Jessica M Romney
MacEwan University, Humanities, Faculty Member
- Classics, Ideology and Discourse Analysis, Ancient Greek Literature, Classics and Ancient History: society, history and religion of the ancient Greeks, Greek symposion, Greek Literature, and 14 moreAncient Greek History, Archaic Greek Lyric, Alcaeus, Greek Epic, Critical Discourse Studies, Greek Lyric Poetry, Archaic Poetry, Homer, Food and Beverage, Food in antiquity, Food Culture and Identity, Food Space and Identity, Food and Identity, and Ancient Ethnicity and Identityedit
- My primary interests lie in how language and literature interact with the societies that produce and use them, and vi... moreMy primary interests lie in how language and literature interact with the societies that produce and use them, and vice versa. In my current research, I examine how food in Archaic and Classical Greece contributes to the construction of geographical space as ‘near’ and ‘far’ as well as how food and drink consumption create social categories that contribute to constructions of civilised/uncivilised and Us/Them. This latter area derives from my dissertation research, which examined how archaic sympotic poets constructed social and political identities in sympotic lyric. I have secondary interests in the reception of archaic poets by classical and post-classical authors.edit
Lyric Poetry and Social Identity in Archaic Greece examines how Greek men presented themselves and their social groups to one another. The author examines identity rhetoric in sympotic lyric: how Greek poets constructed images of self for... more
Lyric Poetry and Social Identity in Archaic Greece examines how Greek men presented themselves and their social groups to one another. The author examines identity rhetoric in sympotic lyric: how Greek poets constructed images of self for their groups, focusing in turn on the construction of identity in martial-themed poetry, the protection of group identities in the face of political exile, and the negotiation between individual and group as seen in political lyric. By conducting a close reading of six poems and then a broad survey of martial lyric, exile poetry, political lyric, and sympotic lyric as a whole, Jessica Romney demonstrates that sympotic lyric focuses on the same basic behaviors and values to construct social identities regardless of the content or subgenre of the poems in question. The volume also argues that the performance of identity depends on the context as well as the material of performance. Furthermore, the book demonstrates that sympotic lyric overwhelmingly prefers to use identity rhetoric that insists on the inherent sameness of group members.
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The Routledge Handbook of Classics and Cognitive Theory is an interdisciplinary volume that examines the application of cognitive theory to the study of the classical world, across several interrelated areas including linguistics,... more
The Routledge Handbook of Classics and Cognitive Theory is an interdisciplinary volume that examines the application of cognitive theory to the study of the classical world, across several interrelated areas including linguistics, literary theory, social practices, performance, artificial intelligence and archaeology. With contributions from a diverse group of international scholars working in this exciting new area, the volume explores the processes of the mind drawing from research in psychology, philosophy, neuroscience, and anthropology, and interrogates the implications of these new approaches for the study of the ancient world.
Topics covered in this wide-ranging collection include: cognitive linguistics applied to Homeric and early Greek texts, Roman cultural semantics, linguistic embodiment in Latin literature, group identities in Greek lyric, cognitive dissonance in historiography, kinesthetic empathy in Sappho, artificial intelligence in Hesiod and Greek drama, the enactivism of Roman statues and memory and art in the Roman Empire.
This ground-breaking work is the first to organize the field, allowing both scholars and students access to the methodologies, bibliographies and techniques of the cognitive sciences and how they have been applied to classics.
Topics covered in this wide-ranging collection include: cognitive linguistics applied to Homeric and early Greek texts, Roman cultural semantics, linguistic embodiment in Latin literature, group identities in Greek lyric, cognitive dissonance in historiography, kinesthetic empathy in Sappho, artificial intelligence in Hesiod and Greek drama, the enactivism of Roman statues and memory and art in the Roman Empire.
This ground-breaking work is the first to organize the field, allowing both scholars and students access to the methodologies, bibliographies and techniques of the cognitive sciences and how they have been applied to classics.
Research Interests: Ancient History, Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, Cognitive Science, Social Psychology, and 11 moreClassical Archaeology, Comparative Literature, Classics, Cognitive Narratology, Narratology, Cognitive Linguistics, Classical philology, Narrative Theory, Culture and Cognition, Ancient Greek and Roman Theatre, and Ancient Rhetoric and Poetics
Current pedagogical models for ancient history/civilization courses treat women as a "tourist topic" (Mohanty 2003) as they are slotted into the course with little to no connection to the course of Greek/Roman history. Despite any... more
Current pedagogical models for ancient history/civilization courses treat women as a "tourist topic" (Mohanty 2003) as they are slotted into the course with little to no connection to the course of Greek/Roman history. Despite any intentions to diversify survey courses, tourist topics reinforce unquestioned binaries of power whereby (citizen) men act in ancient history while women (and others) are objects acted upon. This paper reviews current pedagogical models for ancient survey courses alongside C. T. Mohanty's Tourist model of teaching before turning to strategies for integrating non-hegemonic groups into survey courses in a consistent fashion.
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Around the beginning of the sixth century BCE in the polis of Mytilene on Lesbos, Pittacus the son of Hyrrhas secured his position as tyrant and thus gave material for a poetic campaign that would paint him as slovenly, power-hungry, and... more
Around the beginning of the sixth century BCE in the polis of Mytilene on Lesbos, Pittacus the son of Hyrrhas secured his position as tyrant and thus gave material for a poetic campaign that would paint him as slovenly, power-hungry, and gluttonous. Alcaeus, Pittacus’ contemporary and political rival, created a poetic character of Pittacus that made the tyrant into the ultimate out-group to the sympotic group(s) composed of Alcaeus and his hetairoi so that Pittacus alone stood for his entire group of supporters. Alcaeus’ portrayal of Pittacus ostracized the tyrant from the convivial group of the symposion by denying him the sympotic traits of restraint, moderation, and loyalty: the man who ruled Mytilene alone drank alone, opposite in every way to the sympotic and political group to which the poet and his audience belonged. Fragment 129, where Alcaeus gives one of the fullest descriptions of Pittacus and his actions, engages in a process of group identity construction. The fragment characterizes Pittacus in negative, asymptotic terms, and the implicit and explicit oppositions drawn between the in-group (Alcaeus and audience) and out-group (Pittacus and his invisible supporters) characterize the poet’s group in turn as well. By attacking his political opponent, Alcaeus constructs a group identity for those listening and attempts to persuade them of its importance to their social identity.
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In a lament on the rustic life of an exile, the persona loquens of Alcaeus 130b progresses through three spaces: the polis, esxatiai, and a temenos. The first is explicitly political, but the persona cannot occupy its territory; the... more
In a lament on the rustic life of an exile, the persona loquens of Alcaeus 130b progresses through three spaces: the polis, esxatiai, and a temenos. The first is explicitly political, but the persona cannot occupy its territory; the latter two, where the persona can dwell, are apolitical and the temenos in particular is gendered in line with the Lesbian women who hold their beauty contests within its borders. In this article I argue that fragment 130b organizes the spaces through which the persona travels so that it can reject the apolitical life of the esxatiai and temenos, allowing the persona loquens to maintain his political identity as a citizen man even while in exile. The poem accomplishes this by connecting the persona to several social groups and then by removing him from them; this push and pull of exile and return creates an in-between space where the persona’s social identity is safe from the dangers of exile. In the context of the male-dominated symposion and the political stasis afflicting archaic Mytilene, the persona’s ability to maintain his political identity even in exile presents a powerful argument to Alcaeus’ audience(s) that regardless of any setbacks, including exile, they too should maintain their identity as politically efficacious citizens and continue any stasis that they have begun.
