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Authors:J.C. Thom Abstract: With this volume, Akroterion celebrates 60 years of classical scholarship and service to the academic community. From a humble Newsletter published in support of Latin school teachers Akroterion has developed into a widely recognized scholarly journal accredited by the South African Department of Higher Education and Training and indexed in international databases like L'Année philologique. Instead of publishing articles predominantly by staff members of the University of Stellenbosch, Akroterion now receives submissions from a wide spectrum of scholars both nationally and internationally. PubDate: 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z
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Authors:K.C. Stefou Abstract: The interpretation of Pindar's poem in the Gorgias has greatly concerned scholars. Methodologically, the most appropriate approach to interpretation of the poem is to try and answer the four fundamental questions that arise: a) what is the central idea that governs Pindar's poem in its extra-Platonic presence, as an autonomous poetic composition? b) which dramatic character refers to Pindar's authority? c) what basic ideological direction does he follow and d) what is Plato's literary goal? This paper will illuminate the aspects of the above questions, proceeding to a new interpretative approach of the Platonic use of the poem. PubDate: 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z
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Authors:S. Kool Abstract: Freud's rejection of nineteenth century psychiatry and neurology encouraged him to look for new models of diagnosis and healing. While Western medical discourse is based upon a rational approach founded upon the Hippocratic corpus, this paper argues that psychoanalysis contains many elements that can be traced to the healing cult of Asclepius. A close reading of Freud's texts reveals that he was aware of the practice of incubation at sites of healing such as Epidaurus and Pergamum and that this knowledge was incorporated into his theory and practice of dream interpretation. PubDate: 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z
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Authors:R. Dijkstra; E. Hermans Abstract: This article provides the first philological analysis and interpretation of the ode to Plato written by Marcus Musurus in 1513 in Venice and published as a dedicatory poem in the editio princeps of the works of Plato. Musurus asks pope Leo X to found a Greek academy in Rome and start a crusade against the Ottoman empire to liberate Greece. The article includes the first English translation of the entire poem since Roscoe (1805). PubDate: 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z
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Authors:B. Van Zyl Smit Abstract: My onderwerp is deel van wat dikwels beskou word as die jongste vertakking van die studie van die antieke wêreld - die studie van die resepsie van die antieke. Hierdie studie ondersoek hoe later omgegaan is met tekste of voorwerpe uit die Klassieke oudheid. Soos my titel, 'Griekse drama in die moderne wêreld', aandui, fokus ek op 'n spesifieke deel van die letterkunde van die antieke Grieke, naamlik drama. PubDate: 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z
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Authors:S. Masters; T. Welman Abstract: This paper suggests that lessons can be learned from both the failed Red Location Museum, in Port Elizabeth, South Africa and the Rijks museum, in Amsterdam, Netherlands, with regard to the curation of collections of classical artefacts in South African museums. Once considered more important, these artefacts have now fallen out of synch with the current museological trends to exhibit local and neglected histories. The antiquities are now cultural 'orphans', mostly boxed up and in storage, a sign of their lack of 'relevance' to the immediate South African context. Digitising the collection and creating a virtual museum of classical antiquities with open access will allow the pieces to be viewed without being offensive to their immediate context which currently views them as less relevant than before. In doing so it is possible to create new contexts for the reception, appreciation and ultimately, preservation of such orphan collections. PubDate: 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z
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Authors:Emily Van der Merwe Abstract: Introduction Horace is often placed at the opposite end of the spectrum to Catullus in discussions on Latin lyric love poetry. In this oversimplified view, the poets represent vastly different interpretations of love and the poetic process, Catullus being the prototype Sturm und Drang poet while Horace embodies calm and self-detachment.This essay explores contemporary views on Horace's approach to writing about love, and proposes that an over-emphasis on Horace's political views and interest in public matters has led to a disregard for his views on love. It is further argued that a comparison between Horace's love poetry and that of Catullus is an unjust categorisation which does little to acknowledge Horace's versatile and developmental approach to lyric poetry. Finally, Horace's self-detachment is seen to be the most effective means through which he succeeds in connecting with the experiences of his reader. PubDate: 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z
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Authors:Jo-Marie Claassen Abstract: All those privileged to have had Sheelagh as Latin or Classical Culture lecturer can confirm that she was the best teacher and the kindest person they had ever met. After a lifetime of service to others, Sheelagh passed away on 26 October 2014, aged 94. PubDate: 2014-12-01T00:00:00Z
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Authors:Johan Thom; Annemare Kotze Abstract: François Pauw is op 27 September 1950 in Fort Beaufort gebore en het opgegroei in Kakamas, die Strand en Worcester. Hy matrikuleer (as 7de in Kaapland) aan die Hoër Jongenskool in Worcester in 1968 waar hy ook hoofseun was en vir die eerste rugbyspan en eerste tennisspan gespeel het. Daarna het hy aan die Universiteit van Stellenbosch gaan studeer waar hy in Wilgenhof gebly het. In 1971 behaal hy die graad BA (Admissie), in 1974 'n HonsBA in Klassieke tale (met onderskeiding) en in 1980 'n MA in Grieks (eweneens met onderskeiding). Sy tesis (onder leiding van prof P J Conradie) het gehandel oor 'Oorlogsproblematiek in die Troades van Euripides'. Vir sy magisterstudie het hy 'n beurs van die Deutsche Akademische Austauschdienst (DAAD) ontvang en gedurende 1979 en 1980 in Tübingen navorsing gedoen. Sedert 1981 tot sy dood het hy as lektor agtereenvolgens in die Departemente Grieks, Klassieke en Antieke Studie aan die Universiteit van Stellenbosch gedoseer. PubDate: 2014-12-01T00:00:00Z
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Authors:F. Pauw Abstract: In this article two bawdy passages are compared. In Aristophanes' Lysistrata, Athenian and Spartan negotiators, driven to a state of desperation by their women's sex-strike, map out their respective sexo-territorial demands on the sexy body of the personified Reconciliation. In Shakespeare's The comedy of errors, again, Dromio of Syracuse is trying to escape from the rotund kitchen maid Nell, who believes that he is her husband, Dromio of Ephesus.In both passages a woman's body is imagined as a geopolitical entity to be mapped out by men. Thus, geographical allusions occur which ostensibly denote real contemporary geopolitical entities in 411 BC or AD 1592, but often connote allusions, some of them obscene, to female body parts.In taking issue with the interpretation that real women are debased by the depiction of fictional women in these passages, I base my arguments on (i) the underrated positive function of humour; (ii) the generic function of comedy; (iii) the illusionary nature of dramatic representation; (iv) the carnivalesque; and (v) the probable composition of the audience. PubDate: 2014-12-01T00:00:00Z
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Authors:L. Di Campobianco Abstract: These pages wish to offer a brief reflection on an aspect of the process of professionalization that Greek warfare underwent from the end of the fifth century BC onward (all dates hereafter BC). The analysis will focus on the content and nature of the τέχνη that the Greek hoplite ought to acquire to become a χειροτέχνης - an expert artisan in massed combat. The intention is to explore whether this τέχνη could be understood not as technical proficiency in a certain military skill that the hoplite acquires by practice but as a choice he is trained to make between εύταςια and άταςία. These terms, usually understood in a technical acceptation as 'order / discipline' and 'disorder / insubordination', will be presented here as frames of mind [ήθη τής ψνχής] and discussed in the light of Plato's use of the terms εύψνχία and κακοψνχία as hallmarks of the good and bad hoplite. PubDate: 2014-12-01T00:00:00Z
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Authors:B. Hendrickx Abstract: In 298 Diocletian withdrew the Roman troops from the Dodecaschoenos, thereby - according to Procopius - making a treaty with the Nobadai and the Blemmyes and creating a buffer zone to be filled and administered by the Nubians. In this article I examine with which people(s) or groups the Romans fought at the Nubian limiton at the end of the 3rd century AD and made peace, which was the former and later status of this 'buffer zone', and finally when and why was the balance, realized in AD 298, disturbed. There remain more questions than answers to the problems. This article discusses the different viewpoints and theories concerning the Roman withdrawal in the framework of the Meroitic Kingdom and the existing relationship with different tribes. This will lead to a more 'refined' understanding and assessment of the problematic of this historically complicated situation, and thus narrowing the problems, while proposing some solutions for some specific questions. PubDate: 2014-12-01T00:00:00Z
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Authors:P.R. Bosman Abstract: This article reflects on how ancient Athens - in its historical as well as metonymic sense - has been employed as an education for the world and for all time to come. In a broad sweep through history, it has little pretention to be either a disinterested or an in-depth historical enquiry. Rather, it presents yet another attempt to come to terms with the current position of the Classics in academia, taking its cue from the saying of Confucius that 'one who understands the present by reviewing antiquity is worthy to be a teacher'. Simultaneously, it aims to remind us, albeit obliquely, of aspects of a humanities education which are currently neglected or perhaps even forgotten. It will be shown that Thucydides already connected the idea of Athens as a school to democratic ideology, a link still present in later associations between the liberal arts and a classical education. PubDate: 2014-12-01T00:00:00Z
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Authors:D. Futter Abstract: According to Phaedo Socrates spent a long time in prison after his trial because no executions could be carried out during the time of a religious festival. This festival had its origins in the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur. The Athenians had vowed to Apollo that if Theseus and his companions were saved 'they would send a mission to Delos every year' (58b2-3).What is the relevance of the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur for an interpretation of Phaedo? This paper argues that the dialogue evokes three different re-enactments of the Theseus myth. The first is the Athenian delegation to Delos (58a). The second is the trial and execution of Socrates. The third is Socrates' struggle against the fear of death. Each of these re-enactments can be understood as an attempt at spiritual purification. Both Socrates and the Athenians are in different ways purifying themselves by re-enacting the myth of Theseus. These different modes of catharsis are implicitly evaluated by the eschatological myth which Socrates presents just before his death. PubDate: 2014-12-01T00:00:00Z
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Authors:J.C. Meyer Abstract: A wide variety of animal imagery occurs in the Epodes (i.e. canines, reptiles and amphibians, birds, farm animals, marine animals, wild animals and mythical animals); however for the purposes of this article I will focus on the most common imagery, namely canine imagery. The article attempts to identify different functions associated with canine imagery which in turn clarifies Horace's intended purpose with the Epodes - a notoriously difficult proposition. PubDate: 2014-12-01T00:00:00Z
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Authors:W.J. Henderson Abstract: This article continues the history of the Classical Association of South Africa as recorded in the archives of the Association. Since the publication of the previous accounts, an important study has appeared, which reconstructs some of the political, social and cultural contexts in which the activities of the Association, as reflected in my archival reports, were imbedded. I refer to Michael Lambert's book, The Classics and South African Identities (2011). Lambert's work now adds flesh on to the bare bones of the archival material. PubDate: 2014-12-01T00:00:00Z
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Authors:Christiaan Bronkhorst Abstract: The modern reader of the Cena Trimalchionis, seeing the episode grouped under the larger title Satyrica, could hardly be blamed for assuming a priori that Petronius had written a satirical work. Yet, in making this assumption, the reader overlooks a question central to the debate over the interpretation of Petronius' work: 'Can the Cena be read as a moralising or satirical work?' PubDate: 2014-12-01T00:00:00Z
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Authors:L. Warren Abstract: The nature and function of Socratic irony has been much disputed in contemporary scholarship, and there is no source which offers a satisfactory account of Socratic irony. In this article I firstly argue that Socrates' disavowals of knowledge cannot be taken literally. I then argue that Socrates also has some physical habits, in particular an attitude of superiority and the appropriation of Spartan dress, which can be interpreted as ironic within their historical context, in other words that Socrates' physical actions also suggest irony. In conclusion I argue that Socratic irony has interlinked political and pedagogic functions, and I offer suggestions for the redefinition of the concept of Socratic irony which allows for these insights. PubDate: 2013-12-01T00:00:00Z
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Authors:S. Thom Abstract: The first book of Odes introduces the reader to a carefully conceived sequence of poems. This article argues that with this sequence a larger more philosophical Sitz im Leben is suggested for the individual poems as well as for the collection as a whole. This article further proposes that the careful construction of an individual book of Odes has a significant impact on the frame of reference of the collection as a whole. Odes book 1 is taken as an example substantiating this argument. PubDate: 2013-12-01T00:00:00Z
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Authors:A. De Villiers Abstract: The theme of hunting occurs throughout the Aeneid at strategic points to link specific events and foreshadow certain outcomes. Many scholars have noted the increasingly ominous nature of hunting in the epic: from Aeneas's first hunt in book one to provide food for his people, through Ascanius's trophy hunt that sparks the war in Italy, to Aeneas's final vengeful hunting of Turnus. But as far as the protagonist Aeneas is concerned it is specifically through acts of deer hunting that an increasing lack of feeling in his character comes to light. In this paper I will argue that, through recurring instances of deer hunting, both literal and symbolic, a gradual desensitization of Aeneas is revealed. This prepares the reader for his final act in the epic: his killing of Turnus in book twelve, an unnecessary act that strips him of the qualities of pietas so abundantly attributed to him throughout the work. PubDate: 2013-12-01T00:00:00Z
