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Memory and material objects in the Iliad and the Odyssey*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 January 2010

Jonas Grethlein
Jonas Grethlein
Affiliation:
Universität Heidelberg
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Abstract:

Recently, archaeologists have been focusing on material relics as evidence of a historical consciousness. This article examines the Iliad and the Odyssey from the point of view of this ‘archaeology of the past’. Various material objects, ranging from tombs to everyday objects, evoke the past in the epic poems, thereby enriching the narrative and providing reflections on the act of memory. In turn, Homeric evidence sheds new light on the hermeneutics of relics in archaic oral society.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Hellenic Studies , Volume 128 , November 2008 , pp. 27 - 51
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies 2008

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