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Herodotus’ description of the earth here is from a Persian perspective, radiating outward and with Greece on the periphery, in effect inviting Greeks to reconsider their place in the world.
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This paper examines the construction of a civic we-identity in the fragments of Tyrtaeus' Eunomia, focusing on fr. 2 and the strategies by which the poet sought to create a salient we-identity predicated on obedience to the... more
This paper examines the construction of a civic we-identity in the fragments of Tyrtaeus' Eunomia, focusing on fr. 2 and the strategies by which the poet sought to create a salient we-identity predicated on obedience to the Herakleidai/kings of Sparta and on a past history shared by speaker and audience. I end the paper with a comparison of Herakleid descent in fr. 2 with that in fr. 11 to demonstrate how the rhetorical presentation of identity shifts depending on performance context and poetic genre.
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The ancient Greeks imposed a culinary framework on the world, equating climate and individual temperament and filling the edges of the world with raw, non-agrarian cuisines. The diets attributed to these border regions oppose the bread... more
The ancient Greeks imposed a culinary framework on the world, equating climate and individual temperament and filling the edges of the world with raw, non-agrarian cuisines. The diets attributed to these border regions oppose the bread and roasted meat of the ‘civilised’ Greek diet, imposing connotations of pre-civilisation on these edge spaces as they divide the known, settled world from the unknown, mythical world of Ocean and the spaces inhabited only by monsters. Travelling from the Greek centre to the edges of the world, the trappings of civilization thus give way to the increasingly raw diets of nomads and then monsters.
Focusing on Herodotus’ Histories, this paper examines how Greek authors align culinary habits and geographical space so that the edges of the world oppose the civilized centre, filled with agriculture and viticulture. From Homer onward, food customs are deployed in Greek literature to divide spaces and peoples through the association of unusual diets with ‘far’ spaces, pre-civilised and mythic (i.e., ‘Golden-Age’) times. These associations contribute to Greek definitions of “Us” as diet confirms non-Greeks as “Them” and divide Greek poleis by their idiosyncratic diets. At the same time, however, diets of the civilized centre connect Greeks and non-Greeks as a civilized-Us against the uncivilized-Them of the peripheries.
Focusing on Herodotus’ Histories, this paper examines how Greek authors align culinary habits and geographical space so that the edges of the world oppose the civilized centre, filled with agriculture and viticulture. From Homer onward, food customs are deployed in Greek literature to divide spaces and peoples through the association of unusual diets with ‘far’ spaces, pre-civilised and mythic (i.e., ‘Golden-Age’) times. These associations contribute to Greek definitions of “Us” as diet confirms non-Greeks as “Them” and divide Greek poleis by their idiosyncratic diets. At the same time, however, diets of the civilized centre connect Greeks and non-Greeks as a civilized-Us against the uncivilized-Them of the peripheries.
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“Walk as I do,” Theognis tells Cyrnus, his student-addressee in a series of fragments about the ‘middle way’ and its relationship to one’s behaviour and politics. Whether or not Cyrnus was real, the boy serves as a medium for the poet’s... more
“Walk as I do,” Theognis tells Cyrnus, his student-addressee in a series of fragments about the ‘middle way’ and its relationship to one’s behaviour and politics. Whether or not Cyrnus was real, the boy serves as a medium for the poet’s teachings, delivering them to an audience who has accepted the poet’s didactic authority. Theognis here operates as a teacher in the sympotic classroom, and his lessons teach young men how to be a Greek elite.
This paper examines the place of didactic authority in sympotic elegy, analyzing first how it is constructed and second how it might be deployed through a case study on political elegy. By drawing on the established role of poet-as-teacher (cf. Xenophanes 10 DK and Heraclitus 57 DK on Homer and Hesiod respectively), elegiac poets asserted their speaking authority over that of their peers as the didactic voice established their prior experience with their subject matter and/or their superior ability to draw on the store of traditional knowledge.
Section one of the paper analyzes a selection of elegiac poems using a didactic speaking role. I argue that sympotic poets crafted their didactic stance around their own ‘experienced’ knowledge of their subject matter (e.g., warfare in Tyrtaeus) and/or around their knowledge of the traditional wisdom culture of archaic Greece. This latter knowledge is demonstrated through the poet’s ability to select the ‘right’ bit of knowledge for his purpose. Section two then applies the findings to a reading of Solon 4 and Theognis 39-52, political elegies which warn about a destructive future threatening their poleis. The poet asserts his political experience while applying traditional wisdom to the ‘present’ circumstances and, in Solon’s case, their solution. He thereby teaches as he warns, alternating between the sympotic classroom and the political realm outside of it.
This paper examines the place of didactic authority in sympotic elegy, analyzing first how it is constructed and second how it might be deployed through a case study on political elegy. By drawing on the established role of poet-as-teacher (cf. Xenophanes 10 DK and Heraclitus 57 DK on Homer and Hesiod respectively), elegiac poets asserted their speaking authority over that of their peers as the didactic voice established their prior experience with their subject matter and/or their superior ability to draw on the store of traditional knowledge.
Section one of the paper analyzes a selection of elegiac poems using a didactic speaking role. I argue that sympotic poets crafted their didactic stance around their own ‘experienced’ knowledge of their subject matter (e.g., warfare in Tyrtaeus) and/or around their knowledge of the traditional wisdom culture of archaic Greece. This latter knowledge is demonstrated through the poet’s ability to select the ‘right’ bit of knowledge for his purpose. Section two then applies the findings to a reading of Solon 4 and Theognis 39-52, political elegies which warn about a destructive future threatening their poleis. The poet asserts his political experience while applying traditional wisdom to the ‘present’ circumstances and, in Solon’s case, their solution. He thereby teaches as he warns, alternating between the sympotic classroom and the political realm outside of it.
Research Interests:
The wretched persona of Alcaeus 130b (Voigt) progresses through four stanzas of strife, exclusion, and finally resignation. Then, a respite: the fifth stanza introduces not the stasis-ridden world of the male hetaireia, but... more
The wretched persona of Alcaeus 130b (Voigt) progresses through four stanzas of strife, exclusion, and finally resignation. Then, a respite: the fifth stanza introduces not the stasis-ridden world of the male hetaireia, but the harmonious religious gathering of Lesbian women. We sit with the persona on the edge of this stanza, listening to their harmonious cries and taking a break from the tumultuous world of the poem. Here it seems that the persona has found a community: unable to participate in the agora and boule, the persona might as well be a woman—he has as much political agency as one. Yet despite this, the utterly feminine nature of the fifth stanza of fragment 130b, from the gender of its nouns to the actions described and to the participants, excludes the male speaker from full integration and a complete return to the human community from which he is exiled.
This paper reexamines Alcaeus 130b from the perspective of grammatical gender: how does the poet’s use of gendered nouns, adjectives, and participles affect the tension between inclusion and exclusion (content- and performance-wise) seen within the poem? By noting nouns according to grammatical gender and grammatical + social gender, we see how the gendered language of the poem carefully situates the persona loquens in between the active, politically viable masculine community and the contained, harmonious feminine community.
