“Are you lonesome tonight?” Nocturnal Solitude in Greek Culture

Does the central role of the Iliad and the Odyssey in ancient Greek culture indicate that they functioned as scripture? Taking the role of the Tanakh in Jewish culture as the standard of comparison, this essay argues that, while the Tanakh and the epics functioned similarly as foundational texts in their respective cultures, the ways in which Homer was used in Hellenic culture differ markedly from the ways in which the Tanakh was used in ancient Jewish culture. The Homeric epics were primarily thought of as orally delivered or performed events throughout most of their history, only coming to be thought of as primarily written texts in the Hellenistic era and later, whereas almost from its origins the Tanakh commands and exemplifies a textcentered community in which that which is written is most important.

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The Background II

10.1093/oso/9780198747260.003.0003 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Edmund Stewart

Keyword(s):

Early Period ◽

Fifth Century ◽

Central Importance ◽

Greek Culture

Chapter 2 demonstrates the central importance of travel to Greek culture. By the fifth century, a network of festivals and sanctuaries, where Greeks of all description could gather, perform, and exchange goods and ideas, was already in existence. Moreover, from an early period travel was seen as an essential part of the work of the poet. This is because poets were professionals who wished to display their skills and abilities before as wide an audience as possible. In many cases, they may also have wished to exploit wider opportunities for enrichment and employment than those available in their home cities. As such, though Greek poets come from many cities, their poetry does not belong exclusively to any one region or locality.

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Medicine between Cultures in the Hellenistic Fayum

10.1093/oso/9780198805663.003.0009 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Daniel King

Keyword(s):

Local Community ◽

Religious Practice ◽

Local Health ◽

Medical Culture ◽

Greek Culture ◽

The Status ◽

Local Health Care ◽

Egyptian Culture ◽

Medical Documents ◽

Medical Treatises

This paper looks into the relationship between Greek medicine and Egyptian culture in Tebtynis. Cultural interaction in this context has often been interpreted from a perspective that privileges the status of Greek culture: Hellenistic medical treatises (and other texts) were imported to Tebtynis to ‘improve’ the local community and local health-care. This paper looks at two aspects of Greek medical culture at the site: theoretical Hippokratic treatises and pharmaceutical recipes. These medical documents were associated with the Egyptian community in the village, especially the famous sanctuary of Soknebtynis. Analysis suggests that these documents were part of a medical culture that transcended cultural or ethnic divides; there is, this paper argues, considerable evidence for the co-existence of Greek medicine and Egyptian religious practice and ritual life.

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Experiencing Pain in Imperial Greek Culture

10.1093/oso/9780198810513.001.0001 ◽

2017 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Daniel King

Keyword(s):

Roman Empire ◽

Art Criticism ◽

Cultural Theory ◽

Embodied Experience ◽

Physical Pain ◽

Pain Experience ◽

Emotional Context ◽

Social And Emotional ◽

Greek Culture ◽

Christian Society

Much of the Western intellectual tradition’s interest in pain can be traced back to Greek material. This book investigates one theme in the interest in physical pain in Greek culture under the Roman Empire. Traditional accounts of pain in the Roman Empire have either focused on philosophical or medical theories of pain or on Christian notions of ‘suffering’; and fascination with the pained body has often been assumed to be a characteristic of Christian society, rather than ancient culture in general. The book uses ideas from medical anthropology, as well as contemporary philosophical discussions and cultural theory, to help unpack the complex engagement with pain in the ancient world. It argues, centrally, that pain was approached as a type of embodied experience, in which ideas about the body’s physiology, its representation, and communication, as well as its emotional and cognitive impact on those who felt pain and others around them, were important aspects of what it meant to be in pain. The formulation of this sense of pain experience is examined across a range of important areas of Imperial Greek culture, including rational medicine, rhetoric, and literature, as well as ancient art criticism. What is common across these disparate areas of cultural activity is the notion that pain must be understood within its broad personal, social, and emotional context.

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Pythagorean Women Philosophers

10.1093/oso/9780198859031.001.0001 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Dorota M. Dutsch

Keyword(s):

Intellectual History ◽

Possible Worlds ◽

Literary Tradition ◽

First Century ◽

Wisdom Literature ◽

Greek Culture ◽

Female Voices ◽

Grant Agency ◽

Women Philosophers ◽

Historical Accounts

Modern scholarly accounts of Greek philosophical history usually exclude women. And yet, from Dixaearchus of Messana to Diogenes Laertius, classical writers record the names of women philosophers from various schools. What is more, pseudonymous treatises and letters (likely dating after the first century CE) articulate the teachings of Pythagorean women. How can this literature inform our understanding of Greek intellectual history? To take these texts at face value would be naïve; to reject them, narrow-minded. This book is a deep examination of the literary tradition surrounding female Pythagoreans; it envisions the tradition as a network of texts that does not represent female philosophers but enacts their role in Greek culture. Part I, “Portraits,” assembles and contextualizes excerpts from historical accounts and wisdom literature. Part II, “Impersonations,” analyzes pseudonymous treatises and letters. Texts are approached with a mixture of suspicion and belief, inspired by Paul Ricoeur’s hermeneutics. Suspicion serves to disclose the misogyny of the epistemic regimes that produced the texts about and by women philosophers. Belief takes us beyond the circumstances of the texts’ production to possible worlds of diverse readers, institutions, and practices that grant agency to the female knower. In the process, the book uncovers traces of a fascinating dialogue about the gender of philosophical knowledge, which includes female voices.

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