The Flower of Suffering : Theology, Justice, and the Cosmos in Aeschylus' ›Oresteia‹ and Presocratic Thought / Nuria Scapin.

Format:

Book

Thesis/Dissertation

Author/Creator:

Scapin, Nuria, Author.

Series:

Trends in classics. Supplementary volumes ; Volume 97.

Trends in Classics - Supplementary Volumes ; 97

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Aeschylus. Oresteia.

Aeschylus.

Greek tragedy.

Presocratic philosophy.

the Oresteia.

Oresteia (Aeschylus).

Local Subjects:

Aeschylus.

Greek tragedy.

Presocratic philosophy.

the Oresteia.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (ix, 264 pages).

Place of Publication:

Berlin ; Boston : De Gruyter, [2020]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

Greek tragedy occupies a prominent place in the development of early Greek thought. However, even within the partial renaissance of debates about tragedy's roots in the popular thought of archaic Greece, its potential connection to the early philosophical tradition remains, with few exceptions, at the periphery of current interest. This book aims to show that our understanding of Aeschylus' Oresteia is enhanced by seeing that the trilogy's treatment of Zeus and Justice (Dikê) shares certain concepts, assumptions, categories of thought, and forms of expression with the surviving fragments and doxography of certain Presocratic thinkers (especially Anaximander, Xenophanes, Heraclitus, and Parmenides). By examining several aspects of the tragic trilogy in relation to Presocratic debates about theology and cosmic justice, it shows how such scrutiny may affect our understanding of the theological 'tension' and metaphysical assumptions underpinning the Oresteia's dramatic narrative. Ultimately, it argues that Aeschylus bestows on the experience of human suffering, as it is given in the contradictory multiplicity of the world, the status of a profound form of knowledge: a meeting point between the human and divine spheres.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

0. Introduction

1. Explicit Theological Innovations: Xenophanes' God

2. God and the Unity of Opposites: Heraclitus

3. Zeus Whoever He Is

4. Zeus as the Ultimate Principle behind Reality

5. Cosmic Justice and the Metaphysics of Opposites: Anaximander, Heraclitus, and Parmenides

6. Dikê, Time, and Necessity in the Oresteia

7. Dikê as conflict in the Oresteia

8. Persuasive Dikê: from violence to kindness

9. A Cosmos of Opposites

10. Epilogue

Bibliography

Index of Sources

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Diss. niv. of St Andrews 2016.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 06. Apr 2020)

ISBN:

9783110685633

3110685639

OCLC:

1149395864