Lament: Studies in the Ancient Mediterranean and BeyondAnn Suter Lament seems to have been universal in the ancient world. As such, it is an excellent touchstone for the comparative study of attitudes towards death and the afterlife, human relations to the divine, views of the cosmos, and the constitution of the fabric of society in different times and places. This collection of essays offers the first ever comparative approach to ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern traditions of lament. Beginning with the Sumerian and Hittite traditions, the volume moves on to examine Bronze Age iconographic representations of lamentation, Homeric lament, depictions of lament in Greek tragedy and parodic comedy, and finally lament in ancient Rome. The list of contributors includes such noted scholars as Richard Martin, Ian Rutherford, and Alison Keith. Lament comes at a time when the conclusions of the first wave of the study of lament-especially Greek lament-have received widespread acceptance, including the notions that lament is a female genre; that men risked feminization if they lamented; that there were efforts to control female lamentation; and that a lamenting woman was a powerful figure and a threat to the orderly functioning of the male public sphere. Lament revisits these issues by reexamining what kinds of functions the term lament can include, and by expanding the study of lament to other genres of literature, cultures, and periods in the ancient world. The studies included here reflect the variety of critical issues raised over the past 25 years, and as such, provide an overview of the history of critical thinking on the subject. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 69
Page 7
... poet gives the laments great importance—greater than that of other laments in the poem, which are not for the whole people (internal audience) and not so emphatically placed (for the external audience). Thus the external audience is ...
... poet gives the laments great importance—greater than that of other laments in the poem, which are not for the whole people (internal audience) and not so emphatically placed (for the external audience). Thus the external audience is ...
Page 8
... poetic devices, she performs as both soloist and chorus; and second, that Homeric diction characterizes her as a ''metonym'' for lament, ''the original authorizing [figure] that lies behind all poetry of commemoration.'' This in turn ...
... poetic devices, she performs as both soloist and chorus; and second, that Homeric diction characterizes her as a ''metonym'' for lament, ''the original authorizing [figure] that lies behind all poetry of commemoration.'' This in turn ...
Page 10
... poetry. The mixture is typical of ''the [poetry] of small occasional genres,'' such as hymeneia and thrênoi. Erinna seems to be imitating this kind of hexameter poetry in her wedding lament. Then, Keith turns her attention to the ...
... poetry. The mixture is typical of ''the [poetry] of small occasional genres,'' such as hymeneia and thrênoi. Erinna seems to be imitating this kind of hexameter poetry in her wedding lament. Then, Keith turns her attention to the ...
Page 12
... poetic literature. One literary genre, underrepresented in the present collection, in which the study of lament could ... poetry, but more can surely be done here.14 The collection also enlarges the study of lamentation to cultures ...
... poetic literature. One literary genre, underrepresented in the present collection, in which the study of lament could ... poetry, but more can surely be done here.14 The collection also enlarges the study of lamentation to cultures ...
Page 13
... poet tells the story mostly from the perspective of the destroyers. But from the perspective of the population of the destroyed city, with whose laments the poem ends, we can look toward the East and its traditions for possible ...
... poet tells the story mostly from the perspective of the destroyers. But from the perspective of the population of the destroyed city, with whose laments the poem ends, we can look toward the East and its traditions for possible ...
Contents
3 | |
18 | |
The Lament of the TaptaraWomen in the Hittite Sallis Wastais Ritual | 53 |
4 Mycenaean Memory and Bronze Age Lament | 70 |
5 Reading the Laments of Iliad 24 | 93 |
Troy to Ulster | 118 |
Gender and Athenian Death Ritual | 139 |
8 Male Lament in Greek Tragedy | 156 |
9 Greek Comedys Parody of Lament | 181 |
10 Lament and Hymenaios in Erinnas Distaff | 200 |
11 Lament in Lucans Bellvm Civile | 233 |
Gender Genre and Lament in Ancient Rome | 258 |
INDEX | 281 |
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Common terms and phrases
Achilles Aegean Alexiou ancient Greek Andromache argues Aristophanes Athenian Athens Ayia Triada Bachvarova Baukis Bronze Age burial century b.c.e. choral chorus city laments Classical comedy context Cornelia corpse cult dead death deceased dialect Dionysus discussion Distaff Dumuzi epic epitaphios Erinna ershemma Euripides example female lamentation Foley function funeral ritual funerary ritual gala priests gender genre gods Greece grief Hektor Helen hero heroic Hittite Holst-Warhaft 1992 Homeric Hymenaios ideology Iliad Inanna Ishkur Lament in Greek larnakes larnax laudatio Loraux Lucan male lament marriage Minoan modern mother mourners mourning Mycenae Mycenaean myth Nagy nenia ŒÆd parody performance play poem poem’s poet poetic poetry political Pompey Pompey’s praeficae Princeton prothesis references represented lament rites ritual lament role Roman Sappho scene Seaford social speech Stears Studies suggests Sumerian Suter Tanagra taptara taptara-women themes Thesmophoriazusae tomb tradition tragic Trojan Tsagalis wailing Warrior Vase wedding song woman women Women’s Laments words