Myths of the Underworld Journey: Plato, Aristophanes, and the ‘Orphic’ Gold Tablets by Radcliffe G. Edmonds III
Requirements: .PDF reader, 1.4 MB
Overview: There are, au fond, two ways of conceiving of death, one in terms of loss and finality, the other in those of a new beginning or of entry to another world. Both conceptions found their place in the cultural psychology of ancient Greece. Radcliffe Edmonds’ book, which is primarily a contribution to the history of Greek myth and religion but should interest Platonic philosophers to the extent that they identify Plato himself as a religious thinker, examines three contrasting Greek manifestations of the idea of death as a journey to a new life. Edmonds deals first, and at greatest length, with the gold lamellae found in a number of ancient Greek graves (often placed on the chest of the deceased) and envisaging, or bearing instructions for, the journey of the dead in the realm beyond. He then tackles Aristophanes’ comic reworking of the mythic motifs of a descent (katabasis) to Hades in the Frogs, before shifting gear again to address the myth of the soul’s postmortem experiences in Plato’s Phaedo. Edmonds brings to bear on all three versions of the underworld journey a tripartite analytic schema of ‘obstacles’ (barriers or dangers relating to entry to the other world), ‘solutions’ (overcoming the barriers), and ‘results’ (the ultimate destiny of the dead). His overarching aim, expounded in his introductory and concluding chapters, is to understand Greek mythic discourse as the constantly evolving medium of a competition for cultural authority. Myths accumulate traditional powers of resonance and persuasiveness, but they effectively exist, Edmonds insists, only in their individual tellings. He therefore eschews grand synthesising theories and focuses instead on the authorial choices that structure particular presentations of myth into specific narrative form. The resulting arguments are always interesting and frequently enlightening, even if there is inevitably scope for disagreement at the levels of both detail and principle.
Genre: Non-Fiction > Faith, Beliefs & Philosophy
Download Instructions:
Radcliffe G. Edmonds III – Myths of the Underworld Journey_ Plato, Aristophanes, and the ‘Orphic’ Gold Tablets (2004, Cambridge University Press) .pdf – 1.4 MB
Radcliffe_G._Edmonds_III_-_Myths_of_the_Underworld_Journey__Plato,_Aristophanes,_and_the_’Orphic’_Gold_Tablets_(2004,_Cambridge_University_Press)_.pdf