The use and placement of nouns by their gender is striking, and even more so when compared with the larger Alcaic corpus. A preliminary survey of Alcaeus’ political poetry indicates that masculine nouns, etc. are preferred: at approximately 60% of total gendered language, masculine components outweigh feminine (roughly 25%) and neuter (15%) components. For 130b, however, masculine nouns, etc. account for only 53% of gendered components, while feminine nouns, etc. rise to 38% (neuters sit at 9%). Furthermore, in the other politically-themed poems, the feminine and masculine components are not strictly separated from one another. Yet in 130b, except for a few feminine nouns marked as either masculine (e.g., β[ό]λλας) or negative (e.g., μοῖραν ἀγροϊωτίκαν), the feminine nouns remain in the fifth stanza. We thus have a sudden concentration of feminine grammatical components, resulting in a stronger representation of feminine nouns, adjectives, and participles than in the other political poems.
In 130b, then, the gendered language creates two communities from which the persona loquens is excluded that reinforce the two communities established by the persona’s narrative of his miserable life. The gendered grammar of the poem forces a liminality on the persona, complementing that forced upon him by his ‘life’ and by the speaker’s adoption of an exiled persona loquens for a performance in the close-knit masculine community of the symposion. The political efficacy and identity of the Greek, male citizen is ultimately at stake in this poem, and as this paper will demonstrate, the careful use of gendered grammar contributes to the speaker’s, and audience’s, dalliance with exile and feminine communities that is rejected in favour of masculine world of ἡ πόλις.
This paper reexamines Alcaeus 130b from the perspective of grammatical gender: how does the poet’s use of gendered nouns, adjectives, and participles affect the tension between inclusion and exclusion (content- and performance-wise) seen within the poem? By noting nouns according to grammatical gender and grammatical + social gender, we see how the gendered language of the poem carefully situates the persona loquens in between the active, politically viable masculine community and the contained, harmonious feminine community.
The use and placement of nouns by their gender is striking, and even more so when compared with the larger Alcaic corpus. A preliminary survey of Alcaeus’ political poetry indicates that masculine nouns, etc. are preferred: at approximately 60% of total gendered language, masculine components outweigh feminine (roughly 25%) and neuter (15%) components. For 130b, however, masculine nouns, etc. account for only 53% of gendered components, while feminine nouns, etc. rise to 38% (neuters sit at 9%). Furthermore, in the other politically-themed poems, the feminine and masculine components are not strictly separated from one another. Yet in 130b, except for a few feminine nouns marked as either masculine (e.g., β[ό]λλας) or negative (e.g., μοῖραν ἀγροϊωτίκαν), the feminine nouns remain in the fifth stanza. We thus have a sudden concentration of feminine grammatical components, resulting in a stronger representation of feminine nouns, adjectives, and participles than in the other political poems.
In 130b, then, the gendered language creates two communities from which the persona loquens is excluded that reinforce the two communities established by the persona’s narrative of his miserable life. The gendered grammar of the poem forces a liminality on the persona, complementing that forced upon him by his ‘life’ and by the speaker’s adoption of an exiled persona loquens for a performance in the close-knit masculine community of the symposion. The political efficacy and identity of the Greek, male citizen is ultimately at stake in this poem, and as this paper will demonstrate, the careful use of gendered grammar contributes to the speaker’s, and audience’s, dalliance with exile and feminine communities that is rejected in favour of masculine world of ἡ πόλις.
Research Interests:
Iambos and its influence on subsequent genres have recently become a focus of study. Scholars argue that iambos defended the traditional structure of society (Brown 1997), was at home in convivial occasions (Rotstein 2010), and... more
Iambos and its influence on subsequent genres have recently become a focus of study. Scholars argue that iambos defended the traditional structure of society (Brown 1997), was at home in convivial occasions (Rotstein 2010), and contributed to a continuing abusive discourse in Greek literature (Worman 2008). They do not, however, compare iambos to its contemporary sympotic genres, despite acceptance of its sympotic performance context, and there is a tendency to see iambos as expressing the nascent ideals of an equal, ‘middling’ citizenry against the traditional ‘elitist’ values of the aristocracy (following Morris 1996).
This paper re-examines the place of iambos in archaic society as it is preserved in the wider context of sympotic poetry by analyzing iambos from the perspectives of use and occasion. I argue that archaic iambos’ generic status lay in its ability to transgress boundaries in a socially acceptable manner, as well as in its use for retaliating against improper transgressions. The use of explicit narratives centred on the body and a lewd speaking voice contributes to the crossing of boundaries, as both were beyond the pale of elite speech patterns. Iambos thus contributed to the definition and defence of elite groups during the socio-political flux of the Archaic period, but in the 5th century BCE this role faded and was forgotten. Pindar and Critias, well before Aristotle and his ascription of low status to the genre, both attack iambos for its crudeness in respect to other types of poetry, especially their own. I argue that during this period, as poetic genres became increasingly literary, there was a debate over the ‘appropriate’ register of poetry and its role in Greek society. The aristocratic ethos in epinicia and elegy relegated iambos with its crude tone and narrative to a low status.
This paper re-examines the place of iambos in archaic society as it is preserved in the wider context of sympotic poetry by analyzing iambos from the perspectives of use and occasion. I argue that archaic iambos’ generic status lay in its ability to transgress boundaries in a socially acceptable manner, as well as in its use for retaliating against improper transgressions. The use of explicit narratives centred on the body and a lewd speaking voice contributes to the crossing of boundaries, as both were beyond the pale of elite speech patterns. Iambos thus contributed to the definition and defence of elite groups during the socio-political flux of the Archaic period, but in the 5th century BCE this role faded and was forgotten. Pindar and Critias, well before Aristotle and his ascription of low status to the genre, both attack iambos for its crudeness in respect to other types of poetry, especially their own. I argue that during this period, as poetic genres became increasingly literary, there was a debate over the ‘appropriate’ register of poetry and its role in Greek society. The aristocratic ethos in epinicia and elegy relegated iambos with its crude tone and narrative to a low status.
Research Interests:
Alcaeus’ political poetry seeks to return his exiled audience to their original community in Mytilene, to make the political group whole again. For Alcaeus, the individual can only exist within the larger group; to stand alone is... more
Alcaeus’ political poetry seeks to return his exiled audience to their original community in Mytilene, to make the political group whole again. For Alcaeus, the individual can only exist within the larger group; to stand alone is dangerous, the fate of the ultimate exile or, worse, the tyrant. Across the Aegean, however, Alcaeus’ Athenian contemporary Solon assumed a different stance in regards to political groups. Instead of stressing the integration of individual and group, Solon maintained a speaking position which distanced his poetic I from the Athenian community. We thus have two opposites in Alcaeus and Solon: the former, despite his reception as a belligerent aristocrat apart from his polis, considered integral to his group’s identity their place in Mytilene, whereas the latter presented himself as a solitary visionary, who somehow became the voice of democratic Athens.
This paper will consider how each poet treated the question of individuality in the setting of Archaic politics, which were driven by elite political bands or hetaireiai. In particular I will focus on Alcaeus 129 and Solon 4, which are both major poems in the extant corpora of these poets. In the former, Pittacus is characterized as a dangerous individual in the past and present, and he opposes not only Alcaeus and his hetaireia, but also the community of Mytilene as Alcaeus seeks to reconcile the two. In the latter poem, Solon’s poetic I stands alone, foreshadowing the ‘wise advisor’ of Herodotus’ Histories in its battle against the alleged excesses of the Athenian hetaireiai.
