L'uso di epos nella letteratura latina Questioni testuali ed esegetiche (Lucilio, Orazio, Ovidio, Stazio, Marziale) e la definizione in Diomede (GLK III 483.27 ss.)

The contribution explores the use of epos in Latin literature, a very rare and often uncertain term in the manuscript tradition, in contrast with its later fortune. Starting from the examination of the detailed definition of it in Diomedes' Ars grammatica, all the five attestations of epos in Latin poets (Lucilius, Horace, Ovid, Statius and Martial) are examined, evaluating readings and conjectures in the search for the more reliable text, on the basis of the context and parallel passages. Research shows that the term in the Greek-Latin world had a partly different meaning from the current one, suitable for other literary genres, in addition to the epic poetry.

Appropriate Transgression: An Intertextual Approach to Problems of Genre and Heroism in Statius' Achilleid

<p><b>Statius’ second epic poem, the Achilleid, deals with a subject matter that is particularly problematic: Achilles’ early life, in which he is raised by a centaur in the wilderness and then disguises himself as a woman in order to rape the princess of Scyros. Recent scholarship has also pointed to other problematic elements, such as Achilles’ troublesome relationship with his mother or the epic’s intertextual engagement with elegiac and ‘un-epic’ poetry. This thesis extends such scholarship by analysing Statius’ use of transgression in particular. It focuses primarily upon the heroic character of Achilles and the generic program of the Achilleid as a whole.</b></p> <p>The first chapter focuses upon Achilles’ childhood and early youth as a foster child and student of the centaur Chiron. It demonstrates that the hero’s upbringing is used to emphasise his ambiguous nature in line with the Homeric Iliad, as a hero who is capable of acting appropriately, but chooses not to. Achilles’ wild and bestial nature is emphasised by its difference to the half-human character of Chiron, who might be expected to be act like an animal, but instead becomes an example of civilisation overcoming innate savagery, an example of what Achilles could have been. The second chapter discusses the ambiguities inherent in a study of transgression, in the light of Achilles’ transvestite episode on Scyros. Numerous intertextual allusions construct various sets of expected behaviours for the transvestite youth, but his failure to live up to any of them portrays him as a truly transgressive hero. In this way, he is similar to Hercules or Bacchus, whose heroism is constructed partly upon their transgressive natures and inability to conform to societal custom. In the final chapter, the study of transgression is extended to Statius’ generic program, associating the epic with elegy. Statius employs many elegiac tropes, and makes numerous allusions to the poetry of elegists such as Ovid and Propertius. In particular, elegiac poetry’s peculiar trope of constructing and emphasising boundaries in order that they may be crossed (thus making the poetry feel more transgressive) is mirrored in the Achilleid. In this way, the Achilleid’s engagement with transgression is considered to be, in part, a method for presenting an innately problematic hero to Statius’ Flavian audience in an accessible and interesting manner.</p>

Appropriate Transgression: An Intertextual Approach to Problems of Genre and Heroism in Statius' Achilleid

<p><b>Statius’ second epic poem, the Achilleid, deals with a subject matter that is particularly problematic: Achilles’ early life, in which he is raised by a centaur in the wilderness and then disguises himself as a woman in order to rape the princess of Scyros. Recent scholarship has also pointed to other problematic elements, such as Achilles’ troublesome relationship with his mother or the epic’s intertextual engagement with elegiac and ‘un-epic’ poetry. This thesis extends such scholarship by analysing Statius’ use of transgression in particular. It focuses primarily upon the heroic character of Achilles and the generic program of the Achilleid as a whole.</b></p> <p>The first chapter focuses upon Achilles’ childhood and early youth as a foster child and student of the centaur Chiron. It demonstrates that the hero’s upbringing is used to emphasise his ambiguous nature in line with the Homeric Iliad, as a hero who is capable of acting appropriately, but chooses not to. Achilles’ wild and bestial nature is emphasised by its difference to the half-human character of Chiron, who might be expected to be act like an animal, but instead becomes an example of civilisation overcoming innate savagery, an example of what Achilles could have been. The second chapter discusses the ambiguities inherent in a study of transgression, in the light of Achilles’ transvestite episode on Scyros. Numerous intertextual allusions construct various sets of expected behaviours for the transvestite youth, but his failure to live up to any of them portrays him as a truly transgressive hero. In this way, he is similar to Hercules or Bacchus, whose heroism is constructed partly upon their transgressive natures and inability to conform to societal custom. In the final chapter, the study of transgression is extended to Statius’ generic program, associating the epic with elegy. Statius employs many elegiac tropes, and makes numerous allusions to the poetry of elegists such as Ovid and Propertius. In particular, elegiac poetry’s peculiar trope of constructing and emphasising boundaries in order that they may be crossed (thus making the poetry feel more transgressive) is mirrored in the Achilleid. In this way, the Achilleid’s engagement with transgression is considered to be, in part, a method for presenting an innately problematic hero to Statius’ Flavian audience in an accessible and interesting manner.</p>

Why Humans Do Not Cast Off Old Skin Like Snakes. Knowledge and Eternal Youth in Nicander’s Theriaca

In Theriaca 343–358, Nicander recounts a rather unusual myth. After Prometheus had stolen fire, Zeus was seeking the thief and, when men delivered Prometheus over to him, he gave them the gift of youth. Humans entrusted the ass to carry this load, but the ass was seized by thirst and sought the help of the snake, who demanded in return the thing he was carrying on his back. This is how the gift of youth given to men fell to the serpent’s lot. Ever since, inevitable old age has weighed upon them, while the snakes cast off their old skin and gain a new one. Like any digression in Hellenistic epic poetry, this parable certainly is intended to entertain the reader, yet it must have a more serious function: by showing that it was only out of stupidity that men gave away their invaluable gift to the ass, Nicander asserts the great value of knowledge for life. Remarkably, it is precisely in this passage that the poet has inserted the acrostic of his name. The idea that his poetic work will ensure the survival of his name for future generations, directly expressed in the closing lines, is here conveyed with the greatest refinement.