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Authors:H.G.D. Williams Abstract: The following paper undertakes a critical review and examination of the various attempts over the last century and a half of scholarship in Classical Philology to categorize that most singular work of Horace, the Ars poetica. Commentators and critics of the poem have endeavoured to include the work of the Augustan poet within various pre-determined - somewhat tendentious - generic categories, including: the didactic treatise, the verse letter, the literary epistle, the didactic poem, and the sermo. Through critiquing these approaches I shall argue that the Ars, whether through form or subject, manages to subvert the criteria of these generic boundaries, and locates itself within a unique territory. Apart from addressing the problems involved in classifying the Ars, this paper also tackles some other general concerns of generic analysis in Classical Philology. PubDate: 2013-12-01T00:00:00Z
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Authors:S. Kool Abstract: The use of classical scholarship in nineteenth century debates on sexuality forms the focus of this paper. It is argued that German Hellenism played a crucial role in providing Freud and German sexology with a counter discourse to the theory of degeneration, a doctrine that had steadily gained currency in the latter part of the nineteenth century. Sexology and psychoanalysis were contemporaneous areas of investigation that focussed primarily on sexuality and were considered marginalised domains that operated outside the scientific establishment of the day. This exclusion was due in part to their subject matter, but it was further compounded by their widespread rejection of degeneracy, a theory that labelled both Jews and homosexuals as deviant members of society. The complex network of association that existed between psychoanalysis and sexology in Austria and Germany is often neglected and the common ground that they shared is overlooked. This is unfortunate as they explored related fields of interest and their members were largely drawn from similar backgrounds. A significant number of these men were Jewish, a large number were homosexual or homosocial, and most of them were excellent classical scholars. Classical studies provided the foundation upon which the elite German educational system, the Gymnasium, was built, and while the Gymnasium curriculum was designed to inculcate the values of reason, self-discipline and idealism, it also allowed an access to the world of Greek sexuality. It is argued that the divergent attitudes towards sexuality revealed in Greek art and literature provided many of these sexual pioneers with a legitimate challenge to the medical and psychiatric definitions of normal and abnormal sexuality. PubDate: 2013-12-01T00:00:00Z
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Authors:S. Sharland Abstract: In Tim Blake Nelson's film Leaves of grass (2009), Bill Kincaid (Edward Norton), a successful professor of Classics at Brown University is lured back to his native Oklahoma when he receives word that his identical twin brother Brady (also Edward Norton) has been murdered. Although he has deliberately distanced himself from his 'eccentric' family for over a decade, Bill dutifully flies home, only to find his 'dead' twin very much alive and planning to use Bill as his alibi for a murder he and his sidekick Bolger (Tim Blake Nelson) intend to commit. While Bill has been diligently crafting his academic career, Brady has instead channelled his genius into growing marijuana hydroponically - part of the reason for the film's title. Brady is in a double bind, having borrowed a substantial sum of money from a Tulsa drug-lord called Pug Rothbaum (Richard Dreyfuss), and being at the same time under considerable pressure to quit the drug business, as his girlfriend is pregnant. This article explores the numerous allusions to ancient Greek and Latin literature, philosophy and culture that the film's director Tim Blake Nelson, who himself majored in Classics at Brown, has confessed to putting into almost every scene. A major focus of this 'tonally varied' film is its exploration of the interface between the two main forms of drama derived from Ancient Greece - tragedy and comedy. PubDate: 2013-12-01T00:00:00Z
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Authors:W.J. Henderson Abstract: This report on the existence and activities of the Classical Association of South Africa which have recently come to light (in the case of the 1908-1910 CASA) or more prominently to the fore (in the case of the 1927-1956 Association), is a prequel to earlier ones for the period 1956 to 1981. The present account is based mainly on a Minute Book for the Stellenbosch Branch of the Classical Association of South Africa, which was founded in August 1927, was active until September 1935, was resucitated in May 1952 and, despite sporadic efforts to keep it alive, was defunct by 1955. As in the case of its predecessors, this report concentrates on the people who were involved with the Association and thus deserve recognition, and also on the structures, activities and spirit that preceded and also left their mark on the later Association. PubDate: 2013-12-01T00:00:00Z
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Authors:Ursula Westwood Abstract: The emperor Domitian has the reputation of being the 'decided enemy of the Jews'. The information from which this conclusion can be drawn is found in a passage in Suetonius and one in Dio. As well as this, Roman writings of the time, such as those of Martial and Quintilian, support a view of Domitian as anti-Semitic. By examining the main literary accounts of his treatments of the Jews as well as contemporary writings, it will be possible to establish to what extent Suetonius and Dio give an accurate portrayal of his attitude towards the Jews. PubDate: 2013-12-01T00:00:00Z
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