An Avian and Aphrodisian Reading of Homer's Odyssey

Bibliographic Data

ID2461607
AuthorsPaul Friedrich (0000-0003-3653-5624)
Year1997
Volume99
Issue2
Pages306-320
Publication date1997-06-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Anthropologist (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-7294 • E-ISSN: 1548-1433
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1525/aa.1997.99.2.306
OpenAlexW2025368113
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited16

The meaning, even the sheer presence, of birds in the Odyssey has been ignored by all but a few scholars. A similar statement could be made about an aphrodisian reading of the text. Yet Homer felt that birds were deeply significant, often as symbols of Aphrodite. Examination of these meanings leads to a unique understanding of essential, underlying values in Homeric culture. Such efforts are consonant with the anthropological goal of understanding how culturally defined natural phenomena work in the articulation, expression, and condensation of powerful, culturally defined emotions

Aesthetics · Archaeology · Art · Articulation (sociology · Epistemology · Expression (computer science · Linguistics · Literature · Meaning (existential · Natural (archaeology · Political science · Reading (process · Sociology · Statement (logic · Computer Science · Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies · History · Language, Metaphor, and Cognition · Law · Philosophy · Rhetoric and Communication Studies

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub