Solon fr. 1-3 W: The Poetics and Politics of a Gesture
This article takes its point of departure from a tradition found in the Homeric scholia and fourth-century Athenian political invective: apparently, when Solon went to the agora to recite his politically illicit poem exhorting the Athenians to renew their war on Salamis (fr. 1-3 W), he reenacted a g...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Anthropologie et Histoire des Mondes Antiques
2014-02-01
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| Series: | Cahiers Mondes Anciens |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journals.openedition.org/mondesanciens/1236 |
| _version_ | 1817993385287352320 |
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| author | Deborah T. Steiner |
| author_facet | Deborah T. Steiner |
| author_sort | Deborah T. Steiner |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This article takes its point of departure from a tradition found in the Homeric scholia and fourth-century Athenian political invective: apparently, when Solon went to the agora to recite his politically illicit poem exhorting the Athenians to renew their war on Salamis (fr. 1-3 W), he reenacted a gesture attributed to Odysseus at Iliad 2.183; like the epic hero in an equivalent moment of military defeatism among the troops, Solon cast off his cloak or chlaina. The discussion I present here offers a new reading of fr. 1-3 which aims to demonstrate not only that Solon’s engagement with the Homeric precedent is much more sustained than earlier commentators have recognized, but that the Athenian poet draws equally on a very different poetic tradition, that of iambos. Modeling his quasi-epic address and conduct simultaneously on that of both mythical and historical practitioners of mockery and abuse, chiefly the Iliadic Thersites and Archilochus – from whom he borrows the persona of herald adopted by the Parian poet on two occasions so as to perform an abusive or obscene poem – Solon assumes the role of authorized deliverer of invective. The article concludes by tracing the tradition concerning Solon’s gesture in the work of Critias, the Athenian poet-politician who, even as he connects himself to Solon, takes as his target the persona constructed by Archilochus; the suggestion I make here concerns the parallelism already visible in Homer and focused on the figure of Odysseus between throwing away a shield and a cloak. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-14T01:39:10Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-16bac40f5f9c46128919bcd9e2996068 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2107-0199 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-14T01:39:10Z |
| publishDate | 2014-02-01 |
| publisher | Anthropologie et Histoire des Mondes Antiques |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Cahiers Mondes Anciens |
| spelling | doaj.art-16bac40f5f9c46128919bcd9e29960682022-12-22T02:19:50ZengAnthropologie et Histoire des Mondes AntiquesCahiers Mondes Anciens2107-01992014-02-01510.4000/mondesanciens.1236Solon fr. 1-3 W: The Poetics and Politics of a GestureDeborah T. SteinerThis article takes its point of departure from a tradition found in the Homeric scholia and fourth-century Athenian political invective: apparently, when Solon went to the agora to recite his politically illicit poem exhorting the Athenians to renew their war on Salamis (fr. 1-3 W), he reenacted a gesture attributed to Odysseus at Iliad 2.183; like the epic hero in an equivalent moment of military defeatism among the troops, Solon cast off his cloak or chlaina. The discussion I present here offers a new reading of fr. 1-3 which aims to demonstrate not only that Solon’s engagement with the Homeric precedent is much more sustained than earlier commentators have recognized, but that the Athenian poet draws equally on a very different poetic tradition, that of iambos. Modeling his quasi-epic address and conduct simultaneously on that of both mythical and historical practitioners of mockery and abuse, chiefly the Iliadic Thersites and Archilochus – from whom he borrows the persona of herald adopted by the Parian poet on two occasions so as to perform an abusive or obscene poem – Solon assumes the role of authorized deliverer of invective. The article concludes by tracing the tradition concerning Solon’s gesture in the work of Critias, the Athenian poet-politician who, even as he connects himself to Solon, takes as his target the persona constructed by Archilochus; the suggestion I make here concerns the parallelism already visible in Homer and focused on the figure of Odysseus between throwing away a shield and a cloak.http://journals.openedition.org/mondesanciens/1236SolonSalamisArchilochusChlainaThersitesCritias |
| spellingShingle | Deborah T. Steiner Solon fr. 1-3 W: The Poetics and Politics of a Gesture Cahiers Mondes Anciens Solon Salamis Archilochus Chlaina Thersites Critias |
| title | Solon fr. 1-3 W: The Poetics and Politics of a Gesture |
| title_full | Solon fr. 1-3 W: The Poetics and Politics of a Gesture |
| title_fullStr | Solon fr. 1-3 W: The Poetics and Politics of a Gesture |
| title_full_unstemmed | Solon fr. 1-3 W: The Poetics and Politics of a Gesture |
| title_short | Solon fr. 1-3 W: The Poetics and Politics of a Gesture |
| title_sort | solon fr 1 3 w the poetics and politics of a gesture |
| topic | Solon Salamis Archilochus Chlaina Thersites Critias |
| url | http://journals.openedition.org/mondesanciens/1236 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT deborahtsteiner solonfr13wthepoeticsandpoliticsofagesture |