Papers by Antonis Tsakmakis
Speeches
Oxford University Press eBooks, Mar 6, 2017
The great number of set speeches in Thucydides’ work reflects the importance of the art of persua... more The great number of set speeches in Thucydides’ work reflects the importance of the art of persuasion in his world, but also exhibits an awareness of the limitations of that art. Far from suggesting straightforward explanations, in their multifarious, dynamic relation to their narrative contexts, immediate or remote, Thucydides’ speeches create a dialectical historiography. Their diversity regarding a series of criteria (speakers, audiences, themes, communicative situations, impact, way of introduction, stylistic choices) is sometimes concealed by the uniformity of language and common ideological presuppositions. While indirect discourse allows for more authorial control, direct speeches combine particular points of view with considerations on general matters. The openness and ambiguity of Thucydides’ rhetorically formulated statement on his method of composing his speeches is in alignment with his effort to keep nothing more than is necessary or helpful (for his purposes) from the original speeches.
Τὸ κενὸν τοῦ πολέμου (Th. 3.30.4) and Its Uses in Greek and Latin Texts
Mnemosyne, Jul 27, 2024
The analysis of Thucydides 3.30.4 (from the speech of Teutiaplos), which contains the obscure phr... more The analysis of Thucydides 3.30.4 (from the speech of Teutiaplos), which contains the obscure phrase τὸ κενὸν τοῦ πολέμου, as well as of all occurrences of the same phrase in Greek and Latin texts confirms the reading κενόν against the vv.ll. καινόν and κοινόν, and helps establishing the meaning of the proverbial expression πολλὰ (τὰ) κενὰ τοῦ πολέμου. It does not refer to a mental state (illusion etc.), as has been generally assumed, but to a particular situation that can emerge in warfare. The ‘void of war’ means that one side is in a way neutralized. One of the two opponents is either unable or unwilling to fight, or is clearly inferior, to the degree that it withdraws or surrenders without a battle. The investigation of the proverb’s semantics also leads to a better understanding of the Thucydidean use and improves the understanding of Teutiaplos’ speech (Th. 3.30).
BRILL eBooks, Feb 9, 2022
“Miracles in Greek Biography”, in: M. Gerolemou (ed.), Consuming Miracles in Antiquity and Beyond, de Gruyter, Berlin – New York 2018, 327-351., Dec 31, 2018
In archaic and classical Greece, stories about the lives of poets and philosophers strongly depen... more In archaic and classical Greece, stories about the lives of poets and philosophers strongly depended on oral traditions which were shaped according to the standards of folktale legend. Miracles were a customary component of such traditions. They mainly concerned phases of transition such as birth, death, initiation, and confirmed the otherness of the intellectual. Thanks to the antiquarian zeal of most writers of biographies after the creation of biography as a literary genre in the 4th cent. BC, motifs of this kind found access in written biographies. Patterns of the biographical tradition even appear in lives of contemporary and later philosophers such as Plato. In these scholarly oriented works miracles were either rationalized or treated in a way which subordinated the question of their historicity to the aesthetic aspects pertinent to their use in the new context. On the other hand, in historical biography miracle stories corroborate the text's implicit rhetoric. 7 Cf. Fairweather 1974. According to Hansen 1996, 9, we can compare this attitude with the parallel development of paradoxography from the early Hellenistic period, where "truth took second place to creating in the reader an enjoyable sensation of awe at the wonders of nature and culture". 8 This conscious scholarly activity is to be distinguished from the earlier biographical traditions which also depended on the poems, not on information about the poets; see Beecroft 2008, 61-105 on Homer. More specifically, Beecroft examines the "implied poetics" as the primary message conveyed by these traditions (2). 9 These traditions have been thoroughly studied by Lefkowitz 1981, who demonstrates the fictitiousness of most material, and Kivilo 2010, who attempts to trace the origins of both the traditions and their earliest coalescence in biographical accounts. 10 The same features can be found in preserved novelistic biographies which depend on folktale or are indebted to the same literary tradition, such as the Life of Aesop, a text which is preserved in a written form dated to the Roman period (probably 2nd cent. AD); cf. Kurke 2010; on the history of the legend, see West 1984. This Life preserves motifs which go back to a very early stage in the formation of the legend. The same holds for the pseudo-Herodotean On Homer's Origins, Date, and Life (perhaps 1st-2nd cent. AD; on its origins, see West 1984, 123-126; 2003, 309-314; on the date West 2003, 300-301) and some other versions of Homeric biographies and treatises on Homer (but not in all: they are e. g. absent from the pseudo-Plutarchean de Homero). Similar qualities are found in the Life of Archilochus which is fragmentary and preserved on stone (3th ce. BC); finally, novelistic biographies from the Roman period which are indebted to the folktale tradition of biographical writing are the anonymous Life of Secundus (for a discussion of its formal elements, see Aune 1988, 110-121) and Philostratus' Life of Apollonios.
