Tolkien And The Classical World (book)
''Tolkien and the Classical World'' is a 2021 scholarly collection of essays on the influence from ancient Greek and Roman civilisations on J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth writings, especially ''The Silmarillion'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. It is edited by Hamish Williams, with an afterword by Graham Shipley that comments on the book and its themes. The essays explore different aspects of classical thought, not just looking for direct sources but for parallels and possibly unconscious influences. One area where Tolkien explicitly acknowledged classical influence was in his use of Plato's Atlantis legend in his tale of Númenor, the island civilisation that is lost beneath the waves. The book has been broadly welcomed by scholars as exploring a largely overlooked area, not least because modern readers are less familiar with the classics than were readers in Tolkien's lifetime. Its essays have been praised in ''Mythlore'' as unusual in being entirely of good quality. Victor Pa ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Dwarves In Middle-earth
In the fantasy of J. R. R. Tolkien, the Dwarves are a race inhabiting Middle-earth, the central continent of Arda in an imagined mythological past. They are based on the dwarfs of Germanic myths who were small humanoids that lived in mountains, practising mining, metallurgy, blacksmithing and jewellery. Tolkien described them as tough, warlike, and lovers of stone and craftsmanship. Dwarves appear in his books '' The Hobbit'' (1937), ''The Lord of the Rings'' (1954–55), and the posthumously published ''The Silmarillion'' (1977), ''Unfinished Tales'' (1980), and ''The History of Middle-earth'' series (1983–96), the last three edited by his son Christopher Tolkien. Characteristics The medievalist Charles Moseley described the dwarves of Tolkien's legendarium as "Old Norse" in their names, their feuds, and their revenges. In the appendix on "Durin's Folk" in ''The Lord of the Rings'', Tolkien describes dwarves as: ''The J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia'' considers Tolki ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Thucydides
Thucydides (; grc, , }; BC) was an Athenian historian and general. His '' History of the Peloponnesian War'' recounts the fifth-century BC war between Sparta and Athens until the year 411 BC. Thucydides has been dubbed the father of " scientific history" by those who accept his claims to have applied strict standards of impartiality and evidence-gathering and analysis of cause and effect, without reference to intervention by the gods, as outlined in his introduction to his work. He also has been called the father of the school of political realism, which views the political behavior of individuals and the subsequent outcomes of relations between states as ultimately mediated by, and constructed upon, fear and self-interest. His text is still studied at universities and military colleges worldwide. The Melian dialogue is regarded as a seminal work of international relations theory, while his version of Pericles' Funeral Oration is widely studied by political theorists, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Eucatastrophe
A eucatastrophe is a sudden turn of events in a story which ensures that the protagonist does not meet some terrible, impending, and very plausible and probable doom. The writer J. R. R. Tolkien coined the word by affixing the Greek prefix ''eu'', meaning ''good'', to '' catastrophe'', the word traditionally used in classically inspired literary criticism to refer to the "unraveling" or conclusion of a drama's plot. For Tolkien, the term appears to have had a thematic meaning that went beyond its literal etymological meaning in terms of form. In his definition as outlined in his 1947 essay "On Fairy-Stories", eucatastrophe is a fundamental part of his conception of mythopoeia. Though Tolkien's interest is in myth, it is connected to the gospel; Tolkien calls the Incarnation of Christ the eucatastrophe of "human history" and the Resurrection the eucatastrophe of the Incarnation. The explosion of the Death Star in Star Wars, or the kiss that saves Snow White, have been characterize ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Aragorn
