Reception Of Antiquity Research Articles

Un-layering Greece: imagined classical heritages in French nationalist travel writing

ABSTRACT This article looks at the ways Ancient Greece was received by Charles Maurras and Maurice Barrès, two important French nationalist figures of the turn of the twentieth century. It argues that, whilst often taken for granted, the valorisation of classicism by French nationalist movements (as a political heritage to reclaim or as an aesthetic reaction against turn-of-the-century avant-gardes) also represents a challenge to nationalist narratives. Both authors’ reception of Antiquity was shaped by their travels to Greece. This article thus focuses on the texts they brought back from their respective journeys, Anthinéa (1901) by Maurras and Le Voyage de Sparte (1906) by Barrès, to understand how their ideological development was informed by their perception of Ancient Greece, as well as, reciprocally, how Greece was constructed through their particular political lens. Travel writing offers a particularly relevant corpus to study the role of material experience in the perception of Classical Antiquity, as a genre that overwhelmingly purports to offer its readers a testimonial of things seen and experienced by its authors. Drawing from Shane Butler’s ‘Deep Classics’ theory of reception, this article shows how visions of intellectual and cultural heritage(s) as well as shared identities are complicated by material experiences of historical alterity.

Государство-цивилизация в цифровой ойкумене

At the beginning of the work, a brief review of the articles of the current thematic issue of the «Journal of Political Research», devoted to political aspects and problems of the worldview phenomenon, is presented. At the same time, the main goal of the article is to study the features of the construction of digital ecumene on the example of the Russian and Chinese states-civilizations. The methodological optics of this article is the principles of comparative analysis, based on the comparison of the same order, similar political phenomena, processes and phenomena. The methodological optics of this article is the principles of comparative analysis, based on the comparison of the same order, similar political phenomena, processes and phenomena. These were the state-civilizations, their civilizational features, as well as the methods of constructing their digital ecumene (state policy of foreign broadcasting; strategic regulatory documents related to the information sphere; digital diplomacy). The features of the state-civilization as a specific form of polity are compared and clarified. Also, an attempt was made to conceptualize the phenomenon of the digital ecumene – a system of news agencies, corporations, Internet resources, radio, television, leading media activity in other countries to position and protect the interests, value-civilizational, political, economic agenda of the states that created it. Such a conceptualization is based on the reception of Antiquity and correlates with the understanding of the ecumene as a sphere of influence of the state through digital technologies and communications. Such a reception also presupposes the preservation of the civilizational meaning of the ecumene. It is concluded that civilizational states have sufficient resources to maintain digital ecumene as new fields of technological and cultural strategic actions that can protect the integrity of their own civilizational cores. It has been suggested that the civilizational uncompromisingness of the West, its strategy of divide et impera, will most likely contribute to the strengthening of such a form of polity as a state-civilization. In the conditions of the existing geopolitical turbulence, the states-civilizations can focus on building a new, more just system of international relations based on the settlement of political, religious and ethnic conflicts, rather than their escalation and conservation.

‘De Auteur is dood’, zeggen de Auteurs

The French literary critic Roland Barthes made a notorious attempt in the 1960s to declare the author of literary texts dead. His essay became a true classic in literary and cultural studies. This article places ‘The Death of the Author’ (1967) in its intellectual and historical context. First, I will look at the extent to which the essay relates to the thematic issue on minimalism of the American periodical in which it first appeared. Secondly, I will discuss a few seminal ideas of the essay, including a largely overlooked paradox in its argumentation: its strong emphasis on quotations from literary authors to substantiate the claim that the literary author must no longer be used as an argument of authority in text interpretation. I will connect Barthes’s plea for the birth of the reader to his polemic in the 1960s with the literary scholar Raymond Picard about the role of the reader in literary criticism. Lastly, I will relate Barthes’s plea for the reader to his reception of antiquity, more specifically his life-long fascination with Greek tragedy and Nietzsche as sources of inspiration to reflect upon the mechanisms of literary language. I will conclude by commenting upon the theoretical use and the self-conscious temporality of Barthes’s essay.

Aristoteles und Demokrit in der Gelehrtenrepublik

Abstract This article examines Leibniz’s correspondence of the 1660s and 1670s, focusing on the reception of antiquity. The selected letters discuss contemporary natural philosophy. The article argues that Leibniz does not simply refer affirmatively to the ancient philosophers he values (especially Plato, Aristotle, and Democritus), but positions them in the erudite communication of correspondence. In this way, the correspondence projects a synchronicity of ancient and modern natural philosophy, and even depicts a transhistorical res publica lit[t]eraria, in which Aristotle and Democritus are well present.

