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GreekandRomanConceptionsofNature.pptx

Greek and Roman Conceptions of Nature

Understanding the origins

of American thinking

This presentation seeks to provide a basis for understanding where American attitudes about nature come from. Though reshaped by events and developments in subsequent ages, the power and influence of writers from the classical worlds of ancient Greece and Rome persisted into the age of early America, and so some attention is due to select writers from these periods whose influence shaped the perspectives of early American nature writers.

Greek and Roman Conceptions of Nature, as expressed in…

Ancient Greece: myth

Ancient Rome: myth turning toward to history

Homeric Epics: The Iliad and Odyssey

Pastorals

Georgics

Plays (Sophocles, etc.)

Hesiod, Works and Days

Lucretius, De Rerum Natura

Virgil, Pastorals

Virgil, the Aeneid

Ovid, Metamorphoses

Pliny the Elder, Writings

Scipio, Writings

The epics of Homer represent the best known works from ancient Greece, but other works, including those identified as pastorals and georgics, likewise captured nature in very specific ways. Before we consider these terms, let’s acknowledge that the Ancient Greek world, by virtue of its sheer remoteness and historical distance, exists more fully within a mythic realm beyond history. In contrast, the more recent literature of the Roman world, though still very difficult to date and understand in a full historical sense, offers us better opportunities to pinpoint writers and events within specific historical contexts.

Key Terms: Pastoral and Bucolic

Pastoral

Bucolic

adjective

1. having the simplicity, charm, serenity, or other characteristics generally attributed to rural areas: pastoral scenery; the pastoral life.

2. pertaining to the country or to life in the country; rural; rustic.

3. portraying or suggesting idyllically the life of shepherds or of the country, as a work of literature, art, or music: pastoral poetry; a pastoral symphony.

4. of, pertaining to, or consisting of shepherds.

5. of or pertaining to a pastor or the duties of a pastor: pastoral visits to a hospital.

noun

7. a poem, play, image, or the like, dealing with the life of shepherds, commonly in a conventional or artificial manner, or with simple rural life generally; a bucolic.

origin 1350–1400; Middle English < Latin pāstōrālis, equivalent to pāstōr-, stem of pāstor ( see pastor) + -ālis - al1

(source: dictionary.com)

adjective

1. of or pertaining to shepherds; pastoral.

2. of, pertaining to, or suggesting an idyllic rural life.

Origin: 1525–35; < Latin būcolicus < Greek boukolikós rustic, equivalent to boukól ( os ) herdsman ( bou-, stem of boûs ox + -kolos keeper + -ikos - ic

The term “pastoral” or “bucolic” refers to categories of poetry that deal with settled, sedate depictions of country life. The Roman writers Virgil and Ovid were also inheritors of the Pastoral tradition, and with their enduring popularity these writers continued to shape the perceptions of later writers, including those in America in its early decades after the Revolutionary war. Some quick googling will supply additional explanation about these important terms, which depict humankind and nature living in settled and harmonious ways.

Noun: a poem concerning agriculture and other rural occupations; spec.(usually with capital initial) each of the four books of Virgil's Georgics.

Adjective: Of or relating to agriculture, rustic; esp. (of poetry, music, pictures, etc.) concerning agriculture and other rural occupations

(source: http://www.oed.com.ezproxy.mtsu.edu/view/Entry/77816?rskey=CniIef&result=1&isAdvanced=false#eid)

Key term: Georgic

Another important term to recognize is “georgic,” which offers a different sense of the relationship between humans and nature. Writers within the Georgic mode, like Hesiod and, later, Virgil, write poetry with an instructional purpose. While the setting is still one of rural retreat, the message is one devoted to effective management of one’s country estate—how to cultivate maximized agricultural yields, manage livestock, maintain a rural household, etc. While the pastoral mode is devoted largely to celebrating rural simplicity, the georgic mode is devoted to explaining how to live within that country setting.

Golden (Cranach, c. 1550)

Silver (Cranach, c. 1550)

Bronze

Heroic

Iron (Virgil Solis, c. 1570)

Any observations/patterns to note?

