Edith Foster | The College of Wooster (original) (raw)

Books by Edith Foster

Kinesis: The Ancient Depiction of Gesture, Motion, and Emotion, Festschrift for Donald Lateiner, 2015

editors. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 978-0-472-11959-2 (hardcove... more editors. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 978-0-472-11959-2 (hardcover : alk. paper) -isbn 978-0-472-12116-8 (ebook)

Papers by Edith Foster

Ktèma 47, 2022

Abstract–. This paper argues that we should distinguish the devastation of cultivated land in Her... more Abstract–. This paper argues that we should distinguish the devastation of cultivated land in Herodotus from attacks on nature. It describes the main emphases of Herodotus’ descriptions of the wasting and pillage
of agricultural land and elucidates the relation between these emphases and the events of the Peloponnesian War. The paper concludes with an argument that Herodotus portrayed devastation of land as an action that
was both intended and understood as an act of war, and that his accounts of such attacks should be considered as part of his presentation of warfare.

Shaping Good Faith: Modes of Communication in Ancient Diplomacy; Christian Wendt and Francesco Mari, eds., 2022

Ktèma 44; Dominique Lenfant, ed., 2019

Xenophon and Violence, Ag. Kapellos, ed., 2020

HISTOS Suppl. Vol. 12, 2021

Xenophon on Violence, 2019

Ktèma 44, 2019

ABSTRACT. – This paper argues that the central chapters of Book 4 of Thucydides show the failure ... more ABSTRACT. – This paper argues that the central chapters of Book 4 of Thucydides show the failure of Athens’ political initiatives during the summer of 424 BC. In these chapters, Thucydides shows that Athens accepts invitations from weak democratic factions in Megara and Boeotia in hopes of imposing new political arrangements: the strategy both relies on political affiliations and has political aims. It also has political outcomes, since Athens fails twice in a row, and both attacks result in the consolidation of hostile and oligarchical regimes. The Spartan commander Brasidas was therefore certainly important for Athens’ failures, but not their central cause.

This paper explores some important ways in which the assembly scenes in Book of Thucydides ( -and... more This paper explores some important ways in which the assembly scenes in Book of Thucydides ( -and . -) reactivate the themes and strategies of characterisation from Aristophanes' Knights. Scholars have often argued that the consistency between Thucydides' and Aristophanes' representations of Cleon and the assembly reflects a shared bias against Cleon. The paper suggests that we should review this opinion in the light of the fact that Thucydides' post-war readers were in the opposite situation from Aristophanes' triumphant post-Pylos audience of , and examines Thucydides' resuscitation of Aristophanic characterisations and themes in terms of his aims in respect to these post-war readers. As a particular example of Thucydides' re-use of Aristophanic modes, the paper examines Thucydides' close attention to depicting and explaining Cleon's denunciations of others. It goes on to mention other commonalities of theme and attitude between the two authors, and finally suggests that Thucydides' reactivation of Aristophanic themes links him to further developments in fourthcentury historiography, for which comedy was an important source.

This document contains the Table of Contents for ktèma 42 and an introduction to the Papers (in E... more This document contains the Table of Contents for ktèma 42 and an introduction to the Papers (in English, German, and French) on the reception of the defeat of Athens in the Peloponnesian War.

For strife among people who are related and understand each others' thoughts is as much worse tha... more For strife among people who are related and understand each others' thoughts is as much worse than war, as war is worse than peace. (Hdt. 8.3.1) And the Spartans, who were being shot at from both sides, were now in the same situation, to compare small things to great ones, as [those] at Thermopylae, for these were also destroyed when the Persians came around on the path . . . (Thuc. 4.36.3) Herodotus invented a prose description of battles that differed fundamentally from the poetic battle descriptions of Homer's Iliad. His battle narratives depict group rather than individual action, often display the plan of a battle, and offer frequent explanations of decisions and events. They contain essential descriptions of geography, topography, and natural conditions, and depict the political, social, and military strengths and weaknesses of combatants. All of these factors were suggested in Homeric battle narrative, 1 which, however, heavily emphasized the stories and duels of individual warriors, and structured combat narrative by means of the traditional patterns available to the poet; these were ably analysed