Ultimately, Solon and Alcaeus sit on opposite faces of the same coin, and Solon and Pittacus share the same side. By reading these two poets alongside one another, we see how individuality operates within the dynamics of Archaic politics.
This paper will consider how each poet treated the question of individuality in the setting of Archaic politics, which were driven by elite political bands or hetaireiai. In particular I will focus on Alcaeus 129 and Solon 4, which are both major poems in the extant corpora of these poets. In the former, Pittacus is characterized as a dangerous individual in the past and present, and he opposes not only Alcaeus and his hetaireia, but also the community of Mytilene as Alcaeus seeks to reconcile the two. In the latter poem, Solon’s poetic I stands alone, foreshadowing the ‘wise advisor’ of Herodotus’ Histories in its battle against the alleged excesses of the Athenian hetaireiai.
Ultimately, Solon and Alcaeus sit on opposite faces of the same coin, and Solon and Pittacus share the same side. By reading these two poets alongside one another, we see how individuality operates within the dynamics of Archaic politics.
Research Interests:
A sympotic poem is an ephemeral being; except for the very brilliant, the poem existed in the moment, an ‘ornament’ on the conversation at hand, to be appreciated (or not) and then forgotten. Symposia took place throughout the Archaic... more
A sympotic poem is an ephemeral being; except for the very brilliant, the poem existed in the moment, an ‘ornament’ on the conversation at hand, to be appreciated (or not) and then forgotten. Symposia took place throughout the Archaic and Classical periods and across the Greek world, yet we have names for remarkably few poets compared to the number of participants: the norm was to be forgotten.
This paper examines the ways by which sympotic poets fought so that they, and their verses, would be remembered and reperformed. It will argue that one of these strategies was the crafting of an authoritative voice that speaks about the imminent future. This voice, which is most visible in Solon’s verses, but also in Tyrtaeus’ and Theognis’, derives its authority from its prophetic knowledge of the future: the poet asserts a (generalised) opinion of what will happen to bind his audience not only to his vision but also to his authorial voice. The authority imbued in the knowledge held by the poet transfers to the performers, creating a select group of ‘those who know’— the poet’s followers. Entrance to this group predicates on reperformance of the poems, thus inducing future symposiasts to adopt the poetry so as to be a part of this special group and to draw on the authoritative voice of the poem. Poetry with a voice designed to speak about the imminent future thus memorialized its poet and fostered a mutually beneficial relationship between poet and performers.
This paper examines the ways by which sympotic poets fought so that they, and their verses, would be remembered and reperformed. It will argue that one of these strategies was the crafting of an authoritative voice that speaks about the imminent future. This voice, which is most visible in Solon’s verses, but also in Tyrtaeus’ and Theognis’, derives its authority from its prophetic knowledge of the future: the poet asserts a (generalised) opinion of what will happen to bind his audience not only to his vision but also to his authorial voice. The authority imbued in the knowledge held by the poet transfers to the performers, creating a select group of ‘those who know’— the poet’s followers. Entrance to this group predicates on reperformance of the poems, thus inducing future symposiasts to adopt the poetry so as to be a part of this special group and to draw on the authoritative voice of the poem. Poetry with a voice designed to speak about the imminent future thus memorialized its poet and fostered a mutually beneficial relationship between poet and performers.
Research Interests:
From the Homeric epics to sympotic poetry of the 7th and 6th centuries, Greek poetry reflects a growing concern among the elite about the allocation and consumption of resources, especially the consumption of wine and food. In part, this... more
From the Homeric epics to sympotic poetry of the 7th and 6th centuries, Greek poetry reflects a growing concern among the elite about the allocation and consumption of resources, especially the consumption of wine and food. In part, this concern derives from the connection made between the consumption of resources and the possession of political privileges; the way in which people consume wine or food reflects directly upon their ability to handle political power. One is not only what one consumes, but how one eats or drinks.
By examining the depiction of inappropriate food consumption in the epic and lyric genres, this paper seeks to illustrate the primacy of the consumption of food and drink in the performance of elite identity and as a form of (de)legitimizing political rhetoric. Sympotic studies reveal that the amount and manner of wine consumption is integral to elite identity and discourse for the Archaic period. Such studies provide a starting point for my examination of the role of food consumption in Archaic political rhetoric. Although the role of food has been examined in regards to the Athenian orators and the Aristophanic comedies, it has not been the focus of studies concerning Archaic poetry and political rhetoric.
The discourses of wine and food consumption are complementary: the former primarily looks inward, defining elite identity and behaviour in interactions with other elites, while the latter looks outwards and regulates elite behaviour with respect to the wider community and its resources. For the pre-industrial world, the manner of food consumption is a particularly salient performance of status because of the necessity of food to human life; proper food consumption by elites thereby reveals a concern for the community’s survival and asserts their right to rule. Thus, in the Archaic period we see the characterization of political rivals as ravenous and as eating the wrong things, namely the polis or demos. As ‘others’— women (e.g., Sem. 7), foreigners (e.g., Hom. Od. 9), and political rivals (e.g., Sol. 4.9-10; Alc. 129.21-4)—are represented negatively in their drinking and eating habits, the opposing, positive drinking and eating habits and their associated political behavior define the ‘Greek male’ and from him the aristocrat by the moderate, restrained consumption that is shared ‘equally’ in the eises dais.
By examining the depiction of inappropriate food consumption in the epic and lyric genres, this paper seeks to illustrate the primacy of the consumption of food and drink in the performance of elite identity and as a form of (de)legitimizing political rhetoric. Sympotic studies reveal that the amount and manner of wine consumption is integral to elite identity and discourse for the Archaic period. Such studies provide a starting point for my examination of the role of food consumption in Archaic political rhetoric. Although the role of food has been examined in regards to the Athenian orators and the Aristophanic comedies, it has not been the focus of studies concerning Archaic poetry and political rhetoric.
The discourses of wine and food consumption are complementary: the former primarily looks inward, defining elite identity and behaviour in interactions with other elites, while the latter looks outwards and regulates elite behaviour with respect to the wider community and its resources. For the pre-industrial world, the manner of food consumption is a particularly salient performance of status because of the necessity of food to human life; proper food consumption by elites thereby reveals a concern for the community’s survival and asserts their right to rule. Thus, in the Archaic period we see the characterization of political rivals as ravenous and as eating the wrong things, namely the polis or demos. As ‘others’— women (e.g., Sem. 7), foreigners (e.g., Hom. Od. 9), and political rivals (e.g., Sol. 4.9-10; Alc. 129.21-4)—are represented negatively in their drinking and eating habits, the opposing, positive drinking and eating habits and their associated political behavior define the ‘Greek male’ and from him the aristocrat by the moderate, restrained consumption that is shared ‘equally’ in the eises dais.
