Jon Hesk | University of St Andrews (original) (raw)

Blogs by Jon Hesk

Books by Jon Hesk

This book is a study of the ways in which classical Athenian texts represent and evaluate the mor... more This book is a study of the ways in which classical Athenian texts represent and evaluate the morality of deception. It is particularly concerned with the way in which the telling of lies was a problem for the world's first democracy and compares this problem with the modern Western situation. There are major sections on Greek tragedy, comedy, oratory, historiography and philosophy.

Sophocles' Ajax is one of the most disturbing and powerful surviving ancient tragedies. But it is... more Sophocles' Ajax is one of the most disturbing and powerful surviving ancient tragedies. But it is also difficult to understand and interpret. What are we to make of its protagonist's extremism? Does Ajax deserve the isolation and divine punishment he experiences? Why is his state of mind so difficult to determine? Dr Hesk offers answers to these and many other questions by drawing together the very latest critical work on the play and introducing the reader to key frames for its interpretation, including Sophoclean heroism, language and form; Homeric intertextuality and Athens' 'masculinist' culture, and the twentieth-century reception of Ajax.

Papers by Jon Hesk

Greek Notions of the Past in the Archaic and Classical Eras, 2012

The Journal of Hellenic Studies, 2010

Conflict and Consensus in Early Greek Hexameter Poetry, 2000

Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies, 2013

Deception and Democracy in Classical Athens, 2000

Programme note for the Edinburgh International Festival revival of the acclaimed ORESTEIA: THIS R... more Programme note for the Edinburgh International Festival revival of the acclaimed ORESTEIA: THIS RESTLESS HOUSE by Zinnie Harris and directed by Dominic Hill (a Citizen’s Theatre production in association with the National Theatre of Scotland)

The Classical Review, 2001

Terrence Malick’s The Thin Red Line (1998) engages with Homer, via Heidegger on the pre-Socratic... more Terrence Malick’s The Thin Red Line (1998) engages with Homer, via Heidegger on the pre-Socratics, in order to ask questions about the ‘spectacular’ aspects of warfare and their narrativization in film. As we watch a beautiful early morning sky, an ambitious, glory-seeking commander boasts about how he read Homer during his officer training and cites a well-known Homeric epithet as we watch a beautiful early morning sky (‘Ἠώς ῥοδοδάκτυλος’… ‘Rosy Fingered Dawn’). This moment signals the film’s complex reception of Homer. Where the ‘anti-war’ sentiment of many recent combat films is undercut by an imperative to entertain and seduce their audiences with spectacular violence, Malick draws on the dynamics of Homeric similes and scenes to expose and de-center the spectacular seductions of war and their filmic reproduction. This fresh vision is articulated through the film’s emphasis on the spectacular wonders of nature and the ‘other world’ which they reveal.

Key words: Terrence Malick, Homer, Iliad, spectacle, heroics, The Thin Red Line, similes, Homeric similes, war films, epic.

This chapter outlines some key trends in twentieth- and twenty-first-century classical scholarshi... more This chapter outlines some key trends in twentieth- and twenty-first-century classical scholarship on Thucydides and argues that knowledge of this scholarship is important for all who appeal to Thucydides in other disciplines and public life. It looks at the ways in which Thucydides’ status as “trustworthy” and “scientific” has been challenged and reconfigured. Approaches which originated in other disciplines have shaped classicists’ and ancient historians’ work on Thucydides considerably. When classics and ancient history are in dialogue with other disciplines, fresh perspectives on the History usually emerge for all parties. Cross-disciplinary dialogue even allows Thucydides a continuing, productive role in theoretical controversies concerning the nature, limits, and uses of historical narrative and inquiry.

