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1
Sims, Thomas. "A commentary on the fragments of fourth-century tragedy." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 2018. http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/55426/.
Full textAbstract:
Except for the pseudo-Euripidean Rhesus, fourth-century tragedy has almost entirely been lost to the ravages of time, known only through the quotation of a few isolated lines by later writers or preservation on some sand-worn scraps of papyrus. The poor survival of fourth-century tragedy has inevitably led to suggestions of low quality. Recent scholarship, however, has begun to revise these conclusions, recognising a remarkable inventiveness prevalent in the surviving fragments. This thesis aims to continue the rehabilitation of fourth-century tragedy and takes the form of a commentary on the fragments of Astydamas II, Carcinus II, Chaeremon, and Theodectas, the 'leading lights' of this period whose verses comprise over half of what remains. In the introduction, I focus on fourth-century tragedy in general and all its surviving fragments, even those not treated in the commentary. I begin by exploring the internationalisation of this genre and its spread to the Greek-speaking West and East. I then consider the prevalent themes and stylistic features of the fragments and examine fourth-century reaction to fourth-century tragedy, particularly in comedy, oratory, and philosophy. I also discuss fourth-century satyr drama and some of its best surviving examples, including Python's Agen. In the commentary, I provide a biography for each poet and explore their reception and that of their work. I then discuss each of their plays in turn, reconstructing plots where possible and providing information about other treatments of a myth in fifth- and fourth-century drama. Finally, I analyse each fragment, focusing on any textual issues, their literary, stylistic, and dramaturgical qualities, and on their relationship within the dramatic tradition and Greco-Roman literature. Through analysing the fragments in the form of a commentary, I hope to show that far from representing a 'terminal decline' as Edna Hooker once lamented, they instead display many remarkable qualities which make them worthy of study in their own right.
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Franchuk, Edward S. "Symbolism in the works of August Strindberg." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 1989. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/41056/.
Full textAbstract:
In many ways, Strindberg's works are among the most paradoxical in modern literature. Violently misogynistic, they nevertheless reveal a man who worships Woman, cannot live without her, loathing her as Mistress but adoring her as Mother; almost brutal in the violence of their emotions, they are at the same time gentle in the irony of their humour; totally unorthodox in their theology, they are profoundly religious; even when most naturalistic (as in Froken Julie: Miss Julie), they are highly symbolic. The leading practitioner of naturalistic drama is also the father of the theatre of the absurd. However unlike his works might appear to one another, and whatever the seeming contradictions and inconsistencies among the various ideas espoused and championed by Strindberg at different points in his career, his themes remained the same: his own life, the struggle for dominance between the sexes, psychological domination through the power of suggestion, the problem of the existence of evil and suffering in the world, and the influence of the supernatural on human life and history. And whatever his literary genre -- drama, poetry, novel, short story, satire, history, autobiography, scientific or philological treatise, political, philosophical, or religious essay -- these themes are expressed and developed through a rich and evocative symbolism drawn not only from the tribal treasury of archetypal images, but supplemented, shaped and refined by his own experience, imagination, and subconscious. An examination of his symbolism, then, will not only elucidate the works by making our interpretation of them surer, but should reveal a consistency and logical development in his writing not always apparent with other approaches. Symbolism can be seen as a kind of shorthand: a way of enriching a text which, particularly in drama, poetry, and the short story, is often more or less severely constrained in terms of length: by drawing on universal or traditional symbols, the author can suggest levels of meaning, connections, and associations which extend his work beyond the limits imposed on it. In more extended literary genres, such as the novel, on the other hand, symbolism is often used only sparingly. Over the course of his career, an author also builds up a set of personal symbols, drawn from his experience, his reading, his interests, and, ultimately, his view of the world; his work cannot be fully understood without an awareness of these symbols. This study seeks to identify Strindberg's symbols, to search out their meanings, to relate them to each other, to the works in which they occur, and to the body of work as a whole, and to suggest, wherever possible, their sources. The overwhelming tendency in Strindberg studies is to approach the works as biographical and/or psychological documents. His habits of working from living models (a practice he called vivisection), of fictionalizing his own experiences, and of meticulously documenting his life and his intellectual and spiritual development make this inevitable. This study does not ignore the author's biography (impossible in such an autobiographical writer), but seeks to place the emphasis elsewhere, on the more exclusively literary concern of meaning (as opposed to reference). Strindberg always considered himself primarily a dramatist, and indeed it is almost exclusively as such that the non-Swedish world knows him. It is, therefore, with Strindberg's plays that this study is primarily concerned. He was, however, a prolific writer, covering most genres, and much of his non-dramatic writing expands upon, explains, or provides the source for, the symbolism of the plays. With two or three minor exceptions (noted in the text), I have therefore looked at all of Strindberg's published works; those not mentioned have been omitted because they do not contribute in any significant way to an understanding of his symbolism. Preference has been given to the Swedish texts in the twenty-two volumes which have appeared so far in the ongoing "National Edition" (Samlade verk: Collected Works); for works which have not yet appeared there, I have used, in the first instance Gunnar Brandell's Skrifter (Writings, the Swedish edition which Glasgow University Library possesses), and, for works that appear in neither of those editions, John Landquist's monumental Samalade skrifter (Collected Writings). Although I have often consulted various English translations, the translations of cited passages are my own, except where noted. Biblical quotations are cited from a variety of English translations, in an attempt to stay as close as possible to the Swedish wording cited by Strindberg; when it is a question of simply providing a reference, I have preferred to cite The Jerusalem Bible. In a few instances, where no English translation could be found which corresponded satisfactorily to Strindberg's version (whether through an anomaly of the Swedish translation he used -- presumably the Karl XII Bible -- or through his own deliberate or unconscious misquotation), I have translated the citation literally. In quotations (and in their translations), underlined ellipses (...) are Strindberg's own; those not so distinguished (...) indicate an omission from the text. In a few instances, when scenes in the Swedish text are unnumbered, I have supplied numbers as an aid to locating cited passages in a translation.
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Myers, Matthew S. "Vision and space in Tacitus." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 2018. http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/51584/.
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This thesis explores the role of vision and space in the works of Tacitus. A number of recent studies have assessed the importance of vision, space, and the gaze in ancient literature, across a variety of different authors. The gaze in epic poetry has been analysed by Leigh (1997), Smith (2005), and Lovatt (2013); Feldherr (1998) has considered the role of spectacle in Livy; and Purves (2010) and Rimell (2015) have examined the role of space in Greek literature and Roman poetry respectively. Yet there has been no substantial study of these themes in Tacitus. The present work addresses this gap in scholarship by providing a wide ranging survey of visuality across the Tacitean corpus which extends from the gaze of the emperor and other individuals, to the collective gaze of the Roman populace and the gaze of the reader; within settings such as the dining room, the senate house, the city, and the battlefield. In considering this diverse material, I highlight the importance of taking a wide-ranging approach to the study of Tacitus’ visual techniques, emphasising the interrelation between disparate strands of Tacitean visuality. Such an eclectic approach reveals the centrality of vision and space to Tacitus’ ideas of power, control, corruption, and manipulation under the early principate, as well as the inherent ambiguity of Tacitus’ conception of the gaze. The thesis begins by considering some characteristics of Tacitus’ visual technique and analysing his use of language to create visual scenes. The focus then turns to the individual gaze, in two chapters centred on the gaze of the emperor. Here the imperial gaze emerges as a dominant force that is intrinsically linked to the emperor’s power, yet is also open to manipulation and corruption. This is followed by a chapter on battles and battlefields, in which Tacitus’ use of landscape and visual description is used to explore themes of military power and control and the corrupting nature of civil war. The final main chapter considers the role of spectacle in the city of Rome in the Histories, outlining a Tacitean approach to the viewing of violent spectacle that emphasises the corruption of morals and the breakdown of societal norms. These various themes are drawn together in the concluding chapter, which highlights the role of vision and space as a central pillar in Tacitus’ exploration of power under the principate.
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Zourgou, Anna. "The judgement of Paris in ancient Greek art and literature." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 2018. http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/51092/.
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The Judgement of Paris has been one of the most influential and popular myths throughout antiquity. Significant work has been done by previous scholars on the collection and analysis of artistic representations of the Judgement. This thesis is also looking into the Judgement of Paris in ancient Greek art, but it mainly focuses on the collection and analysis of the references to the myth in Greek literature from the eighth century B.C. to the second century A.D. Special attention is paid to recurring themes and ideological implications that the Judgement story raises, as well as to the interaction between those themes and specific genres. The detailed account and analysis of the references available sheds light not only on the perception of the myth itself, but also on conceptions of morality, beauty, gods, free choice, responsibility and even humour in antiquity. Through this thesis it is possible to see the transformations of the Judgement of Paris throughout centuries of literature, from its very first appearance in Homer’s Iliad to the enjoyable world of Lucian, realising the vast possibilities of this mythological tradition.
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Butzbach, Lazaretta. "Classical Greek tragedy and the city culture of Athens." Thesis, University of Warwick, 2006. http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/1167/.
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As argued, the connection between Athenian BC society and tragedy - an area of research far from exhausted - should be examined on the basis of an anthropological/cultural, and rather comparatively oriented perspective, rather than a purely historical or literary one. A further defence holds that such an approach explores in a fresh way the connection between the two which is based on a model of self, on the one hand, and Sophocles' and Euripides' characters on the other - both proposed to consist of the same culturally framed, yet diversely expressed components which define an individual actor/self as would be portrayed by anthropological studies. Because of the proposed nexus of variously expressed components, the staged character is seen as an agent who exposes the complexity and ambiguity of one's own self of whom the individual agent was unaware of possessing. The above argument, approached mainly through primary sources, will be defended as follows. After defining in the introduction concepts such as `self' and `performance', the discussion on the components of self and character begins by exploring their background - the ideology and culture of Athens. As argued, because of particular factors linked to economic and military power, Athens is contrasted with other Greek cities, and at the same time, its performance culture becomes the topos of the performing self. The second chapter defends the concepts of self and dramatic character, as well as the elements associating them which are cultural projections of the society, but also are associated with the notion of `self as presented in recent anthropological discussions of human agency. Lastly, the third chapter argues on the actualisation of the self's model on stage; after the comparative analysis of the characters' actions in three plays by Sophocles, and three by Euripides, the conclusion reached is that the proposed model of self, cultural, but also self-reliant, is an entity which is utilised as a model agent of staged characters.