Research Interests:
"‘Solon appointed himself to the class of the poor rather than that of the rich,’ Plutarch states (Sol. 3.2), quoting the authority of fragment 15 (West). Plutarch’s Solon—a moderate, civic-minded man who applied his wisdom to securing... more
"‘Solon appointed himself to the class of the poor rather than that of the rich,’ Plutarch states (Sol. 3.2), quoting the authority of fragment 15 (West). Plutarch’s Solon—a moderate, civic-minded man who applied his wisdom to securing Athens’ future—is a landmark in the Solonic biographical tradition, combining material from earlier sources with Solon’s poetry. The democratic mindset Plutarch attributes to Solon is also seen amongst his predecessors: Aristotle asserts that Solon identified himself as one of ‘the middle class’ (τῶν μέσων; Ath. Pol. 5), and the Athenian orators hold Solon up as the democratic authority. Yet despite the popularity of the democratic Solon, this biographical narrative does not extend, according to the extant sources, into the fifth century or earlier. For Herodotus, Solon is a ‘wise advisor,’ unheeded not only by Croesus but also his own city, his advice overshadowed by the brilliant tactics of Peisistratus. Cleisthenes is the democrat, the man who gave the demos power so that it would support his bid for power.
The post-fifth century biographical tradition positing a democratic Solon has had a lasting impact on the scholarly reception of Solon, his poetry, and his reforms. Solon is generally read as a ‘proto-democrat,’ an aristocrat going against the wishes of his own class, who succeeds in reviving social harmony in an internally divided Athens. The socio-political dynamic outlined by Plutarch and Aristotle is taken as is; there is strife between the poor and the rich, and Solon aligns himself with the former, emphasizing the social ills that the hubris of the latter has caused. His poetry is a response to these issues, as it challenges the elite on their heroic pretensions and over-consumption; an ainos intended not for the elite few but for the many. This tradition is particularly resilient in the interpretation of the political groups referred to in fragments 4, 4c, and 15. Furthermore, the discourses found in his non-political pieces, and which are hidden in these poems, are generally ignored, considered to be a part of a ‘generic’ tradition that has no bearing on the ‘political’ pieces.
Thus Solon continues to stand as a unique figure amongst the extant Archaic poets. While this may be the case, the elite and ‘generic’ discourses within Solon’s poetry should not be ignored but rather considered alongside his democratizing discourses, as well as with comparative socio-political evidence of contemporary poleis and poets. Solon’s poetry melds elite and democratizing discourses, the latter overt and the former hidden, resulting in a poetic group marked by the ambiguity of its borders. His elite audience is able to identify with the moderate and wise ‘we’— the very label which the greater populace and later readers both identify as democratic and patriotic."
The post-fifth century biographical tradition positing a democratic Solon has had a lasting impact on the scholarly reception of Solon, his poetry, and his reforms. Solon is generally read as a ‘proto-democrat,’ an aristocrat going against the wishes of his own class, who succeeds in reviving social harmony in an internally divided Athens. The socio-political dynamic outlined by Plutarch and Aristotle is taken as is; there is strife between the poor and the rich, and Solon aligns himself with the former, emphasizing the social ills that the hubris of the latter has caused. His poetry is a response to these issues, as it challenges the elite on their heroic pretensions and over-consumption; an ainos intended not for the elite few but for the many. This tradition is particularly resilient in the interpretation of the political groups referred to in fragments 4, 4c, and 15. Furthermore, the discourses found in his non-political pieces, and which are hidden in these poems, are generally ignored, considered to be a part of a ‘generic’ tradition that has no bearing on the ‘political’ pieces.
Thus Solon continues to stand as a unique figure amongst the extant Archaic poets. While this may be the case, the elite and ‘generic’ discourses within Solon’s poetry should not be ignored but rather considered alongside his democratizing discourses, as well as with comparative socio-political evidence of contemporary poleis and poets. Solon’s poetry melds elite and democratizing discourses, the latter overt and the former hidden, resulting in a poetic group marked by the ambiguity of its borders. His elite audience is able to identify with the moderate and wise ‘we’— the very label which the greater populace and later readers both identify as democratic and patriotic."
Research Interests:
"Following Ian Morris’ model of a ‘middling ideology’ which opposes an ‘elitist ideology’ within Archaic poetry and its elite creators, there is a tendency to read Archaic poets as supporting or challenging the polis and its rise, where... more
"Following Ian Morris’ model of a ‘middling ideology’ which opposes an ‘elitist ideology’ within Archaic poetry and its elite creators, there is a tendency to read Archaic poets as supporting or challenging the polis and its rise, where the former supports vertical boundaries separating citizens from the outside and the latter raises horizontal borders between the classes within the polis. The poetry of the Theognidea, though conflicting and generic, is read as supporting the horizontal borders of the elitist ideology, as does the partisan poetry of Alcaeus. Phocylides and Solon, among others, however, are seen to demonstrate the middling ideology, castigating the excesses of elitist ideologues for not benefiting the polis.
Yet when the ideological preoccupations of the above poets—the all-important qualities of sophrosunē, aretē, and dikē —are considered alongside one another, a continuity of class and sympotic context become apparent. For example, Theognis grumbles about rule of those who ‘formerly did not know dikē’ (53-68, v. 54), and Solon about the ‘unjust mind’ of the leaders of the dēmos (fr. 4.7); Alcaeus’ ‘self-destructive’ citizens mirror Solon’s citizens who ‘destroy a great polis through their foolishness’ (4.5-6); and the claims of Theognis and Alcaeus to be ‘in the middle’ stand alongside Phocylides’ wish ‘to be middle (mesos) in the polis’ (fr. 12). The focus is on the self-regulating and moderate values of the symposion and the aristocratic self-definition it promulgated as well as on the negotiation of place for both the aristocrats and symposion within the polis, rather than attempts to define an elite group with or against the polis. Within this poetry, elite discourses meld sophrosunē, aretē, and dikē with concerns of being metrios/ mesos and of ordering a feast or polis ‘in order’, without koros. This results in a variety of choices as to how the poet can represent his place and/or his group’s in the polis and an accommodation of multiple political stances and ideologies rather than the two opposed ideologies that Morris’s model accommodates.
The symposion was home to political factions and debates, and the members of a sympotic group supported one another’s political bids and, should the need rise, intrigues. So it should not be surprising, therefore, that sympotic poetry provided a way to grapple with the increasingly relevant issue of citizenship as well as give the traditional aristocracies a chance to redefine themselves against the challenges posed by the rising wealth elite. Solon’s poetry, and Alcaeus’, Phocylides’, Theognis’, and so forth, did not simply oppose or align the poet with his polis. Rather, this poetry represents fragments of conversations between the poet and his hetairoi which debated issues of community and politics. It imposed a poetic centre that mirrored the krater at the centre of a symposion which conceived of itself as the centre of its polis, where the borders between the sympotic group and other inhabitants of the polis could be mediated in the debate over who was to have a share in the polis and its rule."
