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The purpose of this paper is to carry out a case study on the Apollonian Medea-in-love portrayed in the 3rd book of Argonautica and puts forward several aspects on love theme and epic characteristics inspired by tradition of the classical Athenian tragedy, particularly by Euripides. This analysis emphasises that Medea of Euripides was not the sole tragic model of the Apollonian heroine by demonstrating the Apollonian Medea depicted in the 3rd book echoes Phaedra’s characteristics from Hippolytus-tragedy (cf. among lines 373-524) with regard to the motifs of uprising and wicked love. Finally, it attempts to address few secondary literary elements also inspired by Euripides’ Hippolytus, which underline the theory that Apollonius alludes to Phaedra’s state of mind and the play in greater details.
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The aim of the paper is to examine the Apollonian narration about Boutes. Mentioned never before in the tradition, he seems to belong to the many minor characters of the Argonautica, who could emerge into the surface of the events only being heroi eponymoi of local aetiological myths giving a historical-geographical credibility to the narration. Nevertheless, the myth of Boutes is more profound than a marginal foundation story. While his name evokes pastoral ideas, his figure is strictly attached to Orpheus, which places him into an aesthetic context. He becomes protagonist at the crucial meeting with the Sirens, when Orpheus, to save his fellows, opposes the dangerous voice of bird-maidens by making curious sounds, without being able to prevent Boutes, captivated by the song of Sirens, from jumping into the see and swimming to them. The man lost in the waves is saved by Aphrodite, who raises him as paredros at her mountain sanctuary. The article, after analyzing the relationship of the new Apollonian myth with the Homeric episode of Sirens, searches other literary models of this particular story. The figure of the shepherd delighted by the music and semi-divinised by the love of a goddess evokes the Hesiodic scene of poetical initiation as well as the figure of Anchises, shepherd-musician of the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite, while the iuxtaposition of a shepherd and the Sirens would make an allusion to the Platonic passage on enthusiasm in Phaedrus. The story of Boutes can be regarded as an indirect poetic commentary on these main texts of the Greek aesthetics thought about poetry and knowledge.
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Research on the “Socratic problem” has lately posed a strong challenge for the belief that anything of considerable importance might be ascertained about the historical Socrates beyond some basic facts about him. Sceptics today argue that the Socratic problem is a pseudo-issue, fundamentally because they consider both Plato’s and Xenophon’s reports about him as examples of the so-called sokratikos logos, a genre not meant to represent Socrates with historical accuracy. Th is essay is an attempt to provide some novel methodological considerations that avert a radically sceptical conclusion about the Socratic problem. It fi rst argues that we need to focus on the trial of Socrates and compare Plato’s and Xenophon’s accounts of it, through exploring the dissimilarity of their authorial intentions and of their views of Socrates in general, and assess the compatibility of their accounts with our historical knowledge of contemporary Athens. As a fi rst part of such a comparison, this essay analyses Xenophon’s authorial intentions and argues that in view of some basic facts about Socrates, our knowledge of the era and the circumstances of the trial, Xenophon’s account is not plausible historically. On the basis of its shortcomings, it outlines some theoretical criteria that a historically reliable account must meet. It suggests that Plato’s Apology complies with these criteria, but assigns the task of exploring its historical plausibility to further study.
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According to Book 6 of the Nicomachean Ethics, the primary task of phronēsis (practical wisdom) is to deliberate about the things that are good in general for each person. However, phronēsis concerns not only individuals but also the community: practical wisdom is a political virtue as well. In my paper, I argue that the intellectual excellence called sunesis (comprehension) by Aristotle opens up the social dimension of practical wisdom, and thus provides an important means for the political application of phronēsis (EN 6. 1142b34−1143a32). To support my argument I interpret two further passages where sunesis appears in a clearly political context: in relation to legislation (EN 10. 1181a18) and to political deliberation (Pol. 4. 1291a28).
