Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

Ferengi_Earwax t1_j56koyd wrote

Good post but I think you're going the wrong direction with it. This seems to be a rational person just saying the truth of what some Greeks believed and that not many dared to write about. He's not the only ancient Greek to think the mythological stories weren't literal truth. There's a long line from these guys to educated Greek monks in the monasteries even suggesting they were simply parables.

35

Zestyclose-Advisor71 OP t1_j56w7dp wrote

Oh, I know. I guess I was just wondering if there were any surviving documents or debates surrounding how to interpret various paradoxa. I know that in ancient Greece there was wide debate regarding the hermeneutics and exegesis of various texts like the Iliad and the Odyssey, and that these various exegetical techniques are still being used today, such as in the interpretation of the Christian scriptures, and elsewhere.

What I was wondering is if there were any members of the "realist" school (as in, people who thought that the various extraordinary elements of the texts and various tales actually happened and how they would explain why such events were less likely today. Thank you.

9

Ferengi_Earwax t1_j56ylo6 wrote

I understand. I also should have chosen better words than "going in the wrong direction". Study whatever fascinates you. I believe we would have had more recorded words of "realists" if Socrates set a precedent to write things down, and it says alot about the culture where others didn't feel they could write these down without "blaspheming" essentially. Forgive me I'm not an expert but it reminds me about a Greek philosopher I heard about recently on a podcast about this very subject (if the Greeks believed the myths were literal). Aristarches maybe erasthones maybe? Can't remember ATM, would have to look it up. Supposedly he was writing and spreading the idea that they weren't literal, until the very moment he came down with a deadly disease. He then retracted everything he said and went to offer a sacrifice to some God looking to be healed after he continued to get worse. Sorry for the vagueness.

10