Katabasis
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| - | In ancient Greek cult-practice and literature, a '''''nekyia''''' ('''ἡ νέκυια''') is a "rite by which ghosts were called up and questioned about the future," i.e., [[necromancy]]. A ''nekyia'' is not necessarily the same thing as a ''[[katabasis]]''. While they both afford the opportunity to converse with the dead, only a ''katabasis'' is the actual, physical journey to the [[underworld]] undertaken by several heroes in Greek and Roman myth. | + | '''Katabasis''', or '''catabasis''', (from [[Greek language|Greek]] κατὰ, "down" βαίνω "go") is a descent of some type, such as moving downhill, or the sinking of the winds or sun, a military retreat, or a trip to the [[underworld]] or a trip from the interior of a country down to the coast. There exist multiple related meanings in poetry, rhetoric, and modern psychology. |
| - | In common parlance, however, the term "nekyia" is often used to subsume both types of event, so that by Late Antiquity for example "[[Olympiodorus the Younger|Olympiodorus]] ... claimed that three [Platonic] myths were classified as nekyia (an underworld story, as in Homer's ''[[Odyssey]]'' book 11)". | + | ==A trip to the coast== |
| + | The term ''katabasis'' can refer to a trip from the interior of a country down to the coast (for example, following a river), while the term ''[[wikt:anabasis|anabasis]]'' refers to an expedition from a coastline up into the interior of a country. | ||
| - | ==Questioning ghosts== | + | This is the main meaning given for ''katabasis'' by the [[Oxford English Dictionary]] (OED) which it describes as "A going down; a military retreat, in allusion to that of the ten thousand Greeks under [[Xenophon]], related by him in his [[Anabasis (Xenophon)|Anabasis]]." and quote: |
| - | A number of sites in [[Greece]] and [[Italy]] were dedicated wholly or in part to this practice. "The Underworld communicated with the earth by direct channels. These were caverns whose depths were unplumbed, like that of [[Heraclea Pontica]]." The most notable was the [[Necromanteion]] in the northwestern Greek town of [[Ephyra]]. Other oracles of the dead could be found at [[Taenaron]] and [[Avernus]]. Such specialized locations, however, were not the only places necromancy was performed. One could also perform the rite at a tomb, for example. Among the gods associated with the ''nekyia'' rite are [[Hades]], his wife [[Persephone]], [[Hecate]], and [[Hermes]] (in his capacity as [[psychopompus]] – one who escorted souls to Hades). | + | {{quotation|1837 [[Thomas de Quincey|DE QUINCEY]] ''Revolt Tartars Wks''. 1862 IV. 112 The Russian anabasis and katabasis of Napoleon. 1899 ''Westm. Gaz.'' 17 May 4/1 Little space is devoted to the ''Anabasis''; it is, as in the story of Xenophon, the ''Katabasis'' which fills the larger part.| [[OED]] - katabasis}} |
| - | ==The ''Odyssey''== | + | In the opening of [[Plato]]'s ''[[Republic]]'', [[Socrates]] recounts "going down" to the port city of [[Piraeus]], located South of his native [[Athens]]. Several scholars, most notably [[Allan Bloom]], have read this first word, ''kateben'' ("I went down") as an allusion to Odysseus' journey into the underworld. |
| - | The earliest reference to this cult practice comes from Book 11 of the ''Odyssey'', which was called the ''Nekyia'' in [[Classical antiquity]]. Odysseus was instructed to "make a journey of a very different kind, and find your way to the Halls of Hades ... across the River of Ocean". There he consults the soul of the priest and prophet [[Teiresias]] about the means to return home to Ithaca, in a setting of "ghosts and dark blood and eerie noises, like a canvas of [[Hieronymous Bosch]]". He sacrifices a ram and an ewe so that "the countless shades of the dead and gone" would "surge around" him and the he meets and talks to the souls of the dead. | + | |
| - | "The story of Odysseus's journey to Hades ... was followed ... by further accounts of such journeys undertaken by other heroes", although it is clear that, for example, "the {{lang|grc|κατάβασις}} [''[[katabasis]]'', "descent"] of Herakles in its traditional form must have differed noticeably from the Nekyia". | + | ==Arts== |
| + | In [[poetry]] and [[rhetoric]], the term ''katabasis'' refers to a "gradual descending" of emphasis on a theme within a sentence or paragraph, while ''anabasis'' refers to a gradual ascending in emphasis. John Freccero notes, "In the ancient world, [the] descent in search of understanding was known as katabasis", thus endowing mythic and poetic accounts of katabasis with a symbolic significance. | ||
| - | The Athenian playwright [[Aeschylus]] features the use of tombside ''nekyiai'' in his ''[[Persia]]ns'' and ''[[Libation Bearers]]''. | + | ==Modern psychology== |
| + | In modern psychology, the term ''katabasis'' is also sometimes used to describe the [[depression (mood)|depression]] some young men experience. Author [[Robert Bly]] proposes in his book ''[[Iron John: A Book About Men]]'' several reasons for the "catabasis phenomenon", amongst them the lack of Western [[initiation rite]]s and the lack of strong [[father figure]]s and [[role model]]s. | ||
| - | ==Jung== | + | ==Trip into the underworld== |
| - | [[C. G. Jung]] used the concept of Nekyia as an integral part of his [[analytical psychology]]: "Nekyia ... introversion of the conscious mind into the deeper layers of the unconscious psyche". For Jung, "the Nekyia is no aimless or destructive fall into the abyss, but a meaningful ''katabasis'' ... its object the restoration of the whole man". | + | |
| - | [[Jolande Jacobi]] added that "this 'great Nekyia' ... is interwoven with innumerable lesser Nekyia experiences". | + | ''Katabasis'' is the epic convention of the hero's trip into the [[underworld]]. In [[Greek mythology]], for example, [[Orpheus]] enters the underworld in order to bring [[Eurydice]] back to the world of the living. |
