La littérature française médiévale a puisé aux sources celtiques et occitanes pour donner naissance aux romans courtois.D’autre part, la plupart des chansons de geste en langue d’oïl sont localisées en Occitanie et certaines d’entre elles ont puexister en occitan. Or, certains des héros de ces chansons sont Bretons. Les écrivains du 12ème siècle et leurs mécènes ont-ils rapproché deux mondes jusque-là distincts, le monde celtique et le monde occitan ? Ou bien les contacts ont-ils été directs et plus anciens ? La Bretagne continentale a-telle été un intermédiaire entre le Nord et le Sud ? Entre les pays celtiques et occitans ? L’étude s’appuiera dans sa première partie sur l’arrière-plan historique des relations culturelles entre Bretagne et Aquitaine : relations politiques, commerciales et religieuses depuis l’Antiquité jusqu’au 13ème siècle. La seconde partie sera consacrée aux relations littéraires autour de deux axes principaux : la Matière de Bretagne en Aquitaine et la présence des héros bretons dans les chansons de geste relatives à l’épopée occitane / Medieval French literature drew on Celtic and Occitan sources to give birth to courtly romances. On the other hand, mostof the chansons de geste in Oïl language are located in Occitania and some of them have existed in Occitan language.However, some of the heroes of these songs are Bretons. Did the writers of the 12th century and their patrons bringtogether two worlds hitherto separate, the Celtic world and the Occitan world? Or contacts were direct and older? WasBrittany a staging post between the North and the South; between the Celtic countries and the Occitan lands? The first part of this study will deal with the historical background of cultural connections between Brittany and Auitaine: political, commercial and religious connections from antiquity to the 13th century. The second part will be devoted to literary connections around two main axes: the Matter of Britain in Aquitaine and the presence of Breton heroes in the chansons de geste related to the Occitan epic

Kwong, Yu Tao Wilfred. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 104-109). / Includes Chinese characters; abstracts also in Chinese. / Chapter ONE --- Introduction / Definitions for the Epic --- p.6 / The Original Meaning of “επo₁ت´ح --- p.10 / The Ancients´ة Definition of “επo₁ت´ح --- p.12 / The Greek Hexameter and the Chinese Tetrameter --- p.15 / The Shijing as China´ةs Epic --- p.16 / Chapter TWO --- The Shijing's Epic Language / Variant Forms and Synonyms --- p.18 / Traditional Oral Language --- p.19 / Emphatic Particles and Xuci --- p.23 / Flexibility and Malleability of Oral Language --- p.26 / Summary --- p.30 / Chapter THREE --- The Shijing's Epic Structure / Repetition and Formulae --- p.31 / Formulaic Structure --- p.37 / Artis Causa --- p.40 / The Role of Xuci Particles --- p.45 / Summary --- p.47 / Chapter FOUR --- The Shijing 's Epic Content / Archaic content --- p.48 / Sacrificial Rites --- p.49 / War Honour and Glory --- p.61 / Nature Plants and Animals --- p.67 / Digressions --- p.74 / Oral Context of Visual Digressions --- p.81 / Summary --- p.91 / Chapter FIVE --- Remaining Differences between the Shijing and Homer / Difference in length --- p.92 / Narrative versus lyric --- p.93 / Cultural Differences --- p.95 / Chapter SIX --- Conclusion / BIBLIOGRAPHY

Thesis (M.A.) -- University of Pretoria, 2005. / Includes bibliography.

This report examines heroism in Apollonius’ Argonautica and argues that a different heroic model predominates in each of the first three books. Unlike Homer’s epics where Achilles with his superhuman might and Odysseus with his unparalleled cunning serve as the unifying forces for their respective poems, there is no single guiding influence in the Argonautica. Rather, each book establishes its own heroic type, distinct from the others. In Book 1, Heracles is the central figure, demonstrating his heroic worth through feats of strength and martial excellence. In Book 2, Polydeuces, the helmsmen, and—what I have called—the “Odyssean” Heracles use their mētis to guide and safeguard the expedition. And in Book 3, Jason takes center stage, a human character with human limitations tasked with an epic, impossible mission. This movement from Book 1 (Heracles and biē) to Book 2 (Polydeuces/helmsmen and mētis) to Book 3 (Jason and human realism) reflects the epic tradition: the Iliad (Achilles and biē) to the Odyssey (Odysseus and mētis) to the Argonautica (Apollonius’ epic and the Hellenistic age). Thus, the Argonautica is an epic about epic and its evolving classification of what it entails to be a hero. The final stage in this grand metaphor comes in Book 3 which mirrors the literary environment in Apollonius’ own day and age, a time invested in realism where epic had been deemed obsolete. Jason, as the representative of that Hellenistic world, is unable to successively use Iliadic or Odyssean heroics because he is as human and ordinary as Apollonius’ audience. Jason, like his readers, cannot connect to the archaic past. Medea, however, changes this when she saves Jason’s life by effectively rewriting him to become a superhuman, epic hero. She is a metaphor for Apollonius himself, a poet who wrote an epic in an unepic world. The final message of Book 3, therefore, is an affirmation not of the death of epic but its survival in the Hellenistic age. / text

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2008. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 134-143).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1990. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [283]-293).

Originally presented as the author's thesis, Teheran, 1968. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 255-258).

Thesis--Munich. / Bibliography: p. 519-549.

This thesis is concerned with the pseudo-Hesiodic Aspis, also known as the Scutum or Shield of Herakles (Heracles). It is divided into two halves: the Introduction, consisting of four chapters, is followed by detailed line-by-line commentary on a portion of the Greek text. Chapter I surveys the evidence for the poem's origins and dating before moving on to its scholarly reception since Wolf. It then argues that, for a proper understanding of the Aspis, the methodologies of oral poetics must be balanced with an awareness of its responses to fixed texts (in particular the Iliad). Chapter II examines the author as a poet within the oral tradition, focussing on: narrative style and structuring; type-scenes; similes; poetic ethos; the poem's position relative to the Hesiodic corpus; the use of formular language; and the growth of the poem in the author's hands. These problems are most fruitfully approached by taking account of the interplay of tradition on the one hand and of allusion to specific texts on the other. Wider points about the advanced stages of the oral tradition also emerge; in particular, from an analysis of narrative inconsistencies in the Aspis it is suggested that writing played a role in the poem's composition. Chapter III positions the poet within the literary tradition: his interactions with other songs and tales are sometimes sophisticated engagements of a kind more often detected in Hellenistic and Roman poetry. The presentation of the protagonist of the Aspis evinces the poet's skilful handling of myth, here manipulated for political purposes. Chapter III concludes with a survey of the poem's reception in early art and in literature up to Byzantine times. In Chapter IV the central section of the poem, the description of Herakles' shield (vv. 139-320), is examined in detail, both in relation to the Homeric Shield of Achilles and within the context of the Aspis. The second half of the thesis comprises a critical edition of and lemmatic commentary on vv. 139-237.

This thesis explores the theme of the motivation of soldiers in Greek lyric poetry while holding it up against the backdrop of epic. The motivation of soldiers expressed in lyric poetry depicts a complex system that demanded cohesion across various spheres in life. This system was designed to create and maintain social, communal, and political cohesion as well as cohesion in the ranks. The lyric poems reveal a mutually beneficial relationship between citizen and polis whereby the citizens were willing to fight and potentially die on behalf of the state, and in return they received prominence and rewards within the community. It is no coincidence that these themes were so common in a genre that was popular at the same time as the polis and citizen army were both developing.