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Ryan, Cressida. "Eighteenth-century responses to Sophocles' Oedipus at Colonus." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 2010. http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/14467/.
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This thesis is a synchronic reception study of a single play, the Oedipus at Colonus. Rather than providing a commentary, or extracting one or two themes in isolation for examination, it considers the play through the lens of the eighteenth century. In so doing it offers a variety of disciplinary approaches, looking at the QC through the eyes of an aesthetic philosopher, creative writer, textual critic, artist, politician, historian, art historian, composer, musicologist, teacher or clergyman. After an introduction outlining some basic presuppositions for the thesis, chapter 1 covers aesthetic philosophy, chapter 2 books, chapter 3 staged reworking, chapter 4 paintings and chapter 5 opera. In reflecting on the play from such a broad range of perspectives, a range of insights emerge. The major theme is the way in which aesthetics develops over time and how these developments are reflected in the wide range of material under discussion. This thesis is about the sublime. Reading the DC through eighteenth-century eyes prioritises certain aspects of it which can, in various guises and at various times, be understood as sublime. This places great emphasis on themes such as religion and the role of landscape, while diminishing others, such as that of blindness, which might usually seem obvious ways to think about the play. Each act of reception draws out something slightly different from the Greek model, and by examining a range of material, our overall appreciation of the play and the eighteenth century is significantly enhanced, particularly in respect to the aforementioned themes.
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Liapis, Vayos. ""Nothing that is not Zeus" the unknowability of the Gods and the limits of human knowledge in Sophoclean tragedy." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 1997. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/615/.
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In the present thesis the author professes to offer neither a systematic account of Sophoclean theology (if indeed there is such a thing) nor a study of the epistemological problem per se in Sophoclean tragedy. His purpose is rather to illuminate - partly expanding on a brief but suggestive study by Hans Diller ("Gottliches und menschliches Wissen bei Sophocles", Kiel 1950) - the ways in which the epistemological chasm between Man and God in Sophoclean tragedy becomes manifest through a 'collision' between the incompleteness and limitedness of human knowledge on the one hand and the transcendence and the unknowability of the gods on the other. An introductory chapter is prefixed which deals with the development of the idea of divine unknowability in archaic Greek literature and in Presocratic philosophy. There follows a detailed examination of the extant plays one by one (with special emphasis on the close reading of practically all the choral odes), by means of which the author endeavours to demonstrate that the centrality of the epistemological problem (in relation, always, to the inscrutability of the Godhead) in Sophocles, far from reducing his dramas to abstract philosophical treatises, contains a tremendous tragic potential and makes for powerful plays. Aspects of each play's structure, of its thematic articulation and of its vocabulary are studied, while a variety of methodological approaches are employed in order to illuminate problems of interpretation. All important secondary literature is cited and / or discussed. Thus, while never losing sight of its central concern (divine unknowability, limitedness of human knowledge), the present thesis also aims to be a thorough study of Sophoclean tragedy as a whole.
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Curtis, Stuart. "The exploitation of the epic realm of Roman satirists." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 2002. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/1395/.
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The main purpose of this thesis is to establish a level of connection between the epic and satiric genres. The popularity of the epic genre was not always matched by its authors' talents, and the exclusively Roman satiric genre seems to have been one of a handful of genres that rose up as an alternative to the perhaps trite and conventional epic format. It will be shown that one of the techniques by which the satirists sought to replace the pre-eminent literary genre on the populace's reading lists with their own allegedly 'lesser' satiric poetry, involved the exploitation of various aspects familiar from the epic genre, but in an original and often unexpected way. This exploitation of epic material by the satirists can be seen in several different ways, and indeed many of these methods have been briefly pointed out by earlier commentators at specific points in the texts, or have even been discussed in their totality with regard to certain individual satirists. The innovation of this thesis will be to show that these different techniques, gathered together under the umbrella heading of 'exploitation of the epic realm', actually existed, to a greater or lesser extent, in each of the satirists' works, and should therefore be understood as a recurring motif which the satiric genre. The various elements of the epic realm that are exploited by the satirists will be systematically explored: beginning with simple opinions regarding the epic genre; building up through the satirists' utilisation of various stylistic and linguistic devices, recurring themes and motifs, and historical and mythological characters, that were usually associated with epic; then covering the satirists' frequent references to specific moments in earlier epic works, either through quotation or scenic parody; before climaxing with those satires that seem to have a wider epic framework and a 'heroic' central figure. The different levels of exploitation will also be discussed in each case: this can range from a serious and sincere appeal to the past that the epic genre represents, through a comical presentation of a stock satiric subject in ironically exaggerated epic terms, to a totally subversive parody of the epic genre itself.
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Cairns, Douglas Laidlaw. "The concept of Aidos in Greek literature from Homer to 404 BC." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 1987. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/1379/.
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The introduction deals briefly with the question of the classification of societies as shame or guilt-cultures, and the position is taken that, firstly, such a distinction has no real basis in human psychology and, secondly, that its application to the differences between ancient Greek culture and our own is largely superficial. The challenge to the shame-culture/guilt culture antithesis continues in the chapter on Homer, of which one of the central topics is the extent to which Homeric man possesses an internal conscience. The fundamental association of aidos with popular opinion is noted, and the terms which describe both the kind of situation or conduct which merits censure and the censure itself are studied, with a particular view to their relevance to competitive and co-operative standards. It is concluded that there is no basis for a subordination of the co-operative to the competitive in the vocabulary of the poems, although it is certainly the case that many characters are more concerned with failure in the latter sphere. This, however, is in no way part of the moral ideology of either the poet or his characters. The main areas of operation of aidos are identified: its role in battle and as fear of disgrace in general, its relevance to the co-operative standard of philia, its concern with positive regard for others, especially suppliants and guests and the particular form which the concept takes with regard to sex, especially in women. These are broadly the categories which also obtain in subsequent chapters. Instances of the relevant terms in the poetry from Hesiod to Pindar are largely heterogeneous, but particularly worthy of note are Hesiod's remarks on the ambivalence of aidos (a notion also present in Homer), Solon's application of the verb, aideomai, to his lack of concern for the misguided opinions of others, and the association of qualities like aidos and loyalty to one's friends, itself promoted by aidos, with arete, both moral and social, in Theognis. In the Tragedians, attention is paid first of all to the role of aidos etc. in the motivation of characters, then to its importance in the thematic structure of the plays, and only then, and with some caution, to the possibility that the usage of the tragedians may reflect changes in the society outside the plays. In Aeschylus, the operation of the concept in the above-mentioned categories is, briefly, surveyed, but the bulk of the chapter is concerned with its role in the psychology of characters faced with an acutely difficult choice: here the inhibitory force of aidos is apparent, as it frequently provokes crises of indecision. Such indecision, moreover, is often an important sign that all is not well. The psychological insight of Aeschylus, it is argued, is very far from elementary, but, of the three tragedians, it is Sophokles who makes most use of aidos in the psychology and motivation of his characters. In all but two of the extant tragedies aidos etc. have a central thematic importance: the possibility of conflicting ideas of aidos, a topic perhaps suggested by sophistic relativist theory, is frequently explored, and one demand of traditional aidos is often set against another. Sophistic discussions of the nature of aidos are particularly in evidence in two plays, the Ajax and the Philoktetes, which both reveal the operation of the concept as an internal form of conscience which can work without reference to the `other people' whose judgement is often mentioned in the context of the aidos-reaction. This appreciation of the internal aspect of aidos corresponds with Demokritos' view of its operation in the conscience of the individual. Sophistic ideas are even more readily apparent in Euripides, although they are much less closely integrated into the psychology of individual characters than they are in Sophokles. Relativism is also important in the younger poet, and a particular feature of his
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O'Reilly, Mary Bernadette. "Undercurrents in Ovid's 'Metamorphoses' : Hercules, Pygmalion, and Myrrha." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 2003. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/2464/.
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This study looks at three episodes in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, namely the Hercules episode in Book 9 and the Pygmalion and Myrrha episodes in Book 10. These episodes are connected by the fact that, in each, the superficial interpretation of the text interacts with the tale’s underlying meaning and thus invites reassessment of that tale. This is a recurring feature throughout the Metamorphoses. The first chapter looks at the Hercules episode. It begins with a study of Ovid’s sources for the tale of Hercules and Deianira and is followed by a discussion of the episode itself. The central argument is that despite the amatory facade of the tale, the narrator systematically establishes Hercules’ lack of amorous interest in Deianira. The second chapter examines the Pygmalion episode. It looks at recent critical interest in the implicit eroticism of the episode and further contributes to this area of discussion. This study has two parts. In the first, Venus’ contribution to the erotic undercurrent in the tale is discussed. In the second, the relationship between Pygmalion and the Iphis episode in Book 9 is examined. The third chapter discusses the Myrrha episode which immediately follows that of Pygmalion in Ovid’s epic. The central argument of this chapter is that Ovid deliberately establishes a ritual undercurrent of sacred marriage in the tale. This Cyprian cult practice was an important feature of the Myrrha-Cinyras legend and examination of this aspect in the Ovidian adaptation begins with an examination of the relevance of this ritual motif to that legend generally. This is followed by a discussion of how Ovid deliberately establishes the scared marriage as a backdrop to his own incest tale. This depends on the creation of an undercurrent of marriage and on the religious atmosphere which exists alongside it.
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Pugh, Beverley Jane. "Jasper Heywood's translation of Seneca's Thyestes : with particular reference to the latter's sixteenth and seventeenth-century reception and the themes of tyranny, kingship and revenge." Thesis, University of Warwick, 1997. http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/4199/.
