Chapter 10. Theognis: Faceless Exile Theognis of Megara is a shadowy figure whose poetry offers us some evocative hints about his life; one can only wonder if it is a real life or a stereotypical poet’s life. [1] As early as Plato, we read of the “poet … Theognis, a citizen of […]
Chapter 9. Alcaeus: Poetry, Politics, Exile Alcaeus is an important transitional figure in this study, because with the vita of Alcaeus we seem to leave legend or legend-embroidered history and enter firmly into history. The events in his life, as reflected in his poetry, even though they concern jockeyings for power among […]
Chapter 8. Sappho: The Barbed Rose One would not expect Sappho, who was associated largely with delicate love poetry, to have a vita that would resemble the patterns followed by the Aesop and Archilochus vitae. Yet, though she does not have as full a dossier of the scapegoat hero cult themes as […]
Chapter 7. Shadows of Hesiod: Divine Protection and Lonely Death The lives of Ibycus, Arion, Stesichorus, and Simonides echo Hesiod’s vita in their themes of divine protection, often through animals, and lonely, violent death. Therefore it will be useful to consider them in close proximity to Hesiod. Ibycus Ibycus [1] […]
Chapter 6. Hesiod: Consecrate Murder In Hesiod’s vita, we find a substantial set of the familiar legendary themes we have encountered so far—consecration, victory in riddle contest, oracle-related death, and cult. Hesiod’s vita is clearly moving in the same orbit as those of Aesop and Archilochus, ringing the changes on the standard […]
Chapter 5. Homer: The Trial of the Rhapsode Not surprisingly, considering the overwhelming prestige of the Iliad and the Odyssey, a heroizing body of legend attached itself to a person regarded as the author of those poems. The legend of Homer follows the pattern under consideration in important ways: the poet is […]
Chapter 4. Hipponax: Creating the Pharmakos Hipponax was an iambic satirist second only to Archilochus in fame, and his traditional life shares important themes with Archilochus’ (for example, causing death through satire). [1] Like Archilochus, he is an exiled poet. Hipponax is of special interest because he is the earliest extant witness […]
Chapter 3. Archilochus: Sacred Obscenity and Judgment The vita of Aesop is something of a prototype, both in its fullness and in its ringing the changes on the “sacred” scapegoat theme. The lives of many Greek poets include similar themes. They will be surveyed in this and subsequent chapters, concentrating on poets […]
Chapter 2. Aesop: Satirist as Pharmakos in Archaic Greece Aesop is the Greek satirist, by broad definition a poet, [1] who is most clearly and richly assimilated to the pharmakos. The myth of Aesop’s death at Delphi under a false accusation was generally known by the time of Herodotus, according to whom […]
Chatper 1. The Pharmakos in Archaic Greece The Greek ritual scapegoat, referred to as the pharmakos, provides an essential foundation for the study of legendary lives of the archaic Greek poets. The lives of Aesop, Hipponax, and Tyrtaeus are especially close to pharmakos themes and characteristics. The Greek ritual scapegoat is a […]