............5 4. Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………....6 5. The Power of Horror …………………………………………………………………….11 6. The Dangers of Horror …………………………………………………………………. 20 7. Controlling Horror ……………………………………………………………………....32 8. Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………………... 42 9. Figures …………………………………………………………………………………. 44 10. Bibliography …………………………………………………………………………… 51 Hawkins 2 Abstract In 1632 the Neapolitan artist Jusepe de Ribera, created some of the most violently gruesome and vividly haunting paintings of his career. These were the over life-size and nightmarish paintings of Ixion and Tityus intended for the walls of King Philip IV’s newly inaugurated Buen Retiro Palace on the outskirts of Madrid. The artist’s lively depictions of bodily torture and physical pain were surely intended to shock and horrify beholders at the Spanish court. Although the sensorial and affective dimensions of Ribera’s naturalism, particularly the artist’s violent depictions of wounded flesh, have been recently taken up by art historians, this thesis focuses specifically on the experience of horror elicited by Ribera’s works, an issue that has been largely overlooked. Early modern theories about the role of horror in the arts provide a useful means to examine the intended moral functions of Ribera’s Ixion and Tityus. As such, this thesis takes up the question of the role of gruesome imagery designed to have a visceral impact on beholders and asks how Ixion and Tityus were intended to function in the courtly context of the Buen Retiro.
    [Show full text]
  • Tityus: a Forgotten Myth of Liver Regeneration
    Review Tityus: A forgotten myth of liver regeneration Dina G. Tiniakosa,*, Apostolos Kandilisa, Stephen A. Gellerb aLaboratory of Histology & Embryology, Medical School, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece; bDepartment of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA Abstract abound including the sacrifice of self for the sake of mankind The ancient Greek myth of Tityus is related to liver regenera- and the price of knowledge [5]. In different eras, the fight tion in the same way as the well known myth of Prometheus between Zeus and Prometheus has represented battles between is. Depictions of the punishment of Prometheus are frequently freedom and oppression, individual against state, man versus used by lecturers on liver regeneration; however, Tityus remains God, and sense against absurdity [6]. unknown despite the fact that he received the same punishment As long as a millennium or more before the Prometheus myth, and his myth could also be used as a paradigm for the organ’s the Sumerian water god, Enki, also defied the king of the gods, his extraordinary ability to regenerate. Nevertheless, there is no con- brother, the air-god, Enlil [7,8]. Sumeria was where modern Iraq is vincing evidence that ancient Greeks had any specific knowledge now located. Indeed, one depiction of Enki shows two streams of about liver regeneration, a concept introduced in the early 19th water emanating from his shoulders, representing the Tigris and century. We describe and analyze the myth of Tityus and com- the Euprhates rivers. Enlil decides to destroy humanity, angered pare it to the myth of Prometheus.
    [Show full text]
  • Skin and Flesh in Jusepe De Ribera's Martyrdoms Of
    115 FLAYING THE IMAGE: SKIN AND FLESH IN JUSEPE DE RIBERA’S MARTYRDOMS OF SAINT BARTHOLOMEW Bogdan Cornea Abstract Jusepe de Ribera painted the martyrdom of Saint Bartholomew more than any artist of the seventeenth century – more than a dozen works are documented, with six paintings still in existence. While these works have habitually been interpreted as images of extreme violence due to the gruesomeness of the subject, I argue here that they confront viewers with visual paradoxes by refusing to align or to make coherent the relationship between their subject and their technique. I argue that Ribera’s Martyrdom of Saint Bartholomew (1634, National Gallery of Art, Washington) and Martyrdom of Saint Bartholomew (1644, Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya, Barcelona) work the potentiality of canvas and oils as flesh or skin in divergent ways, thereby dislodging the possibility of interpreting narrative, temporality and violence in simple alignment or identity. In so doing, Ribera’s paintings of flaying produce new relations between figures and surfaces that are capable of effecting new forms of violence. Keywords: Jusepe de Ribera, skin, violence, time, impasto, folds Full text: http://openartsjournal.org/issue-6/article-6 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5456/issn.2050-3679/2018w06 Biographical note Bogdan Cornea is an art historian and writer currently based in Amsterdam. Bogdan studied Art and Literature at the University of Leiden before completing his PhD at the University of York in 2015. His doctoral thesis focused on Jusepe de Ribera’s images of flaying. With the aid of a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship from the University of York, Bogdan is currently developing his thesis into a monograph on corporeality and violence in seventeenth- century art.
    [Show full text]
  • Caravaggio, Second Revised Edition
    CARAVAGGIO second revised edition John T. Spike with the assistance of Michèle K. Spike cd-rom catalogue Note to the Reader 2 Abbreviations 3 How to Use this CD-ROM 3 Autograph Works 6 Other Works Attributed 412 Lost Works 452 Bibliography 510 Exhibition Catalogues 607 Copyright Notice 624 abbeville press publishers new york london Note to the Reader This CD-ROM contains searchable catalogues of all of the known paintings of Caravaggio, including attributed and lost works. In the autograph works are included all paintings which on documentary or stylistic evidence appear to be by, or partly by, the hand of Caravaggio. The attributed works include all paintings that have been associated with Caravaggio’s name in critical writings but which, in the opinion of the present writer, cannot be fully accepted as his, and those of uncertain attribution which he has not been able to examine personally. Some works listed here as copies are regarded as autograph by other authorities. Lost works, whose catalogue numbers are preceded by “L,” are paintings whose current whereabouts are unknown which are ascribed to Caravaggio in seventeenth-century documents, inventories, and in other sources. The catalogue of lost works describes a wide variety of material, including paintings considered copies of lost originals. Entries for untraced paintings include the city where they were identified in either a seventeenth-century source or inventory (“Inv.”). Most of the inventories have been published in the Getty Provenance Index, Los Angeles. Provenance, documents and sources, inventories and selective bibliographies are provided for the paintings by, after, and attributed to Caravaggio.
    [Show full text]
  • Anatomy of the Centaur
    Anatomy of the Centaur by Univ.-Prof. Dr. Dr. H.C. Reinhard V. Putz Figure 1. Battle between Institute of Anatomy, Ludwig Maximilian University Munich/Germany Lapiths and Centaurs (Centauromachy) at the wedding of Perithoos with This study concerns itself with the systematics of Centaurean anatomical conditions. These are bound to Hippodameia (Vase 5th be highly peculiar, combining, as they do, an animal trunk (the equine component) with a human trunk century b. Chr.) sans legs (the human component). (See Figure 8.) A staple of Greek mythology, Centaurs have made many appearances throughout the centuries and even in our own time. They are represented by numerous sculptures and images in museums. True, when speaking of Centaurs, we have to rely on two- and three-dimensional models—here as many other instances in biology—because there has not yet been a sighting of a live specimen. However, the majority of extant graphic documents show a degree of verisimilitude and accuracy that makes them appear quite trustworthy, at least as regards the outward appearance of those beings. Historical Background As we know from the ancient Greeks, the Centaurs are the offspring of the ill-fated relationship of Ixion, the king of the Thessalian Lapithes, and a cloud with the features of Hera, the wife of Zeus. At the wedding of Perithoos, king of the Lapithes, the drunken Centaurs sought to ravish the Lapithes’ wives. In the ensuing battle (the Centauromachy), they were driven from Thessalia to the Peloponnese. Quite understandably, Centaurs and Lapithes became mortal enemies on that day. Materials Since neither fossils nor living specimens of Centaurs have hitherto been discovered, the present study must be founded upon artistic renderings of its subject matter.
    [Show full text]
  • The Wheel As an Image of Destruction in Myth Religion Literature and Popular Culture
    University of Montana ScholarWorks at University of Montana Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers Graduate School 1989 Rolling Thanatos: Wheels of death: the wheel as an image of destruction in myth religion literature and popular culture John Holt Myers The University of Montana Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Myers, John Holt, "Rolling Thanatos: Wheels of death: the wheel as an image of destruction in myth religion literature and popular culture" (1989). Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers. 8017. https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/8017 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at ScholarWorks at University of Montana. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at University of Montana. For more information, please contact [email protected]. COPYRIGHT ACT OF 1975 Th is is an unpublished m a n u s c r ip t in w hich c o p y r ig h t SUBSISTS. Any further r e p r in t in g of it s contents must be APPROVED BY THE AUTHOR. Ma n s f ie l d L ibrary Un iv e r s it y of Montana HATF: 19 89 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ROLLING THANATOS; WHEELS OF DEATH THE WHEEL AS AN IMAGE OF DESTRUCTION IN MYTH, RELIGION, LITERATURE, AND POPULAR CULTURE By John Holt Myers B .
    [Show full text]
  • Salvator Rosa in French Literature: from the Bizarre to the Sublime
    University of Kentucky UKnowledge Studies in Romance Languages Series University Press of Kentucky 2005 Salvator Rosa in French Literature: From the Bizarre to the Sublime James S. Patty Vanderbilt University Thanks to the University of Kentucky Libraries and the University Press of Kentucky, this book is freely available to current faculty, students, and staff at the University of Kentucky. Find other University of Kentucky Books at uknowledge.uky.edu/upk. For more information, please contact UKnowledge at [email protected]. Follow this and additional works at: https://uknowledge.uky.edu/srls_book Part of the French and Francophone Literature Commons Preface i Salvator Rosa in French Literature ii Preface Studies in Romance Languages John E. Keller, Editor Preface iii Salvator Rosa in French Literature From the Bizarre to the Sublime James S. Patty THE UNIVERSITY PRESS OF KENTUCKY iv Preface Publication of this volume was made possible in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Copyright © 2005 by The University Press of Kentucky Scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth, serving Bellarmine University, Berea College, Centre College of Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky University, The Filson Historical Society, Georgetown College, Kentucky Historical Society, Kentucky State University, Morehead State University, Murray State University, Northern Kentucky University, Transylvania University, University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, and Western Kentucky University. All rights reserved. Editorial and Sales Offices: The University Press of Kentucky 663 South Limestone Street, Lexington, Kentucky 40508-4008 www.kentuckypress.com 09 08 07 06 05 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Patty, James S.
    [Show full text]
  • Who? What? Where? D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths , Pages 96-99, 112-113, 126-127
    The Underworld Exam Material Who? What? Where? d’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths , pages 96-99, 112-113, 126-127 Select a word from the word bank for each statement. You may use words more than once. Word Bank Asclepius gold Mount Pelion Apollo Hades rolling a boulder Centaurs Hera Sisyphus Chiron Hygeia Tantalus Cronus Ixion thirst and hunger Fates Lapiths Zeus flaming wheel 1. I am Ixion’s punishment in the Underworld. ____________________________________ 2. I am Tanatlus’ punishment in the Underworld. ____________________________________ 3. I am Sisyphus’ punishment in the Underworld. ____________________________________ 4. Ixion mistook a cloud for me. ____________________________________ 5. I laid a trap for Ixion. ____________________________________ 6. I am the father of the centaurs. ____________________________________ 7. We were upset because Asclepius brought the dead back to life. ____________________________________ 8. I served my son, Pelops, in a stew to the gods. ____________________________________ 9. I caused the death of Asclepius. ____________________________________ 10. I was a king of the Lapith people. ____________________________________ 11. I am the father of Tantalus. ____________________________________ 12. I was the first great doctor. ____________________________________ 13. I am the father of Chiron. ____________________________________ 14. I am the father of Asclepius. ____________________________________ 15. I am the daughter of Asclepius. ____________________________________ 16. I was a king of Corinth. ____________________________________ The Underworld Exam Material Who? What? Where? (continued) 17. Chiron is my mentor. ____________________________________ 18. We are creatures that are half man/half horse. ____________________________________ 19. I am the home of Chiron. ____________________________________ 20. I was upset because Asclepius was depriving me of dead souls. ___________________________________ 21. We are a people of Thessaly.
    [Show full text]
  • Mythological and Historical Themes
    Mythological, Allegorical and Historical Themes Page: 1 / 125 Themes of Mythology, Ancient History and of Allegories in the Art of Painting René Jean-Paul Dewil Copyright © René Dewil May 2008 Mythological, Allegorical and Historical Themes Page: 2 / 125 Copyright Clause Copyright © René Jean-Paul Dewil 2008 René Jean-Paul Dewil is identified as the sole author of this work. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be altered without the written permission of the author. The ebook may be copied in electronic or other forms for personal use only. It may not be printed, introduced in any retrieval system, electronic or otherwise, photocopied or otherwise recorded without the prior written permission of the author. The only system where the ebook may be retrieved from is the Internet website www.theartofpainting.be, which holds the only and original text acknowledged by the author. This publication remains under copyright. Copyright © René Dewil May 2008 Mythological, Allegorical and Historical Themes Page: 3 / 125 Introduction Painters have used many mythological themes as well as themes of history. The aim of the following is to classify the paintings according to those themes and sub-themes. The paintings are classified according to main themes, called macro themes, and then they are further classified within each macro theme to micro themes. The themes have been discovered by the classification of tens of thousands of paintings presented in the main museum of the world. A list of these paintings, plus their classification in macro themes and micro themes is available in Microsoft Excel © spreadsheet format (see the Internet site www.theartofpainting.be ).