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The thesis offers a critical analysis of the transmission of Seneca's Thyestes in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In Volume 1, the 1584 Gryphius edition of Seneca's Thyestes; the 1560 edition of Heywood's translation of the play and the 1674 edition of Wright's translation and burlesque version have been transcribed. This is the first time that these texts have been presented together for discussion. The commentary (Volume II) examines a broad range of dramatic material including Neo- Latin plays such as Goldingham's Herodes (1570/80); Gwinne's Nero (1603); Snelling's Thibaldus (1640) and the anonymous Stoicus Vapulans (1648). Prose works considered include the Latin lexicas and grammars of Lilly and Whitinton; philosophical treatises such as Reynolds A Treatise of the Passions and Faculties of the soule of Man (1640); and religious works such as Hooper on the Ten Commandments (1560). It presents hitherto unpublished material- MS Sloane 1041; and material that has previously received little attention- the Hendrik Goltzius' engraving of Melpomene (1592) and the Restoration Mock-Thyestes in Burlesque. Research material was consulted at the British Library; BL Department of Manuscripts; BL Print Room; University of Warwick Library; University of Birmingham Library; Senate House Library, University of London; The Bodleian Library, University of Oxford; The Warburg Institute and The Institute of Classical Studies.
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Harman, Rosie. "Viewing Sparta, viewing Asia : vision and Greek identity in Xenophon." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 2009. http://etheses.nottingham.ac.uk/1969/.
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What happens when we look at others, and when others look at us? How does the experience of looking at or being seen by others shape our perceptions of ourselves? This thesis addresses these questions with reference to a specific historical and cultural moment; I examine scenes of vision and display in the Athenian writer Xenophon's representations of Spartans, Persians and other non-Greek peoples in Asia as a means of investigating the place of Sparta, Persia and the non-Greek in fourth century Athenian thought. Focusing in particular on the Anabasis, Cyropaedia, Lakedaimonion Politeia and Agesilaus, I analyse the representation of the responses of spectators to foreign sights in order to consider how these texts position their readers in relation to Spartans, Persians and others, and also, therefore, how they articulate and interrogate what it means to be Athenian, and what it means to be Greek. I will argue that sight is involved in the construction of Greek identity; that although some of the ways in which Greek identity is represented imply its cohesion, more often Xenophon's scenes of vision reveal the uncertainties and manipulations involved in attempting to imagine or lay claim to Greekness; and that Xenophon reveals the complexities of Panhellenist thought and of the intellectual and political climate of the fourth century. This thesis contributes towards a history of Greek identity and a history of visuality; it also seeks to reappraise Xenophon as a writer, revealing him as a valuable source for Greek conceptions of political power and conflict, and of ethnic, political and cultural selfconsciousness.
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Fielding, Ian. "Later Latin elegy : a study of Ovid’s successors in the fifth and sixth centuries." Thesis, University of Warwick, 2010. http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/35236/.
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This study provides a synoptic account of the development of Latin elegiac poetry from the first century BC to late antiquity. It focuses primarily on a group of texts from the fifth and sixth centuries AD in which elegy once again becomes a medium for sustained poetic lamentation, four hundred years after the death of Ovid, its most famous exponent. These texts are Rutilius Namatianus, De Reditu; Orientius, Commonitorium; Dracontius, Satisfactio; and the elegiac collection of Maximianus. Each work is interpreted in the context of the radical historical changes that were taking place in this period. The study makes particular reference to the influence of Ovid, as it analyses the distinctive formal and narrative modalities by which these poets present a variety of subject matter. It advances the hypothesis that each of the four elegies presents the experience of a traumatic loss or break. As well as providing detailed examination of these important primary texts, this study also invites re-evaluation of the elegiac works of the Augustan period, which have long been canonical in Classics. In so doing, it indicates the potential for a highly developed criticism of previously neglected works of Latin poetry.
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Yoon, Sun Kyoung. "(Re)-constructing Homer : English translations of the Iliad and Odyssey between 1850 and 1950." Thesis, University of Warwick, 2011. http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/47079/.
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This thesis seeks to investigate how translation is influenced by the translator's contexts, dealing with English translations of Homer between 1850 and 1950. English versions of the Iliad and Odyssey by eight translators from different periods are examined chronologically in their historical contexts, with reference to social, political and ideological circumstances. My methodology involves making use of translators' metatexts and other types of texts in combination with comparison of the translated texts. The debate between Matthew Arnold and Francis Newman reveals conflicting ideologies in the nineteenth century: the former committed to promoting a noble template for his society, the latter seeking to reproduce with exacting standards what he perceived as the true peculiarity of the poet. This ideological opposition is reflective of the intrinsic link between translators' interpretations of Homer and attitudes toward translation, and the Victorian age, in social, ideological and political terms. The thesis continues with two more Victorian translators William Morris and J. S. Blackie, focusing on the practice of archaism. Morris translated the Odyssey within a widespread movement of medieval revival. The same applies to Blackie's translation of the Iliad, but his medievalism was connected to the issue of Scottish identity. They idealised history and expressed their vision literalistically through archaising. The focus then changes to examine modernist versions of the Odyssey by Ezra Pound and H. D. Their fragmentary translations were good examples of the modernist project to achieve novelty and originality. Homer represented 'tradition' to engage with in order to pursue the ambition to, in Pound's famous expression, 'make it new'. The modernists took translation as an implement for revisiting the literary tradition. Lastly, this thesis explores mid-twentieth century prose translations by E. V. Rieu and I. A. Richards. Influenced by the egalitarianism of mid-twentieth-century Britain, they attempted to make their translations accessible to everyone. These translations of Homer were targeted at the 'general reader', and for that purpose, Rieu and Richards transformed Homer's originals into novels.
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Sibley, Eleanor. "The role of Athena in fifth century Athenian drama." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 1995. http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/28597/.
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The goddess Athena is currently perceived through a series of contradictions. She is both warrior and reconciler, killer and patron of the artisan, a goddess who denies her own womanhood and ignores the existence of women. Using Homer's Iliad and Odyssey and the extant complete plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides and Aristophanes, this thesis reconciles each of these contradictions both within themselves and with each other. It finds that Athena had a prominent role as goddess of the polis: as a warrior she protected the polis from the external threat of war, and as a reconciler she protected it from the internal threat of civil strife. As polis goddess, Athena encourages peace and prosperity in her city; this requires that she inspire the artisan with techne, and the politician with wisdom. As polis goddess, Athena was also concerned for the perpetuation of her city and as such protected the children who were to be the future citizens, and the mothers who bore and nurtured them. This thesis argues that, as patron of techne, Athena becomes the patron of all women's work (which was all craft work). From this association the evidence of civic religion and the drama is used to argue for a relationship between Athena and Athenian women which was independent from Athenian men, independent from their relationship with Athena, and just as special. A unified interpretation of Athena as the polis goddess affords us a fuller and more realistic image of her as the goddess of Athens and patron of all its people than does one based on the "Imperial Athena" of the fifth century who represents only one side of Athena's nature.
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Miles, Sarah N. "Strattis, tragedy, and comedy." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 2009. http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/10887/.
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This study comprises a translation, textual commentary, and discussion of the fragments of the Old comic dramatist Strattis which engage with tragedy. It forms the centre of a wider examination of the art of paratragedy and tragic parody in Old Comedy because paratragedy represents the earliest reception of tragedy and one that is contemporary with the initial live performances of tragic plays. Ancient and modern scholarship alike has viewed Aristophanes as the dominant figure in the art of paratragedy and tragic parody. Strattis, a contemporary of Aristophanes, was active in the late fifth and early fourth centuries BC and the fragments of his comedies indicate a sustained and wide ranging interaction with contemporary tragedy which is rivalled only by Aristophanic comedy. This is particularly remarkable since the extant corpus of Strattis numbers less than ninety fragments. This work explores the phenomenon of paratragedy beyond Aristophanic paratragedy and raises awareness of the importance of Strattis in this respect. It begins with a survey of paratragedy in other non-Aristophanic fragments of Old Comedy and it examines the various ways that comedy engages with tragedy, indicating the depth and breadth of paratragedy in comic fragments. This provides the foundations on which to examine the fragments of Strattis through a text, translation and commentary on those fragments that engage with tragedy. It leads to a discussion of the works of Strattis overall for their use of tragedy and myth, which allows us to note characteristics of Strattis’ work. This enables a comparison of the paratragedy in the comedies of Strattis and Aristophanes which allows us to reassess the uniqueness of Aristophanic paratragedy and to consider reasons for the popularity of paratragedy in the late fifth century BC.
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Langerwerf, Lydia L. B. M. "'No freer than the helots' : Messenian rebel behaviour in Pausanias' Messeniaka in comparative perspective." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 2010. http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/11295/.
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This dissertation explores Pausanias’ depiction of the (mythical) Messenian revolt against the Spartans in book 4 of his Periegesis in comparative perspective with ancient depictions of slave revolts and Flavius Josephus’ Jewish War. I concentrate on how Pausanias portrays Aristomenes and the other rebels, as well as the Messenians in general. Although recently the Messenian Wars have been the subject of scholarly interest from literary critics, historians, and archaeologists, who have fruitfully combined their disciplines in their interpretations of the story, Pausanias’ aims and agenda in his representation of the Messenians have so far been left unexplored. This dissertation therefore asks: What stance did Pausanias take in the contested history of Messenia? In my analysis of Pausanias’ figuration of Messenian history, in chapters 1 (the introduction) and 2 I concentrate on his frequent use of τόλμη and in particular in its combination with ἀπόνοια (‘despair’). Τόλμη, translated as daring, contains both positive and negative connotations. It is a necessary ingredient of courage, but can also lead to recklessness if uncontrolled. My comparative framework in chapters 3 to 6 puts this reading of Pausanias’ book 4 to the test. In chapter 3 I compare Pausanias’ depiction of Aristomenes’ leadership qualities with Athenaeus’ use of the story of Drimakos, the rebel leader of a slave revolt on the island of Chios. In chapters 4 and 5 I pursue the connection between slavery, τόλμη and ἀπόνοια further in a comparison of the Messenian revolt with Diodorus’ depiction of the two Sicilian slave wars, along with Plutarch’s and Appian’s account of Spartacus’ revolt. In the sixth chapter I interpret the Messenian revolt as a ‘nationalistic’ uprising and compare Pausanias’ account with Josephus’ Jewish War.
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Meineck, Peter. "Opsis : the visuality of Greek drama." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 2011. http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/12117/.
