This dissertation claims contributions on two fronts. First, it aims to contribute to the theory of reception with a practical model of reading postclassical texts that substantially engage ancient ones. In the second place, it contributes three individual readings of three important works of literature on which nothing has been written by anglophone classicists working on classical reception: José Watanabe’s Antígona, Christine Brooke-Rose’s Amalgamemnon, and Anne Carson’s Economy of the Unlost. This dissertation’s contribution to the theory of reception is the proposition of a practical schema of reading, which is a figure upon which the imagination can operate. Simply put, it posits a schema as the place where meaning is construed. The schema calls attention to the constructedness of meaning and to the act of construction and organizes different moments of “reception”: that of the postclassical text receiving the ancient one (which the schema imagines as a vertical line) and that of the scholar receiving that particular instance of reception, the “I” of interpretation, which is theorized as one of two axes of transcendence of the schema (the other one being the world of/to which the schema speaks and means). Furthermore, the schema puts the “where” of meaning in the relation of (at least) two texts, but the “of” of meaning belongs to the postclassical texts. The postclassical text receiving ancient text(s) is proposed as a complex work, simultaneously in relationship with texts from the past as well as other texts from other periods. The relations of the postclassical text with each of these texts are different and need to be differently traced or theorized. The relation with the ancient texts is properly textual and thus the primary way of tracing it in the schema is a vertical line that first and foremost pays attention to form, with the tools of structural analysis and philology. Then, the theorization of the vertical line is made thicker with the operation of concepts upon it. As each of these texts (the classical and the postclassical) mean in relation to webs of texts that are relevant to the vertical relation, the schema imagines an additional dimension to the vertical one: the horizontal. Each of the horizontal lines traced for both the classical and the postclassical texts are in one way or another “historicist” readings, they trace contexts for the texts, but the way that context is understood in the theorization of the horizontal dimension of the schema is plural and never saturated. While this horizontal aspect of meaning is understood as textual, the schema also imagines for it an axis of transcendence, the world on which writers write and in which the reader is situated. The first chapter’s primary goal is to provide a reading of José Watanabe’s Antígona using the schema to illuminate the ways in which this text makes meaning in relation to Sophocles’ Antigone and part of the body of texts that have come to form part of that name. This reading counters the predominant approach to this work (and to many a work in classical reception), which reads it allegorically, as a commentary on a particular moment in the history of Peru. That predominant way of reading not only ignores the vertical orientation of the text in relation to its avowed ancient source, it also limits itself to one way of tracing the horizontality of the postclassical text, construing “context” in the most immediate and literal sense. The chapter contributes a reading that opens up Antígona to much more than allegory, highlighting its powerful affective and aesthetic dimension, as well as its intersection with recent feminist readings of the Greek tragedy that turn towards the figure of Ismene and the politics of sisterhood. The second chapter sets itself to the analysis of the complex role that ancient texts play in Christine Brooke-Rose’s radically experimental novel Amalgamemnon. This novel has not been the focus of attention of any work by a classical scholar, and those scholars who have written about it in other fields have failed to analyze the importance that Herodotus’ Histories and Aeschylus’ Agamemnon play at both the structural and the thematic levels. Tracing the vertical line, the chapter shows how these two texts are essential to the novel’s writing and themes. In the horizontal dimension, the schema situates the novel’s engagement with those ancient sources in the context of contemporary feminist discourse, especially as it concerns the question of the possibility of a feminine discourse and an outside of the phallocentric system of signs. That intersection illuminates both how Brooke-Rose is reading the ancient sources as well as what are arguably some of the limitations of her writing in contrast to the ethical commitments of feminisms. Finally, the third chapter is a reading of Anne Carson’s Economy of the Unlost, a text that is perhaps better known than the texts treated in the previous two chapters, at least in the Anglophone world, but which has nonetheless been fairly disregarded in the scholarship. The chapter provides a rigorous analysis of the “work” of this text, of what it does and how it does it, as the scholarship on Carson’s work has failed to posit or satisfactorily respond to the important questions regarding what constitutes the undeniable originality of her writing. In this particular book, which combines academic and poetic discourses into a new form that partakes of both, Carson proposes a comparative mode of making meaning that cannot be captured with a structural analysis of inter- or -trans- textuality, as the previous two chapters construed the vertical dimension of the schema. Instead, the theory of metaphor developed by Paul Ricoeur provides the appropriate tool to imagine the vertical dimension of the schema and analyze Carson’s exercise in bringing an ancient and a modern author together. This particular construction of the schema brings into the terrain of classical reception the possibility of interpretating comparative works that do not fit nicely within the theoretical margins of this subfield of classical studies. Finally, the chapter provides the occasion to trace another aspect of the schema, its other axis of transcendence, which is the “I” of interpretation.

