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Indo-European Poetry and Myth
M. L. West
544 pages
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234x156mm
978-0-19-955891-9
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Paperback
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13 November 2008
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- Systematic and wide-ranging treatment of the Indo-European precursors to Greek and later literature
- Comprehensively documented, with numerous quotations (translated) from original sources
The Indo-Europeans, speakers of the prehistoric parent language from which most European and some Asiatic languages are descended, most probably lived on the Eurasian steppes some five or six thousand years ago. Martin West investigates their traditional mythologies, religions, and poetries, and points to elements of common heritage. In The East Face of Helicon (1997), West showed the extent to which Homeric and other early Greek poetry was influenced by Near Eastern traditions, mainly non-Indo-European. His new book presents a foil to that work by identifying elements of more ancient, Indo-European heritage in the Greek material. Topics covered include the status of poets and poetry in Indo-European societies; metre, style, and diction; gods and other
supernatural beings, from Father Sky and Mother Earth to the Sun-god and his beautiful daughter, the Thunder-god and other elemental deities, and earthly orders such as Nymphs and Elves; the forms of hymns, prayers, and incantations; conceptions about the world, its origin, mankind, death, and fate; the ideology of fame and of immortalization through poetry; the typology of the king and the hero; the hero as warrior, and the conventions of battle narrative.Readership: Classicists; scholars and students of ancient literatures (e.g. Sanskrit, Iranian, Slavic, Celtic, Germanic); folklorists.
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M. L. West, Emeritus Fellow, All Souls College, Oxford
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"...the ideal guide in a complex field of learning." - International Review of Biblical Studies
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Introduction
1: Poet and Poesy
2: Phrase and Figure
3: Gods and Goddesses
4: Sky and Earth
5: Sun and Daughter
6: Storm and Stream
7: Nymphs and Gnomes
8: Hymns and Spells
9: Cosmos and Canon
10: Mortality and Fame
11: King and Hero
12: Arms and the Man
Elegy on an Indo-European Hero
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The specification in this catalogue, including without limitation price, format, extent, number of illustrations, and month of publication, was as accurate as possible at the time the catalogue was compiled. Occasionally, due to the nature of some contractual restrictions, we are unable to ship a specific product to a particular territory. Jacket images are provisional and liable to change before publication.
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