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Rhapsode
A rhapsode () or, in modern usage, rhapsodist, refers to a classical Greek professional performer of epic poetry in the fifth and fourth centuries BC (and perhaps earlier). Rhapsodes notably performed the epics of Homer (''Iliad'' and ''Odyssey'') but also the wisdom and catalogue poetry of Hesiod and the satires of Archilochus and others. Plato's dialogue '' Ion'', in which Socrates confronts a star player rhapsode, remains the most coherent source of information on these artists. Often, rhapsodes are depicted in Greek art, wearing their signature cloak and carrying a staff. This equipment is also characteristic of travellers in general, implying that rhapsodes were itinerant performers, moving from town to town. Rhapsodes originated in Ionia, which has been sometimes regarded as Homer's birthplace, and were also known as Homeridai, disciples of Homer, or "singers of stitched lays." Etymology and usage The term ''rhapsode'' is derived from ''rhapsōidein'' (ῥαψῳδεῖ� ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Homeridae
The Homeridae (Ancient Greek: Ὁμηρίδαι) were a family, clan or professional lineage on the island of Chios claiming descent from the Greek epic poet Homer. The origin of the name seems obvious: in classical Greek the word should mean "children of Homer". An analogous name, Asclepiadae, identified a clan or guild of medical practitioners as "children of Asclepius". However, since the existence of the Homeridae is authenticated while that of Homer is not, and since Greek ''homeros'' is a common noun meaning "hostage", it was suggested even in ancient times that the Homeridae were in reality "children (or descendants) of hostages". The natural further step is to argue that Homer, the supposed founder, is a mythical figure, a mere back-formation, deriving his name from that of the later guild. Their influence on the dark early history of transmission of the Homeric texts, though incalculable, is sure to have been conservative. Evidence on the Homeridae relates to the late si ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Iliad
The ''Iliad'' (; , ; ) is one of two major Ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Odyssey'', the poem is divided into 24 books and was written in dactylic hexameter. It contains 15,693 lines in its most widely accepted version. The ''Iliad'' is often regarded as the first substantial piece of Western literature, European literature and is a central part of the Epic Cycle. Set towards the end of the Trojan War, a ten-year siege of the city of Troy by a coalition of Mycenaean Greece, Mycenaean Greek states, the poem depicts significant events in the war's final weeks. In particular, it traces the anger () of Achilles, a celebrated warrior, from a fierce quarrel between him and King Agamemnon, to the death of the Trojan prince Hector.Homer, ''Iliad, Volume I, Books 1–12'', translated by A. T. Murray, revised by William F. Wyatt, Loeb Classical Library 170, Cambridge, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hesiod
Hesiod ( or ; ''Hēsíodos''; ) was an ancient Greece, Greek poet generally thought to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer.M. L. West, ''Hesiod: Theogony'', Oxford University Press (1966), p. 40.Jasper Griffin, "Greek Myth and Hesiod", J.Boardman, J.Griffin and O. Murray (eds.), ''The Oxford History of the Classical World'', Oxford University Press (1986), p. 88. Several of Hesiod's works have survived in their entirety. Among these are ''Theogony'', which tells the origins of the gods, their lineages, and the events that led to Zeus's rise to power, and ''Works and Days'', a poem that describes the five Ages of Man, offers advice and wisdom, and includes myths such as Pandora's box. Hesiod is generally regarded by Western authors as 'the first written poet in the Western tradition to regard himself as an individual persona with an active role to play in his subject.' Ancient authors credited Hesiod and Homer with establishing Greek relig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aoidos
The Greek word ' (; plural: , ) referred to a classical Greek singer. In modern Homeric scholarship, it is used by some as the technical term for a skilled oral epic poet in the tradition to which the ''Iliad'' and ''Odyssey'' are believed to belong (compare rhapsode). Song and poetry in the ''Iliad'' and ''Odyssey'' In classical Greek, the word , is an agent noun derived from the verb () or () . It occurs several times in varying forms in the ''Iliad'' and ''Odyssey'' in relation to poetry: * ''Iliad'' 18.490–496 (on the Shield of Achilles): a wedding song, ''hymenaios'', with pipes, lyres, and dancing * ''Odyssey'' 23.133–135: a wedding song with dancing, led by the singer Phemius: there is no wedding but Odysseus wants to create the impression of festivity while he is killing the suitors * ''Iliad'' 18.567–572 (on the Shield of Achilles): a child sings and plays the lyre to accompany the vintage. The song is the '' linos'' * ''Iliad'' 18.593–606 (on the Shiel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thamyris
In Greek mythology, Thamyris (Ancient Greek: Θάμυρις, ''Thámuris'') was a Thrace, Thracian singer. He is notable in Greek mythology for reportedly being a lover of Hyacinth (mythology), Hyacinth and thus to have been the first male to have loved another male,Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus), Apollodorus, 1.3.3 but when his songs failed to win his love from the god Apollo, he challenged the Nine Muses to a competition and lost. Family Thamyris was the son of Philammon and the nymph Argiope (mythology), Argiope from Mount Parnassus. One account makes him the father of Menippe (mythology), Menippe, who became the mother of Orpheus by Oeagrus. Mythology Early years When Philammon refused to take Argiope into his house as his wife, the girl left Peloponnese and went to the country of the Odrysian kingdom, Odrysians in Thrace where she gave birth to a son, Thamyris. When the boy reached puberty, he became so accomplished in singing to the cithara that the Scythians made ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oral Poetry
