Ancient Greek Ekphrasis: Between Description and Narration

Five Linguistic and Narratological Case Studies
Erscheinungsjahr 2018
ISBN: 978-90-04-37353-2
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, Band 26, 294 Seiten, Format (B × H): 160 mm x 236 mm, Gewicht: 567 g

Reihe: Amsterdam Studies in Classical Philology

In Ancient Greek Ekphrasis: Between Description and Narration Niels Koopman offers a thorough linguistic and narratological analysis of five canonical ancient Greek ekphraseis from the archaic to the Hellenistic period: Achilles’ shield in Homer’s Iliad (18.478-608), Heracles’ shield in pseudo-Hesiod’s Shield (139-320), the goatherd’s cup in Theocritus’ first Idyll (27-60), Jason’s cloak in Apollonius Rhodius’ Argonautica (1.721-68) and Europa’s basket in Moschus’ Europa (37-62). Ekphrasis, as the verbal representation of visual representation, is both text and image, which makes it a complex yet fascinating phenomenon. By investigating its descriptive and narrative properties, this study sheds light on the interplay between text and image at work in ekphrasis.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Koopman, Niels

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Sprachwissenschaft Einzelne Sprachen & Sprachfamilien
• Geisteswissenschaften Literaturwissenschaft Klassische Literaturwissenschaft Klassische Griechische & Byzantinische Literatur

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Preface and Acknowledgments

Editions and Translations

1

Introduction: Ekphrasis, Narration and Description

1.1 The ‘Problem’ of Ekphrasis: To Narrate or to Describe?

1.2 A Definition of Ekphrasis

1.3 Ekphrasis: Description and/or Narration?

1.4 Narration

1.5 Description

1.6 Ekphrasis, Narration and Description: Conclusion

2 Methodology, Test Cases and Corpus

2.1 Introduction

2.2 A Model for Analysis

2.3 The Harbour of Phorcys and the Cave of the Nymphs (Od. 13.96–112)

2.4 Agamemnon Arms for Battle (Il. 11.15–46)

2.5 Conclusion

2.6 Corpus

3 The Shield of Achilles (Il. 18.478–608)

3.1 Introduction

3.2 Description, Narration, or Both? A Brief State of the Art

3.3 Shield of Achilles: Its Descriptivity and Narrativity

3.4 Conclusion

3.5 Visualizing the Shield of Achilles

4 The Shield of Heracles (Hes. Sc. 139–320)

4.1 Introduction

4.2 Description, Narration, or Both? A Brief State of the Art

4.3 The Shield of Heracles: Its Descriptivity and Narrativity

4.4 Conclusion

4.5 Visualizing the Shield of Heracles

5 The Goatherd’s Cup (Theoc. Id. 1.27–60)

5.1 Introduction

5.2 Description, Narration, or Both? A Brief State of the Art

5.3 The Goatherd’s Cup: Its Descriptivity and Narrativity

5.4 Conclusion

5.5 Visualizing the Goatherd’s Cup

6 Jason’s Cloak (A.R. 1.721–768)

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Jason’s Cloak: Its Descriptivity and Narrativity

6.3 Conclusion

6.4 Visualizing Jason’s Cloak

7 Europa’s Basket (Mosch. Eur. 37–62)

7.1 Introduction

7.2 Europa’s Basket: Its Descriptivity and Narrativity

7.3 Conclusion

7.4 Visualizing Europa’s Basket

8 Conclusion

8.1 Ekphrasis: Between Description and Narration

8.2 Ekphrasis and Visualization

8.3 The Findings of This Study and the Notion of Ekphrasis

Bibliography

Index of Greek Words

General Index

Über Autor(innen)

Niels Koopman earned his PhD in ancient Greek Literature from the University of Amsterdam in 2014. He teaches classical languages at Het 4e Gymnasium in Amsterdam.