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The Ancient Greek Hero in 24 Hours

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HARDCOVER

$35.00 • £24.95 • €31.50

ISBN 9780674073401

Publication: July 2013

* Academic Trade

752 pages

6-1/8 x 9-1/4 inches

5 halftones, 20 line illustrations

Belknap Press

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    • Acknowledgments
    • Introduction
    • Part One: Heroes in Epic and Lyric Poetry
      • Introduction to Homeric Poetry
      • Hour 1: The Homeric Iliad and the Glory of the Unseasonal Hero
        • The Meaning of Kleos
        • The Kleos of Achilles as Epic ‘Glory’
        • A Much Shorter Version of Epic ‘Glory’
        • The Immortalizing Power of Kleos as Epic ‘Glory’
        • The Meaning of Hōrā
        • The Need for Heroes to ‘Script’ Their Own Death
        • Hēraklēs as a Model Hero
        • The Labors of Hēraklēs
        • Hēraklēs and the Meaning of Kleos
        • Hēraklēs and the Idea of the Hero
        • Achilles and the Idea of the Hero
        • Achilles and the Meaning of Kleos
      • Hour 2: Achilles as Epic Hero and the Idea of Total Recall in Song
        • The Meaning of Memnēmai
        • Phoenix and His Total Recall
        • The Idea of Kleos as a Medium of Total Recall
        • The Idea of Kleos as Epic Narrative
        • An Epic Tale Told by Phoenix
        • The Form of Epic Poetry
        • To Sing the Klea Andrōn, ‘Glories of Men’
        • The Klea Andrōn, ‘Glories of Men’, as Heroic Song
        • The Concept of a Speech Act
        • Back to the Epic Tale Told by Phoenix
        • The Emotions of Fear and Pity
        • The Story of Meleager and Kleopatra
        • Plato’s Reading of the Iliad
        • The Epic Choice of Achilles
      • Hour 3: Achilles and the Poetics of Lament
        • The Meaning of Akhos and Penthos
        • A Man of Constant Sorrow
        • Achilles and Penthesileia the Amazon
        • The Essentials of Singing Laments
        • A Conventional Gesture in Women’s Laments
        • A Typological Comparison of Laments
        • The First Lament of Andromache
        • What Achilles Sang
        • The Song of Kleopatra
      • Hour 4: Achilles as Lyric Hero in the Songs of Sappho and Pindar
        • The Meaning of Aphthito-
        • The Imperishable Glory of Achilles in a Song of Pindar
        • The Lyric Glory of Achilles
        • The Imperishable Glory of Hector and Andromache in a Song of Sappho
        • Achilles as a Bridegroom
        • Achilles as a Focus of Lament
        • The Unfailing Glory of Achilles
        • Contrasting the Artificial and the Natural
        • The Unwilting Glory of Achilles
        • Achilles as a Model for Singing Lyric Songs of Glory
        • Models of Lament
      • Hour 5: When Mortals Become ‘Equal’ to Immortals: Death of a Hero, Death of a Bridegroom
        • The Meaning of Daimōn
        • The Expression ‘Equal to a Daimōn’
        • Apollo as Divine Antagonist of Achilles
        • Arēs as Divine Antagonist of Achilles
        • Achilles as Ideal Warrior and Ideal Bridegroom
        • The Historical Background of Sappho’s Songs
        • Transition to Sappho’s Songs
        • Arēs and Aphrodite as Models for the Bridegroom and the Bride
        • Song 31 of Sappho
        • Song 1 of Sappho
        • The Ritual Background of Song 1 of Sappho
        • The Maiden Song of Alcman
        • A Typological Comparison of Initiation Rituals
        • Song 16 of Sappho
        • Another Song of Sappho
        • Back to Song 16 of Sappho
        • Back to Song 31 of Sappho
        • Epiphany and Death
        • Erōs and Arēs
        • Arēs as a Model for Achilles
