The conquered and the conquerors: representations of warfare and combat in Greek and Egyptian literature
<p>This thesis is a study of the ways in which Greek and Egyptian authors reacted to being conquered, focusing particularly on how these reactions were manifested in representations of war. The point of comparison is the Greek and Egyptian diachronic changes in their depictions of warfare and...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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2022
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| _version_ | 1797107544445943808 |
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| author | Oakley, JK |
| author2 | Kelly, A |
| author_facet | Kelly, A Oakley, JK |
| author_sort | Oakley, JK |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | <p>This thesis is a study of the ways in which Greek and Egyptian authors reacted to being conquered, focusing particularly on how these reactions were manifested in representations of war. The point of comparison is the Greek and Egyptian diachronic changes in their depictions of warfare and combat, and how these related to respective changes in geopolitical and military supremacy. To examine these changes, texts are selected from four periods: two Greek periods and two Egyptian; two periods of military supremacy (Greek texts from the early-mid Hellenistic period, c. 300–130 BC, Egyptian texts of the 18th and 19th Dynasties of the New Kingdom, c. 1550–1186 BC) and two later periods under foreign rule (Greek texts from the Imperial period, c. 200–300 AD, Egyptian Demotic texts from the Graeco-Roman period, c. 300 BC–200 AD). A Preface provides dates and locations for the sources, and sets out principles of transliteration and translation. After considering what the purpose and role of comparison is within studies of the ancient world in the Introduction, this thesis moves on to four chapters that cover important concepts repeatedly brought out in representations of war: the nature of war in terms of semantics and temporality; ethnicity (the identity given to both participants and audience by the authors, studied with particular attention paid to the use of similes and comparisons); gender and sexuality (the presence or absence of women in war, and the application of stereotypically masculine or feminine traits); social status (the structuring of society, from the gods down). The Conclusion draws these threads together, summarising how the Greeks and Egyptians reacted – or did not react – and to what extent ideas of resistance are present in the sources. Although the texts of the conquerors display similar attitudes to many of these concepts, a comparison of the changes that took place in Greek and Egyptian representations of war shows that their reactions to being conquered diverge, revealing different approaches to their culture’s loss of military power.</p> |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T07:16:08Z |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oxford-uuid:f663172e-a693-437e-8486-ddcb06a83374 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T07:16:08Z |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:f663172e-a693-437e-8486-ddcb06a833742022-08-11T09:27:33ZThe conquered and the conquerors: representations of warfare and combat in Greek and Egyptian literatureThesishttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_db06uuid:f663172e-a693-437e-8486-ddcb06a83374Comparative literatureEpic poetry, GreekEgypt--History--New Kingdom, ca. 1550-ca. 1070 B.CEgyptian language--Demotic, ca. 650 B.C.-450 A.DGreek literature, HellenisticEgyptian literatureEnglishHyrax Deposit2022Oakley, JKKelly, AFrood, E<p>This thesis is a study of the ways in which Greek and Egyptian authors reacted to being conquered, focusing particularly on how these reactions were manifested in representations of war. The point of comparison is the Greek and Egyptian diachronic changes in their depictions of warfare and combat, and how these related to respective changes in geopolitical and military supremacy. To examine these changes, texts are selected from four periods: two Greek periods and two Egyptian; two periods of military supremacy (Greek texts from the early-mid Hellenistic period, c. 300–130 BC, Egyptian texts of the 18th and 19th Dynasties of the New Kingdom, c. 1550–1186 BC) and two later periods under foreign rule (Greek texts from the Imperial period, c. 200–300 AD, Egyptian Demotic texts from the Graeco-Roman period, c. 300 BC–200 AD). A Preface provides dates and locations for the sources, and sets out principles of transliteration and translation. After considering what the purpose and role of comparison is within studies of the ancient world in the Introduction, this thesis moves on to four chapters that cover important concepts repeatedly brought out in representations of war: the nature of war in terms of semantics and temporality; ethnicity (the identity given to both participants and audience by the authors, studied with particular attention paid to the use of similes and comparisons); gender and sexuality (the presence or absence of women in war, and the application of stereotypically masculine or feminine traits); social status (the structuring of society, from the gods down). The Conclusion draws these threads together, summarising how the Greeks and Egyptians reacted – or did not react – and to what extent ideas of resistance are present in the sources. Although the texts of the conquerors display similar attitudes to many of these concepts, a comparison of the changes that took place in Greek and Egyptian representations of war shows that their reactions to being conquered diverge, revealing different approaches to their culture’s loss of military power.</p> |
| spellingShingle | Comparative literature Epic poetry, Greek Egypt--History--New Kingdom, ca. 1550-ca. 1070 B.C Egyptian language--Demotic, ca. 650 B.C.-450 A.D Greek literature, Hellenistic Egyptian literature Oakley, JK The conquered and the conquerors: representations of warfare and combat in Greek and Egyptian literature |
| title | The conquered and the conquerors: representations of warfare and combat in Greek and Egyptian literature |
| title_full | The conquered and the conquerors: representations of warfare and combat in Greek and Egyptian literature |
| title_fullStr | The conquered and the conquerors: representations of warfare and combat in Greek and Egyptian literature |
| title_full_unstemmed | The conquered and the conquerors: representations of warfare and combat in Greek and Egyptian literature |
| title_short | The conquered and the conquerors: representations of warfare and combat in Greek and Egyptian literature |
| title_sort | conquered and the conquerors representations of warfare and combat in greek and egyptian literature |
| topic | Comparative literature Epic poetry, Greek Egypt--History--New Kingdom, ca. 1550-ca. 1070 B.C Egyptian language--Demotic, ca. 650 B.C.-450 A.D Greek literature, Hellenistic Egyptian literature |
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