Bas Clercx

The present paper discusses the philologist, lawyer, and (proto-)Indologist Sir William Jones (1746-1794), and in particular his introductory essay in India On the Gods of Greece, Italy, and India, composed in 1784. It not only concentrates on how he compared Greco-Roman with Hindu mythology, but while answering it also takes into account the scholarly tradition of reinterpreting mythology in a Biblical context. Although the tradition was centuries old, Jones’s inclusion of Hindu mythology provided a boost for European comparative studies. In order to understand his methods and heuristics, this paper explores three case studies from the essay (Saturn-Manu-Noah, Minos-Manu, and Dionysus-Rāma-Raamah), and how Jones composed them, using the mythological thesaurus the Pantheum by the Jesuit Francois Pomey.

The vividness of Homer’s Iliad has been of interest of scholars from antiquity to modernity. Recently, Allan/De Jong/De Jonge (2017) have proposed immersion as a useful tool to analyze Homeric vividness. The present contribution analyzes Patroclus’ dying scene, contrasted with dying scenes of other characters, in particular Sarpedon’s, to show how immersion works in such passages. The paper will argue that the framework of immersion does not only help to understand enargetic scenes, but also those that were not evaluated as such in antiquity. Furthermore, it will argue that immersion also interacts with plot and aspects typical of the Homeric style.

The paper discusses the philologist, lawyer, and (proto-)Indologist Sir William Jones (1746-1794), and in particular his introductory essay in India On the Gods of Greece, Italy, and India, composed in 1784. It not only concentrates on how he compared Greco-Roman with Hindu mythology, but while answering it also takes into account the scholarly tradition of reinterpreting mythology in a Biblical context. Although the tradition was centuries old, Jones’s inclusion of Hindu mythology provided a boost for European comparative studies. In order to understand his methods and heuristics, this paper explores three case studies from the essay (Saturn-Manu-Noah, Minos-Manu, and Dionysus-Rāma-Raamah), and how Jones composed them, using the mythological thesaurus the Pantheum by the Jesuit François Pomey.

This thesis treated the lemmas hasta ‘spear’, vastus ‘vast, desolate’, aestās ‘summer’, ‑us ‘heat’, custōs ‘guard’, cēdō ‘to go, cede’, crēdō ‘to believe’, and audiō ‘to hear, understand’. Three reflexes of dental clusters in Proto-Indo-European (PIE) *dh are recognized in Latin: A) ‑ss‑ (iussus < PIE *Hi̯ou̯dh‑to‑); B) ‑st‑ (hasta < PIE *ǵhasdh‑eh2‑); C) ‑V̄d‑ (crēdere < PIE *ḱred‑dhh1‑). The question arises what the distribution is of these reflexes. Cluster A) confirms the usual development of dental clusters ending in *t in Latin (clusters in PIE show an epenthetic *‑s‑, thus *‑TT‑ > *‑TsT‑). Clusters B) and C) are both claimed to be the outcomes of clusters ending in *‑(z)dh‑. However, this was questioned by Lubotsky (2004), who argued that the etymology of the B) clusters either points at a non-PIE origin, or that they underwent a later reanalysis.
Szemerényi (1952) claims that the development of ‑st‑ argues for a medial devoicing and that PIE voiced aspirates first lost voicing in Latin (thus, 1) *dh‑ > *th‑ > *þ‑ > f‑, and medially *‑dh‑ > *‑þ‑ > *‑ð‑ > ‑d‑ (cf. Ascoli 1868). However, if the cluster in question does not yield ‑st‑, but rather ‑V̄d‑, Szemerényi’s claim will lose its strength. If so, the loss of occlusion (thus, a trajectory like 2) *dh‑ > *ð‑ > *β‑ > f‑, and medially *‑dh‑ > *‑ð‑ > ‑d‑ (e.g. Hartmann 1890; Rix 1957; Kortlandt 1978, p. 109) will be a more likely development. Although there is more evidence for 2) (e.g the formīca (βormīkā < *mormīkā‑ < PIE *moru̯‑o/ī̆‑ ‘ant’) argument by Meillet 1918), Szemerényi’s argument for 1) cannot be ignored.
I looked into the probability of the reconstruction of the lemmas. Since Szemerényi, many new insights have surfaced on the lemmas in question. My survey showed that the evidence is much more in favour of an outcome of ‑V̄d‑, rather than ‑st‑. (pdf of thesis on request)

How do you kill a hero? The deaths of Sherlock in the 19th century, and that of Eline Vere in Louis Couperus’ Eline Vere in the early 20th century stirred the hearts of their audiences to such a degree that people actually believed an actual person had died. In present popular culture, the death of a protagonist can still have a profound impact. Lord Eddard Stark’s death, the main protagonist in George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire: A Game of Thrones, comes rather unexpected and the very
unorthodox way of killing the characters in the rest of this series has become a meme on the internet. The death of Brian the talking dog in the sit-com Family Guy (season 12, episode 6) even led to protest and Facebook pages to get him back into the series. Patroclus’ death is considered to be “terrifying”, and to have “great psychological depth” Janko (1992, p. 312). Together with Sarpedon’s death before and afterwards Hector’s, it is claimed by De Jong (2012, 13-15) to be the central death scene in the Iliad. With the modern examples in mind, the question arises how the narrator of the Iliad conveys the emotional charge these deaths have. To investigate how the audience is involved in their deaths, the study of immersion will be applied. This thesis will deal with the emotional involvement in the death scenes of three heroes: Sarpedon, Patroclus, and Hector. These deaths are knitted together. Patroclus kills Sarpedon, and against Achilles’ wishes, he rushes to the Trojan walls. There he is killed by Hector. In return, Hector is killed by Achilles to avenge his fallen friend Patroclus. Elements of Sarpedon’s death are repeated in Hector’s. Sarpedon is the leader of Troy’s allies, and second to Hector. In both scenes, Zeus deliberates on their deaths. In all killing scenes there are a dialogue, spoliation of armour, and threat of mutilation. There is a fight for Sarpedon’s, and Patroclus’ corpse; Hector’s is claimed by Achilles, and the Greeks only run around his body. The central question of this thesis will therefore be how these death scenes relate to each other and to other deaths in the Iliad. In order to substantiate judgments like “terrifying”, this research will assess scenes with the deaths of minor and major heroes. It can be expected that the former are less immersive than the deaths of major heroes that have a crucial role in the plot. Scene 6.1-24 will be assessed for minor heroes. Passage 16.394-867, Sarpedon’s and Patroclus’ deaths, and 22.90-404, that of Hector, are examined as examples of the deaths of major heroes. I will argue that visual and sensory immersion is present in most deaths, but that emotional immersion is used mostly in passages important to the development of the story. The continuation of the same mental space will be shown to be an important feature of visual immersion in death scenes. Allan, De Jong, & De Jonge (2014) have already argued for the immersive style of Homer’s epic. This thesis will add to this claim that, when larger stretches of narrative are taken under scrutiny, it is revealed the Homeric narrator does not just use these immersive elements at random: there is logic to his choices. (pdf of thesis on request)