Dangerous Gifts: Ideologies of Marriage and Exchange in Ancient Greece

2003 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deborah Lyons
Keyword(s):  
Durable Goods ◽  
Ancient Greece ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Greek Myth ◽  
Economic Role ◽  
Positive Side ◽  
Greek Thought ◽  
Gendered Division Of Labor ◽  
Economic Contribution ◽  
Mythic Thinking

A familiar theme in Greek myth is that of the deadly gift that passes between a man and a woman. Analysis of exchanges between men and women reveals the gendered nature of exchange in ancient Greek mythic thinking. Using the anthropological categories of male and female wealth (with examples drawn from many cultures), it is possible to arrive at an understanding of the protocols of exchange as they relate to men and especially to women. These protocols, which are based in part on the distinction between metals and other durable goods as "male" and textiles as "female," are closely related to the gendered division of labor. Anxiety about women as exchangers derives in part from their status as objects exchanged in marriage (as exemplified by Helen in the Iliad), and partly from a misogynist and pessimistic strand of Greek thought (embodied by Hesiod's Pandora) that discounts any female economic contribution to the oikos. Indeed, the majority of destructive exchanges take place within the context of marital crisis. While some texts, beginning with the Odyssey, show the positive side of women's economic role, tragedy tends to follow the Hesiodic distrust of women as exchange partners. Passages from the Agamemnon and the Trachiniai are analyzed to show how in situations of perverted reciprocity brought about by marital discord, even women's traditional gifts of textiles may become deadly.

Confronting the Ancient Greek Golden Age in Jules Dassin’s Phaedra (1962)

2018 ◽  
pp. 119-136
Author(s):  
Emma Scioli
Keyword(s):  
Visual Imagery ◽  
Golden Age ◽  
Ancient Greece ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Greek Myth ◽  
The World

In the second of three chapters examining Athens’ golden-age legacy, Scioli traces how Jules Dassin repeatedly draws attention to the origins of his 1962 melodrama Phaedra in Greek myth and tragedy through visual imagery, as a complement to his 1960 comedy Never on Sunday. Phaedra’s use of ancient Athenian art, and its suggestive modernization of elements from the ancient Athenian tragedyHippolytusand Racine’s 1677 adaptation Phèdre, force a confrontation with a particular modern formulation of the ancient Greek past. Dassin draws upon the golden age to characterize the world of ancient Greece that irrupts into the early 1960s setting of the film both visually and thematically. Rather than fostering nostalgia for a golden age that might prompt a desire for its return, Phaedra presents it as an intrusive presence from which its characters feel alienated, only to demonstrate that they are inextricably bound, in their modern dress, to repeat what the tragic past has prescribed for them. Such self-conscious appropriation of Athens’ literary-dramatic and artistic-material remains informs the tragic belatedness of Phaedra and reflects upon the American expatriate director’s sense of foreignness in the homeland of his lover and artistic muse, Greek actress and activist Melina Mercouri.

scholarly journals Themis and Dike – Justice in Greek Myth and Tradition

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-39
Author(s):  
Isidora Fürst
Keyword(s):  
Natural Law ◽  
Ancient Greece ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Greek Myth ◽  
Natural Laws ◽  
Greek Culture ◽  
Moral Power ◽  
Legislative Reforms ◽  
And Behavior

The understanding of law in Ancient Greece was based on the religious interpretations of human nature and natural laws. Two Greek goddesses were representatives of justice and fairness. In the ancient sources Themis is presented as a goddess and prophetess, one of the Titans and the daughter of Gea and Uranus. She is a symbol of divine order, justice, natural law and good customs. Dike, the daughter of Themis, is the goddess of justice and truth, the protector of rights and courts of justice, the arbiter, the symbol of honor, the goddess of revenge and punishment. In early Greek culture and poetry, the terms themis and dike represented justice in the meaning of cosmic order, natural law, and legality. The paper analyses the Hellenic notions of justice, fairness and legality embodied in the phenomena of themis and dike. Nomos (law) is just only if it is in harmony with themis, and law is valid only if it is just. The paper presents the doctrines of Hellenic writers, poets and playwrights on justice and law, with special reference to the influence of mythology on Hellenic law. Publius Ovidius Naso’s work „Metamorphosis”, which speaks about Themis’ role in the creation of the world and the salvation of the human race is one of the greatest sources about this goddess. In Homer’s „Iliad” and „Odyssey”, epics that sing of the heroic spirit, justice is shown in the motives, intentions and behavior of the participants in the event, mostly heroes. The poet Hesiod, famous for the poems „Theogony” and „Works and Days”, moves away from the heroic virtues of people and portrays the gods as bearers of moral power and guardians of justice. In the light of legislative reforms, Solon’s dike represents the progress and well-being of society through economic reforms, which is why justice and injustice refer only to legal and illegal acquisition of wealth and its effect on the community. Aeschylus’ „Oresteia” shows the principle of justice based on talion, according to which the punishment has to be identical with the committed crime. One of the greatest Ancient Greek playwrights, Sophocles, based his play „Antigone” on the conflict between the laws of men and the laws of gods. According to Herodotus, the greatest Ancient Greek historian, the actions of the gods govern human destinies and historical events. The idea of justice in Ancient Greece was all throughout its transformation based of the universial concept of natural balance.