Yet when the ideological preoccupations of the above poets—the all-important qualities of sophrosunē, aretē, and dikē —are considered alongside one another, a continuity of class and sympotic context become apparent. For example, Theognis grumbles about rule of those who ‘formerly did not know dikē’ (53-68, v. 54), and Solon about the ‘unjust mind’ of the leaders of the dēmos (fr. 4.7); Alcaeus’ ‘self-destructive’ citizens mirror Solon’s citizens who ‘destroy a great polis through their foolishness’ (4.5-6); and the claims of Theognis and Alcaeus to be ‘in the middle’ stand alongside Phocylides’ wish ‘to be middle (mesos) in the polis’ (fr. 12). The focus is on the self-regulating and moderate values of the symposion and the aristocratic self-definition it promulgated as well as on the negotiation of place for both the aristocrats and symposion within the polis, rather than attempts to define an elite group with or against the polis. Within this poetry, elite discourses meld sophrosunē, aretē, and dikē with concerns of being metrios/ mesos and of ordering a feast or polis ‘in order’, without koros. This results in a variety of choices as to how the poet can represent his place and/or his group’s in the polis and an accommodation of multiple political stances and ideologies rather than the two opposed ideologies that Morris’s model accommodates.
The symposion was home to political factions and debates, and the members of a sympotic group supported one another’s political bids and, should the need rise, intrigues. So it should not be surprising, therefore, that sympotic poetry provided a way to grapple with the increasingly relevant issue of citizenship as well as give the traditional aristocracies a chance to redefine themselves against the challenges posed by the rising wealth elite. Solon’s poetry, and Alcaeus’, Phocylides’, Theognis’, and so forth, did not simply oppose or align the poet with his polis. Rather, this poetry represents fragments of conversations between the poet and his hetairoi which debated issues of community and politics. It imposed a poetic centre that mirrored the krater at the centre of a symposion which conceived of itself as the centre of its polis, where the borders between the sympotic group and other inhabitants of the polis could be mediated in the debate over who was to have a share in the polis and its rule."
Research Interests:
"Demosthenes’ On the False Embassy provides a dramatic venue for the problematisation of group membership as a method to achieve political superiority. Demosthenes uses all the traditional rhetorical tricks to blacklist Aeschines and... more
"Demosthenes’ On the False Embassy provides a dramatic venue for the problematisation of group membership as a method to achieve political superiority. Demosthenes uses all the traditional rhetorical tricks to blacklist Aeschines and supplements these tactics with the ideology and discourse of democracy, where political equality among the citizens and their willingness to subsume their own interests to those of the polis maintained the integrity of the group. Demosthenes denies Aeschines participation in this discourse while lauding his own participation in it and his support of democratic ideology in the dialogue among himself, Aeschines, and the jurors. The purpose for this, I will argue, is to mark Aeschines as an out-group member while cementing Demosthenes’ status as a member of the democratic in-group, providing a reason for the jurors to convict Aeschines based on group membership.
Demosthenes’ speech against Aeschines operates in a politically charged discourse, where the prize is control of Athenian foreign policy and where issues of group membership become a means by which the battle can be turned. In modern studies of discourse, the role of discourse and its accompanying speech acts in maintaining and regulating the membership of groups has been demonstrated. Discourse is one of the ways in which group members maintain the group’s solidarity and its values; it can be used to protect the group from an outside threat, to confirm preexisting values, to persuade group members to adopt new ones, and so forth. It is basically a regulatory measure, and by examining it and its socio-political context, we can better understand how social norms operated, were maintained, and were adapted by group members.
In his attempts to mark Aeschines as a member of the oligarchic group headed by Philip, Demosthenes highlights three key aspects of Athenian discourse which Aeschines refuses to use: the legitimacy of the demos’ rule and thus the rule of the group, appeals to the ancestors (progonoi), and the right to frank and truthful speech (parrhesia). All three aspects emphasize elements of Athenian ideology as well, and as Demosthenes refuses to allow Aeschines a place in the democratic group in his speech, he aims to create the same result in the actual, physical group of the polis.
Demosthenes wanted to convict Aeschines, and he needed to in order to secure his position in Athenian politics and foreign policy against Philip. In On the False Embassy, he thus employs every trick he has to succeed, including using ideology and discourse against his opponent to mark him as a lapsed group member, as an opponent to the democratic in-group."
Demosthenes’ speech against Aeschines operates in a politically charged discourse, where the prize is control of Athenian foreign policy and where issues of group membership become a means by which the battle can be turned. In modern studies of discourse, the role of discourse and its accompanying speech acts in maintaining and regulating the membership of groups has been demonstrated. Discourse is one of the ways in which group members maintain the group’s solidarity and its values; it can be used to protect the group from an outside threat, to confirm preexisting values, to persuade group members to adopt new ones, and so forth. It is basically a regulatory measure, and by examining it and its socio-political context, we can better understand how social norms operated, were maintained, and were adapted by group members.
In his attempts to mark Aeschines as a member of the oligarchic group headed by Philip, Demosthenes highlights three key aspects of Athenian discourse which Aeschines refuses to use: the legitimacy of the demos’ rule and thus the rule of the group, appeals to the ancestors (progonoi), and the right to frank and truthful speech (parrhesia). All three aspects emphasize elements of Athenian ideology as well, and as Demosthenes refuses to allow Aeschines a place in the democratic group in his speech, he aims to create the same result in the actual, physical group of the polis.
Demosthenes wanted to convict Aeschines, and he needed to in order to secure his position in Athenian politics and foreign policy against Philip. In On the False Embassy, he thus employs every trick he has to succeed, including using ideology and discourse against his opponent to mark him as a lapsed group member, as an opponent to the democratic in-group."
Research Interests:
" The Homeric hero Hector serves as an important allusive exemplum in the work of the Spartan poet Tyrtaeus. The allusions to Hector form an integral part of Tyrtaeus’ larger argument concerning the need to fight and to fight in a... more
" The Homeric hero Hector serves as an important allusive exemplum in the work of the Spartan poet Tyrtaeus. The allusions to Hector form an integral part of Tyrtaeus’ larger argument concerning the need to fight and to fight in a concerted manner, and they are especially evident in fragment 10 West, which will be the focus of this paper. Within this poem there are five main themes into which Tyrtaeus’ allusions to Hector fall: shame, beautiful death (καλὸς θάνατος), a firm stance (εὖ διαβὰς), community loyalty, and communal mourning for the dead soldier.
Tyrtaeus opposes the shame which forces Hector to fight Achilles to the desire to flee, and he uses many of the phrases in Priam’s argument that the deaths of young men who die in battle will leave the old men vulnerable (Il. 22.71-6) to argue that it is precisely the age and vulnerability of the older men which necessitates that the young men must fight. His allusions to the καλὸς θάνατος and the phrase εὖ διαβὰς, found in Iliad 12.458, give a heroic veneer to his verses and arguments, elevating his message. Finally, his appeal to community loyalty, following Hector’s own appeal in Iliad 15.494-99, and his depiction of the communal mourning for the dead soldier in fragment 12 present the relationship between the soldiers and the πόλις and its inhabitants within his poetry as a reciprocal one. The πόλις and its inhabitants provide κλέος both to the living soldiers and those who died in battle in return for the soldiers’ participation and sacrifice in battle. These allusions thus allow Tyrtaeus to refer to epic rewards without having to guarantee them, and they also provide a means for him to strengthen the bonds among the soldiers and between the soldiers and the πόλις.