Other space in the Yakut heroic epic poetry (based on Olonkho of Vilyuysky tradition)

The subject of this research is the semantics, structure and plotline of other space in the Yakut heroic epic poetry. The object is the texts of the Yakut heroic epic poetry, namely Olonkho of Vilyuysky tradition. The goal lies in comprehensive analysis of the category of other space in the Yakut heroic epic poetry, particularly Olonkho of Vilyuysky tradition. The article employs the systemic analysis of Olonkho poetics, structural-semantic analysis, and comparative method. Special attention is given to construction of mythopoetic model of the world and correlation between space and plot of the epic poem. The acquired results can be implemented in folklore studies. The novelty of this research consists in the analysis of other space in Olonkho from the perspective of its semantics, structure, and narrative role. This article is first to describe the peculiarities of other space in the texts of Vilyuysky epic tradition. It is determined that other space in the Yakut heroic epic poetry Olonkho is depicted in form of the Lower and Upper worlds, &ldquo;foreign country&rdquo; in the Middle world, intermediate zones that hold an important place within the epic worldview and course of events in the plot of Olonkho. The author notes that the texts of Vilyuysky Olonkho preserve the traditional techniques depicting the three worlds; and the difference lies in emergence of the image of shaman dwelling in the intermediate zone, prevalence of the entry into the Lower world without demarcation of its boundaries.

Certain Results of an Axiological Analysis of the Russian Heroic Epic

Целью статьи является формирование представления о ценностном наполнении русского героического эпоса, основанном на результатах последствий поступков героев. Методология опирается на аксиологический анализ, механизм которого включает исследование мотивирующих героя ценностей, совершенного им поступка и последствий этого поступка. Различимые в былинах ценностные категории (слава, честь и др.) предполагают два сюжетно маркированных инварианта. На основании последствий (положительных или отрицательных) поступка героя, мотивированного, в свою очередь, той или иной вариативной ценностью, она либо утверждается, либо, наоборот, подвергается девальвации. Подобная закономерность позволяет осуществить классификацию былинных сюжетов и вынести общую содержательную оценку национальному эпосу. Учитывая, что девальвируемыми ценностями оказываются ценности «ветхого человека», совершенно оправданно говорить о том, что русская героическая поэзия является глубоко христианской по своему духу. The research aims to form an idea of the value content of the Russian heroic folk epic based on the consequences of the actions folk heroes undertake. The research method is an axiological analysis, which examines the values motivating the hero, the deed he commits, and the consequences (positive or negative) of this deed. Russian folk epics – despite their variability and no well-established scholarly opinion on their content and conception – reveal characteristic integrity and coherence when given an axiological interpretation. The latter implies that the following elements should be analysed: the values that motivate the hero, his deed, and its consequences (positive or negative). In Russian bylinas, one can easily discern such value categories as fame (slava), honour (chest’), fortune–fate (talan-uchast’), strength (sila), knightly heart (serdtse bogatyrskoe), and anger (gnev). Each category implies two plot-accentuated invariants: positive and negative. For example, the word ‘fame’ (or the phrase ‘great fame’ (slavushka velikaya)) may indicate both personal fame (almost inevitably pernicious for the hero) and the so-called common fame of all Russian knights (bogatyrs), service to which enables the character to save his life and freedom. Analogically, the word ‘honour’ may imply both personal material-symbolic ‘honour’ (i.e., valuable property, signs of public recognition, etc.) and ‘honor’ as related to some ‘external’ – from the hero’s perspective – realities: sacred objects, religious institutions and principles. Based on the positive or negative consequences provoked by the hero’s deed – the deed motivated by a certain variational value – this value is either strengthened or rejected. This regularity allows formulating an ‘axiomotif’ (a semantic or plot element, in which, via a cause-and-effect relationship of spiritual-psychological nature, the hero’s motivation, his deed, and the natural – from the perspective of an epic consciousness – consequences of this very deed merge into an inseparable unity), classifying different bylina plots (the author suggests distinguishing four plot types), and generally describing the semantics of Russian folk epics. Given the fact that, in Russian bylinas, the rejected values are conditionally non-Christian (particularly, personal fame and personal honour – as compared with the categories of Kievan knights’ common fame and the ‘honour’ of Orthodox sacred objects and principles, which are strengthened as bylina plots progress), it is only natural to assert that Russian epic poetry is profoundly Christian.

Sentence and the compound sentencein Julius Zeyer’s epic poetry and prose

The aim of this paper is to explore the use of the sentence and the compound sentence in the literary works of the Czech poet Julius Zeyer (1841–1901). Specifically, we intend to make a quantitative identification of congruencies and parallels, typical of the syntactic structure of Zeyer’s epic poetry and prose, as evidenced by a detailed analysis of particular stylistic devices used in the selected representative texts. The aim of this paper is to corroborate, or possibly to exclude, the impact of the selected narrative means of expression on the stylistic and compositional variances of the text, which is facilitated by paying full attention to one aspect of Zeyer’s authorial style, namely, the quantitative variation of sentences and compound sentences.