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Heroes and Gods: Spiritual Biographies in Antiquity
266 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 1965
About the author
Moses Hadas
93 books14 followersMoses Hadas (1900–1966) was an American teacher, one of the leading classical scholars of the twentieth century, and a translator of numerous works.
Raised in Atlanta in a Yiddish-speaking Orthodox Jewish household, his early studies included rabbinical training; he graduated from Jewish Theological Seminary of America (1926) and took his doctorate in classics in 1930. He was fluent in Yiddish, German, ancient Hebrew, ancient Greek, Latin, French, and Italian, and well-versed in other languages.
His most productive years were spent at Columbia University, where he was a colleague of Jacques Barzun and Lionel Trilling. There, he took his talent for languages, combined it with a popularizing impulse, to buck the prevailing classical methods of the day—textual criticism and grammar—presenting classics, even in translation, as worthy of study as literary works in their own right.
This approach may be compared to the New Criticism school: even as the New Critics emphasized close reading, eschewing outside sources and cumbersome apparatus, Hadas, in presenting classical works in translation to an influx of post-war G.I. Bill students, brought forth an appreciation of his domain for those without the specialized training of classicists.
His popularizing impulse led him to embrace television as a tool for education, becoming a telelecturer and a pundit on broadcast television. He also recorded classical works on phonograph and tape.
Raised in Atlanta in a Yiddish-speaking Orthodox Jewish household, his early studies included rabbinical training; he graduated from Jewish Theological Seminary of America (1926) and took his doctorate in classics in 1930. He was fluent in Yiddish, German, ancient Hebrew, ancient Greek, Latin, French, and Italian, and well-versed in other languages.
His most productive years were spent at Columbia University, where he was a colleague of Jacques Barzun and Lionel Trilling. There, he took his talent for languages, combined it with a popularizing impulse, to buck the prevailing classical methods of the day—textual criticism and grammar—presenting classics, even in translation, as worthy of study as literary works in their own right.
This approach may be compared to the New Criticism school: even as the New Critics emphasized close reading, eschewing outside sources and cumbersome apparatus, Hadas, in presenting classical works in translation to an influx of post-war G.I. Bill students, brought forth an appreciation of his domain for those without the specialized training of classicists.
His popularizing impulse led him to embrace television as a tool for education, becoming a telelecturer and a pundit on broadcast television. He also recorded classical works on phonograph and tape.
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December 13, 2008
Moses Hadas and Morton Smith are professors I never had, but wish I had, whose acquaintance I made through a friend, in-law and fellow ex-grad student. Moses Hadas was a noted classics scholar and Morton Smith a renowned religion professor (both at Columbia University), and when I came across this book by both of them together, it was a perfect opportunity to go back in time to a lost opportunity.
The book, Heroes and Gods, is about aretology, an ancient literary genre deriving from the word arete, Greek for (the distinctively Greek concept of) perfection. An aretology is a kind of biography which seeks to show why a particular historical personage is worthy of admiration, reverence or even worship.
Moses Hadas wrote the first half of the book, elucidating the concept of aretology, and offering the defining example of the death of Socrates portrayed by Plato. Morton Smith wrote the second half, translating and editing four examples of aretologies, which include Pythagoras, Moses, Jesus and Apollonius of Tyana. All were written in the first couple of centuries CE, and all show the influence of the Greek pattern, even though the aretology of Moses is by Philo, a Hellenized Jew, and the example of Jesus is from Luke, a Greek Christian.
What is striking is the similarity across Greek and Hebrew sources, such as the way miracles are portrayed, or the way in which the righteous man prevails at the dramatic moment. The concept of aretology and the examples show the profound impact that Greek thought had on both Jewish and Christian traditions, as well as the commonality among all of them.
The book, Heroes and Gods, is about aretology, an ancient literary genre deriving from the word arete, Greek for (the distinctively Greek concept of) perfection. An aretology is a kind of biography which seeks to show why a particular historical personage is worthy of admiration, reverence or even worship.
Moses Hadas wrote the first half of the book, elucidating the concept of aretology, and offering the defining example of the death of Socrates portrayed by Plato. Morton Smith wrote the second half, translating and editing four examples of aretologies, which include Pythagoras, Moses, Jesus and Apollonius of Tyana. All were written in the first couple of centuries CE, and all show the influence of the Greek pattern, even though the aretology of Moses is by Philo, a Hellenized Jew, and the example of Jesus is from Luke, a Greek Christian.
What is striking is the similarity across Greek and Hebrew sources, such as the way miracles are portrayed, or the way in which the righteous man prevails at the dramatic moment. The concept of aretology and the examples show the profound impact that Greek thought had on both Jewish and Christian traditions, as well as the commonality among all of them.
Displaying 1 of 1 review