Lampas - Volume 51, Issue 1, 2018

Summary

This article offers a reading of the Odyssey that places emphasis on the wrath of Poseidon as a factor in the structure of the poem’s plot. Even though the god does not play a role as character in the second half of the poem, his wrath against Odysseus is apparent in the presence of the Suitors in Odysseus’ house and in the problems resulting from their death. The inland journey that Odysseus has to undertake after the action of the poem ends is a direct consequence of the murder. This scenario, which revolves around revenge and leaves the poem’s plot open-ended, is set against the folktale pattern of the ‘returning husband’ in which the killing of the suitor(s) of the returning hero’s wife is presented as a case of justice done which brings the plot to closure. The presence of both scenarios is studied in light of the Odyssey’s ambition to transcend its folktale roots and present itself as heroic epic poetry.

Summary

This contribution draws attention to the rhetorical aspects of Homeric poetry. Recent scholarship has shown that speeches in the Iliad and Odyssey display various patterns, techniques and strategies of persuasion that were in later times taught by Greek and Roman rhetoricians. The first part of this essay explores the complex relationship between Homeric poetry and classical rhetoric. The second part examines the rhetorical techniques of Polyphemus, the Sirens, Calypso and Odysseus. It is argued that a rhetorical perspective on Homeric speeches can inform and enrich the reading experience of the Odyssey. A few didactic applications are suggested.

Summary

This article

explores the role of the gods in the Iliad as analysed by Eustathius of Thessaloniki in his Commentary on the Iliad. Eustathius aims to identify the principles and techniques that underlie Homer’s successful composition and to reconstruct, as it were, Homer’s composition process. In this way, he intends to familiarise his target audience, twelfth-century authors of rhetorical prose, with Homer’s admirable methods so that they can imitate them in their own writings. Eustathius interprets the gods as devices in the hands of the poet to steer his composition in the desired direction, to imbue it with rhetorical plausibility, and to foreground his skilfulness. Homer uses the gods in four ways: 1) by means of divine interventions, Homer maintains plausibility whenever he takes risks for the sake of rhetorical virtuosity; 2) the poet employs divine plans to motivate the course of events; 3) as allegories of the poet’s intellectual capacities the gods reveal authorial deliberations about the course of the Iliad; 4) the composition of the Iliad is partly determined by the meaning of the gods in terms of natural and ethical allegory. Eustathius thus presents Homer as a self-conscious author and shapes him, we may assume, in the image of the ideal Byzantine author, or perhaps that of himself.

Summary

This article offers an introduction to Cicero’s philosophical writings in general and his Tusculan Disputations in particular. Two passages from this treatise are part of the set texts for the Dutch final school exam Latin in 2018 (1.96-104 and 5.57-62). After introducing Cicero philosophus, it offers a synopsis of the Tusculan Disputations and a selective discussion of the aforementioned passages, with some suggestions for the classroom.

Summary

Students in Dutch secondary schools are expected to translate Latin texts literally. They have to put a lot of effort into this task and, because of the difficulty of the task, many students hardly ever think about the question whether the content of the text is significant for their own situation in life. In this article, I present a ‘Whole Task’-assignment that promotes motivation by allowing choices and autonomous decisions. Students create their own Encheiridion and, in doing so, show their teacher and themselves how they personalize the reading of philosophical texts.