Life / Afterlife: Revolution and Reflection in the Ancient Greek Underworld from Homer to Lucian - Hardcover

Lye, Suzanne

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0197690203 ISBN 13: 9780197690208

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2024

Synopsis

Life / Afterlife traces the development, evolution, and uses of underworld scenes in ancient Greek literature and society. Underworld scenes are a unique form of embedded storytelling, appearing across time and genres. These scenes employ a special register of language that acts as a narrative space outside of chronological time and everyday reality. Suzanne Lye shows how writers such as Homer, Hesiod, Aristophanes, Plato, and Lucian, among others, used afterlife depictions as commentaries to communicate a call to action for their audiences in response to cultural, religious, and political changes to their worlds. Using networks of underworld scenes which often featured mythic and historical figures, authors could reinforce or challenge traditional religious and cultural beliefs and practices by presenting the long-term, cosmic effects of actions in life on an individual's post-death experience.
From ancient to modern times, underworld scenes have helped authors and audiences define the essential qualities of a "good life" for different social, political, and religious groups and their societies. This book offers an approach to reading underworld scenes that explains how they function and why they have persisted in various forms, both literary and artistic, from the eighth-century B.C.E. to the present day.

About this title

About the Author

Suzanne Lye is Assistant Professor of Classics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2024
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0197690203
• ISBN 13: 9780197690208
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 336