Ancient Stories Research Articles

Practical Applications of David and Goliath: Who Wins the Quantitative Battle?

Traditional index funds may not seem to have an advantage over the complex quantitative investment styles employed by hedge funds and other portfolio managers, but the investment approaches share similarities to the ancient story of David and Goliath, says <b>Vanguard Group</b> founder John C. Bogle. In new research published in <b><i>The Journal of Portfolio Management</i></b>, Bogle writes that low-cost index funds are winning against their better-equipped and richer rivals. In an interview with <b>Institutional Investor Journals</b>, Bogle says the implications include the likelihood that many strategic beta funds and other quantitative-based vehicles may fail to outperform simple market-cap weighted index funds over the long term. <b>TOPICS:</b>Mutual funds/passive investing/indexing, real assets/alternative investments/private equity

The Inner Seas in Deirdre of the Sorrows by John Millington Synge (1909)

From the ancient story preserved in the 12th century Book of Leinster to 20th century versions, Longes mac nUislenn (The Exile of the Sons of Usnach) has been told and retold. It is a story of travel from Ireland to Scotland and back to Ireland again after seven years of exile. Deirdre of the Sorrows (1909) is John Millington Synge’s highly lyrical version. It adds a philosophical aspect to the myth and deals with Irish identity, at a time when the Celtic Revival was strongly expressed by artists. In the awakening of the Modern era, the story was rewritten by Irish authors, Synge and William Butler Yeats, as well as by a Scottish writer, Fiona McLeod (William Sharp). Thus, not only is the area of the inner seas present within the story of Deirdre itself, but also it appears to be an important feature in the mapping of the authorial history of the tale, as a metacharacteristic, imbedded, deeply rooted, always present. This paper aims to show that it plays an essential part in a story which has become, through the ages, a quest for meaning and identity.

부산의 고대문화와 이야기를 통한 부산의 발전 방안 연구

부산의 고대문화와 이야기를 통한 부산의 발전 방안 연구

Republic 382A–D: On the Dangers and Benefits of Falsehood

<i>Republic</i> 382A–D: On the Dangers and Benefits of Falsehood

Woman, body, earth and spirit: Journeys of descent through myth, embodiment and movement practice

Abstract In this article I describe some personal journeys, inwards through the deepest layers of the psyche, to discover embodied understanding of what I call the deep feminine, or the feminine ground of being. I explore some myths and ancient stories of the Goddess that reflect the journey of healing and transformation through psychological descent, and can guide us through such ordeals. As C. G. Jung discovered, myths and archetypes are rooted in the instinctual body; as a somatic movement practitioner and transpersonal and body-oriented psychotherapist, my own journeys led me to intuitive appreciations of the somatic sources of mythic journeys that have particular relevance to contemporary women seeking healing/wholeness and spiritual renewal. The myth of Inanna, the oldest known myth of the Goddess’s descent to the Underworld, affirms the truth that our healing and spiritual journey takes us through a process of ‘endarkenment’, in order to reach wholeness and discover the light of spirit within. The Goddess Lilith also represents the ‘dark’ side of the feminine, which we need to balance and reconcile with our upperworldly nature. La Loba, Wild Woman, shows us a path towards rebirth and revival of our soul and spirit. These ancient and timeless tales offer guidance and reflection for contemporary women, and also men exploring the feminine within their own psyches.

Story-telling Silk Route Collapsing the Walls of Differences: An Analysis on Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s One Amazing Thing

The article examines power of narrative/storytelling in developing collective force that would serve as survival strategy for facing catastrophe. In Divakaruni’s One Amazing Thing the nine characters, who are trapped by a major earthquake in the basement of a high-rise building of Indian visa office in US, go on telling his/her stories of their past, ‘one amazing thing’ of their lives that they have never been able to share with anyone. Like a very ancient story telling form e.g. the Panchatantra, stories lead to more stories. One story makes the listeners to muse about how it applies to their lives, and that ultimately leads them coming up with their own stories, the choice of which is influenced by the previous story. In their manner of telling stories, the characters feel strangely bound to each other, though they are so different from each other. It is the incredible power of storytelling that collapses the wall of several tags of identity, and brings together the strangers, who are stuck in one room due to natural disaster. Ironically the story takes place in a visa office that confirms one’s identity in terms of his/her nationality, race, ethnicity and similar others. It is a natural disaster that brings people from different origin closer to each other and it is the healing power of narrative/storytelling that dissolves all differences revealing what it means to be human.

