Master thesis | Classics and Ancient Civilizations (MA)
open access
2022-12-30T00:00:00Z
Already in archaic times, wine was perceived as a substance of equivocal nature, χάρμα καὶ ἄχθος (Hes. Sc., 400). This idea also appears in Athenaeus’ Deipnosophistae (book II), a work where the...Show moreAlready in archaic times, wine was perceived as a substance of equivocal nature, χάρμα καὶ ἄχθος (Hes. Sc., 400). This idea also appears in Athenaeus’ Deipnosophistae (book II), a work where the recitation of various texts is presented as an account of the conversation occurred during and about the symposion. The ambiguity of wine is introduced by a medical excerpt by Mnesitheus, where both positive and negative effects of wine consumption are defined, with ascending severity; relevant citations of different genres follow. The purpose of this Master thesis is to facilitate a better understanding of the ancient Greek thought on the ambivalence of wine. Hence, the citations analyzed give prominence to this ambiguity, either directly or more allusively, organized according to their place in the book and their genre (comedy, elegy and lyric poetry, tragedy). Furthermore, it aims to re-introduce Mnesitheus, a 4th-century physician and writer of medical texts, frequently neglected by research, but above all, to cast light on the way Athenaeus is organizing knowledge while composing his work, what I call his “poetics of citation”. Beyond the net of texts weaved by word-based links, connections in terms of idea and structure are also showcased. It is argued that Athenaeus’ poetics of citation consist of the introduction of an idea and its subsequent extension while steadily diverging from its original form; while Mnesitheus’ excerpt clearly defines the ambiguous nature of wine building a crescendo of the effects of its consumption, both structure and idea get progressively lost as the work progresses.Show less
