Ioannis Ziogas | Durham University (original) (raw)

Book authored by Ioannis Ziogas

The influence on Ovid of Hesiod, the most important archaic Greek poet after Homer, has been unde... more The influence on Ovid of Hesiod, the most important archaic Greek poet after Homer, has been underestimated. Yet, as this book shows, a profound engagement with Hesiod's themes is central to Ovid's poetic world. As a poet who praised women instead of men and opted for stylistic delicacy instead of epic grandeur, Hesiod is always contrasted with Homer. Ovid revives this epic rivalry by setting the Hesiodic character of his Metamorphoses against the Homeric character of Virgil's Aeneid. Dr Ziogas explores not only Ovid's intertextual engagement with Hesiod's works but also his dialogue with the rich scholarly, philosophical and literary tradition of Hesiodic reception. An important contribution to the study of Ovid and the wider poetry of the Augustan age, the book also forms an excellent case study in how the reception of previous traditions can become the driving force of poetic creation.

Books edited by Ioannis Ziogas

Taking their point of departure from Frederick Ahl's pioneering work, the distinguished scholars ... more Taking their point of departure from Frederick Ahl's pioneering work, the distinguished scholars in this volume have come together to re-examine the relation of poetry and power in the context of authoritarian regimes in ancient Rome and to examine the ways that poets not only commented on imperial politics, but also were direct participants in the construction of that political reality.

By introducing a multifaceted approach to epic geography, the editors of the volume wish to provi... more By introducing a multifaceted approach to epic geography, the editors of the volume wish to provide a critical assessment of spatial perception, of its repercussions on shaping narrative as well as of its discursive traits and cultural contexts. Taking the genre-specific boundaries of Greco-Roman epic poetry as a case in point, a team of international scholars examines issues that lie at the heart of modern criticism on human geography. Modern and ancient discourse on space representations revolves around the nation-shaping force of geography, the gendered dynamics of landscapes, the topography of isolation and integration, the politics of imperialism, globalization, environmentalism as well as the power of language and narrative to turn space into place. One of the major aims of the volume is to show that the world of the Classics is not just the origin, but the essence of current debates on spatial constructions and reconstructions.

Articles and Book Chapters by Ioannis Ziogas

Dolin, K. (ed.) Law and Literature. Cambridge University Press. , 2018

Ovid's poetry opens a dialog with the three major Hesiodic works: the Theogony, the Works and Day... more Ovid's poetry opens a dialog with the three major Hesiodic works: the Theogony, the Works and Days, and the Catalog of Women. The ways in which these works complement or differ from each other are reflected in Ovid's Ars Amatoria, Metamorphoses, and Fasti. Hesiod's works are both diverse and integrated, a combination that appealed to Ovid's versatile genius. Stylistic and thematic aspects of Hesiodic poetry, such as puns and transformations, further resonate with Ovidian poetics. Ovid engages with Hesiod's text directly and indirectly through the tradition of Hesiodic reception which includes philosophers such as Xenophanes and Philodemus, and Hellenistic poets such as Callimachus and Aratus.

Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, 2017

Shakespeare’s Et tu, Brute has been influential in shaping a tradition that interprets Caesar’s l... more Shakespeare’s Et tu, Brute has been influential in shaping a tradition that
interprets Caesar’s last words as an expression of shock at Brutus’ betrayal. Yet this interpretation is not suggested in the ancient sources that attest the tag καὶ σύ, τέκνον (‘you too, son’). This article argues that Caesar’s dictum evokes a formula of funerary epigrams, which refers to death as the common lot of all mortals. The epitaphic connotations of καὶ σύ or tu quoque feature in epic poetry, a connection that lends a Homeric dimension to Caesar’s last words. The dictator’s oral epitaph predicts the death of Brutus as a consequence of his involvement in the assassination. It means ‘You too, son, will die’. The Greco-Roman belief that a dying man can foresee the future invests Caesar’s last words with prophetic authority.

Wordplay and Powerplay in Latin Poetry

Ovid’s engagement with legal discourse is a version of the elegiac recusatio, a simultaneous appr... more Ovid’s engagement with legal discourse is a version of the elegiac recusatio, a simultaneous appropriation and denial of legalisms. Set against the background of Augustus’ adultery laws, Ovidian elegy aspires to dictate and reform the rules of amatory conduct. The Ars Amatoria exemplifies the profile of love elegy as legal discourse by attempting to regulate love affairs under a regime that institutionalized passion. The conflict and interaction between the world of elegiac seduction and that of Roman law feature prominently in Acontius’ letter to Cydippe (Heroides 20). In this letter, literary sources legitimize poetic imitations; fanciful innovations mirror established traditions; wedding contracts converge with amatory deception and witness-statements with love letters. By construing an intricate nexus between the fantasies of desire and the reality and materiality of legal documents, Ovid suggests that, in the end, Cupid is in charge of both the letter and the spirit of the law.