La représentation négative de l’autre dans l'Antiquité: Hostilité, réprobation, dépréciation.. Queyrel Bottineau, A. (ed.). Dijon: Editions Universitaires de Dijon, p. 143-160 17 p., 2014

Athenian forensic orators of the fourth century draw upon “negative representations of the other”... more Athenian forensic orators of the fourth century draw upon “negative representations of the other”, especially in the form of invective narrrative and name-calling. While both the “absolute other” (e.g. non-Athenian birth) and the “bad citizen” (e.g. the bribe-taker, sycophant or ‘counterfeit orator) are crucial categories for the winning of the case at hand, their deployment in invective is not just a reflection or reinforcement of a pre-existing Athenian democratic mentalité. Rather, the lawcourts were a major conduit for the refreshment and refinement of values, categories and distinctions. I suggest that this ongoing process of refreshment and refinement allowed for certain categories of the “negative other” and their associated behaviours to be re-negotiated and re-evaluated. My example is the status and character of the trained actor who is also an ambassador or rhētōr (Aeschines On the Embassy). With reference to the representation of loidoria in Demosthenes’ On the Crown and Against Androtion, I also suggest that the medium of oratorical invective itself was subject to evaluative refinement, re-negotiation and scrutiny in the light of its associations with categories of “the other” and its uncertain position in relation to legitimate standards of forensic proof.

Athenian funeral orations did not simply celebrate Athenian military achievements or renew and au... more Athenian funeral orations did not simply celebrate Athenian military achievements or renew and augment a specifically anonymous collective identity and hoplite ideology. Rather, the speeches also model the role and importance of sub-groups within the democratic polis and celebrate some individual generals for their attributes and achievements as leaders. Furthermore, internal and contextual evidence shows that the prominent leaders who were chosen to deliver these speeches were often promoting or defending their own particular involvement and advocacy of the military campaign in question. This stress on the importance of the individual ‘voice’ of the orator and the speeches' inscription of exemplary individuals (probably, but by no means certainly, much more common from the 380s downwards) offers a significant contribution to literary and historical understanding of this genre and its cultural and ideological functioning.

I assess key approaches to Sophocles' *Oedipus at Colonus* since its re-habilitation as worthy of... more I assess key approaches to Sophocles' *Oedipus at Colonus* since its re-habilitation as worthy of study in the 1970s and 1980s (although even Jebb in 1900 saw that it was not bad just because it was different). In particular I show that critics should not straightforwardly argue that Oedipus' actions and self-representation are excusable and justfied. We must acknowledge and shocking and appalling nature of his decisions as an original auidence would understand them. At the same time, there are limits to seeing Oedipus as within the boundaries of ordinary moral judgement because of the play's dramatization of Oedipus' cultic aspect. I also sift the arguments for and against the play having specific political and ideological resonances. Via Theseus' characterization and actions and Oedipus' problematic nature, I make a case for there being several very different (even opposed) ways in which an audience of 402/1 might see the play as politically and ideologically relevant.

The significance and originality of this piece is best summed up by Prof Suzanne Said of Columbia... more The significance and originality of this piece is best summed up by Prof Suzanne Said of Columbia University who writes a response essay at the end of this volume: 'Hesk looks at the uses of a popular and civic past and strongly criticizes Ober’s recent contention that ‘a shared repertoire of common knowledge along with a commitment to democratic values meant that… jurors would often align in more or less predictable ways’(Ober 2008: 191). *Hesk convincingly demonstrates that Athenian decision making was informed by a much more sceptical attitude*. Through a reading of the few cases where we happen to have the arguments used by both sides ( Aeschines’ Against Timarchus and its criticism later on by Demosthenes On the embassy, Aeschines and Demosthenes’ speeches On the embassy, Aeschines’ Against Ctesiphon and Demosthenes’ On the Crown) and a reconstruction from one speech (Lycurgus’ Against Leocrates) of the historical arguments used by the other, he points out passages that question the relevance and applicability of some historical exempla, appeal to another set of historical precedents, reinterpret in an opposite way the same item of history, and debunk a rosy portrait of Athenian past. He also demonstrates the influence of contemporary critical historiography on Demosthenes who in 19. 251 questions ‘bogus historical evidence’ (Solon’s statue supposedly portraying Solon’s oratorical demeanor is merely fifty years old) and ‘realigns the exemplarity of Solon in his own favor by relying on a good historical evidence, Solon’s Salamis elegy.'

