Unit:
Κατεύθυνση Αρχαία Ελληνική ΦιλολογίαLibrary of the School of Philosophy
Author:
Raftopoulou Maria-Androniki
Supervisors info:
Σοφία Παπαϊωάννου, καθηγήτρια, τμήμα Φιλολογίας, ΕΚΠΑ
Γραμματική Κάρλα, αναπληρώτρια καθηγήτρια, τμήμα Φιλολογίας, ΕΚΠΑ
Αικατερίνη-Νίνα Καρβούνη, επίκουρη καθηγήτρια, τμήμα Φιλολογίας, ΕΚΠΑ
Original Title:
Γρηγορίου Ναζιανζηνού, Ἐπιτάφιος εἰς τὴν ἀδελφὴν ἑαυτοῦ Γοργονίαν: διακειμενικότητα και ειδολογική εξέλιξη στα exempla feminarum στην Ύστερη Αρχαιότητα
Translated title:
Gregory of Nazianzus, Funeral Oration, On his sister Gorgonia: Intertextuality and genre development of exempla feminarum in late antiquity
Summary:
The subject of this MA thesis is Gregory of Nazianzus, Oratio 8 (Funerary
Oration for his sister Gorgonia) and his construction of the female
exemplum, as articulated in Gorgonia's portrayal therein. Through my
reading I aspire to demonstrate that Gregory engages in in-depth discourse
with the Greek and the Roman Classical tradition, by drawing both on the
rhetorical genre of the funerary speech, wherefrom he borrows motifs and
tropes, and on the literary tradition of female exemplarity. In order to
support my argumentation, I begin with a brief and succinct overview of
the evolution of laudatory (praise) speech, as developed in the tradition
of the Ancient Greek funerary oration and that of the Roman laudatio
funebris. Subsequently, I attempt to define the Latin tradition of female
exemplarity construction through examination of six literary sources which
I consider pieces of reference (*laudatio Turiae, laudatio Murdiae,
consolatio ad Marciam, consolatio ad Helviam, Plinii ep. 3.16, 5.16*) and
essential in order to familiarize ourselves with the tradition that
Gregory received and used as stepping stone to build his exemplum of
Gorgonia. In the concluding section of the thesis, I analyze Gregory's
funerary oration and I explore it from the perspective of genre and
ideology. My exploration purports to identify the points where Gregory
crosses paths with his literary antecedents, as well as those that proejct
in a pioneering fashion his employment of Christinity to infuse the genre
of funerary speech and the concept of female exemplum with additional
nuances and significations.
Main subject category:
Language – Literature
Keywords:
Gregory of Nazianzus, funeral oration, Gorgonia, laudatio funebris, exempla feminarum
