The Soul of the Greeks

The Soul of the Greeks

Author: Michael Davis

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2011-04-15

Total Pages: 249

ISBN-13: 0226137961

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The understanding of the soul in the West has been profoundly shaped by Christianity, and its influence can be seen in certain assumptions often made about the soul: that, for example, if it does exist, it is separable from the body, free, immortal, and potentially pure. The ancient Greeks, however, conceived of the soul quite differently. In this ambitious new work, Michael Davis analyzes works by Homer, Herodotus, Euripides, Plato, and Aristotle to reveal how the ancient Greeks portrayed and understood what he calls “the fully human soul.” Beginning with Homer’s Iliad, Davis lays out the tension within the soul of Achilles between immortality and life. He then turns to Aristotle’s De Anima and Nicomachean Ethics to explore the consequences of the problem of Achilles across the whole range of the soul’s activity. Moving to Herodotus and Euripides, Davis considers the former’s portrayal of the two extremes of culture—one rooted in stability and tradition, the other in freedom and motion—and explores how they mark the limits of character. Davis then shows how Helen and Iphigeneia among the Taurians serve to provide dramatic examples of Herodotus’s extreme cultures and their consequences for the soul. The book returns to philosophy in the final part, plumbing several Platonic dialogues—the Republic, Cleitophon, Hipparchus, Phaedrus, Euthyphro, and Symposium—to understand the soul’s imperfection in relation to law, justice, tyranny, eros, the gods, and philosophy itself. Davis concludes with Plato’s presentation of the soul of Socrates as self-aware and nontragic, even if it is necessarily alienated and divided against itself. The Soul of the Greeks thus begins with the imperfect soul as it is manifested in Achilles’ heroic, but tragic, longing and concludes with its nontragic and fuller philosophic expression in the soul of Socrates. But, far from being a historical survey, it is instead a brilliant meditation on what lies at the heart of being human.


The Early Greek Concept of the Soul

The Early Greek Concept of the Soul

Author: Jan Bremmer

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2020-10-06

Total Pages: 171

ISBN-13: 0691219354

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Jan Bremmer presents a provocative picture of the historical development of beliefs regarding the soul in ancient Greece. He argues that before Homer the Greeks distinguished between two types of soul, both identified with the individual: the free soul, which possessed no psychological attributes and was active only outside the body, as in dreams, swoons, and the afterlife; and the body soul, which endowed a person with life and consciousness. Gradually this concept of two kinds of souls was replaced by the idea of a single soul. In exploring Greek ideas of human souls as well as those of plants and animals, Bremmer illuminates an important stage in the genesis of the Greek mind.


The Rise and Fall of the Afterlife

The Rise and Fall of the Afterlife

Author: Jan N. Bremmer

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2003-09-02

Total Pages: 251

ISBN-13: 1134768222

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Belief in the afterlife is still very much alive in Western civilisation, even though the truth of its existence is no longer universally accepted. Surprisingly, however, heaven, hell and the immortal soul were all ideas which arrived relatively late in the ancient world. Originally Greece and Israel - the cultures that gave us Christianity - had only the vaguest ideas of an afterlife. So where did these concepts come from and why did they develop? In this fascinating, learned, but highly readable book, Jan N. Bremmer - one of the foremost authorities on ancient religion - takes a fresh look at the major developments in the Western imagination of the afterlife, from the ancient Greeks to the modern near-death experience.


When the Soul Remembers Itself

When the Soul Remembers Itself

Author: Thomas Singer

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-04-24

Total Pages: 381

ISBN-13: 0429860153

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Do the ancient Greek poets, playwrights, philosophers and mythologies have anything to say to modern human beings? Is their time finished, or do their insights have as much relevance to the human condition as they did 2,500 years ago? When the Soul Remembers Itself continues the exploration of the connections between ancient and modern psyche with a resounding affirmation of its ongoing relevance. Uniquely combining poetry, drama and storytelling in a pioneering collection, an international selection of contributors each explore a character, myth or theme from ancient Greece in the context of its relevance to the modern psyche. Each author enters an imaginative dialogue that pieces and bridges together fragments of the past with the present, exploring themes such as initiation, war, love, paranoia, tragedy and the soul’s journey through the vicissitudes of life on earth, through characters such as Ajax, Persephone, Orpheus, Electra, the Apostle Paul, Perpetua and Jocasta. Understanding myth is crucial in Jungian analysis, and by connecting the modern person with the age-old questions of life and death, the contributors bring truly archetypal narratives to life and speak to the human condition throughout the ages. When the Soul Remembers Itself will be of great interest to academics and students of Jungian and post-Jungian studies, classics, ancient religion, archetypal studies and mythology. As the contributors’ conclusions apply to both contemporary theory and clinical practice, it will also appeal to Jungian analysts and psychotherapists in practice and training.


