1,720,975 research outputs found
“Our bitterest enemies...” An Examination of Thebes’ Role in Athenian Tragedy
No full textThis thesis concerns itself with the depiction of mythical Thebes in extant Greek tragedy, and how this relates to the tragedians’ view of Athens itself. Throughout the Classical Period, Thebes was one of Athens’ biggest enemy poleis, and this complex relationship is often mirrored in the dramas that feature Thebes and Thebans in principal roles. For the purposes of this thesis, I am limiting my scope to dramas that deal with the “Seven Against Thebes” mythic cycle and, to pare the topic down even further, I am only examining those tragedies that feature either Eteocles, Polynices, or both.
Chapter one deals with Aeschylus’ Seven Against Thebes, where I argue that Thebes is not only presented as a positive force, but actually comes to be identified as a stand-in for Athens. The Thebes of Aeschylus’ play shares many common factors with Athens of the early fifth-century B.C.
Chapter two is about Euripides’ Phoenician Women. The main argument here is that Euripides uses his Theban characters as mouthpieces for his own ideas on political rhetoric, particularly political issues that are of importance to contemporary Athens. Additionally, Phoenician Women’s fragmented, episodic plot and its large cast of characters contribute to an image of Thebes as a disorganised, chaotic polis, and one that is the antithesis of Athens. At the same time, its emphasis on the feminine complicates this picture somewhat; although this contributes to the “anti-Athens” image, whether or not this is a positive thing is unclear.
My third and final chapter concerns Sophocles’ Oedipus at Colonus and the lack of consistency in its depiction of Theban characters. Polynices and Creon are characterised negatively, but Oedipus and especially Antigone and Ismene appear in a much more positive light. Furthermore, Theseus appears in the OC as a representative of Athens so, fundamentally, the OC is about the relationship between the two poleis, and an exhortation for Thebes to strive to be more like Athens.
My conclusion is that tragedy’s treatment of Thebes is malleable and that there is not necessarily one standard way of depicting mythical Theban characters. At the same time, I also conclude that, no matter how Thebes is represented, there is always an underlying tension regarding how Thebes relates to Athens; the two cities are in a constant state of comparison and contrast
Solving Problems through Katasterismos: Classical Reception in New Zealand author Sabrina Malcolm’s Zeustian Logic
No full textNew Zealand writer Sabrina Malcolm’s 2017 novel Zeustian Logic is a contemporary school story about a family struggling to deal with grief. This text follows in a decades-long tradition of New Zealand YA literature employing Classical reception. The novel illustrates how Classical myth helps a contemporary New Zealand teenager (Tuttle) come to terms with his father’s death and his own feelings of helplessness, frustration and anger. This chapter examines the role of Classical reception in this novel, discussing how the author uses star mythology to underpin the depiction of the protagonist’s coming-of-age. More than that, Malcolm compares Tuttle’s feelings with ancient perceptions of anger and grief and skillfully casts Tuttle, in his quest for knowledge, as a modern-day Telemachus. The chapter concludes with a look at how Tuttle’s attitudes towards Zeus change, as he matures
When Is a Robot a Human? Hope, Myth, and Humanity in Bernard Beckett's "Genesis"
No full textThis chapter discusses the role of hope in Bernard Beckett’s New Zealand young adult novel Genesis (2006). It looks at how the author employs allusions to ancient myth and philosophy (Plato) to place the topic in a wider context, in particular to shed light on the notion of false hope. Mainly, this chapter focuses on the novel’s protagonist Anax’s (false) hope, as expressed in her uncritical belief in her state’s ideology. It also explores the crucial part which myth plays in creating this false hope and how hope, in combination with myth, is employed by the author to give readers the misleading impression that Anax is human, rather than a robot. Genesis’ allusions to ancient myths help its readers place Anax’s and Adam’s (a human character) views and actions into a wider context and understand how hope, as an emotion which is central to our humanity, has always been a decisive motivator for human decision-making (both on the personal and on the state level) and for cultural progress, and will still be in the future.Book chapter in the volume: Katarzyna Marciniak, ed., Our Mythical Hope: The Ancient Myths as Medicine for Hardships of Life in Children's and Young Adults' Culture, in the series "Our Mythical Childhood", Warsaw: University of Warsaw Press, 2021, 836 pp.
Open Access https://www.wuw.pl/product-eng-16830-Our-Mythical-Hope-The-Ancient-Myths-as-Medicine-for-the-Hardships-of-Life-in-Childrens-and-Young-Adults-Culture-PDF.html
This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreement No 681202 (2016–2022), Our Mythical Childhood... The Reception of Classical Antiquity in Children's and Young Adults' Culture in Response to Regional and Global Challenges, ERC Consolidator Grant led by Katarzyna Marciniak.
Project's Website: www.omc.obta.al.uw.edu.pl.
The publication is licensed under (CC BY 3.0 PL) (full license available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/pl/legalcode)
Word-Power: Reading, Writing and Traveling from Story to Story in the 'Inkheart' Novels
Full text linkMany readers of fantasy books have wished they could meet the characters or even enter the fantasy worlds of these works. This idea is played out in Cornelia Funke's 'Inkheart' trilogy, where characters move back and forth between the primary world and the secondary one which is set inside a book that is also called Inkheart. The processes and consequences of these appearances and disappearances of characters in both worlds, which - for lack of a better term - I will refer to as 'world-travel', are explored in great detail in the 'Inkheart' series. A striking example of metafiction, the work centres around the processes of reading and writing fantasy. Through a discussion of the power, reciprocity, and responsibility of the author, the reader, and the characters of the story this article will examine the author's claim that her fantasy is not escapist
Odysseus Down Under: Classical Myth in New Zealand School Education
No full textBabette Puetz gives an overview of classical studies in New Zealand, demonstrating its popularity at secondary schools, particularly as a result of exposure to recent popular culture, such as the Percy Jackson and Harry Potter novels and movies. With regard to the school curriculum, Puetz stresses the freedom of choice of content that is available for teachers in this region, although they are encouraged to choose material that connects with the students’ local contexts, and in particular Māori culture. Despite this great flexibility and variety, general trends can be determined, and Puetz shows that myth, rather than taught as a specific unit, usually tends to be embedded into other topics of enquiry, and is taught in order to exemplify ancient attitudes and to help students analyse and interpret ancient literature and art.
The complete volume "Our Mythical Education: The Reception of Classical Myth Worldwide in Formal Education, 1900–2020", edited by Lisa Maurice, focuses on school education including a wide geographical and chronological range. The volume covers Eastern and Western Europe, Asia, Africa, the Americas (including Canada, the USA, and South America), Australia and New Zealand.
Published in the series “Our Mythical Childhood”, edited by Prof. Katarzyna Marciniak, Faculty of “Artes Liberales”, University of Warsaw, Poland.
Open Access of the whole volume is available at https://www.wuw.pl/product-eng-14887-Our-Mythical-Education-The-Reception-of-Classical-Myth-Worldwide-in-Formal-Education-1900-2020-PDF.htmlThis project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreement No 681202 (2016–2022), "Our Mythical Childhood... The Reception of Classical Antiquity in Children's and Young Adults' Culture in Response to Regional and Global Challenges", ERC Consolidator Grant led by Katarzyna Marciniak. Project's Website: www.omc.obta.al.uw.edu.pl.
The publication is licensed under (CC BY 3.0 PL) (full license available at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/pl/legalcode)
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