Aragorn is a fictional character and a protagonist in J. R. R. Tolkien's ''The Lord of the Rings''. Aragorn was a Ranger of the North, first introduced with the name Strider and later revealed to be the heir of Isildur, an ancient King of Arnor (Middle-earth), Arnor and Gondor. Aragorn was a confidant of the wizard Gandalf, and played a part in the quest to destroy the One Ring and defeat the Dark Lord Sauron. As a young man, Aragorn fell in love with the immortal Elf (Middle-earth), elf Arwen, as told in The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen. Arwen's father, Elrond, Elrond Half-elven, forbade them to marry unless Aragorn became King of both Arnor and Gondor. Aragorn led the Fellowship of the Ring (characters), Fellowship of the Ring following the loss of Gandalf in the Mines of Moria (Middle-earth), Moria. When the Fellowship was broken, he tracked the hobbits Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took with the help of Legolas the elf and Gimli (Middle-earth), Gimli the dwarf to Fangorn F ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Balrog
A Balrog () is a powerful demonic monster in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth. One first appeared in print in his high-fantasy novel ''The Lord of the Rings'', where the Fellowship of the Ring encounter a Balrog known as Durin's Bane in the Mines of Moria. Balrogs appear also in Tolkien's ''The Silmarillion'' and other posthumously published books. Balrogs are tall and menacing beings who can shroud themselves in fire, darkness, and shadow. They are armed with fiery whips "of many thongs", and its early drafts speak frequently of the whips of fire. ''The Lays of Beleriand'' describe Morgoth's prisoners tortured by Balrogs with scourges; and the Balrog in Moria (''The Fellowship of the Ring'', "The Bridge of Khazad-dûm") is armed explicitly with a "whip of many thongs" or strands. and occasionally use long swords. In Tolkien's later conception, they could not be readily vanquished—a certain stature was required by the would-be hero. Only dragons rivalled their capacity for fe ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Gandalf
Gandalf is a protagonist in J. R. R. Tolkien's novels ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. He is a Wizards (Middle-earth), wizard, one of the ''Istari'' order, and the leader of the Fellowship of the Ring (characters), Fellowship of the Ring. Tolkien took the name "Gandalf" from the Old Norse Dvergatal, "Catalogue of Dwarves" (''Dvergatal'') in the ''Völuspá''. As a wizard and the bearer of one of the Three Rings, Gandalf has great power, but works mostly by encouraging and persuading. He sets out as Gandalf the Grey, possessing great knowledge and travelling continually. Gandalf is focused on the mission to counter the Dark Lord Sauron by destroying the One Ring. He is associated with fire; his ring of power is Narya, the Ring of Fire. As such, he delights in fireworks to entertain the hobbits of the Shire, while in great need he uses fire as a weapon. As one of the Maiar, he is an immortal spirit from Valinor, but his physical body can be killed. In ''The Hobbit' ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Moria, Middle-earth
In the fictional world of J. R. R. Tolkien, Moria, also named Khazad-dûm, is an ancient subterranean complex in Middle-earth, comprising a vast labyrinthine network of tunnels, chambers, mines and halls under the Misty Mountains, with doors on both the western and the eastern sides of the mountain range. Moria is introduced in Tolkien's novel '' The Hobbit'', and is a major scene of action in '' The Lord of the Rings''. In much of Middle-earth's fictional history, Moria was the greatest city of the Dwarves. The city's wealth was founded on its mines, which produced ''mithril'', a fictional metal of great beauty and strength, suitable for armour. The Dwarves dug too deep, greedy for ''mithril'', and disturbed a demon of great power: a Balrog, which destroyed their kingdom. By the end of the Third Age, Moria had long been abandoned by the Dwarves, and was a place of evil repute. It was dark, in dangerous disrepair, and in its labyrinths lurked Orcs and the Balrog. Scho ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Angband (Middle-earth)
In J. R. R. Tolkien's fictional legendarium, Beleriand was a region in northwestern Middle-earth during the First Age. Events in Beleriand are described chiefly in his work ''The Silmarillion'', which tells the story of the early ages of Middle-earth in a style similar to the epic hero tales of Nordic literature. Beleriand also appears in the works ''The Book of Lost Tales'', ''The Children of Húrin'',''The Guardian'', Book Review, John Crace, ''The Children of Húrin'' by JRR Tolkien, 4 April 2007. and in the epic poems of ''The Lays of Beleriand''. Fictional history At the end of the First Age of Middle-earth, Beleriand was broken in the War of Wrath by the angelic beings, the Maiar, against the demonic Morgoth (a Vala fallen into evil). As the inhabitants of Beleriand, including masterless Orcs, beasts of Angband, Elves, Men and Dwarves, fled, much of Beleriand sank in the sea. Only a small section of East Beleriand remained, and was known thereafter as Lindon, in t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Morgoth
