Greek Heroes in and out of Hades

By (author) Stamatia Dova Hellenic College

Publication date:

02 August 2012

Length of book:

242 pages

Publisher

Lexington Books

Dimensions:

236x158mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9780739144978

Greek Heroes in and out of Hades is a study on heroism and mortality from Homer to Plato. In a collection of thirty enjoyable essays, Stamatia Dova combines intertextual research and thought-provoking analysis to shed new light on concepts of the hero in the Iliad and the Odyssey, Bacchylides 5, Plato's Symposium, and Euripides' Alcestis.
Through systematic readings of a wide range of seemingly unrelated texts, the author offers a cohesive picture of heroic character in a variety of literary genres. Her characterization of Achilles, Odysseus, and Heracles is artfully supported by a comprehensive overview of the theme of descent to the underworld in Homer, Bacchylides, and Euripides. Aimed at the specialist as well as the general reader, Greek Heroes in and out of Hades brings innovative Classical scholarship and insightful literary criticism to a wide audience.

Foreword
Preface
Part I: Odysseus and the Poetics of katábasis
Odysseus among the Shades
What a Pity he is not a Hero!
Agamemnon's katapontismós
An Epic Encore on the Problematik of kléos
Who is μακ?ρτατος in the Odyssey
On Ruling over the Dead and Other Impossibilities
Rethinking makarismós in and out of Hades
Aias and the End of kléos
Living Once and Dying Twice: Circe as an Agent of nóstos
On Death, Rebirth, and a Mother in Hades
Part II: Hades (and Heroism) Revisited
A Terror to Behold: Heracles in the Nékyia
Heracles Between Life and Death
Variations on a Duel Theme: Bacchylides 5 and Iliad 6
On Wrath and the Mother
On Wrath and the Goddess
How to Praise a Tyrant
An Example Gone Awry
Looking for Death in the Right Places
On Foreknowledge of Death and its Blessings
On cháris, apáte, and Other Necessities
Keeping Achilles Alive: Tenes and the Liminality of Tenedos
Part III: Achilles, Alcestis, and the Poetics of non-katábasis
On Ruling over the Dead in Plato's Republic
Achilles in Plato's Symposium
Phaedrus and the Heroization of Alcestis
On Love, Glory, and Love of Glory
Looking for Love in the Wrong Places
Admetus and the Poetics of philopsychía
To Love is to Die for
Alcestis' Virtual katábasis
Heracles and the Deconstruction of Alcestis' Death
Selected Bibliography

Dova (Hellenic College and Center for Hellenic Studies) considers key aspects of the ancient Greek hero in relation to his mortality, primarily by reference to the type-scene of the katabasis. Her study centers on Odysseus, Heracles, and Achilles, across the genres of epic, lyric, tragedy, and Platonic dialogue, and takes as its starting point Odysseus's confrontations with Achilles and Heracles in the underworld in Odyssey 11. A series of brief, closely focused discussions sets these heroes in relation to Agamemnon, Meleager (in Bacchylides 5), and Alcestis (in Euripides's drama of the same name), and combine to articulate a cumulative argument that distinguishes between Odysseus's success in tampering with the limits of mortality (in the Odyssey), Heracles's attainment of an Olympian alternative to mortality (in Bacchylides), and Achilles's acceptance of his mortality (in the Iliad). Dova is at her most interesting in the final chapter, where she trains her attention, and philological methods honed in reading Homer, on Euripides's Alcestis and Plato's Symposium to discern a dialogue between genders and genres that sheds light on the epic heroes precisely through inversion of the heroic model. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students, researchers, faculty.