Ancient Greek Hymns and Pastoral Gods: Comparative Studies in Poetics and Mythology
Date
2022-06
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Abstract
The first part of the thesis investigates hymns as a poetic genre in Ancient Greece. Focusing on the early attestations of the term humnos itself and on selected excerpts from Archaic hymnic poetry, the work aims at retracing the main explicit definitions of this genre from the 8th to early 4th century BCE, as well as integrating insights from performance studies, like the notion of embodied literary genre. A study of the performative aspects of hymns, both external (actual) and internal (narrated within the hymns), leads to innovative theories of this genre's function. A comparative and linguistic approach to the etymology of the term humnos furthers the investigation through the possible Proto-Indo-European etymological relation between the Greek and Vedic terms meaning hymn: humnos and sumna-, respectively. In the second part of the thesis, the comparative approach is taken further to investigate the relations and equivalences between some relevant mythological recipients and performers of hymns in the Greek context: Pan, Hermes and Apollo. The mythological and historic-comparative study, expanded to include gods of Indo-European cultures and other contexts as well, helps clarify certain not-yet-well-understood characteristics of these deities. In addition, some possible reasons and explanations for these three gods’ association with hymnic performance are considered. The analysis of their symbolic animal associations, as well as the linguistic comparative study of specific traits and epithets accompanying these gods, pushes forth recent interpretations and approaches that are not confined to the linguistic sphere, but involve the reconstruction of the ideologies, hunting, warfare and initiation practices of ancient Greek-speaking peoples while also harking back to the reconstruction of Proto-Indo-European customs and looking ahead to Roman times with the analysis of a heavily politicized use of a mythological narrative involving Apollo and Pan.
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Greek Mythology, ancient Greek poetics, Literature, Indo-European, linguistics, hymns, Homer, pastoral, Homeric Hymns, Apollo, Pan, Hermes
Citation
Roccella, G. (2022). Ancient Greek hymns and pastoral gods: comparative studies in poetics and mythology (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.