scholarly journals The Sound of Sirens: Siren Stelae in Classical Attic Cemeteries

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Alex Oldfield
Keyword(s):  
Traditional View ◽  
Classical Period ◽  
Greek Mythology ◽  
Folk Tales ◽  
Ancient Literature ◽  
Upper Register ◽  
Distinguishing Features ◽  
Over Time

<p>The aim of this thesis is to look at how and why the siren is featured in Classical Attic cemeteries and how its mythical characteristics lead to its appropriateness in such a context. The exact origins of the siren are unknown, although it has been suggested that they stem from the folk tales of sailors at sea, or shared ideas from other cultures. Despite such unknown variables, the siren figure that is considered in this thesis is that found in Greek mythology, frequently remembered for her encounter with Odysseus on his journey home from Troy and ability to enchant sailors with her irresistible song. Typically combining the features of a bird’s body and a woman’s head, the creature known as the siren can also be seen in ancient depictions on vases, jewellery boxes and female toilette objects. During the Classical Period (479-323BC) the bird-women hybrid sirens are used as a decorative feature on top of funerary stelae in Attic cemeteries. The siren can be seen in two different forms in the funerary context, specifically in relation to their placement and representation on stelae: relief images of the creatures in the roof sima of the upper register of the tombstone, and sculpted in the round perched on top. The presence of the siren in this context can provide a constant mourner as well as inviting the viewer to grieve for the deceased.  The first chapter details the siren’s character and role in early ancient literature and art, specifically relating to their mythological corpus. Discussion will focus on the evolution of their character and their appearance over time, as well as identifying distinguishing features which make the siren a unique figure. It is also necessary in this section to establish a distinction between the siren and the mythological harpy who combines the similar bird-woman features to make up a very different creature (particularly evident in a commonly misnamed Lycian sarcophagus, the ‘Harpy tomb’.) The second chapter outlines the timeframe of the use and presence of funerary stelae featuring sirens in Attic cemeteries, predominantly found in the Kerameikos, with references to the legislation which may have affected them. This section covers examples of the presence of sirens in this context including, but not exclusive to, images in relief depicted in the roof sima, along with other figures, as well as the limited freestanding sculptures of sirens seen perched above stelae. I will also analyse the ‘traditional’ view of the sirens as ‘soul birds’ as suggested by various scholars, particularly those from the early 1900s. The final chapter looks at the appropriateness of the siren in a funerary context and attempts to identify the reasons why they were used for such a purpose. In order to answer these questions, it is important to look at the reception of these pieces by mourners and passers-by alike and the possible relationship between those that view the sculpture in such a setting and the piece itself.</p>

scholarly journals The Sound of Sirens: Siren Stelae in Classical Attic Cemeteries

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Alex Oldfield
Keyword(s):  
Traditional View ◽  
Classical Period ◽  
Greek Mythology ◽  
Folk Tales ◽  
Ancient Literature ◽  
Upper Register ◽  
Distinguishing Features ◽  
Over Time

<p>The aim of this thesis is to look at how and why the siren is featured in Classical Attic cemeteries and how its mythical characteristics lead to its appropriateness in such a context. The exact origins of the siren are unknown, although it has been suggested that they stem from the folk tales of sailors at sea, or shared ideas from other cultures. Despite such unknown variables, the siren figure that is considered in this thesis is that found in Greek mythology, frequently remembered for her encounter with Odysseus on his journey home from Troy and ability to enchant sailors with her irresistible song. Typically combining the features of a bird’s body and a woman’s head, the creature known as the siren can also be seen in ancient depictions on vases, jewellery boxes and female toilette objects. During the Classical Period (479-323BC) the bird-women hybrid sirens are used as a decorative feature on top of funerary stelae in Attic cemeteries. The siren can be seen in two different forms in the funerary context, specifically in relation to their placement and representation on stelae: relief images of the creatures in the roof sima of the upper register of the tombstone, and sculpted in the round perched on top. The presence of the siren in this context can provide a constant mourner as well as inviting the viewer to grieve for the deceased.  The first chapter details the siren’s character and role in early ancient literature and art, specifically relating to their mythological corpus. Discussion will focus on the evolution of their character and their appearance over time, as well as identifying distinguishing features which make the siren a unique figure. It is also necessary in this section to establish a distinction between the siren and the mythological harpy who combines the similar bird-woman features to make up a very different creature (particularly evident in a commonly misnamed Lycian sarcophagus, the ‘Harpy tomb’.) The second chapter outlines the timeframe of the use and presence of funerary stelae featuring sirens in Attic cemeteries, predominantly found in the Kerameikos, with references to the legislation which may have affected them. This section covers examples of the presence of sirens in this context including, but not exclusive to, images in relief depicted in the roof sima, along with other figures, as well as the limited freestanding sculptures of sirens seen perched above stelae. I will also analyse the ‘traditional’ view of the sirens as ‘soul birds’ as suggested by various scholars, particularly those from the early 1900s. The final chapter looks at the appropriateness of the siren in a funerary context and attempts to identify the reasons why they were used for such a purpose. In order to answer these questions, it is important to look at the reception of these pieces by mourners and passers-by alike and the possible relationship between those that view the sculpture in such a setting and the piece itself.</p>

scholarly journals The Intertextual Use of Greek Mythology in Agatha Christie’s Detective Fiction