Cette thèse est consacrée à l’insertion des discours directs dans les Histoires d’Hérodote, et notamment à la manière dont l’historien articule la transition entre le discours d’un personnage et son propre récit. L’articulation discours-récit est prise au sens large, puisque l’étude tient compte non seulement des chevilles qui dénotent le début et la fin du discours, mais aussi d’autres phénomènes tels que la distinction entre le style autorial et celui des discours, l’emploi des apostrophes, la répartition de l’information et entre le discours et le récit, etc. La frontière qui sépare le discours et le récit étant une des plus délicates, sa démarcation demande une grande finesse de la part de l’auteur, qui doit savoir l’indiquer sans pourtant rompre la continuité de son texte, et adapter la répartition de l’information à ses besoins narratifs, ainsi qu’à la logique de chaque épisode. Après une introduction générale, la grande partie du travail consiste en un commentaire de l’ensemble des discours directs des Histoires, ainsi que des oracles et inscriptions cités par Hérodote. L’approche de ce commentaire est principalement stylistique. / This thesis examines the insertion of direct speech in Herodotus’ narrative, and in particular, the ways in which the transition between the two may be demarcated. The articulation of the boundary between direct speech and narrative is understood in a wide sense, comprising not only the phrases that mark the beginning and the end of the speech, but other elements as well (such as distinction between the style adapted to authorial narrative and that adapted to the characters’ speeches; the use of addresses; the distribution of information between the speech and narrative; etc.). The boundary between speech and narrative is of the most delicate kind and the author is obliged to be very careful when denoting it: on the one hand, he must indicate clearly the beginning and the end of a character’s speech, without endangering at the same time the continuity of his own text. The distribution of the information between the authorial narrative and the characters’ speeches also demands much attention, for the logical structure of the episode depends on it. After a general introduction, the bulk of the work consists of a commentary of all the direct speeches, as well as of the oracles, letters, and inscriptions that Herodotus quotes. The approach is mainly a stylistic one.

A perennial question in the philosophy of history is whether history is a science or an art. This thesis contests that this question constitutes a false dichotomy, limiting the discussion in such a way as to exclude other possibilities of understanding the nature of the historical task. The speculative philosophies of Augustine, Kant, and Marx; the critical philosophies of Ranke, Comte along with the later positivist, and the historical idealist such as Collingwood will be surveyed. History is then examined along side art to discuss not only the similarities but, the differences. Major similarities—narrative presentation, emplotation, and the selective nature of historical evidence—between history and fiction are critiqued. A word study of the Greek word ίστοριά will show the essential difference between history and literature. The essential nature of the historical task can best be revealed in the differences between history and art.

