Overview

How are disabled figures portrayed in ancient mythology? This thesis examines six prominent figures with disabilities (Thersites, Teiresias, Oidipus, Hephaestus, Philoctetes and Pluto) and analyses how different authors of various genres of ancient literature portray these figures and what role their lameness or blindness plays. It is shown that the treatment of disabled characters is by no means limited to their exclusion, but that disabilities are part of the sophisticated instruments of ancient narrative art. At the same time, it shows how changeable myths are in the hands of their narrators, who adapt the narrative material to their intentions. Oidipus, for example, by no means necessarily achieves the status of a seer through his self-blinding, but in Sophocles shows that he does not recognise his own responsibility; the limping blacksmith god Hephaestus is by no means always just an outsider, but in Homer even the popular figure on Mount Olympus. The inclusion of late antique philosophers and allegorists in the area of Hephaestus closes a research gap. In this way, the work corrects schematising interpretations and reveals reception phenomena.

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9783111381794

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Florian Schumann, University of Rostock, Germany.

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