The case of the angels. the relevance of the research by classical scholar John Cuthbert Lawson (1874-1919) on modern Greek culture

• Authors: Bzinkowski Michał
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

In my paper I focus on the well-known John Cuthbert Lawson’s study about Modern Greek folklore (1910) and I venture to verify if it may be regarded as a reliable source of information about Greek folk beliefs. I base my argument on the eschatological remarks Lawson made concerning the personification of Death – Charos and his relationship to the Christian Angels. Confronting Lawson’s views and his source material with other similar demotic songs, mainly from the collections he had had access to, I try to show in what way the older collections of folk-songs might have distorted or falsified the eschatological images of Charos and the Angels, and what he overlooked while analyzing the sources. I also shed some light on possible influences of Byzantine orthodoxy on Modern Greek folk tradition to which Greek demotic songs belong.

Keywords

EN

Modern Greek literature; Modern Greek folk poetry; demotic songs; Modern Greek folklore; folk eschatology; personification of Death; Byzantine eschatology; Byzantine orthodoxy; reception of Antiquity; John Cuthbert Lawson; angels in Byzantium

• Publisher: Księgarnia Akademicka
• Journal: Classica Cracoviensia
• Year: 2015
• Issue: 18
• Pages: 83-110

Contributors

author

Bzinkowski Michał

• Uniwersytet Jagielloński

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Identifiers

DOI

10.12797/CC.18.2015.18.04