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 321-331
Author(s):  
Tatiana Ternopol
Keyword(s):  
Short Stories ◽  
Short Story ◽  
Detective Fiction ◽  
Comparative Methods ◽  
Greek Mythology ◽  
Short Story Collection ◽  
The Face ◽  
Greek Myths ◽  
Story Collection ◽  
Over Time

This study investigates the intertextual use of Greek mythology in Agatha Christie’s short stories Philomel Cottage, The Face of Helen, and The Oracle at Delphi, a short story collection The Labours of Hercules, and a novel, Nemesis. The results of this research based on the hermeneutical and comparative methods reveal that A. Christie’s intertextual formula developed over time. In her early works, allusions were based on characters' appearances and functions as well as on the use of motifs and themes from Greek myths. Later on, she turned to using allusory character names; this would mislead her readers who thought they already knew the formula of her stories. Although not a postmodern writer, A. Christie enjoyed playing games of allusion with her readers. She wanted them not only to solve a case but also to discover and interpret the intertextual references.

‘Donatus’ and Athenian phratries

1985 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Golden
Keyword(s):  
Traditional View ◽  
Classical Period ◽  
New Interpretation

My purpose in this paper is to reassert the traditional view that Athenian women of the classical period regularly had an association with phratries (and incidentally to clarify the nature of that association). As part (though not an essential part) of my argument I adduce an overlooked piece of evidence, a much discussed passage from the Donatus commentary on Terence; for this I provide a new interpretation.There is some evidence that Athenian women were introduced to their fathersphrateresat birth, or to their husbands'phrateresat marriage, or both. The speaker of Isaeus 3 repeatedly asserts (73, 75, 76, 79) that a certain Pyrrhus would have presented his daughter to hisphrateresif she had been legitimate (which he denies). A scholium on Aristophanes,Acharnians146 (=Suda s.v. Apatouria)may refer to such a practice. Euxitheus calls as witnesses of his mother's citizenshipphrateresfor whom his father celebrated the wedding feast, thegamelia, on her behalf (Dem. 57.43, 69, Isaeus 3.79); celebration of thegameliais regarded as proof of the legitimacy of the speaker's mother at Isaeus 8.19. Neither Demosthenes nor Isaeus says that women were formally registered among thephrateresor even present at the feast; but notices in the lexicographers do connect thegameliawith registration among or introduction to thephrateres(Harpocration s.v.gamelia, Suda s.v. gamelia, Etym. Magn.220.50 s.v.gamelia, Pollux 8.107,Anec. Bekk.228.5, Schol. Dem. 57.43). Many scholars have accepted these passages as evidence for normal practice at Athens in the classical period.

Afterword

2020 ◽  
pp. 226-232
Author(s):  
Mary Jean Corbett
Keyword(s):  
Public Action ◽  
The Past ◽  
Over Time

This chapter cites Annie Ernaux's final chapter of The Years, which stages a series of conversations between members of the older and younger Pargiter generations as they gather for a family party. It offers an understanding about how Virginia Woolf's relationship to the late-Victorian past changed as she aged over time. It also looks at Woolf's writings that are considered as “novel of fact” rather than “vision,” which have many determinants of the female descendant who seeks something from the ancestor's portrait. The chapter elaborates how The Years turns away from an idealized maternal past that is predicated on the identifications with men. It talks about embracing the models for public action that is caused by the problematic commitments of most feminist reformers in the past.

Reptiles of the NSW Murray Catchment

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Damian Michael ◽  
David Lindenmayer
Keyword(s):  
Catchment Area ◽  
New South ◽  
Conservation Status ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Distribution Maps ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Reptile Species ◽  
Farming Landscapes ◽  
Distinguishing Features

This is an easy to use field guide for identifying the 80 reptile species currently known to occur in the Murray catchment area of New South Wales. Illustrated with high quality colour photographs, the book describes the key distinguishing features of each reptile and includes details on habitats and conservation status. Uniquely, it has a detailed chapter on how to conserve reptiles and manage key habitats, providing landholders and natural resource agencies with the knowledge to help conserve reptiles in agricultural farming landscapes. The up-to-date distribution maps are based on 10 years of extensive surveys and research on reptiles in the Murray catchment. The final chapter includes a section on similar looking species to further enable readers to accurately and quickly identify difficult species. Reptiles of the NSW Murray Catchment promotes a broad appreciation of reptiles in the region, and is a must-have for natural history enthusiasts.