Oral poetry is a form of poetry that is composed and transmitted without the aid of writing. The complex relationships between written and spoken literature in some societies can make this definition hard to maintain. Background Oral poetry is sometimes considered to include any poetry which is performed live. In many cultures, oral poetry overlaps with, or is identical with, song. Meanwhile, although the term oral etymologically means 'to do with the mouth', in some cultures oral poetry is also performed by other means, such as talking drums in some African cultures. Oral poetry exists most clearly within oral cultures, but it can survive, and indeed flourish, in highly literate cultures. Oral poetry differs from oral literature in general because oral literature encompasses linguistic registers which are not considered poetry. In most oral literature, poetry is defined by the fact that it conforms to metrical rules; examples of non-poetic oral literature in Western culture i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Type-scene
A type scene is a literary convention employed by a narrator across a set of scenes, or related to scenes (place, action) already familiar to the audience. The similarities with, and differences from, the established type are used to illuminate developments in plot and character. Robert Louis Fowler wrote, "The technique of the type-scene offers the poet a basic scaffolding, but it also allows the poet to adapt each scene for specific purposes." Much of the foundational work for such analysis was by Walter Arend in his 1933 book, ''Die typischen Szenen bei Homer'', on the ''Iliad'' of Homer. Later work by Robert Alter employed similar examination to parts of the Hebrew Bible, in particular to the betrothal type-scene at the well in Genesis. Another type scene that Alter identifies is the annunciation of the birth of the hero to a barren woman, such as the birth of Samson to Manoah's wife, or the birth of Samuel to Hannah. Other scholars have suggested other type scenes in the Hebr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rediscovering Homer
''Rediscovering Homer'' is a 2006 book by Andrew Dalby. It sets out the problems of origin, dating and authorship of the two ancient Greek epics, ''Iliad'' and ''Odyssey'', usually attributed to Homer. ''Rediscovering Homer'' originated as a development and expansion of two academic papers published in the 1990s in which Dalby argued that the ''Iliad'' and ''Odyssey'' must be seen as belonging to the same world as that of the early Greek lyric poets but to a less aristocratic genre. This contradicted a widespread assumption that the epics come from an older stage of civilization and literature than the personal poetry of Archilochus, Sappho and others. Returning to these themes, Dalby summarizes the contents and significance of the two epics and hypothesizes the transmission they probably followed, from oral invention and circulation to written versions. He then spotlights the unknown poet who, long after the time of the traditional Homer, at last saw the ''Iliad'' and ''Odysse ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Works And Days
''Works and Days'' ()The ''Works and Days'' is sometimes called by the Latin translation of the title, ''Opera et Dies''. Common abbreviations are ''WD'' and ''Op'' for ''Opera''. is a didactic poem written by ancient Greek poet Hesiod around 700 BC. It is in dactylic hexameter and contains 828 lines. At its center, the ''Works and Days'' is a Almanac, farmer's almanac in which Hesiod instructs his brother Perses in the agricultural arts. Scholars have seen this work against a background of agrarian crisis in mainland Greece, which inspired a wave of Greek colonies, colonial expeditions in search of new land. In the poem, Hesiod also offers his brother extensive moralizing advice on how he should live his life. ''Works and Days'' is perhaps best known for its two mythological aetiology, aetiologies for the toil and pain that define the human condition—the story of Prometheus and Pandora, and the so-called Ages of Man, Myth of Five Ages. Synopsis In ''Works and Days'', Hesi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scholia
Scholia (: scholium or scholion, from , "comment", "interpretation") are grammatical, critical, or explanatory comments – original or copied from prior commentaries – which are inserted in the margin of the manuscript of ancient authors, as glosses. One who writes scholia is a scholiast. The earliest attested use of the word dates to the 1st century BC. History Ancient scholia are important sources of information about many aspects of the ancient world, especially ancient literary history. The earliest scholia, usually anonymous, date to the 5th or 4th century BC (such as the ''scholia minora'' to the ''Iliad''). The practice of compiling scholia continued to late Byzantine times, outstanding examples being Archbishop Eustathius' massive commentaries to Homer in the 12th century and the ''scholia recentiora'' of Thomas Magister, Demetrius Triclinius and Manuel Moschopoulos in the 14th. Scholia were altered by successive copyists and owners of the manusc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bibliotheca (Pseudo-Apollodorus)
The ''Bibliotheca'' (Ancient Greek: ), is a compendium of Greek mythology, Greek myths and heroic legends, genealogical tables and histories arranged in three books, generally dated to the first or second century AD. The work is commonly described as having been written by Apollodorus (or sometimes Pseudo-Apollodorus), a result of its false attribution to the 2nd-century BC scholar Apollodorus of Athens. Overview The ''Bibliotheca'' of Pseudo-Apollodorus is a comprehensive collection of myths, genealogies and histories that presents a continuous history of Greek mythology from the earliest gods and the origin of the world to the death of Odysseus.. The narratives are organized by genealogy, chronology and geography in summaries of myth. The myths are sourced from a wide number of sources like early epic, early Hellenistic poets, and mythographical summaries of tales. Homer and Hesiod are the most frequently named along with other poets.Kenens, Ulrike. 2011. "The Sources of Ps.-A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