        • Achilles the Eternal Bridegroom
        • Briseis as a Stand-in for Aphrodite
        • The Merging of Identity in Myth and Ritual
        • Distinctions between Real Death and Figurative Death in Lyric
        • Apollo as Model for Achilles
        • Fatal Attraction
      • Hour 6: Patroklos as the Other Self of Achilles
        • The Meaning of Therapōn
        • Patroklos as Therapōn
        • Anatolian Origins of the Word Therapōn
        • Early Greek Uses of the Words Therapōn, Theraps, Therapeuein
        • The Therapōn as Charioteer
        • The Therapōn as a Ritual Substitute
        • Arēs as Divine Antagonist of Patroklos and Achilles
        • The Therapeutic Function of the Therapōn
        • Patroklos as the Other Self of Achilles
        • Ramifications of the Idea of Another Self
        • Simone Weil on Sacrificial Substitution
      • Hour 7: The Sign of the Hero in Visual and Verbal Art
        • The Meaning of Sēma
        • The Sign of the Hero at a Chariot Race
        • The Sign in the Visual Arts
        • Selected Examples of Signs in the Visual Arts
        • Hour 7a. Myth and Ritual in Pictures of Chariot Scenes Involving Achilles
        • Hour 7b. Apobatic Chariot Racing
        • Hour 7c. Apobatic Chariot Fighting
        • Hour 7d. Distinctions between Chariot Fighting and Chariot Racing
        • Hour 7e. Homeric Poetry at the Festival of the Panathenaia in Athens
        • Hour 7f. Signs of Alternative Epic Traditions as Reflected in Athenian Vase Paintings
        • Hour 7g. The Apobatic Moment
      • Hour 8: The Psychology of the Hero’s Sign in the Homeric Iliad
        • The Meaning of Psūkhē
        • The Psūkhē of Patroklos in the Iliad
        • The Psūkhē of Patroklos in the Picture Painted on the Münster Hydria
        • Achilles and Patroklos as Cult Heroes of Apobatic Chariot Racing
        • An Athletic Event at Eleusis
        • Achilles and Dēmophōn as Cult Heroes of Festivals
        • Achilles as a Model of Rhapsodic Performance
        • Achilles and Patroklos as Cult Heroes of a Poetic Event
        • The Prefiguring of Achilles by Patroklos
        • Heroic Immortalization and the Psūkhē
        • The Psūkhē as Both Messenger and Message
        • A Fusion of Heroic Myth and Athletic Ritual
        • Back to the Glory of the Ancestors
        • Back to the Meaning of Patroklos
        • Hour 8a. About the Ritual Origins of Athletics
        • Hour 8b. The Meaning of Āthlos / Aethlos
        • Hour 8c. Back to the Panathenaia
        • Hour 8d. Patroklos as a Model for Achilles
        • Hour 8e. The Mentality of Re-enactment at Festivals
      • Hour 9: The Return of Odysseus in the Homeric Odyssey
        • The Meaning of Nostos
        • The Roles of Odysseus
        • The Complementarity of the Iliad and the Odyssey
        • The Heroic Mentality of Achieving Nostos
        • A Nostos in the Making
        • Echoes of Lament in a Song about Homecoming
      • Hour 10: The Mind of Odysseus in the Homeric Odyssey
        • The Meaning of Noos
        • The Interaction of Noos and Nostos
        • The Hero’s Return to His Former Social Status
        • The Hero’s Return from the Cave
        • The Return to Light and Life
        • The Journey of a Soul
      • Hour 11: Blessed Are the Heroes: The Cult Hero in Homeric Poetry and Beyond
        • The Meaning of Olbios
        • Signs of Hero Cult
        • Different Meanings of the Word Olbios for the Initiated and for the Uninitiated
        • How a Homeric Hero Can Become Truly Olbios
        • The Death of Odysseus
        • A Mystical Vision of the Tomb of Odysseus
        • Two Meanings of a Sēma
