TY - JOUR A1 - Maurice, Lisa ED - Potter, Amanda ED - Gardner, Hunter H. T1 - From Olympian to Christ-figure: Lucifer (2016 – 2021) JF - thersites 17 N2 - On the surface the television series Lucifer (2016 – 21) is a simple police procedural but, in actuality, the criminal cases in the show serve merely as window-dressing and structure for the deeper consideration of issues, such as guilt, shame, love, and even the meaning of life on both an individual and universal level. These topics are explored through the ever-developing character of Lucifer himself, who, like other recent anti-hero depictions, is initially presented in a manner that is very different from traditional portrayals of the Devil, and is, in fact, far closer to that of the Greek Olympian gods. Over the course of six seasons, the depiction of Lucifer alters, however, as he becomes a figure that is in many ways Christ-like, but with a 21st century twist that places the individual in an exalted position that is superior to that of divinity. KW - Lucifer KW - Devil KW - Olympians KW - God KW - Christ Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.34679/thersites.vol17.244 SN - 2364-7612 VL - 2023 IS - 17 SP - 245 EP - 272 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Martínez Jiménez, Javier ED - Potter, Amanda ED - Gardner, Hunter H. T1 - Lycaon and classical versipelles in MTV’s Teen Wolf JF - thersites 17 N2 - The modern conception of the werewolf is heavily influenced by Gothic reinterpretations of medieval European stories. This kind of werewolf is the one that has appeared on screen and written fiction for decades, but MTV’s Teen Wolf, a re-boot of the 1980s film which aired between 2011 – 17, is different. In this young adult supernatural drama, werewolves descend directly from Lycaon, and a substantial proportion of the show’s werewolf lore derives from Graeco-Roman stories about wolf-shifters and versipelles. This paper wants to explore the extent of the use in the show of the myth of Lycaon in particular, of Classical versipelles in general, the significance of these two references for the narrative, and the degree of innovation in modern supernatural fiction of this adaptation of Greek and Roman stories. KW - Teen Wolf KW - Werewolves KW - Versipelles KW - Lycaon KW - Television series KW - World-building Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.34679/thersites.vol17.248 SN - 2364-7612 VL - 2023 IS - 17 SP - 212 EP - 244 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Skibinski, Connie ED - Potter, Amanda ED - Gardner, Hunter H. T1 - ‘Crazy Man-Killing Monsters’ BT - The Inimical Portrayal of the Amazons in Supernatural’s ‘Slice Girls’ JF - thersites 17 N2 - The Amazons have a long legacy in literature and the visual arts, extending from antiquity to the present day. Prior scholarship tends to treat the Amazons as hostile ‘Other’ figures, embodying the antithesis of Greco-Roman cultural norms. Recently, scholars have begun to examine positive portrayals of Amazons in contemporary media, as role models and heroic figures. However, there is a dearth of scholarship examining the Amazons’ inherently multifaceted nature, and their subsequent polarised reception in popular media. This article builds upon the large body of scholarship on contemporary Amazon narratives, in which the figures of Wonder Woman and Xena, Warrior Princess dominate scholarly discourse. These ‘modern Amazon’ figures epitomise the dominant contemporary trend of portraying Amazons as strong female role models and feminist icons. To highlight the complexity of the Amazon image in contemporary media, this article examines the representation of the Amazons in the Supernatural episode ‘Slice Girls’ (S7 E13, 2012), where their portrayal as hostile, monstrous figures diverges greatly from the positive characterisation of Wonder Woman and Xena. I also consider the show’s engagement with ancient written sources, to examine how the writers draw upon the motifs of ancient Amazon narratives when crafting their unique Amazon characters. By contrasting the Amazons of ‘Slice Girls’ to contemporary figures and ancient narratives, this article examines how factors such as feminist ideology, narrative story arcs, characters’/audience’s perspectives and male bias shape the representation of Amazons post-antiquity. KW - Amazons KW - Warrior women KW - Classical reception KW - Supernatural KW - Monsters Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.34679/thersites.vol17.240 SN - 2364-7612 VL - 2023 IS - 17 SP - 183 EP - 211 