Homer's myths and Greek thought.
Beautiful Letters| N° d'inventaire | 14297 |
| Format | 16.5 x 24.5 |
| Détails | 677 p., publisher's cloth binding. |
| Publication | Paris, reissued 2010 |
| Etat | Nine |
| ISBN | 9782251326733 |
Homer fascinates, and his influence remains immense, from Antiquity to the present day (Paul Claudel, Gabriel Audisio, Joyce, Cavafy, Kazantsakis). But some have severely criticized Homeric poetry (Xenophanes, Plato, Epicurus). Xenophanes (6th BC) reproached Homer for giving the gods an unflattering and immoral image; as for Plato, he believed that the study of philosophia should sublimate the study of Homeric poetry, then the foundation of the education of Greek youth.
Yet the Ancients never stopped poring over Homer's myths in order to uncover their underlying themes. They needed to reconcile Homeric poetry and philosophy in a search for the myths' hidden meaning. This is what is called allegorical exegesis. It began in the 6th century BC with Theagenes of Rhegium and continued until Proclos (5th century AD).
For the Greeks, myth is a deceptive envelope whose secret must be pierced and the idea extracted from the image.
Homeric exegesis developed in three directions:
Physics: For allegorists, Homer's myths encompass scientific notions about the very structures of the universe. For example, the gods are nothing other than primordial elements (air, ether, water, fire, earth) engaged in cosmic conflicts.
Morality: myths are a reflection on virtue (Plutarch, Maximus of Tyre) and teach individuals to behave in a heroic, reasonable, and wise manner.
Theology: For the Neoplatonists (Porphyry, Proclus), Homer's gods find their correspondence with the gods and demons of Neoplatonism and in the belief in the transmigration of the soul (adventures of Ulysses, Calypso, Circe, the sirens). Homer's myths reveal the structure of the world's reality because they are no longer fictions but pure truths.
The tradition of allegorical exegesis remained alive until the Byzantine era and until the Renaissance.
Homer fascinates, and his influence remains immense, from Antiquity to the present day (Paul Claudel, Gabriel Audisio, Joyce, Cavafy, Kazantsakis). But some have severely criticized Homeric poetry (Xenophanes, Plato, Epicurus). Xenophanes (6th BC) reproached Homer for giving the gods an unflattering and immoral image; as for Plato, he believed that the study of philosophia should sublimate the study of Homeric poetry, then the foundation of the education of Greek youth.
Yet the Ancients never stopped poring over Homer's myths in order to uncover their underlying themes. They needed to reconcile Homeric poetry and philosophy in a search for the myths' hidden meaning. This is what is called allegorical exegesis. It began in the 6th century BC with Theagenes of Rhegium and continued until Proclos (5th century AD).
For the Greeks, myth is a deceptive envelope whose secret must be pierced and the idea extracted from the image.
Homeric exegesis developed in three directions:
Physics: For allegorists, Homer's myths encompass scientific notions about the very structures of the universe. For example, the gods are nothing other than primordial elements (air, ether, water, fire, earth) engaged in cosmic conflicts.
Morality: myths are a reflection on virtue (Plutarch, Maximus of Tyre) and teach individuals to behave in a heroic, reasonable, and wise manner.
Theology: For the Neoplatonists (Porphyry, Proclus), Homer's gods find their correspondence with the gods and demons of Neoplatonism and in the belief in the transmigration of the soul (adventures of Ulysses, Calypso, Circe, the sirens). Homer's myths reveal the structure of the world's reality because they are no longer fictions but pure truths.
The tradition of allegorical exegesis remained alive until the Byzantine era and until the Renaissance.