Soul of Athens

Soul of Athens

Author: Alex King

Publisher: Jonglez Publishing

Published: 2021

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9782361954352

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We tried 1,000 places. And kept only the 30 best. 30 unforgettable experiences that capture the soul of Athens. The "Soul of" collection is a new approach to the art of traveling that consists of vagabonding around, chance encounters, and unforgettable experiences. Guides for those who want to unlock the hidden doors of a city, feel out its heartbeat, plumb every last nook and cranny to uncover its soul. Each guide in the "Soul of" collection includes: - the 30 best experiences a city has to offer - interviews with those who give the city its spirit - illustrations by a local artist


Bad Souls

Bad Souls

Author: Elizabeth Anne Davis

Publisher: Duke University Press

Published: 2012-02-08

Total Pages: 346

ISBN-13: 0822351064

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As part of the agreement for Greece to join the EU, the country had to undertake a massive psychiatric reform, moving patients out of custodial hospitals and returning them to the community to be treated as outpatients. In this subtle ethnography, Elizabeth Davis shows how this played out at the edge of the nation, in the border region of Thrace.


The Departure of the Soul

The Departure of the Soul

Author:

Publisher:

Published: 2017-04-11

Total Pages: 1112

ISBN-13: 9781945699009

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This book is the first comprehensive presentation of the teachings of over 120 Orthodox Saints and dozens of holy hierarchs, clergy, and theologians on the subject of the soul¿s exodus to the next life. With over 750 pages of source material featuring many rare images and dozens of texts translated into English for the first time, The Departure of the Soul is unique as both the sole reference edition on the subject and a fascinating and spiritually profitable book for anyone seeking insight into one of the greatest mysteries of all. The book also reveals over 100 falsifications, misrepresentations, and errors contained in the publications of authors who oppose the teaching of the Church, thus definitively ending the 40-year controversy in the Church.


The Gods of Greece

The Gods of Greece

Author: Arianna Stassinopoulos Huffington

Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press

Published: 1993

Total Pages: 152

ISBN-13: 9780871135544

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The text was originally published with other illustrations in 1983 by Harry N. Abrams Inc. Here it is repackaged with reproductions of over 65 paintings by Francoise Gilot (the paintings were created independently--not expressly for the book). Neither the text nor the artwork are conventional explications of how the gods were understood by the Greeks, but rather, both writer and artist offer personal interpretations of each god's character, power, and meaning. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR


Soul and Mind in Greek Thought. Psychological Issues in Plato and Aristotle

Soul and Mind in Greek Thought. Psychological Issues in Plato and Aristotle

Author: Marcelo D. Boeri

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2018-06-06

Total Pages: 252

ISBN-13: 3319785478

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This book offers new insights into the workings of the human soul and the philosophical conception of the mind in Ancient Greece. It collects essays that deal with different but interconnected aspects of that unified picture of our mental life shared by all Ancient philosophers who thought of the soul as an immaterial substance. The papers present theoretical discussions on moral and psychological issues ranging from Socrates to Aristotle, and beyond, in connection with modern psychology. Coverage includes moral learning and the fruitfulness of punishment, human motivation, emotions as psychic phenomena, and more. Some of these topics directly stemmed from the Socratic dialectical experience and its tragic outcome, whereas others found their way through a complex history of refinements, disputes, and internal critique. The contributors present the gradual unfolding of these central themes through a close inspection of the relevant Ancient texts. They deliver a wide-ranging survey of some central and mutually related topics. In the process, readers will learn new approaches to Platonic and Aristotelian psychology and action theory. This book will appeal to graduate students and researchers in Ancient philosophy. Any scholar with a general interest in the history of ideas will also find it a valuable resource.