The World Beyond BetterMost > The Culture Tent
Mary Renault Book Discussion
Kerry:
--- Quote from: injest on January 12, 2007, 11:49:52 pm ---there is a line in this chapter when Alexias encounters Socrates for the first time....he forms a friendship with this 'old' man...a little lonely boy and just devastated when he left..
he couchs his thoughts with a side step...
"It may be that I thought 'Here is a father who would not think me a disgrace to him (for he is ugly himself) but would love me, and would not want to throw me away on the mountain' I do not know"
My heart breaks for this little boy who feels SO unloved and ugly....how much he carried on his young shoulders!! not only did he have this legacy from his namesake but his handsome father! what HUGE shoes he had to feel no wonder he was over whelmed and withdrawn...
--- End quote ---
My heart also breaks for him. Mary Renault got us good! :'(
Kerry:
--- Quote from: injest on January 13, 2007, 01:13:58 am ---no!
not til I bring us back to the issue of names....we hear of 'the Rhodian', Alcibiades, Sokrates, and his father...but the last line in this chapter is
"Not long after this my father married his second wife, Arete, the daughter of Archagoras."
now....here he is giving this woman a very high honor indeed...traditionally that is how he would introduce a man! not only do we get HER name but her father's name. This is no trivial liason...no this is a true Athenian Lady! The ONLY time in the book this far that anyone gets such an honor!
Knowing how he felt toward 'the Rhodian' what does this tell you about Arete??
Kerry?
--- End quote ---
Gasp! I'm left with my mouth open here (shut up, David!!! ;) LOL :-*) Seriously, I was so overcome with emotion by the departure of Socrates that I am compelled to confess that I didn't even notice the last paragraph! Just trying to tread water quickly here and regain my composure, I would guess that it tells us that Arete is a woman of substance from the same social strata as Alexias' father. An equal, or at least as much an equal as a woman could be within Athenian society LOL. I suspect it also indicates that Alexias likes her. Am I close?
Kerry:
--- Quote from: injest on January 13, 2007, 02:02:33 am ---an overview of what we will see in Chapter 3...
this is a long chapter...with a LOT going on...Alexias is now 15 (and attracting men's attention already...this 'ugly' child)....the Athenians are preparing to go to war against Syracuse....the city is in an uproar over a night of vandalism...we meet Xenophon (the famed horseman)...Socrates makes another appearance....
and
and
LYSIS!!
*swoon*
--- End quote ---
Exciting! Can't wait! Let's begin! :)
Kerry:
--- Quote from: David925 on January 13, 2007, 02:32:23 am ---People will be putting their Christmas trees back up by the time you all finish discussing that chapter.
Hunker down.
--- End quote ---
I fear you may be right, David! But I'm going to enjoy the process ;)
Kerry:
--- Quote from: Zander on January 12, 2007, 10:32:48 am ---I think he models for a Herm so it would be more of a Hermes / Eros look (Eros isn't that intersting ;) ) The Herm was often just depicted as a phallus, so again something to consider about the skills of MR.
--- End quote ---
A Hermae (or Herm) was a plinth with a head on top and large, rampant phallus emerging from the plinth itself. There were also two beam-shaped projections near the shoulders to hold wreaths. They originally represented only the God Hermes but later served for portrait busts or other deities. Hermae stood in large numbers in the streets and squares of Athens and other cities.
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