According to Horace Orpheus and Amphion were the first legislators. They forbade casual sex, gave... more According to Horace Orpheus and Amphion were the first legislators. They forbade casual sex, gave rights to spouses, and inscribed laws on wood (Ars Poetica 396-401). Orpheus, who is both the model of the devoted husband and the founding father of pederasty, simultaneously establishes and challenges the institution of marriage. His myth acquires a deeply political dimension at Rome after the emperor Augustus introduced laws that encouraged marriage and criminalized adultery. In the Metamorphoses, Orpheus attempts to regulate desire and is subsequently executed by married women. He is a figure of Ovid, the poet who spelled out the constitution of the rules of conduct within the domains of sexual attraction in his Art of Love and was punished for subverting the institution of marriage. This paper focuses on Orpheus’ story of Myrrha in Ovid’s Metamorphoses and reads the tale against the background of Augustus’ marriage and adultery laws. The myth of Myrrha is rife with legal language and courtroom rhetoric that provocatively conflate incest with marriage.

H. Baltussen and P. Davis (eds.), The Art of Veiled Speech: Self-Censorship from Aristophanes to Hobbes. University of Pennsylvania Press, 115-36., 2015

There has been an increasing awareness in recent scholarship that Augustus’ new political regime ... more There has been an increasing awareness in recent scholarship that Augustus’ new political regime creates space for an unprecedented rivalry between poets and rulers. Hardie (1997, 182) notes: “Ovid’s final triumph is to reverse the expected dependence of poet on princeps, as chronicler and panegyrist. In an ineluctable collusion between artist and ruler we finally see the prince of poets foist on his master a poetics of principate.” (cf. Feldherr 2010, 7).

My paper examines Augustus’ and Ovid’s conflicting attempts of appropriating the Aeneid as a case study for the antagonism between poet and prince. By ignoring Vergil’s wish to have the Aeneid burned after his death, Augustus claims Vergil’s epic for himself. In his letter to Augustus, Ovid slyly calls Vergil “the author of your Aeneid”, only to continue with a tendentiously Ovidian reading of Vergil’s epic (Tr. 2.533-6). Through a parallel examination of Ovid’s and Vergil’s careers (cf. Farrell 2004; Krevans 2010), I focus on the rivalry between Ovid and Augustus in manipulating, censoring, and silencing literary traditions. In the end, neither Ovid nor Augustus is able to destroy poetic works which transcend the powers of physical destruction. Reception of poetry exceeds authorial intentions and imperial gestures.

Works Cited
Farrell, J. 2004. “Ovid’s Virgilian Career”, MD 52: 41-55.
Feldherr, A. 2010. Playing Gods. Ovid’s Metamorphoses and the Politics of Fiction. Princeton, NJ.
Hardie, P. 1997. “Questions of Authority: The Invention of Tradition in Ovid Metamorphoses 15”, in T. Habinek and A. Schiesaro (eds.) The Roman Cultural Revolution. Cambridge, 182-98.
Krevans, N. 2010. “Bookburning and the Poetic Deathbed: The Legacy of Virgil”, in P. Hardie and H. Moore (eds.) Classical Literary Careers and their Reception. Cambridge, 197-208
McGowan, M. 2009. Ovid in Exile: Power and Poetic Redress in the Tristia and Epistulae ex Ponto. Mnemosyne Supplements 309. Leiden/Boston

This article examines the reception of the Thermopylae epigram from classical Greece to modern po... more This article examines the reception of the Thermopylae epigram from classical Greece to modern poetry. The famous inscription for the Three Hundred is markedly unconventional since it is deliberately silent about the glory of the dead heroes. The plain style of the distich invites the readers to fill in the gaps that are left open. While most readers add a patriotic voice to the words of the dead heroes, I argue that we can read the epigram as creating tension between the dead soldiers and their countrymen who are responsible for their death. Kipling and A. D. Hope seem to have read the epigram this way.

