David Sansone - University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

David Sansone - University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
About
Press
Papers
We're Hiring!
David Sansone
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Classics
Emeritus
Followers
867
Following
153
Public Views
425 L Street NW
Apartment # 1306
Washington, DC 20001
less
Related Authors
Douglas Cairns
University of Edinburgh
Davide Morelli
UCLouvain (University of Louvain)
Vicente Ramon
Michele Lucchesi
Polo teologico torinese
Alessandro Rossini
Università di Verona
Rolf Strootman
Utrecht University
Lora Holland Goldthwaite
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Gavin Weaire
Hillsdale College
Pilar Gómez Cardó
University of Barcelona
Michael J . Taylor
SUNY: University at Albany
Interests
Uploads
all
104
Papers
10
Books
Book Reviews
Light Verse
Papers by David Sansone
Reflections on Plutarch’s Lives of Aemilius Paullus and Timoleon
Ploutarchos
, 2024
Plutarch opens the Lives of Aemilius Paullus and Timoleon with a metaphor comparing his writing...
more
Plutarch opens the Lives of Aemilius Paullus and Timoleon with a metaphor comparing  his  writing  of  biographies  to  a  mirror  in  which he  contemplates  his  own  life.  This is, surprisingly, the only time in the Lives he uses this metaphor.  The paper seeks to relate this image to the fact that, apparently for the first time, Plutarch has placed the Life of  his  Greek  hero  after  that  of  the  Roman.  It  is  suggested  that  this  reversal  of  his  usual  practice,  combined  with  several  subtle  indications  throughout  the  pair  of  Lives, indicates Plutarch’s greater sympathy for, and even identification with, Timoleon, despite his frequent efforts to appear to be even-handed in his treatment of the two men.
format_quote
Aemilius strategically capitalizes on terrain advantages in battle, reflecting his tactical prowess and decision-making under pressure.
format_quote
NOTES ON PLUTARCH, ALEXANDER
Classical Quarterly
, 2024
Notes on the text and interpretation of passages in Plutarch's Life of Alexander.
format_quote
Alexander's notable visit to Diogenes reflects his admiration, challenging normative power dynamics in philosophical encounters.
format_quote
Alcibiades in Wonderland: Plato’s Symposium and the Mad Tea Party (proof)
Knight Letter
, 2024
The Knight Letter is the official magazine of the Lewis Carroll Society of North America, a liter...
more
The Knight Letter is the official magazine of the Lewis Carroll Society of North America, a literary society whose purpose is to encourage study and appreciation of the life, work, times, and influence of Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson), and is in affiliation with the Fales Library,
Horace and Ovid in Byron’s Don Juan 6.17.8
Notes and Queries
, 2024
Byron ends the seventeenth stanza of Canto the Sixth of Don Juan with the following couplet: In s...
more
Byron ends the seventeenth stanza of Canto the Sixth of Don Juan with the following couplet: In short the maxim for the Amorous tribe is Horatian, 'Medio Tu Tutissimus Ibis.'
TWO SOURCES OF ARISTOPHANES' SPEECH IN PLATO'S SYMPOSIUM
Phoenix
, 2021
In keeping with its character as a "just-so story," the speech that Aristo
Aristophanes, Frogs 1028–29
Hermes
, 2020
At Ar. Ran. 1028 read ἣν ἤκουσ᾽ εὐχήν for the metrically defective ἡνίκ’ ἤκουσα.
review of A. D'Angour, Socrates in Love
Bryn Mawr Classical Review
, 2019
Stylistic Characterization in Plato: Nicias, Alcibiades, and Laches
Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies
, 2018
format_quote
Comparative analysis shows Alcibiades uses initial καί at 0.368 frequency, highlighting his distinctive stylistic traits.
format_quote
Socrates, Satyrs and Satyr-Play in Plato’s Symposium
Illinois Classical Studies
, 2018
In the Symposium Plato associates Socrates with satyrs and satyr-play for two reasons: First, sa...
more
In the Symposium Plato associates Socrates with satyrs and satyr-play for two reasons:  First, satyr-plays were the creation of tragic, not comic, playwrights, and Plato wishes to present his Socratic dialogues as the heirs to the prestige of an elevated, not a lewd, genre; second, the figure of the satyr, for all his rampant sexuality, is traditionally barren, a characteristic that Plato assigns (metaphorically) to Socrates in his role as midwife to the fecund minds of young men.
