Even compassion has a history. The Greek word συμπάθεια, originally a scientific term referring to an affinity between bodies, did not take on an emotional meaning before the second century BCE. Around the same time, in Jewish texts, terms constructed on the noun σπλάγχνα, the “inner parts” or “entrails,” were… Read more
When I first started this research I was thinking about identifying different ideal types of Hellenistic kings based on the way they exercised power. It soon became clear that they should all be treated as “charismatic leaders” in a Weberian sense, as suggested by Gehrke in his Der siegreiche König… Read more
This paper explores three deceptive and seductive female figures in Pindar’s myths: the Hera-cloud in Pythian 2, Koronis in Pythian 3, and Hippolyta in Nemean 5. The Hera-cloud is created by Zeus to deceive Ixion and to mark the end of the guest-friendship between Ixion and Zeus; thus, she represents… Read more
Scholarship has in the past few years dealt more systematically with connectivity and interaction in the ancient Mediterranean and in the Greek world, especially in terms of exchange and networks within the framework of maritime connectivity. Through the study of the occurrence and employ of the terms paralia and mesogeia,… Read more
This essay submits the earliest articulation of explicit poetics in ancient Greece and ancient China to a comparative study, with special focus on the formulation of the notion of “poetic knowledge” in each tradition. Placed in their respective cultural process, explicit poetics can be seen as the… Read more
