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Introduction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 May 2023

Jacobo Myerston
Affiliation:
University of California, San Diego
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Summary

Extraordinary individuals in ancient Greece claimed to know the real meaning of names. They understood "real meaning" to be the theological and cosmological truths hidden in language. Although the truths were plural and there was no consensus about what true names ultimately reveal, the theoretical assumptions of those individuals were essentially similar: they believed that language in general, but more specifically the names of the gods, contained crucial information about the cosmos. Classicists tend to think that those views were already present in archaic hexametric poetry and further developed centuries later by philosophers, sophists, and religious innovators of the sixth and fifth centuries BCE. But did Greek philosophies of language and the semantics of divine names effectively develop in isolation? The present book explores points of contact between Greek and Mesopotamian systems of thinking about language and reality and argues for the importance of bringing into a dialogue cuneiform and Greek texts concerned with the cosmic function of language.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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  • Introduction
  • Jacobo Myerston, University of California, San Diego
  • Book: Language and Cosmos in Greece and Mesopotamia
  • Online publication: 16 May 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009289962.001
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  • Introduction
  • Jacobo Myerston, University of California, San Diego
  • Book: Language and Cosmos in Greece and Mesopotamia
  • Online publication: 16 May 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009289962.001
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Introduction
  • Jacobo Myerston, University of California, San Diego
  • Book: Language and Cosmos in Greece and Mesopotamia
  • Online publication: 16 May 2023
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009289962.001
Available formats
×