        • An Antagonism between Athena and Odysseus
        • Conclusion: The Seafarer Is Dead and the Harvest Is Complete
      • Hour 12: The Cult Hero as an Exponent of Justice in Homeric Poetry and Beyond
        • The Meaning of Dikē
        • An Occurrence of Dikē as ‘Justice’ in the Odyssey
        • The Golden Generation of Humankind
        • Hesiod as an Exponent of Justice
        • Metaphors for Dikē and Hubris
        • The Silver Generation of Humankind
        • Two Further Generations of Humankind
        • Hesiod in the Iron Age
        • Back to Hesiod as an Exponent of Dikē
        • A Reconnection of Generations in an Orchard
    • Part Two: Heroes in Prose Media
      • Hour 13: A Crisis in Reading the World of Heroes
        • The Meaning of Krinein
        • A Story about the Meaning of Olbios in the Histories of Herodotus
        • Another Story about the Meaning of Olbios in the Histories of Herodotus
        • Variations in Discriminating between the Real and the Unreal
        • Variations in Discriminating between Justice and Injustice
        • Heroes as Exponents of Justice in Poetry after Homer and Hesiod
      • Hour 14: Longing for a Hero: A Retrospective
        • The Meaning of Pothos
        • Testimony from the Hērōikos of Philostratus
        • Longing for Protesilaos in the Homeric Iliad
        • The Sacred Eroticism of Heroic Beauty
        • The Beauty of Seasonality in a Modern Greek Poem
        • The Beauty of the Hero in Death
        • A Beautiful Setting for the Beautiful Cult Hero
        • Paroxysms of Sentimentality in Worshipping Cult Heroes
        • Back to the Tumulus of Achilles
        • Longing for Achilles: You’re Going to Miss Me
        • Longing for Patroklos: I’ll Miss Him Forever
      • Hour 15: What the Hero ‘Means’
        • The Meaning of Sēmainein
        • What Protesilaos ‘Means’
        • The Mystery of a Cult Hero
        • What Herodotus ‘Means’
        • More on the Mystery of a Cult Hero
        • Back to the ‘Meaning’ of Protesilaos
        • Initiation into the Mysteries of a Cult Hero
        • The Descent of an Initiand into the Nether World of a Cult Hero
        • A Brief Commentary on the Text about the Descent
        • The Oracular Consultation of Heroes
        • An Initiation for the Reader
        • The Personal Intimacy of Experiencing a Heroic Epiphany
        • Ritual Correctness in Making Mental Contact with the Cult Hero
        • How the Cult Hero Communicates
        • More on the Oracular Consultation of Heroes
        • Coming Back Once Again to What the Hero ‘Means’
        • The Cult Hero as a Medium
    • Part Three: Heroes in Tragedy
      • Introduction to Tragedy
      • Hour 16: Heroic Aberration in the Agamemnon of Aeschylus
        • The Meaning of Atē
        • The Oresteia Trilogy of Aeschylus in the Larger Context of His Other Tragedies
        • The Atē of Agamemnon in Epic and Tragedy
        • An Ainos about a Lion Cub
        • Predators as Agents of Dikē
        • Predators as Agents of Deeds Contrary to Dikē
        • A Sequence of Symbols
        • The Symbolic Wording of the Watchman
        • Three Further Examples of Symbolic Wording
      • Hour 17: Looking beyond the Cult Hero in the Libation Bearers and the Eumenides of Aeschylus
        • The Meaning of Tīmē
        • The Agenda of Athena
        • Pouring Libations for Cult Heroes or for Ancestors
        • What Stands in the Way of a Ritually Correct Libation by Electra
        • Transcending the Spirit of Vendetta
        • A New World Order for Athens
      • Hour 18: Sophocles’ Oedipus at Colonus and the Power of the Cult Hero in Death
        • The Meaning of Kolōnos
