Concentrating on the motif of the heavenly journey in Manilius’s “Astronomica”, this contribution raises the question as to whether the combination of poetry and teaching in didactic poetry can bring about intrinsic advantages. It is argued that the motif does not just transport the poet’s claim to have privileged access to knowledge, but can also have objective functions in the transfer of knowledge. According to recent cognitive studies, perception is deeply rooted in the sensorimotor system; in light of these insights, (...) the motif can be seen to make the subject of instruction more experienceable for the recipients as it depicts bodily interaction with the cosmos. (shrink)

The adjective λυσιμελής (“limb-loosening”) and related statements about bodies dissolving or melting are found in Greek literature in an astonishing variety of contexts, above all in relation to sleep, death and erotic desire. The present paper asks what made the idea of (limbs) loosening so attractive for authors and it traces their use from early Greek epic (Homer and Hesiod) through lyric (Archilochus, Alcman, Sappho, Ibycus, Anacreon and Pindar) to Plato’sPhaedrus. This brings several factors to light: the adjective and related (...) expressions describe existential experiences of loss of control in an embodied way that 1) points to real psychosomatic correlations, 2) contributes to vividness in the sense of ‘embodied cognition’ and often 3) switches between the concrete and the metaphorical, with the latter intensifying the expressive potential especially in lyric. At the same time, a gradual shift can be observed from an integrated concept of the body towards a (conceptual) metaphor. This apparently unremarkable adjective and its related notions thus permit a deep insight into both the cultural ideas and the literary strategies of early and classical Greece. (shrink)

Lucian’s work De historia conscribenda not only presents reflections on how one should or should not write history, but also illustrates possible ways to represent the authorial activity of a historian (i. e. how one writes ‘metahistory’). In this, two basic forms can be distinguished, both of which can be understood from a narratological perspective as metalepses. In the first case, the historian is represented as the direct originator of the action; in the second he acts as a mere observer, (...) but one who moves spatially in and with his action. Both forms of statement stand within traditions of motifs that can be traced from antiquity through to the modern era; yet Lucian nonetheless makes an innovative contribution by inscribing value judgements into the motifs. The result is the suggestion that the historian fulfils the role of observer, while the role of originator turns out to be more apt for the poet than for the historian. This permits far-reaching conclusions to be drawn about the conception of poetry and historiography as a whole. (shrink)