Getting the Joke at Plato Symposium 172A
Classical Philology
, 2017
The Size of the Tragic Chorus
Phoenix
, 2016
The tragic (and satyric) chorus throughout the fifth century BC was composed of twelve members. ...
more
The tragic (and satyric) chorus throughout the fifth century BC was composed of twelve members.  The tradition according to which the number was increased to fifteen is based on a mistaken understanding of the increase in the number of actors to three, which brought the total number of performers (τραγῳδοί) to fifteen.
format_quote
Arguments presented suggest the tragic chorus never exceeded twelve members, challenging established beliefs.
format_quote
Euripides, Cyclops 375-6
Classical Quarterly
, 2017
In his Memorabilia, before saying that Socrates practised Greek religious rituals in full view of...
more
In his Memorabilia, before saying that Socrates practised Greek religious rituals in full view of everyone, Xenophon asks himself: 'what evidence did they produce of that' (ποίῳ ποτ᾽ ἐχρήσαντο τεκμηρίῳ) to say that Socrates 'did not recognize the gods of the city' (οὐκ ἐνόμιζεν οὓς ἡ πόλις νομίζει θεούς)? In the Apology, before declaring that he performs Greek rituals, Socrates says: 'One thing that I marvel at in Meletus, gentlemen, is what may be the basis of his assertion that I do not believe in the gods worshipped by the polis' (τοῦτο μὲν πρῶτον θαυμάζω Μελήτου, ὅτῳ ποτὲ γνοὺς λέγει ὡς ἐγὼ οὓς ἡ πόλις νομίζει θεοὺς οὐ νομίζω). These two sections of text form a key factor in Xenophon's argument: he has doubts about the proof, the τεκμήριον, which allowed us to suspect Socrates of not believing in the existence of the city's gods. Thus, by declaring that Socrates performed the Athenian religious ceremonies, Xenophon does not necessarily show a lack of interest in Socrates' beliefs: he simply demonstrates that the accusers lack the evidence to allege that Socrates did not believe in Athens' honoured gods. On the other hand, nothing says that, by emphasizing Socrates' active practice of religious rituals, Xenophon proves Socrates' innocence either, despite what Hendrick Versnel maintains. Xenophon simply says that the absence of Socrates' beliefs is impossible to prove.
Plato, Republic 2.359d–e2
Mnemosyne
, 2016
Read τοῦτον δὲ ἄλλο μὲν ἔχειν οὐδὲν <περιττόν>, περὶ δὲ τῇ χειρὶ χρυσοῦν δακτύλιον, ὃν περιελόμεν...
more
Read τοῦτον δὲ ἄλλο μὲν ἔχειν οὐδὲν <περιττόν>, περὶ δὲ τῇ χειρὶ χρυσοῦν δακτύλιον, ὃν περιελόμενον ἐκβῆναι.
format_quote
Reviews series of translations for a critical passage, emphasizing idiomatic ambiguity in phrasing.
format_quote
Taking Satyr-Play Seriously: Socrates in Plato's Symposium
After crashing Agathon's dinner-party in Plato's Symposium, Alcibiades famously begins his encomi...