The capture of Constantinople by the Ottoman armies of Mehmed II in 1453 was a cataclysmic event that reverberated throughout Renaissance Europe. This event intensified the exodus of Byzantines to Italy and beyond and they brought along with them the heritage of Greek antiquity. Laonikos Chalkokondyles contributed to the Renaissance with his detailed application of Herodotos to the fifteenth century, Apodeixis Historion, and made sense of the rise of the Ottomans with the lens of ancient history. The Apodeixis was printed in Latin, French, and Greek and was widely successful. The historian restored Herodotean categories of ethnicity, political rule, language, and geography to make sense of contemporary events and peoples. This was a thorough study of ancient historiography and Laonikos thus parted ways with previous Byzantine historians. I refer to Laonikos' method as "revolutionary classicizing", to describe the ways in which he abandoned the ideal of lawful imperium and restored the model of oriental tyranny when he described the nascent Ottoman state. What appears to be emulation of the ancient classics was radical revival of political concepts such as city-states as ethnic units, freedom defined as independence from foreign rule, law-giving as fundamental aspect of Hellenic tradition which did not encompass the Christian period. Laonikos has often been studied in the context of proto-nationalist historiography as he had composed a universal history, wherein he had related extensive information on various ethnic and political units in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. However, such proto-nationalist application does not fully capture Laonikos’ classicizing interests. Laonikos referred to his contemporaries as Hellenes, not because he was a nationalist who defined political identity only by recourse to language and common history. Rather, Laonikos believed that Hellenic identity, both referring to paganism as well as ethnicity, was relevant and not bankrupt. Importantly, we introduce manuscripts that have not yet been utilized to argue that Hellenism as paganism was living reality for Laonikos, his Platonist teacher Plethon, and their circle of intellectuals in the fifteenth century.

Cette étude vise à analyser les différentes formes et fonctions de l’éthique de la réciprocité dans la culture grecque du Ve siècle avant J.-C., en particulier chez Hérodote et chez Thucydide. Le principe de réciprocité est lié à l’une des premières formes d’application de la justice dans les relations sociales; son rôle est examiné dans le contexte des relations interpersonnelles et aussi dans les relations interétatiques. Il s’agit d’une morale ancienne, enracinée dans le système de pensée grec, qui nous offre une clé d'accès privilégiée à la compréhension du jeu des reflets qui s’établit entre historiographie et société. Le code éthique de la réciprocité est fondé sur le devoir de rendre également le bien et le mal reçus. J'ai concentré mon attention sur la réciprocité constructive fondée sur la coopération pacifique, qui peut être établie par l'échange de dons, services, bienfaits et gestes d'amitié. Ces réseaux ont un système de rituels, institutions et normes sociales qui peuvent être analysés afin d'explorer la capacité créatrice des Grecs dans l'instauration de relations entre différents communautés et cultures. Enfin l'analyse parallèle menée sur Hérodote et sur Thucydide a offert la possibilité d'observer l'évolution de la pensée éthique grecque et de développer une comparaison entre les deux auteurs. L'analyse historique des sources littéraires a été conduite à la lumière de la perspective anthropologique et sociologique moderne qui, en ce qui concerne les thèmes du don et de la réciprocité, propose des lignes d'interprétation également utiles pour l'analyse des textes anciens. Je me réfère à M. Mauss et aux études qui ont suivi son Essai sur le don. / This study aims to analyze the different forms and functions of the ethic of reciprocity in the Greek culture of the fifth century BC, especially in Herodotus and Thucydides. The principle of reciprocity is related to one of the first forms of justice’s application in social relations; its role is examined in the context of interpersonal relationships and also in inter-state relations. This is an old moral code, deeply rooted in the Greek system of thought, which offers a privileged access key for the comprehension of the close link that exists between historiography and society. The ethic of reciprocity imposes a mutual exchange of good and evil. I focused my attention on the constructive reciprocity based on peaceful cooperation, which can be established by the exchange of gifts, services, benefits and friendly gestures. These networks have a system of rituals, institutions and social norms that can be analyzed to explore the creative capacity of the Greeks in building relations between different communities and cultures. Finally the parallel analysis conducted on Herodotus