Homer's world at war : cosmic agonism in the Iliad
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- It is a truism of scholarship on Archaic and Classical Greece that Panhellenic culture prized conflict and contest, that the ancient Greeks were "agonistic" to an extreme degree. Yet theories of why and how the ancient Greeks became exceptionally committed to "agonism" in the first place are seldom offered. This dissertation contributes to a theory of origin for Greek agonism. By agonism, I mean the Panhellenic cultural fascination with the clash of opponents in conflict, contest, dialectic, etc. Rather than attribute agonism's origins to accidents of physical environment (e.g. mountainous terrain separating closely related communities), I locate its roots in the primary narrative poetry of the developing Panhellenic world: Homer's epics, especially the Iliad. I do not assume in advance a distinctive group called the "Greeks" who composed a poem called the Iliad. Instead, I explore how the Iliad's poetic dynamics could transform disparate Greek-speakers into a recognizably agonistic people. I develop in this dissertation an extended and systematic reading of the Iliad focused on its agonism. I show how conflict not only propels the story but creates a coherent Homeric world that embraces human beings, nature, and gods. Part I introduces my concept of Iliadic world vantages, short passages that give the audience stable perspectives on the Homeric world. I consider three world vantages: the golden chain in Book 8, the shield of Achilles in Book 18, and the theomachy of Book 20. I then give a reading of the enigmatic Achaean wall as a poetic construction arising from the heightened agonism of the Iliad's battle books. In the rest of the dissertation, I develop my conception of the Iliadic hero, what I call the "triadic hero" comprising Hector, Patroclus, and Achilles. In Part II, I study the boundary-crossing performed by each warrior apart from the other two. In Part III, I show how the interconnection of these three central figures as a triadic hero test the limits of agonism, bringing the audience into contact with the emerging realms of the Homeric world.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic resource; remote; computer; online resource |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Place | California |
| Place | [Stanford, California] |
| Publisher | [Stanford University] |
| Copyright date | 2019; ©2019 |
| Publication date | 2019; 2019 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | Shoshitaishvili, Boris |
|---|---|
| Degree supervisor | Gumbrecht, Hans Ulrich |
| Degree supervisor | Nightingale, Andrea Wilson |
| Thesis advisor | Gumbrecht, Hans Ulrich |
| Thesis advisor | Nightingale, Andrea Wilson |
| Thesis advisor | Anderson, R. Lanier |
| Thesis advisor | Martin, Richard P |
| Degree committee member | Anderson, R. Lanier |
| Degree committee member | Martin, Richard P |
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Comparative Literature. |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|---|
| Genre | Text |
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Boris Shoshitaishvili. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Comparative Literature. |
| Thesis | Thesis Ph.D. Stanford University 2019. |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2019 by Boris Shoshitaishvili
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