Plato's Rhapsody and Homer's Music: The Poetics of the Panathenaic Festival in Classical Athens - Couverture souple

Nagy, Gregory

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 0674009630 ISBN 13 : 9780674009639

Editeur : Harvard University, Center for Hellenic Studies, 2002

Synopsis

The festival of the Panathenaia, held in Athens every summer to celebrate the birthday of the city's goddess, Athena, was the setting for performances of the Homeric Iliad and Odyssey by professional reciters or "rhapsodes." The works of Plato are our main surviving source of information about these performances. Through his references, a crucial phase in the history of the Homeric tradition can be reconstructed. Through Plato's eyes, the "staging" of Homer in classical Athens can once again become a virtual reality.

This book examines the overall testimony of Plato as an expert about the cultural legacy of these Homeric performances. Plato's fine ear for language--in this case the technical language of high-class artisans like rhapsodes--picks up on a variety of authentic expressions that echo the talk of rhapsodes as they once practiced their art.

Highlighted among the works of Plato are the Ion, the Timaeus, and the Critias. Some experts who study the Timaeus have suggested that Plato must have intended this masterpiece, described by his characters as a humnos, to be a tribute to Athena. The metaphor of weaving, implicit in humnos and explicit in the peplos or robe that was offered to the goddess at the Panathenaia, applies also to Homeric poetry: it too was pictured as a humnos, destined for eternal re-weaving on the festive occasion of Athena's eternally self-renewing birthday.

A propos du livre

À propos de l?auteur

Gregory Nagy is Francis Jones Professor of Classical Greek Literature and Professor of Comparative Literature at Harvard University.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Harvard University, Center for Hellenic Studies
• Date d'édition: 2002
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 0674009630
• ISBN 13: 9780674009639
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 136
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible