the persistance of classical mythology into medieval europe
Kenneth Sbeghen
enjoy such a Renaissance, and indeed, how did it manage to survive? Is
there any significant studies in this area?
Warren B. Hapke
: Why, after 1000 years of Christianity in Europe, did Classical mythology
: enjoy such a Renaissance, and indeed, how did it manage to survive? Is
: there any significant studies in this area?
The classic work in this area is Jean Seznec, The Survival of the Pagan
Gods. It's a bit long in the tooth now (it was written in French in the
1940s, then translated into English in the 1950s), but still valuable.
Good luck with your research.
Warren B. Hapke
wbh...@prairienet.org
Michael Shea
Kenneth Sbeghen wrote in message
<7ctcpu$651$1...@reader1.reader.news.ozemail.net>...
>Why, after 1000 years of Christianity in Europe, did Classical mythology
>enjoy such a Renaissance, and indeed, how did it manage to survive? Is
>there any significant studies in this area?
>
What rensiassance? Europe managed to retain some Roman law, government,
language and mythology all along (even today fortunately). Be careful also
confusing austere protestantism with the prevailing form of Christianity.
The Catholic Church killed off real paganism but tolerated the rich,
colorful fairytales of the old culture very well.
MES
PFJTurner
Civilization_.
-PFJT
The REAL King Arthur, A History of Post-Roman Britannia, A.D. 410 - A.D. 593
http://members.aol.com/PFJTurner/SKS.html
John Yohalem
--
John Yohalem
ench...@herodotus.com
"Opera depends on the happy fiction that feeling can be sustained over
impossibly long stretches of time." -- Joseph Kerman
Kenneth Sbeghen wrote in message
<7ctcpu$651$1...@reader1.reader.news.ozemail.net>...
>Why, after 1000 years of Christianity in Europe, did Classical mythology
>enjoy such a Renaissance, and indeed, how did it manage to survive? Is
>there any significant studies in this area?
I agree with Warren Hapke that Seznec's book is still the best in this area,
but there are many references in lesser works.
The reason classical mythology remained so significant is that classical
literature -- Latin before 1350, Latin and Greek thereafter until about
1920 -- remained the basis of all learned culture. Everyone read this stuff,
and modeled what they wrote upon it: poems, epics, novels, plays,
philosophic treatises. The Aeniad was the principal secular best-seller from
the end of the western empire to the 16th century. The Divine Comedy, the
first great work in the Italian vernacular, is modeled on Vergil, who is one
of the main characters. When he was writing politically, Dante was urging
loyalty to the German Reich as the proper heir of the Roman Empire, and his
near contemporary, Cola di Rienzi, took the title "Tribune" when he became
dictator of Rome.
In great part, this had to do with the impression, thoughout the Middle Ages
in all of Europe, but especially in the Romance cultures, that nothing the
decadent later generations could achieve rivaled the greatness of Greece and
Rome. Accordingly, everyone wanted to be linked to those cultures, to trace
their genealogies (however far-fetchedly) to Roman families. (Or better --
the Habsburgs claimed descent from King Priam.) Culturati quoted Roman tags
and later Greek ones (and Hebrew ones).
Teutonic mythology was forgotten until the Brothers Grimm dug it all up in
the early 19th century, and Richard Wagner made it intellectually
respectable. The Celtic mythos had been dug up by the forger MacPherson and
Thomas Love Peacock. But everyone compared all other cultures invidiously to
the great Greek and Roman models -- until Frazer invented modern
anthropology.
By 1900, there was so much classical "stuff" -- paintings, art,
architecture, poetry, theater, epic, history, etc. -- in every language of
post-Renaissance Europe, that a classical background was necessary just to
understand your own culture. This is still true.
Jean Coeur de Lapin
Warren B. Hapke
:
: I agree with Warren Hapke that Seznec's book is still the best in this area,
: but there are many references in lesser works.
Thanks for the vote of confidence. However, I have to disagree
with the rest of your post.