The Changes and Meanings of the Image of Cow(牛) in Sino-Korean Poems during the Koryo and Early Joseon Dynasties

The Changes and Meanings of the Image of Cow(牛) in Sino-Korean Poems during the Koryo and Early Joseon Dynasties

“PERCY JACKSON E OS OLIMPIANOS’: MITO, LITERATURA E EDUCAÇÃO

Mitos são histórias primordiais, sempre transformadoras, tão antigas quanto o homem, que atuam de forma peculiar em crianças e adolescentes. O objetivo deste artigo é estabelecer analogias entre o mito de Perseu e duas de suas atualizações: a novela juvenil Percy Jackson e Os Olimpianos, de Rick Riordan, e sua versão cinematográfica, por meio de conceitos de teóricos como Eliade, Campbell e Meletínski.

What is so ‘classical’ about Classical Reception? Theories, Methodologies and Future Prospects

&lt;p&gt;This paper delivered at the University of Rio on 3&lt;sup&gt;rd&lt;/sup&gt; June 2015 seeks to explore different approaches to the most fundamental questions in classical reception studies. What is classical reception? And more particularly what is so ‘classical’ about classical reception? It discusses current trends in theory and methodology via an analysis of two cinematic receptions of the ancient story of Electra; one that proclaims its debt to a classical text while the other masks its classical connections.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="page" title="Page 1"&gt;&lt;div class="layoutArea"&gt;&lt;div class="column"&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Resumo&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;span&gt;Este trabalho apresentado na Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro em 3 de junho de 2015 busca explorar as diferentes abordagens sobre as questões mais fundamentais dos estudos de recepção dos clássicos. O que é a recepção dos clássicos? E, mais especificamente, o que há de tão ‘clássico’ na recepção dos clássicos? O trabalho discute tendências correntes na teoria e metodologia através de uma análise de duas recepções cinematográficas da história antiga de Electra: uma que proclama sua dívida ao texto clássico, enquanto que a outra mascara suas conexões clássicas. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Palavras-chave: &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;span&gt;recepção dos clássicos; Electra; Cacoyannis; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;Angelopoulos&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;

O que há de tão ‘clássico’ na recepção dos clássicos? Teorias, metodologias e perspectivas futuras

&lt;p&gt;Este trabalho apresentado na Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro em 3 de junho de 2015 busca explorar as diferentes abordagens sobre as questões mais fundamentais dos estudos de recepção dos clássicos. O que é a recepção dos clássicos? E, mais especificamente, o que há de tão ‘clássico’ na recepção dos clássicos? O trabalho discute tendências correntes na teoria e metodologia através de uma análise de duas recepções cinematográficas da história antiga de Electra: uma que proclama sua dívida ao texto clássico&lt;ins cite="mailto:Marina%20Albuquerque" datetime="2016-06-05T22:41"&gt;,&lt;/ins&gt; enquanto que a outra mascara suas conexões clássicas.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;What is so ‘classical’ about Classical Reception? Theories, Methodologies and Future Prospects&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="page" title="Page 1"&gt;&lt;div class="layoutArea"&gt;&lt;div class="column"&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Abstract&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="layoutArea"&gt;&lt;div class="column"&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;This paper delivered at the University of Rio on 3&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;rd &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;June 2015 seeks to explore different approaches to the most fundamental questions in classical reception studies. What is classical reception? And more particularly what is so ‘classical’ about classical reception? It discusses current trends in theory and methodology via an analysis of two cinematic receptions of the ancient story of Electra; one that proclaims its debt to a classical text while the other masks its classical connections. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Keywords&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;strong&gt;:&lt;/strong&gt; classical reception; Electra; Cacoyannis; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;Angelopoulos &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;

Resisting Injustice: Seeking New Ways to Speak!