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This paper deals with some notorious passages of the Homeric Hymn to Hermes, which present problems of textual and interpretative nature. The first chapter investigates the sandal-making scene (82–86) in order to determine the real motivation of Hermes by this deed, and proposes a new conjecture for verse 86; the second chapter looks at the feigning-episode in the cave, analyses the skills of Hermes qua actor and tries to emend the corrupt line 242. Finally, the last chapter tracks Hermes’ ascent in the closing part of the Hymn from a cunning thief to an inspired bard without losing any of his former capacities.
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In the Persians, Aeschylus implies that Xerxes’ tragic downfall is caused by his violent arrogance. But the question of what exactly Xerxes’ hybris was is a point at issue. In this paper, after roughly presenting some important approaches to this question, I will try to indicate that there is a close connection between Xerxes’ hybris and the reason for behind his desire to enslave the Greeks. In what follows, I will defend the view that the essence of his hybris consists in the self-indulgent misuse of his authority in a futile aim merely to aggrandize himself.
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This paper is focused on the compositional features of Aratus’ Phaenomena and the poet’s strategy in proportioning astronomical and meteorological material. Apparently uneven as they are, two principal parts of the poem pose certain difficulties regarding the general importance of the meteorological signs and their relation to the astronomical ones. It seems that animals, playing their role in both parts of the Phaenomena, and both types of visible signs (i.e., as virtual shapes of heavenly bodies and real, terrestrial creatures) can provide a certain integrating key and better understanding of the poet’s strategic decisions in shaping the Phaenomena as a solid and seamless peace of poetry.
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Die Legende vom Troianer Antenor, der die Zerstörung von Troia überlebt, mit den Seinen an die Adria gekommen ist und dort ein Reich in Venetien oder auf Corcyra Nigra gegründet hat, wird an Hand der gesamten Quellenüberlieferung, soweit sie dem Verfasser bekannt ist, eingehend dargestellt. Die Behandlung dieses Motivs in der alten griechischen und römischen Literatur wird in ihren historischen Schichtungen erfaßt und zurückverfolgt bis in die Vorzeit, in der die Kunde von Seeleuten, die den Westen befahren hatten, sich mit den uralten Vorstellungen von in das im Westen gelegene Reich der Seligen entrückten Heroen zu einer legendären Überlieferung zu verdichten begannen.
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The paper discusses the interpretation of the conflict between Antigone’s and Creon’s principles in Sophocles’ tragedy Antigone, considering philosophical-political context of antiquity and contemporary feminist interpretations. Principal idea is to emphasize interpretation of Hegel’s understanding of the tragic in tragedy Antigone, as described in Phenomenology of Spirit, as well as interpretation of feminists conceptualizing Antigone as “female” principle in which they search for their ontological foundation for own political activism. However, following Hegel’s interpretation of Antigone and critique of nature and idea of natural law, we will attempt to explain that Creon himself represents a political, democratic principle, the evolving seed from which modern state and its guarantee of freedoms and rights would be born through historical process of Spirit. On the other hand, Antigone, whose principle is equally legitimate as Creon’s, symbolizes a pre-state principle, an unconscious substance of natural law that protects the household gods, law of blood, tribal patriarchal relations and, as such, has to perish and be overcome. The second dimension of analysis focuses on Creon’s ambivalent selfness, tormented by tragic conflict of two sides of the Spirit - conscious and unconscious substance. Although Creon’s action represents conscious substance embodied in universality of the law of polis, the aim is to highlight those sentences of Antigone which indicate a schism of Creon’s inner selfness, which is literally tragedy, but tragedy within himself.
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The article focuses on the Martial’s poems no. 18, 22 and 63 from the Book 4 of epigrams. These poems unite in a cycle of epigrams with a common motif of an apostrophe to water appearing in the last line of each epigram. Although this cycle has been previously disputed in an article by Mark A. P. Greenwood (‘Talking to Water’: An Epigram-Cycle in Martial, Book 4 (4.18; 4.22; 4.63), RhM 141 (1998), 367–372), the author finds it necessary to reassess the epigrams. As a result of these analyses the author discovers the links and the differences between the poems that have not been noted before. Furthermore the article presents the possible connections between the cycles and suggests that they form a complex structure, a whole web, inside the Book 4. Concluding, the author puts forward a hypothesis that perhaps this special arrangement of epigrams (complied with the principle of cohesion and variety) exceeds the boundaries of Book 4.
