
Contents
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The Texts and Their Characteristics The Texts and Their Characteristics
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Early Traditions about the Seven Sages Early Traditions about the Seven Sages
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The Life of Aesop The Life of Aesop
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Secundus, the Alexander Romance, and the Homeric Lives Secundus, the Alexander Romance, and the Homeric Lives
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Further Reading Further Reading
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4 Popular Biography
Get accessIoannis M. Konstantakos is Professor of Ancient Greek Literature at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece. His scholarly interests include Greek and Roman comedy, ancient fiction, folktales and popular lore, Near Eastern literatures and their influence on Greek culture, and the reception of classical texts in East and West. He has published numerous books and articles on these topics and has given lectures at several European universities and learned societies. He has gained scholarships from the Greek State Scholarships Foundation and from the Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation. He received the prestigious prize of the Academy of Athens for the best classical monograph in 2009 and was a finalist for the Greek state prize for literary essay in 2011.
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Published:13 January 2021
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Abstract
Ancient popular biographies are distinguished by a set of common characteristics: primacy of content over form, simple one-dimensional characterization, a non-organic accumulative structure, circulation in variant versions, wide appeal across space and time, and heavy dependence on oral storytelling materials. The various traditions regarding the Seven Sages current in classical Greece were a form of collective popular oral biography of this group and influenced later biographical compositions significantly. The protagonists of these stories are often shown in roles typically found in the folktale repertoire. The Life of Aesop is an exemplary representative of popular biography. It combines old legends about Aesop, anecdotes borrowed from other cultural traditions, pieces of wisdom literature, and widespread folktales. It incorporates many specimens of folk genres (fables, scabrous novellas, proverbs, riddles) and reproduces the structure of Aesopic fables on a magnified scale. Other biographical compositions containing such popular elements (Life of Secundus, Alexander Romance, Lives of Homer) are also briefly discussed.
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