Related Papers
Tekstualia
The Ancient Greek Symposion as Space for Philosophical Discourse: Xenophanes and Criticism of the Poetic Tradition, "Tekstualia" 1/8 (2022), p. 3-24
2022 •
Jan Skarbek-Kazanecki
The aim of the present article is to discuss relations between archaic Greek philosophy and poetry through the example of Xenophanes of Colophon (sixth century BCE), the poet best known for a critique of traditional religion using anthropomorphic imagery. The initial problem lies in understanding the performative aspect in Xenophanes’ elegiac poems; analysis of fragments 1W and 2W has revealed that his literary output can be situated within the framework of the aristocratic symposium. This sympotic context determines the second question: how the poetic fragments fi t with those compositions in which Xenophanes attacks traditional beliefs and poetic ideas of Homer and Hesiod. As I suggest, the critique of traditional mythical narratives, and undermining other poets’ authority, can be interpreted as an expression of performative practices functioning at symposia of the archaic and classical epochs. By removing the division between “philosophy” and “poetry”, different aspects of Xenophanes’ fragments begin to coincide with the phenomenon of the ancient symposium, understood as a space for intellectual competition.
Akroterion
Nostalgia, expulsion and the poetic I: The poetics of diaspora in the Corpus Theognideum, “Akroterion” 66 (2021)
2021 •
Jan Skarbek-Kazanecki
In the anthology of archaic elegiac poetry called the Corpus Theognideum, the poetic I often eludes traditional approaches to the 'poetic authority'. Instead of presenting itself as a citizen of a particular 'city-state' or at least a prominent member of an elitist circle who came to have a position of authority, the persona loquens situates himself as removed from the community: as impoverished, expelled from his polis, despised, embittered and thirsting for revenge. The purpose of my paper is to consider how the tension between the alienation of the poetic I and the unity of the audience might function during the act of (re)performance. Applying considerations of Edward W Said on 'diasporic temporality' to the political and economic conflict between the ideologies of polis and anti-polis in archaic and classical Greece, I show that the poetic I in the Theognidean tradition, by presenting itself as an exile and a victim of the democratic movement, expresses the temporally distant position of the so far privileged aristocracy, situated in dialectical opposition to the democratic institutions of polis.
Towards a definition of the symposion
Marek Wecowski
The Odyssey as Performance Poetry
oswyn murray
[in:] F. van den Eijnde et al. (eds), Feasting and Polis Institutions (Leiden–Boston: Brill, 2018), p. 257–272
When Did the Symposion Die? On the Decline of the Greek Aristocratic Banquet [LAST PROOFS]
2018 •
Marek Wecowski
American Journal of Archaeology
The Shipwreck of Odysseus: Strong and Weak Imagery in Late Geometric Art
2011 •
Jeffrey Hurwit
The Rise of the Greek Aristocratic Banquet (Oxford, 2014): Introduction and TOC
2014 •
Marek Wecowski
In The Rise of the Greek Aristocratic Banquet, Wecowski offers a comprehensive account of the origins of the symposion and its close relationship with the rise of the Greek city-state or polis. Broadly defined as a culture-oriented aristocratic banquet, the symposion—which literally means 'drinking together'—was a nocturnal wine party held by Greek aristocrats from Homer to Alexander the Great. Its distinctive feature was the crucial importance of diverse cultural competitions, including improvising convivial poetry, among the guests. Cultural skills and abilities were a prerequisite in order for one to be included in elite drinking circles, and, as such, the symposion served as a forum for the natural selection of Greek aristocracy.
Eos
The Cup of Songs or the universe of sympotic poetry [FINAL PROOFS], Eos 106 (2019), 141–149
2019 •
Marek Wecowski
A Companion to Greek Lyric, edited by L. Swift
Aristocracy, Aristocratic Culture, and the Symposium [FINAL PROOFS]
2022 •
Marek Wecowski
What, in this chapter, is meant by aristocratic culture goes far beyond the traditional scholarly focus on aristocratic ideals, aristocratic artistic patronage, and aristocratic lifestyle in all its main manifestations. Instead, it is related to a more general notion of archaic and early classical Greek culture I will try to substantiate. 1 In a nutshell, I will argue that due to its universal appeal, aristocratic culture of the archaic period was a main integrative force of early Greek civilisation-in both its social and its geographical dimension. Accordingly, Greek aristocracy was above all a cultural phenomenon. Meanwhile, we must start with definitions, since the very title of this essay is no longer self-explanatory.
“‘A Feast of Music’: The Greco-Lydian Musical Movement on the Assyrian Periphery”, in Collins, B. J./Bachvarova, M./ Rutherford, I. (eds.), Anatolian Interfaces: Hittites, Greeks and Their Neighbors. (Oxford, Oxbow, 2007), 193–203.
John C Franklin