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Postavljanje Bahantkinja na veliku scenu Narodnog pozorišta značajno je ne samo kao nastavljanje dalje saradnje sa švedskim Kraljevskim pozorištem Dramaten već i zato što je ta poslednja tragedija koju je Euripid napisao prvi put prevedena na srpski jezik tek nedavno (Euripid, Izabrane drame, preveo Aleksandar Gatalica, Plato, 2007). Dobra vest - u ovoj inscenaciji izostavljena je rak rana većine modernizovanih postavki nastalih prema klasičnim dramskim delima, nema video-bima ili upotrebe mobilnih telefona. Ipak, to što je banalizacija izbegnuta ne znači da je rešen i problem prevođenja istorijskog i društvenog konteksta antičke tragedije. Taj postupak, u režiji Stafana Valdemara Holma, jeste načinjen, ali kojim povodom, kakvim sredstvima i šta to prevođenje u savremenim okolnostima znači, pitanja su koja ostaju otvorena.
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Grad je i polis i oikos – i ne može biti njihovim mirom. Pripadaju različitim timai, različit je daimon što ga imaju slušati. Prekomjernost fiziološki ugrožava polis – a ugrožavala bi i oikos kada bi taj zahtijevao da se priroda polisa reducira na nj. Naravno, grad se zasniva na sporazumu između tih dviju dimenzija, no sporazum znači nešto umjetno, nešto nužno prolazno. Vrijednosti oikosa vazda izazivaju vrijednosti polisa1, u odnosu na ove vazda afirmiraju vlastitu pre-moć. S druge pak strane, i kad bi polis priznao arhaičnost oikosa, ne bi se mogao odreći pokušaja da ga zatoči u svoje nove poretke, podredi ga vlastitim »inovacijama«.
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The ars dictaminis is the medieval theory of letter-writing. The birth of the ars dictaminis is linked to the work of Alberic of Monte Cassino, a teacher and a significant figure in the history of medieval rhetoric. Alberic’s major contribution to the ars dictaminis is his application of rhetorical principles to letter-writing. Two of his works, Dictamina radii and Breviarium de dictamine, represent the first treatises in the area of the ars dictaminis. One of the early writers who set the basic patterns for the ars dictaminis was Adalbertus Samaritanus, who wrote Praecepta dictaminum between 1111. and 1118. The excerpt De epistolis of Iulius Victor, Roman rhetorician (IV century), had an influence on the development of the medieval epistolary theory, ars dictaminis.
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The article is dedicated to the comparative analysis of the concept of ideal tragedy presented by Aristotle in Poetics, and the works of Sophocles forming the “Theban Plays” (Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus and Antigone). The article depicts the most important accomplishments of Sophocles to start with. Afterwards, Aristotle has been presented as the creator of the ideal model of tragedy. Further, the Aristotelian concept of catharsis, which is the key element of his vision of ideal tragic works, and corresponding with it constructs of the plot and the figures’ characters have been comparatively shown. On the basis of the analysis one can reach a conclusion that Aristotle named and systematised the rules which Sophocles had been using at the theatre stage with the aim of the spectators experiencing catharsis, in other words, evoking and purging the spectators of the feelings of pity and terror. Moreover, it turns out that in the Aristotelian theory, as well as in the works of Sophocles, the layout of events creating the plotline is related to the feeling of pity, whereas suitably built characters are related to pity.
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“Report to Greco” by Nikos Kazantzakisis completely out of the genre criteria. It is not a novel, memoir, diary, essay, itinerary,or autobiography, but it is all of them.Between the prologue and the epilogue,the narrataire disappears, the story is constantly transformed, the author uses all available “materials” (diaries, letters,feelings, memory) to create fictional,intellectual, spiritual, metaphysical, historical and philosophical autobiography, changing the subject, discourse and form and turning the book into an amorphous autobiography and a key for the interpretation of his other works.
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