"
Tyrtaeus opposes the shame which forces Hector to fight Achilles to the desire to flee, and he uses many of the phrases in Priam’s argument that the deaths of young men who die in battle will leave the old men vulnerable (Il. 22.71-6) to argue that it is precisely the age and vulnerability of the older men which necessitates that the young men must fight. His allusions to the καλὸς θάνατος and the phrase εὖ διαβὰς, found in Iliad 12.458, give a heroic veneer to his verses and arguments, elevating his message. Finally, his appeal to community loyalty, following Hector’s own appeal in Iliad 15.494-99, and his depiction of the communal mourning for the dead soldier in fragment 12 present the relationship between the soldiers and the πόλις and its inhabitants within his poetry as a reciprocal one. The πόλις and its inhabitants provide κλέος both to the living soldiers and those who died in battle in return for the soldiers’ participation and sacrifice in battle. These allusions thus allow Tyrtaeus to refer to epic rewards without having to guarantee them, and they also provide a means for him to strengthen the bonds among the soldiers and between the soldiers and the πόλις.
"
Research Interests:
What, exactly, is a humanities post-doc? A rough borrowing from the STEM fields, today’s post-doctoral fellowships in the humanities range from teaching-heavy triages for the job market to a chance for young researchers to develop the... more
What, exactly, is a humanities post-doc? A rough borrowing from the STEM fields, today’s post-doctoral fellowships in the humanities range from teaching-heavy triages for the job market to a chance for young researchers to develop the research record needed for tenure-line positions to joining an already established project or research network. By answering the what, where, and how of the humanities post-doc, this paper seeks to provide graduate students and new PhDs information on an increasingly important option for employment after the doctorate.
Focusing primarily on the SSHRC post-docs, this paper begins with what post-docs are available in North America and abroad. While the humanities PhD has fewer choices than their STEM counterpart, there is more available than one might expect. I then turn to a general discussion of the application process, the most important considerations of which are planning ahead and marketing oneself and one’s research to the grant concerned. Finally, I will finish with some reflections on my year as a SSHRC post-doc and on the advice I have found the most helpful.
Focusing primarily on the SSHRC post-docs, this paper begins with what post-docs are available in North America and abroad. While the humanities PhD has fewer choices than their STEM counterpart, there is more available than one might expect. I then turn to a general discussion of the application process, the most important considerations of which are planning ahead and marketing oneself and one’s research to the grant concerned. Finally, I will finish with some reflections on my year as a SSHRC post-doc and on the advice I have found the most helpful.
Research Interests:
Before the invention of cartography and the inclusion of print maps in books and stories of all kinds, maps were cognitively produced and shared. ‘Mental maps’ structure worlds represented and/or created in poetry and prose, giving order... more
Before the invention of cartography and the inclusion of print maps in books and stories of all kinds, maps were cognitively produced and shared. ‘Mental maps’ structure worlds represented and/or created in poetry and prose, giving order and meaning to spaces measured by words and verbal images instead of the engineer’s slide rule and sight. This paper examines the creation of such mental maps in Greek literature, in particular those which use food and consumption practices as their guides. Consumption practices in general are socially constructed, and those concerning food and drink, biological necessities complicated by the imposition of social meanings, are doubly so. Because of this, consumption serves to communicate issues of identity along socio-economic, gender, and ethnic lines, among others, and the representation of other peoples’ consumption practices communicates how an author and his society viewed the world at large.
Focusing on Homer’s Odyssey and Herodotus’ Histories, I argue that an underlying structure of consumption practices can be discerned in Greek literature, with vegetarianism/ passivity to the south, cannibalism/ aggression to the north, and ‘raw,’ Golden-Age diets surrounding the central space of Greece. Geographical and conceptual distance from Greece is connoted through food customs, as the more unusual consumption practices indicate further distance from the ‘centre’ of the Mediterranean. By using this culinary structure, authors create mental maps based on food customs and space which contribute to the overall meaning of a text by ordering its represented world.
Focusing on Homer’s Odyssey and Herodotus’ Histories, I argue that an underlying structure of consumption practices can be discerned in Greek literature, with vegetarianism/ passivity to the south, cannibalism/ aggression to the north, and ‘raw,’ Golden-Age diets surrounding the central space of Greece. Geographical and conceptual distance from Greece is connoted through food customs, as the more unusual consumption practices indicate further distance from the ‘centre’ of the Mediterranean. By using this culinary structure, authors create mental maps based on food customs and space which contribute to the overall meaning of a text by ordering its represented world.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This volume, the result of a three-day conference held at Utrecht University (2014), examines the relationship between the sacrificial feast, the symposium, and the political institutions associated with them. The volume’s title and theme... more
This volume, the result of a three-day conference held at Utrecht University (2014), examines the relationship between the sacrificial feast, the symposium, and the political institutions associated with them. The volume’s title and theme link feasting to polis-institutions, but the chronological spread from the Early Iron Age to the Imperial period necessitates that ‘polis’ be understood broadly.
Research Interests:
Contingent contracts are the new norm. These contracts vary widely in hours and benefits depending on discipline and/or institution; at the same time, however, there exists a general pattern to contingent contracts overall. What follows... more
Contingent contracts are the new norm. These contracts vary widely in hours and benefits depending on discipline and/or institution; at the same time, however, there exists a general pattern to contingent contracts overall. What follows is a summary of what to expect based on that pattern from my experiences as a contingent faculty member in Canada and the U.S.
https://www.universityaffairs.ca/career-advice/career-advice-article/hanging-on-in-precarity-life-on-a-contingent-contract/
https://www.universityaffairs.ca/career-advice/career-advice-article/hanging-on-in-precarity-life-on-a-contingent-contract/
Research Interests:
This dissertation asks how individual Greek poets of the seventh and sixth centuries interact with and manipulate the group identities shared with their audiences. By employing a framework derived from Critical Linguistics and Critical... more
This dissertation asks how individual Greek poets of the seventh and sixth centuries interact with and manipulate the group identities shared with their audiences. By employing a framework derived from Critical Linguistics and Critical Discourse Analysis, I analyze these poems both as instances of discourse (‘language in use’) and as pieces of ‘literature’. I ground my analysis in the socio-political context for the Archaic period, during which time intra-elite conflict dominated, and in the performance context of the συμπόσιον, the all-male elite drinking party.
I begin with Tyrtaeus, Alcaeus, and Solon in a targeted analysis of their poetry. I examine how each body of work interacts with social, political, and martial identities in the context of Archaic Sparta, Mytilene, and Athens respectively. The three poets, though the identities they present to their audience depend on the particular conditions of πόλις and socio-political situation, use a common set of rhetorical strategies to make their concepts of groupness appealing to their audiences. The fourth chapter examines the body of seventh- and sixth-century monodic poetry, where I found that the same set of rhetorical strategies are fairly consistent across the corpus. These rhetorical strategies work underneath the surface of the poetic text to support the identities and behaviour suggested by the more overt devices of allusions to Homeric heroes, curses delivered against an enemy, calls to drink, etc. The literary and rhetorical methods for encouraging sameness with the poet/speaker thus complement one another as the poetic text delivers a social message along with its cultural or literary one.
This thesis demonstrates that sympotic poetry is ‘group poetry’ that served to negotiate a group’s sense of shared sameness, whether in periods of crisis or not. It presents an analysis of how group identities operate within sympotic poetry along with the methodology for doing so.