Homerus in de papyri

The authors present a brief survey of Homeric papyri ranging from summaries to word lists and exam prep. Especially papyri from an educational context form a great way to, on the one hand, introduce students of Homer to papyri, and on the other, offer a fresh perspective on Homer and his reception in antiquity. The final part of the article offers a small example of a papyrological exercise for secondary school pupils.

Homerus in de papyri

The authors present a brief survey of Homeric papyri ranging from summaries to word lists and exam prep. Especially papyri from an educational context form a great way to, on the one hand, introduce students of Homer to papyri, and on the other, offer a fresh perspective on Homer and his reception in antiquity. The final part of the article offers a small example of a papyrological exercise for secondary school pupils.

Рецепция античного мифа об Атридах в кинофильме Вуди Аллена «Мечта Кассандры»

Modern Western artistic culture receives the Antiquity as the ancient myth. The myth of the Atreides enjoys an increased attention of playwrights in Western Europe and the United States, since it raises the universal issues of crime and punishment, awareness of guilt and assertion of truth. This article focuses on the reception of the Atreides myth in Woody Allen’s Cassandra ’s Dream. The article analyses the cultural dialogue between Antiquity and Modernity: the director has transferred the ancient plot to modern reality and endowed the Americans with the features of ancient heroes. The plot of the film develops around a murder committed by the brothers for financial gain. It correlates with the murder of Agamemnon as well as his wife and Aegisthus. Ian’s determination is reminiscent of Elektra’s behavior: he incites his brother to commit a crime and feels no repentance after the murder has occurred. Like Euripides’s Orestes, the other brother, Terry, cannot calm down after the crime, saying that he repents and wants to open himself to the police in order to suffer a well-deserved punishment. In the conflict between the brothers, killing a brother is the only way out of the situation, although Ian says that he feels the same “strange vision”: he must kill again. While ancient heroes act under the will of gods, which gives the impression of conscious and controlled actions, modern heroes are driven by circumstances. While heroes of ancient literature take murders for granted, as a legitimate revenge or even a feat, modern artistic culture focuses on the ethical side of the bloodshed. A modern human is dominated by a new Christian morality, which though oftentimes unrealized, affects human desires and functions as a source of ethical reflections. The story of the heroes, consisting of a chain of uncontrollable events, would seem to confirm the unpredictability of life and the total dependence of people on circumstances. Fatalism is an integral part of the ancient worldview: it is not by chance that “Fate” is personified and becomes a separate character in ancient Greek tragedy. However, modern culture affirms human independence and freedom, which Terry discoveres at a moment of spiritual enlightenment after committing a crime, followed by utter repentance. The finale of the film is strikingly different from the ancient interpretations of the myth of the Atreides: the killer-heroes die. The reception of antiquity in American culture of the 21st century is a reflection on what determines the behavior of a modern person in a critical situation, similar to that in ancient mythology, as well as what is the modern attitude of a criminal to their crime. Appealing to the ancient myth, Woody Allen proves that Christian morality allows making the right, “human” decision even in the most difficult circumstances. At the same time, he shows the duality of modern culture: the imposed ideals of mass culture beguile a morally developed person, who gets illusory freedom for a lost self-identity. The author declares no conflicts of interests.

International Round Table ‘Reception of Antiquity and beyond’ (Moscow, June 29, 2021)

International Round Table ‘Reception of Antiquity and beyond’ (Moscow, June 29, 2021)

Conceptions and Receptions of Antiquity in Classical Studies. Academic Workshop in Memory of Professor E.A. Chiglintsev (Saint Petersburg, May 29, 2021)

Conceptions and Receptions of Antiquity in Classical Studies. Academic Workshop in Memory of Professor E.A. Chiglintsev (Saint Petersburg, May 29, 2021)

Zum Phänomen der Rechtsrezeption in der Antike

Abstract Law Reception in Antiquity. According to ancient records Rome sent to Athens and elsewhere to collect material for the Twelve Tables. Certain specific provisions of the Twelve Tables are said to be derived from Solon’s laws. All this is doubted today, but without sufficient reasons. Tab. V 3 Uti legassit etc. derives, as it seems, from Solon’s law on testamentary dispositions.

