Eloquent Alogia: Animal Narrators in Ancient Greek Literature

Humanities

卷:6

Tom Hawkins¹ 

[1] Department of Classics, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA;

关键词: animals;    Achilles;    Archilochus;    fox;    Gryllus;    Hesiod;    Homer;    Lucian;    pig;    Plutarch;    Pythagoras;    rooster;    Xanthus;   

DOI  :  10.3390/h6020037

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Classical Greek literature presents a variety of speaking animals. These are not, of course, the actual voices of animals but human projections. In a culture that aligns verbal mastery with social standing, verbal animals present a conundrum that speaks to an anxiety about human communication. I argue that the earliest examples of speaking animals, in Homer, Hesiod and Archilochus, show a fundamental connection with Golden Age tales. Later authors, such as Plutarch and Lucian, look back on such cases from a perspective that does not easily accept notions of divine causation that would permit such fanciful modes of communication. I argue that Plutarch uses a talking pig to challenge philosophical categories, and that Lucian transforms a sham-philosopher of a talking-cock to undermine the very pretense of philosophical virtue.

【 授权许可】

Unknown