Wandering in Ancient Greek Culture
Attitudes toward wandering have evolved in accordance with cultural perspectives, causing some characterizations to persist while others have faded. For instance, the status of wanderers in Greek societies varied from outcasts and madmen to sages, who were recognized as mystical, even divine. Examining the act of wandering through many lenses, Wandering in Ancient Greek Culture shows how the transformation of the wanderer coincided with new perceptions of the world and of travel and invites us to consider its definition and import today.
“What some might think a waste of time, a slightly suspect though enviable occupation, Montiglio has beautifully shown to be a key cultural expression in the ancient Greek world: wandering. Her lucid, vibrant commentary on dozens of texts and figures takes us on a leisurely stroll through centuries, from Homer’s Odysseus, forefather of the practice, to Apollonius of Tyana, the peripatetic sage. In this rich analysis, gods, heroes, poets, wise men, pilgrims and sightseers are fellow travelers, revealing, by multiple juxtapositions, curious new features against the bright landscape. For the Greeks, higher truth came to those who moved around, as it will to readers following these learned pathways with Montiglio’s sure-footed lead.”--Richard P. Martin, Stanford University
“Montiglio explores the many meanings of wandering for the ancient Greeks: to be far from home, exiled, lost, even mad (wandering wits); but also to be on a quest for adventure or for knowledge. Whether a challenge or an ordeal, wandering was always dangerous and a sign of mortality: only gods roam safely, or stay eternally in place. Montiglio’s book is a pleasure to read—gracefully written, learned, as wide-ranging as its subject, and equally full of surprises and sudden vistas.”--David Konstan, Brown University
List of Abbreviations
Introduction
1. Wandering in Space and Time
On the Deep, at the Edges
At the Beginning
Transition and Crisis
2. Pains and Privations of Wandering
"For Mortals, Nothing Is Worse than Wandering"
The Exile as Wanderer
Madness: Wandering with No Return
3. Wandering and the Human Condition
Homo Viator: Before Philosophy
The "Fault" of Odysseus
Do Not Forget Your Wanderings: Odysseus under Circe's Spell
4. To Judge and to Deceive: The Wanderings of the Gods
Wandering and Divine Power
Demeter's Destructive Wandering
Dionysus, the Wanderer
Wandering Enfants Terribles: Eros and Hermes
5. Itinerant Sages in Archaic and Classical Greece
Wandering, Lying, and Poetry
The Aura of Wandering: Xenophanes and Empedocles
Wandering for the Sake of Profit: From Homer to the Sophists
6. Choosing to Be Odysseus: Herodotus and Ionian Theoria
The Excitement of Theoria in Fifth-Century Athens
Wanderers Discover the World
To Observe and to Collect
Wandering Writings and Truthfulness in Herodotus's Histories
7. Wandering along the Journey to Truth: From Parmenides to Plato
Parmenides' "Unwandering" Journey to Being
In Search of Wisdom: Plato's Presentation of Socrates' Wandering
Plato on Traveling and Wisdom
Between Ascent and Navigation
Walking, Sitting, and Standing
8. In Praise of Homeless Wandering: The Cynics
Diogenes, the Outcast of Tragedy
Cynic Wandering in Greco-Roman Literature
Dio Chrysostom's Self-Presentation as a Wandering Philosopher
9. The World as Home: Cosmic Citizens and Godlike Travelers
Stay Where You are Stationed, Go Where You Are Sent: The Stoics on Wandering
The Godlike Wanderings of Apollonius of Tyana in Philostratus's Life of Apollonius
10. Wandering in the Greek Novel
Ignorance and Alienation
The Meaning of "Home" in One's Journey: From Apollonius's Argonautica to the Novel
Love and Philosophy
The Ruler of Wandering: Fortune or Providence?
Wandering, Fiction, and Storytelling
Epilogue: What Greek Wanderers Did Not Do
Bibliography
Index
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