Praise and persuasion in Greek hymns

1995 ◽  
Vol 115 ◽  
pp. 29-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
William D. Furley
Keyword(s):  
Fourth Century ◽  
Epic Poetry ◽  
Authentic Material ◽  
Religious Ritual ◽  
Homeric Hymns ◽  
Basic Model ◽  
Religious Feeling ◽  
Greek Hymns ◽  
The Way

Largely because the processes of transmission have been unkind, the religious hymns sung by the Greeks during worship of a god on a public or private occasion have received less than their due attention from modern scholars. Our sources frequently mention in passing that hymns were sung on the way to Eleusis, for example, or at the well Kallichoron on arrival at Eleusis, or by the deputations to Delos for the Delia, but they usually fail to record the texts or contents of these hymns. Until the fourth century BC temple authorities did not normally have the texts of cult songs inscribed; and the works themselves were by a diversity of authors, some well-known, some obscure, making the collection of their ‘hymns’ a difficult task for the Alexandrian compilers. Some such hymns were traditional—Olen's at Delos, for example — handed down orally from generation to generation; others were taught to a chorus for a specific occasion and then forgotten. Nor do the surviving corpora of ‘hymns’ — I refer to the Homeric Hymns, Callimachus' six hymns, and the Orphic Hymns—go very far to satisfy our curiosity as to the nature of this ubiquitous hieratic poetry. The Homeric Hymns would seem to have been preludes (προοίμια) to the recitation of epic poetry; they are in the same metre and style as epic, and the singer usually announces that he is about to commence another poem on finishing the hymn. Their content may give us authentic material about a god and his attendant myths, but the context of their performance seems distinct from worship proper. The Homeric Hymns provided the basic model for Callimachus' hymns although it is clear that he adapted the model to permit innovations such as the mimetic mode of hymns 2, 5 and 6, which present an eye-witness account of religious ritual. Some find Callimachus' hymns lacking in true religious feeling; few seriously maintain that they were intended, or could have been used, for performance in cult.

The Beginnings of the Cult of Relics

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Wiśniewski
Keyword(s):  
Essential Element ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Material Objects ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Hidden Knowledge ◽  
Physical Diseases ◽  
The Dead ◽  
The Way

Christians always admired and venerated martyrs who died for their faith, but for a long time thought that the bodies of martyrs should remain undisturbed in their graves. Initially, the Christian attitude toward the bones of the dead, whether a saint’s or not, was that of respectful distance. This book tells how, in the mid-fourth century, this attitude started to change, swiftly and dramatically. The first chapters show the rise of new beliefs. They study how, when, and why Christians began to believe in the power of relics, first, over demons, then over physical diseases and enemies; how they sought to reveal hidden knowledge at the tombs of saints and why they buried the dead close to them. An essential element of this new belief was a strong conviction that the power of relics was transferred in a physical way and so subsequent chapters study relics as material objects. The book seeks to show what the contact with relics looked like and how close it was. Did people touch, kiss, or look at the very bones, or just at reliquaries which contained them? When did the custom of dividing relics appear? Finally, the book deals with discussions and polemics concerning relics and tries to find out how strong was the opposition which this new phenomenon had to face, both within and outside Christianity on the way to relics becoming an essential element of medieval religiosity.

A Romano-British Interment, with Bucket and Sceptres, from Brough, East Yorkshire

1938 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 68-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Corder ◽  
I. A. Richmond
Keyword(s):  
Present Note ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
The Other ◽  
The West ◽  
West Side ◽  
The Road ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Chief Interest ◽  
Roman Age ◽  
The Way