| - | ===Night sea-journey=== | + | Most ''katabases'' take place in a supernatural underworld, such as [[Hades]] or [[Hell]] — as in [[Nekyia]], the 11th book of the [[Odyssey]], which describes the descent of [[Odysseus]] to the underworld. However, katabasis can also refer to a journey through other dystopic areas, like those Odysseus encounters on his 10-year journey back from [[Troy]] to [[Ithaca]]. Pilar Serrano allows the term ''katabasis'' to encompass brief or chronic stays in the underworld, including those of [[Lazarus of Bethany|Lazarus]] and [[Castor and Pollux]]. In this case, however, the ''katabasis'' must be followed by an ''anabasis'' in order to be considered a true ''katabasis'' instead of a death. |
| - | Jung used the images of the Nekyia, of "the night journey on the sea ... descend into the belly of the monster (journey to hell)", and of "'Katabasis' (descent into the lower world)" almost interchangeably. His closest followers also saw them as indistinguishable metaphors for "a descent into the dark, hot depths of the unconscious ... a journey to hell and 'death'" – emphasising for example that "the great arc of the night sea journey comprises many lesser rhythms, lesser arcs on the same 'primordial pattern'", just like the nekyia. | + | |
| - | The post-Jungian [[James Hillman]] however made some clear distinctions among them: | ||
| - | |||
| - | :The descent of the underworld can be distinguished from the night sea-journey of the hero in many ways… the hero returns from the night sea-journey in better shape for the tasks of life, whereas the nekyia takes the soul into a depth for its own sake so that there is no "return." The night sea-journey is further marked by building interior heat (tapas), whereas the nekyia goes below that pressured containment, that tempering in the fires of passion, to a zone of utter coldness ... | ||
| - | |||
| - | :The devil image still haunts in our fears of the unconscious and the latent psychosis that supposedly lurks there, and we still turn to methods of Christianism – moralizing, kind feelings, communal sharing, and childlike naivete – as propitiations against our fear, instead of classical descent into it, the nekyia into imagination… (Only) after his nekyia, Freud, like Aeneas (who carried his father on his back), could finally enter "Rome". | ||
| - | |||
| - | ==Cultural references== | ||
| - | * "[[Thomas Mann]]'s conception of the nekyia draws extensively from 'the doctrines of the East...[[Gnosticism]], and [[Hellenism]]{{dn|date=August 2012}}'". | ||
| - | * Jung considered [[Picasso]]'s "early [[Blue Period]] ... as the symbol of Nekya, a descent into hell and darkness". | ||
| - | * ''Nekyia'' is also a popular name assumed by numerous art projects and performance or music groups. | ||
| - | ==See also== | ||
| - | *[[Odyssey]] | ||
| - | *[[Geography of the Odyssey]] | ||
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Revision as of 15:49, 27 June 2013
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Katabasis, or catabasis, (from Greek κατὰ, "down" βαίνω "go") is a descent of some type, such as moving downhill, or the sinking of the winds or sun, a military retreat, or a trip to the underworld or a trip from the interior of a country down to the coast. There exist multiple related meanings in poetry, rhetoric, and modern psychology.
Contents |
A trip to the coast
The term katabasis can refer to a trip from the interior of a country down to the coast (for example, following a river), while the term anabasis refers to an expedition from a coastline up into the interior of a country.
This is the main meaning given for katabasis by the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) which it describes as "A going down; a military retreat, in allusion to that of the ten thousand Greeks under Xenophon, related by him in his Anabasis." and quote:
1837 DE QUINCEY Revolt Tartars Wks. 1862 IV. 112 The Russian anabasis and katabasis of Napoleon. 1899 Westm. Gaz. 17 May 4/1 Little space is devoted to the Anabasis; it is, as in the story of Xenophon, the Katabasis which fills the larger part. {{#if: OED - katabasis|– OED - katabasis{{#if:|, {{{3}}}}}{{#if:|, {{{4}}}}}
}}
In the opening of Plato's Republic, Socrates recounts "going down" to the port city of Piraeus, located South of his native Athens. Several scholars, most notably Allan Bloom, have read this first word, kateben ("I went down") as an allusion to Odysseus' journey into the underworld.
Arts
In poetry and rhetoric, the term katabasis refers to a "gradual descending" of emphasis on a theme within a sentence or paragraph, while anabasis refers to a gradual ascending in emphasis. John Freccero notes, "In the ancient world, [the] descent in search of understanding was known as katabasis", thus endowing mythic and poetic accounts of katabasis with a symbolic significance.
Modern psychology
In modern psychology, the term katabasis is also sometimes used to describe the depression some young men experience. Author Robert Bly proposes in his book Iron John: A Book About Men several reasons for the "catabasis phenomenon", amongst them the lack of Western initiation rites and the lack of strong father figures and role models.
Trip into the underworld
Katabasis is the epic convention of the hero's trip into the underworld. In Greek mythology, for example, Orpheus enters the underworld in order to bring Eurydice back to the world of the living.
Most katabases take place in a supernatural underworld, such as Hades or Hell — as in Nekyia, the 11th book of the Odyssey, which describes the descent of Odysseus to the underworld. However, katabasis can also refer to a journey through other dystopic areas, like those Odysseus encounters on his 10-year journey back from Troy to Ithaca. Pilar Serrano allows the term katabasis to encompass brief or chronic stays in the underworld, including those of Lazarus and Castor and Pollux. In this case, however, the katabasis must be followed by an anabasis in order to be considered a true katabasis instead of a death.