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How were Greek plays viewed in the fifth century BCE and by deepening our understanding of their visual dimension might we increase our knowledge of the plays themselves? The aim of this study is to set out the importance of the visual (opsis) when considering ancient Greek drama and provide a basis for constructing a form of “visual dramaturgy” that can be effectively applied to the texts. To that end, this work is divided into five sections, which follow a “top-down” analysis of ancient dramatic visuality. The analysis begins with a survey of the prevailing visual culture and Greek attitudes about sight and the eye. Following this is an examination of the roots of drama in the performance of public collective movement forms (what I have called “symporeia”) and their relationships to the environments they moved through, including the development of the fifth century theatre at the Sanctuary of Dionysos Eleuthereus in Athens. The focus then falls on the dramatic mask and it is proposed here that operating in this environment it was the visual focus of Greek drama and the primary conveyer of the emotional content of the plays. Drawing on new research from the fields of cognitive psychology and neuroscience relating to facial processing and recognition, gaze direction, foveal and peripheral vision and neural responses to masks, movement and performance, it is explained how the fixed dramatic mask was an incredibly effective communicator of dramatic emotion capable of eliciting intensely individual responses from its spectators. This study concludes with a case study based on Aeschylus Oresteia and the raising of Phidias’ colossal bronze statue of Athena on the Acropolis and the impact that this may have had on the original reception of the trilogy.
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Badnall, Toni Patricia. "The wedding song in Greek literature and culture." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 2009. http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/12089/.
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This thesis examines the Greek wedding song and its function in literature and culture. The genre, hymenaios or epithalamium, has received little scholarly attention, particularly in English (cf. Muth, WS 1954; Tufte, Los Angeles 1970; Contiades-Tsitsoni, Stuttgart 1990, ZPE 1994; Swift, JHS 2006 & DPhil diss.). Yet an examination of the poetry of marriage, a crucial aspect in the study of the ancient world, contributes to our understanding of gender and social relations, as well as literature. Using elements of genre theory, gender studies, anthropology and cultural history, I argue that the epithalamium was part of a ritual of transition; for both the bride and for the community. The archaic epithalamium enacts this transition in lyric; tragic adaptations of the genre explore the consequences when this tradition is unsuccessfully performed. In contrast, the wedding songs of Attic comedy represent a 'happy ever after' ending for the communities of the protagonists, and portray these unions as a Sacred Marriage of man and goddess. The Helenistic epithalamium takes elements of these literary predecessors, and uses them to articulate a transition in marital relations, and literary politics, in the oeuvre of Theocritus. Philia relations in this era evolve to depict a more prominent mutuality between husband and wife, which also underpins the erotic writings of Plutarch. But more importantly, this author develops epithalamial topoi to present marriage as an 'initiation' for the bridal couple, which brings the thesis full-circle to the concept of transition while laying the foundation for one of the central concepts of Menander Rhetor's prescripts.
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Roberts, John Lloyd. "The prolegomena of La Cerda's commentary on Virgil : a commented edition from the Cologne 1642 imprint, with English translation and explanatory notes." Thesis, University of Warwick, 2013. http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/59456/.
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This thesis presents a new Latin text of the Prolegomena and accompanying prefatory material of the Cologne 1642 edition of the Virgil commentary by the Spanish Jesuit scholar Juan Luis De La Cerda. It provides an original English translation of this material along with explanatory notes which focus upon the social, educational, intellectual and political influences that informed La Cerda's work. The notes also take account of some of the rhetorical and stylistic aspects of La Cerda's work. An introduction situates the work in its cultural and intellectual context and provides a clear overview of the structure and composition of the Prolegomena.
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Das, Aileen R. "Galen and the Arabic traditions of Plato's Timaeus." Thesis, University of Warwick, 2013. http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/61917/.
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This study surveys Galen of Pergamum's (AD 129–c. 216) impact on the Arabic traditions of Plato's Timaeus in the ninth to thirteenth centuries. It draws attention to the important role that Galen's two exegeses On the Medical Statements in Plato's Timaeus (Περὶ τῶν ἐν τῷ Πλάτωνος Τιμαίῳ ἰατρικῶς εἰρημένων) and the Synopsis of Plato's Timaeus played in transmitting the dialogue into Arabic, and thus shaping medieval Arabic thinkers' understanding of its doctrines. The first of these two texts is fragmentary in Greek and Arabic; this study offers a comprehensive overview of the surviving material and reassesses its authenticity. The Synopsis is preserved in a medieval Arabic translation, and my examination of this work reconsiders its attribution to an associate of the famous translator Ḥunayn ibn Isḥāq (d. c. 873 or 877). The analyses of these treatments also highlight Galen's critical approaches to the Timaeus, specifically how he interprets it in light of his medical knowledge and the intellectual context of Middle Platonism. By exploring the use of the Timaeus commentary and Synopsis in the works of ar-Rāzī, al-Bīrūnī, Ibn Sīnā, Mūsā ibn ʿAzrā, Yehuda Halevi, Ibn Rušd, and Mūsā ibn Maymūn, this study shows that Galen's approach helped broaden the dialogue's application to other fields of learning besides philosophy, such as medicine, poetics, and theology.
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Alexopoulou, Marigo. "The homecoming (νóoτoσ) pattern in Greek tragedy." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 2003. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/7013/.
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This thesis is an analysis of the use of the homecoming ('nostos' in Greek) in Greek tragedy. I concentrate not just on the treatment of the nostos-theme within the plot and the imagery of the plays in question but also on nostos as part of Greek cultural experience. In order to illuminate the nature of nostos both as a life-event and as a story-pattern in the early literary tradition I begin with an overview of nostos in life and literature, and then give a detailed account of nostos in the Odyssey, since it is a major example of the nostos-pattern for Greek culture. By considering the literary treatment of nostos in the Odyssey one may understand the nature of nostos as a story-pattern and how that influences audience expectations. This is particularly important since the analysis of nostos in Greek tragedy will be especially related to the Odyssey. Specifically the thesis aims to describe and analyse common elements within the plot and the imagery of the plays that might be called nostos-plays. Primary nostos-plays are those where nostos serves as the fulcrum of the action, such as Aeschylus' 'Persians' and Agamemnon and Sophocles' 'Trachiniae'. The bulk of this study is devoted to the structural use of nostos in these plays. I stress at the outset, however, that the nostos-pattern in Greek tragedy is exploited more widely, and there are many occasions in Greek drama where nostos is an element of the plot. Among these, those with closest association to the treatment of nostos in the second half of the Odyssey are the Orestes-plots (notably Aeschylus' 'Choephori', Sophocles' 'Electra' and Euripides' 'Electra'). I also consider the use of nostos in Euripides' 'Andromache' and 'Heracles' since both plays illustrate that nostos is a means of creative variation on the part of the poet. Interpretation of the specific plays shows that the nostos-pattern common to these plays is a flexible set of conventions with significant variation in each case. Common themes and roles are developed in divergent ways, expectations raised are not necessarily met. Thus the thesis will recognise the variety of specific uses of the nostos-pattern on tragic stage. Finally, I suggest in the Appendix a new reading of Seferis' poem. In particular I relate the return of the exile in Seferis' poem to the return of Orestes, which underlines the idealistic nature of the notion of a return to the same. This notion is embodied in both the nostos-plays and Seferis' poem.
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Bollan, John McGrory. "Pontificalis honor : a re-evaluation of priestly Auctoritas and sacro-political violence in the transition from republic to principate." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 2013. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/4804/.
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This thesis examines the transition from the Roman republic to the Principate of Augustus through the lens of the pontifex maximus, the office of the head of the pontifical college. Despite burgeoning interest in this role, current scholarship still regards the elevation of the chief pontiff to a politically significant position as a by-product of Caesar’s ambition and, subsequently, Octavian’s quest for both power and legitimacy. It is my contention that the trajectory of this priesthood’s ascendancy has been incorrectly plotted and that a proper understanding of the pontificate requires an analysis of the events surrounding the politically motivated murder of a tribune by the chief pontiff in 133 and subsequently over the next century. After a survey of literature and a summary of the key features of the office, the thesis argues that the position of chief pontiff had long since conferred a stable prominence which was unique in the Roman republic. This prominence brought with it a particular kind of power which interacted with the auctoritas of the men who occupied the priesthood: in this way, the holders of an office which was bound up with some of the most revered traditions of the city were empowered to improvise courses of action which further enhanced the standing and influence of the chief pontiffs. It was through this cycle of action and perception that the pontifex maximus became a mechanism of political change – and was itself transformed in the process. In considering this cycle, particular emphasis is placed on the phenomenon of ‘sacro-political’ violence which, as a novelty instigated by one chief pontiff, became a recurrent motif in Roman political life thereafter. I argue that Scipio Nasica Serapio made deliberate use of his office to sanction an intervention which would have serious consequences for the republic and which radically altered how the Romans saw this priesthood. The thesis then explores how subsequent holders of the office either negotiated or exploited this ‘legacy’ to further their careers, to respond to unprecedented constitutional crises or simply to stay alive. Although all the pontifices maximi from 141 B.C. to 14 AD are considered, this thesis focuses on the lives and times of Nasica Serapio, Quintus Scaevola, Julius Caesar and Augustus as their tenures are particularly emblematic of the tensions between the mos maiorum and an increasingly extreme political climate. I argue that the new dispensation established by the first princeps, with all the restorationist rhetoric which accompanied it, relied decisively on Augustus’ assumption of the role. Even if Augustus had absorbed virtually all of the available priesthoods, the long wait he had to endure for the office of chief pontiff says a great deal about the nature of the pontificate and its strategic value to the heir of Caesar. Two case-study Appendices discuss the disputed pontificate of Q. Servilius Caepio and the relationship between Cicero, Clodius and the pontifical college. These studies exemplify the prosopographical challenges in reconstructing republican priesthoods (even the most prominent) and the interaction between law, religion and politics in the mid first century B.C.
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Stewart, Edmund. "Wandering poets and the dissemination of Greek tragedy in the fifth and fourth centuries BC." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 2013. http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/14065/.
