Madness—The Complexity of Morals in the Light of Myth and Cult So far, we have seen how mythical parallels function as a kind of commentary, marking sacrilege as such. Now we will have a look at a group of sacrilegious acts that are connected with madness. They, too, have parallels with mythical paradigms, but are also connected to a ritual phenomenon: cultic ecstasy—a dimension which makes the cases in question… Read more
[This online 2010 edition is a revised, expanded version of a review first published in Classical Review 60 (2010) 333–338. The original page-numbers of the printed version are embedded within brackets in this electronic version: for example, {333|334} marks where p. 333 stops and p. 334 begins.] West’s book is most useful for researchers in the Classics and in the newer academic discipline of Indo-European studies. I have produced two… Read more
[[This article was originally published as chapter 13 (= pp. 176-199) in E. Greene and M. Skinner, eds., 2010, The New Sappho on Old Age: Textual and Philosophical Issues (Washington DC and Cambridge MA). It also appears in the online journal Classics@ Volume 4, edited by Ellen Greene and Marilyn Skinner. In this online version, the original page-numbers of the printed version are indicated within braces (“{” and “}”). For… Read more
[[This essay was originally published in 2004 in Critical Inquiry 31:26–48. In this online version, the original page-numbers of the printed version are indicated within braces (“{” and “}”). For example, “{26|27}” indicates where p. 26 of the printed version ends and p. 27 begins.]] This inquiry centers on the transmission of sympotic songs attributed to Alcaeus of Mytilene, a city on the island of Lesbos. The starting point of… Read more
Online edition of Hellenic Studies 31, originally published in 2008 by the Trustees for Harvard University. Copyright, Center for Hellenic Studies. Also available for purchase in print via Harvard University Press here. Read more
New Titles Cataloged January 2017 Location: Periodicals Bitto, Gregor, author Vergimus in senium: Statius’ Achilleis als Alterswerk, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, [2016] Jonkers, Gijsbert, author The textual tradition of Plato’s Timaeus and Critias, Leiden ; Boston: Brill, 2017 Reif, Matthias, author De arte magorum: Erklärung und Deutung ausgewählter Hexenszenen bei Theokrit, Vergil, Horaz, Ovid, Seneca und Lucan unter Berücksichtigung des Ritualaufbaus und der Relation zu den Zauberpapyri… Read more
Casey Dué, The Captive Woman’s Lament in Greek Tragedy… Read more
The laments of captive women found in extant Athenian tragedy constitute a fundamentally subversive aspect of Greek drama. In performances supported by and intended for the male citizens of Athens, the songs of the captive women at the Dionysia gave a voice to classes who otherwise would have been marginalized and silenced in Athenian society: women, foreigners, and the enslaved. The Captive Woman’s Lament in Greek Tragedy addresses the possible meanings ancient… Read more
Alexander Hollmann, Master of Signs: Signs and the Interpretation of Signs in Herodotus’ Histories… Read more
