Book
Leaving Words to Remember
Greek Mourning and the Advent of Literacy
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Katharine Derderian
Language:
English
Published/Copyright:
2001
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About this book
This volume examines the influence of literacy on the development of different genres of mourning in ancient Greece.
The oral tradition of lament in the Homeric poems forms the point of departure for close readings of epigraphic material and written texts commemorating the dead in the archaic and classical periods, including grave epigrams, threnoi, tragedy, and Athenian epitaphioi. These texts reveal the non-linear development of Greek literacy and offer insight into the ongoing influence of lament in diverse poetic genres and the evolving uses of death and mourning in different media.
In particular, the discussion focuses on the role of writing in commemorating soldiers and the evolution of the written memorial into a historical and civic medium of communication.
The oral tradition of lament in the Homeric poems forms the point of departure for close readings of epigraphic material and written texts commemorating the dead in the archaic and classical periods, including grave epigrams, threnoi, tragedy, and Athenian epitaphioi. These texts reveal the non-linear development of Greek literacy and offer insight into the ongoing influence of lament in diverse poetic genres and the evolving uses of death and mourning in different media.
In particular, the discussion focuses on the role of writing in commemorating soldiers and the evolution of the written memorial into a historical and civic medium of communication.
Author / Editor information
Katharine Derderian, Ph.D. (1998) in Classical Philology, Princeton University, is currently writing on gender violence in the Armenian Genocide and works with various international political organizations in Berlin, Germany.
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Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
July 31, 2017
eBook ISBN:
9789047400455
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
Main content:
210
eBook ISBN:
9789047400455
Audience(s) for this book
Classical philologists and archaeologists, art historians and epigraphers, scholars of cultural history and the orality-literacy question.