Morgoth Bauglir (; originally Melkor ) is a character, one of the godlike Valar, from Tolkien's legendarium. He is the main antagonist of ''The Silmarillion'', '' The Children of Húrin'', ''Beren and Lúthien'' and ''The Fall of Gondolin''. Melkor was the most powerful of the Valar but turned to darkness and was renamed Morgoth, the definitive antagonist of Arda. All evil in the world of Middle-earth ultimately stems from him. One of the Maiar of Aulë betrayed his kind and became Morgoth's principal lieutenant and successor, Sauron. Melkor has been interpreted as analogous to Satan, once the greatest of all God's angels, Lucifer, but fallen through pride; he rebels against his creator. Scholars have likened Morgoth, too, to John Milton's fallen angel in ''Paradise Lost''. Tom Shippey has written that ''The Silmarillion'' maps the book of Genesis with its creation and its fall, even Melkor having begun with good intentions. Marjorie Burns has commented that Tolkien used ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Lúthien And Beren
Lúthien and Beren are characters in J. R. R. Tolkien's fantasy world Middle-earth. Lúthien is an elf, daughter of the elf-king Thingol and goddess-like Melian. Beren is a mortal man. The complex tale of their love for each other and the quest they are forced to embark upon, triumphing against overwhelming odds but ending in tragedy, appears in ''The Silmarillion'', the epic poem ''The Lay of Leithian'', the Grey Annals section of ''The War of the Jewels'', and in other legendarium texts conflated into the 2017 book ''Beren and Lúthien'', where it plays a central part. Their story is told to Frodo by Aragorn in ''The Lord of the Rings''. The story of Lúthien and Beren, immortal elf-maiden marrying a mortal man and choosing mortality for herself, is mirrored in Tolkien's ''The Tale of Aragorn and Arwen''. The names Beren and Lúthien appear on the grave of Tolkien and his wife Edith. Context Lúthien was a Telerin (Sindarin) princess, the only child of Elu Thingol, kin ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Katabasis
A katabasis or catabasis ( grc, κατάβασις, from "down" and "go") is a journey to the underworld. Its original sense is usually associated with Greek mythology and Classical mythology more broadly, where the protagonist visits the Greek underworld, also known as Hades. The term is also used in a broad sense of any journey to the realm of the dead in other mythological and religious traditions. A katabasis is similar to a ''nekyia'' or necromancy, where someone experiences a vision of the underworld or its inhabitants; a ''nekyia'' does not generally involve a physical visit, however. One of the most famous examples is that of Odysseus, who performs something on the border of a ''nekyia'' and a katabasis in book 11 of ''The Odyssey''; he visits the border of the realms before calling the dead to him using a blood ritual, with it being disputed whether he was at the highest realm of the underworld or the lowest edge of the living world where he performed this. Overvie ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Alessandro Allori - Odysseus Questions The Seer Tiresias
Alessandro is both a given name and a surname, the Italian form of the name Alexander. Notable people with the name include: People with the given name Alessandro * Alessandro Allori (1535–1607), Italian portrait painter * Alessandro Baricco (born 1958), Italian novelist * Alessandro Bega (born 1991), Italian tennis player * Alessandro Bordin (born 1998), Italian footballer * Alessandro Botticelli (1445–1510), Italian painter * Alessandro Bovo (born 1969), Italian water polo player * Alessandro Cagliostro (1743–1795), alias of occultist and adventurer Giuseppe Balsamo * Alessandro Calcaterra (born 1975), Italian water polo player * Alessandro Calvi (born 1983), Italian swimmer * Alessandro Cattelan (born 1980), Italian television preesenter * Alessandro Cortini (born 1976), Italian musician * Alessandro Criscuolo (1937–2020), Italian judge * Alessandro Del Piero (born 1974), Italian footballer * Alessandro Di Munno (born 2000), Italian footballer * Alessandro Evangel ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |