Journal Phasis - Greek and Roman Studies
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Ένας Γεωργιανός Αυτοκράτορας για την μέλλουσα να αναστηθεί ορθόδοξη ανατολική αυτοκρατορία
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Where is Io Rushing to? Why and for What? On the Function of οἶστρος in Prometheus Bound
Full text linkThe article analyses the semantic field, the etymology and the function of οἶστρος in depth, including the psychic condition it causes, manifested by a sudden mind alteration, the abrupt urge to travel, jerking movements and rushing aimlessly about. Although οἶστρος does not act on its own, but instead as an executor, it nevertheless determines Io’s state in her adventure. Its touch is perceived to be a god’s punishment, but in fact, οἶστρος appears to be a tool enabling the fulfilment of a god’s intent. Through the intervention of οἶστρος Io becomes an unconscious seeker in quest of a place to “meet” Zeus. Being attuned to a god’s intent, understanding the impulse behind the action, and constantly moving forward are steps proposed by the tragedian towards restoring balance in one’s inner world when a person is permanently anxious, restless, and totally obsessed with seeking something. The psychic condition caused by οἶστρος is compared to the psychic epidemic, dromomania, that occurred in France at the end of the 19th century
Der Topos vom Goldenen Zeitalter bei Schriftstellern der DDR
Full text linkTopoi – in the conception of Ernst Robert Curtius – are generally usable fixed formulas of thinking and expression. The topos of the Golden Age has been known in the ancient literature since Hesiod and in the modern literature until the 18th century. It is noticed also in the literature of the GDR in conformity with the pretension to erect a new society. In philosophical and poetical works (Ernst Bloch respectively Johannes R. Becher, Bertolt Brecht and Peter Hacks) we find an optimistic interpretation as well as in the poetry of Virgil. On the other hand, Günter Kunert, Franz Fühmann, Waldtraut Lewin and Heiner Müller preferred a pessimistic interpretation of that topos or pointed out its abuse. We can recognize a development from identification to distance in connection with the disappointment about the ‘real socialism‘. At the same time it is evident, that the conception of topos is not a static, but a different phenomenon according to the historical context
La figure d’Agamemnon dans les Adagiorum Chiliades d’Érasme
Full text linkAmong the ancient expressions we find in the Adagiorum Chiliades of Erasmus, many are inspired by mythology. In this paper I focus on those related to Agamemnon’s personality. What arouses interest is that within these expressions and their commentaries we can clearly see the contradictions existing in respect to Agamemnon since antiquity, and Erasmus ― with his reserved criticism of the king and his differing opinions ― seems to underline these contradictions. I think that this could be explained by the fact that Agamemnon interested Erasmus as a fine example of a great king who can also have dangerous vices for his people, thus representing both an example (exemplum) and a warning (monitum)
Dividing and Multiplying the Self in the Odyssey
Full text linkIn Odyssey 20.1-53 we encounter two deliberation scenes and two similes, Odysseus’ barking heart and Odysseus as a sizzling paunch. This paper has two objectives. First, it offers a new reading of the similes that probes their ramifications for their immediate and broader context: the barking heart in tandem with the first deliberation “divides” Odysseus and fore-shadows the killing of the maids, while the sizzling paunch together with the second deliberation and Athena’s intervention “multiplies” Odysseus and anticipates the suitors’ doom. Second, it explains the ordering of the two deliberations in a continuous narrative by locating in the first deliberation scene the temporal and thematic material of both scenes, as well as the main narrative stages of Odyssey 13-22
Ritual Contexts of the Banqueters with Stringed Instruments in the Western Greek Poleis
Full text linkGreek terracottas of male and female players is a valuable subject of investigation for understanding the function of music in the contexts of both production and performance. The figurines are transmitting musical meanings that the ancient observer knew how to decode. Moreover, the representations of musical instruments in coroplastics help us to reconstruct their role in the specific context of worship, and their function in different ritual performances. Among these relevant representations of musical iconography, one of the most popular subjects is the reclining male figure who supports himself on his left elbow, while holding a stringed instrument. This is the typical banqueter motif that is found in funerary and sacred contexts in southern Italy and Sicily from the Archaic period to the beginning of the Hellenistic Age. In this paper, it will be argued that the instruments depicted on the terracotta figurines found in the sanctuaries allow us to understand the status and the age of the musicians, as well as their role in ceremonies
A Portmanteau Theseus in Euripides’ Supplices?
Full text linkThe title of the conference to which this paper formed a contribution was Topical Issues of Ancient Culture and Its Heritage. The issues raised here have, however, been side-lined by most modern scholars, and thus might be said to be no longer as topical as they once were. It is with a view to reviving the once widely held view that writers for the Athenian stage might choose plots that shed light on current events, rather than engaging in escapist drama, that this paper has been written. The dramatic stage was very much part of Athenian political life, and once we recall with Simon Goldhill (Goldhill 1987) that a dramatic festival was the occasion for the pouring of libations by the generals, for the display of the annual tribute, for the praise of civic benefactors, and the parade in armour of war orphans, then we can understand how plays might have a political resonance, and how the stage — whether tragic or comic — might be the place where things could be said that were impossible to say in other contexts
Dionysios Ps.-Areiopagites im heutigen Forschungsgespräch
Full text linkThe intention of this paper is to overcome an alarming polarization within the actual academic debate on the writing of the unknown author of the Corpus Areopagiticum. It discusses five exemplary problems: a. unity and diversity in God; b. theurgy in Proklos and Ps.-Dionysios; c. Porphyry, Dionysios and the “anthropological Model” for the solution of the Christological problem; d. ambivalences within the Dionysian corpus; e. the intention of the author. In the introduction the paper also touches – very briefly, it is true – upon the question, if Peter the Iberian could have been the author of that corpus, as – independently from each other – E. Honigmann and S. Nutsubidze once proposed