2. The Epic Metaphor of the Rāmāyaṇa and Mahābhārata: Ānandavardhana and Rājaśekhara’s Expedient Influence Like the Iliad and Odyssey, the Rāmāyaṇa and Mahābhārata are now considered to be epics. Yet this label does not suit the Sanskrit poems as well as it does the Greek works, for Sanskrit, unlike Greek, has no […]
1. The Epic Identity of the Iliad and Odyssey: Pindar and Herodotus’ Lofty Legacy The Homeric and Hindu epics appeal to their audiences as religious instructors by dint of addressing important existential issues in entertaining manners. Each pair of poems offers a couple of complementary solutions to a particularly pressing human problem. […]
Introduction. Defining Epics through Comparison An epic is an extensive poem that has been composed in an elevated style, that treats a pivotal epoch in the past of a particular people, and that endures because it both entertains its audiences and educates them on issues of ultimate importance. But the images that […]
Note on Texts and Translations The classical sources that I have cited are found in the following editions, unless otherwise specified: The Kauṭilīya Arthaśāstra, ed. and trans. R. P. Kangle, 2nd ed., 2 pts. (Bombay, 1969–1972). Dhvanyāloka of Ānandavardhana, ed. and trans. K. Krishnamoorthy (Dharwar, 1974). […]
Acknowledgments For my menfolk, with love I started writing this book when I was a graduate student at the University of Chicago Divinity School. There, I found welcome support for my comparative project, even though the scholarly norm tended increasingly toward highly specialized studies. In my wider-ranging intellectual interests, I was […]
Bibliography Adam, J. 1902. Republic of Plato. 2 vols. London. Adams, H., ed. 1992. Critical Theory Since Plato. Rev. ed. Fort Worth. Annas, J. 1981. An Introduction to Plato’s Republic. Oxford. ———. 1996. “Plato.” Oxford Classical Dictionary, 3rd ed. […]
Glossary of Key Greek Words Greek words are transliterated and given in the forms they have as headwords in LSJ (e.g. heuriskō ‘to find’, literally ‘I find’). Other forms of the same word found in the text are noted under the headword unless they differ significantly. These words are meant as signposts […]
Afterword It is generally assumed that Plato, while cultivating and perpetuating Socrates’ legacy of ostensible ignorance in the most important matters, writes as a knower with a persuasive, didactic agenda. Some see Plato promoting specific theoretical doctrines; others figure that Plato is guiding us to adopt practices that will in turn lead […]
6. Imagining Images in Chains In this chapter, I approach Plato’s scenario of the Cave, starting with some narratological observations and then considering the sequence that moves from the Good through Sun and Divided Line to the Cave. It will take some preparation to reach the Cave itself, but an important part […]
5. Digressing toward a Possible Regime Although the basic trajectory of the Republic could certainly be understood in other ways, one can see the conversation rising from the Piraeus (in the wake of a spectacular event), moving through ideal political regimes and ascending to a high point of theoretical discussion in the […]