There are very few accounts of the afterlife across the period from Homer to Dante. Most traditional studies approach the classical afterlife from the point of view of its "evolution" towards the Christian afterlife. This book tries to do something different: to explore afterlife narratives in spatial terms and to situate this tradition within the ambit of a fundamental need in human psychology for the synthesis of soul (or "self") and universe. Drawing on the works of Homer, Plato, Cicero, Virgil, and Dante, among others, as well as on modern works on psychology, cartography, and music theory, Mapping the Afterlife argues that the topography of the afterlife in the Greek and Roman tradition, and in Dante, reflects the state of "scientific" knowledge at the time of the various contexts in which we find it. The book posits that there is a dominant spatial idiom in afterlife landscapes, a "journey-vision paradigm"--the horizontal journey of the soul across the afterlife landscape, and a synoptic vision of the universe. Many scholars have argued that the vision of the universe is out of place in the underworld landscape. However, looking across the entire tradition, we find that afterlife landscapes, almost without exception, contain these two kinds of space in one form or another. This double vision of space brings the underworld, as the landscape of the soul, into contact with the "scientific" universe; and brings humanity into line with the cosmos.

Mapping the Afterlife: From Homer to Dante

Gee, Emma

Religion & Spirituality

Oxford University Press

Why were the stars so important in Rome? Their literary presence far outweighs their role as a time-reckoning device, which was, in any case, superseded by the synchronization of the civil and solar years under Julius Caesar. One answer is tied to their usefulness in symbolizing a universe built on "intelligent design." From Plato's time onwards, the stars are most often seen in literature as evidence for a divine plan in the layout and maintenance of the cosmos. Moreover, particularly in the Roman world, divine and human governance came to be linked, one striking manifestation of this being the predicted enjoyment of a celestial afterlife by emperors. Aratus' Phaenomena, a didactic poem in Greek hexameters, composed c. 270 BC, which describes the layout of the heavens and their effect on the lives of men, was an ideal text in expressing such relationships: a didactic model which was both accessible and elegant, and which combined the stars with notions of divine and human order. Across a period extending from the late Roman Republic and early Empire until the age of Christian humanism, the impact of this poem on the literary environment is apparently out of all proportion to its relatively modest size and the obscurity of its subject matter. It was translated into Latin many times between the first century BC and the Renaissance, and carried lasting influence outside its immediate genre. Aratus and the Astronomical Tradition answers the question of Aratus' popularity by looking at the poem in the light of Western cosmology. It argues that the Phaenomena is the ideal vehicle for the integration of astronomical "data" into abstract cosmology, a defining feature of the Western tradition. This book embeds Aratus' text into a close network of textual interactions, beginning with the text itself and ending in the sixteenth century, with Copernicus. All conversations between the text and its successors experiment in some way with the balance between cosmology and information. The text was not an inert objet d'art, but a dynamic entity which took on colors often in conflict in the ongoing debate about the place and role of the stars in the world. With this detailed treatment of Aratus' poem and its reception, Emma Gee resituates a peculiar literary work within its successive cultural contexts and provides a benchmark for further research.

Aratus and the Astronomical Tradition (Classical Culture and Society)

History

Ancient Civilizations

This book explores how astronomy and power were linked in the early Roman Empire. This is achieved by careful study of the Fasti by the Roman poet Ovid--a poem about the Roman calendar that contains many references to and stories about the stars. The author does not study Ovid's stars by using the techniques of mathematical astronomy but aims to combine the methodology of recent genre-based readings with a broad cultural perspective.

Ovid, Aratus and Augustus: Astronomy in Ovid's Fasti (Cambridge Classical Studies)

Literature & Fiction

Classics

Cambridge University Press

Genre Fiction

Counterpoint: Perspectives on Asian America

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

Univ of California LA Asian Amer

At the age of twenty-four, Emma Gee’s future stretched before her invitingly. But just weeks after climbing Borneo’s Mt Kinabalu, this occupational therapist and avid runner, develops disturbing symptoms. Her story moves from mystery to tragedy when, during difficult brain surgery, she suffers a debilitating stroke and is left in a coma.When she wakes she is unable to move, speak or swallow, and is suddenly dependent on the medical system she had worked within. Emma must come to terms with learning to walk and talk again, and adapting to a completely new life.Reinventing Emma tracks Emma’s experiences as she reinvents herself. Weaving excerpts from her diary, observations and memories, her story is a powerful testament to how, with love, support and a positive mindset, a life can still be incredible.

Reinventing Emma

Biographies & Memoirs

OpenBook Creative

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