Silence in the Land of Logos

by Silvia Montiglio

Overview

In ancient Greece, the spoken word connoted power, whether in the free speech accorded to citizens or in the voice of the poet, whose song was thought to know no earthly bounds. But how did silence fit into the mental framework of a society that valued speech so highly? Here Silvia Montiglio provides the first comprehensive investigation into silence as a distinctive and meaningful phenomenon in archaic and classical Greece. Arguing that the notion of silence is not a universal given but is rather situated in a complex network of associations and values, Montiglio seeks to establish general principles for understanding silence through analyses of cultural practices, including religion, literature, and law.


Unlike the silence of a Christian before an ineffable God, which signifies the uselessness of words, silence in Greek religion paradoxically expresses the power of logos--for example, during prayer and sacrifice, it serves as a shield against words that could offend the gods. Montiglio goes on to explore silence in the world of the epic hero, where words are equated with action and their absence signals paralysis or tension in power relationships. Her other examples include oratory, a practice in which citizens must balance their words with silence in very complex ways in order to show that they do not abuse their right to speak. Inquiries into lyric poetry, drama, medical writings, and historiography round out this unprecedented study, revealing silence as a force in its own right.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781400823765
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	05/17/2010
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	360
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Silvia Montiglio is Assistant Professor of Classics at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix
A Note on Sources xi
Introduction 3


Chapter One: Religious Silence without an Ineffable God 9
Sonorous Prayers and Degrees of Silence 9
The Injunction of Ritual Silence 13
Silence and Impurity 17
Closing One's Lips, Closing One's Eyes: Silence in the
Initiation into the Eleusinian Mysteries 23
"Great Reverence for the Goddesses Holds Back the Voice" 32
To Be Silent around the Erinyes 38


Chapter Two: A Silent Body in a Sonorous World: Silence and Heroic Values in the Iliad 46
Drawing the Silent Body 46
Silence and Verbal Fighting 54
Silence in the Flow of Verbal Exchange 60
Silence and Authoritative Speech 64
Traveling Voices 68
The Resonant Voice of the Homeric Speaker 74
Overcoming Silence 77


Chapter Three: The Poet's Voice against Silence 82
Silence, Oblivion, and Blame 82
The Vocality of Poetry 91
The Boundless Spreading of Song 97
The Specter of Silent Impotence 101
Silence to Modulate Song 106


Chapter Four: "I Will Be Silent": Figures of Silence and Representations of Speaking in Athenian Oratory 116
Silence for Useful Speech? 116
The Silent Praise of Oneself 123
Insulting without Insulting 127
Aposiopesis, Eupheˆmia, and the Forbidden 132
Perceptions of the Orator's Silence: A Rhetorical Choice or a
Sign of Impotence? 137
The Voice of the Orator against the Uproar 144
For an Assembly without Silence 151


Chapter Five: Words Staging Silence 158
Uttering Silence instead of Emptying the Stage 158
Calls for Silence and Representation of the Audience 167
Long Silences 173
Silence and the Veil 176
Speaking Defines Seeing 181
Words That See Silence 188


Chapter Six: Silence and Tragic Destiny 193
Tragic Reticences 193
Apollo's Silences and Orders of Silence 199
The Failure of Auspicious Silence 204


Chapter Seven: Silence, a Herald of Death 213
Cassandra's Demystifying Silence 213
Comic Explosions of Silence 216
"I Fear Lest This Silence May Explode into Misfortunes" 220
Between Silence and Cries: Illnesses of Tragic Heroes 224
Losing One's Voice, Losing One's Life: Silence in the
Hippocratic Writings 228
Phaedra's Silence: A Way of Saving Her Honor or of Letting
Herself Die? 233
Silence and Suicide 238
Killing in Silence 245


Chapter Eight: Silence, Ruse, and Endurance: Odysseus and Beyond 252
Women's Silent Conniving in Greek Tragedy 252
Much-Enduring Odysseus, the Master of Cunning Silence 256
Odysseus' Silence as a Model of Behavior in the Odyssey 267
Tragic Odysseus, a Silent Deceiver 276
Ideological Uneasiness about Silence and Secrecy in Classical Athens 281
What Happens to Odysseus' Silent Endurance? 286


Conclusion 289
Select Bibliography 293
Index 309

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Although silence is an important subject, it has not, until now, been treated as extensively as it should have been. Silvia Montiglio demonstrates why silence cannot be taken as a self-evident term and attempts to show how it is culturally and historically specific. Her analyses are interesting and provocative, and her methodology is up-to-date, of general interest, and well focused for the contemporary academy."—Simon Goldhill, King's College, Cambridge

"This book is bound to make a great impression in the field, where it will be instantly fundamental for future readings of Greek poetry, especially tragedy, and also oratory—it will also interest a wider audience of social anthropologists, comparatists, and students of rhetoric, ancient and modern. In this serious work of cultural analysis, Silvia Montiglio articulates an entire economy of silence. Learned and exciting, this book will open up new vistas for research and understanding."—Richard Martin, Princeton University

Simon Goldhill

Although silence is an important subject, it has not, until now, been treated as extensively as it should have been. Silvia Montiglio demonstrates why silence cannot be taken as a self-evident term and attempts to show how it is culturally and historically specific. Her analyses are interesting and provocative, and her methodology is up-to-date, of general interest, and well focused for the contemporary academy.
— Simon Goldhill, King's College, Cambridge

Richard Martin

This book is bound to make a great impression in the field, where it will be instantly fundamental for future readings of Greek poetry, especially tragedy, and also oratory—it will also interest a wider audience of social anthropologists, comparatists, and students of rhetoric, ancient and modern. In this serious work of cultural analysis, Silvia Montiglio articulates an entire economy of silence. Learned and exciting, this book will open up new vistas for research and understanding.
— Richard Martin, Princeton University

Recipe

"Although silence is an important subject, it has not, until now, been treated as extensively as it should have been. Silvia Montiglio demonstrates why silence cannot be taken as a self-evident term and attempts to show how it is culturally and historically specific. Her analyses are interesting and provocative, and her methodology is up-to-date, of general interest, and well focused for the contemporary academy."—Simon Goldhill, King's College, Cambridge

"This book is bound to make a great impression in the field, where it will be instantly fundamental for future readings of Greek poetry, especially tragedy, and also oratory—it will also interest a wider audience of social anthropologists, comparatists, and students of rhetoric, ancient and modern. In this serious work of cultural analysis, Silvia Montiglio articulates an entire economy of silence. Learned and exciting, this book will open up new vistas for research and understanding."—Richard Martin, Princeton University

Editorial Reviews

"[A] brilliant and important book. . . The Silence in the Land of Logos prompts suggestive reflection; it should be a good instrument to approach the Greek world in a different way."—-Paolo Scarpi, The Journal of Religion

From the Publisher

[A] brilliant and important book. . . The Silence in the Land of Logos prompts suggestive reflection; it should be a good instrument to approach the Greek world in a different way.

The Journal of Religion - Paolo Scarpi

[A] brilliant and important book. . . The Silence in the Land of Logos prompts suggestive reflection; it should be a good instrument to approach the Greek world in a different way.
— Paolo Scarpi

The Journal of Religion