Witches, Isis and Narrative
Witches, Isis and Narrative

Author: Stavros Frangoulidis

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter

Published: 2008-11-06

Total Pages: 271

ISBN-13: 3110210037

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This is the first in-depth study of Apuleius' Metamorphoses to look at the different attitudes characters adopt towards magic as a key to deciphering the complex dynamics of the entire work. The variety of responses to magic is unveiled in the narrative as the protagonist Lucius encounters an assortment of characters, either in embedded tales or in the main plot. A contextualized approach illuminates Lucius' relatively good fortune when compared to other characters in the novel ‒ this results from his involvement with the magic of a sorcerer's apprentice, rather than that of a real witch, and signals the possibility of eventual salvation. A careful investigation of Lucius' attitude towards Isis in book 11 and his relationship with the witch-slave girl Photis earlier on suggests that the novel's final book may be read as a second "Metamorphoses", consciously rewritten from a positive perspective. Last but not least, the book also breaks new ground by examining the narrative structure of the Metamorphoses against the background of the typical plotline found in the ideal romance. The comparison shows how Apuleius both follows and alters this plot, exploiting the genre to his own specific ends, in keeping with his central theme of metamorphosis.

Witches, Isis and Narrative
Witches, Isis and Narrative

Author: Stavros Frangoulidis

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter

Published: 2008-11-06

Total Pages: 255

ISBN-13: 9783111737034

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This is the first in-depth study of Apuleius Metamorphoses to juxtapose the different attitudes towards magic adopted by Lucius and other characters, either in embedded tales or in the main plot, as a key to deciphering the complex dynamics of the work. The contextualized approach pursued in this study further suggests that the novel s final book may be read as a second Metamorphoses, rewritten from a positive perspective. The book breaks new ground by examining the narrative structure of the Metamorphoses against the background of the typical plotline found in the ideal romance."

The Tanglewood Witches
The Tanglewood Witches

Author: Genevieve Jack

Publisher:

Published: 2021-03-15

Total Pages: 198

ISBN-13: 9781940675633

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Every witch has a story that begins with the unexpected! Part One: Tanglewood Origins Alexandria, Egypt, 30 AD In this action-packed, enemies-to-lovers romance, the last thing Alena expects is to be hauled out of bed by an Egyptian soldier and tossed into a stone cell. Then Orpheus steps from the shadows. The rake who once almost tricked her into his bed is suddenly her partner in a forced mission: to find a celestial weapon promised to Cleopatra. Orpheus never expected to meet anyone like Alena, let alone to deceive her. Could their immediate connection be due to a common secret-- ancestral magic? To survive this game of the gods, he'll have to earn her trust again and heal old wounds before it's too late. The biggest surprise? Surviving their quest is just the beginning. Part 2: Her Dragon Guardian Growing up in the Garden of Hesperides, Medea has never wanted for anything. But she and her sisters Circe and Isis have quickly exceeded their parents' magical abilities, fueled by the power of the Tanglewood, a mysterious tree that sprouted the day they were born. Desperate to expand their mystical knowledge, together they conjure a golden grimoire, the most powerful magical text in existence. Now, even paradise can't provide the one thing Medea wants most, privacy to practice her advanced magic. To get it, she'll break the rules... and come face to face with the handsome dragon who guards the gate. The Tanglewood Witches is an action-packed duet of paranormal romance novellas and a prequel to the Treasure of Paragon Series, perfect for fans of witch and dragon shifter romance.

Recognizing Miracles in Antiquity and Beyond
Recognizing Miracles in Antiquity and Beyond

Author: Maria Gerolemou

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published: 2018-04-23

Total Pages: 450

ISBN-13: 311056355X

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In recent years, scholars have extensively explored the function of the miraculous and wondrous in ancient narratives, mostly pondering on how ancient authors view wondrous accounts, i.e. the treatment of the descriptions of wondrous occurrences as true events or their use. More precisely, these narratives investigate whether the wondrous pursues a display of erudition or merely provides stylistic variety; sometimes, such narratives even represent the wish of the author to grant a “rational explanation” to extraordinary actions. At present, however, two aspects of the topic have not been fully examined: a) the ability of the wondrous/miraculous to set cognitive mechanisms in motion and b) the power of the wondrous/miraculous to contribute to the construction of an authorial identity (that of kings, gods, or narrators). To this extent, the volume approaches miracles and wonders as counter intuitive phenomena, beyond cognitive grasp, which challenge the authenticity of human experience and knowledge and push forward the frontiers of intellectual and aesthetic experience. Some of the articles of the volume examine miracles on the basis of bewilderment that could lead to new factual knowledge; the supernatural is here registered as something natural (although strange); the rest of the articles treat miracles as an endpoint, where human knowledge stops and the unknown divine begins (here the supernatural is confirmed). Thence, questions like whether the experience of a miracle or wonder as a counter intuitive phenomenon could be part of long-term memory, i.e. if miracles could be transformed into solid knowledge and what mental functions are encompassed in this process, are central in the discussion.

