Chris Gilleard’s “Old
Age in Ancient Greece: Narratives of Desire, Narratives of Disgust” discusses
one of my major themes at length: the physical plight of the elderly. While old
age is mocked for its misfortune in Classical comedy, tragedy, and poetry in
general, it is revered in Sparta, particularly because of their Gerousia, or Council of Elders (Gilleard
89). This is an important distinction to make in my paper; it is important for
the audience to know that Athenian society, rooted in free, male power,
affected the perceptions of the elderly and other marginalized groups.
Like Thomas Falkner
(previously mentioned in blog posts) and I, Gilleard examines similar texts;
Aristophanes, Sophocles, and Homer are all used in our analyses. But Gilleard concludes
something much different than I. He believes that age is binary in ancient
Greece: young and old (Gilleard 88-89). I believe it is more complex than this.
For example, Aristotle distinguishes two vices in book two of Rhetoric: youth and old age. Implicitly,
this means the virtue is somewhere in between; he even mentions “prime age”
throughout the explanation of both vices
(Aristotle 109-111). Furthermore, Hesiod describes five distinct age
groups in his poem “The Five Races,” and the ideal race is the “Heroes,” who
encompass the physical abilities of youth and the experience of age. Falkner
also agrees with this notion. In his essay “Homeric Heroism, Old Age and the
End of the Odyssey,” he concludes
that Odysseus himself consolidates the tension between youth because of his
feats in war and his ability to advise the Achaian army (Falkner 29).
Ultimately, while
Gilleard’s conclusion is rooted in similar evidence, interpretations can differ
vastly. His article was published in 2007, so it provides a fresher, more
contemporary gerontological argument – something that was needed to provide a
more holistic historiography in my research.
Aristotle. Rhetoric. Trans. W. Rhys Roberts.
Hazelton: Electronic Classics Series, 2010. Print.
Falkner, Thomas.
“Homeric Heroism, Old Age and the End of the Odyssey.” Old Age in Greek
and Latin Literature, edited by Thomas Falkner and Judith de Luce. Albany:
State University of New York Press, 1989. Print.
Gilleard, Chris. “Old
Age in Ancient Greece: Narratives of Desire, Narratives of Disgust.” Journal of Aging Studies 21 (2007):
81-92. Print
This may be outside of the scope of your research, but it would be really interesting to see that compared to modern ideas on age. For whatever its worth since I am no cultural expert, I feel that in America there is a similar consensus on the "prime age." Maybe not in the same sense of ancient Greece however, since people are having very social and rewarding lives up until their 80's in a lot of cases. But it seems to me that younger children always want to be older, say around 20-30; and older adults always want to be younger, say around 25-35. That seems to me as if there is still a cultural stigma on the "prime age."
ReplyDeleteTrevor,
DeleteI agree with you! I think that providing context from modern gerontological theories and cultural perceptions emphasizes the importance of looking back at ancient perceptions. I think this will naturally happen in my historiography when I talk about secondary sources (hopefully). If not, I can talk about it in my discussion.
Cory,
ReplyDeleteMy understanding of Ancient Greek culture is very limited, so please forgive me if these are silly questions.
It's interesting that there is such a pronounced difference in the perception of age between 'Classical comedy, tragedy, and poetry in general' and Sparta. You seem to associate the former category with Athenian Society, does this mean that Ancient Greek culture (at least in its perception of age) is better modeled by Athens? And that Sparta is an exception? Or perhaps it is misleading to present this idea as a dichotomy? Do you think it is necessary in your project to discuss this? Or am I just ignorant of well-known or accepted historical ideas?
I wish I would have read the title of your post. I'm glad you're skeptical of binary ideas. :)
DeleteLogan,
DeleteYou're not ignorant at all! One of my hardships with this paper is becoming familiar with the cultural and historical context of Greece in general because I've been spending a lot of my time with the texts themselves, so I have a lot to learn myself still. But I'll do my best to answer your question!
From what I've gathered, the city-states in Greece were very different in regards to political and cultural structure. The only factor that caused them to interact was trade, though this isn't to say that ideas were not disseminated throughout the region because as we have seen in more modern times, trade is an excellent way to spread culture/perceptions. Overall, I do think it's safe to say that the ideas and perceptions of the elderly were culturally bound to Athens because they were so far removed from the culture of other city-states.
Sparta and Athens are the two largest city-states so they are often juxtaposed in literature and in war. Sparta is very interesting and despite its controlled power had some rituals and was of doing things that may have promoted more freedom for out groups. The question worth asking here is did these two city-states have different views on the elderly, and why/why not?
ReplyDelete