Search

A. Definition and relevanceThe Homeric Question is: were the two Ancient Greek epics, the  Iliad and the  Odyssey, composed by a single poet or were they outcomes of a process of heterogeneous textual genesis? Or, to put it another way: did Homer exist as the first ancient poet whose name is recorded or is this a mythological construct? The origins and hence the identity of Homer the poet were already controversial in Antiquity. Seven cities vied to be considered…

A. OverviewThe ancient symposium (Greek symposion, ‘[account of a] drinking party’, from syn-, ‘together’ and posis, ‘drinking’) continued in the early modern period, but only as a literary and philosophical text, not as a form of sociability. In most cases, its history was the history of the reception of Plato’s dialogue of the same title. That reception pursued a number of strands in the 18th century including the content of the dialogue, on the philosophy of love and emotion, and its form as a model for the merging of literature and philoso…

A. PrinciplesThe presence and role of classical mythology in the 18th century can be summarized as follows: it served as a convention of artistic expression, but it also became a battleground for a Christian society and one that saw itself as Enlightened. Ultimately, it underwent a revolutionary reinterpretation that would stimulate a new philosophical, artistic, political, ethnological, psychological and anthropological interest in myth in the 19th and 20th centuries. With the 18th century came the turn to the modern theory of myth.  At the beginning of the 18th century, classical mythology provided the main reservoir of materials and motifs for literature (Drama; Lyric poetry/Lyrica; Novel/Romance; Emblematics;

A. ÜbersichtEine neuzeitliche Fortsetzung fand das antike Symposion (deutsch: Trinkgelage, beschönigend auch: Gastmahl) nicht als Form der Geselligkeit, sondern nur als literarisch-philosophischer Text. Hauptsächlich handelt es sich dabei um die Wirkungsgeschichte von …

A. Definition und RelevanzDie Homerische Frage lautet: Verdanken sich die beiden altgriechischen Epen Ilias und Odyssee einem individuellen Dichter oder einem Prozess heterogener Textgenese? Anders gefragt: Gab es eine historische Person Homer als ersten namhaften antiken Dichter, oder ist dies eine mythologische Konstruktion? Die Herkunft und damit auch die Identität des …

A. GrundlinienDie Präsenz und Rolle der antiken Mythologie im 18. Jahrhundert kann man schlagworthaft so zusammenfassen: Sie diente als konventionelles künstlerisches Ausdrucksmittel, wurde zum Streitfall der christlichen und sich als aufgeklärt einschätzenden Gesellschaft und erfuhr schließlich eine revolutionäre Neuinterpretation, aus der dann ein neues philosophisches, künstlerisches, politisches, ethnologisches, psychologisches und …

[English Version] I. Kulturgeschichtlich …

[German Version] I. Cultural History The Dutch cultural historian Johan Huizinga identified play as a fundamental cultural phenomenon and thus a defining feature of human life. His thesis of homo ludens supplements the anthropological theories of homo sapiens and homo faber and other explanations of culture grounded in reason and fabrication (Labor). Huizinga posits the following definition: “Play is a voluntary activity or occupation execut…