Kinesis: The Ancient Depiction of Gesture, Motion, and Emotion, Festschrift for Donald Lateiner, 2015

editors. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 978-0-472-11959-2 (hardcove... more editors. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 978-0-472-11959-2 (hardcover : alk. paper) -isbn 978-0-472-12116-8 (ebook)

Ktèma 47, 2022

Abstract–. This paper argues that we should distinguish the devastation of cultivated land in Her... more Abstract–. This paper argues that we should distinguish the devastation of cultivated land in Herodotus from attacks on nature. It describes the main emphases of Herodotus’ descriptions of the wasting and pillage
of agricultural land and elucidates the relation between these emphases and the events of the Peloponnesian War. The paper concludes with an argument that Herodotus portrayed devastation of land as an action that
was both intended and understood as an act of war, and that his accounts of such attacks should be considered as part of his presentation of warfare.

Shaping Good Faith: Modes of Communication in Ancient Diplomacy; Christian Wendt and Francesco Mari, eds., 2022

Ktèma 44; Dominique Lenfant, ed., 2019

Xenophon and Violence, Ag. Kapellos, ed., 2020

HISTOS Suppl. Vol. 12, 2021

Xenophon on Violence, 2019

Ktèma 44, 2019

ABSTRACT. – This paper argues that the central chapters of Book 4 of Thucydides show the failure ... more ABSTRACT. – This paper argues that the central chapters of Book 4 of Thucydides show the failure of Athens’ political initiatives during the summer of 424 BC. In these chapters, Thucydides shows that Athens accepts invitations from weak democratic factions in Megara and Boeotia in hopes of imposing new political arrangements: the strategy both relies on political affiliations and has political aims. It also has political outcomes, since Athens fails twice in a row, and both attacks result in the consolidation of hostile and oligarchical regimes. The Spartan commander Brasidas was therefore certainly important for Athens’ failures, but not their central cause.

This paper explores some important ways in which the assembly scenes in Book of Thucydides ( -and... more This paper explores some important ways in which the assembly scenes in Book of Thucydides ( -and . -) reactivate the themes and strategies of characterisation from Aristophanes' Knights. Scholars have often argued that the consistency between Thucydides' and Aristophanes' representations of Cleon and the assembly reflects a shared bias against Cleon. The paper suggests that we should review this opinion in the light of the fact that Thucydides' post-war readers were in the opposite situation from Aristophanes' triumphant post-Pylos audience of , and examines Thucydides' resuscitation of Aristophanic characterisations and themes in terms of his aims in respect to these post-war readers. As a particular example of Thucydides' re-use of Aristophanic modes, the paper examines Thucydides' close attention to depicting and explaining Cleon's denunciations of others. It goes on to mention other commonalities of theme and attitude between the two authors, and finally suggests that Thucydides' reactivation of Aristophanic themes links him to further developments in fourthcentury historiography, for which comedy was an important source.

This document contains the Table of Contents for ktèma 42 and an introduction to the Papers (in E... more This document contains the Table of Contents for ktèma 42 and an introduction to the Papers (in English, German, and French) on the reception of the defeat of Athens in the Peloponnesian War.

For strife among people who are related and understand each others' thoughts is as much worse tha... more For strife among people who are related and understand each others' thoughts is as much worse than war, as war is worse than peace. (Hdt. 8.3.1) And the Spartans, who were being shot at from both sides, were now in the same situation, to compare small things to great ones, as [those] at Thermopylae, for these were also destroyed when the Persians came around on the path . . . (Thuc. 4.36.3) Herodotus invented a prose description of battles that differed fundamentally from the poetic battle descriptions of Homer's Iliad. His battle narratives depict group rather than individual action, often display the plan of a battle, and offer frequent explanations of decisions and events. They contain essential descriptions of geography, topography, and natural conditions, and depict the political, social, and military strengths and weaknesses of combatants. All of these factors were suggested in Homeric battle narrative, 1 which, however, heavily emphasized the stories and duels of individual warriors, and structured combat narrative by means of the traditional patterns available to the poet; these were ably analysed