Stripping the Roman Ladies: Ovid's Rites and Readers, Dec 2014

Ovid's disclaimers in the Ars Amatoria need to be read in this context. My main argument is that,... more Ovid's disclaimers in the Ars Amatoria need to be read in this context. My main argument is that, in his disclaimers, Ovid is rendering his female readership socially unrecognizable, rather than excluding respectable virgins and matronae from his audience. Ars 1.31–4, Ovid's programmatic statement about his work's target audience, is a case in point. A closer look at the passage shows that he does not necessarily warn off Roman wives and marriageable girls:

The Topography of Epic Narrative in Ovid's Metamorphoses, Dec 2013

Salman Rushdie has repeatedly compared himself with the exiled Ovid. The Roman poet has been view... more Salman Rushdie has repeatedly compared himself with the exiled Ovid. The Roman poet has been viewed as a symbol of the unjustly punished writer, the poet as victim of an oppressive ruler. In fact, for Rushdie Ovid is much more than a symbol- he is an important model. The paper argues that Rushdie draws on Ovid's Arachne in his novel Shame and that his adaptation of Arachne can shed new light on the Metamorphoses. Rushdie was a keen reader of the deeply political nature of Ovid's work when most classicists thought of Ovid as a naive and apolitical poet. The motif of art and punishment recurs both in Ovid and Rushdie, and the last part of my paper examines Rushdie's adaptation of Ovid's Orpheus in The Satanic Verses.

"If we follow the links between the Metamorphoses and the holy texts of the Old and New Testament... more "If we follow the links between the Metamorphoses and the holy texts of the Old and New Testament, then Orpheus’ account — preoccupied with transgression and sexual perversion — becomes a rather shocking take on the Judeo-Christian tradition. Ovid’s satanic gospel, you could say, not unlike Rushdie’s satanic Qur’an. And the comparison with Rushdie is fitting, though perhaps unexpected to some readers, given that Ovid’s Orpheus actually features prominently in the The Satanic Verses."
https://eidolon.pub/ovid-s-satanic-verses-5157172073a#.sgq2r2l3e

Two Thousand Years of Solitude: Exile After Ovid, Jan 1, 2012

Ovid’s exile poetry declares that the poet has become a character from his Metamorphoses, while e... more Ovid’s exile poetry declares that the poet has become a character from his Metamorphoses, while emphasizing the separation of Ovid’s book from its creator. This chapter argues that this factual/fictional polarity is also a central aspect in David Malouf’s novel An Imaginary Life, which records the poet’s struggle to survive and adjust in Tomis and ends with Ovid’s rebirth and transformation through the mediation of the Child, a wild boy who brings the metropolitan poet back to Nature. The very title of the novel juxtaposes the historical and the fictional dimension of Ovid’s exile; the novel begins programatically with a description of Tomis which turns out to be a mental dystopia, and as the novel progresses, myth breaks the boundaries of reality. Other boundaries are crossed too, as Malouf’s version of Ovid’s exile translates the Roman poet to the discourse and the topoi of postcolonial literature.

Cupid morphs into Ascanius in Aeneid 1 and I argue that this transformation invests Ascanius with... more Cupid morphs into Ascanius in Aeneid 1 and I argue that this transformation invests Ascanius with erotic qualities that are essential to understanding the boy's role in the Aeneid. Vergil deliberately blurs the distinction between Ascanius and Cupid, inviting the readers to draw a parallel between Aeneas' son and Aeneas' brother. Ascanius' Cupid-like features generically enrich Vergil's epic with the language and motifs of elegiac poetry. The intrusion of Cupid, the patron deity of Roman love elegy, into Vergil's epic opens an intriguing dialogue between two genres that are supposedly mutually exclusive.

This article discusses the Hesiodic character of the Metamorphoses vis-à-vis the Homeric characte... more This article discusses the Hesiodic character of the Metamorphoses vis-à-vis the Homeric character of the Aeneid, taking as a case study the tale of Atalanta. On the one hand I focus on the intertextual dialogue between Homeric and Hesiodic epic, on the other I argue that the interplay between the Iliad and the Catalogue of Women (also known as theEhoiai) is reflected in Ovid's Atalanta as a juxtaposition between the Aeneid and the Metamorphoses. Ovid's references to the Catalogue, which have not been noticed by critics, evoke an intergeneric discourse between martial epic and ehoie-poetry.

reference-global.com

We examine the narrative dynamics of (para-)etymologies of the name Arete in the Odyssey. Not onl... more We examine the narrative dynamics of (para-)etymologies of the name Arete in the Odyssey. Not only does ‘Arete’, through the association with' araomai' and '- rhetos' establish links between different segments of the text and fulfil proleptic and analeptic functions, but it also evokes the genre of Ehoie-poetry and so brings out the juxtaposition of genders more sharply through a play with different genres. On this argument, in which narratology intersects with gender and genre studies as well as with an etymological reading, Ehoie-poetry provides a channel for inter-gender communication and enables Odysseus to complete his nostos.