Flesh And Spirit In The Songs Of Homer: A Study Of Words And Myths (oxford Classical Monographs)

Clarke takes a new look at how life, consciousness, and death are dealt with in the poems of Homer. Modern assumptions about human identity are cast aside to allow Homer's view of man to emerge. The reader of Greek poetry is encouraged to take a deeper look at words that at first seem simple and easy to translate with the result that new insights are offered on early Greek beliefs about the things that are called in English by the names of body and soul. Cover,1 Preface,5 Contents,7 Texts Abbreviations and Commentanries,10 Part I: Prologue,13 I. Homeric Words and Homeric Ideas,13 Reading Homer in isolation,14 Religion and world-picture,19 Words and ideas,23 Poetic language and poetic ideas,32 The integrated study of Homer,36 Semantic reconstruction,41 2. The Categories of Body and Soul,47 Asking the right questions,47 Dualism of body and soul is insidious,49 Dualistic words and categories constrain scholarship,52 The quest ahead,57 Part II: The Language of Thought and Life,63 3. The Breath of Life and the Meaning of psyche,63 The shape of Homeric man,63 Does the living man have a psyche,65 4. Mental Life and the Body,71 Thymos and its family,71 The idea of psychological identity,71 The mental apparatus has many names but is undivided,73 Mental agents and functions are one,76 The s1iding scale of agency and function in Iliad I-VI,79 Mental life is in the breast,83 Mental life ebbs nnd flows as breath and fluids,89 New emotions flow into the mental apparatus,100 The flow of bile chólos,102 The stuff of thought alternately softens coagulates,107 In folly the stuff of thought is dispersed,111 Homeric psychology is a seamless garment,116 The defining factor can be in movement not substance,119 The body and the se1f are one,125 Body and not-body,125 As nóos thought goes beyond the apparatus in the breast,129 Part III: Death and the Afterlife,139 5. The Dying Gasp and the Journey to Hades,139 Loss of thymos is loss of breath and life,140 Loss of psyche is likewise Joss of breath,143 Loss of psyche can be its annihilntion,147 Thymos can be lost temporarily by swooning,149 Psyche is gasped out thymos is breathed back in,150 Psyche; psychrós; psychô refer to coldness breath and blowing,154 Psyche has two senses in two narrative contexts,157 The image of the flying psyche yokes the two together,158 The image of flight emerges from that of lost breath,161 6. The Corpse and the Afterlife,167 The corpse has lost vitality but still holds identity,167 To die is to waste away enfeebled,170 When is the corpse distinguished from the dead man?,171 Mutilation of the corpse is mutilntion or the man,175 Hades is beyond the darkness of death,176 Allusion to the descent in rhetorical llnd synoptic style,178 Mutilation is alluded to in the Bame way os Hades,180 The descent of psyche emerges from the descent of kefale,182 Hades is below the earth men stand on,188 The purpose of the funeral is social,190 Nékys / nekrós both corpse nnd dweller in the Hades,200 The dweller in Hades is corpse or shade,201 The shade is defined as remanant or as counterfeit,204 The shade's movement names it as psyche,208 The identity of the shade is indeterminate,210 The shade is an image of the undivided bodily man,215 These articulations are irreconcilable - a problem,217 Patterns of the relation between shade and corpse,221 a. The authenticity of the Second Nekuia,235 Part IV: The Shaping of Myth,239 7. The Personalities of Death,239 How does the visible world relate to the mythical?,239 The divinities of death,239 Sleep has a fluid personality,243 The descent of darkness is the experience of death,247 Death approaches and seizes the victim,249 The planning of fate leads to death's fulfilment,257 The same names can be used without mythical import,259 Death comes from the arrows of Artemis and Apollo,263 Mythical forms in stories of the gods and in works of art,265 'Everything is full of gods',267 8. Conclusion: The Dynamics of Mythical Image-making,270 The suppleness of myth,270 The divine society,272 Ares and war,275 Helios and Scomander,278 The supple identity of psyche,282 The double plane of causation,283 The double plane of death,288 Epilogue: Flesh and Spirit in Language and Lore after Homer,291 References,326 Index of Words,345 Index of Passages,351 General Index,373 Cover 1 Preface 6 Contents 8 Texts Abbreviations and Commentanries 11 