Degree Date

2022

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Greek, Latin, and Classical Studies

Abstract

When describing complex aesthetic or cognitive experiences, speakers often reach for idiomatic language. For ancient Greeks, one major cache of idiomatic terms comes from the language of enchantment. This dissertation accounts for how and why ancient Greeks used words related to θέλγω, κηλέω, γοητεία, μαγεία, μαγγανεία, ἐπῳδή, and ψυχαγωγία as a way of describing the effects of speech and song. Examination is given to writers from the Archaic to the Hellenistic period. Most important are Gorgias of Leontini, Plato, and Philodemus, who each remark in detail about the experience of enchantment. The study reveals that Greek writers use the language of enchantment to underscore a wide variety of effects that speech and song have on mind and body. These effects can include the feelings of being gripped by a narrative, moved by the sounds of a poem, or dumbstruck by a philosophical argument. Different writers provide their own fascinating and idiosyncratic ways of conceptualizing the psychology of these ‘enchantments.’ However, what unifies all accounts is a common motivation to avoid domesticating these aesthetic or cognitive effects with a technical or familiar vocabulary and, instead, to use the language of magic as a way of granting these effects asylum from the ordinary.

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