- Neu
Buch, Englisch, Greek, Ancient (to 1453), Band 204, 348 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 230 mm, Gewicht: 654 g
An Encomium of Alcibiades
Buch, Englisch, Greek, Ancient (to 1453), Band 204, 348 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 230 mm, Gewicht: 654 g
Reihe: Trends in Classics - Supplementary Volumes
ISBN: 978-3-11-222763-3
Verlag: De Gruyter
The legendary Alcibiades, the renowned Athenian general, cut a charismatic yet enigmatic figure, glorious and provocative, attractive and ambiguous. Isocrates’ ( ; 16), from the early 4 century BC, concerns a legal case against Alcibiades’ son, the younger Alcibiades, regarding the misappropriation by his father of a four-horse chariot that he had used to win the Olympic Games in 416 BC., but essentially functions as an encomium of his father’s activities.
The commentary at hand stresses the particularity of as an embedded encomium; it systematically recognises the encomiastic and establishes the place of the speech in the history of the epideictic genre. The speech demonstrates that apology and encomium could coexist, confirming the formative role of the in shaping the prose encomium in the 4 century BC. A particular focus is placed on the tension between the exceptional individual—exemplified by Alcibiades—and the political community. Isocrates, fully aware of his democratic audience, strategically highlights Alcibiades’ alignment with traditional values while simultaneously acknowledging his extraordinary nature.
