Emily Katz Anhalt

Embattled

How Ancient Greek Myths Empower Us to Resist Tyranny

• Gebundenes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

"As tyrannical passions increasingly plague twenty-first-century politics, tales told in ancient Greek epics and tragedies provide a vital antidote. Democracy as a concept did not exist until the Greeks coined the term and tried the experiment, but the idea can be traced to stories that the ancient Greeks told and retold"--

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Stanford University Press
• Seitenzahl: 320
• Erscheinungstermin: 14. September 2021
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 230mm x 154mm x 30mm
• Gewicht: 635g
• ISBN-13: 9781503628564
• ISBN-10: 1503628566
• Artikelnr.: 61116448

Autorenporträt

Emily Katz Anhalt is Professor of Classics at Sarah Lawrence College. Her most recent book is Enraged: Why Violent Times Need Ancient Greek Myths, which was selected as one of the Times Literary Supplement's Best Books of 2017.

Inhaltsangabe

Contents and Abstracts
Introduction: Confronting Tyranny Today
chapter abstract
Today, as in ancient times, tyrannical abuses of power-whether by one
person, a few, or many-destroy individuals, corrode communities, and
endanger democratic institutions. During the eighth through the fifth
centuries BCE, however, ancient Greece witnessed an unprecedented movement
away from tyranny and tribalism and toward civil society and broader forms
of political participation. Democracy emerged as a consequence of gradual
changes in social and political attitudes fostered by epic and tragic
reworkings of Greek myths over many centuries. Homer's Iliad and Odyssey,
Aeschylus's Oresteia, and Sophocles's Antigone identify aspirations and
skills crucial to preventing abuses of power in any and every era. The
ancient Greeks never removed tyrannical abuses of power from their world or
from themselves, but their stories show us why and how we could.
1Leadership (Iliad 1-2)
chapter abstract
The Iliad's opening scenes depict a hierarchical, destructively competitive
power structure familiar to the epic's earliest archaic audiences and not
unfamiliar to us today. High achievers compete ruthlessly for honor,
wealth, and supremacy at the expense of the community's welfare. Truth
succumbs to violence and intimidation. Cruelty and bystanders' enjoyment of
it constitute the emblems of tyrannical leadership and thoughtless
subjection to it. By adhering to the principles of their own society,
leading men harm their communities and themselves. The epic's human
characters blame the gods for their suffering, but the audience sees that
human choices are far more determinative than divine actions, and their
consequences more predictable. Democracy was not even a concept when tales
of the Trojan War began to circulate, but the Iliad begins by exposing the
cost to everyone of exclusively self-serving leadership, and suggesting
that the community bears the responsibility for defining "good" leadership.
2Community (Odyssey 1-4)
chapter abstract
The Odyssey begins by emphasizing that human communities need some form of
mortal political authority capable of maintaining order. In the archaic
world of Homer's characters and earliest audiences, "political authority"
meant a king or a small group of powerful elites; but the epic begins to
undermine the legitimacy of unfettered and unaccountable autocratic
authority by suggesting that the powerful are responsible for the quality
of life of everyone subject to their power. The Odyssey defines a "good"
king as a ruler who benefits not merely himself but everyone in the
community by promoting respect for reciprocal obligations among everyone,
including himself. The ancient Greeks themselves failed to achieve this
goal, but the Odyssey's portrait of communal order and happiness excludes
all forms of tyranny. It offers both a challenge and an invitation to every
human community.
3Reality (Odyssey 5-8)
chapter abstract
Odysseus's adventures begin with his remarkable choice of reality over
fantasy. This choice initiates his return home and permits him to recover
his political authority and reestablish order and happiness for himself,
his household, and his community. The seductions and deceptions of
imaginative non-reality-based narratives can help cultivate our
evidence-based reasoning skills. But Odysseus's example reminds us that a
preference for fantasy, irrationality, and magical thinking over the
reality of empirical lived experience can corrode our capacity for rational
thought and prevent constructive political discourse and creative
problem-solving. Preferring fantasy to reality, we risk empowering the
tyrants and would-be tyrants in our own times, because they are hard at
work in the real world while we amuse ourselves in imaginary ones. The
rejection of tyranny originates in the realization that real-life problems
require real-life solutions.
4Deception (Odyssey 9-16)
chapter abstract
This section of the Odyssey reminds us that the distinction between "true"
and "false" matters, and that recognizing the distinction is our
responsibility. Instead of asking or permitting the audience to suspend
disbelief, tales narrated by Odysseus evoke our skepticism and cultivate
our empiricism because we have other evidence against which to measure
them. The Odyssey suggests that the determination of "true" or "false" is
not merely a matter of opinion. Truth must be objectively verifiable.
Matching wits with Odysseus, we develop the skills to defend ourselves
against authoritative speakers who bombard us with fictions, even
contradictory fictions, so as to eradicate the very concept of objective
fact.
5Success (Odyssey 17-24)
chapter abstract
The Odyssey's conclusion introduces a profoundly egalitarian challenge to
any narrowly based or exclusive power structure, and to the primitive
equation of vengeance with justice. Ingenuity, skepticism, empiricism, and
self-restraint enable Odysseus to succeed in exacting violent revenge
against the rapacious, shortsighted suitors. But the epic presents these
essential survival skills as potentially accessible to anyone, and
Odysseus's successful defeat of the suitors offers no guarantee of
permanently benevolent leadership, political harmony, or future prosperity.
The epic's unsatisfying ending reminds the audience that vengeance is not a
solution but a problem, a source of greater conflict. Violent revenge
manifests as a lethal threat to civil society, since it is likely to
escalate and become interminable. Not violence but farsighted wisdom and
self-restraint, symbolized by Athena's ultimate intervention, prove vital
to individual and communal survival and success.
6Justice (Aeschylus's Oresteia)
chapter abstract
Athenian tragedies in the fifth century BCE challenged traditional, archaic
tribal goals and promoted new ideals more conducive to preserving civil
society and democratic institutions. The Oresteia undermines the age-old
equation of revenge with justice, revising an ancient tale and dramatizing
the devastating consequences of retributive violence. As each violent act
in this new version derives from and produces others, Aeschylus exposes the
common fallacy of assuming that because one side in a dispute appears
deeply wrong the other side must be right. In the trilogy's conclusion,
persuasive speech permits a zero-sum conception of justice and victory to
evolve from a crushing conquest of one side at the expense of another into
a conception of victory as a win for all concerned. The Oresteia presents
the trial by jury as a healthier alternative to vengeance killings. Our
great challenge is to make that vision a reality.
7Conflict (Sophocles's Antigone)
chapter abstract
Like the Homeric epics, Athenian tragedies offer us, as they offered
fifth-century Athenians, the opportunity to learn from others' mistakes.
Sophocles's Antigone explores the great challenge confronting every human
community: What do we do when we disagree? Antigone exposes the
catastrophic consequences of a closed mind incapable of accepting new
information or thinking creatively. Neither Creon nor Antigone is a
constructive role model. The collision between Creon's rejection of the
family in favor of civic loyalties and Antigone's "family first" certainty
and disregard for civic loyalties destroys family, city, and the relevant
individuals. Inflexible, hot-tempered, and impervious to reasoned argument,
Antigone and Creon collide and self-destruct. Antigone learns nothing.
Creon learns too late. They cannot be helped, but maybe we can be.
Dramatizing how not to go about resolving disputes, Sophocles's cautionary
tale reminds us that in every conflict our certainties may blind us to
better ideas.
Conclusion: The Art of Self-Governance
chapter abstract
Twenty-first-century tyranny is merely the latest iteration of an age-old
pestilence. The Iliad, Odyssey, Oresteia, and Antigone can help to
inoculate us against it. These stories remind us that words have
consequences and that discernment is our responsibility. They teach us to
value evidence and expertise, and to choose leaders who will not sacrifice
the welfare of the community to their own shortsighted greed. Exposing the
tyrannical potential of a closed mind, these tales encourage us to resist
the seductions of violence, assess facts, value diverse viewpoints, and
resolve complex problems creatively. They not only fortify us against
liars, magical thinkers, con artists, and thugs, but also remind us to
beware of becoming liars, magical thinkers, con artists, or thugs
ourselves. Fortified by ancient Greek tales against the tyrannical forces
of today, we can learn to govern ourselves.