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- Title
REVENGE OF THE NERDS: XENOPHANES, EURIPIDES, AND SOCRATES VS. OLYMPIC VICTORS.
- Authors
HARRIS, JOHN P.
- Abstract
Xenophanes (fr. 2) and Euripides (fr. 282) disapprove of the pan-Hellenic custom of granting athletes conspicuous honors, and Xenophanes in particular, with that of publicly funded meals. Both contrast the uselessness of athletes with the civic contributions of δoψoi. Socrates echoes these sentiments in his counter-proposal that he is much more deserving of δiτηδıç έv πρuτavεi'ῳ than any Olympic athlete (P1. Ap. 36b3-37a2). I suggest that Socrates deliberately evokes this topos, but does so with a twist: whereas the earlier passages base their claim to honors on δoψoi , Socrates deliberately deprives δoψoi of its popular meaning, imbuing it with a much more humble and Delphic connotation, thereby making his proposal all the more outrageous.
- Subjects
EURIPIDES, ca. 480 B.C.-406 B.C.; SOCRATES, ca. 469-399 B.C.; OLYMPIC athletes; ATHLETES; SPORTS awards
- Publication
American Journal of Philology, 2009, Vol 130, Issue 2, p157
- ISSN
0002-9475
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1353/ajp.0.0052