Resisting Injustice: Seeking New Ways to Speak! Aruna Gnanadason Dalit* women in India speak… they break centuries‐old “silences” that have been imposed on them by caste and patriarchy. They express themselves through asking new questions with political astuteness, through insightful analyses of the role caste plays in Indian society, and through new ways of defining poverty and economic injustice through a Dalit lens. They give voice to their struggles through protest marches and peaceful resistance. They also speak through art and music, through dances to the beat of the parai*, through verse, and through the retelling of ancient stories of their mothers and fathers and a courageous reconstruction of history. Dalit women have broken the silence, and they have the determination to tear through the shrouds of silence that have for too long covered up their broken bodies, shadowed their spirits, and scarred their souls. The Dalit woman is the doubly or even thrice oppressed in Indian society. She has been called “the dust of the dust”. Dalit women are ground to dust by the weight of systems legalized in British colonial times and by an oppressive patriarchal and caste hierarchy in India—a religiously sanctioned indigenous system that has considered Dalits as the “outcastes” in Indian society. Even as I write this paper, yet another incident of a brutal rape and murder of a Dalit woman is reported. A group of gangsters evidently from the family of the headman (and of an upper‐caste group) gang rape a Dalit woman (who is not named!) and tear her body to pieces and burn her in Malpara Village in Agra. Agra is the city where the Taj Mahal stands. This marble architectural wonder aptly called “a poem of love” was built in 1631 by the Mughal King Shah Jahan in memory of his beloved Mumtaz Mahal. And somewhere nearby an unnamed Dalit woman is raped, dismembered, and burnt! While the report does not tell us why this fate for her—as in other cases, one can only conjecture that she must have broken some upper‐caste law; polluted the supposedly common well by drawing water from it; or perhaps having the gumption to cross the landlord's house, thus breaking the “apartheid‐like” laws that govern the movement of Dalits; or it could have been a way to teach a lesson to her people for having the courage to speak up; it could also be because she dared to fall in love with a man of an upper caste; or simply because the group of upper‐caste men wanted to show their power and have some fun! As in such cases, the village headman and others tried to prevent the woman's husband from approaching the police and burned her mutilated body—so that all evidence is erased. The police promise action, some arrests are made… but we know that the culprits will soon be out. Those with privilege escape punishment once too often, especially when a woman is the victim. We read report after report of the rape and abuse of Dalit women and girls in the hands of landlords, managers, and masters in places they work as domestic workers. Just any man or woman in authority over Dalits of an upper‐caste group is able to hold Dalits at ransom; with threats of violence and other forms of pressure. Privilege, power, and wealth largely remain ensconced in the hands of a minority in India. Reclaiming history has become a strong political tool in the hands of Dalits in India—hence, a Dalit History month was effectively used by Dalits to voice their protest, to say their story and demand that they be heard. As Dalit poet Challapalli Swaroopa Rani writes: The day I was born I bore the imprint of an unchaste woman thrown into the drainage of traditions and dustbin of customs. I became the forbidden one. I am the one carrying the onus of age‐old rejections generations of humiliations as my legacy… In which canto of your country's famed history will you write it down, my story? Therefore, a Dalit History Month (April 2015) which declares in its announcement: Dalit History Month is a...

The Biblical Story of the Announcement of Isaac's Birth: A Structural Analysis

The biblical story of the announcement of Isaac’s birth appears in the Bible in two different versions: one in Genesis 17 (1-27), the other in Genesis 18 (1-16). The comparison of different versions of a myth was the main method of research of Claude Levi-Strauss, emphasizing that mythical thought highlights the great binary oppositions such as life and death, culture and nature, femininity and masculinity, producing a definition of myth as a mode of thought that contributes to the creation of cultural and intellectual identities. The present structural analysis of the two versions of the biblical story of the announcement of Isaac’s birth according to the model of Levi-Strauss is an attempt to decipher the mythical code of the ancient story. This explication of the mythical code suggests that the myth underlying the two versions refers to a ‘collective subconscious’ revealed in structures. The decoding is performed on four levels, following LeviStrauss’ method: geographical, techno-economical, sociological, and cosmological. All four levels materialize in the version in Genesis 18, only two in the version in Genesis 17. The transformative relationship between the two versions creates a new meaning that expresses the sociological and cosmological aspects of circumcision. The two versions of the mythical story include the opposition between interior and exterior, expressing the fear of the penetration of foreigners into the community. The discussion further addresses Sarah’s or Abraham’s laughter, and blood of circumcision on the one hand and of menstruation on the other. The reinterpretation of cultural as well as natural and biological phenomena by mythical thinking creates a complex system of thought that contributes to the cultural and intellectual identity of biblical Israel. Formulating the mythological characteristics of the story of the announcement of Isaac’s birth in the two versions also sheds new light on the phenomenon of ‘mirror stories’ that has been shown to be central to the poetics of the Hebrew Bible by Yair Zakovitch.