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This work is the first full-length study of the dissemination of Greek tragedy in the earliest period of the history of drama. In recent years, especially with the growth of reception studies, scholars have become increasingly interested in studying drama outside its fifth century Athenian performance context. As a result, it has become all the more important to establish both when and how tragedy first became popular across the Greek world. This study aims to provide detailed answers to these questions. In doing so, the thesis challenges the prevailing assumption that tragedy was, in its origins, an exclusively Athenian cultural product, and that its ‘export’ outside Attica only occurred at a later period. Instead, I argue that the dissemination of tragedy took place simultaneously with its development and growth at Athens. We will see, through an examination of both the material and literary evidence, that non-Athenian Greeks were aware of the works of Athenian tragedians from at least the first half of the fifth century. In order to explain how this came about, I suggest that tragic playwrights should be seen in the context of the ancient tradition of wandering poets, and that travel was a usual and even necessary part of a poet’s work. I consider the evidence for the travels of Athenian and non-Athenian poets, as well as actors, and examine their motives for travelling and their activities on the road. In doing so, I attempt to reconstruct, as far as possible, the circuit of festivals and patrons, on which both tragedians and other poetic professionals moved. This study thus aims to both chart the process of tragedy’s dissemination and to situate the genre within the context of the broader ‘song culture’ of the Greek wandering poet.
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Kerr, Robert Anthony. "Criticism in Quintilian." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 2002. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/5575/.
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The Institutio Oratoria of Quintilian (Marcus Fabius Quintilianus) is a work that follows in a tradition of writing on rhetoric, a tradition that dates back to the fifth century B.C. My thesis establishes Quintilian and his work within this tradition, and encourages the reader both to consider one aspect of the convention of technical instruction in rhetoric, namely criticism, and to reflect on the originality of criticism in Quintilian's work. Accordingly, I have two main aims. Firstly, I intend to give full detail of examples of criticism in the Institutio Oratoria, and this will include identifying, where possible, people who are targeted by Quintilian for criticism. Thus, in detailing examples - which I do by paraphrase and translation - and assigning them to chapters in this thesis, I follow the structure that Quintilian provides for his work in the preface to his first book. Targets of criticism include groups, such as parents, pupils, teachers, philosophers, actors, dancers, and specific individuals. My second aim is to assess the originality of Quintilian's criticism. Thus, I examine the works of predecessors, notably, but not exclusively, other writers on rhetoric, whose works are extant or partly extant. My feelings indicate that there is much criticism that can serve as precedent for criticism in the Institutio Oratoria. However, it is evident that Quintilian has not indulged in mere repetition. He has changed and adapted criticisms in a way that reflects his educational and forensic background. He also implies that many of these still relate to his own time. I have also found that much criticism lacks apparent precedent - apparent, because other works on rhetoric that precede the Institutio Oratoria and have not survived could feasibly have provided precedents for criticisms in Quintilian's work that appear novel - and I suggest that the underlying intention of this is to relate practice more closely to theory, and theory more closely to practice.
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Spatharas, Dimos. "Gorgias : an edition of the extant texts and fragments with commentary and introduction." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 2001. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/2777/.
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This thesis is a commentary on G.'s extant works and fragments which consists in three main parts: an Introduction, the Greek text, and notes on the text and fragments. a) The Introduction offers an account of G.'s life which is based on the information provided by ancient authors, a discussion of the stylistic features of his prose - along with a presentation of the criticism of his style by ancient authorities - and an analysis of the recurring argumentative schemata that underlie G.'s extant work. b) The Greek text, as it stands, embodies the readings that I adopt. c) The commentary on the extant texts and fragments is normally preceded by short Introductions, which are pertinent to the main problems of interpretation posed by the individual texts. The notes themselves normally include: i) a presentation of the textual problems and the possible solutions which have been proposed by previous scholars, together with the arguments that support the readings adopted in the text, ii) explanation of the text and its stylistic characteristics, iii) discussion of the individual arguments, and their role in the reasoning as a whole, and iv) where appropriate an analysis of the philosophical issues raised by the texts themselves.
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Cudjoe, Richard V. "The social and legal position of widows and orphans in classical Athens." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 2000. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/2101/.
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I have attempted in the following pages to examine Athenian law and customary practices that shaped the lives of widows and orphans in the society during the classical period, using evidence mainly from the Attic orators. The work has two main divisions classified as follows: (A): The Athenian Widow in Law and Society; (B): Orphans in Classical Athens. Among the main issues discussed in section A, are the impact of the cycle of wars (foreign and internal) and other demographic features on family life and structure, instances of family laws about widows and orphans, and what role the archon could play the protect the welfare of widows and orphans in the society. Other matters discussed also are the status of the widow's marriage and dowry at the death of her husband, her residential status, rights to maintenance and support, the question of remarriage among widows, and what influence the widow could exert in either her deceased husband's household or that of her kindred. The fundamental motives for the striking phenomenon of appointing nearest relatives as guardians of orphans are discussed in Section B. An attempt has also been made not only to resolve the seeming uncertainties among scholars as to whether or not an epikleros, the other of the two categories of females with special legal protection, could be claimed before her puberty at the death of her father, but to examine also her peculiar status in the family and kinship structure. Other issues discussed also in Section B are the assumption of responsibilities of guardians, how the duties of guardians reflected the social and legal status of orphans under their guardians, and the position of state orphans.
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Scott, Elizabeth Mary. "A critical analysis of the Scholia Demosthenica on the First Olynthiac." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 1991. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/3971/.
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The thesis consists of a critical analysis of the scholia Demosthenica on the First Olynthiac. The merits of the scholia are discussed through an examination of the different traditions of scholia on the speech. The thesis also contains a discussion of the value of the prolegomena Ulpiani and its relationship to the scholia proper. It is apparent that the author of the prolegomena was aware of different interpretations of the speech which have, in some cases, been preserved in the scholia. The sources of the scholia are examined and certain individuals have been identified as posible authors. Of particular interest is the possiblity that Menander Rhetor may be the author of a long unified commentary which is found in one codex. The influence of the Alexandrians appears to be less significant than is widely held. A summary of the development of commentaries and the function of scholia within that tradition is also provided. The thesis offers a complement to general works on rhetoric. The comments contained in the scholia and prolegomena are found to be perceptive and provide a fresh approach to the study of Demosthenes' speeches. There are clear indications that the scholia Demosthenica have been undervalued in the past.
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Van, den Groenendaal Wim. "Selbstdarstellung in Pindar's and Bacchylides' epinician odes composed for Sicilian laudandi." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 2006. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/3249/.
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An epinician ode is not only praise for a laudandus but also a form of civic discourse in which the laudandus conducts a debate inviting the audience to make a judgement. This enquiry investigates how the eighteen epinician odes composed by Pindar and Bacchylides for Sicilian laudandi accommodate the political and social aspirations of the patrons commissioning them. It also investigates how rhetoric contributes to the fulfilment of the encomiastic purpose in those odes. This enquiry situates the epinician odes in their proper historical context. It contrasts its findings with those of others. It concludes that in odes composed for laudandi other than tyrants the purpose of the debate is more often than not to counter suspicions which fellow citizens may harbour against the laudandus. However, the laudandi concerned appear to have been problematic already before they entered Panhellenic competition, and not, as some scholars think, because of their newly acquired status as Panhellenic victor. In particular, Pindar’s fifth and sixth Olympian odes are poems in which the suspicions of others are apparently countered as a matter of urgency. At the other end of the spectrum is Pindar’s first Nemean ode, arguably an ode composed for an unproblematic laudandus. This enquiry concludes that the presence of strategies of inclusion or exclusion is not determined by the status of the laudandus. It further concludes that odes composed for tyrants do not necessarily reflect a Herrschaftssystem: rather elements of Polisideologie are often used in these odes in the debate with the audience. Hence the variety of patron message employed in epinician odes is much greater than has hitherto been thought. Finally, this enquiry makes some observations on the development of odes composed for the Sicilian tyrants over time and links the observations with historical circumstances surrounding the Deinomenid and Emmenid tyrannies.
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Halliwell, Jonathan Miles. "Epinician precepts : a study of Chiron and the wise adviser in Pindar." Thesis, University of Birmingham, 2009. http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/257/.
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This thesis offers a fresh appraisal of the wise adviser in Pindar's epinician poetry. By focusing on the prominent figure of Chiron, it shows how Pindar engages with the paraenetic tradition in a way that reveals the distinctive character of the epinician poet. The first part of the study explores the function of Chiron as an interactive model for Pindar as poet-teacher. Chapter 1 examines how the mythical pedagogue enhances the status of the poet as wise adviser by illuminating the moral character of his advice. It shows how the relationship between teacher and pupil in the myth provides a model for that of poet and addressee and enables the poet to present his advice indirectly. In two separate case studies, I explore how Chiron's paradigmatic associations interact with the poet as adviser. In Chapter 2 (Nemean 3), I argue that the poet dramatises the instruction of a pupil as part of a collaborative and interactive form of learning. In Chapter 3 (Pythian 3), I argue that Pindar reconfigures preceptual instruction in a 'dialogue' between two speakers who enact the pedagogic relationship of Chiron and Asclepius. This strategy allows the poet to present his teaching tactfully and authoritatively. I conclude that Chiron is a figure for the poet as tactful and authoritative adviser and contributes to the poet's creation of a 'paraenetic encomium'. Secondly, this study of the reception and remodelling of the paraenetic tradition in Pindar illuminates the distinctive character of his advice and its central importance in Pindar's construction of poetic and moral authority.
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Wolstencroft, Sarah May. "Generic refashioning and poetic self-presentation in Horace's Satires and Epodes." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 2017. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/7948/.
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This thesis will examine Horace’s two books of Satires and his collection of Epodes and will look at three main aspects of the collections: how the three volumes are connected through a shared dialogue with each other, the issue of genre and the task of literary self- fashioning against a problematic political landscape. In particular, I will look at the influence of Lucilius on Horace and show how Horace’s reworking of Lucilian satire plays a vital role in his presentation of himself and his development as a poet. I will examine the Lucilian allusions and intertextuality found within Horace’s work and will show how Horace’s treatment of iambic poetry is connected to his refashioning of Lucilian satire. Horace’s first book of Satires, where the poet announces himself with his updated version of Lucilius’ genre, works as a vital reference point for the following two collections. I will show how the three volumes are linked through repeated references to and echoes of each other as Horace employs his previous work for different effects throughout the collections. I will examine how Horace continually uses what has gone before – either his own work or that of his generic predecessor Lucilius – to progress and establish himself as a poet. I will also consider the political context of Horace’s early work and the effect of this on Horace’s establishment as a poet and his handling of different genres. I will show how Horace adopts and adapts satire and iambic poetry to create literary works appropriate for both the poetic and political tastes of his time.