        • More on the Meaning of Colonus
        • How to Imagine Colonus
        • Colonus, Land of Running Horses
        • Further Perspectives on the Meanings Connected to the Word Kolōnos and to the Name Kolōnos
        • Oedipus as Cult Hero at Colonus
        • The Mysterious Death of Oedipus
        • Scenarios for Dying and Then Coming Back to Life
        • The Mystification of the Hero’s Tomb in the Oedipus at Colonus
        • Personalizing the Death of Oedipus
      • Hour 19: Sophocles’ Oedipus Tyrannus and Heroic Pollution
        • The Meaning of Miasma
        • The Pollution of Tyrants
        • A Look inside the Psūkhē of Oedipus
        • The Pollution Caused by Oedipus
        • Oedipus as Savior
        • A Second Look inside the Psūkhē of Oedipus
        • Purifying the Pollution in Tragedy
        • The Reaction of Oedipus to His Own Pollution in the Oedipus Tyrannus
      • Hour 20: The Hero as Mirror of Men’s and Women’s Experiences in the Hippolytus of Euripides
        • The Meaning of Telos
        • Two Contexts of Telos for Hippolytus
        • Hippolytus as a Cult Hero in Athens
        • Hippolytus as a Cult Hero in Trozen
        • Comparing the Trozenian and the Athenian Versions of the Hippolytus Tradition
        • Two Conventional Patterns of Thinking about Hippolytus as a Cult Hero in Trozen
        • Hippolytus in Epidaurus
        • Euripides Recapitulates a Trozenian Ritual
        • Love Song and Song of Laments
        • The Trouble with Hippolytus
        • The Complementarity of Artemis and Aphrodite
        • From Native Trozenian Ritual to the Drama of Athenian State Theater
        • Empathy for Female and Male Experiences
        • The Death of Phaedra
        • Epilogue: The Death of Phaethon
      • Hour 21: The Hero’s Agony in the Bacchae of Euripides
        • The Meaning of Agōn
        • The Agōn of Pentheus
        • The Meaning of Pathos
        • Staging the Dismemberment of Pentheus
        • The Staging of Dionysus
        • The Subjectivity of Dionysus
        • Staging the Bacchants
        • Staging Pentheus
        • A Divine Prototype for the Passion of Pentheus
        • Tracking Down the Origins of Tragedy
        • Hope for a Reassembly of the Body after Its Dismemberment
    • Part Four: Heroes in Two Dialogues of Plato
      • Hour 22: The Living Word I: Socrates in Plato’s Apology of Socrates
        • The Meaning of Daimonion
        • The Subversive Threat of ‘the Superhuman Signal’
        • What Happens to Socrates after Death
        • A Heroic Timing for the Death of Socrates
        • Socrates and Achilles
        • An Odyssean Way for the Journey of Socrates
        • The Swan Song of Socrates
      • Hour 23: The Living Word II: More on Plato’s Socrates in the Phaedo
        • The Meaning of Theōriā
        • The Symbolism of Theōriā in Plato’s Phaedo
        • The Garlanding of the Theoric Ship
        • Revisiting another Theōriā
        • Theorizing about Theōriā
        • Socrates, Master of Poetry as well as Dialogue
        • A New Way to Imagine Immortalization after Death
    • Part Five: Heroes Transcended
      • Hour 24: The Hero as Savior
        • The Meaning of Sōzein and Sōtēr
        • Theseus as a Savior for the Athenians
        • A Metaphorical Use of the Word Sōzein by Plato’s Socrates
        • A Metaphorical Use of the Word Sōphrōn in an Archaic Hymn
        • Achilles as Saved Hero and as Savior Hero
        • Achilles, Hero of the Hellespont
        • Three More Glimpses of Heroic Salvation
        • The Living Word of Plato’s Socrates
    • Core Vocabulary of Key Greek Words
    • Abbreviations
    • References
    • Index Locorum