Sublime Cosmos in Graeco-Roman Literature and Its Reception: Intersections of Myth, Science and History

ISBN 10: 1350344710 / ISBN 13: 9781350344716

Published by Bloomsbury Academic, 2025

Seller Inventory # 18403864411

Synopsis:

The essays collected in this volume examine manifestations of our sublime cosmos in ancient literature and its reception. Individual themes include religious mystery; calendrical and cyclical thinking as ordering principles of human experience; divine birth and the manifold nature of divinity (both awesome and terrifying); contemplation of the sky and meteorological (ir)regularity; fears associated with overpowering natural and anthropogenic events; and the aspirations and limitations of human expression. In texts ranging from Homer to Keats, the volume’s chapters apply diverse critical methods and approaches that engage with sublimity in various aesthetic, agential and metaphysical aspects. The ancient texts – epic, dramatic, historiographic and lyric – treated here are rooted in a remote world where, within a framework of (perceived) celestial order, literature, myth and science still communicated profoundly, a tradition that continued in literary receptions of these ancient works. This volume honours the intellectual legacy of Thomas D. Worthen, a scholar whose expertise and insights cut across multiple disciplines, and who influenced and inspired students and colleagues at the University of Arizona, USA, for over three decades. Beyond clarifying temporally and culturally distant contemplations of the human universe, these essays aim to inform the continuing sense of wonder and horror at the sublime heights and depths of our ever-changing cosmos.

About the Authors: David Christenson is Professor of Classics at the University of Arizona, USA. He is the sole author of eight books, including Plautus: Pseudolus (2020) and Plautus: Casina (Bloomsbury, 2019).

Cynthia White is Professor of Classics at the University of Arizona, USA, and is a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome, Italy.

Bibliographic Details

Title: Sublime Cosmos in Graeco-Roman Literature ...
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
Publication Date: 2025
Binding: Soft cover
Condition: New