The Greeks and the New: Novelty in Ancient Greek Imagination and Experience

by Armand D'Angour

• ISBN13: 9780521616485
• ISBN10: 0521616484
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-10-31
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

The Greeks have long been regarded as innovators across a wide range of fields in literature, culture, philosophy, politics and science. However, little attention has been paid to how they thought and felt about novelty and innovation itself, and to relating this to the forces of traditionalism and conservatism which were also present across all the various societies within ancient Greece. What inspired the Greeks to embark on their unique and enduring innovations? How did they think and feel about the new? This book represents the first serious attempt to address these issues, and deals with the phenomenon across all periods and areas of classical Greek history and thought. Each chapter concentrates on a different area of culture or thought, while the book as a whole argues that much of the impulse towards innovation came from the life of the polis which provided its setting.

Author Biography

Armand D'Angour is Fellow and Tutor in Classics at Jesus College Oxford.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	p. ix
Introduction	p. 1
New, new, new	p. 11
Novelty in Greek Culture	p. 12
'New': word and concept	p. 19
The psychology of novelty	p. 27
Dimensions of novelty	p. 32
Loosening the grip of the past	p. 36
The grip of the past	p. 41
Novelty and time	p. 43
Novelty and multiplicity	p. 49
Nothing new	p. 52
Song's new chariot?	p. 57
Conclusions	p. 61
The transformations of Kaineus	p. 64
Two words for new	p. 66
The emergence of kainos	p. 71
The myth of Kaineus	p. 74
The mark of qayin	p. 79
Old and new	p. 85
The Pythagorean table	p. 90
Old and young	p. 98
Old versus new	p. 102
Kaina kai palaia	p. 104
Nothing new under the sun	p. 108
What's new under the sun	p. 109
Cycles of novelty	p. 112
Cycles of nature	p. 116
Ex arkhes	p. 119
Thinking new thoughts (1)	p. 122
Thinking new thoughts (2)	p. 126
Ex oriente novitas	p. 129
The birth of Athena	p. 134
The brainchild of Zeus	p. 138
The radiance of the new	p. 141
Novelty and wonder	p. 148
The shock of the new	p. 150
Birth into the new	p. 157
Inventions of Eris	p. 162
Serious play	p. 166
The gleam of glory	p. 170
Innovation in battle	p. 173
Inventions of war	p. 177
Inventions of peace	p. 179
Conclusions	p. 181
The newest song	p. 184
The discourse of novelty	p. 190
Prin and nun - then and now	p. 195
A tradition of innovation	p. 198
New music, new sounds	p. 202
Constructions of novelty	p. 207
Novelty in the air	p. 211
The innovationist turn	p. 216
So what's new?	p. 225
References	p. 233
General index	p. 247
Index of Greek terms	p. 253
Index locorum	p. 255
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