    [Show full text]
  • Annual Report 1991
    National Gallery of Art 1991 ANNUAL REPORT IB 1991 ANNUAL REPORT 1991 ANNUAL REPORT National Gallery of Art Copyright © 1992. Board of Trustees, National Gallery of Art All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the written permission of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. 20565 Photographs on p. 33, © August Sander Archive; p. 46, © Robert Frank; and p. Ill, © Estate of Walker Evans This publication was produced by the Editors Office, National Gallery of Art Edited by Tarn L. Curry Designed by Susan Lehmann, Washington, D.C. Printed by Schneidereith & Sons, Baltimore, Maryland The type is Bodoni Book, set by BG Composition, Baltimore, Maryland Photo credits: Dean A. Beasom, this page and pp. 19, 20, 23, 25, 26, 29, 31, 33, 42, 46, 69, 71, 73, 78, 92,97, 111, 128 Dennis Brack, Black Star, p. 100 Kathleen Buckalew, pp. 2-3, 50, 75 Richard A. Carafelli, pp. 7, 36, 40, 57, 83, 88, 95 Jacques-Louis David, Thirius de Pautrizel, c. 1795 Philip A. Charles, pp. 8, 17, 37, 41, 48, 55, Gift of Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg, in Honor of the 86, 109 Fiftieth Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art, Jose Naranjo, p. 11 1990.47.2 James Pipkin, cover William D. Wilson, p. 106 ISBN 0-89468-174-5 Pages 2-3: Installation of "animobiles" by Alexander Calder, 1970-1976 Gift of Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1991.7.6-15 Contents President's Preface 6 Administration Director's Report 9 Protection Services 87 Publication Sales 88 Art Programs Gallery Architect 90 Acquisitions 15 Facilities Management 91 Renaissance Paintings
    [Show full text]
  • The Greek Myths 1955, Revised 1960
    Robert Graves – The Greek Myths 1955, revised 1960 Robert Graves was born in 1895 at Wimbledon, son of Alfred Perceval Graves, the Irish writer, and Amalia von Ranke. He went from school to the First World War, where he became a captain in the Royal Welch Fusiliers. His principal calling is poetry, and his Selected Poems have been published in the Penguin Poets. Apart from a year as Professor of English Literature at Cairo University in 1926 he has since earned his living by writing, mostly historical novels which include: I, Claudius; Claudius the God; Sergeant Lamb of the Ninth; Count Belisarius; Wife to Mr Milton (all published as Penguins); Proceed, Sergeant Lamb; The Golden Fleece; They Hanged My Saintly Billy; and The Isles of Unwisdom. He wrote his autobiography, Goodbye to All That (a Penguin Modem Classic), in 1929. His two most discussed non-fiction books are The White Goddess, which presents a new view of the poetic impulse, and The Nazarene Gospel Restored (with Joshua Podro), a re-examination of primitive Christianity. He has translated Apuleius, Lucan, and Svetonius for the Penguin Classics. He was elected Professor of Poetry at Oxford in 1962. Contents Foreword Introduction I. The Pelasgian Creation Myth 2. The Homeric And Orphic Creation Myths 3. The Olympian Creation Myth 4. Two Philosophical Creation Myths 5. The Five Ages Of Man 6. The Castration Of Uranus 7. The Dethronement Of Cronus 8. The Birth Of Athene 9. Zeus And Metis 10. The Fates 11. The Birth Of Aphrodite 12. Hera And Her Children 13. Zeus And Hera 14.
    [Show full text]
  • The Genesis of the Centaurs: the Breach of Marriage, Ecocriticism
    The Genesis of the Centaurs: The Breach of Marriage, Ecocriticism, and Hybridity in Pindar’s Pythian 2 The figure of Ixion is perhaps best known as one of the archetypal sinners in the Underworld, fated to remain bound to an ever-spinning wheel for eternity. For a character who does not feature heavily in the extant literary corpus, Ixion has an impressive curriculum vitae; He attempted to seduce Hera, and thereby sought to destabilize the marriage of Zeus and Hera, and by extension, the divine sphere. Zeus, however, set a trap, and fashioned a likeness (εἶδος) of his wife; it was this image with which Ixion then had sexual relations. His attempt to disrupt Zeus’ oikos cemented his fate as an eternal inhabitant of Tartarus. However, Ixion’s transgression of Zeus’ marriage had another result; namely, it led to the genesis of the Centaurs. The tale of Ixion’s misdeeds and the origin of the Centaurs remains in its fullest form in Pindar’s second Pythian ode, which was written sometime during the 470s B.C.E.. A race of half-man, half-horse hybrids, the Centaurs were omnipresent in Greek literature and iconography. Page DuBois characterizes the Centaurs as animals who “marked the limit between animal and being, between anthrôpos and thêrion” (1991, 27); Patricia Cox-Miller describes Centaurs as ‘hyper- icons’, or paradoxical figures in which human and animal forms both exist yet conflict (1996, 25). David Johnson discusses Xenophon’s likening of the Persians to Centaurs in Xenophon, claiming that the Persians have the physical attributes of Centaurs but reasoning capabilities of humans (2005, 178).
    [Show full text]