‘The Vessel Will Embrace Us’

The concept and practice of transoceanic voyaging underpin contemporary Pacific identities as precursor, metaphor, lived reality and ideal. As a primary symbol for connectivity across a fluid continent, the vaka moana (voyaging canoe) has long been part of cultural expression in many Pacific Island communities, and in recent decades it has become the inspiration for a new wave of Pacific cultural production. This article incorporates three essays that stage a critical conversation about how theatre and performance studies paradigms and indigenous voyaging phenomena may be mutually illuminating. In ‘Ka Moana Kūlipolipo: Reconnecting with the depths of the ocean through performance’, Tammy Haili‘ōpua Baker offers a close look at her production of Kamapua‘a in order to show how the circulation of contemporary Hawaiian performances based on ancient stories and history offers a potent means of connecting across ocean spaces and maintaining culture. Sharon Mazer’s essay ‘From Waka to Haka: Performative voyaging in the twenty-first century’ charts the evocation of the waka (canoe) in various Māori cultural performances, exploring how the legacy of sea journeying both enriches and complicates more grounded notions of indigeneity. In ‘Symbolic Vaka, Sustainable Futures: Climate-induced migration and oceanic performance’, Diana Looser considers some of the broader questions that arise from the intersection of voyaging and artistic performance, focusing in particular on the role that theatre may play in confronting the effects of climate change on Pacific peoples. Together we ask: How can the performance of voyaging tell us more about cultural practices and theatre-making strategies in Oceania and, in turn, how can performative expression and theatrical representation shed more detailed light on the possibilities, challenges and contradictions of the voyaging revival and its implications for contemporary Pacific identities?

Kai hea kai hea te pū o te mate? Reclaiming the power of pūrākau

The pūrākau our ancestors told about the universe and our place within it have been bowdlerised through the process of colonisation. These narratives, as they were transmitted over generations, were transformed by the European settlers, missionaries and educators, from ‘myths’ – oral traditions imbued with the power of the sacred – into ‘fables’ and ‘folktales’. As such, they have largely been neutered of their epistemological power, and their role in sustaining our culture has been substantially diminished. For example, in its original iterations, the ancient story of Māui in which his quest for immortality was foiled by the Tīrairaka contained a fundamental lesson: Māui dies in the act of penetrating Hine-nui-te-pō; from the sex act comes both new life and the sure knowledge of mortality; women are a source of power, life and death. In translation, this story was sanitised; in particular, the description of Māui’s fatal entrance as a lizard into Hine-nui-te-pō’s vagina, were euphemised and displaced, shifted to less controversial body parts. In my paper and presentation, I propose strategies for restoring the power of performance of our pūrākau through the reclamation of the act of storytelling in diverse media. In making new platforms for performing these old stories, we can revitalise the Reo and tikanga, and in so doing reconnect ourselves and our young people to the world that our tīpuna created.

Histories of Wonder, Futures of Wonder

For 400 years, under Spanish and U.S. rule, Indigenous Chamorro Pacific Islander ancient stories of wonder endured to spark dreams of sovereignty and decolonization. Two such “histories of wonder” have recently offered support for activists who are remaking their islands’ political economy into “futures of wonder.” The tale of Gadao, who protected the island of Guåhan from foreign invaders, empowered Nasion Chamoru activists working against white supremacy and militarism. The tale of women who saved Guåhan from a giant fish inspired ecosovereignty activists to rise up against U.S. military assaults on the environments of Pågat, Litekyan, Pågan, and Tinian.

Féminité, demeure : le symbolisme de la maison et de la femme dans « Villa des femmes » de Charif Majdalani

This paper deals with the analysis of the novel The Villa of Women by Sarif Mazdalani, a Lebanese writer, through the prism of discussion of the notion of home and the notions implicit to it, as well as of that of woman, that is, femininity in general. Namely, a purely diegetic layer of narration, with quite distinct time and space connotations, relies upon the hypotext into which numerous archetypal and mythological, as well as biblical motifs, are woven. There is an obvious analogy between the symbolism of home and hearth, on the one hand, and the woman, on the other hand, which, according to mythological, archetypal, even ontological interpretations, presents a static, centripetal, immanent principle, related to the notion of telluric and similar ranges of notions. Unlike the male characters in the novel, who disappear, depart and return, and who, similar to the female ones, almost clearly reflect certain mythological figures, the woman as an immobile, static force makes sure that the ‘home nest’ is preserved, a symbol of victory of order over chaos, cosmogony completed– that still remains in the domain of man – as a place where the starting point of the mythological axis mundi rests. Mazdalani, whether consciously or not, adds stylistic features to this ancient story, whereas the title itself clearly points to the essence of the narrated, as well as to the indisputable correlation between the two notions.

