Victim of the Muses: Poet as Scapegoat, Warrior, and Hero in Greco-Roman and Indo-European Myth and HistoryCenter for Hellenic Studies, Trustees for Harvard University, 2006 - 432 pages This book, which has relevance both for literary history and comparative religion, probes the narratives of poets who are exiled, tried or executed for their satire. Aesop, fabulist and riddle warrior, is assimilated to the pharmakos - the wretched human scapegoat who is expelled from the city or killed in response to a crisis - after satirizing the Delphians. Other prominent legendary and historical Greek and Roman poets, such as Archilochus, Homer, Hesiod, Sappho, Tyrtaeus, Euripides, Socrates, Naevius, Cicero, Ovid, and Juvenal, are also considered in this context. In much the same way, Dumezil's Indo-European heroes, Starkathr and Suibhne, are both warrior-poets persecuted by patron deities. This book views the scapegoat as a group's dominant warrior, sent out to confront predators or besieging forces. Both poets and warriors specialize in madness and aggression, are necessary to society, yet dangerous to society. |
From inside the book
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Page 248
... figure in this pattern , as he shares important binary isothemes with each of the other two primary figures.120 My poetic analysis has developed along the same lines : Starkaðr has strong poetic connections with both Suibhne and ...
... figure in this pattern , as he shares important binary isothemes with each of the other two primary figures.120 My poetic analysis has developed along the same lines : Starkaðr has strong poetic connections with both Suibhne and ...
Page 323
... figure like Alcaeus whose life follows the pattern , expressed previously in myth , of the excluded blame poet . While we meet such figures in Greece , nearly all of the Roman poets in chapters 20-26 fit in this category . So , as has ...
... figure like Alcaeus whose life follows the pattern , expressed previously in myth , of the excluded blame poet . While we meet such figures in Greece , nearly all of the Roman poets in chapters 20-26 fit in this category . So , as has ...
Page 333
... figure of Mímir serves the Kvasir function . He is sent , the wisest of the Aesir , as a hostage , with Hoenir , to the Vanir.29 However , the Vanir feel cheated because Hoenir is apparently not actually intelligent by himself . The ...
... figure of Mímir serves the Kvasir function . He is sent , the wisest of the Aesir , as a hostage , with Hoenir , to the Vanir.29 However , the Vanir feel cheated because Hoenir is apparently not actually intelligent by himself . The ...
Contents
Poetry Politics Exile | 106 |
Faceless Exile | 114 |
Little Ugly | 130 |
Copyright | |
16 other sections not shown
Common terms and phrases
abuse According Aeschylus Aesop Alcaeus animal Apollo archaic Archilochus Aristophanes aspects associated Athenians attack battle becomes blame Burkert called cause Cicero close common comparable connected consecration contest cult curse death Delphi discussion divine Dumézil enemy Euripides example execution exile fable figure function further give given gods Greece Greek Heracles hero hero cult Hesiod Hipponax historical Homer important Indo-European interpretation Irish killed king later legend linked lives madness murder Muses myth Naevius Nagy notes Odin offers oracle Ovid parallel pattern Pausanias perhaps pharmakos Plato Plutarch poem poet poet's poetic poetry political possible praise punishment receives references ritual Roman sacred Sappho satire satirist scapegoat seems shame shows society Socrates Starkaðr stoning story suggests Suibhne tells theme tradition trans Tyrtaeus verbal victim violent Vita warrior West writes δὲ καὶ τὴν τὸν τοῦ