and Thucydides give the opportunity to observe the evolution of Greek ethical thought and to establish a comparison between the two authors. Historical analysis of literary sources was conducted according to the modern anthropological and sociological perspective that, regarding the themes of gift and reciprocity, also offers useful interpretive guidelines for the analysis of ancient texts. I refer to M. Mauss’ Essai sur le don and to the rich bibliography that followed this work. / Questo studio mira ad analizzare le differenti forme e funzioni che l’etica della reciprocità assume nella cultura greca del V secolo a.C., in particolare in Erodoto e Tucidide. La reciprocità è una componente essenziale delle relazioni umane su cui la cultura greca ha elaborato una riflessione attenta. Questo principio morale costituisce una delle primarie forme di applicazione della giustizia nelle relazioni sociali; il suo ruolo si può indagare nell'ambito dei rapporti interpersonali e parimenti nelle relazioni interstatali. Si tratta di un sistema etico che ha delle radici profonde nel pensiero e nel costume greco e rende particolarmente visibile il fitto intreccio che esiste tra storiografia e società. Il principio di reciprocità si basa essenzialmente sul dovere di ricambiare in egual modo sia il bene sia il male ricevuto. Ho concentrato l’attenzione sull’aspetto costruttivo della reciprocità che si attua in scambi di doni, benefici, favori e gesti amichevoli. Questi legami dispongono di un apparato di riti, istituzioni e norme sociali attraverso cui è possibile esplorare la capacità creativa dei Greci di instaurare relazioni tra comunità e culture diverse. Infine l’analisi parallela condotta su Erodoto e su Tucidide ha offerto la possibilità di osservare l’evoluzione del pensiero etico greco e di sviluppare un confronto tra i due autori. L’analisi storica delle fonti letterarie è stata condotta alla luce della moderna prospettiva antropologica e sociologica che, per quel che riguarda i temi del dono e della reciprocità, propone delle linee interpretative altresì utili per l’analisi dei testi antichi. Mi riferisco all’Essai sur le don di M. Mauss e alla ricca bibliografia che segue a quest’opera.

Aqui se explora a questão da apreensão do espaço do mundo conhecido no século V a.C, principalmente, a partir da obra do historiador grego Heródoto. Para isso parte-se da percepção do espaço do mundo, dividido em porções de acordo com uma cultura, a grega, para em seguida se estabelecer uma tipologia dos espaços do mundo, entendendo alguns momentos importantes da demarcação geográfica do planeta, dos povos e culturas. Num segundo momento a busca caminha para um tipo específico de espaço: aquele que é sacralizado pela cultura. Dessa forma entende-se que a cultura cria uma paisagem sagrada erigida a partir de lugares classificados através de uma tipologia que estabelecemos segundo a utilização do termo hieros e suas variantes, por Heródoto. Espaço sacralizado transformado em paisagem. No último momento, com base da tipologia do espaço sagrado, busca-se o sagrado entre Homero e Heródoto, entendendo as ligações como parte de um todo cultural de dois indivíduos que se preocupam em registrar o mundo, seus povos e culturas bem como as especificidades de suas relações com o meio em que vivem, mormente o sagrado. / Here the subject of the apprehension of the space of the known world is explored in the V century b.C., mainly, starting from the Greek historian's work Herodotus. For that begins of the perception of the space of the world, divided in portions in agreement with a culture, the Greek, for soon after to settle down a typology of the spaces of the world, understanding some important moments of the geographical demarcation of the planet, of the people and cultures. In a second moment the search bed for a specific type of space: that sacralizade for the culture. In that way understands each other that the culture creates a sacred landscape erected starting from places classified through of a typology that we established according to the use of the term hieros and your variants, by Herodotus. Sacred space transformed in sacred landscape. In the last moment, with base in the typology of the sacred space, the sacred is looked for between Homer and Herodotus, understanding the connections as part of an all cultural of two individuals that you/they worry in registering the world, our people and cultures as well as the specific details of your relationships with the sacred. (rever)