Why Athens?: A Reappraisal of Tragic Politics, Jan 1, 2011

The tragedians' frequent citation of euboulia (`deliberative virtue') helped audiences to connect... more The tragedians' frequent citation of euboulia (`deliberative virtue') helped audiences to connect the deliberations of tragic characters to the discourses and politics of their own cities in their own time. Euripides' Suppliant Women draws on, and problematizes, contemporary Athenian debates about the extent and nature of the city's euboulia. The important role of pity and sungnomē (`sympathy') in affecting deliberation is also highlighted by this play. The Rhesus is less Atheno-centric but shows Greeks that euboulia, while valuable, is often thwarted by bad luck or divine intervention. Hector's character and actions valorize group consultation. But the plan he agrees upon does not avert disaster. Meanwhile, Odysseus shows that individual leaders sometimes need to be eubouloi without recourse to the advice of others. Both plays model better and worse ways of deliberating whilst at the same time reminding Greeks (especially Athenians) that there are always unknowns which can't be planned for.

Greek Notions of the Past in the Archaic and Classical Eras, 2012

The Journal of Hellenic Studies, 2010

Conflict and Consensus in Early Greek Hexameter Poetry, 2000

Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies, 2013

Deception and Democracy in Classical Athens, 2000

The Classical Review, 2001

Key words: Terrence Malick, Homer, Iliad, spectacle, heroics, The Thin Red Line, similes, Homeric similes, war films, epic.

La représentation négative de l’autre dans l'Antiquité: Hostilité, réprobation, dépréciation.. Queyrel Bottineau, A. (ed.). Dijon: Editions Universitaires de Dijon, p. 143-160 17 p., 2014

Why Athens?: A Reappraisal of Tragic Politics, Jan 1, 2011

The Cambridge classical journal, Jan 1, 2007

Rhetorica, Jan 1, 2007

The forensic oratory of classical Athens exhibits two strategies which markedly display their dep... more The forensic oratory of classical Athens exhibits two strategies which markedly display their departure from content-specific commonplaces. The self-conscious “meta-topos” and the elaborative “para-topos” are partly reliant upon the display and appreciation of innovation for their persuasive power. This valorization of creativity can be explained by evidence that rhetorical novelty was sometimes encouraged by teachers of rhetoric and was certainly influenced by the competitive display of verse performance genres. Examples of “meta-topoi” and “para-topoi” are discussed with a view to extending our understanding of originality in Attic oratory and of how we might identify instances of it.

In this lecture, I try to isolate the complexity of Greek tragedy’s engagement with moral questio... more In this lecture, I try to isolate the complexity of Greek tragedy’s engagement with moral questions. Our case study is Euripides. His tragedies travel particularly well across and between cultures, spaces and time. But they often do so at the price of over-simplification and wishful thinking on the part of thinkers, artists and scholars. Of course, none of us can entirely escape a reading of Greek tragedy which is informed by our own position (historical, moral, cultural and ideological…). But with a bit of effort, we can recover the ways in which Euripides’ dramas explore the nature and effects of vicious thinking and hollow public morality through the medium of myth and in relation to the peculiarities of late fifth-century Athenian society. We will see that Euripides’ plays are not, as is sometimes thought, radical critiques of religious practice and belief. Nor are they proto-feminist tracts. Rather, they stage the difficulty of moral, social and political decision-making in a world where external forces are ineluctable (and yet often hard to detect), stakes are high (and yet not always easily perceived as such), and humans have the capacity to reason between courses of action (and yet find themselves in dilemmas fuelled by emotion and conflicting moral imperatives). Euripides’ intellectual and aesthetic ‘edginess’ is real but its precise dimensions and modern relevance can only be found if we regard his plays as staging inquiries and debates within a religious and social framework which is conservative in certain respects.