Belted heroes and bound women
Subtitle: the myth of the Homeric warrior-king
By: Michael J. Bennett.
Series: Greek studies
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Published: 1997
Place of publication: Lanham
Language: eng
Number of pages: 228
Subjects: Homer -- Knowledge -- Clothing and dress.; Greek literature -- History and criticism.; Clothing and dress in literature.; Literature and society -- Greece.; Belts (Clothing) -- Greece.; Heroes in literature.; Women in literature.; Greece -- Civilization.
Description: This clearly written book introduces a previously unrecognized Homeric theme, the "belted hero," and argues for its lasting historical, literary, and archaeological significance. The belted hero fuses king, warrior, charioteer, and athlete into a supreme image of political power. The special "heroic warrior's belts" (zosteres) worn by Agamemnon, Menelaos, and Nestor served as unimpeachable visual emblems of their exalted positions of rank.

The feminine counterpart, or zone, presented the woman as superior in the competitive arena of love. Bennett also makes several important iconographic interpretations that provide fundamentally new insights into early Greek oral epic compositional techniques, conceptions of time, and cosmological structure. Belted Heroes and Bound Women will be of interest to scholars and students of early Greek art, history, and literature.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 191-217) and index.