Argonautica Flashcards
1
Q
About Apollonius 3
A
- Born in Alexandria late 4th century
- Most likely wrote the Argonautica in Alexandria
- Wrote Helenistic poetry
- Apollonius is writing a Callimachean epic
2
Q
Technique similar to Homer 3
A
- Borrows Homer’s vocab and syntax, either with slight variation of in inverted form.
- Reproduces Hapax
- imitates Homeric ambiguities and extends the number of Homeric defective verbs
3
Q
Alexandria
A
- Important the internet of the Ancient world
4
Q
Homer references 3
A
- turns his audience to specific Homer texts in order to set up a contrast between the traditional action and outlook of the ancient heroes and his own
- EXAMPLE: Jason leveal home is an example of contamination, Ap recalls various passages in the iliad where Homeric characters are responding to the death of Hekto - Jasons mother Alcimede calls Andromache
- Final book undergoes a series of adventure which mirro Odysseus’ experiences: Circe, the sirens, Charybdis, Sycalla and the Phaecians
5
Q
Argonautica and Euripdes 3
A
- Abandonment of Ariande and Theseus: story to Media
- Cloak given by Hypsipyle - Ap used a circular structue for this literary game
- The two texts become mutually explicative - shows us how the origins of the tragedy lay far back, and the tragedy lends deeply resonance and tragic irony to the events of the epic
6
Q
The Epic as a whole 2 (long ones tho)
A
- The narrative is not a glossographic landscape whose primary function is to provide a mythic backdrop for scholastic wars. But rather an evocative setting for the achievement of truly heroic figure by a less heroic figure
- concerned with man’s inner-relationship with fellow-man and gods
Introduces the thematic contrast mentioned above by organising the Argonauts in 2 groups, 1 headed by skill (Orpheus) and the other by strength (Herakles)
7
Q
Medea 5
A
- When dealing with Medea we are transferred into a world where the soul forms the basis for for reaction and action as opposed to the Homeric where normally human reasons serves as the point of departure
- Affected by schetilos eros (cruel love)
- portrayed as insecure
- careful to not portray her as the depressing and monstrous character of Euripides
- Witch - Helen, Circe
8
Q
Jason’s Characteristics 5
A
- described by scholars as weak, insignificant, cold and selfish
- epithet: Amechanos (helpless) and Amedianos (man of without any device)
- Apollonius wishes to lay the stress on Jason’s character, actions and thoughts: EXAMPLE: Events at Colchis before the death of Apsytus Apollonius places more emphasis on Jason’s thoughts than that of Medea’s
- Jason a pragmatists - 1 true god is Anagke (necessity) makes him do everything (marriage)
- Jason’s resourcefullness is contrasted with the reassuring fact that the other Argonauts have extraordinary powers
9
Q
Jason as a Hero 6
A
- As a hellenistic hero Jason is not a hero of a non-human proportion
- man with mans qualiities and faults
- Has doubts, knows he isn’t self-sufficent
- EXAMPLE: after the murder of Apsytrus- he had ignored advice by Phieneus and Idmon’s death. therefore he has proven himself to have human faults. But he is prepared and able to go further than the archetypal epic hero
- In discrediting the traditional heroes of epic, Apollonius is not just reflecting on Alexandrian literary bent, but he is throwing into the relief Jason’s character, thoughts
- does make decisions
10
Q
Heracles 3
A
- Point: great physicality does not achieve everything
- comical figure: EXAMPLE: breaks his oar in a choppy sea and falls sideways off the rowing bench
- Erastas figure with Hylas
11
Q
Homeric Gods in comparison 5
A
- Homeric gods central to the story
- Ap reduces their prominance
- gone are the easy appearance of gods to mortals and their conversations between them
Gone are divine assembles; the gods admiring down from heaven in book 1 (leaving) is not only unique but also misleading - Theology: the relation between human action and divine motivation - doesn’t differ from Homeric poems
- Whether or not homers gods were real or metaphors to be allegorised away had been an issue which surfaced in various forms throughout the preceding 2 centuries and Apollonius’ text makes use of these uncertainties in an overt way, which shows his self-conscious concern with the problems with writing epic
12
Q
Gods in the Argonautica 8
A
- Attitudes to gods, the poet advocates themis (respect for divine law), avoidance of Hubris, speaks about actions with gods blessing and help : shows this through Jasons character and its role
- gods figured into the text the same way as all characters - through the rewriting and other texts and through the creative reassembly and dismantling of literary culture
- Gods shown with wit, ironic juxtapositions and pathos.
- Aren’t serious
- Apollo seen twice
- Divine voices are heard
- Change in balance meant that Apollonius’ characters struggle in a cloud of ignorance and doubt broken by occasional divine intervention to show pleasure or displeasure
- Apollonian zeus: the ultimate instigator of the voyage as Pelias dispatched Jason to appease Zeus
13
Q
Hellenistic Politics 6
A
- Greek expansionism
- Story of king Cyzicus book 1 killed by Jason and his men is a major commercial centre of Hellenistic World
- Globalisation and Cosmology - Ball given by Aphrodite to Eros to make Medea fall for Jason. The toy is the image of the world
- About Greek culture: imposing Greek culture on the Easter World, colonisation in the 7th century
- Greek-style political institutions - ideal of commoness, community, shardness - Jason’s speech in book 1
- Panhellene, Panachean - used in Homer but a lot more Apollonius
14
Q
Hellenistic poetry
A
- Fashion is shorter: artistic risk for Apollonius
- Picturesque quality that is foreign to Homeric style
- Argonautica - only surviving Hellenistic poem
- issue as Apollonius is a distinctive writer
- the familiarity of the theme explains at least in part how Apollonius could give such characteristically Alexandrian prominence in his poem to matter of geography, ethnography, anthropology and comparative religion
15
Q
What was different about Homer and Apollonius
A
- size
- tones down mythological grandeur,
- rhetonic of Homer
- Jason as a human hero