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Siegel, Janice ED - Potter, Amanda ED - Gardner, Hunter H. T1 - Guillermo del Toro’s Hellboy: A Kinder, Gentler, More Modern Heracles JF - thersites 17 N2 - In Hellboy (2004, Sony Pictures), Guillermo del Toro presents a mythic hero (half human/half demon) seemingly made from the same mold as the classical hero Heracles (Hercules). Hellboy’s modern world is shaped by a cosmology not unlike that of Greek mythology, and as is true for Heracles, his unique pedigree and superior physicality empower him to mediate between the forces of supernaturality and humanity. Hellboy’s experiences evoke comparison with most characters and exploits in the Heraclean mythological corpus; his good character precludes comparison with others. Hellboy must contend with his own versions of Hera, Eurystheus, and a Nemean Lion/Hydra-like monster. He, too, relies on his own superhuman strength, innate cunning and an Athena-like protector to be successful at his job. Both heroes navigate a difficult path to their very different destinies. But in the end, Hellboy’s compassion, humility, unerring moral compass, and genuinely altruistic motivations make him both a better man and a better mythic hero, one worthy even of being loved. KW - Hellboy KW - Heracles/Herakles/Hercules KW - Classical Reception KW - Reception of Mythology KW - Mythic Hero Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.34679/thersites.vol17.253 SN - 2364-7612 VL - 2023 IS - 17 SP - 143 EP - 182 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Strong, Anise K. ED - Potter, Amanda ED - Gardner, Hunter H. T1 - The Persistence of Memory BT - Forgiveness, Forgetting, and Cultural Assimilation JF - thersites 17 N2 - The 2017 Pixar film Coco and the 2021 Disney film Encanto form a small part of an increasing modern wave of media focused on parent-child conflicts caused by intergenerational trauma and rejection. Other recent works in this genre include the video game Hades, the films Turning Red and Everything Everywhere All At Once, and the television series Ms. Marvel. The traumas in all these films, some directed explicitly at a younger audience and some pitched more broadly, serve as a distinct set of meditations on the immigrant experience, even while not necessarily focusing on literal immigration. They also all invoke imagery of ghosts and death, both echoing specific classical Mediterranean motifs and tropes and incorporating a wide variety of other cultures’ supernatural traditions. These works’ concern with familial traumas of separation, culture shock, and loss of ancestral memories and connections contrasts sharply with the individual-focused myth of the American Dream common to earlier generations of American media, in which a lone individual typically emigrates, assimilates, and succeeds in a new culture, forming a new family and set of myths. However, themes of assimilation and questions of cultural imperialism also form a bridge between ancient Roman and modern North American anxieties and traditions. KW - Classical Reception KW - Coco KW - Immigration KW - Ancestors KW - Underworld Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.34679/thersites.vol17.255 SN - 2364-7612 VL - 2023 IS - 17 SP - 125 EP - 142 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Potter, Amanda ED - Potter, Amanda ED - Gardner, Hunter H. T1 - Classical Monsters and Hero(ines) in InSEXts, Eros/Psyche and Porcelain JF - thersites 17 N2 - This paper applies Monster Theory to the use of Greek mythology in three creator-owned comic series by female writers: InSEXts (2016 – 2017) by American comic writer Marguerite Bennett and Indonesian artist working in America Ariela Kristantina as well as Eros/Psyche (2021) and Porcelain (2021) by Maria Llovet, a comic writer and artist from Barcelona. In the first volume of InSEXts, set in Victorian London, there are allusions to the Furies and Pandora, linked with the discourse of the repression of women. In the second volume, set in the late nineteenth century Paris art world, the representation of classical subjects in art becomes a means to repress women, and a goddess with a Gorgon-like appearance takes revenge on the male repressors. In Eros/Psyche the story of Eros and Psyche and broken statues forms the backdrop and context for a tale of love and deception at a girls’ school, and in Porcelain a girl is faced with a choice of paths towards Eros or Thanatos, like Herakles at the crossroads choosing between the paths of virtue and vice. With reference to Cohen’s seven theses of