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H. THESLEFF, Studies in Platonic Chronology (Commentationes Humanarum Litterarum 70). Helsinki, Soc. Scient. Fennica, 1982. 275 p. Pr. Fmk 95.-

H. THESLEFF, Studies in Platonic Chronology (Commentationes Humanarum Litterarum 70). Helsinki,... 476 most classical Greek authors at hand and to do without translations of all quotations. My objections to the contents of the book are the following. Starting from the mistaken assumption that Aristophanes is a poet "whose trade and vocation it was to comment on the realities of Athenian life and to teach and warn his fellow-citizens" (p. 316), he is forced to see in the Aves" an analyzing portrait of Athenian society and at the same time a view on the possibilities and limita- tions of human existence in general" (p. 250, repeated on p. 254, 264-265, 266). As a consequence, the author takes Aristophanes' portraits of poets, sycophants etc. much too seriously, clearly sup- posing that the poet regarded Athenian society as gravely degenerated. His "structural analysis" often amounts to a series of paraphrases, in which the writer makes surprising generalizations. Pisetaerus becomes man in general (p. 57), whose specific weapon is his logos (p. 71, supported by a passage from Isocrates), and "la condition athinienne" is nothing but a mask for ` `la condition humaine" (p. 143). This anachronistic attitude probably is the cause of some mistakes e.g. on p. 74 and p. 243, where http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Mnemosyne Brill

H. THESLEFF, Studies in Platonic Chronology (Commentationes Humanarum Litterarum 70). Helsinki, Soc. Scient. Fennica, 1982. 275 p. Pr. Fmk 95.-

Mnemosyne , Volume 39 (3-4): 476 – Jan 1, 1986

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Publisher
Brill
Copyright
© 1986 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
ISSN
0026-7074
eISSN
1568-525X
DOI
10.1163/156852586X00806
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

476 most classical Greek authors at hand and to do without translations of all quotations. My objections to the contents of the book are the following. Starting from the mistaken assumption that Aristophanes is a poet "whose trade and vocation it was to comment on the realities of Athenian life and to teach and warn his fellow-citizens" (p. 316), he is forced to see in the Aves" an analyzing portrait of Athenian society and at the same time a view on the possibilities and limita- tions of human existence in general" (p. 250, repeated on p. 254, 264-265, 266). As a consequence, the author takes Aristophanes' portraits of poets, sycophants etc. much too seriously, clearly sup- posing that the poet regarded Athenian society as gravely degenerated. His "structural analysis" often amounts to a series of paraphrases, in which the writer makes surprising generalizations. Pisetaerus becomes man in general (p. 57), whose specific weapon is his logos (p. 71, supported by a passage from Isocrates), and "la condition athinienne" is nothing but a mask for ` `la condition humaine" (p. 143). This anachronistic attitude probably is the cause of some mistakes e.g. on p. 74 and p. 243, where

Journal

MnemosyneBrill

Published: Jan 1, 1986

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