THE QUESTION OF THE PERIODIZATION OF THE GENESIS OF THE SOCIAL STATE

2021 ◽  
pp. 85-90
Author(s):  
Айгуль Фаридовна Чупилкина
Keyword(s):  
Ancient Greece ◽  
Social Institution ◽  
Penal System ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Social State ◽  
The Past ◽  
Greek Thought ◽  
Russian State ◽  
The Social ◽  
First Time

Автор формулирует предложение для научного дискурса по поводу чрезвычайно актуального и необходимого для Российского государства феномена социального государства. Поднят вопрос единого представления о генезисе социального государства и его критериях. Исторические примеры, в которых показаны реализация и последствия социальных законов в различной государственной и общественной «почве», помогают определить место и разумное применение элементов социального государства в современной российской государственности. Жизнеспособные элементы для распределения этапов эволюции социального государства имеют аргументы различных авторов. На основании проведенного анализа четкость критериев периодизации генезиса социального государства предложено обозначить как совокупность (систему) признаков, перечисленных в настоящей статье. Сформулированная совокупность (система) признаков позволила утверждать, что зародилось социальное государство в эпоху Античной Греции. Более того, древнегреческая мысль в принципе оказала влияние на юридическое мировоззрение прошлого, настоящего и будущего. Здесь впервые использованы основные понятия теории государства и права, что на сегодняшний день является основой теоретических знаний правоведа. Уголовно-исполнительная система является социальным институтом, что обусловливает важность трактовки тематики истории и теории социального государства. The author formulates a proposal for scientific discourse, due to the unsolved, but extremely relevant and necessary for the Russian state, the phenomenon of the social state. The question of a unified idea of the genesis of the social state and its criteria is raised. Illustrative historical examples in which are the implementation and consequences of social laws help to determine the place and reasonable application of the elements of the social state in modern Russian statehood. The arguments of various authors have viable elements for the distribution of the stages of the evolution of the social state. Based on the analysis, the clarity of the criteria for the periodization of the genesis of the social state is proposed to be designated as a set (system) of the features listed in this article. The formulated set (system) of features allowed us to assert that the origins of the social state have their roots in the era of Ancient Greece. In addition, ancient Greek thought in principle influenced the legal worldview of the past, present and future. Here, for the first time, the basic concepts of the theory of state and law are used, which today is the basis of the theoretical knowledge of a jurist. The penal system is a social institution, which determines the importance of interpreting the topics of history and the theory of the social state.

General

2021 ◽  
Vol 68 (2) ◽  
pp. 353-360
Author(s):  
Ivana Petrovic
Keyword(s):  
Ancient Greece ◽  
The Other ◽  
Greek Mythology ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Greek Myth ◽  
American Universities ◽  
Main Culprit ◽  
The One ◽  
Science Major ◽  
Different Levels

One of my favourite undergraduate classes to teach is Greek mythology. At American universities, Greek myth is a popular choice for satisfying humanities credit requirements, and professors are faced with a double dilemma. On the one hand, students have very different levels of knowledge, ranging from, say, a science major with virtually no idea about the ancient world to a know-it-all myth-whiz Classics major at the other end of the scale. The second problem is the choice and organization of material. Tough decisions have to be made, especially if a professor insists on students reading ancient Greek and Latin texts in translation, instead of relying on a modern retelling of myth. Which tragedies to choose? Which sections of Ovid's Metamorphoses? The whole of Homer or just select books? The challenges are real, but the rewards are great. After the initial struggle with Hesiod's Theogony (despite collective grumbling, Hesiod is non-negotiable for me), witnessing the magic of Greek myth at work never ceases to amaze me. In a blink of an eye, the class is passionately defending or attacking Phaedra, or debating fate and the gods; and, of course, everyone is united in hating Jason. It was my early fascination with Greek myth that attracted me to study Classics (the main culprit was the generously illustrated Serbian translation of Gustav Schwab's Gods and Heroes of Ancient Greece) and the crushing sense of responsibility for sparking that first interest in my students is only matched by joy upon seeing it work. I take mythology books very seriously because they are often the gateway to the Classics. Several books on myth landed on my desk this year and I'll start with three general introductions. None of these could serve as introductions to myth for children or young adults, but each could be an excellent first step for those wishing to know more about various scholarly approaches to Greek myths and cults.