Light and Obscurity in Symbolism
Light and Obscurity in Symbolism

Author: Deborah Cibelli

Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Published: 2016-01-14

Total Pages: 426

ISBN-13: 1443887595

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The idea of light and darkness is one of the central ideas of the Symbolist movement, since this is a movement of contrasts. It encompasses the major themes of Symbolism, such as good and evil, beauty and ugliness, the visible and the invisible, and the divine and the earthly. This volume brings together a range of studies in order to understand the notion of light and darkness and a variety of its Symbolist interpretations. It also stresses the interdisciplinary nature of the concepts of light and darkness in Symbolism, as well as the cohabitation and symbiosis of both, which are together or separately at the core of this movement.

The Werewolf in the Ancient World
The Werewolf in the Ancient World

Author: Daniel Ogden

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2021-01-07

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 0192596284

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In a moonlit graveyard somewhere in southern Italy, a soldier removes his clothes in readiness to transform himself into a wolf. He depends upon the clothes to recover his human shape, and so he magically turns them to stone, but his secret is revealed when, back in human form, he is seen to carry a wound identical to that recently dealt to a marauding wolf. In Arcadia a man named Damarchus accidentally tastes the flesh of a human sacrifice and is transformed into a wolf for nine years. At Temesa Polites is stoned to death for raping a local girl, only to return to terrorize the people of the city in the form of a demon in a wolfskin. Tales of the werewolf are by now well established as a rich sub-strand of the popular horror genre; less widely known is just how far back in time their provenance lies. These are just some of the werewolf tales that survive from the Graeco-Roman world, and this is the first book in any language to be devoted to their study. It shows how in antiquity werewolves thrived in a story-world shared by witches, ghosts, demons, and soul-flyers, and argues for the primary role of story-telling-as opposed to rites of passage-in the ancient world's general conceptualization of the werewolf. It also seeks to demonstrate how the comparison of equally intriguing medieval tales can be used to fill in gaps in our knowledge of werewolf stories in the ancient world, thereby shedding new light on the origins of the modern phenomenon. All ancient texts bearing upon the subject have been integrated into the discussion in new English translations, so that the book provides not only an accessible overview for a broad readership of all levels of familiarity with ancient languages, but also a comprehensive sourcebook for the ancient werewolf for the purposes of research and study.

A Companion to the Ancient Novel
A Companion to the Ancient Novel

Author: Edmund P. Cueva

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2014-01-31

Total Pages: 722

ISBN-13: 1118350588

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This companion addresses a topic of continuing contemporary relevance, both cultural and literary. Offers both a wide-ranging exploration of the classical novel of antiquity and a wealth of close literary analysis Brings together the most up-to-date international scholarship on the ancient novel, including fresh new academic voices Includes focused chapters on individual classical authors, such as Petronius, Xenophon and Apuleius, as well as a wide-ranging thematic analysis Addresses perplexing questions concerning authorial expression and readership of the ancient novel form Provides an accomplished introduction to a genre with a rising profile

Reading the Way to the Netherworld
Reading the Way to the Netherworld

Author: Ilinca Tanaseanu-Döbler

Publisher: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht

Published: 2016-12-05

Total Pages: 551

ISBN-13: 3647540307

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The volume focuses on the various representations of the Beyond in later Antiquity, a period of intense interaction and competition between various religious traditions and ideals of education. The concepts and images clustering around the Beyond form a crucial focal point for understanding the dynamics of religion and education in later Antiquity. Although Christianity gradually supersedes the pagan traditions, the literary representations of the Beyond derived from classical literature and transmitted through the texts read at school show a remarkable persistence: they influence Christian late antique writers and are still alive in medieval literature of the East and West. A specifically Christian Beyond develops only gradually, and coexists subsequently with pagan ideas, which in turn vary according to the respective literary and philosophical contexts. Thus, the various conceptualisations of the great existential unknown, serves here as a point of reference for mirroring the changes and continuities in Imperial and Late Antique religion, education, and culture, and opening up further perspectives into the Medieval world.

Studies in Hellenistic Religions
Studies in Hellenistic Religions

Author: Luther H. Martin

Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers

Published: 2018-02-26

Total Pages: 409

ISBN-13: 149828308X

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This selection of essays by Luther Martin brings together studies from throughout his career—both early as well as more recent—in the various areas of Graeco-Roman religions, including mystery cults, Judaism, Christianity, and Gnosticism. It is hoped that these studies, which represent spatial, communal, and cognitive approaches to the study of ancient religions might be of interest to those concerned with the structures and dynamics of religions past in general, as well as to scholars who might, with more recent historical research, confirm, evaluate, extend, or refute the hypotheses offered here, for that is the way scholars work and by which scholarship proceeds.

Classical Enrichment
Classical Enrichment

Author: Antony Augoustakis

Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG

Published: 2024-11-04

Total Pages: 492

ISBN-13: 3111577287

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This collection brings together twenty eight chapters written by Stephen Harrison’s colleagues and former students from around the globe to celebrate both his distinguished teaching and research career as a classicist and his outstanding and admirable service to the international classical community. The wide variety of original contributions on topics ranging from Greek to Latin and ancient literature’s reception in opera and contemporary writing is divided into five parts. Each corresponds to the staggering publication record of the honorand, encompassing, as it does, a broad literary spectrum, starting from the literature of the end of the Roman Republic and coming down to Neo-Latin and the reception of Classics in Irish, in English poetry and in European literature and culture in general. This corpus of compelling chapters is hoped to match Stephen Harrison’s rich research output in an illuminating dialogue with it.