Únorová přednáška
JKF, ÚŘLS a KREAS srdečně zvou všechny členy i veřejnost na přednášku
Voices in the dark. Valerius Flaccus’ reinvention of the nyktomachy scene,
kterou přednese
Dr. Simone Finkmann
(Heinrich-Schliemann-Institut, Rostock)
Přednáška se koná ve čtvrtek 27. února 2020 v 18:30 hodin
na ÚŘLS FF UK v místnosti 147 (Celetná 20, Praha 1).
Anotace přednášky:
Nyktomachies are an important structural element in ancient epic. They can easily be identified by their clearly demarcated time frame that reverses the conventional start and end point of traditional battle scenes. Despite their shared framework nyktomachies can take on many different forms from a dangerous nightly scouting expedition and a nocturnal ambush on one or more individuals to a night raid on the enemy’s camp and its sleeping soldiers to the destruction of an entire city, as in the case of the most famous nyktomachy in ancient literature, the sack of Troy with the stratagem of the Wooden Horse. On account of the ethically questionable nature of this rarely employed military strategy that is generally conducted as a last resort in which the attacking party surprises the sleeping enemy, the majority of fully developed nyktomachy scenes in ancient epic contain private discussions among the leaders as well as a war council in which the reasons for conducting the nocturnal attack are addressed at length. At the same time, due to the secretive nature of the nightly mission, the subsequent attack itself is carried out in silence. The Flavian poet Valerius Flaccus deviates from this narrative pattern and thereby changes the nature of the nocturnal fighting as well as its impact on both sides.