Alcman granitsas biography of george

Calame states that this homoerotic love , which is similar to the one found in the lyrics of the contemporaneous poet Sappho , matches the pederasty of the males and was an integrated part of the initiation rites. While not denying the erotic elements of the poem, contemporary classicist Kyriakos Tsantsanoglou has argued that the latter half of the first partheneion portrays Hagesichora critically and emphasizes her absence, rather than praising her and emphasizing her approval.

Other scholars, among them Hutchinson and Stehle, see the First Partheneion as a song composed for a harvest ritual and not as a tribal initiation. This goddess of Dawn is honoured because of the qualities she has, especially in harvest time when the Greeks harvest during dawn Hesiod , Works and Days, ll. Stehle doesn't agree with Calame about the initiation-rituals, but cannot ignore the 'erotic' language that the poem expresses.

Some scholars think that the chorus was divided in two halves, who would each have their own leader; at the beginning and close of their performance, the two halves performed as a single group, but during most of the performance, each half would compete with the other, claiming that their leader or favorite was the best of all the girls in Sparta.

There is, however, little evidence that the chorus was in fact divided. The role of the other woman of Alcman's first partheneion, Aenesimbrota, is contested; some consider her indeed a competing chorus-leader, [ 26 ] others think that she was some sort of witch, who would supply the girls in love with magic love-elixirs like the pharmakeutria of Theocritus 's Second Idyll, [ 27 ] and others again argue that she was the trainer of the chorus like Andaesistrota of Pindar 's Second Partheneion [ 28 ].

Alcman could have composed songs for Spartan boys as well. However, the only statement in support of this idea comes from Sosibius, a Spartan historian from the 2nd century BC. He says that songs of Alcman were performed during the Gymnopaedia festival according to Athenaeus [ 29 ] :. The chorus-leaders carry [the Thyreatic crowns] in commemoration of the victory at Thyrea at the festival, when they are also celebrating the Gymnopaedia.

There are three choruses, in the front a chorus of boys, to the right a chorus of old men, and to the left a chorus of men; they dance naked and sing the songs of Thaletas and Alcman and the paeans of Dionysodotus the Laconian. Regardless of the topic, Alcman's poetry has a clear, light, pleasant tone which ancient commentators have remarked upon.

Details from rituals and festivals are described with care, even though the context of some of those details can no longer be understood. Alcman's language is rich with visual description. He describes the yellow color of a woman's hair and the golden chain she wears about her neck; the purple petals of a Kalchas blossom and the purple depths of the sea; the "bright shining" color of the windflower and the multi-colored feathers of a bird as it chews green buds from the vines.

Much attention is focused on nature: ravines, mountains, flowering forests at night, the quiet sound of water lapping over seaweed. Animals and other creatures fill his lines: birds, horses, bees, lions, reptiles, even crawling insects. Asleep lie mountain-top and mountain-gully, shoulder also and ravine; the creeping-things that come from the dark earth, the beasts whose lying is upon the hillside, the generation of the bees, the monsters in the depths of the purple brine, all lie asleep, and with them the tribes of the winging birds.

The poet reflects, in a poignant poem, as Antigonus of Carystus notes, how "age has made him weak and unable to whirl round with the choirs and with the dancing of the maidens", unlike the cock halcyons or ceryls, for "when they grow old and weak and unable to fly, their mates carry them upon their wings":. No more, O musical maidens with voices ravishing-sweet!

My limbs fail:—Ah that I were but a ceryl borne on the wing Over the bloom of the wave amid fair young halcyons fleet, With a careless heart untroubled, the sea-blue bird of the Spring! Some fragments of Alcman's poetry reflect early cosmological ideas, where he poetically describes the origins of the universe and natural phenomena. His works blend mythological narratives with reflections on the cosmos, a characteristic feature of early Greek thought before the emergence of formal philosophy.

Alcman's hymns suggest an interest in the order of the natural world, the role of primordial forces, and the creation of the cosmos; themes later explored more systematically by Presocratic philosophers like Thales, Anaximander, and Leucippus. Die hier vertretene These, dass die Chorlieder Alkmans weitgehend erst in der hellenistischen Zeit schriftlich fixiert worden seien, wird ohne Zweifel als kontrovers gelten.