Hesiod’s Works and Days: The Five Ages of Man (c.700 B.C.)

One selection you’re likely to read comes from Hesiod’s Works and Days, where you’ll elements of both modes—georgic and pastoral--within the same work. Please stop now and read this work if you have yet to do so already. In the section you’re reading, you might be surprised to see the narrator describing a “fallen” world, one where the climate of corruption and deterioration across the “ages” distinguishes the fallen present from the golden, idealized historical past. This habit of thinking transcends history, and writers of all kinds are prone to compare the spoiled present with the idealized nostalgia of past worlds.

“Ages of Man,” as according to Lucas Cranach:

Golden Age

Silver Age

These next few slides will highlight a couple of key concepts and figures from the Roman world whose influence extended into subsequent centuries. As shown in these images, the Sixteenth-century German painter Lucas Cranach the Elder was quite taken with Hesiod’s (and later, Ovid’s) concept of the Ages of Man, and produced these two images of the Golden and Silver Age to highlight this contrast. Please take a moment to study these two images to note the key differences between the worlds portrayed and the people depicted within those worlds.

Aeneid patterned after Homer’s Iliad, Odyssey, showing Roman culture’s habit of “borrowing” from Greeks.

Eclogues (Bucolics, Pastorals), modeled after Greek poet Theocritus.

Georgics (Mythic, Instructional), literary “guide” for farm management—crops, trees, animals, etc. Modeled after Greek poet Hesiod.

Virgil: 70-19 B.C.

Probably the best known poet from ancient Rome is Virgil, whose Aeneid is patterned after Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey. Virgil was also a well-known writer of pastoral poetry, with his Eclogues serving as the best demonstration of rural simplicity for centuries to come. Likewise, his Georgics served multiple purposes, including as guides for estate management and effective farming technique.

Lucretius (99-55 B.C.), De Rerum Natura

Atomism: All material reducible to component parts

Epicureanism: pleasure to be enjoyed in moderation and found in avoidance of needless pain, anxiety

Another influential Roman writer is the poet Lucretius, whose life overlapped with Virgil’s. His epic poem De Rerum Natura, or On the Nature of Things, was rediscovered in the middle of the Fifteenth century and became a highly influential work that articulated the relationship between humankind and the natural world in new and unconventional ways. In giving voice to the unconventional philosophies of Atomism and Epicureanism, this work would challenge the entrenched authority of the late medieval church and would continue to reshape attitudes toward nature throughout the Renaissance period.

Hesiod, Greek (c. 700 B.C) vs. Ovid (Roman, 43 B.C.-17 A.D.).

Works and Days vs. Metamorphoses: Any differences stand out?

Do we see any evidence of Ovid’s less “mythic,” more “historical” world reflected in his “Ages of Man”?

Ovid, Metamorphoses, Four Ages of Man

Finally, the Roman poet Ovid, well known for his Amores, or Book of Love, is noteworthy also for his Metamorphoses, or Book of Changes. Here he transform’s Hesiod’s idea of the Five Ages of Man into his own model, which divided human history into four distinct ages. Some noteworthy differences emerge if you compare the two works directly.

Writers from the Classical world (Greeks and Romans) had vivid conceptions of nature, as expressed in Epic, Georgic, and Pastoral poetry. The key figures, including Hesiod, Theocritus, Homer, Virgil, Lucretius, and Ovid provide vivid images of nature as a benevolent and occasionally violent force. These perspectives establish context for, and continue to figure indirectly, in influencing American views of the natural world.

Review:

To review quickly: writers from the Greek and Roman worlds provided useful contexts for understanding the way early American writers portrayed nature. When American writers employ, as doThoreau, Bryant, or Whitman, the pastoral or georgic mode, they are partaking of a long tradition established by these writers from an earlier age. Likewise, these ancient writers also portray nature in varying ways, as both a benevolent and an occasionally violent force. Hope this quick introduction to these ancient writers was useful, and thanks for listening!