Physiognomic sense in epic characterizations: Philological review and and theoretical-methodological questions.

• Grant number: 25/05682-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Start date: July 01, 2025
• End date: December 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Literature - Classical Literatures
• Principal Investigator: Paulo Martins
• Grantee: Gustavo Henrique Carvalho Fagundes
• Supervisor: Renaud Gagne
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of Cambridge, England
• Associated to the scholarship: 23/17808-2 - Physiognomic signs and methods in archaic Greek literature: survey and analysis in the Iliad and Odyssey., BP.MS

Abstract

The present master research project aimed to identify and analyze allusions to the ancient prognosticphysiognomy in Homer's characterizations. I surveyed data from the most relevant textual sources of theancient Mediterranean physiognomic lore, which provide evidence from the axiological expectationsconcerning the human body, circulating around ancient scholar contexts: the Akkadian compendiumSumma Alamdimmû and the Hellenistic peripatetic treatise Physiognomoniká. While the protases of theAlamdimmû describe theomorphic signs, the Physiognomoniká introduces an aesthetic element throughthe concept epiprepeia. Zoomorphism and physiologic descriptions (pathognomy) are common to both.The Iliad and the Odyssey form a potential axiological corpus for investigating the application andadaptation of such lore, since the poems comprise elements that are common for the so-calledMesopotamian morphoscopy as for the peripatetic physiognomy. Once formulaic language is the mainresource of characterization in Homer and exceptionality and the manifestation of signs are crucial forrepresenting the divine filiation of traditional human characters, it was observed that epithets and similesare the most potential tools of artistic adaptations of the physiognomic sense into epic portraiture. Withthis internship research project, I propose to improve the results and its theoretic discussion focusing on a comparative case study.