Category: Plato commentary
On the paraphrase of Iliad 1.012–042 in Plato’s Republic 3.393d–394a
| September 23, 2016 | By Gregory Nagy listed under Plato commentary |
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2016.09.23 | By Gregory Nagy
For Plato, mimesis is not a re-enactment as it is for rhapsodes: it is mere imitation. And it is easier to discredit such imitation when you hear a rhapsode paraphrase Homer in prose.
Plato on dithyramb as diēgēsis
| September 22, 2016 | By Marco Romani Mistretta listed under Plato commentary |
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![Dionysos and sileni. Attic red-figured cup interior, circa 480 BCE. Photo by Bibi Saint-Pol, own work, 2007-05-25) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.](https://classical-inquiries.chs.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Dionysos_satyrs_Cdm_Paris_575-125x125.jpg)
2016.09.22 | By Marco Romani Mistretta
The opening of the Iliad (I.01.12–42) is famously paraphrased in narrative form by Socrates in Plato’s Republic 3, 393d–394a. The paraphrase is meant to illustrate Plato’s distinction between purely ‘diegetic’ and ‘mimetic’ forms of poetic production.
A political term in a paraphrase of Homer by Plato
| September 21, 2016 | By Dave Elmer listed under Plato commentary |
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2016.09.21 | By David Elmer
The verb ep-eu-phēmeîn (ἐπευφημεῖν) at I.01.022 is virtually a hapax legomenon in the Homeric corpus: it occurs only here and in Achilles’ repetition of the line when he recounts for Thetis the poem’s opening scene, I.01.376. It is an exceptional, one-off substitute for ep-aineîn (ἐπαινεῖν) ‘approve’, the expected term, within the Iliad’s “grammar of reception,” for the collective approval of an audience in scenes of collective decision-making.
A sampling of comments on Iliad Rhapsody 18
2016.11.25/ updated 2018.09.20 | By Gregory Nagy
The centerpiece of Iliad 18 is the shield of Achilles, envisioned as a work of art that defines the universe. The divine artisan Hephaistos makes this shield by way of metalwork, but Homeric poetry reconfigures the artistry of this metalwork by way of verbal art. And the artistry of Homeric poetry will now create or re-create a cosmos that is meant to contain the Iliad itself.