William Hansen

Anthology of Ancient Greek Popular Literature

Introduction Part One: Popular Fiction 1. Romantic Novel Xenophon of Ephesus, an Ephesian Tale Translated by Moses Hadas 2. Christian Novella Anonymous, the Acts of Paul and Thecla Translated by R. Mcl. Wilson 3. Wisdom Literature Anonymous, Secundus the Silent Philosopher Translated by Ben E. Perry 4. Comic Novel Pseudo-lucian, Lucius or the Ass Translated by Paul Turner 5. Comic Biography Anonymous, the Aesop Romance Translated by Lloyd W. Daly 6. Historic Novel Pseudo-callisthenes, the Alexander Romance Translated by Ken Dowden Part Two: Popular Compilations 7. Wonders Phlegon of Tralles, Book of Marvels Translated by William Hansen 8. Fables Anonymous, Collectio Augustana Translated by William Hansen 9. Jokes Hierocles and Philagrius, the Laughter Lover Translated by William Hansen Part Three: A Popular Handbook 10. Fortunetelling Anonymous, the Oracles of Astrampsychus Translated by Randall Stewart and Kenneth Morrell Part Four: Popular Literature in Public Places 11. Popular Literature on Stone Gravestone Verse Translated by William Hansen Works Cited

Homer and the Folktale

In 1857 Wilhelm Grimm published an essay on the story of Poly-phemos and its analogues in international oral tradition, in which he concluded that both the Homeric and the later texts were essentially independent realizations of an international oral story. Like literary works, oral stories can be grouped according to genres. Folktales are traditional fictions, that is, entertaining, instructive, or consolatory tales in which the issue of historicity is unimportant. A memorable feature that appears commonly in the folktale texts but not in Homer is the episode of the magic ring by means of which the blinded ogre makes a last attempt to get hold of the hero. The Meleager legend is recounted in part in the Iliad in the course of the embassy to Achilleus, in which Phoinix cites Meleager as a negative paradigm for Achilleus, an example of how he should not behave.Keywords: Achilleus; folktale; Homer; Meleager; oral story; Phoinix

Foam-Born Aphrodite and the Mythology of Transformation

IN HIS ACCOUNT OF THE BIRTH of Aphrodite (Theogony 176–200), Hesiod tells how Kronos castrated his father, Ouranos, and threw the severed genitals into the sea.1 The narrator envisions Kronos waiting in ambush upon the mainland (or, from another perspective, upon his mother Gaia) with a sickle in his hand. When Ouranos descends, stretching himself out over Gaia in order to engage in sexual intercourse, Kronos takes hold of his father’s genitals with his left hand, cuts them off with his adamantine sickle, and casts them behind him. As the severed organ hurtles through the air, blood falls from it onto the land below, impregnating Gaia with several kinds of offspring. It settles finally upon the waters of the sea; in time foam issuing from the organ surrounds it, and within the foam a girl coalesces. Making her way to land, she passes by the island of Kythera, located off the southern coast of the Peloponnese, and reaches distant Cyprus, where she emerges

Idealization as a process in ancient Greek story‐formation

This essay calls attention to two instances in Greek tradition in which originally humorous tales have been refashioned into non‐comic incidents with an entirely different point. In each case a silly character is transformed into an admirable character, the associated ridiculous trait becoming illustrative of an ideal quality.

Homo Necans: The Anthropology of Ancient Greek Sacrificial Ritual and Myth

Translators Preface Preface to the English Edition List of Illustrations Introduction I. Sacrifice, Hunting, and Funerary Rituals II. Werewolves around the Tripod Kettle III. Dissolution and New Years Festival IV. Anthesteria V. Eleusis Abbreviations and Bibliography Index

Homer and the Oral Tradition

Preface 1. Homer: the meaning of an oral tradition 2. Dark Age and oral poet 3. War and the warrior in the Homeric poems 4. The oral and the literary epic 5. Homer and modern oral poetry: some confusions 6. Homers Iliad and ours 7. Verse-structure and sentence-structure in Homer 8. Formular language and oral quality 9. The search for the real Homer Index.