“Polybius and Biography. Genre and Cognitive Poetics”, in: N. Miltsios – M. Tamiolaki (eds.), Polybius and his Legacy: Tradition, Historical Representation, Reception, Berlin – New York 2018, 257-275, Mar 19, 2018
Index nominum et rerum
De Gruyter eBooks, Feb 15, 2013
., “The human body in the Anabasis”, in: T. Rood – M. Tamiolaki (eds.), Xenophon’s Anabasis and its Reception, Berlin – Boston 2022, 287-308, Oct 10, 2022
“Ionians in the Hellenica Oxyrhynchia: The battle of Ephesus (Hell. Oxy. 1-3), in: D. Leão – D. Fereirra – N. Simões Rodrigues – R. Morais, Our Beloved Polites: Studies presented to P.J. Rhodes, Oxford, Archaeopress, 2022, 31-38., Aug 25, 2022
In classical Greek historiography the image of the Ionians is throughout negative. Herodotus and ... more In classical Greek historiography the image of the Ionians is throughout negative. Herodotus and Thucydides question their military competence and, occasionally, treat them with irony. A notable exception to this tendency is the Oxyrhynchus historian, who presents the battle of Ephesus (409 BCE) as an achievement of the Ephesians (and not, like Xenophon, as a failure of the Athenians, and especially of their general Thrasyllus). The subtleties of the narrative, part of which is preserved on the Cairo papyrus of the Hellenica Oxyrhynchia, reveal a positive attitude towards Ionians. This attitude also contrasts with his usual writing style, which is particularly sensitive to leaders' shortcomings. These observations may add a further argument in favour of Theopompus of Chios, an Ionian, as the author of the work.
“Chance and Causality in the Oxyrhynchus historian and his predecessors: A Holistic Approach of a Linguistic Phenomenon (τυγχάνω + participle).” in: O. Devillers - B. Sebastiani (eds.), Les historiens grecs et romains : entre sources et modèles, Ausonius Éditions, Boredeaux 2017, 77-93. , 2018
“Narrative and Identity in Thermopylae (Herodotus 7.201-239)”, in: van Gils, L. - de Jong, I.J.F. - Kroon, C.H.M (eds.), Textual Strategies in Greek and Latin War Narrative, Amsterdam Series in Classical Philology (Leiden: Brill), 2019, 91-113, Nov 2, 2018
Thucydides and Herodotus : remarks on the attitude of the historian regarding literature
“‘I’ll imitate Helen’! Troubling text-worlds and scripts in Aristophanes’ Thesmophoriazusae”. In P. Meineck (ed.), Routledge Companion to Classics and Cognitive Theory. London 2019, 156-168, Nov 21, 2018
This paper deals with one of the earliest passages in western literature which problematizes the ... more This paper deals with one of the earliest passages in western literature which problematizes the consciousness of the multifaceted relationship between reality and fictionality the parody of Euripides’ Helen in Aristophanes’ Thesmophoriazusae (846-928). In this parody two remarkable features produce comic effects: the abusive treatment of the Euripidean original (a standard practice in literary parody), but also the failure of the internal audience to acknowledge it. Critylla, the woman who is on stage during the performance, cannot apprehend the world of the performed tragedy in its own right and distinguish it from her own comic world. In consequence, the performance gives rise to a series of misunderstandings which not only expose several conventions pertaining to fiction and role playing, but also call for a study of the cognitive responses to phenomena such as drama, literature and genre.
Klio, Jul 18, 2018
Die parallele Untersuchung der historischen Quellen zum oligarchischen Teilstaat von Eleusis nach... more Die parallele Untersuchung der historischen Quellen zum oligarchischen Teilstaat von Eleusis nach dem Sturz der Dreißig legt nahe, dass der Vertrag unter anderem die Ordnung in Eigentumsfragen wiederherstellen sollte, nachdem die Häuser der zuvor ermordeten Eleusinier von Athenern willkürlich in Besitz genommen worden waren. Während bisherige Interpretationen der entsprechenden Klausel von der Annahme ausgehen, dass viele Eleusiner gezwungen waren, ihre Häuser zu verlassen, wird argumentiert, dass sie das Recht behielten, weiter in Eleusis zu wohnen. Das eingeführte Vermittlungsverfahren wird als ein Indiz interpretiert, dass auch diese Maßnahme als Verhandlung mit dem Ziel der Versöhnung eingeführt wurde.
Araucaria, 2017
Thucydides composed his work in order to provide political education to his future readers. He wr... more Thucydides composed his work in order to provide political education to his future readers. He wrote in a period which was fond of expert knowledge and appreciated intellectual progress. Knowledge-based education was available especially to young people. On the other hand, in his work he presents people learning from experience, a process which privileges people of a certain age. An exceptional figure is Themistocles who is characterized in a way which points to the limits of education and conveys an additional message to Thucydides' contemporaries.
Historika : Studi di Storia Greca e Romana, Nov 30, 2016
(D.) Gribble Alcibiades and Athens. A Study in Literary Presentation. Oxford UP, 1999. Pp. xi + 304. 0198152671. £45
The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Nov 1, 2002
Ismene Lada-Richards: Initiating Dionysus. Ritual and Theatre in Aristophanes’ Frogs
Gnomon (München), 2005
Ismene Lada-Richards: Initiating Dionysus. Ritual and Theatre in Aristophanes’ Frogs. Oxford: Oxf... more Ismene Lada-Richards: Initiating Dionysus. Ritual and Theatre in Aristophanes’ Frogs. Oxford: Oxford UP 1999. xxiv, 387 S. 47 Abb. 80 £.
Tim Rood: Thucydides. Narrative and Explanation
Gnomon (München), 2005
Tim Rood: Thucydides. Narrative and Explanation. Oxford/New York: Oxford UP 1998. XI, 339 S. (Oxf... more Tim Rood: Thucydides. Narrative and Explanation. Oxford/New York: Oxford UP 1998. XI, 339 S. (Oxford classical monographs.).
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Papers by Antonis Tsakmakis
Topics covered in this wide-ranging collection include: cognitive linguistics applied to Homeric and early Greek texts, Roman cultural semantics, linguistic embodiment in Latin literature, group identities in Greek lyric, cognitive dissonance in historiography, kinesthetic empathy in Sappho, artificial intelligence in Hesiod and Greek drama, the enactivism of Roman statues and memory and art in the Roman Empire.
This ground-breaking work is the first to organize the field, allowing both scholars and students access to the methodologies, bibliographies and techniques of the cognitive sciences and how they have been applied to classics.