Part I: Prologue 14 I. Homeric Words and Homeric Ideas 14 Reading Homer in isolation 15 Religion and world-picture 20 Words and ideas 24 Poetic language and poetic ideas 33 The integrated study of Homer 37 Semantic reconstruction 42 2. The Categories of Body and Soul 48 Asking the right questions 48 Dualism of body and soul is insidious 50 Dualistic words and categories constrain scholarship 53 The quest ahead 58 Part II: The Language of Thought and Life 64 3. The Breath of Life and the Meaning of psyche 64 The shape of Homeric man 64 Does the living man have a psyche 66 4. Mental Life and the Body 72 Thymos and its family 72 The idea of psychological identity 72 The mental apparatus has many names but is undivided 74 Mental agents and functions are one 77 The s1iding scale of agency and function in Iliad I-VI 80 Mental life is in the breast 84 Mental life ebbs nnd flows as breath and fluids 90 New emotions flow into the mental apparatus 101 The flow of bile chólos 103 The stuff of thought alternately softens coagulates 108 In folly the stuff of thought is dispersed 112 Homeric psychology is a seamless garment 117 The defining factor can be in movement not substance 120 The body and the se1f are one 126 Body and not-body 126 As nóos thought goes beyond the apparatus in the breast 130 Part III: Death and the Afterlife 140 5. The Dying Gasp and the Journey to Hades 140 Loss of thymos is loss of breath and life 141 Loss of psyche is likewise Joss of breath 144 Loss of psyche can be its annihilntion 148 Thymos can be lost temporarily by swooning 150 Psyche is gasped out thymos is breathed back in 151 Psyche; psychrós; psychô refer to coldness breath and blowing 155 Psyche has two senses in two narrative contexts 158 The image of the flying psyche yokes the two together 159 The image of flight emerges from that of lost breath 162 6. The Corpse and the Afterlife 168 The corpse has lost vitality but still holds identity 168 To die is to waste away enfeebled 171 When is the corpse distinguished from the dead man? 172 Mutilation of the corpse is mutilntion or the man 176 Hades is beyond the darkness of death 177 Allusion to the descent in rhetorical llnd synoptic style 179 Mutilation is alluded to in the Bame way os Hades 181 The descent of psyche emerges from the descent of kefale 183 Hades is below the earth men stand on 189 The purpose of the funeral is social 191 Nékys / nekrós both corpse nnd dweller in the Hades 201 The dweller in Hades is corpse or shade 202 The shade is defined as remanant or as counterfeit 205 The shade's movement names it as psyche 209 The identity of the shade is indeterminate 211 The shade is an image of the undivided bodily man 216 These articulations are irreconcilable - a problem 218 Patterns of the relation between shade and corpse 222 a. The authenticity of the Second Nekuia 236 Part IV: The Shaping of Myth 240 7. The Personalities of Death 240 How does the visible world relate to the mythical? 240 The divinities of death 240 Sleep has a fluid personality 244 The descent of darkness is the experience of death 248 Death approaches and seizes the victim 250 The planning of fate leads to death's fulfilment 258 The same names can be used without mythical import 260 Death comes from the arrows of Artemis and Apollo 264 Mythical forms in stories of the gods and in works of art 266 'Everything is full of gods' 268 8. Conclusion: The Dynamics of Mythical Image-making 271 The suppleness of myth 271 The divine society 273 Ares and war 276 Helios and Scomander 279 The supple identity of psyche 283 The double plane of causation 284 The double plane of death 289 Epilogue: Flesh and Spirit in Language and Lore after Homer 292 References 327 Index of Words 346 Index of Passages 352 General Index 374

This book offers a newly integrated interpretation of Homeric man. The author starts with the working hypothesis that, in this poetry, the human being is not divided into two parts - inner and outer; body and soul; flesh and spirit - but stands as an indivisible unity. The last part of this analysis leads to a reassessment of the Homeric psuche.

This book offers a newly integrated interpretation of Homeric man. The author starts with the working hypothesis that, in this poetry, the human being is not divided into two parts - inner and outer; body and soul; flesh and spirit - but stands as an indivisible unity. The last part of this analysis leads to a reassessment of the Homeric psuche .