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Sto caricando le informazioni... Minor Attic Orators, Volume I: Antiphon, Andocides (Loeb Classical Library No. 308)di Antiphon, Andocides
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Iscriviti per consentire a LibraryThing di scoprire se ti piacerà questo libro. Attualmente non vi sono conversazioni su questo libro. I appreciate this book, but then I'm an Ancient Greek Freak. We think our speakers are the epitome of the oratorical art. Ha! These orators put ours to shame. And they aren't the best of the Ancients! If you don't like Ancient Greece, don't bother. If you want to improve your speaking or writing ability, by all means read this book. nessuna recensione | aggiungi una recensione
Appartiene alle Collane EditorialiLoeb Classical Library (308)
This is the first in a two-volume edition of Greek orators. Antiphon of Athens, born in 480 BCE, spent his prime in the great period of Athens but, disliking democracy, was himself an ardent oligarch who with others set up a violent short-lived oligarchy in 411. The restored democracy executed him for treason. He had been a writer of speeches for other people involved in litigation. Of the fifteen surviving works three concern real murder cases. The others are exercises in speech-craft consisting of three tetralogies, each tetralogy comprising four skeleton speeches: accuser's; defendant's; accuser's reply; defendant's counter-reply. Andocides of Athens, born ca. 440 BCE, disliked the extremes of both democracy and oligarchy. Involved in religious scandal in 415 BCE, he went into exile. After at least two efforts to return, he did so under the amnesty of 403. In 399 he was acquitted on a charge of profaning the Mysteries and in 391-390 took part in an abortive peace embassy to Sparta. Extant speeches are: 'On His Return' (a plea on his second attempt); 'On the Mysteries' (a selfdefence); 'On the Peace with Sparta'. The speech 'Against Alcibiades' (the notorious politician) is suspect. Non sono state trovate descrizioni di biblioteche |
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Google Books — Sto caricando le informazioni... GeneriSistema Decimale Melvil (DDC)885Literature Greek and other Classical languages Speeches, addresses, etc., Greek and Classical speechesClassificazione LCVotoMedia:
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There's lot's here that is of interest historically and culturally. Things like Against Alcibiades are of interest if you've read Thucidides and a bit of Plato. But I did think some of it might be a bit boring. Let's be honest, it does look like the most boring book ever published. One of the pieces I had down for being boring were the Tetralogies. I could not have been more wrong.
Apparently, the Greeks considered murder as a crime not so much against a person/family as an act of impiety, a crime against God. Not only that, but that sin was a thing that could be passed from one person to another or even to a community. So the death penalty was the spilling of blood to cancel out the bad blood of the crime.
By coincidence I have just read Leviticus where there is a similar idea. Check out chapter four where the priest, having sinned, slaughters a bullock to make up for it, having placed his hand on its head, thus transferring the sin to the animal. Also at 16:20-22 where the same is done for the group sins of the community though a scapegoat. If a sacrifice wasn't made the sin could transfer from the individual to the community.
Rather than sacrifice an animal the Greeks sacrificed the sinner. In place of the touching the Greeks had a trial to transfer the sin. The trail was held in the open air so the sin couldn't transfer accidentally to the jury.
Frankly, I find the idea of the transference of sin quite bizarre and I was just congratulating myself on living in a society that doesn't practice it when I realised that of course we do. In the UK when parent/s kill their child, after the trial, sometimes a social worker will be publicly named. She (usually a she) will be condemned in the press and then fired or forced to resign. The abuse in the press is our equivalent of the trial/touching.
By happy chance the ritual was played out while I was reading the Tetralogies. For those of you not in the UK or Haiti, Oxfam is a charity that delivers overseas aid for the government. A few years ago they were contracted to do so in Haiti. Several members of staff were sacked for hiring Haitian prostitutes. Oxfam announced this in the press at the time but the nature of the transgression was not completely clear. When it became public knowledge there was an outcry against Oxfam, despite them having done everything correctly. The sins of the individuals had been transferred to the organisation. They were also criticised for not having made a full confession, which I thought was a particularly Christian idea grafted on. One of their directors (a she) accepted the blame and resigned. But the ritual had not been followed. She had not been publicly named in the press and the sacrifice wasn't accepted. The CEO then made a statement about atonement and one of her other directors made comments designed to draw press attention to him. He must have intended to be the victim, but at this point the government stepped in.
No doubt the texts in this book have survived because they have resonated similarly with readers down the centuries. ( )