Aqui se explora a questão da apreensão do espaço do mundo conhecido no século V a.C, principalmente, a partir da obra do historiador grego Heródoto. Para isso parte-se da percepção do espaço do mundo, dividido em porções de acordo com uma cultura, a grega, para em seguida se estabelecer uma tipologia dos espaços do mundo, entendendo alguns momentos importantes da demarcação geográfica do planeta, dos povos e culturas. Num segundo momento a busca caminha para um tipo específico de espaço: aquele que é sacralizado pela cultura. Dessa forma entende-se que a cultura cria uma paisagem sagrada erigida a partir de lugares classificados através de uma tipologia que estabelecemos segundo a utilização do termo hieros e suas variantes, por Heródoto. Espaço sacralizado transformado em paisagem. No último momento, com base da tipologia do espaço sagrado, busca-se o sagrado entre Homero e Heródoto, entendendo as ligações como parte de um todo cultural de dois indivíduos que se preocupam em registrar o mundo, seus povos e culturas bem como as especificidades de suas relações com o meio em que vivem, mormente o sagrado. / Here the subject of the apprehension of the space of the known world is explored in the V century b.C., mainly, starting from the Greek historian's work Herodotus. For that begins of the perception of the space of the world, divided in portions in agreement with a culture, the Greek, for soon after to settle down a typology of the spaces of the world, understanding some important moments of the geographical demarcation of the planet, of the people and cultures. In a second moment the search bed for a specific type of space: that sacralizade for the culture. In that way understands each other that the culture creates a sacred landscape erected starting from places classified through of a typology that we established according to the use of the term hieros and your variants, by Herodotus. Sacred space transformed in sacred landscape. In the last moment, with base in the typology of the sacred space, the sacred is looked for between Homer and Herodotus, understanding the connections as part of an all cultural of two individuals that you/they worry in registering the world, our people and cultures as well as the specific details of your relationships with the sacred. (rever)

Aqui se explora a questão da apreensão do espaço do mundo conhecido no século V a.C, principalmente, a partir da obra do historiador grego Heródoto. Para isso parte-se da percepção do espaço do mundo, dividido em porções de acordo com uma cultura, a grega, para em seguida se estabelecer uma tipologia dos espaços do mundo, entendendo alguns momentos importantes da demarcação geográfica do planeta, dos povos e culturas. Num segundo momento a busca caminha para um tipo específico de espaço: aquele que é sacralizado pela cultura. Dessa forma entende-se que a cultura cria uma paisagem sagrada erigida a partir de lugares classificados através de uma tipologia que estabelecemos segundo a utilização do termo hieros e suas variantes, por Heródoto. Espaço sacralizado transformado em paisagem. No último momento, com base da tipologia do espaço sagrado, busca-se o sagrado entre Homero e Heródoto, entendendo as ligações como parte de um todo cultural de dois indivíduos que se preocupam em registrar o mundo, seus povos e culturas bem como as especificidades de suas relações com o meio em que vivem, mormente o sagrado. / Here the subject of the apprehension of the space of the known world is explored in the V century b.C., mainly, starting from the Greek historian's work Herodotus. For that begins of the perception of the space of the world, divided in portions in agreement with a culture, the Greek, for soon after to settle down a typology of the spaces of the world, understanding some important moments of the geographical demarcation of the planet, of the people and cultures. In a second moment the search bed for a specific type of space: that sacralizade for the culture. In that way understands each other that the culture creates a sacred landscape erected starting from places classified through of a typology that we established according to the use of the term hieros and your variants, by Herodotus. Sacred space transformed in sacred landscape. In the last moment, with base in the typology of the sacred space, the sacred is looked for between Homer and Herodotus, understanding the connections as part of an all cultural of two individuals that you/they worry in registering the world, our people and cultures as well as the specific details of your relationships with the sacred. (rever)

Les préverbes a)na- et kata- sont souvent considérés comme un couple complémentaire, parce qu’avec des verbes de déplacement a)na- marque un mouvement vers le haut et kata- un mouvement vers le bas. Ces deux préverbes ont pourtant eu des emplois très variés qui dépassent largement l’emploi spatial.L’étude des composés présents dans les oeuvres d’Homère, Hésiode et Hérodote permet d’identifier les connotations essentielles associées à ces préverbes dès les premiers textes. A défaut de pouvoir identifier une Urbedeutung, il est possible de comprendre comment le sens de ces préverbes a évolué d’un sens concret vers des emplois plus abstraits. L’étude successive de ces deux composés, en établissant des catégories de significations parmi les verbes, nous per-met découvrir un certain nombre de sèmes qui semblent constitutifs de chacun des deux préverbes. Cela nous montre que le préverbe