The Roman Ermine Street, having crossed the Humber on the way to York from Lincoln, leaves Brough Haven on its west side, and the little town of Petuaria to the east. For the first half-mile northwards from the Haven its course is not certainly known: then, followed by the modern road, it runs northwards through South Cave towards Market Weighton. In the area thus traversed by the Roman road burials of the Roman age have already been noted in sufficient quantity to suggest an extensive cemetery. The interment which is the subject of the present note was found on 10th October 1936, when men laying pipes at right angles to the modern road, in the carriage-drive of Mr. J. G. Southam, having cut through some 4 ft. of blown sand, came upon a mass of mixed Roman pottery, dating from the late first to the fourth century A.D. Bones of pig, dog, sheep, and ox were also represented. Presently, at a depth of about 5 ft., something attracted closer attention. A layer of thin limestone slabs was found, covering two human skeletons, one lying a few feet from the west margin of the modern road, the other parallel with the road and some 8 ft. from its edge. The objects described below were found with the second skeleton, and the first to be discovered was submitted by Mr. Southam to Mr. T. Sheppard, F.S.A.Scot., Director of the Hull Museums, who visited the site with his staff. All that can be recorded of the circumstances of the discovery is contained in the observations then made, under difficult conditions. ‘Slabs of hard limestone’, it was reported, ‘taken from a local quarry of millepore oolite and forming the original Roman road, were distinctly visible beneath the present roadway—one of the few points where the precise site of the old road has been located. On the side of this… a burial-place has been constructed. What it was like originally it is difficult to say, beyond that a layer of thin … slabs of limestone occurred over the skeletons. This had probably been kept in place or supported by some structure of wood, as several large iron nails, some bent at right angles, were among the bones.’ If this were all that could be said about the burials, they would hardly merit a place in these pages. The chief interest of the record would be its apparent identification of the exact course of the Roman road at a point where this had hitherto been uncertain. Three objects associated with the second skeleton are, however, of exceptional interest.

Agamémnon en Attendant Godot

2007 ◽  
Vol 15 (30) ◽  
pp. 183-202
Author(s):  
José Pedro Serra ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Greek Tragedy ◽  
Epic Poetry ◽  
Waiting For Godot ◽  
The Way

The heir to epic poetry and inseperable from it, Greek tragedy emerged at the same moment in history as the consolidation of the polis, revealing a tremendous unease, a crisis, at the root of which is the architecture of a new understanding of reality, the affirmation of a new logos. A different crisis accompanied the appearance of Contemporary tragedy, a crisis heralded by the announcement that “God is dead”, exemplified in the work of Nietzsche. In contrast to Greek tragedy, Contemporary tragedy asserts not the crisis of the affirmation of reason, but a denunciation of reason’s strategies and devices. Anchored in the rejection of all Absolutes, Contemporary tragedy depicts a world without feeling, of desperate solitude, of absurdity. Waiting for Godot, in the way in which it destroys language and hope, is an excellent example of Contemporary tragedy. Yet, inside this tragic voice, that announces death and nothingness, there is a resistant light that refuses to die that points to Goodness, Truth and Beauty.

Process of Placing Advertisements on Website Homepage

2019 ◽  
pp. 138-150
Author(s):  
Gitanjali Kalia
Keyword(s):  
Basic Model ◽  
Online Consumers ◽  
The Way

We cannot find any website without advertisements on it. As the number of websites has increased enormously, marketers are trying every niche to target the consumers. While designing a website, a lot of elements are kept in mind. Type of website, ad layout opted, type of internet ad, duration, and position of the ad on the website will be discussed. As the research is based on Harold Laswell model of communication (i.e., who says what, to whom, which channel, and with what effect), the role of the marketers and the way the message is communicated to the online consumers will be discussed. Earlier researches done under this topic will be discussed so as to understand the scope of the research conducted and model suggested. The chapter will include the model suggested at the end of the research and how the basic model of communication by Harold Laswell has diversified over a period of time.

Conclusions

2019 ◽  
pp. 243-250
Author(s):  
Lucy C. M. M. Jackson
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Differences ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Current Understanding ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Greek Drama ◽  
Relevant Evidence ◽  
History Of ◽  
Key Questions ◽  
The Way

As well as bringing together all the relevant evidence for the quality and activity of the chorus of drama in the fourth century, this monograph has raised certain key questions about the current understanding of the nature and development of Attic drama as a whole. First, it shows that the supposed ‘civic’ quality of the chorus of drama is, in fact, an association loaned, inappropriately, from the genre of circular, ‘dithyrambic’, choral performance. Being attentive to the cultural differences between these two genres should prompt a further re-evaluation of how to read dramatic choruses more generally. Second, the way in which key fourth-century authors such as Plato and Xenophon use the image of the chorus to discuss the concept of leadership has profoundly shaped ways of construing choreia in ancient Greek drama, and the ancient Mediterranean more generally. Armed with this knowledge, it is possible to retell the story and history of the chorus in drama.