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May, Gina. "Aristophanes and Euripides : a palimpsestuous relationship." Thesis, University of Kent, 2012. https://kar.kent.ac.uk/47429/.
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Aristophanes allows Euripides to interrupt constantly. In Athenian comedy of the fifth century they are on stage together, both literally and figuratively. Despite Aristophanes’ comedies having a meaning of their own, Euripides’ lines are so clearly visible underneath them that they can only be described as the verbal equivalent of a palimpsest. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a palimpsest as a manuscript or piece of writing on which later writing has superimposed or effaced earlier writing, or something reused or altered but still bearing visible traces of its earlier form. It is clear that a palimpsest is the product of layering that results in something as new, whilst still bearing traces of the original. Dillon describes the palimpsest as " ... an involuted phenomenon where otherwise unrelated texts are involved and entangled, intricately interwoven, interrupting and inhabiting each other". Aristophanes takes texts, particularly those of Euripides, which may otherwise have been unrelated, and weaves them together to form something new. I will show that in a number of cases Aristophanes offers scenes that have already been performed in Euripides’ plays but lays his own plot over the tragedian’s, whilst at the same time drawing the audiences’ attention to the original. The nature of this borrowing overwrites Kristeva’s theory of ‘intertextuality’ and provides a new and more apposite name for the permutation of texts in which the geno-text corresponds to infinite possibilities of palimpsestuous textuality (and the pheno-text to a singular text, which contains echoes of what it could have been). The plurality of Euripides’ texts, whilst engendering those of Aristophanes, constantly interrupts them. Through the consideration of ancient and modern literary theory and by a close analysis of Aristophanes’ and Euripides’ plays, this thesis sets out to offer a new reading of the relationship between these two poets. It shows that they were engaged in a dialogue of reciprocal influence that came to a head at the end of the Peloponnesian War.
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Gowling, Eric. "Aetius of Amida. Libri Medicinales Book 1 : a translation with commentary." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 2015. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/6174/.
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This work is the first translation into a modern language of book 1 of the Libri Medicinales of Aëtius of Amida, a Byzantine physician who wrote in the middle of the 6th century AD. It comprises a lengthy preface, describing the analysis of pharmacological materials in terms of the science of the time, followed by 418 chapters, listing such materials obtained from plants. Commentary is to be found in the Introduction, as well as a running commentary after each part of the preface and each chapter. As Aëtius’ book 1 is a synopsis of the plants section of Galen’s On the Mixtures and Capacities of Simple Drugs, particular attention is paid to comparison between Aëtius’ work and that of Galen. Evaluation of the efficacy and safety of the ancient drugs in the light of modern scientific knowledge, a relatively neglected area of research, has also been given serious consideration.
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Haywood, Jan Liam Thomas. "Intertext and allusion in Herodotus' Histories : authority, proof, polemic." Thesis, University of Liverpool, 2013. http://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/12277/.
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This study considers anew the central question of Herodotus’ relationship with literary and textual sources. It examines how Herodotus comes to define his own work in a context where many artists (both narrative and visual) are seeking to accumulate, delineate, and ultimately dictate cultural memory. Rather than applying traditional Quellenforschung, my analysis centres on examining significant intertextual and allusive relationships in his work. In each chapter, I address the nature of Herodotus’ engagement with certain textual rivals/genres, namely early prose writers, inscriptions, poets (expecially Homer, Simonides, Aeschylus, Sophocles), and oracles. From this emerges a highly nuanced engagement with myriad texts in the Histories (principally: as authoritative voices; as persuasive evidence; and as voices for disputation). Such engagement furnishes considerable authority for the writer of the Histories, to the extent that he provides a superior view of the past, compared to the more limited, partisan perspectives offered by his textual rivals. My study reinforces the salient point that Herodotus is no historian in any modern sense of the word; his interaction with other literary traditions does not appear in a way that is expected of an academic monograph. Nevertheless the evidence for his engagement with a wide and diverse group of texts—both contemporary and non-contemporary—clearly militates against the consensual view that Herodotus was working with predominantly unfixed, oral traditions. Indeed, through this interplay with other literary works Herodotus most clearly defines for the reader his own unique intellectual achievement: the invention of historiography.
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Hulse, Peter. "A commentary on the Argonautica of Apollonius Rhodius, Book 4, 1–481." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 2015. http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/30589/.
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Before the publication of Professor Richard Hunter’s Cambridge Classics edition in August 2015, the last large-scale commentary on Apollonius Rhodius’ Argonautica Book 4 was that of Enrico Livrea in Italian in 1973, though mention should be made of the Budé volumes edited by Vian (1974–81). During this period the literary study of the poem has undergone a virtual revolution. The present thesis is an attempt to update and advance the work of the poem’s previous editors. It is intended as a prolegomenon to a commentary on the whole Book. Apollonius’ epic is an outstanding example of Hellenistic poetic practice, embodying all of its allusive qualities. It draws on the entire tradition of previous Greek literature, while maintaining an innovative point-of-view. This commentary tries to elucidate Apollonius’ experiments with respect to all aspects of style and narration, viewing him both as an important literary critic, closely involved in maintaining the inheritance of Classical Greece, and as a creative artist intent on developing an individual voice. The section chosen for commentary exhibits many aspects of Apollonius’ artistry: passages of atmospheric description, action sequences which speed the narrative, speeches, in some of which irony predominates while in others rhetoric prevails, similes which often contain fine images and a macabre climax of chilling power which achieves its effects through a number of striking and original details. There are, therefore, many reasons why the poem as a whole was enormously influential on Latin epic, especially on Virgil’s Aeneid, and why the story and Apollonius’ methods of retelling it enjoyed such an important reception in the European tradition.
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Wilshere, Nicholas. "Homerus ubique : Lucian's use of Homer." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 2015. http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/29999/.
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It has been long acknowledged that Lucian employs various forms of allusion to the Iliad and Odyssey across his writings. This thesis builds on previous studies — which have produced taxonomic analyses of allusion, (mis)quotation and parody — to explore more fully the intertextual richness and complexity of Lucian’s writing that such approaches can paradoxically conceal. Works such as Charon, Hercules, Alexander and several of the miniature dialogues are examined in depth, especially those which have received less attention previously and those in which Lucian can be most clearly seen engaging with the Homeric text, whether at the level of whole scenes, through quotation of short passages, by the construction of parodies and centos, or in drawing attention to lexical details. This examination reveals how such techniques are used to signal Lucian’s close familiarity with the author who was the ultimate talisman of sophistic paideia. Lucian is revealed as re-reading and re-presenting Homer in clever, mischievous, even ‘postmodern’ ways to produce striking effects which make his work both accessible and amusing to ancient audiences across a range of levels of education, from those who knew the main features of Homeric stories and language to those who were intimately familiar with allegorical interpretations of Homer and Alexandrian scholarly controversies over textual minutiae. This is complemented by analysis of Lucian’s presentation of material from the biographical traditions about Homer as man and poet, a topic which has been less studied but which leads to consideration of the role played by Homer both in Lucian’s reflections on truth and lying and in the examination, by this Greek-speaking Syrian, of cultural relations between Greeks and non-Greeks in the cosmopolitan Mediterranean world of the second century.
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Mottram, Philip. "A commentary on Statius Thebaid 6. 1-192." Thesis, University of Liverpool, 2012. http://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/8453/.
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The commentary examines the first 192 verses of Thebaid 6, which describe the preparation and events before the funeral of Ophletes/Archemorus. The commentary explores the cultural effect and “affect” of the text. Philological and intertextual issues are discussed throughout. Textual problems are treated where appropriate. The introduction provides an overview of major themes, concepts and contexts. In the commentary itself, discursive notes introduce shorter lemmata that encompass textual, metrical, linguistic and cultural-historical issues as well as literary interpretation. Theb.6.1-24 describes the summoning of competitors to the first games at Nemea, places those games within the tradition of the other Panhellenic games and finishes with the first simile in the book. The commentary discusses the epinician, aetiological and anachronistic features of the language here and introduces the concept of the “hanging simile”. vv. 25-53 describe an “epic” Dawn, detail the lamenting in and around the palace and summarize the consolation speech of Adrastus. The commentary examines how reader expectations are defeated and how Roman and Greek rituals merge at this point. The rhetorical features of consolatio and the ineffectiveness of oratory to console are considered. vv. 54-83 focus is on the funeral couch of Opheltes. The commentary discusses the metapoetic comment in this passage; also the use of ekphrasis and the emotional significance of the gifts placed on the pyre. vv. 84-117 detail the cutting down of the grove for the funeral pyre, following aspects of the traditional topos and finishing on a second simile, the latter anachronistically describing direptio. The commentary draws out the Greek and indigenous Italian elements of this passage and shows how the language foreshadows future conflict. The animated and hyperreal nature of the landscape is explained in the commentary. vv. 118-134 the gods above and below are given equal altars and the funeral procession starts. The commentary discusses the infernal gods in the context of the poem, elucidating Roman and “Oriental”, as well as Greek, motifs. vv.135-192 Eurydice, mother of Opheltes begins a lament but, on seeing Hypsipyle, she turns it into a recriminatory speech. The commentary examines her speech as an intertextual node around which other mothers, distraught and guilty because of a lost child, can be seen. Her speech, language and non-verbal communication are then associated with these intertexts. Focus is also upon how the speech changes in terms of tone, elevation and erratic structure, and illuminates the historical/eternal conflict between birth mother and wet-nurse. The generic relationship between epic narrative and dramatic structures, such as tragedy and mime are made throughout the commentary especially at 25-192.
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Harman, Robert Sean. "Plautus' Epidicus 1-305 : introduction, text, translation, commentary." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 2016. http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/33546/.