a)na- est surtout associé à des verbes de mouvement, alors que le préverbe kata- est davantage lié à des verbes statifs ou qui évoquent un processus de destruction.La question de la valeur aspectuelle de ces préverbes est aussi un élément fondamental. L’étude de ces deux préverbes permet de comprendre comment ils ont pu tous les deux acquérir une valeur aspectuelle pour souligner notamment l’accomplissement du procès. Cependant, on constate qu’ils ne correspondent pas au même accomplissement, puisqu’a)na- dénote un accomplissement créatif, tandis que kata- souligne le plus souvent l’accomplissement d’un processus de disparition. / The preverbs a)na- et kata- are usually considered as a couple, because for motion verbs a)na- bears an up motion and kata- a down motion. These two preverbs have nevertheless been employed variously and more widely than for merely spatial indications.Studying the compound verbs of the works of Homer, Hesiod and Herodotus allows us to identify the essential conno-tations linked to these preverbs since early literature. Even if we cannot find the Urbedeutung, it’s possible to unders-tand how the meaning of these preverbs has progressed from a concret meaning to an abstract. The ordered investiga-tion of these compound verbs, by distinguishing the different categories of meaning, help us discover some semantic classes which seem to be essential for each preverb. Thus we see that the preverb a)na- is mostly linked to motion verbs, whereas the preverb kata- is more combined with stative verbs or verbs which discribe a disappearance.The question of aspect for the preverbs is also fundamental. The study of these two preverbs allows us to understand how they could, both of them, own an aspectual value to emphazise the process accomplishment. But we can see that it’s not the same accomplishment, since a)na- indicates a creative accomplishment, while kata- most often highlights the accomplishment of a dying process.

La thèse est organisée en trois chapitres, dans lesquels on analyse, respectivement, la relation entre la notion d’espace et trois civilisations spécifiques – les Perses, les Egyptiens, les Scythes, les peuples auxquels Hérodote consacre les portions les plus amples et longues de son ouvrage – ; les fonctions des espaces sacrés grecs et « barbares », qui peuvent être un lieu d’émerveillement, un instrument argumentatif du discours historiographique, un repère géographique ou dénotatif ; enfin, le territoire de l’œcoumène, considéré en tant qu’espace de mouvement et en tant qu’argument de débat politique et littéraire. Les logiques qui soutiennent les constructions/représentations répondent à une double nécessité : fournir des informations sur la narration, la civilisation, le groupe humain ou l’individu qui constituent le sujet du récit ; assurer que le public des Histoires participe aux mécanismes narratifs qui règlent l’accès aux savoirs collectés par l’historien et, en particulier, à sa façon de décrire les espaces. / The main purpose of this project is to try to understand the function of spaces in Herodotus’ work and, in particular, to analyze the way in which spaces may play a different role accordingly to a specific context or topic Herodotus is dealing with. A first part of the research is dedicated to the attempt of understanding how spatial descriptions are fundamental to characterize those civilizations to which Herodotus devotes a large part of his narrative (the Persians, the Egyptians and the Scythians). The second part of the research is dedicated to sacred spaces. In this section I focus on two aspects: the multiple role of the temple as thoma, landmark and proof/impulse of the historical narrative; the passages in which Herodotus describes his characters by insisting on their behaviors towards sacred spaces. A third and final part of the thesis deals with space from a more geographical perspective and it is structured in the five following paragraphs: terminology of proximity; 'epeiros'; 'eremos', 'eschatos' and knowledge; hodological and cartographic space; naming lands and seas. / La nozione di spazio è analizzata secondo una prospettiva tripartita. Nel primo capitolo mi occupo del binomio spazio/civiltà: l'obiettivo è quello di capire come la nozione di spazio venga diversamente declinata in ciascun contesto per rendere ragione delle caratteristiche preminenti delle civiltà in oggetto. Il secondo capitolo è ulteriormente suddiviso in due sottosezioni: nella prima indago le funzioni storiografiche degli spazi sacri menzionati nelle Storie; nella seconda esamino il comportamento di tre coppie di individui rispetto a uno spazio di partenza che viene sottoposto a un processo di sacralizzazione o diviene, al contrario, teatro di un’azione sacrilega. Nel terzo capitolo tratto gli spazi dell'esperienza quotidiana, prestando attenzione a tematiche quali la nozione di prossimità, l'orientamento, la divisione politica e geografica dell'ecumene, la percezione dei territori di frontiera e periferici.