I begin with Tyrtaeus, Alcaeus, and Solon in a targeted analysis of their poetry. I examine how each body of work interacts with social, political, and martial identities in the context of Archaic Sparta, Mytilene, and Athens respectively. The three poets, though the identities they present to their audience depend on the particular conditions of πόλις and socio-political situation, use a common set of rhetorical strategies to make their concepts of groupness appealing to their audiences. The fourth chapter examines the body of seventh- and sixth-century monodic poetry, where I found that the same set of rhetorical strategies are fairly consistent across the corpus. These rhetorical strategies work underneath the surface of the poetic text to support the identities and behaviour suggested by the more overt devices of allusions to Homeric heroes, curses delivered against an enemy, calls to drink, etc. The literary and rhetorical methods for encouraging sameness with the poet/speaker thus complement one another as the poetic text delivers a social message along with its cultural or literary one.
This thesis demonstrates that sympotic poetry is ‘group poetry’ that served to negotiate a group’s sense of shared sameness, whether in periods of crisis or not. It presents an analysis of how group identities operate within sympotic poetry along with the methodology for doing so.
Research Interests:
Tyrtaeus, a Spartan poet of the early Archaic period, composed his martial exhortations in order to address growing tensions between elites and non-elites of preclassical, and thus pre-militaristic, Sparta during the Second Messenian War.... more
Tyrtaeus, a Spartan poet of the early Archaic period, composed his martial exhortations in order to address growing tensions between elites and non-elites of preclassical, and thus pre-militaristic, Sparta during the Second Messenian War. His poetry is filled with allusions to Homeric heroes and heroic concepts that interact with archaic institutions and thought. This thesis seeks to examine those interactions and to discern how Tyrtaeus uses the heroes Hector, Odysseus, and Achilles in his exhortations to encourage men to stand and fight and not to retreat from battle. This study also uses modern theories of cohesion in order to provide a framework for Tyrtaeus’ appeals to social ties among the soldiers and for his models of reciprocal relations between the πόλις and the soldiers, both of which he uses to overcome the tension between the elites and non-elites and create a single, cohesive group.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Current pedagogical models for ancient history/civilization courses treat women as a "tourist topic" (Mohanty 2003) as they are slotted into the course with little to no connection to the course of Greek/Roman history.... more
Current pedagogical models for ancient history/civilization courses treat women as a "tourist topic" (Mohanty 2003) as they are slotted into the course with little to no connection to the course of Greek/Roman history. Despite any intentions to diversify survey courses, tourist topics reinforce unquestioned binaries of power whereby (citizen) men act in ancient history while women (and others) are objects acted upon. This paper reviews current pedagogical models for ancient survey courses alongside C. T. Mohanty's Tourist model of teaching before turning to strategies for integrating non-hegemonic groups into survey courses in a consistent fashion.
Research Interests:
Lyric Poetry and Social Identity in Archaic Greece examines how Greek men presented themselves and their social groups to one another. The author examines identity rhetoric in sympotic lyric: how Greek poets constructed images of self for... more
Lyric Poetry and Social Identity in Archaic Greece examines how Greek men presented themselves and their social groups to one another. The author examines identity rhetoric in sympotic lyric: how Greek poets constructed images of self for their groups, focusing in turn on the construction of identity in martial-themed poetry, the protection of group identities in the face of political exile, and the negotiation between individual and group as seen in political lyric. By conducting a close reading of six poems and then a broad survey of martial lyric, exile poetry, political lyric, and sympotic lyric as a whole, Jessica Romney demonstrates that sympotic lyric focuses on the same basic behaviors and values to construct social identities regardless of the content or subgenre of the poems in question. The volume also argues that the performance of identity depends on the context as well as the material of performance. Furthermore, the book demonstrates that sympotic lyric overwhelmingly prefers to use identity rhetoric that insists on the inherent sameness of group members.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This paper examines the construction of a civic we-identity in the fragments of Tyrtaeus’ Eunomia, focusing on fr. 2 and the strategies by which the poet sought to create a salient we-identity predicated on obedience to the... more
This paper examines the construction of a civic we-identity in the fragments of Tyrtaeus’ Eunomia, focusing on fr. 2 and the strategies by which the poet sought to create a salient we-identity predicated on obedience to the Herakleidai/kings of Sparta and on a past history shared by speaker and audience. I end the paper with a comparison of Herakleid descent in fr. 2 with that in fr. 11 to demonstrate how the rhetorical presentation of identity shifts depending on performance context and poetic genre.
Research Interests:
Iambos and its influence on subsequent genres have recently become a focus of study. Scholars argue that iambos defended the traditional structure of society (Brown 1997), was at home in convivial occasions (Rotstein 2010), and... more
Iambos and its influence on subsequent genres have recently become a focus of study. Scholars argue that iambos defended the traditional structure of society (Brown 1997), was at home in convivial occasions (Rotstein 2010), and contributed to a continuing abusive discourse in Greek literature (Worman 2008). They do not, however, compare iambos to its contemporary sympotic genres, despite acceptance of its sympotic performance context, and there is a tendency to see iambos as expressing the nascent ideals of an equal, ‘middling’ citizenry against the traditional ‘elitist’ values of the aristocracy (following Morris 1996). This paper re-examines the place of iambos in archaic society as it is preserved in the wider context of sympotic poetry by analyzing iambos from the perspectives of use and occasion. I argue that archaic iambos’ generic status lay in its ability to transgress boundaries in a socially acceptable manner, as well as in its use for retaliating against improper transgressions. The use of explicit narratives centred on the body and a lewd speaking voice contributes to the crossing of boundaries, as both were beyond the pale of elite speech patterns. Iambos thus contributed to the definition and defence of elite groups during the socio-political flux of the Archaic period, but in the 5th century BCE this role faded and was forgotten. Pindar and Critias, well before Aristotle and his ascription of low status to the genre, both attack iambos for its crudeness in respect to other types of poetry, especially their own. I argue that during this period, as poetic genres became increasingly literary, there was a debate over the ‘appropriate’ register of poetry and its role in Greek society. The aristocratic ethos in epinicia and elegy relegated iambos with its crude tone and narrative to a low status.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
The extended exhortation of Tyrtaeus fr. 11 W urges the audience to take up their shield and spears and fight in a defensive fashion, ‘placing foot against foot, leaning chest on chest’ (v. 31). The overt message of the poem is clear: do... more
The extended exhortation of Tyrtaeus fr. 11 W urges the audience to take up their shield and spears and fight in a defensive fashion, ‘placing foot against foot, leaning chest on chest’ (v. 31). The overt message of the poem is clear: do not shirk nor run away, but rather stand firm and fight. Within the poem, Tyrtaeus weaves a more subtle message, describing a hoplite group which derives its defining characteristics through possession of a stalwart, ‘passive’ courage and a shield with a ‘belly’ (v. 24). The cohesion that this poem calls for and reproduces through its use of the second person plural and description of close, hoplite fighting, however, is disrupted by the last four lines of the poem, which form a jarring address that sit uneasily alongside the remainder of the poem. In West's text they read: ὑμεῖς δ', ὦ γυμνῆτες, ὑπ' ἀσπίδος ἄλλοθεν ἄλλοςπτώσσοντες μεγάλοις βάλλετε χερμαδίοιςδούρασί τε ξεστοῖσιν ἀκοντίζοντες ἐς αὐτούς,τοῖσι πανόπλοισιν πλησίον ἱστάμενοι. ...
Research Interests:
Herodotus’ description of the earth here is from a Persian perspective, radiating outward and with Greece on the periphery, in effect inviting Greeks to reconsider their place in the world.