ПОЭТИКА РЕЦЕПЦИИ АНТИЧНОСТИ: ОДИССЕЙ В КИНЕМАТОГРАФЕ

ПОЭТИКА РЕЦЕПЦИИ АНТИЧНОСТИ: ОДИССЕЙ В КИНЕМАТОГРАФЕ

Pascal Quignard as Sinophile: Recreating Chinese Antiquity in Contemporary France

AbstractThis article examines the question of reinventing Chinese antiquity in the works of the contemporary French writer Pascal Quignard. It focuses on three aspects of Quignard’s Chinese-inspired works: his rewriting of ancient Chinese texts, his views on the idea of language via classical Chinese language and thought, and his recreation of Chinese antiquity via a radical contemporization of the past. This examination demonstrates that Quignard poses important questions about cultural reception and appropriation, especially as regards the problematic relation between sinophilia, Orientalism, and the reception of antiquity. Finally, the article proposes a nuanced view of Quignard’s sinophilia that recognizes both its merits and drawbacks. It concludes by arguing that despite the pitfalls of cultural misunderstanding and misrepresentation, Quignard spells out the conceptual death of French Orientalism in his refusal to fetishize Chinese antiquity and attests to a tendency in contemporary French literature and thought to creatively recycle foreign cultures and revise one’s understanding through the other.

Reception

Chris Davies’ Blockbusters and the Ancient World is the latest addition to a growing body of scholarly literature on cinematic receptions of antiquity. The author takes as his focus the swathe of ancient world epics produced since the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001, ranging from movies set in the ancient Greek world (including the 2004 films Troy and Alexander, and, from 2007, 300) to the Roman occupation of Britain – as seen in King Arthur (2004), The Last Legion (2007), Centurion (2010), and The Eagle (2011) – as well as those which concentrate on aspects of Christianity (Agora, of 2009, set in Alexandria in the early fifth century ce, as contrasted with the 2004 biblical epic The Passion of the Christ). Structured around a series of case studies of these individual films, the book undoubtedly adds a set of valuable contributions to the scholarly literature on each piece; its real strength lies, however, in the way in which the author draws comparisons between these case studies while simultaneously situating the movies within their wider historical, political, and cultural contexts. Davies’ introduction alone – with a broad overview of the development of cinematic depictions of antiquity from the birth of cinema to contemporary productions, along with definitions of key terms – provides an excellent starting point for those new to thinking about ancient world films, and a comprehensive filmography of works referenced is a useful research tool. There is much here too, however, which will be of value to those seeking more in-depth discussion. Detailed analysis of the films themselves – with attention to staging, casting, and characterization – is accompanied by discussion of critical responses and evidence from published interviews with directors and producers. The author is careful to point out that artistic products often resist straightforward interpretation, and that multiple readings of each film are possible (for example, the critical reception of a movie may infer a different relationship to contemporary politics than the stated intentions of its creative team). He also explores the development and fluidity of genres, and the ways in which several of these films hybridize more than one genre (for example, traces of the western are strongly evident in the Roman Britain epics; and The Passion of the Christ carries striking elements of the horror genre). What results is a sensitive exploration of the films’ relationship to US politics, in the particular context of the ‘War on Terror’ and the US-led invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, which examines ways in which the films ‘have inspired allegorical and metaphorical readings in which the past has been used to contextualise, warn or parallel the present’ (209).

Ekphrasis by Aleksandr Kushner and the Reception of Antiquity in the Russian Poetry of the 21st Century

The article examines some of the features of A. Kushner’s reception of antiquity. The antique layer is an important component of the poetry of the St. Petersburg poet, starting with his very first poems of the 1960s. Particular attention is paid to the analysis of the poem “Перед лучшей в мире конной статуей…” (“In front of the world’s best equestrian statue”, 2008) in connection with the problem of literary ekphrasis. The theoretical part of the article clarifies the meaning of “ekphrasis” and gives a brief overview of the most significant concepts that exist in modern science. The term appeared in antiquity, in the XIX century it was used in classical philology, and from the twentieth century it was applied to the analysis of the literature of modern times. The actualization of the term has significantly expanded the scope of the concept and its application. Modern authors use the possibilities of ekphrasis in different ways. In its most common form the emphasis is shifted from describing the work of art itself to describing a subjective impression (in poetry, works of art are usually mentioned more often than described in detail). The analytical part confirms the relevance of the ekphrastic principle in relation to different levels of the poem. The cultural-historical paradigm of the poetic image of an equestrian statue/statues that are present in Kushner’s poem in explicit or implicit form is reconstructed. The specificity and functions of antique intertexts are revealed. The article exposes not only obvious allusions correlated with the monument to Marcus Aurelius, but also implicit reminiscences referring to the philosophy of the Roman Stoics.

