The ancient critics are well known—some might say notorious—for their readiness to read literature, and particularly Homer, through moral spectacles. Their interpretations of Homeric epic are philosophical, not only in the more limited sense that they identified specific doctrines in the speeches of Homer's characters, making the poet or his heroes spokesmen for the views of Plato or Epicurus, but also in a wider sense: the critics demand from Homer not merely entertainment but enlightenment on moral and religious questions, on (...) good and evil, on this life and the after-life. When they fail to find what they seek, they follow Plato and find him wanting. (shrink)

For all its notoriety, Classical archaeologists find the Parthenon frieze a difficult object with which to come to terms: its position on the building is seen as perverse, its subject-matter impenetrable, and its ‘style’ anomalous. This paper sets out to show that these difficulties are inter-related.

It is often claimed that in the ancient world character was believed to be something fixed, given at birth and immutable during life. This belief is said to underlie the portrayal of individuals in ancient historiography and biography, particularly in the early Roman Empire; and tc constitute the chief point of difference in psychological assumptions between ancient and modern biography. In this article, I wish to examine the truth of these claims, with particular reference to Plutarch and Tacitus.

It is often claimed that in the ancient world character was believed to be something fixed, given at birth and immutable during life. This belief is said to underlie the portrayal of individuals in ancient historiography and biography, particularly in the early Roman Empire; and tc constitute the chief point of difference in psychological assumptions between ancient and modern biography. In this article, I wish to examine the truth of these claims, with particular reference to Plutarch and Tacitus.

Homere fascine, et son rayonnement demeure encore immense et ce de l'Antiquite a nos jours (Paul Claudel, Gabriel Audisio, Joyce, Cavafy, Kazantsakis). Mais certains ont severement critique la poesie homerique (Xenophane, Platon, Epicure). Xenophane (6e a.C.) reprochait a Homere de donner aux dieux une image peu flatteuse et immorale; quant a Platon il estimait que l'etude la philosophia devait sublimer l'etude la poesie homerique alors fondement de l'education de la jeunesse grecque. Pourtant les Anciens n'ont cesse de se pencher sur (...) les mythes d'Homere afin d'y deceler des arriere-plans. Ils leur fallait reconcilier la poesie homerique et la philosophie dans une recherche de la signification cachee des mythes. C'est ce qu'on nomme l'exegese allegorique. Elle debute des le 6e a.C. avec Theagene de Rhegium et perdure jusqu'a Proclos (5e p.C.). Pour les Grecs, le mythe est une enveloppe trompeuse dont il faut percer le secret et tirer l'idee de l'image. L'exegese homerique s'est developpee dans trois directions: La physique: pour les allegoristes, les mythes d'Homere recouvrent des notions scientifiques sur les structures memes de l'univers. Exemple: les dieux ne sont rien d'autres que des elements primordiaux (air, ether, eau, feu, terre) qui se livrent a des conflits cosmiques. La morale: les mythes sont une reflexion sur la vertu (Plutarque, Maxime de Tyr) et apprennent aux individus a avoir une conduite heroique, raisonnable, sage. La theologie: pour les neoplatoniciens (Porphyre, Proclus), les dieux d'Homere trouvent leur correspondance avec les dieux et les demons du neoplatonisme et dans la croyance a la transmigration de l'ame (aventures d'Ulysse de Calypso, de Circe, des sirenes). Les mythes d'Homere revelent la structure de la realite du monde car ils ne sont plus des fictions mais des verites pures. La tradition de l'exegese allegorique restera vivante jusqu'a l'epoque byzantine et jusqu'a la Renaissance. Felix Buffiere etait un ecrivain, professeur de langue grecque a l'Institut catholique de Toulouse. Le Pere Felix Buffiere etait helleniste, specialiste d'Homere mondialement reconnu. (shrink)