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Plautus’ Epidicus focuses on the titular cunning slave, who is on stage for all but 15 of these first 305 lines, and his attempts to rescue himself from certain punishment, after his initial scheme almost collapses with news of a change of heart from his young master. He brings about a dizzying number of deceptions to extricate himself, eventually winning his freedom at the expense of virtually every other character. This commentary aims to recuperate what has all too often been seen as one of Plautus’ minor works, by demonstrating how several alleged incongruities have been misinterpreted, how Epidicus controls and shapes the many plots and plans of this breakneck play, and how the compactness of this drama makes for a unique and compelling comedy. The focus is on the performance and dramatic value of Epidicus, bringing in approaches which have developed since George Duckworth’s 1940 commentary, the last in English. The format enables both line-by-line discussion of the text and approaches to sections and scenes as a whole. Linguistic, metrical and textual discussion are brought to the play anew, building on recent research to not merely explain what the quirks of Plautus’ language, metre and text are, but what it is they do. In all, this thesis aims to fulfil Malcolm Willcock’s desideratum for ‘any general view that this is actually a well conceived, witty and enjoyable play’ – and indeed to provide not merely a general view of its worth, but a detailed and thorough approach to its excellence.
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Kirk, Sonya. ""Whatever you do, do not let a boy grow up without Latin" : a comparative study of nineteenth-century Latin textbooks in English and Prussian education." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 2016. http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/33080/.
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Considering textbooks as cultural artefacts that both reflect prevailing paradigms and construct knowledge (Issitt 2004; Apple 2004), this research compares nineteenth-century Latin textbooks intended for pupils in England with those intended for pupils in Prussia in the light of their differing educational, linguistic and social contexts. This dissertation fills a gap in Anglo-German historiography for the nineteenth century from three intertwined perspectives: cultural history, the history of education and the history of linguistic ideas, by investigating how textbook authors treated Latin grammar in the light of cultural ideologies (including the role of Classics in elite education, education for empire) and developments in pedagogy and philology, at a time when formal education was just becoming established, and when curriculum design, educational administration, and educational philosophy in England were all heavily influenced by German scholarship. Using a corpus of 100 Latin textbooks used in nineteenth-century England and Prussia, textbook content was examined both quantitatively and qualitatively. The results show that nineteenth-century Latin textbooks intended for pupils in England and Prussia conveyed different cultural information to their respective audiences. Challenging popular belief, pedagogical findings from this research demonstrate that Latin textbooks included a range of innovative teaching methods and techniques. As Latin is a ‘dead’ language, it is commonly perceived to be linguistically static, but by analysing the linguistic presentation of the Latin language in nineteenth-century textbooks, we find that some of the most basic linguistic components of Latin, such as the alphabet and the noun case system, were reconsidered and altered. This research shows that, though foreign language textbooks are under-studied, they offer insight into cultural history, the history of teaching and learning and the history of linguistic ideas which can be found in no other source and, ultimately, contextualise the current state of foreign language teaching.
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Graham, Sarah Jane. "Classical elements in early Christian depictions of the afterlife." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 2018. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/30739/.
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This thesis is entitled ‘Classical Elements in Early Christian Depictions of the Afterlife’. Taking an approach influenced by Reception studies, it explores some key moments where Christians engage in a dialogue with their pagan predecessors. The focus is primarily on Latin literature, although a limited selection of art and Greek literature has been included where particularly revealing. The aim of this work is to use a series of case studies in order to demonstrate the cross-pollination of ideas and to show that in late antiquity, Christian authors in the Latin West were reacting to their pagan antecedents in a variety of different ways. Through close readings of several key texts this thesis will examine moments of cultural interchange and allow us to think about some specific and illuminating examples of a complex and nuanced relationship. In the first few centuries AD Christian ideas about what happens when we die were still fluid, so the afterlife provides a particularly fruitful basis for exploring wider questions about the relationship between paganism and Christianity.
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Heydon, Kendell A. "Constructions of Spartan masculinity in Classical Athenian prose." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 2018. http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/52181/.
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Employing a methodological approach informed by sociological social constructionist theories of gender, I endeavour to explore representations of Spartan masculinity in the works of Xenophon Thucydides and Plato, to gain better understanding of portrayals and usages of ideologies of Spartan masculinity in Classical Athenian philosophical and historical works. I structure my project by focusing on seven categories which constructionists believe to be important to the formation of masculinity. My aim is to demonstrate the utility of this methodological framework for exploring historical masculinities and to contend that there is no singular representation of Spartan masculinity within Classical Athenian prose. Rather, representations of Spartan masculinity are complex and multifaceted, with authors constructing and employing different ideologies of Spartan masculinity situationally and for a variety of purposes, both internal and external to the texts. In chapter one, I examine Xenophon’s Spartan Constitution, demonstrating the role of masculine ideals in the “Lycurgan” system and suggesting Xenophon depicts Spartan masculinity as highly competitive and performative in nature. In chapter two, I examine Plato’s Laws and Republic, to demonstrate that Plato portrays Spartan masculine ideals as playing a prominent role in the imbalanced development of Spartan character. I also analyse Plato’s depiction of the auxiliary guardians to suggest that problematic elements he associates with Spartan men are unresolved, even within his idealised polis. In chapter three, I explore Thucydides’ History. I elucidate the role of masculine ideals in characterisations of Spartan individuals and the Spartan polis and argue that characters’ redefinition of Spartan masculine ideals is portrayed as politically useful in the text. Finally, in chapter four, I examine Xenophon’s historical works, focusing primarily on the Hellenica. I explore a number of episodes to demonstrate characters’ employment of masculine ideals for political purposes, to demonstrate correspondences between masculine ideals identified in the Lac. and Xenophon’s characterisations of Spartan individuals in the Hellenica and argue that hegemonic masculinity is observable in depictions of of Spartan societal processes and mechanisms.
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Mussio, Eva. "Allegory in Joseph and Aseneth : three studies of narrative and exegesis." Thesis, University of Warwick, 2011. http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/49065/.
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The present work considers the novel of Joseph and Aseneth (J & A) as an allegorical text which was transmitted in various cultural environments, potentially from the poly-cultural background of Hellenistic Judaism to the time of the novel's extant manuscripts in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. While positing that J & A was conceived as a versatile text around the time of the rise of the ancient Greek novel, the thesis highlights the sophisticated literary features of this religious text. In fact, the imagery of J & A is loaded with further significance, touching upon mystical themes which can be compared with pagan testimonies of arcane lore and mysteries. Moreover, typical scenes in J & A are devised by means of complex rhetorical strategies, which contributed to the addition of further senses to the story. Indeed, the allegorical discourse which can be detected in J & A conferred to the novel a plain narrative surface, while leaving a deeper significance for its readers and interpreters to decode. In this respect, J & A is brought closer to Classical texts such as the ancient novels and Homeric literature, because its narrative allowed subsequent interpretations and even adaptations of the story in different cultural and religious contexts. While points of contact between J & A and pagan, Jewish and Christian allegorical texts may be only suggestive, the present analysis hopes to envisions a few proposals for the early purpose and aftermath of J & A from its hypothetical original milieu in Hellenistic Judaism to the end of Antiquity.
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Bremner, Sarah Janet Alexandrina. "Athenian ideology in Demosthenes' deliberative oratory : hailing the dēmos." Thesis, University of Birmingham, 2017. http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/7439/.
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This thesis examines Demosthenes’ rhetorical use of Athenian ideology in his deliberative speeches from 351-341 BCE. I argue that during this period of crisis, which is usually narrated in terms of conflict with Macedonia, Demosthenes confronts an internal crisis within the Assembly. While Demosthenes’ deliberative speeches have traditionally been defined as ‘Philippic’, this thesis argues that the speeches do not prioritise an ‘Anti- Macedonian’ agenda, but rather focus on confronting the corruption of the deliberative decision-making process. Due to an attitude of apathy and neglect, Demosthenes’ rhetoric suggests that their external problems are a direct product of this internal crisis, both of which are perpetuated by their failure to recognise how self-sabotaging practices undermine the polis from within. As he asserts in On the Chersonese and the Third Philippic, they cannot hope to deal with their external situation before they deal with their internal crisis. To address this, I argue that Demosthenes’ parrhēsia interweaves criticism of the dēmos with the praise of Athens, using social memory and past exempla both to recall and prescribe didactically the attitudes central to Athenian identity. As such, I propose that the deliberative speeches do not confront a ‘Macedonian Question’, but a fundamentally Athenian one.
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Schuppert, Victoria Alice. "Legal reforms and dystopian discourse between the ancient and modern world : a comparative study of political change, law, and rhetoric." Thesis, University of Birmingham, 2018. http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/8059/.
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This thesis explores the significance of political change, law, and rhetoric in imaginary cities that feature animals and women as ‘Others.’ It studies dramatic and philosophical texts, from Aeschylean tragedy, Aristophanic comedy, and Platonic dialogue in ancient Greece to modern works, including Thomas More’s Utopia in 16th-century England and the utopias and dystopias of the 20th-century, in order to offer a discourse between the ancient and modern world. I demonstrate that each of these texts can be compared on a rhetorical and jurisprudential level, which allows us to examine how different characters engage with different forms of power in a setting which at least begins by being democratic. This enables us to trace the development of this strand of Western political thought over the last two thousand years, and to confront intractable political problems that recur throughout time. This confrontation helps us understand patterns of legal reforms and rhetoric and demonstrates that the concerns of Aristophanes and Plato can also be found in modern paradigms. The recourse to the utopian and dystopian fantastic, the seemingly apolitical animal world, and the differently organised female sphere, offers new insight into the activities of law-making, city-planning, and rhetoric, both in antiquity and today.
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Demetriou, Galateia. "Modernist poetics of distance : George Seferis and Ezra Pound." Thesis, University of Birmingham, 2018. http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/8111/.
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This thesis offers the first full-length comparative study of George Seferis and Ezra Pound. The analysis begins by establishing, in the first chapter, a field of research by looking at the ways in which Pound was read, translated and received in Greece from 1935 onwards, and, in doing so, maps out the important Greek publications on Pound. Prominent among the discussed poets and translators, it is argued, Seferis showed a deeper affinity with Pound and developed a significantly similar modernist poetics at once singularly Greek and aligned with the Anglo-American example. This thesis, then, proceeds to elucidate the affinities between the two poets through a detailed comparative reading. The second chapter offers an in-depth analysis of the two poets’ views on translation theory and practice, building on Hugh Kenner’s concept of ‘touching distance’. The third chapter concentrates on the two poets’ responses to place in both their poetry and their travel writings, by problematising the conceptual ‘mobility’ of place at work in their writings. Through these explorations, this project offers insights on both poets individually and helps to broaden current understandings of their poetry and poetics comparatively, ultimately demonstrating that Seferis’ modernism, despite being articulated in Greek, was never far removed from high modernist poetics as represented by Pound.
