Greek and Roman Aesthetics by Eric A Cullhed
Classical Quarterly
This article asks what the graffito incised on the Dipylon oinochoē (IG I 2 919, eighth century B... more This article asks what the graffito incised on the Dipylon oinochoē (IG I 2 919, eighth century B.C.E.) reveals about the nature of the dance competition that it commemorates. Through a systematic analysis of the evaluative and descriptive meaning of the adjective ἀταλός and its cognates in early Greek epic, it is argued that a narrower definition compared to previous suggestions can be established. The word refers to the carefreeness that is specific to a child or young animal, and its uses typically imply a positive evaluation which is connected not only to the well-being that this carefreeness entails but also to the positive emotion of tenderness and the sentiment of care that it engenders in a perceiver. It is concluded that, when used to specify the criterion by which a dance contest will be adjudicated, the term refers to an aesthetic property that is repeatedly praised in archaic Greek texts in other words: that of dancing with the adorable but short-lived carefree abandon of a child.
Classical Philology, 2021
This note analyzes Ausonius’ Bissula 5 and 6. Three basic interpretative alternatives are discern... more This note analyzes Ausonius’ Bissula 5 and 6. Three basic interpretative alternatives are discerned and explored: (1) “Bissula cannot be represented,” (2) “Bissula can be represented but only by a poet,” and (3) “Bissula can be represented after all.” It is argued that we cannot reduce the poems’ meaning to any of these alternatives, but the poet exploits polysemy, allusions and prosodic patterning to encourage each of them. The ruse lives up to Ausonius’ promise of an annoying, intoxicated, and dreamlike game for this ambigua puella.
Emotions by Eric A Cullhed
Cogent Arts & Humanities, 2019
Readers have often pointed out that representations of dying warriors in
the Iliad, despite the i... more Readers have often pointed out that representations of dying warriors in
the Iliad, despite the impersonal, unreflective, heterodiegetic form of narration, are
typically suffused with a certain pathos. What do we mean by “pathos” in this
context? It is argued that we are referring to a group of distinguishable emotions
related to affiliative attachment, elicited by a number of recurring motifs or situation
types. Characters perceived as dear and as embodying dear principles are
vulnerable, suffer and die, eliciting tenderness, compassion and grief, but also being
moved and poignancy. Conceptualizations and expressions of these emotions in the
Homeric text are discussed. It is further argued that the recurrent appeals to these
emotions throughout the poem cannot be defended against the charge of sentimentality
by merely referring to the “noble restraint” manifested by the narrator’s
dispassionate tone in this context. The ruptured affiliative bonds that form the basis
for this pathos are not contemplated in an isolated, undisturbed fashion, but they
are crucially presented as existing in opposition to other kinds of affective motivations
that push and pull the Homeric heroes in other directions. Dearness makes
a brave but futile stand against other values, pleasures and desires that also endow
heroic life with meaning, especially the quest for eternal fame.
Emotion Review, 2019
Recent attempts to define being moved have difficulties agreeing on its eliciting conditions. The... more Recent attempts to define being moved have difficulties agreeing on its eliciting conditions. The status quaestionis is often summarized as a question whether the emotion is evoked by exemplifications of a wide range of positive core values or a more restricted set of values associated with attachment. This conclusion is premature. Study participants associate being moved with interactions with their loved ones not merely for what they exemplify but also for their affective bond to them. Being moved is elicited when we apprehend the value of entities to which we are connected through basic as well as extended forms of affiliative attachment. These comprise people, certain objects and even abstract entities, including the unshakable life-guiding ideas we call ‘core values.’