FORGOTTEN UNITY OF BODY AND SOUL AND THE NEED FOR A NEW PHILOSOPHY OF SPORT

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (7) ◽  
pp. 2523-2529
Author(s):  
Slobodan Marković ◽  
Zoran Momčilović ◽  
Vladimir Momčilović
Keyword(s):  
Ancient Greece ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Greek Philosophy ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Constructive Dialogue ◽  
Ancient Greek Philosophy ◽  
Philosophy Of Sport ◽  
Body And Soul ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Present Text

This text is an attempt to see sport in different ways in the light of ancient philosophical themes. Philosophy of sports gets less attention than other areas of the discipline that examine the other major components of contemporary society: philosophy of religion, political philosophy, aesthetics, and philosophy of science. Talking about sports is often cheap, but it does not have to be that way. One of the reasons for this is insufficiently paid attention to the relation between sport and philosophy in Greek. That is it's important to talk about sports, just as important as we are talking about religion, politics, art and science. The argument of the present text is that we can try to get a handle philosophically on sports by examining it in light of several key idea from ancient Greek philosophy. The ancient Greeks, tended to be hylomorphists who gloried in both physical and mental achievement. Тhe key concepts from Greek philosophy that will provide the support to the present text are the following: arete, sophrosyne, dynamis and kalokagathia. These ideals never were parts of a realized utopia in the ancient world, but rather provided a horizon of meaning. We will claim that these ideals still provide worthy standards that can facilitate in us a better understanding of what sports is and what it could be. How can a constructive dialogue be developed which would discuss differences in understanding of sport in Ancient Greece and today? In this paper, the authors will try to answer this question from a historical and philosophical point of view. The paper is divided into three sections. The first section of the paper presents two principally different forms or models of focus in sport competitions – focus on physical excellence or focus on game. The dialectic discourse regarding these two approaches to physical activity is even more interesting due to the fact that these two models take precedence over one another depending on context. In the second section of the paper, the focus shifts to theendemic phenomenon of the Ancient Greek Olympic Games, where the topic is discussed from the perspective of philosophy with frequent historical reflections on the necessary specifics, which observeman as a physical-psychological-social-spiritual being. In the third section of this paper, the authors choose to use the thoughts and sayings of the great philosopher Plato to indicate how much this philosopher wasactually interested in the relationship between soul and body, mostly through physical exercise and sport, because it seems that philosophers who came after him have not seriously dealt with this topic in Plato’s way, although they could.

scholarly journals Religion without doctrine or clergy: the case of Ancient Greece

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
George Tridimas
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Interest Group ◽  
Ancient Greece ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Greek Religion ◽  
Distinct Class ◽  
Religious Doctrine ◽  
Moral Behaviour ◽  
Mass Participation

Abstract The paper examines doctrinal and political reasons to explain why the Ancient Greek religion did not feature a distinct class of professional priests as suppliers of religious goods. Doctrinal reasons relate to worshiping a multitude of powerful anthropomorphic gods with flawed characters; absence of a founder of religion and of a scripture; lack of religious doctrine and of a code of moral behaviour and piety manifested as mass participation in rituals. These factors denied religious suppliers the opportunity to form a monopoly acting as an autonomous intermediary between humans and gods. Political reasons relate to the supremacy of the demos which watchfully guarded its decision-making powers and prevented other actors like a priestly interest group to challenge its authority.

Cause and Explanation in Ancient Greek Thought

2002 ◽  
Vol 111 (2) ◽  
pp. 294
Author(s):  
Michael Ferejohn ◽  
R. J. Hankinson
Keyword(s):  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Greek Thought

scholarly journals GEI. Greek Economic Inscriptions (online)

Axon ◽  
2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donatella Erdas ◽  
Anna Magnetto
Keyword(s):  
Detailed Analysis ◽  
English Translation ◽  
Technical Information ◽  
Ancient Greece ◽  
Economic Life ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Critical Editions ◽  
Greek Economy ◽  
Selection Of

In recent years the attention of modern scholars to ancient Greek economy has received impetus from a series of newly published documents of undisputed significance. The results have been a deeply renewed examination of consolidated theoretical positions, and a detailed analysis of specific aspects of the economic life of the polis. Within this framework the GEI project aims at providing an online collection of epigraphic documents related to the economy of ancient Greece. Some of these documents, already known or newly discovered, have never been collected in a selection of this kind. The project covers a period from the archaic age to 1st century BC. The selected texts are representative of the different areas of ancient Greek economy, and are marked-up using the EpiDoc encoding conventions. For each document all technical information has been provided along with existing critical editions, bibliography, a critical apparatus, an English translation and a commentary.

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