Wearable expert system development: definitions, models and challenges for the future

2017 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 235-258 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabio Sartori ◽  
Riccardo Melen
Keyword(s):  
Expert System ◽  
Knowledge Engineering ◽  
System Development ◽  
Knowledge Bases ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Domain Experts ◽  
Points Of View ◽  
Input Variables ◽  
Distinguishing Features ◽  
Over Time

Purpose A wearable expert system (WES) is an expert system designed and implemented to obtain input from and give outputs to wearable devices. Among its distinguishing features are the direct cooperation between domain experts and users, and the interaction with a knowledge maintenance system devoted to dynamically update the knowledge base taking care of the evolving scenario. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach The WES development method is based on the Knowledge Acquisition Framework based on Knowledge Artifact (KAFKA) framework. KAFKA employs multiple knowledge artifacts, each devoted to the acquisition and management of a specific kind of knowledge. The KAFKA framework is introduced from both the conceptual and computational points of view. An example is given which demonstrates the interaction, within this framework, of taxonomies, Bayesian networks and rule-based systems. An experimental assessment of the framework usability is also given. Findings The most interesting characteristic of WESs is their capability to evolve over time, due both to the measurement of new values for input variables and to the detection of new input events, that can be used to modify, extend and maintain knowledge bases and to represent domains characterized by variability over time. Originality/value WES is a new and challenging concept, dealing with the possibility for a user to develop his/her own decision support systems and update them according to new events when they arise from the environment. The system fully supports domain experts and users with no particular skills in knowledge engineering methodologies, to create, maintain and exploit their expert systems, everywhere and when necessary.

scholarly journals Conclusion: Reflections on a Global Issue Domain

2019 ◽  
pp. 191-204
Author(s):  
Roxana Radu
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Global Governance ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Internet Governance ◽  
Global Fields ◽  
Current Trends ◽  
Policy Debates ◽  
Global Issue ◽  
Over Time

The final chapter sums up the findings of the book and highlights the contributions of this study to international relations and to Internet governance, both theoretically and empirically. It clarifies how the findings of this research fit in the ongoing policy debates and in the global governance scholarship, while providing clues for understanding current trends and developments in the field. Reflecting on the value of the research agenda proposed here, this chapter notes the theoretical implications of studying the origins and articulation of global fields of power over time. Last but not least, it offers analytical directions for future explorations of governance emergence and structuration in nascent policy domains.

Women Who Fly

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Serinity Young
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Diversity ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Spiritual Experience ◽  
Cultural Perspective ◽  
Folk Tales ◽  
Psychological Reality ◽  
The Arts ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Over Time

The desire to transcend the mundane and the terrestrial, and to reach new heights of spiritual experience, has been expressed through myths, folk tales, and the arts throughout the world and across centuries. Flight from both the captivity of earth’s gravity and the mental constraints of time-bound desire are the backbone of myth-making. Women and goddesses have figured prominently in such myths, both as independent actors and as guides for men. Women Who Fly is a history of religious and social ideas about such aerial females as expressed in legends, myths, rituals, sacred narratives, and artistic productions. It is also about the varied symbolic uses of women in mythology, religion, and society that have shaped, and continue to shape, our social and psychological reality. The motif of the flying female is an intriguing and unstudied area of the history of both religion and iconography. It is a broad topic. Rather than place restrictions on this theme (or its imagery), or force it into the confines of any one discipline or cultural perspective, the goal here instead is to celebrate its thematic and cultural diversity, while highlighting commonalities and delineating the religious and social contexts in which it developed. Aerial women are surprisingly central to any full and accurate understanding of the similarities between various religious imaginations, through which these flying females have carved trajectories over time.

The Unity of Freedom

2021 ◽  
pp. 237-246
Author(s):  
Kieron O’Hara
Keyword(s):  
Network Effects ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Negative Externalities ◽  
Common Interests ◽  
Over Time

The final chapter summarizes the ideas of Four Internets. The Internet needs to remain connected, while its governance should allow different ideologies to flourish simultaneously, without imposing their view on the rest. Governance should pursue common interests while respecting cultural diversity. The prominent role of the United States remains an issue, although it has historically been a good steward of the infrastructure, and probably better than any alternative, including the multilateral structures promoted by nations like China and Russia. Governance is currently multistakeholder and ad hoc, but informal, emergent arrangements are probably better and more flexible than something neater and designed. Innovation and network effects need to be fostered, but policymakers will, on occasion, have to intervene against (perceived) negative externalities. New Internets will emerge over time; a COVID-19 Internet is imagined and described, for example. New technologies, such as quantum computing, will create new stresses, requiring a constant focus on resilience.

Conclusion

2019 ◽  
pp. 211-230
Author(s):  
Jennifer Stromer-Galley
Keyword(s):  
Digital Media ◽  
Digital Technology ◽  
Political Campaigns ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Media ◽  
Over Time

This final chapter recaps the arguments and discusses implications of how campaigns have used DCTs. By only looking at digital practices of political campaigns, it is worrisome that we fail to see that for most campaigns digital media is still only a small part of the overall focus of campaigns. Greater appreciation is needed for understanding DCT use in the context of other factors of a campaign. Campaigns have dramatically changed their strategies over time as they learned the benefits and the challenges of communicating with the public and the media through DCTs. In 1996 they barely interacted with the public and controlled the message as much as possible. By 2016, they were using a variety of interactive affordances to mobilize supporters, attack opponents, and influence the news media’s agenda through their digital media accounts. They also learned to capitalize on the public’s data that they generate about themselves when they interact with the campaign online and in partnering with digital technology companies, such as Facebook, to engage in unprecedented micro-targeting through paid ads.

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