Entering the agon : dissent and authority in Homer, historiography and tragedy /

This book investigates one of the most characteristic and prominent features of ancient Greek literature - the scene of debate or agon, in which with varying degrees of formality characters square up to each other and engage in a contest of words - and sets out for the first time to trace its changi...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Barker, Elton T. E. (Elton Thomas Edward), 1971-
Format: eBook
Language:English
Language Notes:Texts in English with extracts in classical Greek.
Published: Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2009.
Series:Oxford scholarship online.
Oxford scholarship online. Classical Studies module.
Subjects:
Online Access:Connect to the full text of this electronic book
Description
Summary:This book investigates one of the most characteristic and prominent features of ancient Greek literature - the scene of debate or agon, in which with varying degrees of formality characters square up to each other and engage in a contest of words - and sets out for the first time to trace its changing representations through Homeric epic, historiography and tragedy. Combining literary dialogic theory with sociological approaches towards structure, it makes the claim that debate is best understood in relation to an institutional framework, in which issues of authority and dissent are variously set out and worked through." "Aimed at both scholar and student, including anyone interested in the origins of political thought, this book demonstrates not only the fundamental importance of debate to these genres, but also the ways representations of debate reproduce an agonistic mentality which intersects with and informs the broader cultural construction of a citizen community.
Physical Description:1 online resource (xiii, 433 pages)
Bibliography:Includes bibliographical references (pages 374-412) and index.
ISBN:9780191562242
0191562246
9780191715365
0191715360