{"id":1343,"date":"2018-09-26T15:45:10","date_gmt":"2018-09-26T14:45:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/research.shca.ed.ac.uk\/honour-in-greece\/?page_id=1343"},"modified":"2018-09-27T19:32:48","modified_gmt":"2018-09-27T18:32:48","slug":"3-douglas-cairns","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/research.shca.ed.ac.uk\/honour-in-greece\/3-douglas-cairns\/","title":{"rendered":"3: Douglas Cairns"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Seminars<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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Meadows Lecture Theatre (G.07),\u00a0Doorway 4, Old Medical School, Teviot Place, Edinburgh<\/p>\n

19 September 2018<\/h3>\n

h 18:00-19.00<\/p>\n

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Douglas Cairns<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Professor of Classics,\u00a0<\/span>University of Edinburgh<\/span><\/p>\n

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Honour and kingship in Herodotus<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

(Classical Association of Scotland lecture and Gordon Howie memorial lecture)<\/span><\/p>\n

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The notion of\u00a0<\/span>tim\u00ea<\/i><\/span>\u00a0(normally translated\u00a0<\/span>\u2018h<\/span>onour') is a key concept when it comes to thinking about virtues, roles, and duties in ancient Greek ethics and society, both in popular and in philosophical terms. This\u00a0<\/span>talk<\/span>\u00a0concentrates on the work of the fifth-century historian, Herodotus, where the idea of\u00a0<\/span>tim\u00ea<\/i><\/span>\u00a0as the fulfilment of a specific role in society takes on particular and interesting inflections. In Herodotus, as in Greek generally,\u00a0<\/span>tim\u00ea<\/i><\/span>\u00a0covers both the esteem that one receives from others and the claim to esteem that the individual him- or herself brings to bear in social interaction. Thus\u00a0<\/span>tim\u00ea<\/i><\/span>\u00a0is both\u00a0<\/span>\u2018d<\/span>eference' and\u00a0<\/span>\u2018<\/span>demeanour' (to use Goffman<\/a>\u2019s terminology). As a quality of an individual that commands others\u2019 respect,\u00a0<\/span>tim\u00ea<\/i><\/span>\u00a0also encompasses the roles that are bound up with one\u2019s status. Roles and offices express, attract, and demand\u00a0<\/span>tim\u00ea<\/i><\/span>, but such demands are normally constrained by reciprocal respect for the\u00a0<\/span>tim\u00ea<\/i><\/span>\u00a0of others. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The office of the Persian king, however, appears at first sight to involve unconditional claims to recognition respect, powerful drives towards appraisal respect (in Darwall<\/a>\u2019s terminology), and only limited acknowledgement of either ethical norms or others\u2019 claims as potential limitations to regal self-assertion. Closer inspection, however, reveals that the values of mutual respect that underpin the freedom enjoyed by citizens of Greek\u00a0<\/span>poleis<\/i><\/span>\u00a0are also felt by Herodotus to ground claims to freedom and independence on the part of those\u00a0<\/span>poleis<\/i><\/span>\u00a0themselves, claims that the historian\u2019s narrative suggests are ultimately upheld by the gods and embedded in the structure of the cosmos itself.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

download the lecture handout<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>

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Video of the lecture<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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