Editorial Introduction: Fascist and National Socialist Antiquities and Materialities from the Interwar Era to the Present Day

Abstract Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, along with other twentieth-century authoritarian regimes, have often attempted to create consensus through propagandistic reinterpretations of the classical past. The Fascist appropriation of romanità and Nazi philhellenism were not only conditioned by prior cultural receptions of antiquity, but were also a key political tool in motivating and mobilising citizens to fulfil the aims of the fascist state. Once Fascism and Nazism had fallen, the material legacies of both regimes then became the object of destruction, reinterpretation and memory work. Thus, the archaeological and architectural heritage of these regimes, now tainted by their ideology, has not only suffered the consequences of damnatio memoriae in the aftermath of regime change, but continues even today to inflame contemporary public debate. This special issue represents the product of an interdisciplinary workshop exploring these themes, which was held at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, on 8 June 2018.

THE ANCIENT RECEPTION OF AESCHYLEAN SATYR PLAY

Abstract In this article, I first discuss the reception of Aeschylus’ satyr plays in classical drama, the evidence for their reperformance, and their place in ancient criticism and scholarship. In the final section, I analyze the factors that contributed to the positive reputation of Aeschylean satyr play. Although the evidence is often very limited, I attempt to establish a framework for understanding this ancient reception. Here I propose that the importance placed on satyr play in Aeschylus’ reception in antiquity can be viewed as an extension of his image as the father of tragedy, through both the association of satyr play with the origins of tragedy and its place in the tetralogy.

Marice Rose and Alison C. Poe, eds., Receptions of Antiquity, Constructions of Gender in European Art, 1300–1600. (Metaforms 3.) Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2015. Pp. xvi, 466; many black-and-white figures. $194. ISBN: 978-90-04-27874-5.Table of contents available online at https://brill.com/view/title/26481

Previous articleNext article No AccessReviewsMarice Rose and Alison C. Poe, eds., Receptions of Antiquity, Constructions of Gender in European Art, 1300–1600. (Metaforms 3.) Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2015. Pp. xvi, 466; many black-and-white figures. $194. ISBN: 978-90-04-27874-5.Table of contents available online at https://brill.com/view/title/26481Rita KeaneRita KeaneDrew University Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Speculum Volume 94, Number 4October 2019 The journal of the Medieval Academy of America Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/705143 Views: 61Total views on this site Copyright 2019 by the Medieval Academy of America. All rights reserved. For permission to reuse, please contact [email protected]PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Homer and the Good Ruler in Antiquity and Beyond ed. by Jacqueline Klooster and Baukje van den Berg

