The Symposion in Ancient Greek Society and Thought

Author(s):  
Fiona Hobden
Keyword(s):  
Literator ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger M. Field

Sigmund Freud’s reading of the classics and Greek mythology is well documented. By contrast, Edward Said’s reading of Freud has received little attention. This article considers three main issues: how Said and Freud thought about and used ancient and classical Greek literature; the ways in which Said has read Freud reading the ancient and classical worlds; the significance of ambivalence and analogy for these readings. The article concludes that there is a necessary relationship between analogy and ambivalence. Primarily chronological, the reading also draws on Freud’s notions of latency and repression to track how Said’s approaches to ambivalence and analogy changed. In the case of Said, it is possible to attribute some of these changes to the impact of Bernal’s Black Athena, which encouraged him to review the notions of ancient Greek society which underpin Orientalism, and to Bernal’s narrative inspiration, Kuhn’s The structure of scientific revolutions. Latency and repression make it possible to posit prehistories. Therefore, the article also examines the ways in which Freud and Said have been obliged to assume continuities between prehistory and history, and between individual and mass psychology.


Author(s):  
O. Kiriakov

he article is devoted to the study of the Boiotians’ myths. These legendary stories were a basis of the imagined past. So myths had formed the mentality of the Ancient Greek society. The main for Boiotian people was a myth about the own migration. We can find this tale in the “History” by Thucydides. But it was only a later retelling of the myths of the epic text. The first version of the tale we need to look for in the epic texts such as Homer’s “Iliad” and Hesiod’s poems. So myth about migration of Boiotians was the basis of the imagined past of the people of this region. Main role of the tale was played by Boiotians, who became eponym of the people. The author tried to recover myths about the polis of Thebes. Differences between regional and polis tales may answer the question: what was a real role played by polis of Thebes in the imagined past of Boiotian people. Ancient Greeks created a great number of myths about Thebes. A lot of these tales were a basis for Attic classical tragedy. But none of the earliest mythological narratives of Thebes intersect with myth of the Boiotians origin. The biggest polis of the region didn’t play any role at the imagining past of the Boiotian people. But imagined past could be changed. One of the examples we can find at Corinna’s poems. This source told us that first king of Thebes was a son of Boiotos. It was the newer tradition than an epic migration story. This tale appeared at the period of Thebes’ hegemony. And it has sense only as propaganda of polis of Thebes in the region. Mythological origin genealogy was softly rewriting of the imagined past. A new reality was created by using a poem in ritual. So, Thebes had a political motive to change imagine past and used for that soft mythical genealogy. The repeating through the ritual should have justified this new tradition. This research is based on the ancient written sources and academic studies. The article is an attempt to understand how myths were created and influenced the life of Ancient Greeks.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 5
Author(s):  
Min Zhou ◽  
Yan Wang

<p>Mythology, as a special cultural carrier, can reflect people’s spiritual values in a certain period and region. In ancient Chinese mythology and ancient Greek mythology, there are some goddess with similar attributes or symbolic meaning. Their symbolic attributes essentially represent some specific areas of women’s values, such as fertility, wisdom, love and marriage. Based on the mythology of ancient China and Greece as well as the ancient social background of the two countries, this paper analyzes and compares the goddess images in the myths of the two countries from the perspective of fertility, wisdom, love and marriage in the female values. In the aspect of fertility, China in the matriarchal society showed the worship of the supremacy of women. In the aspect of wisdom, the ancient Greek society affirmed the importance of moral wisdom, and also emphasized the necessity of acquiring personal skills, interests and reputation. In the aspect of love and marriage, women in both countries were victims of the patriarchal society, but the ancient Greek society emphasized the pursuit of individual hedonism and freedom. What’s more, the goddess images in Chinese mythology are romantic, while the goddess images in ancient Greek mythology is more humanistic. From these aspects, the comparative analysis of the two goddesses can reveal the characteristics, social causes and evolution of the ancient women’s values of the people of the two countries.</p><p> </p>


Author(s):  
Victor J. Katz ◽  
Karen Hunger Parshall

This chapter focuses on the mathematicians of Ancient Greece; more specifically, on the elements of geometrical algebra present in the works of Euclid and Apollonius, as well as the propositions of perhaps the greatest of the ancient mathematicians—Archimedes. Only fragmentary documentation exists of the actual beginnings of mathematics in Greece, though the concept and necessity of proofs in mathematics might have come about due to the unique climate of argument and debate fostered in Ancient Greek society. In fact, most of these early developments took place in Athens, one of the richest of the Greek states at the time and one where public life was especially lively and discussion particularly vibrant.


2018 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 104-118
Author(s):  
INGOMAR WEILER

Abstract This contribution discusses some topics concerning the physical activities of young children in ancient Greek society, especially games and contests. In Greek terminology and in general language use, these children are denoted as bréphos, paidíon or paidískē and paidískos. Paidíon is a term for a young child generally less than seven years and paīs for the age of seven up to fourteen years. Several Greek and Roman authors inform us about the games, contests, and the educational program for this age-category (i.e., before boys go to the gymnasium). The following texts discuss some examples of games and physical exercise in early childhood: Plato, Protagoras 325c–326c, Leges 794c–808c; Ps.-Plato, Axiochus 366–7; Aeschines, Kata Timarchou 9–12; Aristotle, Politika 1336a9–15 and 8.1338b40–1339a7; Horatius Flaccus, Ars Poetica 409–14; Quintilian, Institutio oratoria 1.1.20; Plutarch, Lycurgus 14; Pausanias 5.16.2; Flavius Philostratos, Peri gymnastikes 25, 28 and Vitae sophistarum 1.21.


Literator ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
William J. Henderson

Ancient Greek society was extremely competitive; amongst the nobility especially there was the constant need for an ideal of achievement on the battlefield or athletics track and to integrate this into the family history. In the absence of the role the present-day media plays in our society, three poets in particular recorded, propagated and praised the achievements of athletes at the Olympic and other games: Simonides, Pindar and Bacchylides. For a winner they composed a special victory hymn, the epinikion, an elevated ode sung by a chorus with musical accompaniment. In this article extracts of such poems are analysed in order to illustrate the poets’ views regarding winners and losers.


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