time

Hellenic Studies Series

Homeric Durability: Telling Time in the Iliad

The Iliad defines its poetic goal as preserving the kleos aphthiton, “fame unwithered,” (IX.413) of its hero, Achilles. But how are we to understand the status of the “unwithered” in the Iliad? In Homeric Durability, Lorenzo F. Garcia, Jr., investigates the concept of time and temporality in Homeric epic by studying the semantics of “durability” and “decay”: namely, the ability of an entity to withstand the effects of time, and its eventual disintegration. Such objects—the ships of… Read more

Hellenic Studies Series

From Listeners to Viewers: Space in the Iliad

What do we mean by “space” in the Iliad? The aim of this book is to offer a systematic and comprehensive presentation of the different types and functions of space in the earliest work of Greek literature. By adopting a twofold division between simple and embedded story space, the former pertaining to the actions of characters and the latter to their thoughts, Christos Tsagalis shows how character drawing and authority are deeply influenced… Read more

Hellenic Studies Series

Poetic and Performative Memory in Ancient Greece: Heroic Reference and Ritual Gestures in Time and Space

Translated by Harlan Patton. Philosophers have often reflected on the Ancient Greeks’ concepts of time, but an anthropological approach is necessary to understand their practical concept of time as tied to space. The Greeks not only spoke of time unfolding in a specific space, but also projected the past upon the future in order to make it active in the social practice of the present. Hesiod’s history of humanity was… Read more