:
: The reason classical mythology remained so significant is that classical
: literature -- Latin before 1350, Latin and Greek thereafter until about
: 1920 -- remained the basis of all learned culture. Everyone read this stuff,
: and modeled what they wrote upon it: poems, epics, novels, plays,
: philosophic treatises. The Aeniad was the principal secular best-seller from
: the end of the western empire to the 16th century. The Divine Comedy, the
: first great work in the Italian vernacular, is modeled on Vergil, who is one
: of the main characters. When he was writing politically, Dante was urging
: loyalty to the German Reich as the proper heir of the Roman Empire, and his
: near contemporary, Cola di Rienzi, took the title "Tribune" when he became
: dictator of Rome.
:
There is some element of truth in what you say. However, it ignores
so many major aspects of medieval literature that it is seriously
misleading.
First of all, you ignore the very large body of literature based
on the Bible, saint's lives, and Christian legend. For example,
the only surviving major work in Old Saxon is the Heliand, a
verse harmony of the four gospels. In Old English, almost all
the major works except Beowulf come from either the Bible or the
Apocrypha (Genesis, Exodus, Daniel, Judith) or extra-Biblical
Christian traditions (Elene, which describes the finding of the
true cross, Andreas, the Advent lyrics in the Exeter book, Christ
and Satan, etc). This stream continues in Middle English literature.
The Vulgate is the major source of allusions and scenes for the
Middle English Pearl and Patience, which have negligible influences
from the classics. Langland's Piers Plowman contains numerous
quotations from the Vulgate, but nothing of significance from the
major Roman classics.
One major area where medieval literature developed completely
without reference to classical models was drama. As O.B.
Hardison showed in Christian Rite and Christian Drama in the
Middle Ages, the drama of the period developed out of liturgical
practice. The subject matter of the plays comes from the Bible.
It's not until the Renaissance that classical drama (in particular,
Senecan tragedy) has any significant influence on drama.
There was also a large body of heroic literature and/or romances
that owed little to Roman literature. Beowulf is the obvious
example in Old English; though Klaeber thought that the Beowulf
poet knew the Aeneid, Beowulf is not modeled on the Aeneid in the
same way that the Aeneid is modeled on the works of Homer. The
chansons de geste, such as the Song of Roland, also owe very little
to the Roman classics. It is true that some of the romances try
to link their heroes to a Roman past. For example, the opening
of Gawain and the Green Knight (ll. 1-20) mentions the Trojan
War and the belief that Brutus, the great-grandson of Aeneas,
founded Britain. But after that, the poem contains very little
that is borrowed from Roman mythology. Like most of the Arthurian
literature, it deals with a mythology invented in the Middle Ages.
Even when a medieval work is obviously modeled on classical
mythology or a classical setting, it is often one that has
undergone significant transformation during medieval times.
Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde is based largely on Boccaccio,
and Homer would not have recognized most of the elements in
their story. Robert Henryson's Orpheus and Euridyce is obviously
a retelling of a classical myth. But as John Friedman has
shown (Orpheus in the Middle Ages, pp. 195-211), the myth has
undergone significant transformations. Henryson's sources are
really Boethius' Consolation of Philosophy and Nicholas Trivet's
allegorical commentary, and not the original Roman versions of
the tale.
Warren B. Hapke
wbh...@prairienet.org
Urania
Even when a medieval work is obviously modeled on classical
>mythology or a classical setting, it is often one that has
>undergone significant transformation during medieval times.
But this is true of the 19th 7 20th centuries. One has only to look as
thr retelling of classical mythology on film & tv to see how deeply it
has been re-interpreted in order to conform to "modern|" prejudices and
pre-occupations.
Our knowledge of archaeology gives us a better physical perception of
the classical period )ie the clothes and the food are right) but the
manners and the style of conversation seldom echo what you get from
reading ancient narratives. It is not surprising that in the MA Thesues
was put into a suit of armour ...>