Chapters
Abbreviations
Abbreviations ANET: Ancient Near Eastern Texts = Pritchard 1974 CHCL I: Easterling and Knox 1985 CHCL II: Kenney and Clausen 1982 DK: Diels, H. and Kranz, W., eds. 1934–1937. Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker. 3 vols. 5th ed. Berlin FGH: Jacoby, F., ed. 1923–1958. Read more
Part I. Greece. 1. The Pharmakos in Archaic Greece
Chatper 1. The Pharmakos in Archaic Greece The Greek ritual scapegoat, referred to as the pharmakos, provides an essential foundation for the study of legendary lives of the archaic Greek poets. The lives of Aesop, Hipponax, and Tyrtaeus are especially close to pharmakos themes and characteristics. The… Read more
Part I. Greece. 2. Aesop: Satirist as Pharmakos in Archaic Greece
Chapter 2. Aesop: Satirist as Pharmakos in Archaic Greece Aesop is the Greek satirist, by broad definition a poet, [1] who is most clearly and richly assimilated to the pharmakos. The myth of Aesop’s death at Delphi under a false accusation was… Read more
Part I. Greece. 3. Archilochus: Sacred Obscenity and Judgment
Chapter 3. Archilochus: Sacred Obscenity and Judgment The vita of Aesop is something of a prototype, both in its fullness and in its ringing the changes on the “sacred” scapegoat theme. The lives of many Greek poets include similar themes. They will be surveyed in this and… Read more
Part I. Greece. 4. Hipponax: Creating the Pharmakos
Chapter 4. Hipponax: Creating the Pharmakos Hipponax was an iambic satirist second only to Archilochus in fame, and his traditional life shares important themes with Archilochus’ (for example, causing death through satire). [1] Like Archilochus, he is an exiled poet. Hipponax is… Read more
Part I. Greece. 5. Homer: The Trial of the Rhapsode
Chapter 5. Homer: The Trial of the Rhapsode Not surprisingly, considering the overwhelming prestige of the Iliad and the Odyssey, a heroizing body of legend attached itself to a person regarded as the author of those poems. The legend of Homer follows the pattern under consideration in… Read more
Part I. Greece. 6. Hesiod: Consecrate Murder
Chapter 6. Hesiod: Consecrate Murder In Hesiod’s vita, we find a substantial set of the familiar legendary themes we have encountered so far—consecration, victory in riddle contest, oracle-related death, and cult. Hesiod’s vita is clearly moving in the same orbit as those of Aesop and Archilochus, ringing… Read more
Part I. Greece. 7. Shadows of Hesiod: Divine Protection and Lonely Death
Chapter 7. Shadows of Hesiod: Divine Protection and Lonely Death The lives of Ibycus, Arion, Stesichorus, and Simonides echo Hesiod’s vita in their themes of divine protection, often through animals, and lonely, violent death. Therefore it will be useful to consider them in close proximity to Hesiod. Read more
Part I. Greece. 8. Sappho: The Barbed Rose
Chapter 8. Sappho: The Barbed Rose One would not expect Sappho, who was associated largely with delicate love poetry, to have a vita that would resemble the patterns followed by the Aesop and Archilochus vitae. Yet, though she does not have as full a dossier of the… Read more