Monster Culture I examine how Bennett and Lovett subvert the idea of the monster and the hero. KW - Comics KW - Eros KW - Psyche KW - Pygmalion KW - Medusa Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.34679/thersites.vol17.247 SN - 2364-7612 VL - 2023 IS - 17 SP - 96 EP - 124 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Lovatt, Helen ED - Potter, Amanda ED - Gardner, Hunter H. T1 - Resurrecting the Argo BT - Supernatural Re-makings in Robert Holdstock’s Merlin Codex JF - thersites 17 N2 - This paper analyses the relationship between the figure of the Argo (ship and character) and the supernatural in the mythic fantasy of Robert Holdstock’s Merlin Codex. It shows how Holdstock’s re-writing of the Argonautica draws on various versions from the Argonautic tradition, including Euripides’ Medea, Apollonius, Valerius Flaccus, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry Treece and the 1963 film Jason and the Argonauts. It sets Holdstock’s Argo alongside other representations, as divine herself, possessed by divinity, and a channel of communication with the divine, and in the context of Holdstock’s previous work, particularly Mythago Wood, Lavondyss and Merlin’s Wood. The paper argues that Holdstock uses the Argo as a reflection of myth itself, a version of the forest in Mythago Wood, as well as a metapoetic image for the challenges and complexities of adapting a well-known story, bringing multiple mythological traditions (Arthurian, Finnish and Argonautic) together. It reflects on Holdstock’s relationship to the ancient genres of epic and tragedy, as well as Argo as plot facilitator and mechanism of transformation and transition. Holdstock’s relationship with ancient literature is richer and deeper than previously acknowledged; his self-conscious plays reveal a deep understanding of the polymorphous nature of mythical traditions. KW - Holdstock KW - Merlin Codex KW - Argonauts KW - Argo KW - myth Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.34679/thersites.vol17.254 SN - 2364-7612 VL - 2023 IS - 17 SP - 55 EP - 95 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Foster, Frances ED - Potter, Amanda ED - Gardner, Hunter H. T1 - Gods and Magic in Megan Whalen Turner’s The Thief JF - thersites 17 N2 - Megan Whalen Turner’s series The Queen’s Thief (1996 – 2020) centres on the political intrigues in a group of countries which are at once very like – but also very unlike – Bronze Age and archaic Greece threatened by a powerful Persian Empire. The first book in the series, The Thief (1996), begins as a political adventure haunted by stories of the gods. When those gods directly influence the action, the narrative changes from present political intrigue to a fantasy from the distant past. The mythology in The Thief reflects, imitates and distorts archaic Greek creation myths – stories about how the earth and sky were formed, the divine pantheon and heroes. I examine the presentation of this divine pantheon against the narratives about the gods in Hesiod, the Homeric hymns and Homer’s epics. I evaluate how the supernatural element interacts with the largely political narrative of The Thief. In so doing, I explore how the text blends a ‘classical supernatural’ with a world that is like – but in many ways very unlike – Bronze Age and archaic Greece. KW - Greek gods KW - Mythology KW - Young Adult literature KW - Fantasy KW - Magic Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.34679/thersites.vol17.242 SN - 2364-7612 VL - 2023 IS - 17 SP - 32 EP - 54 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Toscano, Margaret Merrill ED - Potter, Amanda ED - Gardner, Hunter H. T1 - Varieties of Supernatural Depictions BT - Classics in Contemporary Media JF - thersites 17 N2 - This article proposes several conceptual frameworks for examining the widespread use of classical intertexts depicting the supernatural in popular media. Whether the supernatural is viewed as reality or simply a trope, it represents the human capacity and desire to explore worlds and meanings beyond the obvious and mundane. Representations of classical gods, heroes, and monsters evoke the power of mythic stories to probe and explain human psychology, social concerns, philosophical questions, and religious beliefs, including belief about the paranormal and supernatural. The entertainment value of popular media allows creators and audiences to engage with larger issues in non-dogmatic and playful ways that help them negotiate tensions among various beliefs and identities. This paper also gives an overview