TY - JOUR A1 - Capra, Elena Sofia ED - Ambühl, Annemarie ED - Carlà-Uhink, Filippo ED - Rollinger, Christian ED - Walde, Christine T1 - "Orfeo out of Care" BT - The Reception of the Classical Myth of Orpheus from Sir Orfeo to Tolkien JF - thersites 15 N2 - The paper focuses on an example of multiple-step reception: the contribution of the classical story of Orpheus and Eurydice and the mediaeval lay Sir Orfeo to Tolkien’s work. In the first part, I compare the lay with Virgilian and Ovidian versions of Orpheus’ myth. This comparison shows the anonymous author’s deep knowledge of the ancient texts and complex way of rewriting them through stealing and hybridization. The lay was highly esteemed by Tolkien, who translated it and took inspiration from it while describing the Elven kingdom in The Hobbit and building the storyline of Beren and Lúthien in The Silmarillion. Through this key tale, Orpheus/Orfeo’s romance has a deep influence also on Aragorn and Arwen’s story in The Lord of the Rings. The most important element that Tolkien takes from the Sir Orfeo figuration of the ancient story is undoubtedly the insertion of political theme: the link established between the recovery of the main character’s beloved and the return to royal responsability. The second part of the paper is, thus, dedicated to the reception of Sir Orfeo and the classical myth in Tolkien. It shows how in his work the different steps of the tradition of Orpheus’ story are co-present, creating an inextricable substrate of inspiration that nourishes his imagination. KW - Orpheus and Eurydice KW - Sir Orfeo KW - reception KW - Tolkien KW - Beren and Lúthien Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.34679/thersites.vol15.209 SN - 2364-7612 VL - 2022 IS - 15 SP - 52 EP - 89 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Pezzini, Giuseppe ED - Ambühl, Annemarie ED - Carlà-Uhink, Filippo ED - Rollinger, Christian ED - Walde, Christine T1 - (Classical) Narratives of Decline in Tolkien: Renewal, Accommodation, Focalisation JF - thersites 15 N2 - The paper investigates Tolkien’s narratives of decline through the lens of their classical ancestry. Narratives of decline are widespread in ancient culture, in both philosophical and literary discourses. They normally posit a gradual degradation (moral and ontological) from an idealized Golden Age, which went hand-in-hand with increasing detachment of gods from mortal affairs. Narratives of decline are also at the core of Tolkien’s mythology, constituting yet another underresearched aspect of classical influence on Tolkien. Such Classical narratives reverberate e.g. in Tolkien’s division of Arda’s history into ages, from an idealized First Age filled with Joy and Light to a Third Age, described as “Twilight Age (…) the first of the broken and changed world” (Letters 131). More generally, these narratives are related to Tolkien’s notorious perception of history as a “long defeat” (Letters 195) and to that “heart-racking sense of the vanished past” which pervades Tolkien’s works – the emotion which, in his words, moved him “supremely” and which he found “small difficulty in evoking” (Letters 91). The paper analyses the reception of narratives of decline in Tolkien’s legendarium, pointing out similarities but also contrasts and differences, with the aim to discuss some key patterns of (classical) reception in Tolkien’s theory and practice (‘renewal’, ‘accommodation’, ‘focalization’). KW - narrative of decline KW - Hesiod KW - reception KW - focalization KW - accommodation Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.34679/thersites.vol15.213 SN - 2364-7612 VL - 2022 IS - 15 SP - 25 EP - 51 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Cristini, Marco ED - Ambühl, Annemarie ED - Carlà-Uhink, Filippo ED - Rollinger, Christian ED - Walde, Christine T1 - The Fall of Two Cities: Troy and Gondolin JF - thersites 15 N2 - Vergil was a fundamental source of inspiration for Tolkien, not only when writing the Lord of the Rings, but also at the beginning of his “world-building”. The Fall of Gondolin, written in 1916, was modeled upon the Aeneid, whose second book shares many similarities with the description of Gondolin’s last day. For instance, the attack that seals the fate of the city takes place during a feast in both works, whereas both protagonists (Aeneas and Tuor) leave wives and sons to fight the enemy and witness deaths of their kings (Priam/Turgon). Other analogies include the topos of the fall of the tallest tower of the city as well as the scenes of Creusa/Idril clasping the knees of her husband and begging him not to go back to the battle. Tolkien chose the Aeneid as his main model because, in his opinion, the Aeneid and The Fall of Gondolin evoked the air of antiquity and melancholy. Vergil’s nostalgia for a “lost world” conveyed in the Aeneid greatly resembles the nostalgia pervading both Tolkien’s writing and life. KW - Tolkien KW - reception of Vergil KW - Aeneid KW - Troy KW - Gondolin Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.34679/thersites.vol15.200 VL - 2022 IS - 15 SP - 1 EP - 24 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Matz, Alicia A1 - Paprocki, Maciej ED - Ambühl, Annemarie ED - Carlà-Uhink, Filippo ED - Rollinger, Christian ED - Walde, Christine T1 - There and Back Again: Tolkien and Greco-Roman Antiquity JF - thersites 15 N2 - The following introduction sketches the status questionis of the research on the influence of Greco-Roman antiquity on the works of Tolkien and provides details about the volume’s theoretical impetus and its broad themes. The editors discuss Tolkien’s complicated and indirect relationship with classical models, underscoring certain emergent themes in volume’s contributions, such as decline, multifocal reception and relationship with nature. KW - Tolkien KW - classical reception Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.34679/thersites.vol15.228 SN - 2364-7612 VL - 2022 IS - 15 SP - i EP - xii ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Klooster, Jacqueline ED - Ambühl, Annemarie ED - Carlà-Uhink, Filippo ED - Rollinger, Christian T1 - Review of Sophia Xenophontos and Katerina Oikonomopoulou: Brill’s Companion to the Reception of Plutarch BT - Brill (Leiden 2019) (= Brill’s Companions to Classical Reception 20), 693 pages, 2 figures. ISBN: 978-90-04-28040-3, € 198 JF - thersites 14 Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.34679/thersites.vol14.197 SN - 2364-7612 VL - 2022 IS - 14 SP - 160 EP - 167 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Vitello, Eugenia ED - Ambühl, Annemarie ED - Carlà-Uhink, Filippo ED - Rollinger, Christian ED - Walde, Christine T1 - Review of Emilio Zucchetti & Anna Maria Cimino (eds.): Antonio Gramsci and the Ancient World BT - London/New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2021 (= Routledge Monographs in Classical Studies), xiv + 387 pp., ISBN: 978-0-36-719314-0, £ 96.00 (hb.) JF - thersites 14 Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.34679/thersites.vol14.203 SN - 2364-7612 VL - 2022 IS - 14 SP - 188 EP - 196 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Cromwell, Jennifer ED - Ambühl, Annemarie ED - Carlà-Uhink, Filippo ED - Rollinger, Christian ED - Walde, Christine T1 - From Pyramids to Obscure Gods BT - The Creation of an Egyptian World in Persona 5 JF - thersites 14 N2 - Within Persona 5’s modern Tokyo setting, imagined worlds are created that represent the cognitive processes of various characters. These ‘palaces’ allow the player to explore locations far removed from the game’s real-world, contemporary backdrop. One episode creates an ancient Egyptian world. This article examines how this world has been produced and the different transmedial tropes and other influences that its developers have drawn upon. Many references are recognisable to a broad audience (pyramids, gods, hieroglyphs), while others reflect Japanese pop-cultural trends (in various manga and anime), including the mention of an obscure Egyptian god, Medjed. The intentionally fictitious nature of these ‘palaces’ means that the Egypt that appears in this game is not bound by the need to replicate an ‘accurate’ landscape. Instead, the developers were free to design a gamescape that combines multiple and diverse receptions of ancient Egypt. KW - Egypt KW - videogames KW - Persona 5 KW - pyramids KW - gods Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.34679/thersites.vol14.199 SN - 2364-7612 VL - 2022 IS - 14 SP - 1 EP - 40 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Mihanovic, Andelko ED - Bièvre-Perrin, Fabien ED - Carlà-Uhink, Filippo ED - Rollinger, Christian ED - Walde, Christine T1 - Review of Patrick Gray: Shakespeare and the Fall of the Roman Republic: Selfhood, Stoicism and Civil War BT - Edinburgh University Press (Edinburgh 2019) (Edinburgh Critical Studies in Shakespeare and Philosophy), pp. xii + 308. ISBN: 978 I 4744 2745 6 (hardback), £80 JF - thersites 13: Antiquipop – Chefs d’œuvres revisités N2 - The article is a review of Patrick Gray's latest monograph: Shakespeare and the Fall of the Roman Republic: Selfhood, Stoicism and Civil War. Gray analyzes Shakespare's and his characters' representation of the 'self' in Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra, with Coriolanus used for comparative purposes. The book induced a lively discussion of its content in academic community. Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.34679/thersites.vol13.195 SN - 2364-7612 VL - 2021 IS - 13 SP - 213 EP - 218 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Pampanay, Élise ED - Bièvre-Perrin, Fabien ED - Carlà-Uhink, Filippo ED - Rollinger, Christian ED - Walde, Christine T1 - The Nike of Samothrace’s presences during the XX and XXI centuries: mysteries and victories JF - thersites 13: Antiquipop – Chefs d’œuvres revisités N2 - Despite its fame, the Winged Victory of Samothrace keeps on fascinating not only every visitor of the Louvre museum, but also the eye of the connoisseur. Despite its recent restoration in 2014, some of its mysteries might indeed never be solved, like the identity of its sculptor. But this fascination also comes from the statue itself, its majestic aesthetics and lack of head, in a similar fashion perhaps to the loss of the Venus of Milo’s arms. Since her discovery more than 150 years ago by Charles Champoiseau, she’s been on the throne at the top of the Daru stairs at the Louvre Museum. This hellenistic masterpiece, that Champoiseau called a ”mousseline de marbre”, became a must see in the Paris museum, together with the Mona Lisa and its other chefs d’oeuvre. But this statue’s fate is not set in stone. Many modern artists, like Omar Hassan or Xu Zhen, have tried to make it their own and give it a new depth. Recently, Beyonce and Jay-Z also offered a new perspective by including this Louvre masterpiece, among others, in their political masterstroke, the video clip ”Apeshit”. This paper seeks to decode the meanings and symbolism of these new versions of the Nike. KW - Nike of Samothrace KW - sculpture KW - polychromy KW - victories KW - modern art Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.34679/thersites.vol13.146 SN - 2364-7612 VL - 2021 IS - 13 SP - 71 EP - 83 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bièvre-Perrin, Fabien ED - Bièvre-Perrin, Fabien ED - Carlà-Uhink, Filippo ED - Rollinger, Christian ED - Walde, Christine T1 - “Everything is a copy of a copy of a copy” BT - Preface JF - thersites 13: Antiquipop – Chefs d’œuvres revisités N2 - A quote from Fight Club (Chuck Palahniuk, 1996) may seem unusual for a Classicist. Nevertheless, this famous sentence summarises the contents of this special issue of thersites perfectly. As specialists in classical reception frequently witness, there is a sort of déjà-vu effect when it comes to the presence of Antiquity within popular culture. In 2019, to try to better understand the phenomenon, Antiquipop invited researchers to take an interest in the construction and semantic path of these “masterpieces” in contemporary popular culture, with a particular focus on the 21st century. Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.34679/thersites.vol13.191 SN - 2364-7612 VL - 2021 IS - 13 SP - i EP - v ER -