more
After crashing Agathon's dinner-party in Plato's Symposium, Alcibiades famously begins his encomium of Socrates by comparing the philosopher to a silenus or satyr. Socrates refers to the encomium as " this satyric or silenic drama of yours. " Socrates' explicit reference to satyr-play has prompted some critics to connect Alcibiades' comparison of Socrates to a satyr with the concluding tableau of the dialogue. There, Socrates attempts to convince the tragic poet Agathon and the comic poet Aristophanes of the absurd proposition that the same poet is capable of composing both tragedy and comedy. This passage has been repeatedly interpreted as conveying Plato's intention to represent the person of Socrates, and the dialogue in which he appears, as both combining and, perhaps, transcending the categories of the tragic and the comic. Further, Plato's comparison of Socrates to a satyr has prompted some critics to propose that satyr-play somehow embodies that very combination of the tragic and the comic. I should like to challenge that view and show that Plato does not in fact believe that it belongs to the same person to be able to write both tragedy and comedy, nor does he consider satyr-play as in any sense a combination of the two genres. Now, to us it seems a perfectly reasonable proposition that the same person is capable of writing both tragedy and comedy, and we can cite as evidence the works of Shakespeare, as well as those of Cervantes, Lope de Vega, Goldoni, Lessing, Ben Jonson and Oscar Wilde. But to Plato's contemporaries it was unimaginable that a tragic poet could also be a comic poet, and they could cite as evidence the fact that no one had succeeded in composing in both genres. Of course, it is possible that Plato, being smarter than most, was able to see what his contemporaries were incapable of seeing, and he could recognize what we now take for granted. It is also possible that critics have allowed what we now take for granted to influence their reading of Plato's Symposium. To begin with, the notion that Plato envisioned his Socratic dialogues as having affinities with comedy is implausible, given that Plato's attitude toward comedy was anything but positive. It is true that he creates a brilliant parody of Aristophanic comedy in the Symposium, thereby appearing to demonstrate his competence in the realm of comedy. But an ability to produce a successful parody of a genre is not evidence of an ability to compose successfully in that genre; if it were, Aristophanes' own unmatched brilliance as a creator of paratragedy would provide all the evidence needed to demonstrate that the comic poet and the tragic poet were one and the same. Rather, Plato's hostility to comedy is in evidence from the beginning to the end of his career: In the Apology he expresses the conviction that " a certain comic poet " contributed to the prejudice that would ultimately result in the execution of his beloved teacher. And in the Laws comedy is relegated to performance exclusively by slaves and non-citizen hirelings. In Magnesia, comedy is a necessary evil, tolerated only to display examples of behavior to be avoided, provided that no citizens are subjected to ridicule, as is regularly the case in Old Comedy. Nor is there any suggestion in the Laws that the Athenian visitor
Whatever Happened to Euripides’ Lekythion (Frogs 1198–1247)?
Wisdom and Folly in Euripides, ed. P. Kyriakou and A. Rengakos
, 2016
format_quote
Demosthenes implies theft of oil-flasks, equating their loss with severe repercussions, suggesting significant social value attached to personal items.
format_quote
Herodotus on Lust
TAPA
, 2016
The account of mutual abductions that is found at the start of Herodotus’s Histories occupies a p...
more
The account of mutual abductions that is found at the start of Herodotus’s Histories occupies a prominent place because the historian wishes to begin with stories exemplifying a basic determinant of human behavior that is generally felt to require no special explanation, namely acquisitiveness, which is conflated with sexual desire. This conflation, which is shown to be pervasive in Greek thought, is clear from the very start, where the abduction of Io for seemingly commercial purposes is followed by three abductions in which the sexual motivation is increasingly apparent.
format_quote
Herodotus's opening abduction accounts introduce major themes of his Histories: plunder, women as objects, and the conflict between East and West.
format_quote
The Place of the Satyr-Play in the Tragic Tetralogy
Prometheus
, 2015
Ancient evidence suggests that it is as likely that the fifth-century satyr-play was performed at...
more
Ancient evidence suggests that it is as likely that the fifth-century satyr-play was performed at the start of the tragic tetralogy as at the end.
format_quote
By 341 BC, the tradition of satyr-play production as part of tragic competition ceased, marking a significant cultural shift.
format_quote
Wagner, Droysen and the Greek Satyr-Play
Antike und Abendland
, 2015
format_quote
Wagner recognized the satyr-play as essential within a tragic tetralogy, influenced by Droysen's interpretation of Aeschylus.
format_quote
Xenophon and Prodicus' Choice of Heracles
Addenda to "On Hendiadys in Greek"
or
or
reset password
Need an account?
Click here to sign up
About
Press
Papers
Topics
Academia.edu Journals
work
We're Hiring!
help
Find new research papers in:
Physics
Chemistry
Biology
Health Sciences
Ecology
Earth Sciences
Cognitive Science
Mathematics
Computer Science
Content Policy
Academia ©2026