of the other articles in this journal issue, showing overlapping themes and patterns that connect with these tensions. By combining knowledge of classical myths in their original contexts with knowledge about contemporary culture, classical scholars contribute unique perspectives about why classical intertexts dominate in popular media today. KW - Myth Theory KW - Classical Mythology KW - Supernatural KW - Paranormal KW - Afterlife Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.34679/thersites.vol17.249 SN - 2364-7612 VL - 2023 IS - 17 SP - 2 EP - 31 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Potter, Amanda A1 - Gardner, Hunter H. ED - Potter, Amanda ED - Gardner, Hunter H. T1 - Classics and the Supernatural in Modern Media JF - thersites 17 N2 - Short preface to the special edition of Thersites. Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.34679/thersites.vol17.256 SN - 2364-7612 VL - 2023 IS - 17 SP - 1 EP - 1 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Vandewalle, Alexander ED - Ambühl, Annemarie ED - Carlà-Uhink, Filippo ED - Rollinger, Christian ED - Walde, Christine T1 - Review of Ross Clare: Ancient Greece and Rome in Videogames. Representation, Play, Transmedia BT - Bloomsbury Academic (London, New York 2021) (= IMAGINES – Classical Receptions in the Visual and Performing Arts), x + 230 pages, 25 illustrations. ISBN: 9781350157194 (hardback), $ 115.00, £ 85.00 hardback, also available as e-book (PDF, Epub, Mobi) JF - thersites 16 Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.34679/thersites.vol16.220 SN - 2364-7612 VL - 2023 IS - 16 SP - 173 EP - 177 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Avalli, Andrea ED - Ambühl, Annemarie ED - Carlà-Uhink, Filippo ED - Rollinger, Christian ED - Walde, Christine T1 - Review of Dario Barbera: Processo al Classico. L’epurazione dell’archeologia fascista BT - ETS (Pisa 2022) (= Studi di archeologia e storia del mondo antico e medievale), 264 pp. ISBN: 9788846762191, € 25 JF - thersites 16 Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.34679/thersites.vol16.233 SN - 2364-7612 VL - 2023 IS - 16 SP - 168 EP - 172 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Beck, Christian ED - Ambühl, Annemarie ED - Carlà-Uhink, Filippo ED - Rollinger, Christian ED - Walde, Christine T1 - Review of Hamish Williams: Tolkien and the Classical World BT - Walking Tree Publishers (Zurich/Jena 2021) (= Cormarë Series No. 45), 414 pp . ISBN: 978-3-905703-45-0, 44 € JF - thersites 15 Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.34679/thersites.vol15.230 SN - 2364-7612 VL - 2022 IS - 15 SP - 314 EP - 320 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Keen, Tony ED - Ambühl, Annemarie ED - Carlà-Uhink, Filippo ED - Rollinger, Christian ED - Walde, Christine T1 - Legolas in Troy BT - The influence of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies on cinematic portrayals of ancient Greece and Rome JF - thersites 15 N2 - The Lord of the Rings movies were a cinematic phenomenon, extremely popular. They are not often considered as works of Classical Reception. These films’ influence on subsequent ancient world movies has been understudied, and undervalued. A common model of cinematic Greece and Rome in the twenty-first century looks solely back to Gladiator. Undoubtedly Gladiator, and its commercial success, is important to how ancient world movies developed; but focussing solely on Gladiator does not explain a move away from Roman history towards Greek mythology, culminating in a flurry of movies about Greek mythological heroes. Lord of the Rings is an overlooked factor. Already in Troy two LOTR stars are in key roles, and the battle scenes seek to imitate those of Jackson’s trilogy. 300 mythologizes far beyond Frank Miller’s graphic novel, adding several monsters; LOTR’s influence is at play here. LOTR’s influence was one factor in a complex process that saw ancient world movies change in the twentyfirst century. LOTR fed into an atmosphere that moved ancient world movies towards Greece, away from Rome, through promoting the appeal of a combination of epic and the fantastic. KW - classical movies KW - Lord of the Rings KW - classical reception KW - Peter Jackson KW - fantasy movies Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.34679/thersites.vol15.223 SN - 2364-7612 VL - 2022 IS - 15 SP - 285 EP - 313 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Stutz, Kathryn H. ED - Ambühl, Annemarie ED - Carlà-Uhink, Filippo ED - Rollinger, Christian ED - Walde, Christine T1 - G. B. Smith’s “Elzevir Cicero” and the Construction of Queer Immortality in Tolkien’s Mythopoeia JF - thersites 15 N2 - Following the death of J. R. R. Tolkien in 1973, an obituary appeared in The Times quoting Tolkien as having said that his “love for the classics took ten years to recover from lectures on Cicero and Demosthenes.” This contentious relationship between Tolkien and the Greco-Roman past contrasts with the work of unabashedly classicizing poet Geoffrey Bache Smith, a school friend of Tolkien’s who was killed in the Great War. When Tolkien collected Smith’s poems for posthumous publication, this paper shows, Smith’s engagements with the ancient world became part of Tolkien’s own philosophy of immortality through literary composition. Within his 1931 poem “Mythopoeia,” and his 1939 speech “On Fairy-Stories,” Tolkien articulated a unified method of mythmaking by looking back to his lost friend’s understanding of mythology as a type of ancient story-craft that enabled poets to preserve the dead against the ravages of time. By tracing a triangular path through the relationships between Tolkien, Smith, and the classical past inhabited by figures like Cicero, this paper argues that Tolkien not only recovered a “love for the classics,” but used classical texts to “recover” his lost friend, granting Smith a queer, classical immortality in return. KW - John Ronald Reuel Tolkien KW - Geoffrey Bache Smith KW - hauntology KW - queer theory KW - mythopoeia Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.34679/thersites.vol15.225 SN - 2364-7612 VL - 2022 IS - 15 SP - 253 EP - 284 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Praet, Raf ED - Ambühl, Annemarie ED - Carlà-Uhink, Filippo ED - Rollinger, Christian ED - Walde, Christine T1 - The Throne of the King BT - The Throne Room in Minas Tirith and Late Antique Ruler Ideology JF - thersites 15 N2 - A conspicuous feature of Tolkien’s description of the city of Minas Tirith in The Return of The King is the depiction of two thrones in the Great Hall; one empty throne reserved for the king, and one seat for the steward of Gondor. This paper aims to ascertain the late antique and mediaeval sources of inspiration behind Tolkien’s creation of the throne room in Minas Tirith. As a starting point, we shall compare the setting of the two thrones in Minas Tirith with a motive in Christian iconography, the hetoimasia, and its architectural expression in the Chrysotriklinos, the throne room in the Byzantine Great Palace in Constantinople. Next, we shall show that Tolkien intentionally obscured his appropriation of the Byzantine throne room to create a multi-layered image of rulership, in accordance with his aesthetics of applicability and allegory. In conclusion, we shall formulate some remarks on the interpretation of the association between the Byzantine Chrysotriklinos and the Gondorian Great Hall. As a form of Tolkien’s literary process of sub-creation, the description of the throne room in Minas Tirith serves to emphasise the significance of The Return of the King as a retelling of Christ’s restoration of the fallen world, placing the work of Tolkien in the context of a strong personal Catholic piety. KW - late antique palace architecture KW - Chrysotriklinos KW - allegory and applicability KW - sub-creation KW - Christ the King Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.34679/thersites.vol15.210 SN - 2364-7612 VL - 2022 IS - 15 SP - 232 EP - 252 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Matz, Alicia ED - Ambühl, Annemarie ED - Carlà-Uhink, Filippo ED - Rollinger, Christian ED - Walde, Christine T1 - Quis enim laesos impune putaret esse deos?: Ents, Sacred Groves, and the Cost of Desecration JF - thersites 15 N2 - Seneca the Younger, in his Letters, describes a sacred grove as a “thick grove of ancient trees which rise far above the usual height and block the view of the sky with their umbrella of intertwining branches” (Seneca the Younger, Letters 41.3). Fangorn Forest is clearly a sacred site as defined by Seneca, made even more sacred by the presence of the Ents. Thus, to violate it would be a terrible act of desecration, not unlike Lucan’s narrator’s shock at Caesar’s desecration of the sacred grove at Massilia (Lucan BC 3.447 – 8, quoted in the title of this paper). After exploring the relationship between Ents and sacred groves, the paper will compare the fate of Caesar to that of Saruman, who violated Fangorn Forest. Just as Augoustakis (2006) argues that the violation of the grove foreshadows Caesar’s death, so too Saruman’s death at the hands of Wormtongue becomes a fitting punishment for his violation of Fangorn. KW - sacred trees KW - Ents KW - Tolkien KW - Saruman KW - Julius Caesar Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.34679/thersites.vol15.215 SN - 2364-7612 VL - 2022 IS - 15 SP - 204 EP - 231 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Chinn, Christopher A1 - Thompson, Phoebe ED - Ambühl, Annemarie ED - Carlà-Uhink, Filippo ED - Rollinger, Christian ED - Walde, Christine T1 - Tolkien’s Ithilien and the Landscape of the Ancient Mediterranean JF - thersites 15 N2 - This paper examines the intertext between Tolkien’s Ithilien episode in Two Towers and artistic presentations of plants in the art and literature of Augustan Rome. We argue that the evident ‘superbloom’ depicted in the ekphrasis of the flora of Ithilien recalls both Vergilian botanical adynata (especially in the Georgics) and Roman wall paintings of the Augustan period. KW - Tolkien KW - Vergil KW - ecocriticism KW - Ithilien KW - flora Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.34679/thersites.vol15.211 SN - 2364-7612 VL - 2022 IS - 15 SP - 163 EP - 203 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Oughton, Charles W. ED - Ambühl, Annemarie ED - Carlà-Uhink, Filippo ED - Rollinger, Christian ED - Walde, Christine T1 - Roman Heroes at Helm’s Deep? BT - Livy, Macaulay, and Tolkien on the Horatius Cocles Episode JF - thersites 15 N2 - This article analyzes Tolkien’s narrative of the Battle of Helm’s Deep as a retelling of the Horatius Cocles episode from Livy’s AUC, which contains descriptions of the defenses and the bridge, a rally encouraged by Horatius, his bold stand both with his companions and alone, and the honors paid to him after the battle. Tolkien’s Battle of Helm’s Deep contains the same elements split across two narratives: the defense of the causeway leading to the gates of the Deep by Aragorn, Éomer, and Gimli; and, after the fall of the Deeping wall, Aragorn’s defiant stand alone on the stairway leading to the inner doors of the Hornburg. Aragorn’s double action demonstrates a fulfillment of Livy’s exemplary arc. Tolkien’s knowledge of Macaulay’s “Horatius” provides a possible intermediary that accounts for various additions to the story. However, the larger structure of Tolkien’s narrative as well as the imagery that resonates throughout the text distinctly evoke the vivid descriptions of Livy. While both sets of heroes make brave stands against their enemies, Tolkien’s warriors represent a civilizing force in their efforts to build and restore their defenses while Livy’s Roman heroes destroy the bridge to save their state. KW - Livy KW - Horatius Cocles KW - Tolkien KW - Macaulay KW - reception KW - exemplarity Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.34679/thersites.vol15.214 SN - 2364-7612 VL - 2022 IS - 15 SP - 123 EP - 162 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kambo, Kevin ED - Ambühl, Annemarie ED - Carlà-Uhink, Filippo ED - Rollinger, Christian ED - Walde, Christine T1 - Platonic Tripartition and the Peoples of Middle-Earth JF - thersites 15 N2 - Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings employ traditional races from fairy tales: elves, men and dwarves. These peoples are differentiated principally by their dominant desires, but also by their speech, diet, and realms. I argue that these three races are significantly inspired by the three aspects that characterize the Republic’s tripartite soul—logistikon, thumoeides, and epithumetikon—along with their respective principal desires: desire for truth, greatness, and material goods. For Tolkien, therefore, these races have a corporate or political psychology that explains who they are as peoples in the history of Middle-earth. I offer a comprehensive view of the major races, connecting the dwarves with the appetitive artisans of the Republic, humans with the honour- and glory-seeking auxiliaries, and elves with the ruling guardians. This treatment explains the artisanal dwarves, as well as the battle-loving men (and women) of Rohan and Gondor, and the nostalgic, ‘anamnetic’ condition of exile that distinguishes the elves. Indeed, the condition of elves in many descriptions recalls a Platonic philosopher returned to the Cave, as well as the Neo-Platonic sagacity pictured in the biographies of Plotinus and Proclus. KW - Plato KW - Tolkien KW - republic KW - Tripartite KW - race Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.34679/thersites.vol15.219 SN - 2364-7612 VL - 2022 IS - 15 SP - 90 EP - 122 ER -