Praises of Household Happiness in Social Turmoil: &amp;lt;i&amp;gt;Lady General Hua Mulan&amp;lt;/i&amp;gt;(1964)

The relationship between film and culture can be seen from the adaptations that historical fiction films make on these original ancient stories or literary works under the influence of concurrent cultural contexts. In other words, these films are always used to reflect and react on the times in which they are made, instead of the past in which they are set. Therefore film makers add abundant up-to-date elements into traditional stories and constantly explore new ways of narration, an effort that turns their productions into live records of certain social and historical periods, combining macro and micro approaches to cultural backgrounds, both audible and visual. Pinning on this new angle of reviewing the old days, this paper aims to uncover the identity crisis of Hong Kong residents under the mutual influence of nostalgia and rebellious ideas in the 1960s reconstructed in the Huangmei Opera film Lady General Hua Mulan (1964) together with the analysis of the social historical reasons hidden behind. The director’s intention to steer a middle course between traditional Chinese culture and British colonial culture is also discussed to show the reaction of film on cultural development.

Время и образ Федры в произведениях Еврипида «Ипполит», «Федра» ж. Расина и в лирике М. Цветаевой

The article tells about the transformation of a wandering ancient story about the passion of a mother to her stepson, shows how each era brings about changes in the depiction of the heroine, set in a boundary situation between happiness and duty. In the tragedy of Euripides &amp;#34;Hippolytus&amp;#34; the main character is the king&amp;#180;s son, and Phaedra is a performer of the will of the goddess Cypris. Without knowing, Hippolytus violated ethics law that prescribed to honor equally all the gods and goddesses: he loved to worship the goddess of the hunt Artemis and didn&amp;#180;t bring enough victims to Aphrodite. According to the mythological sources, the election of Phaedra as the instrument of revenge can be explained by the fact that Phaedra carries the burden of a tragic guilt for her grandfather, who told Hephaestus about the affair between Aphrodite and Ares. Euripides describes the suffering of Phaedra. His character brings her life as a gift to the children. The tragedy of the debt victory is displayed brighter by the Greek author than by the French one. But the image of Phaedra, made by Jean Racine, is nobler than it was made by Euripides. The heroine of Euripides sacrifices herself for the sake of duty and commits suicide, but makes a low act, leaving a note that slanders Hippolytus, but the queen by Racine, dying, emphasizes the innocence of her stepson. The stepson&amp;#180;s attitude to the passion of his stepmother changes too. For Hippolytus by Euripides the passion of Phaedra is the evidence of low-lying nature of women, for Hippolytus by Jean Racine it is the touching continuation of conjugal love at first, and then, when Phaedra separates him in her mind from the father, and emphasizes that loves Hippolytus, it is a horrible discover, but not the reason for the generalization, reasoning and discrimination against all women. The continuation of the incarnation of vagrant story about Phaedra we see in the poetry of Marina Tsvetaeva in the tragedy &amp;#34;Phaedra&amp;#34;. Tsvetaeva simplifies antique tragedy, removing the problem of choosing between happiness and duty, but in the poem she returns to the tragic beginning of it, highlighting the theme of the sublime punishments with passion that is emphasized in the interpretation ofR. Viktyuk, who created a cinema play &amp;#34;Passion about Phaedra in four dreams of Roman Viktyuk&amp;#34; on the basis ofTsvetayeva&amp;#180;s texts.

Heidegger's ideas about death

Death has always been a major concern of humanity since the beginning of history, and finding the secret of immortality and escaping death has become the subject of many myths and ancient stories. Among philosophers who have addressed the subject of death, Heidegger addressed not only immortality and life after death but also the nature of death during one's existence. In his view, man (which he named Existence) through death becomes aware of his finitude, and thus, Heidegger chooses human beings as the only way of understanding existence among creatures. Heidegger critiques the philosophy of his predecessors and traditional metaphysics and defines his final thought as understanding existence. In his view, the most authentic thought about existence comes from wisdom, and that thought can begin when human beings believe that the idea of a saviour among the centuries is the largest enemy of original thought. In his view, death is the most original form of the possibility of Existence that threatens the entire universe, so the existence understood by the notions of the way to be in charge of his own life. “Heidegger” is trying to show the truth that man (Existence), unlike any other living creature, is terminally affected by destruction and death. (Evans, 1998, p. 212). This paper also discusses Heidegger's ideas about death.

The Bible, Science &amp; Creation

This paper argues that Genesis 1–3 should not be read for scientific information but as an ancient Near Eastern figurative story which conveys theological truth about the nature of God, the created order, and humans, and of the role of humans in the created order. It goes on to argue that two of the key theological assertions in these chapters – that we live in a created universe and that humans are made in the image and likeness of God – are compatible with the Big Bang Theory of the origin of the cosmos and an evolutionary understanding of human origins.