Reviewed by: Homer and the Good Ruler in Antiquity and Beyond ed. by Jacqueline Klooster and Baukje van den Berg Scott Goins Homer and the Good Ruler in Antiquity and Beyond. Edited by Jacqueline Klooster and Baukje van den Berg. Mnemosyne Supplements 413. Leiden, NE and Boston, MA: Brill, 2018. Pp. x + 293. Hardback, $119. ISBN: 978-90-04- 36581-0. This fine collection of papers examines the Homeric poems as Mirrors for Princes. Although other works have studied pedagogical aspects of the Homeric poems, there has been no full-scale examination of Homer as an educator for rulers. The present study presents many facets of the topic, ranging from Homer’s original pedagogical intent, to classical, medieval and modern views of Homer as a guide for those in positions of authority. In their Introduction, the editors note the emphasis the ancients placed on Homer as an educator. While observing that the Iliad and the Odyssey have a greater scope than serving simply as Mirrors for Princes, Klooster and van den Berg show that many passages in the poems have clear educational intent. Homer’s applicability for kingly education is the focus of the first article, in which Irene de Jong shows that the Homeric poems are replete with advice given to the young by a father or a father-figure. De Jong interestingly notes that the paternal (or quasi-paternal) advice often has negative consequences. The piety of Homeric kings is the subject of the following essay by Will Desmond, who focuses on the king’s numinous status. Desmond contends that Homer is most interested in extraordinary figures like Achilles and Odysseus, who “begin to take on aspects of the separate numinous types, and become alternately warrior, bard, prophet, and priest” (53). The book next turns to Homeric reception in antiquity. Jacqueline Klooster surveys interpretations of Phoenix’ ideal of the hero as a “speaker of words and a doer of deeds” (Iliad 9. 443). Examining several sources, she notes that ancient authors interpreted Phoenix’ words positively but often misapplied them in debates over the value of rhetoric and the nature of virtue. Patrick Lake next looks at Plato’s ambivalent attitudes towards Homer. Lake examines several Platonic quotations of Homer and notes that Plato does not dismiss the value of the poet. Instead Plato frequently “misappropriated and misinterpreted” (102) Homer’s [End Page 254] words in making his philosophical points. Misinterpreting Homer is also the subject of Elsa Bouchard’s essay on how ancient scholars viewed the apparent failures of Agamemnon as a leader. In their enthusiasm for authority, exegetes including Aristotle and Porphyry would go to extraordinary lengths to rehabilitate Agamemnon’s actions. Next, Maria Gerolemou examines how the wandering Odysseus is treated as an ideal for the ruler in Polybius’ Histories. Polybius saw Odysseus as a model for traveling rulers and generals, particularly in times of war. Like Odysseus, who was adaptable and observant, leaders such as Hannibal and Scipio are cognizant of the topography of areas where they will do battle. Jeffrey Fish’s following article on Philodemus’ On the Good King According to Homer is especially rewarding, since it examines new texts of Philodemus that Fish is editing. In Philodemus the Homeric king is a model of the Epicurean ruler, who cultivates friendship, peace and sobriety. The theme of virtuous simplicity as depicted by Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Virgil and others is the subject of the next essay by Casper de Jonge. De Jonge links Dionysius’ praise of the simple life as depicted in the Odyssey with the Augustan emphasis on simplicity. David Driscoll follows with a chapter on how intellectuals use Homer to engage in repartee with rulers in Plutarch’s Quaestiones Convivales. Driscoll claims that these scholars are ultimately depicted as petty in trying to make capital of their erudition. Elina Pyy’s article on the heroic ideal as seen in Silius Italicus’ Punica contends that Silius values most aspects of the Homeric heroic code but rejects the primacy given to earning glory. The heroes depicted in the Punica fill the heroic ideal only partially. Pyy sees the Punica as reflecting “Lucanian cynicism” and “the inevitable yet deplorable decline...

Ancient Drama and Reception of Antiquity in the Theatre and Drama of the German Democratic Republic (GDR)

Theatre in the German Democratic Republic was an essential part of the state propaganda machine and was strictly controlled by the cultural bureaucracy and by the party. Until the early sixties, ancient plays were rarely staged. In the sixties, classical Greek drama became officially recognised as part of cultural heritage. Directors free to stage the great classical playwrights selected ancient plays, on one hand, to escape the grim socialist reality, on the other to criticise it using various forms of Aesopian language. Two important dramatists and three examples of plays are presented and discussed: an adaptation of an Aristophanic comedy (Peter Hack’s adaptation of Aristophanes’ Peace at the Deutsche Theater in Berlin in 1962), a play based on a Sophoclean tragedy (Heiner Müller’s Philoktet, published in 1965, staged only in 1977), and a short didactic play (Lehrstück) based on Roman history (Heiner Müller’s Der Horatier, written in 1968, staged in 1973 in Hamburg in West Germany, and in the GDR only in 1988). At the end there is a brief look at a production of Aeschylus Seven against Thebes at the BE in 1969.

The Reception of Antiquity in “Wuthering Heights” by Emily Brontë

The following paper concentrates on the reception of antiquity in the novel by Emily Brontë Wuthering Heights. The primary concept of the analysis is to exploit such critical tools as: Reader-Response Criticism, dialogics and transtextuality. In this context one can notice such ancient references as: the structure of a labyrinth (prefiguration), the archetype of Hercules, Apollo and gods, as well as the reference to learning ancient languages (revocation). All the references to antiquity are used in the novel in question not only as ornaments, but mainly as the tools to comment on, among others, the social situation in Victorian England.