Classical Literature and Philology Commons^™

Τρυφη And Υβρισ In The Περι Βιων Of Clearchus, Vanessa B. Gorman, Robert J. Gorman

Department of History: Faculty Publications

Recent discussions of the fragments of the Περι Βίων have seen the concept of pernicious luxury as a key to understanding aspects of this work of Clearchus. In particular, it is thought that Clearchus reflects a moralizing historiographical schema according to which wealth leads to an effeminate luxury (τρυφή), eventually producing satiety (κόρος), which in turn provokes the afflicted to violence (υβρις), ultimately bringing the subject’s destruction. We maintain, in contrast, that it is anachronistic to attribute this pattern of thought to Clearchus, and further, that the state of the evidence does not permit …

A Philology Of Liberation: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. As A Reader Of The Classics, Thomas E. Strunk

Faculty Scholarship

This paper explores the intellectual relationship between Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the classics, particularly the works of Plato, Sophocles, and Aeschylus. Recognizing Dr. King as a reader of the classics is significant for two reasons: the classics played a formative role in Dr. King's development into a political activist and an intellectual of the first order; moreover, Dr. King shows us the way to read the classics. Dr. King did not read the classics in a pedantic or even academic manner, but for the purpose of liberation. Dr. King's legacy, thus, is not merely his political accomplishments but …

In Praise Of The Saints: Introducing Medieval Hagiography Into The British Literature Survey, John P. Sexton

English Faculty Publications

Despite increased interest in hagiographic writing among scholars of early literature in the last few decades, serious study of saints’ lives in the undergraduate classroom remains rare. To some degree, this is a result of poor representation in the leading anthologies,^[1]but another contributing factor has been the perception of a distinction between hagiographic and other medieval writing it terms of genre or of literary value. Such distinctions, however, are modern inventions, and do not accurately reflect the medieval reader or writer’s view. Nor is the inclusion of the literature alongside the expected “great works” difficult or jarring; a …

The Postcolonial "Knight‘S Tale": A Social Commentary On Post-Norman Invasion England, Ruth M.E. Oldman

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Every author injects a purpose into his or her works; in Chaucer‘s case, he scribed The Canterbury Tales, which tackles and successfully demonstrates various aspects to fourteenth century English society and culture. "The Knight‘s Tale" is no different; the tale is almost identical, plot-wise, to Giovanni Boccaccio‘s Teseida, and yet Chaucer weaves a tale that is distinctive. The tale reflects Chaucer‘s views on his society, in particular post-Norman attitudes. By examining the text with a post-colonial theoretical approach, Chaucer‘s "The Knight‘s Tale" is a subaltern commentary on the colonization of England after the Norman Conquest.

William Shakespeare And Chinua Achebe: A Study Of Character And The Supernatural, Kenneth N. Usongo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examines how Shakespeare and Achebe use supernatural devices such as prophecies, dreams, beliefs, divinations and others to create complex characters. Even though these features are indicative of the preponderance of the belief in the supernatural by some people of the Elizabethan, Jacobean and traditional Igbo societies, Shakespeare and Achebe primarily use the supernatural to represent the states of mind of their protagonists.

Through an essentially New Historicist approach to the study of character and the supernatural in the tragedies and novels of Shakespeare and Achebe respectively, I argue that both writers, besides using supernatural features to explore the …

Philosophy Of Intellect And Vision In The De Anima Of Themistius, John Shannon Hendrix

Architecture, Art, and Historic Preservation Faculty Publications

Themistius (317–c. 387) was born into an aristocratic family and ran a paripatetic school of philosophy in Constantinople in the mid-fourth century, between 345 and 355. He made use of Alexander’s De anima in his commentary on the De anima of Aristotle, which is considered to be the earliest surviving commentary on Aristotle’s work, as Alexander’s commentary itself did not survive. Themistius may also have been influenced by Plotinus, and Porphyry (232–309), whom he criticizes. Themistius refers often to works of Plato, especially the Timaeus, and attempts a synthesis of Aristotle and Plato, a synthesis which was continued in …

Neoplatonism In The Liber Naturalis And Shifā: De Anima Or Metaphysica Of Avicenna (Ibn Sīnā), John Shannon Hendrix

Architecture, Art, and Historic Preservation Faculty Publications

Avicenna or Ibn Sīnā was born circa 980 in Afshna, near Bukhara, in Persia. He worked briefly for the Samanid administration, but left Bukhara, and lived in the area of Tehran and Isfahan, where he completed the Shifā (Healing [from error]) under the patronage of the Daylamite ruler, ‘Ala’-al Dawla, and wrote his most important Persian work, the Dānish-nāma, which contains works on logic, metaphysics, physics, and mathematics.

Saving The Life Of A Foolish Poet: Tacitus On Marcus Lepidus, Thrasea Paetus, And Political Action Under The Principate, Thomas E. Strunk

Faculty Scholarship

This paper explores Tacitus' representation of Thrasea Paetus. Preliminary to analyzing this portrayal, I discuss two passages often cited when exploring Tacitus' political thought, Agricola 42.4 and Annales 4.20. I reject the former's validity with regard to Thrasea and accept the latter as a starting point for comparing Tacitus' depictions of Marcus Lepidus and Thrasea. Tacitus' characterizations of Thrasea and Lepidus share the greatest resemblance in the trials of Antistius Sosianus and Clutorius Priscus, both of whom wrote verses offensive to the regime. Thrasea and Lepidus both came to the defense of their respective poet in an attempt to spare …

Hellenism, Katerina Zacharia

Katerina Zacharia

No abstract provided.