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Comiati, Giacomo. "Horace in the Italian Renaissance (1498-1600)." Thesis, University of Warwick, 2015. http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/79572/.
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This dissertation aims to study the reception of the Latin poet Horace in the Italian Renaissance, taking into consideration works composed in several different genres both in Latin and Italian vernacular between 1498 and 1600. This thesis follows five main pathways of investigation: 1) to study the Renaissance biographies of the poet; 2) to analyse several exegetical works both in Horace’s single texts and his whole corpus; 3) to study the Italian translations written both in prose and verse which were made during the Cinquecento; 4) to study in depth those who imitated Horace in their lyrical and satirical poems composed in Italian; and 5) to examine those Neo-Latin poetical works (mainly pertaining to the lyrical and satirical genres). This dissertation points out that the numerous and various forms of Horatian reception help to evaluate the real flourishing of sixteenth-century interest in the Latin poet, interest that reflects the fact that Horace was part of the new Renaissance canon of classical authorities. Within the sixteenth-century conflict of cultures, Horace appears as one of the main protagonists of the critical and literary scenes, as is shown by the attention that his works received from the point of view of editions, commentaries, and translations respectively, as well as by the fact that his texts were placed at the centre of several literary imitative practices, his example being able to offer the Renaissance one important basis upon which to found part of its new culture. Indeed, Horace allowed the emergence of an ethical strain to the Renaissance lyric, as well as contributing to the provision of rules for sixteenth-century literary criticism.
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Crane, Andrew Mark. "Roman attitudes to peace in the Late Republican and Early Imperial periods : from Greek origins to contemporary evidence." Thesis, University of Kent, 2014. https://kar.kent.ac.uk/44166/.
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Pax Romana is often seen as an aggressive force, imposing the will of Rome on her empire. Perhaps it is because of this that Roman authors are often seen as having a dismissive view of peace and an admiration, if not a love, of war. The only literary area where this has been questioned at any length is in verse, most fully by the elegists. This thesis, therefore, focuses on the concept of peace in the philosophy and historiography of late republican and early imperial Rome, drawing examples from classical Greece and early Christian texts when necessary. The first section acts as an introduction to the possibility of a more positive attitude to peace by examining the most striking negative presentations of war: just war theory and civil wars. The second section examines the main philosophical schools from the period and argues that the Stoics, Cynics and Epicureans share pacifistic views that are not merely utopian but are grounded in important tenets of their respective philosophies: oikeiosis, cosmopolitanism, and the unimportance of material and physical virtues for the Stoics and Cynics; divine self-sufficiency, the avoidance of pain, and the importance of friendship for the Epicureans. Some even willingly reject more traditionally Roman values, like gloria, because they conflicted with the philosophical antipathy to warfare. An examination of the usages of the terms pax and concordia in the historians of the time argues that the dominant view, that they were suspicious of peace, is not wholly accurate. Sallust and Livy provide numerous examples that suggest a more open attitude to peace and, at times, even seem to share some of the pacifistic beliefs of the philosophers. Further, even the more militaristic historians can present peace as a state preferable to war.
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Kikusawa, Namiko. "The subjunctive mood in Late Middle English adverbial clauses : the interaction of form and function." Thesis, University of Glasgow, 2017. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/7887/.
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This thesis focuses on the history of the inflexional subjunctive and its functional substitutes in Late Middle English. To explore why and how the inflexional subjunctive declined in the history of English language, I analysed 2653 examples of three adverbial clauses introduced by if (1882 examples), though (305 examples) and lest (466 examples). Using a corpus-based approach, this thesis argues that linguistic change in subjunctive constructions did not happen suddenly but rather gradually, and the way it changed was varied , and that different constructions changed at different speeds in different environments. It is well known that the inflexional subjunctive declined in the history of English, mainly because of inflexional loss. Strangely however this topic has been comparatively neglected in the scholarly literature, especially with regard to the Middle English period, probably due to the limitations of data and also because study of this development requires very cumbersome textual research. This thesis has derived and analysed the data from three large corpora in the public domain: the Middle English Grammar Corpus (MEG-C for short), the Innsbruck Computer Archive of Machine-Readable English Texts (ICAMET for short), and some selected texts from The Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse, part of the Middle English Compendium that also includes the Middle English Dictionary. The data were analysed from three perspectives: 1) clausal type, 2) dialect, and 3) textual genre. The basic methodology for the research was to analyse the examples one by one, with special attention being paid to the peculiarities of each text. In addition, this thesis draw on some complementary – indeed overlapping -- linguistic theories for further discussion: 1) Biber’s multi-dimensional theory, 2) Ogura and Wang’s (1994) S-curve or ‘diffusion’ theory, 3) Kretzchmar’s (2009) linguistics of speech, and 4) Halliday’s (1987) notion of language as a dynamic open system. To summarise the outcomes of this thesis: 1) On variation between clausal types, it was shown that the distributional tendencies of verb types (sub, ind, mod) are different between the three adverbial clauses under consideration. 2) On variation between dialects, it has been shown that the northern area, i.e. the so-called Great Scandinavian Belt, displays an especially high comparative ratio of the inflexional subjunctive construction compared to the other areas. This thesis suggests that this result was caused by the influence of Norse, relating the finding to the argument of Samuels (1989) that the present tense -es ending in the northern dialect was introduced by the influence of the Scandinavians. 3) On variation between genres, those labelled Science, Documents and Religion display relatively high ratio of the inflexional subjunctive, while Letter, Romance and History show relatively low ratio of the inflexional subjunctive. This results are explained by Biber’s multi-dimensional theory, which shows that the inflexional subjunctive can be related to the factors ‘informational’, ‘non-narrative’, ‘persuasive’ and ‘abstract’. 4) Lastly, on the inflexional subjunctive in Late Middle English, this thesis concludes that 1) the change did not happen suddenly but gradually, and 2) the way language changes varies. Thus the inflexional subjunctive did not disappear suddenly from England, and there was a time lag among the clausal types, dialects and genres, which can be related to Ogura and Wang’s S-curve (“diffusion”) theory and Kretzchmars’s view of “linguistic continuum”. This thesis has shown that the issues with regard to the inflexional subjunctive are quite complex, so that research in this area requires not only textual analysis but also theoretical analysis, considering both intra- and extra- linguistic factors.
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Muzica, Evghenii. "'A place where three roads meet' : Sophocles's Oedipus and Shakespeare's Hamlet after Freud." Thesis, University of Warwick, 2006. http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/1178/.
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The dissertation presents a detailed investigation of Sophocles' Oedipus and Shakespeare's Hamlet in the context of Freud's comparison of the plays, sketched out in a number of his early writings (most notably The Interpretation of Dreams) but never pursued at length either by him or by any later critics. The interest of the current investigation is not inspired simply by the absence of such a detailed comparison, on the one hand, and by its constant implication in the modem analysis of the plays in question, on the other. The particular inspiration for the current project is the work of Jean Laplanche that in the last forty years has been dedicated to a fundamental reconceptualisation of Freud's theory of the human subject by way of return to the questions of the seduction and otherness. Equally inspiring for the current project have been the recent developments in the non-psychoanalytic analyses of tragedy (ancient Greek, Elizabethan, and as genre as such) that consistently aspire to cross the boundaries of the traditional textual-historicist approach to the literary text in order to accommodate the particularly heterogeneous nature of their object of study. Thus, the current project provides a comprehensive analysis of Sophocles' Oedipus and Shakespeare's Hamlet, successively, at the intersection of psychoanalytic and other (philological and philosophical) approaches to tragedy, paying attention not only to the texts of the tragedies themselves but to the narrative-mythological, dramatic, and, in the case of Sophocles, translational tradition to which they pertain. The relevance of Freudian categories to the texts and genre in question is thus thoroughly examined. As a result, the conclusion is reached that it is specifically through Laplanchean reconceptualisation of Freud's notion of seduction (and the related notions of the enigmatic message, the other, translation and transference) that a psychoanalytic approach becomes more amenable to the needs of literary analysis. The application of Laplanchean categories to the analysis of these tragedies helps to elucidate the role of the father with new precision (in comparison with the previous mother-centred approaches to these tragedies). In its main body, the dissertation consists of a general Introduction, analytical sections on Sophocles' Oedipus and Shakespeare's Hamlet, Conclusion, and the list of the consulted works.
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Palechorou, Irene. "How can educational drama be used to facilitate the acquisition of Greek as an additional language by ethnic minority pupils in a Cypriot primary classroom?" Thesis, University of Warwick, 2011. http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/50021/.
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Globalisation along with dramatic increases in immigration, have led to increased levels of diversification in modern societies. The rapid change of the Cypriot society to a multicultural and multilingual one has resulted in the presence of a multitude of additional languages in Cypriot primary classrooms, reinforcing the concern for the education of pupils whose first language is other than the dominant language of the country. As a primary school teacher I am concerned in developing an effective pedagogy that can support these pupils’ additional language learning. Thus, the specific action research project at the heart of this research examines how educational drama can be used to facilitate the acquisition of Greek as an additional language by ethnic minority pupils in a Cypriot primary classroom. Throughout this thesis language learning is understood as a social construct, a continual, negotiated exchange of meanings, between the child and the environment, drawing on social theories of language that stress the overarching importance of cultural and social interactions for second language learning. Guided by theory, this research argues for the inter-relationship between social and linguistic processes and how specific drama strategies enable both one and the other. Evidence from this research suggests that a dramatic context that reflects the cultural and linguistic diversity of the classroom has a positive effect in GAL students’ affective variables, and particularly the socio-cultural factors and the personal variables within oneself, as well as the affect on L2 learning of the reflection of that self to other people. Illustrative drama schemes, developed throughout the project, together with concrete examples of children’s work are provided to represent more clearly how living contexts and fictitious worlds can be created within which the different functions of language can be identified and developed. At the same time unconventional and anxiety-reducing strategies for assessing second language learning are presented.