Nichtsdestoweniger wird die These, die fur die ubrigen Ergebnisse der Arbeit nicht entscheidend ist, einen wesentlichen Beitrag zur andauernden Diskussion der Mundlichkeit der fruhgriechischen Dichtung liefern. Es ist die ""durchgreifend uberarbeitete Fassung"" seiner im Jahr an der Universitat Arhus eingereichten Doktorarbeit Nach Denys L. Wer also von dem Buch endlich die unglaubliche Entdeckung erwartet, dass die Sprache Alkmans ein erratischer Block in der Dialektlandschaft Griechenlands sei, wird erneut enttauscht sein, wer aber bis ins - grazistische sowie indogermanistische - Detail erfahren mochte, warum es sich nicht so verhalt, wird George Hinges Studien immer wieder gern zur Hand nehmen.

Contributor Biography - German Dr. George Hinge, geb. Seine Forschungstatigkeit umfasst die Bereiche griechische Sprachwissenschaft, skythische Ethnographie und romische Epistolographie. Convert currency. Add to basket. Seller: Dr. Reichert Verlag , Wiesbaden, Germany. Condition: Neu. Serta Graeca S. The Spartan poet Alcman is crucial to our understanding of the early history of the Greek dialects and the development of the Greek poetical language.

Seller Inventory Contact seller. Alcman composed songs for maiden choruses in seventh-century BC Sparta. The books containing his poetry were lost already late antiquity it appears , and they were known only as quotations in later authors. However, the sand of Egypt preserved numerous papyrus pieces of which the first and hitherto longest fragment counts ca.

Alcman is not only the earliest choral lyric poet to have his fragments surviving to an appreciable extent, but also the only poet to use the Laconian dialect. His poetry is, therefore, crucial to our understanding of the early history of the Greek dialects and the development of Greek poetical language. The British philologist Denys L.

There are three choruses, in the front a chorus of boys, to the right a chorus of old men, and to the left a chorus of men; they dance naked and sing the songs of Thaletas and Alcman and the paeans of Dionysodotus the Laconian. Regardless of the topic, Alcman's poetry has a clear, light, pleasant tone which ancient commentators have remarked upon.

Details from rituals and festivals are described with care, even though the context of some of those details can no longer be understood. Alcman's language is rich with visual description. He describes the yellow color of a woman's hair and the golden chain she wears about her neck; the purple petals of a Kalchas blossom and the purple depths of the sea; the "bright shining" color of the windflower and the multi-colored feathers of a bird as it chews green buds from the vines.

Geographic features get close attention: ravines, mountains, flowering forests at night, the quiet sound of water lapping over seaweed. Animals and other creatures fill his lines: birds, horses, bees, lions, reptiles, even crawling insects. Ancient Greeks Portraits. Greek-Library - Scientific Library. Biography Family The name of Alcman's mother is not known but his father may have been named either Damas or Titarus.

The ancient scholars seemed to have referred to one particular song, i which the chorus says: "he was no rustic man, nor clumsy not even in the view of unskilled men? Death Aristotle reported that it was believed Alcman died from a pustulent infestation of lice phthiriasis ,[10] but it may be a mistake for the philosopher Alcmaeon.

Alcman granitsas biography of george

Dialect Pausanias says that even though Alcman uses the Doric dialect, which is normally not particularly euphonous, it has not at all spoiled the beauty of his songs. The British philologist Denys Page comes to the following conclusion about Alcman's dialect in his influential monograph : " i that the dialect of the extant fragments of Alcman is basically and preponderantly the Laconian vernacular; ii that there is no sufficient reason for believing that this vernacular in Alcman was contaminated by features from any alien dialect except the Epic; iii that features of the epic dialect are observed a sporadically throughout the extant fragments, but especially b in passages where metre or theme or both are taken from the Epic, and c in phrases which are as a whole borrowed or imitated from the Epic Content Girls' choruses and initiation The type of songs Alcman composed most frequently appear to be hymns, partheneia maiden-songs , and prooimia preludes to recitations of epic poetry.

The role of the other woman of Alcman's first partheneion, Aenesimbrota, is contested; some consider her indeed a competing chorus-leader,[19] others think that the was some sort of witch, who would supply the girls in love with magic love-elixirs like the pharmakeutria of Theocritus 's Second Idyll,[20] and others again argue that the she was the trainer of the chorus like Andaesistrota of Pindar's Second Partheneion [21] Other songs Alcman probably composed choral songs for the initiation rites of Spartan boys as well.

Campbell quoted in P. Ruijgh, Lampas 13 according to him, fr. Ivantchik, Ktema 27 certain references to Scythian culture come from a Scythian epic, which would be more readily accessible in Asia Minor.