Sophistic Views of the Epic Past from the Classical to the Imperial Age

Dr Paola Bassino, Dr Nicolò Benzi (Herausgeber)

Buch | Softcover

256 Seiten

2023
Bloomsbury Academic (Verlag)
978-1-350-25580-7 (ISBN)

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This collection of essays sheds new light on the relationship between two of the main drivers of intellectual discourse in ancient Greece: the epic tradition and the Sophists. The contributors show how throughout antiquity the epic tradition proved a flexible instrument to navigate new political, cultural, and philosophical contexts. The Sophists, both in the Classical and the Imperial age, continuously reconfigured the value of epic poetry according to the circumstances: using epic myths allowed the Sophists to present themselves as the heirs of traditional education, but at the same time this tradition was reshaped to encapsulate new questions that were central to the Sophists’ intellectual agenda.

This volume is structured chronologically, encompassing the ancient world from the Classical Age through the first two centuries AD. The first chapters, on the First Sophistic, discuss pivotal works such as Gorgias’ Encomium of Helen and Apology of Palamedes, Alcidamas’ Odysseus or Against the Treachery of Palamedes, and Antisthenes’ pair of speeches Ajax and Odysseus, as well as a range of passages from Plato and other authors. The volume then moves on to discuss some of the major works of literature from the Second Sophistic dealing with the epic tradition. These include Lucian’s Judgement of the Goddesses and Dio Chrysostom’s orations 11 and 20, as well as Philostratus’ Heroicus and Imagines.

Paola Bassino is Senior Lecturer in Classical Studies, University of Winchester, UK. Her recent publications include The 'Certamen Homeri et Hesiodi' (2018) and (as co-editor) Conflict and Consensus in Early Greek Hexameter Poetry (2017). Nicolò Benzi is Honorary Research Fellow in the Department of Greek & Latin at UCL and in the Department of Classics, Ancient History, Archaeology and Egyptology at the University of Manchester UK. His research interests focus on the intersection between philosophy and literature, in particular in Archaic and early Classical Greece. He has published articles on early Greek philosophical poetry and its relation to epic and lyric poetry.

Introduction - Paola Bassino and Nicolò Benzi (University of Winchester, UK)

1. Between Homer and Gorgias: Helen’s Bewitching Power - Roberta Ioli (University of Rome Tor Vergata, Italy)
2. Palamedes, the Sophistic Hero - Paola Bassino (University of Winchester, UK)
3. Ajax Versus Odysseus - Hugo Koning (University of Leiden, Netherlands)
4. Mythological Role Playing among the Sophists - Kathryn Morgan (UCLA, USA)
5. Homeric Exegesis and Athetesis in Lucian’s Versions of the Judgement of Paris - Nicholas Wilshere (University Of Nottingham, UK)
6. Homer’s Lies and Dio’s Truth? Subverting the Epic Past in Dio Chrysostom’s Trojan Oration - Isidor Brodersen (University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany)
7. Helen Was Never Abducted, Paris Abducted Her Because He Was Bored: Two Ways of Rewriting Homer In Dio Chrysostom (Orr. 11 And 20) - Sara Tirrito (University of Nantes, France / University of Turin, Italy)
8. A Rhetorical Trojan War: Philostratus’ Heroicus, The Power of Language and the Construction of the Truth - Valentin Decloquement (University Of Ghent, Belgium)
9. Reading Homer and the Epic Cycle through Ekphrasis: Philostratus’ Epic Imagines - Sophie Schoess (University of St Andrews, UK)

Notes
Bibliography
Index

Erscheinungsdatum	04.05.2023
Verlagsort	London
Sprache	englisch
Maße	156 x 234 mm
Themenwelt	Geschichte ► Allgemeine Geschichte ► Vor- und Frühgeschichte
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Philosophie ► Philosophie Altertum / Antike
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Anglistik / Amerikanistik
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Literaturwissenschaft
ISBN-10	1-350-25580-7 / 1350255807
ISBN-13	978-1-350-25580-7 / 9781350255807
Zustand	Neuware