Τὸ καλόν as a Criterion for Judging Innovation (τὸ καινόν) in Greek Musical Pedagogy

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-32
Author(s):  
Antonietta Gostoli
Keyword(s):  
Lyric Poetry ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
Epic Poetry ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Aesthetic ◽  
And Training

Abstract The Pseudo-Plutarchan De musica provides us with the oldest history of Greek lyric poetry from pre-Homeric epic poetry to the lyric poetry of the fourth century BC. Importantly, the work also contains an evaluation of the role of music in the process of educating and training citizens. Pseudo-Plutarch (Aristoxenus) considers the καλόν in the aesthetic and ethical sense, which makes it incompatible with the καινόν dictated by the new poetic and musical season.

World Visions in Swahili Literature

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 129-144
Author(s):  
Xavier Garnier
Keyword(s):  
Local Level ◽  
Colonial Period ◽  
Epic Poetry ◽  
Art Of Living ◽  
Literary Forms ◽  
Crime Novel ◽  
The World ◽  
The Way

Abstract Probably because of its relationship with a coastal culture, Swahili literature seems very aware of its position in the world. Through a reading of Swahili poems and novels across a range of genres, this paper explores the ways in which Swahili writers have engaged in a dialogue with the whole world, from the colonial period to the contemporary era. The evolution of well-identified literary forms such as epic poetry, ethnographic novel or crime novel will also pave the way for identifying the specificities of a Swahili cosmopolitanism anxious to cultivate an art of living in the age of a kind of globalization whose effects are often harshly felt at the local level. Because it has long developed an awareness of the world, Swahili literature has often pioneered the invention of literary forms that are able to translate locally the movements of the world.

KITTOS AND THE PHIALAI EXELEUTHERIKAI

2019 ◽  
Vol 114 ◽  
pp. 263-291
Author(s):  
Mills McArthur
Keyword(s):  
Fourth Century ◽  
Financial Administration ◽  
The City ◽  
The Way

In an oracular tablet from Dodona dating to the mid-fourth century bc, a slave named Kittos inquires whether his master, Dionysios, will set him free. A roughly contemporary entry in the Athenian phialai inscriptions records Dionysios isotelēs manumitting Kittos the metalworker. This paper suggests that the individuals in both documents may be identical. Along the way, it also takes a position on a number of questions surrounding the phialai inscriptions. These inscriptions are not really inventories, I propose, nor can they be explained in terms of lawsuits unrelated to manumission. (The presence of families and children in the inscriptions is especially important in demonstrating this point.) Instead, they represent acts of manumission effectuated through dikē apostasiou prosecutions, an Athenian practice which, I believe, dates back to the 350s. It was not until the 330s, under the financial administration of Lycurgus, that the city imposed mandatory phialai dedications upon all manumissions in court, with the phialē serving as a manumission fee paid to the treasurers of Athena.

Whose Theology? The Promise of Cognitive Theories and the Future of a Disputed Field

2014 ◽  
Vol 20 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 384-402
Author(s):  
Nickolas P. Roubekas
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Theory ◽  
Fourth Century ◽  
First Century ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Cognitive Science Of Religion ◽  
Great Opportunity ◽  
Religious Ritual ◽  
Theory Of Religion ◽  
Cognitive Theories ◽  
Historical Theology

AbstractWithin a general attempt to reconceptualise theology and its position in the modern university, the paper argues that the cognitive science of religion offers a great opportunity to modern theology to engage into interdisciplinary research that could be proven especially profitable to its future. By drawing examples from contemporary Greece and a religious ritual that is disputed by the official Christian Orthodox Church as well as from historical theology and the Arian controversy in the fourth century CE, I argue that Justin Barrett’s cognitive theory of religion, known as ‘Theological Correctness’, can provide to theology a useful tool in understanding the religious beliefs of everyday believers. Without discounting other methodologies, theories, and interpretations, this paper argues that there is space for cognitive theories within theological research that could only benefit theology and its future in the twenty-first century.

The Use of Nails in the Crucifixion

1932 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph William Hewitt
Keyword(s):  
The Bible ◽  
Religious Feeling ◽  
Bible Stories ◽  
The Masses ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Way

These words in criticism of Fra Lippo's vivid and realistic painting of sacred subjects admirably typify the attitude of theology to art. In the ages when the masses were still unable to read, the church took advantage of the work of the painter to impart instruction in the Bible stories. But after all, mere enlightenment is comparatively useless, sometimes even dangerous. It is always inferior to devotion. As long as the masses could be inspired by art to perform more fully their religious duties, so long was art rendering to the church the services that were its due. If the actual facts, even as recorded in the Scriptures, stood in the way of the theological object, they had to be neglected, obscured, or denied. If by a false depiction religious feeling were aroused, there could be no doubt as to the value of such depiction.

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