Talks (online videos) by Eric A Cullhed
A lecture at the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Studies
Modern literature and reception by Eric A Cullhed
Bulletin of Latin American Research, 2018
Sjuttonhundratal (2014) 90–100. , 2014
Översiktliga genomgångar av den svenska litteraturhistorien har sällan låtit bli att stanna upp v... more Översiktliga genomgångar av den svenska litteraturhistorien har sällan låtit bli att stanna upp vid Johan H enric Kellgrens (1 7 5 1 -1795) epigram "Öfver Propertii Buste eller Porträt Blekt mit anlete är; men tadlen Konstnären icke, At han det gjort så blekt: sådan i lifvet jag var. Rigtigt bildades så den färg som Cynthia gaf mig; Blodet torrkade bort, kinderne vissnade hän. Ungdom och helsa och lycka och lugn, alt offrades henne: Hennes jag lefvande var, hennes i döden jag är. Lifvet flyktade snart -men ach! när ägde jag lifvet? Nej, genom Cynthia blott var ju Propertius til.' Raderna trycktes först året efter poetens död i en fotnot till översättningen av den romerske skalden Propertius' Elegi 1.6 i Kellgrens Samlade skrifter (1 7 9 6 ). För utgåvans redaktör, G ustaf Regnér, utgjorde de fyra versparen ett tidigt men närmast ofattbart lyckosamt försök att kombinera elegiska distika med det svenska språket. Det var diktarens sista storslagna insats för den svenska poesin, präntad på dödsbädden "med redan domnande hand [ ...] , men med synnerligt nöje at se det lyckas".2 Kring m itten av artonhundratalet blev Per Daniel Amadeus Atterbom den förste av flera att uppfatta dikten som ett självbiografiskt farväl: i Poesiens historia (l8 6 l) uppges det att Kellgren ägnade epigrammet "åt Propertii och sitt eget minne".5 I det tidiga nittonhundratalets litteraturhistorikers fantasi bildade verserna stunden då poeten i lungsotens grepp kastade en blick över sitt liv och gav oss sin egen kärlekssaga speglad i den romerske skaldens erotiska självförstörelse.4 Enligt denna föreställning frigjorde sig Kellgren i mogen ålder till sist från H oratius' lekfulla naivitet och gick ur tiden med Propertius' pessimistiska livsåskådning som enda följeslagare.5 Kanske har denna berättelse, vilken i någon mån förutsätter att det rör sig om resultatet av obundet skapande, bidragit till att man emellanåt förtigit eller 90 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.75 5 7/4.3085 Eric Cullhed \ Bakgrunden till Kellgrens "Öfver Propertii Buste"
I. Nilsson & P. Stephenson (eds), Wanted: Byzantium. The desire for a lost empire. Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis, Studia Byzantina: Uppsala 2014,, 2014
Ancient and medieval scholarship by Eric A Cullhed
1. Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 54 (2014) 192–219., 2014
Reading Eustathios of Thessalonike / [ed] Filippomaria Pontani, Vassilis Katsaros & Vassilis Sarris, Berlin & New York: Walter de Gruyter, 2017, s. 285-297, 2017
”, in The Arts of Editing Medieval Greek and Latin: A Casebook, PIMS: Toronto 2016, 72–95., 2016
Mnemosyne 65, 445–61., 2012
This paper calls into question established views on the relationship between the two autograph MS... more This paper calls into question established views on the relationship between the two autograph MSS containing Eustathius' commentary on the Odyssey, suggesting that we should pay attention to the 'stratigraphy' of Marc. gr. 460 in order to better understand the way in which these manuscripts were produced.
Byzantine literature by Eric A Cullhed
A. Cameron & N. Gaul (eds), Dialogues and Debate from Late Antiquity to Late Byzantium, Ashgate: ... more A. Cameron & N. Gaul (eds), Dialogues and Debate from Late Antiquity to Late Byzantium, Ashgate: Oxford 2017, 153–66
Byzantine Art and Aesthetics, vol. 3 (TBAA 3), “Readings in the Visual Culture of Later Byzantium (1081–1330s)”, 2020
Ed. here by E. Cullhed. Previous editions: J. Iriarte, Regiae bibliothecae matritensis codices gr... more Ed. here by E. Cullhed. Previous editions: J. Iriarte, Regiae bibliothecae matritensis codices graeci mss (Madrid, 1769) 429-31 (from M); J. A. Cramer, Anecdota graeca e codd. manuscriptis bibliothecarum oxoniensium, vol. 3 (Oxford, 1835) 216-21 (from B and b) MSS. 1 Vatican City, BAV, Graecus 305, f. 40v-43r (s. XIII) = V Vatican City, BAV, Graecus 2363 (s. XVII) Oxford, Bodleian Library, Barocci 165 (s. XV) = B Oxford, Bodleian Library, Barocci 187 (s. XVI) = b Madrid, Biblioteca Nacional, 4630 (a. 1464) = M. Other translations: None Contributor: Eric Cullhed
Byzantinische Zeitschrift 108:1 (2015) 53–62., 2015
This article argues against a recent attempt to date Ioannes Tzetzes' poem on Psellos' paraphrase... more This article argues against a recent attempt to date Ioannes Tzetzes' poem on Psellos' paraphrase of Aristotle's Peri hermeneias to after 1174/78 and thereby provide a new terminus post quem for Tzetzes' death.
”, Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies 38 (2014) 10–28., 2014
This paper explores correspondences between biographical attributes of Homer and self-representat... more This paper explores correspondences between biographical attributes of Homer and self-representation in twelfth century texts: The first section deals with the blind bard's presence in Theodoros Prodromos' Sale of poetical and political lives and the 'rhetoric of poverty' in his poetry; the second with Ioannes Tzetzes' class-room persona and the emplotment of Homer's biography in the Exegesis on the Iliad; the third with the same author's take on ancient traditions about the initially unstable situation of the Homeric text and his struggle to secure the immortality of his own name. 1 M. Foucault, 'Qu'est-ce qu'un auteur?', Bulletin de la Société française de Philosophie 63 (1969) 73-104: 77; translation from J. V. Harari, Textual strategies: perspectives in post-structuralist criticism (Ithaca, NY 1979) 142. 2 See Foucault's answer to the criticism of Lucien Goldmann: 'Définir de quelle manière s'exerce cette fonction, dans quelles conditions, dans quel champ, etc., cela ne revient pas, vous en conviendrez, à dire que l'auteur n'existe pas' (Foucault, op. cit., 100); cf. J. Gallop, The deaths of the author: reading and writing in time (Durham, NC 2011) 2-4.
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Greek and Roman Aesthetics by Eric A Cullhed
Emotions by Eric A Cullhed
the Iliad, despite the impersonal, unreflective, heterodiegetic form of narration, are
typically suffused with a certain pathos. What do we mean by “pathos” in this
context? It is argued that we are referring to a group of distinguishable emotions
related to affiliative attachment, elicited by a number of recurring motifs or situation
types. Characters perceived as dear and as embodying dear principles are
vulnerable, suffer and die, eliciting tenderness, compassion and grief, but also being
moved and poignancy. Conceptualizations and expressions of these emotions in the
Homeric text are discussed. It is further argued that the recurrent appeals to these
emotions throughout the poem cannot be defended against the charge of sentimentality
by merely referring to the “noble restraint” manifested by the narrator’s
dispassionate tone in this context. The ruptured affiliative bonds that form the basis
for this pathos are not contemplated in an isolated, undisturbed fashion, but they
are crucially presented as existing in opposition to other kinds of affective motivations
that push and pull the Homeric heroes in other directions. Dearness makes
a brave but futile stand against other values, pleasures and desires that also endow
heroic life with meaning, especially the quest for eternal fame.
Talks (online videos) by Eric A Cullhed
Modern literature and reception by Eric A Cullhed
Ancient and medieval scholarship by Eric A Cullhed
Byzantine literature by Eric A Cullhed
the Iliad, despite the impersonal, unreflective, heterodiegetic form of narration, are
typically suffused with a certain pathos. What do we mean by “pathos” in this
context? It is argued that we are referring to a group of distinguishable emotions
related to affiliative attachment, elicited by a number of recurring motifs or situation
types. Characters perceived as dear and as embodying dear principles are
vulnerable, suffer and die, eliciting tenderness, compassion and grief, but also being
moved and poignancy. Conceptualizations and expressions of these emotions in the
Homeric text are discussed. It is further argued that the recurrent appeals to these
emotions throughout the poem cannot be defended against the charge of sentimentality
by merely referring to the “noble restraint” manifested by the narrator’s
dispassionate tone in this context. The ruptured affiliative bonds that form the basis
for this pathos are not contemplated in an isolated, undisturbed fashion, but they
are crucially presented as existing in opposition to other kinds of affective motivations
that push and pull the Homeric heroes in other directions. Dearness makes
a brave but futile stand against other values, pleasures and desires that also endow
heroic life with meaning, especially the quest for eternal fame.