E-Book Overview
By introducing a multifaceted approach to epic geography, the editors of the volume wish to provide a critical assessment of spatial perception, of its repercussions on shaping narrative as well as of its discursive traits and cultural contexts. Taking the genre-specific boundaries of Greco-Roman epic poetry as a case in point, a team of international scholars examines issues that lie at the heart of modern criticism on human geography. Modern and ancient discourse on space representations revolves around the nation-shaping force of geography, the gendered dynamics of landscapes, the topography of isolation and integration, the politics of imperialism, globalization, environmentalism as well as the power of language and narrative to turn space into place. One of the major aims of the volume is to show that the world of the Classics is not just the origin, but the essence of current debates on spatial constructions and reconstructions.
This collection of essays explores how epic narratives negotiate, define, and transform genre-specific geographical configurations. A team of international scholars engages in an interdisciplinary discussion about how Greek and Roman epic poetry interacts with the historical and cultural dynamics of geography. The book brings together the world of Classical literature with current trends in examining the politics of spatial constructions.
E-Book Content
Geography, Topography, Landscape
Trends in Classics – Supplementary Volumes
Edited by Franco Montanari and Antonios Rengakos Scientific Committee Alberto Bernabé · Margarethe Billerbeck Claude Calame · Philip R. Hardie · Stephen J. Harrison Stephen Hinds · Richard Hunter · Christina Kraus Giuseppe Mastromarco · Gregory Nagy Theodore D. Papanghelis · Giusto Picone Kurt Raaflaub · Bernhard Zimmermann
Volume 22
Geography, Topography, Landscape Configurations of Space in Greek and Roman Epic
Edited by Marios Skempis and Ioannis Ziogas
DE GRUYTER
ISBN 978-3-11-031473-1 e-ISBN 978-3-11-031531-8 ISSN 1868-4785 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A CIP catalog record for this book has been applied for at the Library of Congress Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available in the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de. © 2014 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston Logo: Christopher Schneider, Laufen Printing: Hubert & Co. GmbH & Co. KG, Göttingen ♾ Printed on acid-free paper Printed in Germany www.degruyter.com
Foreword The idea of a multi-authored volume dedicated to geography and space in ancient epic goes back to the very first Trends in Classics international conference organized by Jonas Grethlein and Antonios Rengakos in Thessaloniki, Greece, where the editors of this volume collaborated to write a paper on Homer’s Odyssey. In the aftermath of that conference, the editors were light-hearted enough to allow themselves to engage in a project that was meant to take many turns until it found its way into print. Our wish back then was to deal with a subject matter, which current scholarship has room for, and to produce an informative, comprehensively structured and reader-friendly volume on the ‘geographies’ of Greek and Roman epic. It falls to the reader of the book to decide whether we managed to meet these criteria. Epic geography is one thing, and human geography is another. The project was first and foremost warmly saluted by Antonios Rengakos, whose genuine concern and unflagging support over the years are far beyond acknowledgment. In the Classics Department of Basel University, Switzerland, Anton Bierl, Rebecca Lämmle, Katharina Wesselmann, Magdalene Stoevesandt, Henriette Harich, and Petra Schierl offered va