Abstract

The purpose of this dissertation is to offer new historical and philosophical insight on the "venerable and terrible" Parmenides. Drawing from the scholarly achievements of Milman Parry and Eric Havelock, I begin by paying close attention to the significance and dynamics of the oral tradition of ancient Greece. The tales that comprise this tradition are collectively known as muthos, and the majority of these tales are attributed to Homer. I explicate and theorize the cultural significance of Homer in terms of the communicative elements and purpose of the ancient Greek oral tradition. I determine that this purpose is "true communication" with the divine. ;"True communication" consists in a cycle of kudos ---divine favor or praise---and kleos---divine return. In order for this cycle to persist, however, the early Greeks must retain a certain experience of language, specifically speech, that ill-fits our contemporary understandings. I try to disentangle our theories of language from what evidence suggests is an archaic Greek experience of speech. In tandem, I consider some of Xenophanes' writings and offer a palpable reinterpretation of Xenophanes philosophical intent. Based upon what I glean from Xenophanes, and the contemporary efforts of Marcel Detienne and Martin Heidegger, I reconsider Parmenides' poem. ;I argue that it is unlikely that the traditional distinctions we make between muthos and logos obtain for Parmenides, and that our way of dividing up his text is inconsistent with the oral tradition Parmenides inherits, as well as the means by which he organizes his poem. I argue, too, that even if Parmenides composed his poem in writing, it is most likely that his poem was orally performed, rather than silently read. To his audience, then, Parmenides' poem was heard, not "seen." I speculate upon the aural and oral components of the poem and its performance in terms of their significance to Parmenides' philosophical message. ;The route I follow to Parmenides yields an interpretative strategy that permits us to engage with the ancient Greeks in terms closer to their own, without, however, forgetting the historical distance that separates us, or sacrifices our own philosophical concerns