Wednesday, October 1, 2014
The importance of genealogy
I wasn't able to touch base with this subject very much during my presentation due to time constraints, however I thought it would be interesting to share what I noticed concerning genealogy throughout the third book and most of the second. Thucydides often refers to and describes his characters as being the son of someone, such as "Diodotos son of Eukrates" (3.41) and "Archidamos son of Zeuxidamos" (3.1). Even after he references them once, if the character is brought up again the same words "son of" are used. I thought of this in either two ways, one being a reflection of the time and the role men played in society and also the stress that was placed on the continuation of bloodlines when it came to men who accomplished brave deeds. I also took note of Sophie's blog post in which she drew the parallel between empire continuation through war and God's covenants of land and offspring in the Hebrew Bible. In my opinion, the same concept can be applied here. Does anyone else have any thoughts on this?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
We actually talked about this a little bit in my CF class and my teacher told us that this is often done because the greeks are very patriarchal. The actions of one person in the family heavily impact the whole family and their image. I think in this time period people may have been focused on that idea. They may have wanted less fame for themselves and more for their family name. People's identity at that time was known through their family. In Greece, I think that people wanted their family to be recognized for their accomplishments because they are an extension of their family. The men are especially an extension of their fathers. I think that is most likely why the characters are referred to as being the son of whoever because they may believe that their father deserves credit in their actions.
ReplyDeleteJust building off of what Emily already said, I remember Prof. Vaught mentioning that the Greeks honored their ancestors greatly, as if owe a debt to their antecedents, so mentioning their father's name may be a way to honor them for what they've done in their lifetime.
ReplyDeleteI think this directly relates to what we talked about in class today, Thursday. The concept of honor, and hierarchy in society. Even more so, the idea that different people require different amounts of respect based on social ranking. Whenever someone is introduced or mentioned by "son of...", I saw it as giving background on their level in society, and their general beliefs. In some ways, it works in the same way the last name does in today's world. It shows where you come from, connects you to certain people of the past and present. For the greeks, it mattered even more when that connected you to someone with high-standing, or nobility and honor.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Torrey that this discussion definitely relates to what we were talking about in class today. Just like there is honor for a nation, so also there is honor amongst family members. The Greeks took pride in who they were related to and felt comfortable sharing their lineage amidst conversation. I think this is why characters are introduced constantly as "son of..." throughout the book. I also believe one can relate the concept of honor in one's lineage to the Bible. We follow the long, complex lineage of many important characters throughout the entire Old Testament. I feel the authors of the Bible must have placed great honor with introducing characters that were part of this lineage due to the fact that they were God's 'Chosen People'.
ReplyDeleteThe concept that they are honoring their ancestors through this practice definitely seems the most logical to me, especially since such importance was placed on soldiers being able to collect their dead after battle. I also thought that since this is a book, any author wants to use as many techniques possible to get readers to read their book and stay interested. If the author mentions who the person's father was, that probably means they had some sort of significance at some point in the society, which will give readers some reference to who they are and what that person's place in society is, how they fit in. Even we do this in society today, like when in the entertainment or political world, the child, sibling, or spouse of a famous celebrity or politician starts their career in that same vista, we will tend to say they are so-and-so's relative so we will know their importance, relevance, influence, and probably future relevance since their family has so much influence that they stay present in the world even though they may not be talented.
ReplyDelete