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New Heroes in Antiquity : From Achilles to Antinoos / Christopher P. Jones.

By: Material type: TextTextSeries: Revealing Antiquity ; 18Publisher: Cambridge, MA : Harvard University Press, [2010]Copyright date: 2010Description: 1 online resource (144 p.)Content type:
Media type:
Carrier type:
ISBN:
  • 9780674054080
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 292.2/11 22
Other classification:
  • online - DeGruyter
Online resources:
Contents:
Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- List of Illustrations -- Introduction -- Poetic Heroes -- Local Heroes -- Warriors and Patriots -- Athletes, Poets, Phi los o phers -- Private Heroes -- Greek Heroes in a Roman World -- Antinoos -- Heroes and Saints -- Appendix: Living Heroes? -- Notes -- Index
Summary: Heroes and heroines in antiquity inhabited a space somewhere between gods and humans. In this detailed, yet brilliantly wide-ranging analysis, Christopher Jones starts from literary heroes such as Achilles and moves to the historical record of those exceptional men and women who were worshiped after death. He asks why and how mortals were heroized, and what exactly becoming a hero entailed in terms of religious action and belief. He proves that the growing popularity of heroizing the dead—fallen warriors, family members, magnanimous citizens—represents not a decline from earlier practice but an adaptation to new contexts and modes of thought. The most famous example of this process is Hadrian’s beloved, Antinoos, who can now be located within an ancient tradition of heroizing extraordinary youths who died prematurely. This book, wholly new and beautifully written, rescues the hero from literary metaphor and vividly restores heroism to the reality of ancient life.

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- List of Illustrations -- Introduction -- Poetic Heroes -- Local Heroes -- Warriors and Patriots -- Athletes, Poets, Phi los o phers -- Private Heroes -- Greek Heroes in a Roman World -- Antinoos -- Heroes and Saints -- Appendix: Living Heroes? -- Notes -- Index

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Heroes and heroines in antiquity inhabited a space somewhere between gods and humans. In this detailed, yet brilliantly wide-ranging analysis, Christopher Jones starts from literary heroes such as Achilles and moves to the historical record of those exceptional men and women who were worshiped after death. He asks why and how mortals were heroized, and what exactly becoming a hero entailed in terms of religious action and belief. He proves that the growing popularity of heroizing the dead—fallen warriors, family members, magnanimous citizens—represents not a decline from earlier practice but an adaptation to new contexts and modes of thought. The most famous example of this process is Hadrian’s beloved, Antinoos, who can now be located within an ancient tradition of heroizing extraordinary youths who died prematurely. This book, wholly new and beautifully written, rescues the hero from literary metaphor and vividly restores heroism to the reality of ancient life.

Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.

In English.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 26. Aug 2024)