4. Who Am I? A Tragedy of Identity Simon had been right.You saw things differently when you changed your perspective and location. All blind spots could be compensated for. Jo Nesbo, The Son Oedipus’ major handicap in his life is not knowing who he is; the parricide and incest come about as the result of this… Read more
5. I am Oedipus: Reframing the Question of Identity Πάντες ἄνθρωποι τοῦ εἰδέναι ὀρέγονται φύσει. σημεῖον δ’ἡ τῶν αἰσθήσεων ἀγάπησις· καὶ γὰρ χωρὶς τῆς χρείαςἀγαπῶνται δι’ αὑτάς, καὶ μάλιστα τῶν ἄλλων ἡ διὰ τῶνὀμμάτων. οὐ γὰρ μόνον ἵνα πράττωμεν ἀλλὰ καὶ μηθὲνμέλλοντες πράττειν τὸ ὁρᾶν αἱρούμεθα ἀντὶ πάντων ὡς εἰπεῖντῶν ἄλλων. αἴτιον δ’ ὅτι μάλιστα ποιεῖ γνωρίζειν ἡμᾶςαὕτη τῶν αἰσθήσεων… Read more
Appendix 1. Cornelius Castoriadis Some interesting biographical points: Cornelius Castoriadis was born in 1922 in Constantinople (Istanbul) and died in Paris in 1997. When he was only a few months old, his family fled to Athens to escape the tragic consequences for the Greek population in Turkey following the collapse of the Greek front in the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922). He was awarded his first degree in Economics,… Read more
Appendix 2. Cleisthenes A classic book on the Cleisthenic reforms remains Clisthène l’ Athénien. Essai sur la représentation de l’ espace et du temps dans la pensée politique grecque de la fin du VIe siècle à la mort de Platon by Pierre Lévêque and Pierre Vidal-Naquet, published in 1964. In 1969, another extensive study on Cleisthenes was published by Clarendon Press: Nomos and the Beginnings of the… Read more
Appendix 3. The Heroic Self I will begin by considering the heroic self, with the Iliadic Achilles as my case in point. What are the salient characteristics of Achilles’ individual distinctiveness and uniqueness in terms of psychological states, his physical presence, or bodily states? We are told of his beauty (which is, however, a quality of all Iliadic heroes), [1] his training… Read more
Bibliography Adkins, A. W. H. 1960. Merit and Responsibility: A Study in Greek Values. Oxford. ———. 1972. Moral Values and Political Behaviour in Ancient Greece. London. Ahrensdorf, P. J. 2009. Greek Tragedy and Political Philosophy: Rationalism and Religion in Sophocles’ Theban Plays. Cambridge. Alexiou, M. 1974. Ritual Lament in Greek Tradition. Cambridge. … Read more
Conclusion. Tradition and Innovation A single man or even a group of men who set out in the most careful way could not make even a beginning at such an oral diction. It must be the work of many poets over many generations. When one singer … has hit upon a phrase which is pleasing and easily used, other singers will hear it, and then, when… Read more
Afterword Elegizing Briseis in Augustan Rome [91] The poetic potential of our glimpse of Briseis in the Iliad was not lost on the Augustan poets, who also had access to the Epic Cycle, which we have only in summary form. [1] Propertius and later Ovid seize on the figure of Briseis and the tragic aspects of her relationship with Achilles as the perfect… Read more
Appendix Selected Ancient Literary References to Briseis [115]Apollodorus, Library, Epitome 4.1, 4.3, 4.7: Αχιλλεὺς δὲ μηνίων ἐπὶ τὸν πόλεμον οὐκ ἐξῄει διὰ Βρισηίδα (4.1) οἱ δὲ πέμπουσι πρὸς Ἀχιλλέα πρέσβεις Ὀδυσσέα καὶ Φοίνικα καὶ Αἴαντα, συμμαχεῖν ἀξιοῦντες καὶ Βρισηίδα καὶ ἄλλα δῶρα ὑπισχνούμενοι (4.3) Ἀχιλλεὺς δὲ τὴν ὀργὴν ἀποθέμενος καὶ τὴν Βρισηίδα κομί™ζεται. (4.7) … Read more
Bibliography Ackermann, H. C., and J.-R. Gisler, eds. Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae. Zurich: Artemis Verlag, 1981-1997. Adkins, A. W. K. “Threatening, Abusing, and Feeling Angry in the Homeric Poems.” JHS 89 (1960): 7-21. Ahlberg-Cornell, G. Myth and Epos in Early Greek Art: Representation and Interpretation. Jonsered, Sweden: Paul Åströms Förlag, 1992. Aitken, E. “ὁπάων and ὁπάζων: A Study in the… Read more
