How Philosophers Saved Myths
Allegorical Interpretation And Classical Mythology
Brisson, Luc
Tihanyi, Catherine (TRN)
Hardcover
$25.80 + $1.99 USPS S/H
$1.29 of your order (5%) will be donated to the school of your choice.
BOOK SUMMARY
This study explains how the myths of Greece and Rome were transmitted from antiquity to the Renaissance. Luc Brisson argues that philosophy was ironically responsible for saving myth from historical annihilation. Although philosophy was initially critical
BOOK SYNOPSIS
This study explains how the myths of Greece and Rome were transmitted from antiquity to the Renaissance. Luc Brisson argues that philosophy was ironically responsible for saving myth from historical annihilation. Although philosophy was initially critical of myth because it could not be declared true or false and because it was inferior to argumentation, mythology was progressively reincorporated into philosophy through allegorical exegesis. Brisson shows to what degree allegory was employed among philosophers and how it enabled myth to take on a number of different interpretive systems throughout the centuries: moral, physical, psychological, political, and even metaphysical.
How Philosophers Saved Myths also describes how, during the first years of the modern era, allegory followed a more religious path, which was to assume a larger role in Neoplatonism. Ultimately, Brisson explains how this embrace of myth was carried forward by Byzantine thinkers and artists throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance; after the triumph of Chistianity, Brisson argues, myths no longer had to agree with just history and philosophy but the dogmas of the Church as well.
AUTHOR BIO
Luc Brisson is director of research at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in France. He is the author of several books including Plato the Mythmaker, published in English by the University of Chicago Press. Catherine Tihanyi, a research associate at Western Washington University, has translated a number of books for the University of Chicago Press, including Adam Biros Two Jews on a Train.
BOOK REVIEWS
2006 Outstanding Academic Title, Choice magazine
"In his brilliant and lively book, Brisson follows the history of the link between myth and philosophy all the way up to the Renaissance. This wonderful book confirms Brisson''s status as one of the major authorities in the field of classical antiquity. Overall, and with this excellent translation, the book is invaluable."
Submit a book reviewFOR RELATED BOOKS
History Books :: Ancient Books :: Greece Books
MORE BOOK INFO
ISBN: 0226075354
ISBN(13-digit): 9780226075358
Copyright: 2004
Dewey Decimal: 201/.3/01
Library of Congress: 2004006948
Book Publisher: Univ of Chicago Pr
Language: ENG
No. of Pages: 206
If you like this book, you may also enjoy:
 | |
 | |
 | |
| The Ionian Islands | |
Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea | |
The Ancient City | |
| Freely, John | |
Cahill, Thomas | |
De Coulanges, Numa Denis Fustel | |
